Departmental Purpose(s)
Provide quality library services to Texas A&M University-Commerce constituencies. This includes provision of access to print and electronic information resources, both directly and indirectly through partnerships with other libraries; instructional support on the use of library collections, owned and accessed; and collaborative collection development activities that support faculty and students in curricular areas and associated research areas.
Provide Media Services support within Commerce campus classrooms. This includes provision of presentation hardware and reserved items from the Media Services A/V collections to classrooms in timely manner.
Provide Instructional Multimedia production support to Texas A&M Commerce faculty in curricular activities and to other administrative units as may be appropriate.
Provide essential maintenance services via Campus Engineer in
support of KETR and classroom equipment.
Strengths and opportunities on which it will build
Existing cooperative ventures within state and regional library
consortia, such as TexShare full-text database access, TAMU System
electronic library resources projects, AMIGOS, AHE and Phoenix
cooperative purchase opportunities and resource sharing partnerships.
Infrastructure enhancements that provide opportunities to deliver information outside the confines of the Gee Library to campus users.
Weaknesses and threats to be addressed (including quality,
enrollment trends, and student/faculty ratios)
Continued inadequacy of staffing at the Metroplex Library for
the hours of service. Services are further impacted by the initiation
of weekend classes and the information support needs of the DEC
programs taught by TAMU-Commerce faculty.
Continued extraordinary inflationary pressures from the publishing
industry, particularly in relation to the periodicals subscription
costs.
Lack of integration of costs of services into standard budget,
thereby creating dependencies on special funding initiatives and
one-time grants.
Student outcomes assessment activities (SACS criteria 3.1)
implemented in the past year (September 1995-1996).
How results obtained from the evaluation of goal achievement
(effectiveness measures and student outcomes assessment) are being
utilized to enhance and improve the department, college or university
Continuous monitoring of use data from current electronic services
to identify and anticipate cost breaks and/or special partnership
subscription opportunities.
Analysis of overlapping electronic and paper resources to determine
when print (i.e., paper) versions can be eliminated from budget.
Analysis of journal collection use to assist in decisions on titles
to cancel to remain within budget, including the consideration
of electronic full-text options to substitute at lower cost for
subscriptions to print (paper) journals.
Top planning priorities of the department
Enhancement of electronic access to full-text as well as index
databases; maintenance of support to existing electronic resources.
Ongoing collaboration within AHE, Phoenix, Texas A&M University
System, and TexShare cooperative ventures to maintain access to
a regional collection of adequate breadth to support curricular
initiatives.
Incorporation of Media Services collections within the LION database,
including booking capabilities linked to the files
Completion of Serials Holdings updating within LION to encompass
all past subscriptions as well as currently received titles.
Exploration and support of digital access projects to improve
access and preservation of items within the archival and other
portions of the Gee Library collections.
Initiate review of facilities and services in anticipation of
physical reconfiguration of the James G. Gee Library.
Collaborate with Northeast Partnership and other distance learning
activities of faculty to identify scope of information requirement,
and to provide equivalent library support to students and faculty
not at the Commerce campus.
Ongoing maintenance of staff expertise through on and off-campus
training, workshops, conferences and regional collaborations.
Goals/Objectives: 3 Versions of Appendix C attached.
Achievements-Past Year: Submit no more than a one
page summary report of goal achievement (by goal) for the past
year (September 1995-August 1996).
Current (Updated): Current year (1996-97) goals,
objectives, persons responsible, time line, effectiveness measures-format
in Appendix C.
Projections: Submit department goals and objectives
for next year (September 1997-August 1998). Include goals,
objectives, persons responsible, time line, effectiveness measures
as in format shown in Appendix C.
Initiatives (New): An estimation of department operating
expense by category for the next year need not be submitted with
this plan. However, any new initiative or program requiring additional
funding should be described and justified using Appendix D format.
Several proposals for new initiatives are provided, in order
of Gee Library priorities, for consideration.
Capital Equipment Requests: A list of capital equipment
(sometimes called PROP II or HEAF) for the next year (September
1997-August 1998) in priority order by name, cost of item, and
rationale for purchase (format shown in Appendix E).
Lists by major functional area are appended as Appendix E.
Facility Needs: Needs for additional or renovated facilities
will be described and justified.
The main factor prohibiting combination of the current Curriculum
Library, Media Services and Music Collections into an operational
unit supporting in-house review of audio-visual library materials
by students and faculty is the physical configurations and space
limitations on the first and second floors.
We would have two possible options:
1) Addition of a sixth floor extension to the building to allow
for stack relocations and reorganization of the public spaces
then available to allow for a combined functional area, or
2) Relocation of the technical services staff and reconfiguration
of the existing first-floor space to include the three areas under
consideration. Integration of the print portion of the current
Curriculum Library would need to occur elsewhere in the stack
areas of the existing facility.
Considerable more internal discussion needs to occur subsequent
to hiring a new Education Librarian as to which option would serve
the longer term needs of Gee Library. However, the Library may
have a plan ready for such reconfigurations early in the 1997/98
fiscal year.