The University Libraries new director, Professor Joseph Branin assumed his duties in January 2000 and has been quite active is his short tenure in moving the Libraries forward. Shortly after his arrival, the Main Library renovation began with an Academic Feasibility Study. Currently, the Architectural Feasibility Phase of the renovation is about to begin. Concurrently, the libraries are moving ahead with increased use of electronic and digital resources and is about to embark upon an aggressive fundraising campaign. The Ohio State University libraries enjoy a position of national prominence and are moving to increase national rankings among peer institutions.

Plans and Status of Main Library Renovation:

Both the Academic Feasibility and the Architectural Feasibility phases of the renovation project are underway. Regarding the Academic Feasibility Study, meetings have been held with various groups on campus to discuss the restoration/renovation of the Main Library building including the Council on the Physical Environment and the Council on Student Affairs, as well as 15 departments from the Colleges of the Arts, Humanities and Social & Behavioral Sciences. The Architectural Feasibility study has been funded, and a Main Library Architectural Feasibility Study Team has been appointed. Membership includes Facilities Planning and Development (Scott Conlon); Physical Facilities (Teresa Stankiewicz; Laura Shinn); Development (Linda Seitz); Humanities (Christian Zacher); Office of Information Technology (Bob Kalal); and the Libraries (Joe Branin, Wes Boomgaarden). A formal "Request for Professional Services: Feasibility Study for the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library" has been made public, and responses from qualified architectural firms are sought. A short list of potential firms will be selected in late 2000 or early 2001; each of the firms on this list will be asked to make public presentations. The Library Council seeks involvement and assistance in all phases of the renovation effort. As the work with architecture firms begins, a Libraries' Assessment Committee is undertaking several survey techniques to ascertain opinions of the various groups that use the Main Library's collections, facilities and services.

The project is expected to take eight years to complete and can be broken down into six basic phases or activities with the following general schedule:

* Academic Feasibility Study: Spring 2000 - 2002 The Director of Libraries will prepare a list of the programmatic needs for the Main Library of the 21st Century after systematic consultation with the University community and review of trends and best practices in information science and research library operation.
* Architectural Feasibility Study: Fall 2000 - 2002 An architectural firm will be recruited and hired to prepare a conceptual design for the restoration and renovation of the Main Library. Academic programmatic needs will be translated into spatial requirements and designs, and architectural options for improving the overall building will be explored. More precise cost estimates for the restoration and renovation will be determined. Capital planning funds for this architectural feasibility study were awarded to the University in fiscal year 2000, and the study report will be completed no later than June of 2002.
* Main Library Fundraising Campaign: Fall 2000 - 2005 With the recent hiring of a senior development officer for the Main Library Campaign, an aggressive fundraising effort will be undertaken to raise somewhere between $10 and $30 million towards the total cost of this major capital project.
* Advocacy and State Funding of Capital Request: 2003 -- 2004 Upon completion of the academic and architectural feasibility studies and after several years of effective fundraising efforts, the Main Library project should be ready for University and State support. With a convincing plan and evidence of broad community support, the University and State should give the go ahead and financial backing for the Main Library restoration and renovation.
* Detailed Architectural Design: 2004 - 2005 An architectural firm will be recruited and hired to carry out the final detailed planning and design for the restoration and renovation of the Main Library.
* Construction: 2005 -2008 Given the size and complexity of the Main Library restoration and renovation project, construction is likely to take several years. The phasing of the construction and the disposition of Main Library services and collections during construction will be important planning and logistical issues.

Fund Raising/New Development Director Hired:

Through the Libraries' Friends of the Libraries, annual gifts to the Libraries total about $1 million annually, in the form of approximately $200,000 cash and $800,000 gifts-in-kind. Gearing this effort up to a level of $20 - $30 million to prepare for the renovation of Main Library is a daunting task. To lead the effort with Director Branin, the Libraries have selected Ms. Kaye Madden as Development Officer. Ms. Madden brings considerable experience to this position, having recently served as Director of Alumni Development and Giving at Ohio Wesleyan University. President Kirwan and Vice-President May are actively involved in the campaign. The Council discussed other Libraries' efforts at fund raising, and their results.

Libraries' Priorities for 2000/2001

The Council reviewed and provided input into Director Branin's "Agenda for Director of Libraries 2000-2001." The document covers 10 points, inclusive of the goals surrounding Academic Excellence, Quality of the Student Experience, Diversity, and Outreach and Engagement:

(1) Continue to improve the overall quality and ranking of the Libraries relative to peers in the ARL.
(2) Establish a digital library program to digitize and delivery the Internet to students and faculty unique cultural and information resources that support the university's curricular and research needs. This initiative has targeted three specific collection areas: abstracts from the Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy, held annually at Ohio State; images and text from the Libraries' collection of John Foxe's Actes and Monuments ( "The Book of Martyrs"), 16th-century Reformation works for which the Libraries holds the world's best collection; and images and text from the Cartoon Research Library, this latter effort supported by a Getty Foundation grant. An Academic Enrichment Proposal to support these efforts in pending, as well.
(3) Increase organizational (bibliographic) control over library collections and relevant Internet-based resources.
(4) Plan a major restoration/renovation of the Thompson Memorial (Main) Library.
(5) Improve public areas on the first three floors of the Main Library.
(6) Make full use of the Libraries' Book Depository Program.
(7) Strengthen diversity efforts within the University Libraries. Respond to library staff concerns and suggestions about compensation, diversity, general work conditions, and staff development activities. In this context, Pat McCandless described the success of the Libraries' Mary P. Key Diversity Resident Program, which has included seven (7) professional librarians to date. This program has been emulated by several other research libraries in the US, and has been very positively received by the seven participants. The Council also reviewed the Libraries' Diversity Plan, and heard reports of the Libraries' Fellowship program with Kent State University's School of Library and Information Science graduate program.
(8) Conduct a fund raising campaign in support of the restoration/renovation of the Main Library (as discussed above).
(9) Build on strengths of the OhioLINK and CIC partnerships. Prof. Branin noted that Ohio State's access to electronic journals, online databases and patron-initiated loans of books is unmatched by any other library in world, thanks to the collaboration with OhioLINK and the libraries of the CIC.
(10) Increase the Libraries' communications, public relations, marketing, and outreach efforts. In this regard, the Libraries are actively recruiting a communications officer.

Scholarly Communication/Electronic Publishing

Issues of scholarly communication and the impact of electronic publishing were briefly discussed during the past year and will be further addressed at future meetings. Some reports suggest that the current system of scholarly publishing has become too costly for the academic community to sustain and call for electronic capabilities to be used more. Issues of access, common standards, and fair use will need to be addressed. The Library Council will maintain communication with the Senate Copyrights/Patents Committee concerning this issue. There is a need to clarify the rules and issues involved with electronic publishing.

OhioLink/Digital Resources

OhioLINK is the most successful statewide library consortium in the nation, providing OSU students and faculty with an unparalleled array of on-line library resources and print document delivery services. There are many opportunities to build on the current strengths of OhioLINK, and OSU Libraries' staff should play a leadership role in the growth of online offerings from OhioLINK and the extension of other information services. The CIC is an additional partnership where peer research libraries in the Midwest have opportunities to increase their cooperation in collection development, preservation, and digital library initiatives. The OhioLINK Digital Media Center presently contains thousands of images, which will be obtained from AMICO (Art Museum Image Consortium). The initial 3,000 images are keyed to the standard texts used in introductory art courses; they are owned by OhioLINK and may be downloaded for support of classroom activities. There are listings by both title and artist, and searching is possible via a variety of parameters.

The OSU Libraries is a leader in offering students and faculty access to a rich array of digital information resources. In fact, in partnership with OhioLINK and the CIC, OSU must be ranked number one in the country when it comes to on-line access to reference tools and full-text articles. However, in addition to purchasing digital content developed by others, the OSU Libraries must have the capability to prepare its own digital resources based on its unique holdings and the special demands of campus curricular and research needs.

The Libraries has submitted an Academic Enrichment Proposal for these digital libraries initiatives and will reallocate existing resources into this new effort. Work is underway to digitize two important library collections, one in English literature and history and one in the physical sciences.

Libraries' Book Depository Program.

The Libraries operate a state-of-the-art book depository program on Kenny Road. Storage module one of this facility is reaching 90% capacity with space remaining for between 200,000 and 300,000 volumes. State funding from the Board of Regents has been allocated for building a second module. To relieve overcrowding in Main Library and branch libraries, infrequently used material should be moved to the Depository as soon as possible. Planning for the restoration/renovation of the Main Library will likely involve more reliance on the Book Depository Program. The second module construction should be completed as soon as possible.

Acquisition Index

The Council is pleased that the Acquisition Index (Library Materials) has held steady in its budget in order to allow the Library to obtain print and electronic collections. The Council recognizes that in order for OSU to maintain and improve its ranking among peer publicly-supported research universities, then the Index will need to remain in place as an essential funding priority.

Library Faculty and Staff

Unlike the Acquisition budget, there appears to be a shortage of funds to adequately address serious personnel needs of the library. The Library Task Force Report documents the highest undergraduate-to-faculty ratio of any of the benchmark institutions. Further, student wages remain low. As the Library moves ahead with renovation, the Council urges that the Senate and Administration insure that the renovated facility is adequately staffed.