ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

2015-16 Annual Report

Elizabeth Peck Learned, Dean of University Libraries

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Achievement of Previous Year’s Goals

Transition to Interim Dean with representation on Deans’ Council, Technology Council, Learning Commons leadership groups, HELIN Board, etc.The transition to Interim Dean went smoothly after having served 11 years as Associate Dean. Major commitments were met and staff were engaged with a new Strategic Planning process.

Oversight of the Main Library de-selection project.A de-selection committee, Christine Fagan, John Fobert, Mary Wu, and John Schlinke, was formed in the fall to plan the project. The committee learned to use GreenGlass collection analysis software to create the analyses used to design and implement the project. A late start occurred as a result of the request to meet with the Faculty Senate to address their concerns. At this time, 33% of the collection has been assessed with a withdrawal rate of 13%. The project will be on-hold during the fall semester due to the migration to a new library system, but will hopefully be completed by December, 2017.

Guide the conduct of the Ithaka Faculty Technology Survey.The Ithaka Survey was conducted in fall, 2015 with a high faculty response rate of 42%. The results were shared with the Provost and faculty. A comprehensive report comparing Masters I institutions was received.

Participate in the HELIN Board of Directors with next steps in future systems selection for the consortium.I attended all HELIN Board meetings and Town Meetings set up for the membership to discuss HELIN’s future. A system was selected by the HELIN ILS task force and approved by the HELIN Board. I was elected Vice-President/President-Elect for 2016-17.

Direct collaboration with Bob Shea and others to maximize effective academic support operations.Bob, myself, and several librarians have been meeting regarding new CSAS/Library collaborations including the Faculty Fellows Writing workshop, the Open Educational Resources initiative, and the Roger Seminar. Bob and his staff are regular contributors to the library blog, Connections.

Contributions to Library Learning Commons Phase III planning and discussion.Further space renovations based on ICON’s planning were put on hold for this year. Bob Shea, the library space committee and Derek Maloney will continue discussions this year.

Consultation with Advancement regarding donor stewardship matters.I worked directly with Lisa Raiola and her staff regarding the Instant Theater inauguration and the Warnick Family donation to Student Accessibility Services. Lisa, Adam Braver and I met regarding opportunities for extending our library programming to the Bristol community.

Work with Writer-in-Residence regarding Scholars at Risk and Library programming.Adam Braver and I met weekly regarding SAR, Talking in the Library author events, the Bermont fellowship writing workshop, and various co-sponsored programs with Rogers Free Library, including a memoir writing workshop conducted in the spring.

Confer with School of Law Library and ID on further staff development opportunities.Although we held no joint staff development programs with the Law Library this year, I was invited to lead a Visioning workshop for the Law Library staff as part of their strategic planning initiative.

Management of the Libraries and Instructional Design/Program Development

With the retirement of the former Dean, Peter Deekle, the hire of the new Associate Provost for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, Bob Shea, and the move of Karen Ethier from the Library into I.T., the former Learning Commons Partnership Council was disbanded. Instead, I met frequently with Bob Shea to discuss issues pertinent to the Learning Commons. These included the possibility of changing the reporting structure of the Learning Commons, the move of Advising and Peer Mentoring into the building, future space planning, signage, sharing use of the Library Instruction Lab, Orientation, and the collaborative initiatives mentioned above.

The success of the Libraries and ID this past year would not have been possible without the support and good work of all the staff. I met with the librarians monthly and the staff (including ID) several times each semester, along with many individual meetings with the librarians and new professional staff. All staff participated in visioning exercises for strategic planning.

In addition to the management activities in the goals above, the Interim Dean and the library staff accomplished the following objectives. Key staff members involved are identified in parentheses.

A new Integrated Library System (ILS) for the HELIN ConsortiumA HELIN ILS task force was created to recommend a cloud-based system for the HELIN Consortium to the HELIN Board of Directors. Dean Deekle appointed an internal ILS task force, chaired by John Fobert (with Susan McMullen, Mary Wu, Christine Fagan, John Schlinke, Adam Riccitelli, Chris Truszkowski) to study the current systems and make a recommendation to our representative on the HELIN task force. A recommendation for OCLC World Management System was made to both Dean Deekle and the HELIN Board and was accepted. John Fobert currently co-chairs the Implementation task force for the HELIN Consortium and chairs the RWU implementation team. We will be fully migrated to the new system by January 2017.

Drafting a new Strategic Plan for the Libraries (prior to the NEASC visit in September, 2016).The Strategic Planning Task Force held 2 visioning meetings with all staff, identified trends in libraries, and gathered data through a SWOT analysis. The strategic plan will be completed by mid-August. (Betsy Learned, Chair, Susan McMullen, Barbara Kenney, Heidi Benedict, Megan Lessard)

Preparation for NEASC accreditation:o The Library’s Standard 7 committee prepared the report and submitted it prior to the deadline.

There were concerns both internally and in the library profession that Standard 7 was removed from the revised NEASC standards. (Betsy Learned, Chair, Linda Beith, Susan McMullen, Karen Ethier, Bob Dermody)

o Mary Wu and I worked to gather evidence from the campus community for the NEASC accreditation site visit in September, 2016. Mary continues to do an exceptional job organizing the evidence in Bridges.

Library Space Developments:o I worked with Lisa Raiola to inaugurate the remodeled Mary Tefft White Cultural Center’s

Instant Theater in September with a program by John Hazen White. o I collaborated with Lisa Bauer on her move of SAS to the first floor.o I worked with Derek Maloney on installation of new front doors to the library.o John Schlinke assessed shelving conditions on the second floor of the Main Library (east side)

and designed a collection shift (overseen by Adam Riccitelli) that removed shelving and provided more open space outside the Student Advising and Advocacy Offices. He conducted a similar assessment and design for the shelving on the west side of the second floor. The resulting collection shift will provide more open space adjacent to Associate Provost Shea’s offices.

o The Architecture Library installed a new Circulation Desk as well as a workstation for the Circulation Supervisor, Claudia Almeida.

o The Assistant to the Dean, Cindy Jones, managed key requests and building access during installation of the front doors for all partners in the Learning Commons.

Personnel actions: o Supported Mary Wu’s promotion in rank (awarded May, 2016) o Conducted Lindsey Gumb’s first year non-comprehensive reviewo Mentored newer staff, Lindsey Gumb, Adam Riccitelli, Chris Truszkowski, Megan Lessardo Hired two Learning Commons Desk monitors; conducted search for Library Operations Manager

(pending)o Accepted notice for 2 staff retirements in September—Beverly Dupere and Barbara Flanders

New Initiatives/Updates—Library:o Open Educational Resources (OER)—partnering with Center for Teaching and Learning and ID

to work with faculty to create OER in order to decrease student costs and support open access. (Lindsey Gumb (lead), Sue McMullen, Barbara Kenney, Heidi Benedict, John Schlinke, Mary Wu, Betsy Learned)

o Digital Scholarship—created a task force to study faculty demand and plan for possible digital scholarship projects; surveyed faculty and invited librarians from Providence College to advise. (Mary Wu (Chair), Betsy Learned, Sue McMullen, Barbara Kenney, Chris Truszkowski, Megan Lessard)

o Digital Repository—continued to promote the use of DOCS@RWU to CPC staff, including training for operation of the digital repository platform and informing the staff about new features. The usage reporting tools enable CPC to gather data showing who (geographically and socially) is downloading what project, and how frequently each project is downloaded. (Mary Wu)

o Electronic resources—with the transition to the new system Christine Fagan greatly expanded the e-book collections. JSTOR DDA books discovery program has been expanded from 3,000 titles to 21,412 titles. The Project Muse Books collection is also growing with 3,049 titles expected to be added during 2016 to the current collection of 11,888 titles. We are initiating a new film DDA plan through Kanopy that will provide streaming access to more than 26,000 films through Kanopy as well as Discovery. 

o Hosted librarians from Al-Akhawayn University in Morocco for a week of collaboration on library instruction, e-book purchasing models, and library leadership.

o Makerspace--Chris Truszkowski piloted a Makerspace two days a week in the spring semester with a total of 32 visitors.

New Initiatives/Updates—Instructional Designo Migration and upgrade of the Sakai/Bridges site to a new vendor.o Hosted five presentations for the Innovations in Teaching series.o Participated in the School of Continuing Studies Competency-Based Education (CBE) task force

which included researching and reviewing CBE vendors, and working with SCS program coordinators on adapting courses to a CBE model for the first CBE pilot in Fall 2016.

o Development of an online Faculty Learning Lab with interactive instructional materials on Bridges tools and navigation, communication tools, etc.

o Development of a New Student Orientation site with interactive tutorials and exercises to train students in the use of Bridges.

o Devised strategies to meet the Provost’s goal for having course syllabi available online in every RWU for-credit course; Achieved a 90 percent compliance rate for Fall 2015 and a 92 percent compliance for Spring 2016.

o Collaborated with Learning Commons’ partners to review and recommend a unified video asset management system that will serve the entire University community. The cost prohibited purchase.

o Shepherded the redesign of the Samsung Learning Experience space to a Faculty Learning Lab. Additional equipment was added including a digital mixer, computer and wireless microphone improving the quality of the ID team’s development of video tutorials and demonstrations and available for any faculty or staff member interested in video development.

o Collaborated with and supported the Open Educational Resources (OER) project coordinated by Lindsey Gumb supporting faculty who will work with their library liaison and the ID team to adopt OER materials for their Fall courses.

Cultural Programming and Community OutreachIn its fifth year, the partnership between the Writer-in-Residence and the University Libraries continues to flourish. Adam Braver and I successfully managed the programming and outreach described below, integrating student participation and collaboration with the Bristol community wherever possible. Together, we hosted and introduced the events.

o Talking-in-the-Library—endowed series featuring scholars and writers in many professional and academic fields of endeavor; 3 public talks were given each semester with one held at Rogers Free Library; partnering with Rogers Free on their Jane Bodell endowment targeted at discussions with writers

o Bermont Fellowship—endowed fellowship for fiction and creative nonfiction with a distinguished visiting writer; noted author Claire Messud led a workshop for students selected through a blind submission process. Partnered with Anthony Quinn Foundation and Rogers Free Library.

o Scholars at Risk—associated with a 3-credit project-based course engaging students in research/advocacy on global issues; Library’s digital repository archives the annual research output.

o John Howard Birss program—Adam Braver replaced Jim Tackach as Birss program leader. A new committee was formed; the program will be expanded to integrate faculty engagement and plans are underway for a Birss Scholars program to support undergraduate student fellows.

o Connections blog support—Connections is a library website that publishes articles about the library and Learning Commons. Student writers are engaged to contribute to the site, with Adam Braver as liaison between the library and the students. I serve as editor of the blog.

o Library staff assisted the RWU student community during snow and weather emergencies by keeping both libraries open during extreme weather events.

ExhibitsMain Library exhibits are both physical and virtual, and often both. They are curated by librarians and professional staff with assistance from support staff. The exhibits included:

o In Cold Blood annual John Howard Birss exhibit (curated by Christine Fagan) o RWU’s 60th anniversary exhibit and webpage (curated by Heidi Benedict)o Bill Rizzini Memorial webpage (curated by Heidi Benedict)o Alumnus historic newspaper exhibit (curated by Heidi Benedict)o Bristol Past and Present, selections from the photo exhibition by Stephan Brigidi

Architecture Library exhibits are curated by John Schlinke who also installs exhibits in FCAS display cases and maintains the SAAHP Faculty Publications exhibit in the entry corridor of SAAHP. The FCAS exhibits included:

o Images of Joseph Cornell sculptureso Images of drawings of the Plaza Hotel in New York, NY by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh.

Grant Activities

As Interim Dean, there were no opportunities this year to pursue grants. I hope to identify grant opportunities in the coming year, particularly related to Open Educational Resources, digital scholarship initiatives and space enhancements.

Collaboration across Schools and Administrative Units

As previously mentioned under Accomplishments, the library has actively collaborated with the Center for Teaching and Learning on the following initiatives:

Faculty Fellows Writing Workshop (Fall and Spring semesters—Barbara Kenney and Sue McMullen) Open Educational Resources (Lindsey Gumb and liaison librarians) (ongoing) Planning for Roger Seminar for fall 2016 (Barbara Kenney and Bob Shea)

Additional collaborations included: Contributed data to three program reviews: Communications and Media Studies, American Studies and

Criminal Justice. Lindsey Gumb and Barbara Kenney were embedded librarians in Don Lee’s ELI403 classes in spring

and fall. Lindsey worked with faculty and students in two CPC projects at the Herreshoff Museum. Mary Wu continued to provide copyright clearance, bibliography compilation, and other value-added

services to faculty during the collection process for submissions to the digital repository. Lindsey provided copyright assistance to faculty both in the University and the Law School.

Library faculty participated on the following RWU faculty committees: Lindsey Gumb, Library representative on the Faculty Senate Barbara Kenney, Honors Advisory Council

University Disciplinary Committee Sabbatical Review Committee

Susan McMullen, Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee General Education Curriculum Planning Committee Library liaison to the Community Partnerships Center

John Fobert, University Life Committee Mary Wu, Faculty Senate Academic Standards and Policies Subcommittee John Schlinke, University Faculty Review Committee Christine Fagan, FCAS Curriculum Committee

As Interim Dean I was a member of the following campus committees and working groups this past year: Deans Council, Technology Council, Foundation to Promote Scholarship and Teaching, Birss Committee, and RWUFA Contract Negotiations Support Team.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

- Elected Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect for the HELIN Consortium, 2016-17- Facilitator, Law School Library Strategic Planning Retreat, May, 2016- Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) Strategic Planning Committee, 2015-2017- ARLIS/NA, Leadership Training, March 2016- ARLIS/NA annual conference, March 2016- American Library Association, annual conference, June 2016- OCLC webinars for new Integrated Library System (bi-monthly)- Consultant to University of Massachusetts Amherst Library on the Learning Commons, fall, 2015.

BASIC METRICS

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

0100000200000300000400000500000600000700000800000

Annual Gate Counts

Annual building usage is holding steady, with many new partners in the building. With the installation of the new front doors, gate counts for this year could only be counted through May.

2009-2010 2010- 2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-20160

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Information Desk Queries

Info/Library Services Technology Research ConsultationsVirtual Queries Total

Since Fall 2014, with the co-location of the Information Services and Media Tech Desks in the Learning Commons, Information Desk queries have risen 26% and technology queries (to the Info Desk) have declined.

Group Study Rooms:

Usage of the three group study rooms in the Main Library has nearly doubled since 2014-15.  Room usage was at its highest in the months of December and April, which is concurrent with finals or semester long projects for each semester.  The total number of individual unique users increased by 119 users this year with a total of 440 for the year.  The group study room in the Architecture Library was booked 45 times during the fall 2015 semester and ten times during the spring 2016 semester.

2009-2010 2010- 2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-20170

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Research Consultations

Research consultations, largely requested by students as a result of library instruction, have decreased slightly.

1 2 3 4 50

2000400060008000

100001200014000160001800020000

13789 1427012815

15235

18142

Total E-Book usage

Total E-Book usage

Axis Title

Axis Title

A 19% increase in usage of e-books compared to last year. Usage has steadily increased over the past five years.

Total 2008-9

Total 2009-10

Total 2010-11

Total 2011- 12

Total 2012-13

Total 2013-14

Total 2014-15

Total 2015-16

0200000400000600000800000

10000001200000140000016000001800000

Database Searches & Article Requests

SearchesArticle Requests

Full text article requests are the most reliable way to understand how the library databases are being used. If we count all the full text article downloads (both from OneSearch and native aggregator databases) we see a slight 2.3% decrease in full text article requests over last year.

Interestingly, the total number of searches decreased 17.3% which appears to indicate that searches are becoming more efficient and less redundant.

Total 2013-14 Total 2014-15 Total 2015-160

20000400006000080000

100000120000140000160000180000

Full Text Fill Rate from Databases & Online Journal Packages

Total Article Requests from Journal PackagagesTotal Article Requests from Databases

Since the Library’s implementation of a Discovery tool we note a 12.7% increase in full text article fulfillment from online journal packages and a 14.9% decrease in full text fulfillment from aggregator databases. This appears to indicate an improvement in service in that the Discovery tool allows users direct full text access to articles in journal packages rather than through the native aggregator database.

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-160

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

ILL Borrowing Requests

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-160

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

ILL Lending Requests

We have had a 63% increase in ILL lending this year. As Bryant University, University of Rhode Island and Brown University have left the HELIN consortium, their requests are now coming in as interlibrary loan requests instead of a consortium request. Likewise, when we borrow from those respective libraries, we submit an interlibrary loan request.

Library Instruction:

The graph below represents the instruction class statistics from Fall of 2010 through Spring 2016, and shows a slight increase in classes over the 6-year period. The chart indicates which departments are requesting library instruction.

Fall '10

Spring '1

1Total

Fall '11

Spring '1

2Total

Fall '12

Spring '1

3Total

Fall '13

Spring '1

4Total

Fall '14

Spring '1

5Total

Fall '15

Spring '1

6Total

0

50

100

150

200

250

68 74

142

9465

159

80 69

149

77 79

156

10474

178

10985

194

Library Instruction Classes F10-Sp16

Classes by Discipline:

LS 1POLSC 1BIO 1FILM 1NAT 1LANG 2VARTS 2AMST 2ANTH 3JOUR 3IB 3EDU 3HIST 3AAH 4ENG 4ENGR 5PA 5CJS 5ARCH 5COMM 7ARCH 9MGMT 9COM 12CORE 13BUS 15ELI 41WTNG 55

Connections Blog:

The library’s newsletter/blog, Connections, (http://rwulibraryconnect.org) completed its first full year of publication. The blog team includes Adam Braver (with student writers), Megan Lessard, Hannah Goodall, Chris Truszkowski, and myself, as editor. The following statistics reflect the popularity of the blog. Page views spike whenever a newsletter is sent out, but people are still visiting at other times and are viewing more than just the main page.

Total page views: 5690Total users: 2961

University Archives:

Archives Reference and Research Services, 2015-2016

Number of Requests from:

Outside Researchers 14Alumni 2Students 14Faculty and Staff 13Administrative Offices 18

Advancement/Donor Relations 6Alumni Office 6Capital Projects 1Provost Office 2Other 1

Authors Collection 2Piranesi Prints 2TOTAL 63

DOCS@RWU Usage Statistics, July 1, 2015-June 24, 2016

This chart represents the locations of readers and numbers of items downloaded from the digital repository, July 1, 2015-June 24, 2016

Items downloaded:

Student Newspapers:The Quill: 3610The Messenger: 2734Hawks’ Eye: 2459Hawks’ Herald: 3970TOTAL: 12,773 downloads

E-books: 10,521 downloads (with 10,465 people viewing The United States Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 30, 1946)

TOTAL DOWNLOADS (for all items in Archives and Special Collections): 24,453

Note: For the Department of Instructional Design metrics, see their complete annual report.

LIBRARY GOALS FOR 2016-17

1. Fully complete the migration of the ILS to OCLC WMS and train staff in its use.2. Continue the deselection project to be completed by December, 2017.3. Complete the 2016-2019 Library Strategic Plan.4. Complete the gathering of evidence for the NEASC evidence center.5. Assess the success of the library’s involvement in teaching the Roger Seminar.6. Work with Bob Shea and Derek Maloney on space planning for 2016-17.7. Work with Lisa Raiola on funding for space enhancements.8. Work with Bob Shea on branding the Learning Commons.9. Continue to work with the HELIN Board on the future of the Consortium.10. Assess the need for library services at the Providence campus with Dean Scurry.11. Assess the success of the Open Educational Resources initiative.12. Pursue staff development opportunities for all library staff.13. Hire and train a Library Operations Manager.14. Reconfigure the two positions vacated by retirements in September, 2016.15. Pilot a digital scholarship project with the Web and Digital Services team.16. Initiate an Affordable Textbooks initiative.17. Work with Adam Braver on the reconfiguration of the Birss program.18. Continue to mentor new professional staff.19. Test digital asset management systems for purchase.

LONG-TERM GOALS (3-5 YEARS)

1. Reconfigure staffing roles and responsibilities as retirements occur.2. Engage more comprehensively with the Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning towards student

success and retention.3. Conduct a budget analysis and assessment to review how funds are expended in the library.4. Revise the library liaison model to engage with and support the university community.5. Adapt the information literacy framework to our instruction program.6. Prepare a building program for reconfiguring the second and third floors of the library building.

Note: For the Department of Instructional Design goals, see their complete annual report.