The Colorado State University Project by Mark Jacobs
|
|||
| In an effort to respond to the plight of a sister institution, the libraries of
Washington State University (WSU) have been involved in a truly unique project of a scope
never attempted before. Although the project's immediate goal has been to replace the
materials of the Colorado State University (CSU) libraries damaged by a flood, this
effort in large-scale data recovery could serve as a prototype for the way in which
future libraries address issues such as sharing resources, linking library catalogs,
and using networking technology.
|
|||
| A view of the flood damage at Colorado State University |  Photo courtesy of Colorado State University |
||
|
In 1997, the CSU campus was devastated by a flash flood caused by a rainfall of ten
inches in a relatively short time-span. Some of the worst damage sustained was to a
new library addition just completed. As if in sadistic proof of Murphy's Law,
collections from other parts of the library building had recently been stored in the
basement-level of the new addition to allow other parts of the building to be renovated.
The floodwaters burst through the building's foundation and rushed furiously into and
throughout this basement-level which also housed the library's new computer center.
At its zenith the water, estimated at 20,000,000 cubic feet in volume, had completely
filled the basement to the very top of the stairs leading to the library's ground floor.
After the waters had receded enough for library staff to enter, they found books, serials,
computers, bookshelves, and furniture piled indiscriminately in one corner soaked with
water and covered with the detritus of the flood: mud, silt, and sewage. In the July
heat, mold developed quickly. Based on a sample, it is estimated that 119,000 volumes
or 25% of the damaged material was a total loss
(see
http://manta.library.colostate.edu/news/flood.html). In order to begin the task of replacing these valuable, academic resources, CSU studied interlibrary loan (ILL) request statistics and identified institutions whose library collections best mirrored their own. This is an important example of linking library collections, which has ramifications in resource sharing, ILL, and consortial buying agreements. Faced with dwindling resources, libraries may have to increase efforts to complement the collections of their sister institutions rather than duplicating them. This type of cooperation, along with the development and implementation of effective Web technologies for the transfer of larger and larger amounts of information, may provide a viable alternative to buying and storing redundant collections in an era of increased demand and budget cuts.
|
|||
|
|||
|
Alan Morgan was hired to serve as the lead in the WSU project. Morgan received and
documented requests for materials, verifed the information in the requests, located the
materials in the WSU library system, and troubleshoot request errors and other problems.
He also directed the students who physically removed the items from the shelves and scanned the
needed pages, which were saved in electronic form. Ariel software was used to send the pages
electronically to CSU, where the pages were printed on paper and tipped into the volumes
being repaired. Morgan explained his primary responsibility was to "optimize the information
transactions and help to resolve problems. I try to enhance the processes and integrate
the people, computers, and auditing tasks. The computer networking technology, especially,
is at the core of how we accomplish this work." This is an important example of libraries
utilizing networking technology to solve problems. Morgan praised the leaders of the project, like Vyhnanek, as "forward-thinkers" who recognize the potential of this enterprise to serve as an important prototype for the future of libraries. "The project is symbolic of the way libraries can expand services in the future in terms of using technology to provide rapid and improved access to information. The library will always be the place where information is processed, managed, and delivered as new technology allows us to be more innovative in terms of shared resources and linked collections."
|
|||
| Ironically, because of licensing agreements WSU was unable to provide replacement pages from resources accessed via the Internet because access to those resources is limited, by contract, to WSU users. It is an interesting dilemma which libraries, vendors, and publishers may wish to examine, as e-resources become more popular and an even more important part of library collections. The project's goal has been for the four supporting library systems, including WSU, to deliver 50,000 pages to CSU each week. | |||
|
Although page replacement is a task that ILL librarians are familiar with, it has never before been
attempted at this volume. Thus, the participants have been blazing new trails in areas of
concern to library employees as diverse as resource-sharing, ILL, linking library
collections, and using Internet technology to solve problems in libraries.
A complete set of photographs of the damage may be viewed at:
|
|||
| A closeup view |
|
||
|
Comments and questions:
libnews@wsu.edu
|
|||
