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Looking Forward

Since vacating Thompson Library for its renovation, the Collection Awareness Unit has been exploring strategies and processes that can be used to increase awareness in the University Community of the services that are made available by Subject Librarians and by specialized departments in The Ohio State University Libraries.

The Collection Awareness Unit Head, in charge of Project Coordination, originally reported to the Collections Coordinator and received instruction and support at that point. As of the Autumn Quarter of 2008, the Collection Awareness Unit Head has been transferred to new supervision and reports to the FYE / Instruction Librarian under the Teaching and Learning Department of the OSU Libraries. The Collection Awareness Unit also works in collaboration with the Communications Office of the OSU Libraries Administrative services, and the Libraries IT Division. From the point of Project Coordination all of the projects in the Collection Awareness Unit are organized and supervised to meet the needs of the Libraries and the University Community.

MANDATE

Central to the functions of the Collection Awareness Unit's mandate is the development of collaborative interaction between the OSU Libraries and University departments, professional organizations and student organizations. This collaborative effort is the backbone of project development and brings these departments and organizations into the Libraries as participants in the Libraries activities.

Planning includes exploring, researching and developing project potentialities, recruiting collaboration with Library and non Library University groups and departments who may be researching the topic to be featured in a project, selecting of library materials to be featured in conjunction, creating attractive elements, and arranging elements in virtual sequence or in a display space with the use of models and flow designs.

In the Thompson Library setting there will be several large areas for rotating displays, and numerous places for small point of interest displays. (Appendix) There will also be spaces in other campus libraries where small displays may be established. Along with display development is the creation of promotional materials such as Campus Area Bus Service (CABS) bus placards advertising Subject Librarians, and Library Services.

The Collection Awareness Unit is not intended to take the place of the Libraries IT Department in the development of web pages for Subject Librarians, but we have retained student assistants in the past who were available to help update web pages for Subject Librarians on an as needed basis. We currently work in computer based media to help us research and develop new ideas and exploit new electronic and virtual media as devices for outreach to the University Community.

Special assignments such as the update and redesign of the "International Collections Brochure," and the "Chart of Experts by College" are designed to increase awareness of the services that the Libraries have to offer, and are an integral part of the mandate of the Libraries Collection Awareness Unit.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

Project Development for each project follows a process of gathering ideas; assessing and evaluating feasibility; researching information related to each idea for accuracy and detail of information, and for logistics of presentation; implementation of the project; and final presentation.

The Collection Awareness Unit Head is responsible for project oversight and coordination. In an ideal world project implementation would be enabled by Collection Awareness Staff, approved and delegated by the Unit Head. In the present difficult economic climate with limited funding, the primary responsibility must lie with the Unit Head, and projects must be implemented through departmental collaboration. Along with these responsibilities the Unit Head develops extra library collaboration with faculty, departmental, and professional groups on campus to provide a display presence or to take part in Collection Awareness activities.

Student workers can be of great help in processing Library materials for display and for developing collaborations with student groups on campus. These students can be employed in Library departments already in place to performing these functions. The creation of promotional materials and graphic display elements can be produced in the Communication Office by the Libraries' Graphic Artist in collaboration with Collection Awareness.

Students have been employed in the past for virtual projects and were supervised by the Unit head, but owing to the great need for continuity in some of the major virtual projects much of the work suffers because of the comings and goings of student employees, over the course of a project's life with several hands working against the efforts of each other.

Our very real need has been for a permanent staffer with professional computer based media experience who can supervise student assistants and maintain project continuity as projects evolve. If left to the transient attentions of student workers, projects with long term development processes will suffer from too many hands not aware of the work that precedes them. This function of the Collection Awareness Unit may be assisted by the Libraries' IT Division. Using their professional staff and their student employees will greatly enhance the continuity of virtual projects.

Work space requirements involve appropriate space and furnishings to allow the creation and development of display elements before they are placed in the exhibit spaces. This requires office space for the Unit Head, a computer work station, at least one work table, and area for staging displays, an access point for easily moving display elements to and from their display venues, and several carts and dollies for moving display elements.

The "wish list" for the Collection Awareness Unit comprises these things:

THE RENOVATED THOMPSON (MAIN) LIBRARY

In order to acquire a better idea of the possibilities offered for the development of patron awareness of services and opportunities afforded to them in the newly renovated Thompson Library, the Unit Head of Collection Awareness took a tour of the building still under construction. She looked at the structure with concerns for display and event possibilities and to determine how spaces could be utilized for the optimum of generating interest in various aspects of library services, and for opening opportunities to invite the campus community to use the Library to share information with the entire University Community.

This approach that the Collection Awareness Unit is proposing to develop is in keeping with a third millennium image of libraries as portals of information. Central to the ideals of this future design is the concept of space as function, and to make use of the environment as a teaching tool and as a communications device that enthralls the interest of the user of that space.

From an Environmental Design standpoint the newly renovated building poses a number of challenges. There is an inherent inflexibility in the building's design that will limit opportunities from a display development point of view, and from the floor plans we had anticipated a good deal of that understanding prior to touring the building itself. This doesn't mean that we can't work with the space. To the contrary, we can maximize what potential exists and gradually test different possibilities as we get used to the space.

Drawing from her Environmental Design background, the Collection Awareness Unit Head can see numerous problems that will arise for certain functions in the building, but the public spaces have a wide range of potential for experimentation, and may become a canvas for future development. Issues that we will need to address are use of the flat screen monitors which will necessitate development of the Virtual Projects side of the plans for Collection Awareness, and to see how we can best utilize the planned display cases with an option of moving beyond such restricted display potential. This is where innovation and experimentation are primary to developing potential for bringing greater participation in the use of the newly renovated space by departments and professional organizations on campus and in the greater Columbus Community, as well as interesting student groups in displaying their passions and possibilities.

In Thompson there are scheduled to be 33 display venues:

Floor Dbl Sided Display with Rods & Pockets Open Shelving Sections 84H Open Shelving Sections 42H Glass Display Case, 72w, 38h, 20d Glass Display Case, 72w, 77h, 17d Antique Oak Display Cases
Ground 2
1 1
2 6 4 2
3 8 3
4
5
6 1
7
8 1
9
10 1
11 4
Ttl's 2 8 9 4 6 4 33
112ft Shelving Length 27ft Shelving Length Total Venues in THO

Each of these venues will need to be filled, and as class quarters change the displays in these venues will need to be rotated out or to different locations. This gives us opportunities to work with Subject Librarians and campus groups to fill these display units and shelves, as well as to celebrate activities and opportunities in the Libraries.

COLLABORATION IN HOUSE

Previous experimentation has been done in a relative vacuum with all efforts confined to the Collection Awareness Unit itself. This phase has given a relatively general idea of the sorts of things that could be accomplished and what might be considered in a "best of times" scenario.

It has ignored one major potential, and one major flaw. The flaw is generated by working in a vacuum and creates duplication of effort. The potential is to coordinate different and disparate resources in the OSU Libraries to collect data and utilize it for several projects in efficient and creative ways with collaborative departmental relationships that become more than the sum of their parts.

A currently proposed project is to create brochures for each of the Subject Librarians highlighting their individual resources and opportunities for patrons. The Collection Awareness Unit is also developing a "Library Introduction" program (based upon and expanded from Franklin University's "Library in a Box") introducing students to the Libraries, and acquainting each student to their Subject Specialist through electronic media and across different presentation platforms such as in library flat screen presentations, pod casting and web casting, and that will be adaptable to future media as new information delivery methods become available. Both of these projects will require much of the same information about each subject, and the Specialist providing that expertise. At the same time, the Information Technology Division is developing web and "Carmen" based resources that require the same information, and the Communication's Office is creating brochures for other services provided by the Libraries. If the Collection Awareness Unit attempts to create the brochures and build the "Library Introduction" program in a vacuum, it will be developing several duplications of effort which will result in longer development times, and a less efficient work effort. By collaborating with the Communication's Office and the Information Technology Division, the Collection Awareness Unit can accomplish more with less effort, and develop more avenues for greater creativity for future projects.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT

For Autumn 2009, programming of the renovated Thompson Library display spaces and open shelving will consist of the following:

  1. Development of Director's Welcome displays in consultation with the Communications Office and the Renovation Project Officer for the Libraries. These displays will be simple and professional in their design and will be placed in the atria of the renovated library.

  2. Enlist Subject Librarians for the design of displays for the display cases and open shelving featuring their specialties. (Crossover information for Subject Specialty Brochures and the "Library Introduction" project will play an important role in the development of such displays.)

  3. Develop a process for allocating display cases for campus departmental, professional and student organization usage, and open shelving space for new books, tenure and promotion selections, favorite books (suggested by faculty, staff and students), or other possibilities.

  4. Create Historical Library Display for penthouse display cases with the help of the Communications Office and the Assistant Director for Special Collections and Archives.

  5. Plan displays that feature Library services and how to take advantage of them, principally to be presented on flat screen displays working with the Communications Office and the Information Technology Division. (These displays will also incorporate information that will be part of the presentations in other projects such as the "Library Introduction" program.)

For Winter 2010:

  1. Begin soliciting campus departments, professional, and student organizations for display possibilities.

  2. Begin planning for Columbus community organization opportunities for displays, and begin seeking potential participants with the help of the Communications Office.

PROGRAM SUSTAINABILITY

Grant Seeking

A significant strategy lies in efforts to seek grants that will supply funding for Collection Awareness development and help the process of innovation. These are untested waters, and finding significant resources will require definitions of what we do to be categorized and researched in such a way as to provide the greatest return for the least expenditure. The process follows these steps:

  1. Definition: What do we want to do? Given the resources available to us, what we can create should only be a beginning indicator of what our potential might be. With that concept in mind we should be able to design projects that press beyond the limits of what our experimentation has heretofore presented to us. Defining our goals is the first step toward gaining an articulation with which we can categorize for research our intent in seeking funding.

  2. Research: There are numerous tools for seeking grant providers. Many of these are materials available in the Reference Section of the Library, some are also available on line. Researching funders gives us an idea of what different funders are interested in backing, what they expect to see for their money, and how we can refine our definitions to match their interests.

  3. Developing a clear program plan: Having defined what we want to do, and having refined that definition to coincide with funders' goals, we will then develop a clear, step by step model of what we intend to do with the funder's money. This includes:

    • Creating a clear description of the project.

    • Setting a timeline for completion.

    • Setting an itemized budget.

  4. Build relationships with potential finders: This can be accomplished by writing to inquire into their interests with a brief description of our intended project. We can also develop relationships through telephone inquires, e-mail and in person if the opportunity develops. Certainly, during the proposal submission and judging process, contact should be made by phone or (if possible) in person to keep abreast of the progress of our proposal as this indicates our continued interest and it sets our identity in the mind of the funder.

  5. Proposal Types:

    • Letter of Intent: This is a one to three page letter with a brief description of the project that focuses upon how the project fits the funder's priorities. It doesn't actually ask for funds, but helps the funder to decide if they want to see a longer proposal.

    • Letter Proposal: This is similar to a letter of intent, except that it does request for funds. Usually expected by corporations (though by no means always), a letter proposal of three to four pages briefly describes the project and how it fits with the funder's priorities and requests the funds appropriate to the project presumably with some budgetary itemization.

    • Long Proposal: This requires a greater level of detail and includes a cover letter, a detailed proposal body, and a proposal summary. It's the type most requested by governmental agencies and foundations, and only very rarely by corporations. Seven to ten pages plus appendices is considered a good length and should include details about the project (including a budgetary spreadsheet) and the project's importance to the community. The request for funds should be clear and should be presented in the cover letter, in the summary and in the body of the proposal.

Pitfalls can certainly develop by sending inappropriate proposals to funders. If a funder desires only a letter of intent, but receives a long proposal, they will likely not even read the proposal. If a funder specifies no contact beyond the proposal, calling them on the phone will not work in our favor. Sending a proposal for an educational event to a funder interested in funding research will obviously not result in receiving a grant. Writing style, proposal layout, and numerous other variables may also work in favour or against our efforts, and many of these variables will be unknown to us. If a funder is willing, we may be able to view proposals that they have funded in the past to have a better idea of what is of interest to them, and how they want proposals to be presented. This is, again, a part of developing relationships with funders.

Keeping the Assistant Director for Collections, Instruction, and Public Services informed of our progress; a collaborative team consisting of the project designer (the Collection Awareness Unit Head), the FYE / Instruction Librarian (under Teaching and Learning), and other key people in the Libraries will be beneficial.

With a tightening economy and a projected potential of continued funding cuts for the next two years, grant seeking may become a greater necessity. A recessive economy is not necessarily an indication of lack of opportunity for growth and innovation. It simply means that we need to be more creative. The day after the 1929 Market Crash, there were still people who were able to find the right strategy to profitably invest.

CONCLUSION

These recommendations are part of an overall and ongoing review of the concept of Collection Awareness and of what can become a model for libraries of the future as we enter a new millennium and reassess our outreach to our communities. Making libraries central to the future means making them central to their constituent communities through awareness efforts. It is the Unit Head's hope that we can use this concept to enliven community awareness and to make the OSU Libraries THE place to be for the third millennium.