Langsdale Library
Annual Report 2014
2014
Annual Report
Langsdale Library University of Baltimore
Design/Edit
Adam Shutz
table of contents
1.
Letter from the Director
2.
Change
4.
Community
5.
Access and Services
3.
Learning
1.
Letter from the Director Langsdale experienced major changes in 2014.
ment documents.
In May, we moved into our temporary home in the Learning Commons. In the nine months prior, much of our staff spent preparing for the move by consolidating the print collections and planning for new student and staff spaces. We converted scores of print periodical subscriptions to online subscriptions and withdrew a large portion of our printed govern-
Also, while getting ready for our move, we began tagging items in the collection for a Radio Frequency Identification system. This system will allow us to provide self-checkout for users and will improve inventory control. Additionally, we initiated mobile printing in Langsdale for students on the go. And, as part of a University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI) project, we initiated a demand-driven acquisition program for e-books, offering users access to tens of thousands of digital texts. Langsdale constantly strives to better serve our patrons, so in 2014 we implemented a number of new services, including a redesign of email notifications for both Interlibrary Loan and general collection circulation. The library actively pursued University, private and federal grants during the year; we received four internal grants for new technologies and digital humanities projects. Langsdale was also selected for inclusion in the national ACRL Assessment in Action project. Reference and Instruction librarians developed a mission for the overall information literacy program and three librarians along with writing faculty and the Center for Excellence in Learning Teaching and Technology (CELTT) participated in the Assessment in Action project. Their work has been used as
an example of best practices in assessment across the University. Furthermore, Special Collections has expanded access by redesigning their archival collection guides and completing a box level inventory of all textual materials. The department planned and began implementation of a new online archival management tool, making our collection of rare and unique materials easier for researchers to search and access. We were fortunate to hire Siobhan Hagan as our new Audiovisual Librarian to develop a program for our WMAR and WJZ Television collections; her first initiative was to partner with the Internet Archive to host and stream local materials. We were also very pleased to partner with the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Center of Baltimore (GLCCB) and obtained its organizational records and the full archive of its monthly periodical, Gay Life. As part of ongoing efforts to engage in discussions and programs with the campus and local community we supported the Baltimore Cultural Arts Project, curated online exhibit of Model Cities Program, and hosted a showing of the film, All the Kings Horses. We continued to celebrate scholarship in the UB community with our biennial Faculty Authors event and the Inspired Discoveries Symposium of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works. Langsdale faculty and staff continue to be leaders in the Maryland library community with six librarians and staff serving as officers in state and national organizations, eight librarians presenting seventeen sessions at twelve state or regional conferences, and four librarians publishing articles and book chapters.
2.
Change
It’s no easy task to move a library, but in 2014 that’s exactly what we did in preparation for a complete renovation of the old Langsdale building.
In the meantime, Langsdale has temporarily moved to the newly redesigned Learning Commons, a space that allows us to increase both the number of computer workstations and group-study areas available to students. Almost the entire second floor of the new library is dedicated to both cutting edge technology and collaboration. Not only have we increased the access to digital periodical collections, we have also increased student access to e-books through increased acquisitions of popular titles, and a demand-driven e-book collection (think: e-books on-demand). In addition to physical changes, Langsdale continues to adapt to our students’ and faculty’s needs by creating user-friendly, online search
tools to bring our collections quickly and easily to both researchers and the community. It’s now easier than ever to search our specialized collections, such as the UB Fraud Library, our archival collections–including our audio-visual collections, which are now in the process of being completely digitized–and our collection of works produced by UB faculty and alumni. And, with ease-of-use in mind, Langsdale has redesigned its email notification system to alert patrons both of books due and of Interlibrary loans ready for pick-up. Langsdale continues to adapt and change with the times and the university.
The new building design for Langsdale Library allows for more light and efficient work spaces for students, staff, and faculty alike.
Design firm Behnisch Architekten of Stuttgart, Germany won the bid for the new building. This is the same firm that created the new, stunningly modern John and Frances Angelos Law Center for UB. The new Langsdale Library space will parallel the bright, open features of the Angelos Law Center and will also be a LEED certified building, keeping in pace with UB’s commitment to being a green institution.
From Special Collections archive: Robert Breck Chapman Collection
3.
Learning
As always, student learning is a priority at Langsdale.
But the librarians here understand this mission is not simply aiding students in finding research materials (which, of course, continues to be a priority). They advocate, throughout the university, for information literacy programs that empower students to do better research on their own in order to find sources that best help them with their work and academic success. Throughout the year, our faculty has worked with both freshman and sophomore writing classes to improve students’ ability to assess and integrate sources in their writing. To this end, three of our research librarians conducted a comprehensive survey on the results of the university’s information literacy programs, presenting their findings at national conferences and using the conclusions of the survey to improve writing and learning at the university. To further encourage students to use the many resources Langsdale has to offer, our staff and faculty created a series of YouTube videos to both introduce themselves and the services they can provide to students. Similarly, our staff has worked with numerous professors, throughout the university’s colleges, to promote student-created displays that highlight the students’ interests and creativity, as well as the resources at Langsdale.
67,608 patrons accessed reserve materials
+1.5%
Librarians reached almost 2000
students in the classroom and reference librarians, archivists and circulation staff answered more than 31,000 reference and research questions for users.
992,516 database searches
Students, faculty and staff depend on our resources, and we pride ourselves on providing materials aligned with UB’s curriculum and research needs.
+21%
Collections alone do not support scholars;
library services and instruction are critical to the library’s mission of being an active partner in teaching, learning and scholarship at the University of Baltimore.
Langsdale continues
in its mission to aid in the cultural and intellectual life of the Baltimore City, both by hosting events and collecting the city’s history for preservation and study.
4.
Community
Last year, Langsdale sponsored many fiction and poetry readings, as well as events such as Inspired Discoveries, which is focused on student research. In addition, our Special Collections Department arranged a screening of the newly released film All the King’s Horses, a documentary centered on segregation of Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in the early 1960’s. Langsdale is committed to collecting, preserving and making available all of the many specialized collections related to the city of Baltimore and the surrounding community. To this end, the library has worked to preserve and digitize collections of well-known sources of city history (such as our WMAR and WBAL news footage collection), and less well-known but equally important archives, such as the newly acquired records of the LGBT Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland, which include a nearly exhaustive collection of their monthly publication, Gay Life. And in an effort to get these sources into the hands of the community, Langsdale has begun to fully digitize and upload these rare collections to websites that are easily accessible. To note one such example: our Special Collections Dept. has digitized over 10,000 beautiful photos that document the Model Cities program, many of which have been uploaded to Flickr.
5.
Access and Services
107,559 visits this year
71,001 In 2014 we increased access to our
resources by converting another 67 journals, previously in print to online access, increasing our number of full-text journals to more than 35,000.
We also participated in the USM consortial purchase of e-books, making another 24,000 available to students, faculty and staff. Special Collections restructured more than 130 archival collections guides to promote online access to their materials.
With an increased building usage rate of 202% since 2010, it is obvious that Langsdale is continuing to acheive our goal of being an active partner in learning and research for the University.
studied in the library
12,170
used group study rooms
average patron visits:
556
per weekday
S. Michael Kiel has been published three times over 2013-2014 and serves as Secretary for the Maryland Information Literacy Exchange.
Catherine Johnson has presented on topics such as social media and information literacy skills five times in 2014, including at the American Library Associa- tion’s annual conference.
Learn more about our faculty and their dedication to scholarship at
Langsdale faculty are not only passionate about student learning, but they take pride in their work as scholars as well. They continue to learn, grow, and challenge their selves by staying involved in conferences, publishing, and professional service.
http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/uploads/documents/facultyscholarship.pdf
Betty Landesman has been published three times over 2013-2014 and presented on best practices at the 2014 Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference in Austin, Texas.
By the Numbers
Library Director: Lucy Holman Associate Director: Jeffrey Hutson
Head of Reference: Michael Schochet
Head of Digital Services: William Helman
Langsdale Library University of Baltimore 1415 Maryland Ave. Baltimore, MD 21201
Head of Technical Services and Content Management: Betty Landesman
langsdale.ubalt.edu 410.837.4260
GSCW Executive Director: John Mealey
Book and Document Delivery Supervisor: Carol A. Vaeth
Circulation Supervisor: Tammy Taylor