Planning & Administrative Services, UM Libraries

Planning and Administrative Services Division

ANNUAL REPORT, FY 1998

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Establishing an Office of Planning, Research and Grants (OPRG) was an important aspect of the Libraries' 1997 strategic plan. The Dean's December 1997 update to the plan said, "This infrastructure will help the Libraries successfully meet the challenge of planning continuously, building its fact-based decision-making processes and meeting the goals of the University's capital campaign by working with staff dedicated to Libraries who are funded by University Advancement." A separate goal was to develop a training capacity within the Libraries (housed in OPRG).

The Office of Planning, Research and Grants existed independently for two months - late February through late April 1998 -- before being merged with the Administrative Services Division. The operational programs of Personnel, Budget and Facilities and Services thus were combined with the former OPRG'S conceptual framework, into one division. The roles and achievements of each major unit are summarized below.

Facilities and Services

This department continued its broad range of routine services - deliveries, exhibits, furniture, keys, mail, maintenance, parking, room set-up, signs, supplies, telephones. It also helped plan and implement major changes in locations of staff and collections in the Hornbake and McKeldin libraries.

Better security for the Hornbake Library included a card-key for the back door, but entrance lighting and other concerns for the 24-hour study room remain unsolved. Plans continued to be made for new uses of Hornbake, primarily for special collections.

Staff and student assistants handled more detailed divisional accounting for supplies and requisitions and increased trips for van deliveries and pick-ups, including gift books. Total funds spent on postage, freight, supplies and requisitions declined from the previous year. Statistics are in Attachment 1.

The special requirement of moving staff and collections began in January 1998, with the merger of Hornbake's periodicals with those in McKeldin. In the spring, other collections and services began to be reorganized, in preparation for the many changes during the summer. The Facilities and Services Department took care of requests to have walls built, phones and data lines moved, offices and service sites reconfigured, equipment ordered, etc. Details of the service and staff moves are in the annual report of the Public Services Division.

One major goal for FY 1999 is to complete the first stage of reorganizing the McKeldin Library, including merging the reserve rooms, moving team members to new office locations and reconfiguring the main information desk. The circulating collection in the Hornbake Library will be closed and other changes will continue there, to convert it to a building for special collections. Critical HVAC work will take place in 1999 in Hornbake.

Management Information Systems

The position of manager of the Libraries' Management Information Systems (MIS) was the first to be filled for the new Office of Planning, Research and Grants. The incumbent began in October 1997 while also working part-time to complete projects for the Information Technology Division.

The new manager met with staff and campus officials to determine their expectations of and needs for MIS. For example, the need within the Libraries to develop output measures became evident, while at the same time using the campus' data warehouse for transactional data.

The MIS manager proposed that a library MIS system be developed in segments, including the following:

analyze available ARL (Association of Research Libraries) data over time (ARL's gathered and charted for 1982-1997) and post on the Web,
develop a data dictionary of library-specific terms for the campus (done),
investigate what needed and useful data are available from CARL, the online catalog and circulation system,
determine who collects what other needed and useful data and the forms in which they are kept and reported,
develop and analyze user surveys as one basis for action,
develop new measures to evaluate services and collections,
analyze the IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education) data over time and post on the Web,
assure that pertinent data not available elsewhere are displayed electronically and that data from other sources are linked and easily accessible,
compare data over time to analyze and project general, collections and staffing needs and uses.

The MIS manager collected and reported UM Libraries' data to various publications and organizations, including ARL and the National Center for Education Statistics, and supplied specialized data for grant proposals and other uses.

Budget

For a second year the UM Libraries received budget increases, in FY 1998 designated primarily for serials and other library materials. The total budget for FY 1997 was close to $16 million; for FY 1998, close to $17 million. On behalf of other public university and college libraries in Maryland, the UM Libraries (College Park) also managed the budget for the Library Information Management System, the computer operation for the 13 campuses' acquisitions, cataloging, public access catalogs and circulation.

Grants

The Grants Management Office was established in April 1998 to serve the overall goal of identifying revenue sources to support the discrete and special projects of the UM Libraries. The new Grants Manager developed policies and procedures for the office and became immediately involved in several key projects involving the Libraries. The four grant proposals submitted by the Grants Office before the end of June are described in Attachment 2.

Specific projects to be pursued in FY 1999 include:

continued follow-up to the Japan visit in support of the Prange Collection,
consideration of a grant proposal to the Institute of Museum and Library Services,
consideration of a proposal for the Ameritech/Library of Congress digital library competition.

An important planning project for FY 1999 will be to meet and work with library managers to develop an annual research and development agenda for grants.

Friends of the Library, Annual Giving and Major Gifts

Another effort began full-time operation mid-way in FY 1998: the Friends of the Libraries. Much effort was invested in organizing the office, membership records, and the various state and foundation accounts which the office administers.

The major public event was a May 1 gala titled Party in the Stacks: Ripples in Time. It drew 140 attendees (a 50% increase over the first gala, in 1997) to hear guest speaker Cokie Roberts. The gala, which is the only self-supporting function of its kind on campus, raised $8,000 net for the Libraries' collections and services. The Friends earmarked $60,000 from another of its accounts for the Libraries' deacidification project.

Activities and objectives for FY 1999 include the following: Head football Coach Ron Vanderlinden will serve as the Chair for the Friends of the Libraries Annual Giving Campaign for FY 99, with a first mailing to 5,000 alumni in August 1998.

Tiered levels of membership, with varying prices and benefits, will be introduced.

The aim is to increase Friends memberhip from 455 to 682 (a 50% increase).

The Friends Board of Directors will meet three times a year.

An objective is to increase the giving levels of the current thirteen corporate members from $10,500 in FY98 to $65,000 in FY99. The Coordinator of Friends of the Libraries began work in January 1998. She is on the staff of the Office of University Advancement, but works in the library. The same is true of the Major Gifts Officer, who began full-time work for the Libraries in December 1997.

The Major Gifts Officer worked on plans for the Libraries' part of the University's "Bold Vision - Bright Future" campaign, which had been launched in October 1997. Dr. R. Lee Hornbake, former Vice President for Academic Affairs and the person for whom the Hornbake Library was named, agreed to serve as honorary chair of the Libraries' Campaign Committee and also made a significant personal gift to establish an endowment to purchase of books and other library materials.

The final major effort for the 1997-98 year was planning and executing a trip to Japan for Dean Lowry to seek support for the Gordon W. Prange Collection of materials published from 1945-1949 during the Allied Occupation of Japan. The goals of the trip were to

seek financial support from Japanese sources to permit continued preservation work,
re-establish professional and institutional linkages that had been established by the late Mrs. Hisayo Murakami,
explore opportunities to publish microfilms and index of the Prange magazine collection as a means of generating revenue and
explore possibilities for cosponsoring an exhibit and symposium concerning Prange materials with Waseda University.

During this trip, a number of funders invited the UM Libraries to submit proposals, and Dean Lowry met high-level officials.

Library Publications

A part-time writer/editor continued to support the Libraries' developmental and promotional efforts with a variety of newsletters, press releases, articles, flyers and the like. He produced two newsletters: LIBRARY ISSUES and LIBRARY BULLETIN. The former, for the first year in its ten-year history, had four issues. It was distributed to some 7,500 people on and off campus and is the primary newsletter for Friends of the Libraries. LIBRARY BULLETIN, with three issues during the year, goes to some 3,900 university faculty and staff.

He placed articles about the Libraries in campus publications, the general library press and the local press. The writer/editor developed publicity for new special collections, Friends events, the Investors Group and other special events.

In 1999 special projects will include a published annual report for the Libraries, continued development of Web pages, and four issues each of LIBRARY BULLETIN and LIBRARY ISSUES.

Library Personnel

A major effort and accomplishment in FY 1998 were the development and campus adoption of a new policy on appointment, promotion and permanent status of librarians. During the year about 35 library professionals applied for promotion under the new policy, with 26 promoted to Librarians III and 3 to Librarians IV. Everyone else was assigned the rank of Librarian II.

Staff turnover remained at about 7% for the year. Sixty-five searches were performed and 71 new appointees (permanent and temporary) and 16 new graduate assistants were hired. The Library Personnel Office coordinated student employment, including the federal work-study program.

During FY 1998 the Dean of Libraries awarded up to $1,000 to each associate staff member for optional professional/developmental travel and training, as distinguished from administrative travel required by a job. A total of about $163,000 was spent. The Library Personnel Office tracked and reported on this travel. Other office services to the Libraries included Web access to mailing labels, library directories, the travel handbook and other relevant information.

Staff Training and Development

In late October 1997, the Libraries' first Manager of Staff Training and Development was hired to provide or coordinate training that promotes staff versatility and long-range development, job performance, and greater organizational effectiveness.

Two major core training activities were initiated: the "Meeting Management and Communication Skills" workshops for all staff and the "Train the Trainer" workshop. The first sessions on meeting management for staff, taught by Joan Stein of Carnegie-Mellon University, were in April 1998. Scheduling is ongoing. In May 1998, 24 staff attended the first session of a workshop designed to introduce and sharpen training skills of library staff instructors.

On April 16, 1998, the office coordinated a satellite video conference on, "The Age of Technology: Your Guide to Change Management." The office also inventoried campus resources in training and development and identified cooperative activities.

A major effort during the year was assessing staff training and development needs, first by attending department, division, board and committee meetings to gather anecdotal evidence of departmental and staff training needs, then with a mid-June survey to all 290 staff members. (The response rate was about 54%, with 155 valid surveys returned.)

Training and development staff will proceed with the following objectives in FY 1999:

implement orientation program for new staff,
continue the core training initiatives: "Meeting Management Skills" and "Train the Trainer" workshops,
cooperate in planning and offering sessions on team-building, team skills and interpersonal skills,
identify, prioritize, and examine resources necessary to present programs identified by the assessment of needs for training and development,
identify and train library trainers for selected programs,
establish training office and staff training room on 4M in McKeldin Library,
develop Web pages for staff training and development,
develop Web-based class outlines and handouts and initiate online course registration,
initiate diversity training in partnership with the Diversity Committee.

Photocopy Services

In April, Photocopy Services moved to the Public Services Division, but it is included in the Planning and Administrative Services Division's annual report because it was part of Administrative Services most of the year.

In general, Photocopy Services moved copiers around rather than buying much major new equipment. As patron services in Hornbake were reduced, copiers were moved from there to Engineering, Art and McKeldin. New copy card readers were purchased so that all copiers will have new card readers by the start of the fall 1998 semester.

The demand for departmental copying (copies made on account for campus departments) and internal library copying decreased. (See Attachment 3.) Personal copying (copies made for customers who come to the Photocopy Center) increased slightly over last year.

Issues to explore in FY 1999 include the following:

extending copy center hours
reasons for the decrease in copier use,
increased use of computer technology
integration of advanced copier technology with computers
installing phone lines to allow customers to use credit cards for card dispensers and copiers.