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Home > About the Library > Annual Report 2003-04


Peabody Library

Compiled by Sharon Gray Weiner, Director
September 14, 2004

Overview.

This has been an exciting year with the continued renovation of our beautiful Library building and further expansion of services. The support of Dean Benbow has resulted in a Library that is an architectural showpiece and a model for services and collaboration. An average of 8,800 people entered the library each month, which is more than triple the number of people who came to the library 2 years ago. The library's popularity increased as a place for study, group work, and meetings. The number of research consultations quadrupled from the previous year. This is an indication of the success of our internal referral system as well as of the staff in marketing our services to students and faculty. The number of attendees at library instruction programs more than doubled since last year. Students and faculty seemed to appreciate this structured approach to learning about information resources and how to effectively search them.

The Vanderbilt Census Information Center relocated from the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy to Peabody Library in January. Cyndi Taylor, the Director of the Center, creates demographic maps from data sources for clients who are preparing grant proposals, presentations, and publications. She guest lectured for many courses this year and gave workshops for community agencies about how to find and map data. Much of her work assists faculty and students in the departments of Human and Organization Development and Leadership, Policy, and Organization Studies, but clients in other Vanderbilt departments and in non-profit agencies throughout Tennessee also benefited from her expertise.

Planning.

We completed the 2003-06 Strategic Plan for Peabody Library. Review of the plan at the end of the 2003-04 fiscal year indicated that we have completed 40 of our 58 (69%) of our objectives. The Heard Library system began a strategic planning process. It speaks highly of our staff that six of our ten staff members were asked to serve on its task forces.

Members of this year's Library Advisory Committee were: Dr. Ann Neely (Chair), Mark Bandas, Bettie Parsons Barger, Kristen Closson, Dr. Stephen Heyneman, Ralph Knapp, Dr. Kim Paulsen, Marisa Pelczar, Dr. Georgene Pion, Dr. Isaac Prilleltensky, and Sharon Gray Weiner. The Committee met three times to discuss and advise on the Library renovation project, budget and fundraising, ways to improve integration of the Library with the Peabody departments, Information Commons planning, the residential colleges, writing consultation for students, and implementing a document delivery service for Peabody faculty.

Members of the Curriculum Lab Task Force were Lee Ann Lannom (Chair), Dr. Sally Barton-Arwood, Dr. Tisha Bennett, and Dr. Camille Holt. They reviewed levels of staffing, budget, and resources at peer institutions; examined NCATE accreditation requirements and Association of College and Research Libraries guidelines for Curriculum Labs; and surveyed the needs and expectations of the faculty in the departments of Teaching and Learning and Special Education. Their recommendations were that:

As a result , the Lab will continue to be maintained at Peabody Library and will be renamed. We incorporated plans for two group study rooms on the first floor in the renovation project. A Curriculum Design Studio was equipped with an Ellison LetterMachine, die cuts, computer and color laser printer, and supplies. The Learning Commons will be completed in the fall. Internal resources were re-allocated to double the Curriculum Lab budget.

The Test Collection Task Force determined what tests the library should purchase, developed a policy on access to the tests, and recommended that older tests be kept in a historical archive in the library. Members of the Task Force were: Leslie Boyd (Chair), Dr. Patti van Eys, Lee Ann Lannom, Dr. Dan Reschly, and Dr. Bahr Weiss.

The Information Commons (IC) Task Force was formed. Members were Chris Benda, Leslie Boyd, Jody Combs, Dr. William Corbin, Cindy Frank, Ralph Knap, Eliott Mitchell, Brian Smokler, and Sharon Weiner (Chair). By the end of the academic year, Dr. Stephen Heyneman, Dr. Ann Neely, and Sharon Weiner had visited the Information Commons at Indiana University and Sharon had attended an ALA continuing education course on planning for the IC. After discussion and investigation, the Task Force and the Library Advisory Committee both agreed that the concept was one that Peabody Library should adopt. Planning for the IC will continue in the fall.

Students from Dr. Woody Caines' "Strategic Planning" course worked with Leslie Boyd to develop a plan for how Peabody Library can support students once the Freshmen Commons is located on the Peabody campus.

Staff.

The Library staff are to be commended for their hard work, flexibility, openness to change, and positive attitudes this year. They accomplished a great deal and their energy and excellent customer service impressed all who had contact with them. Patrons commented often on their friendliness and welcoming attitude. Staff members at the end of the fiscal year were: Chris Benda, Leslie Boyd, Bryan Campbell, Bill Dwyer, Leigh Gostowski, Lara Beth Henderson, Lee Ann Lannom, Stacy Owens, Cyndi Taylor, and Sharon Gray Weiner. We welcomed new staff members Leigh Gostowski, Lara Beth (Henderson) Lehman, Jennifer Pitts, and Cyndi Taylor. Cheryl McClure and Jennifer Pitts left the library this year. Mimi Franke, Jessica Bearden, and Lynn Hampton were our student assistants who graduated.

Facility.

With approval to proceed with renovation of the first and third floors of the library, we now have a most impressive facility for use of our students and faculty. A terrace and sculpture garden were added onto the side of the building. A café, 3 individual study rooms, 2 group study rooms, and a large comfortable reading room were added to the first floor. Photos from the University Archives were framed and hung on the walls, honoring the rich history of the College. The third floor was painted, carpeted, and had new lighting installed. The Learning Commons will serve as an integrated and collaborative work environment for students as well as a computer classroom. The Curriculum Materials Center was extensively weeded and relocated to Room 307, which has new shelving that accommodates the unusually-shaped materials. We developed policies on use of library rooms and charges for non-Peabody College users in anticipation of heavy use of the library spaces for events.

Three new photocopiers were installed. We acquired an HP LaserJet printer as a result of the closing of the Learning Technology Center. An unfortunate overflow in the third floor restroom caused more than $7,000 damage to 170 of the books in the collection, some of which were irreplaceable.

Events.

The Library was the elegant setting for the Peabody Book and Authors Party on October 10. Dean Benbow recognized twenty-seven faculty for publishing 40 books between 2001 and 2003 as part of the Reunion festivities. An elegant champagne reception with classical guitar music followed the program.

The undergraduate students on campus organized the annual birthday party for George Peabody in the Library in February. Many guests enjoyed the celebration. The Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organization Studies used the Grand Reading Room for its reception for graduating students.

Visitors to the Library this year included librarians from across the country during the Special Libraries Association conference that was held in Nashville, library science students from Trevecca Nazarene University, and librarians from the University School of Nashville.

Outreach.

Sharon Weiner sent 2,300 letters and response cards to re-connect with alumni of the Peabody College Library Science program that closed in 1989. An impressive ten percent of the alumni responded with cards, letters, and emails. Those alumni who live in middle Tennessee were sent a special invitation to the "Book Party" during 2003 Reunion weekend.

We changed the name of the library newsletter to Library Columns and produced four issues. This is one of our most successful means of communicating with Peabody faculty and administrators.

The library liaisons attended a lunch for Peabody faculty interested in diversity topics that was sponsored by the Office of Research Enhancement. Sharon Weiner gave a presentation about the library at a faculty meeting of the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organization Studies. Bill Dwyer gave a presentation on course reserves at a faculty meeting of the Department of Psychology and Human Development. Cyndi Taylor gave a presentation about the Census Information Center at faculty meetings of the Departments of Human Organization Development; Leadership, Policy and Organization Studies; and Psychology and Human Development.

Budget.

Our operating budget decreased by 3.3%. The overhead charge to Peabody College decreased by 4%. The charge for storing materials at the Library Annex increased by 3.4% and our interlibrary loan (ILL) charges increased by 15%. The increase in the ILL charge is an indicator that the ability of the Vanderbilt collections to meet the teaching and research needs of the faculty and students may be decreasing. The cost of the library per Peabody student is $592, an increase of $1.00 from the previous year.

To compensate for the decreased funds, we sought ways to obtain additional funding through sources outside of the operating budget:

$883 Book sale revenue used to purchase materials for the collection
$100 Sale of library notecards
$6,000 Heard Library to purchase materials on community development and organization development
$800 Proceeds from Scholastic Book Fair for Youth Collection
$2,490 Heard Reassessment funding for backfiles of Structural Equation Modeling
$25,000 Peabody College support for for paper and toner cartridges while planning for pay-for-printing

Services.

Usage of almost all of our services and resources increased this year, in some cases, quite dramatically. The number of research consultation increased by 331% since last year. The number of reference questions increase by 24% since last year. Our gate count increased by 53% since last year.

To create a more integrated computing environment for the students, we installed Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint on nine of the public workstations on the main floor. Peabody Technology provided 12 new I-books for students to check-out.

We created the following new Web pages:

We reduced the number of hours for which patrons need a VU card to enter the building. The card is needed for access to the building after 9 p.m. only. Previously, patrons needed their VU card to enter the library after 7 p.m. and on weekends. Due to data on when patrons use the library, we reduced the library hours by five.

Curriculum Support.

The Curriculum Support Team progressed in its mission to support teaching at Peabody. The Library hosted or taught 66 classes, an increase of 74% over last year. The number of participants increased by 151%. The staff led 19 tours of the library for 1,136 participants. In the fall, 13 workshops were offered, with topics such as: Introduction to EndNote, APA citation style, and Tools of Academic Integrity. Ninety-one people attended the programs. Library orientation programs were held for graduate students and international students. Librarians participated in the Peabody College orientations for new faculty and for new graduate students.

Course reserves were processed by a team of library staff who were cross-trained and assigned to work with one of the Peabody departments. The staff scanned 20,803 pages for 155 new courses for electronic reserves (E-Res). 171 items for 49 new courses were processed for print/media reserves.

Collections.

The amount we received for purchasing library books, journals, and electronic resources decreased by 5% since 2002-03. By placing the highest priority on purchase requests from faculty and students, we were able to purchase all the materials that were requested. The number of charge-outs decreased by 19%. The number of interlibrary loan requests increased by 38%. The Dean approved our request for additional funding for materials for the next fiscal year based on data collected on costs and publication rate of materials related to Peabody faculty subject interests.

Using information compiled from individual meetings between the director and more than 70 faculty, we compiled a list of teaching and research subject areas for Peabody College. We determined which subject areas are covered by other Vanderbilt libraries and which need to be addressed by Peabody Library.

Extensive weeding of the collection helped to address crowding in our book stacks and to eliminate materials that are no longer relevant to Peabody faculty and students. We sent approximately 600 bound journal volumes per month to the Library Annex. We plan to keep the collection well-weeded and relevant to the research interests at Peabody so that charges for storage of materials at the Annex remain stable.

The staff completed an inventory and shift of the journal collection. We cancelled 57 serial and periodical publications that were no longer in scope or were not needed and used the resulting savings to institute subscriptions to new journals requested by faculty.

We received a one-year free trial subscription to "Neurodome," a database of literature on psychology and the neurosciences.

Donations:

Professional Activities.

The staff continued their professional activities and skills development. They participated in a summer planning retreat. Staff attended the annual and midwinter meetings of the American Library Association, annual Special Libraries Association meeting, SLA "Leadership Summit," the ARL conference "Living the Future 5: Strategically Striving and Surviving," and the library instruction conference LOEX. Leslie Boyd served as an officer of the Nashville Library Club. Sharon Weiner served as President-Elect of the Special Libraries Association Southern Appalachian Chapter. Bill Dwyer was elected Vanderbilt Staff Council representative. Leslie Boyd, Lee Ann Lannom, and Sharon Weiner served on ALA committees.

Dennis Clark, Director of the Music Library and Sharon Weiner presented the "Service Quality 101" workshop to 32 Heard Library staff.

Library staff toured several area libraries: Fisk University, Middle Tennessee State University, Nashville Public Library, Trevecca Nazarene University, Volunteer State Community College, and Western Kentucky University.

Online courses provided a convenient and flexible way to learn. Staff participated in the following courses: "Assessing Student Learning Outcomes" (ACRL 3-week online course), What's New with Children's Books" (U. Wisconsin), and "Effective Collaboration for Campus-wide Information Literacy" (ACRL online course).

Since students and faculty in the departments of Human and Organization Development and Leadership, Policy, and Organization Studies use resources in Peabody and Walker Management Libraries, we worked with the Walker staff to find ways to collaborate. We invited staff from Walker Management Library to participate in our summer staff development series. We saw videos on customer service, time management, and dealing with difficult people. We attended programs on ACORN, patron inquiry, government documents and reference resources. All agreed that it was fun to get to know each other while learning.

Peabody staff were heavily involved on Heard Library and other university committees:

Heard Library:

Peabody College:

Priorities for 2004-05.

 

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Last updated September 14, 2004.