Following approval of the Library/IT Fee in Spring 2007, the University Library made a commitment to identify projects and programs supported by fee monies that would directly support students. Projects approved for funding in 2007-08 were designed to directly address student concerns expressed in the Library's Undergraduate Student Survey (2005), the Library's Graduate and Professional Student Survey (2004), in meetings of the University Librarian's Student Advisory Committee, and in meetings between Library faculty and members of the Provost's Student Tuition Advisory Board. Our students spoke, and the Library listened.
We are happy to present the following Library/IT Fee Projects for 2007-08:
The number-one concern expressed by students was the lack of a 24-hour Library facility on the
Urbana campus. Beginning in Fall 2007, the
Grainger Engineering Library has been
open
24 hours a day, 5 days a week. A huge success, the Grainger Library averaged 1,000 users
throughout overnight hours during this time. Following a Fall 2007 experiment with a 24-hour "study
lobby," the
Undergraduate
Library began a similar
24/5 schedule in Spring 2008; weekend
hours also were added to the Undergraduate Library schedule. Thanks to Library/IT Fee monies, we
have been able not only to provide increased access to Library facilities and resources but also to
hire staff who provide core Library services.
Students respond to 24-hour libraries in the Daily Illini
#160;
As much as students tell us they want more hours to visit the Library, they also tell us they want more content available 24/7 from wherever they are. Digital content is available anytime and anywhere, supporting the immediate needs of twenty-first century students and scholars. Support provided by the Library/IT Fee monies permitted the Library to increase digital access to the material needed to support teaching, learning, and research on the Urbana campus and beyond. Thanks to Library/IT Fee monies, we have been able to expand our electronic reserves program, purchase large packages of new material, such as the Springer eBook package, and acquire new digital backfiles in targeted fields in the social sciences, physical sciences, and life sciences.
The Undergraduate Library is the most heavily-used Library on the Urbana campus, serving as a hub for Library and campus services for undergraduates and the faculty who teach them. In addition to increasing the number of hours that Undergrad is open, the Library/IT Fee also has allowed us to begin planning for major improvements to the facility. Beginning in Spring 2008, Undergraduate Library faculty and staff have joined with the Office of Library Facilities to plan for the continued renovation and renewal of the Undergraduate Library and its space and furnishings. Students returning in Fall 2008 will be treated to an enhanced service environment and new furniture. As importantly, we also have begun work with others on the Urbana campus to plan for long-desired electrical upgrades to the Undergraduate Library that will allow for better use of information technology and better support for student use of laptop computers, mobile technology, and more. Thanks to Library/IT Fee monies, we are able to plan an Undergraduate Library that will meet student needs both for today and for tomorrow!
Beginning in 2006, and in collaboration with the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, the University Library committed to creating a new approach to Undergraduate Library services through the Undergraduate Library Learning Commons. Through its learning commons approach, the Undergraduate Library provides flexible space, information technology, student support, and programming designed collaboratively by librarians and other campus providers of services to undergraduates. It also serves as the hub for innovative Library programming, including Gaming Night. Thanks to Library/IT Fee monies, we are able to increase, enhance, and refresh the technologies available to support teaching and learning on campus and to provide resources and support available in no other campus library.
The Library is committed to supporting teaching and learning on campus. Our librarians teach over 1,200 classes and workshops every year - helping students learn about the resources we make available for their research as well as how to apply critical thinking skills to the selection of information resources and how to effectively present information in support of academic goals. Like others on campus, though, we have struggled with space. Thanks to the Library/IT Fee, we will be able to build a technology-enhanced instructional lab in the Main Library. This lab will support not only our own instructional efforts but also will provide a space in which students, classroom faculty, and Library faculty can come together to integrate Library resources (print and digital) into the teaching and learning process.
Over the past 18 months, the Library has taken part in national and international efforts to build digital library collections. In partnership with the Open Content Alliance, CIC libraries, and search engine giant Google, the Library launched its Illinois Harvest Portal to provide digital access to the riches of its collections - in its first year, digital texts were downloaded over 50,000 times! Thanks to Library/IT Fee monies, we have been able to make an institutional commitment to building with our CIC colleagues a Shared Digital Repository, which will eventually house the contents of over 10,000,000 volumes of text from some of the world's greatest collections.
University LibraryFor comments on this page contact: Scott Walter
Last modified by: Robert Slater on 3/12/08