Bates College: Information and Library Services > About ILS

Annual Report 2005-2006

accomplishments | projects & initiatives | statistics

Information and Library Services staff took a leadership role in developing and implementing some significant improvements in campus information technology and library services this year. Together with leaders in the Dean of Students Office and the Office of the Registrar and Academic Systems, and with participants from all over the campus, we have been planning a new way to schedule spaces and events. This team completed the initial implementation of the R25 scheduling software in the Spring. Though use of the system is just beginning to grow, it promises to provide a way to reduce duplication of effort and overscheduling of campus events. Members of ILS are working with staff in Alumni and Parent Programs and in Advancement Services to implement a new online community to connect alumni, parents and friends of the College with each other and with Bates people, replacing BatesNet.

Two major initiatives in library services are well underway. We received a planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to work with the libraries at Colby and Bowdoin Colleges to plan to build library collections in a cooperative way. All three colleges have experienced a very high degree of user satisfaction with the extensive system of interlibrary borrowing and lending we have developed. We expect that a plan to build the collections in collaboration with each other will increase the depth of the collections by reducing unnecessary duplication, and increase user satisfaction at the same time. This year CBB Libraries worked with three Massachusetts libraries (Wellesley and Williams Colleges and Northeastern University) to create NExpress. NExpress is an interlibrary lending system much like the MaineCat system used to link CBB and other Maine libraries. In the first year, use of NExpress has become an essential tool for students and faculty at Bates. A quick look at the year-end statistics for interlibrary borrowing reveals that Bates’s borrowing of books more than doubled over the previous year. These new systems allow us to accomplish this expanded service efficiently, with no additional staff. In addition, we have been working with NExpress colleagues to develop a more efficient way to process requests for journal articles and other so-called “non-returnables.” Initial testing of this system has been completed, with predictable complications and some promising results.

We also made some significant advances in developing both service points and underlying infrastructure for ILS services. Working with members of the faculty and the Dean of Faculty’s Office, we completed planning for the Bates College Imaging Center, a new facility in Coram Library designed to support research and teaching methodologies that rely on high quality visual output devices, database-generated images, and related technologies. With funding from a number of agencies and ongoing support from the College, this center will dramatically improve our ability to support a number of disciplines, including chemistry, bioinformatics, photography and other visual arts, and any of the disciplines using geographic information systems (GIS). Related planning was completed to provide for increased support for multimedia and motion picture technologies. The building programs of a new dining commons and residence hall allowed us to begin to implement the master plan for network and telecommunications infrastructure, a plan developed in concert with the campus master plan. With the overall goal of improving redundancy, fault tolerance and reliability of the campus network, this plan includes features that have been incorporated into the building planning, including a new “main” computer room in the dining hall and emergency generators in both the dining hall and the residential complex. Our strategic work with members of the faculty, staff members from Physical Plant and the Office of the Registrar and Academic Systems to improve classroom environments continued, with such improvements as new technology, carpet, furniture or lighting in more than ten classrooms (see the summary at: http://www.bates.edu/x136077.xml).

Computing staff completed upgrades to the Banner software, implementing two major version changes (Banner 7.1 and 7.2) in rapid succession. We also completed a much-needed upgrade to the e-mail system, moving to a modern server and file storage system that provides much more robust and sustainable access for all users, and standardizing faculty and staff e-mail clients to a single recommended client (Mozilla Thunderbird) that offers the file access and security features we expect Bates people to use. We are particularly grateful for the cooperation of all Bates users in the e-mail upgrade, as it required attention and change from every user on campus.

We continue to develop a policy framework for expanded electronic services, including copyright and privacy policies and programs, intellectual property policies, and copyright compliance. We developed new guidelines [http://abacus.bates.edu/ils/policies/copyrightGUIDELINES.html] for copyright compliance for course reserves and the course management system (WebCT), and reviewed them with the Library Committee and the Information Services Advisory Committee, with faculty department and program chairs, and with area coordinators. In a related development, we worked with the Dean of Faculty’s Office to transfer responsibility for preparing course packs to the Library, and to take on the more general responsibility for assisting members of the College community to obtain copyright permissions when they are needed.

These are only a few of the significant accomplishments of the year. We are fortunate that Bates is a place that values improvements in efficiency and is highly tolerant of change. We are also fortunate that the curriculum of the College requires students to utilize information in all formats and the technologies required to use them. The ILS staff is extraordinarily ambitious in its efforts to support and enhance the work of students, faculty and staff in this demanding environment. We are pleased that members of the College community are appreciative of our work. Below are some of the other highlights of this year’s work.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Eugene L. Wiemers
Vice President for Information and Library Services and Librarian

September 2006

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Accomplishments 2005-2006

User Services

 

Collections

 

Technology

 

Campus Planning and Infrastructure Improvements

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Projects and Initiatives for 2006-2007

User Services

 

Collections

 

Technology

 

Campus Planning and Infrastructure Improvements

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