Transformation of our Library as a Place to Study, Work and Meet

Remember card catalogs? Some faculty members, and even a few students and residents, might faintly remember this era, when the content of the library was cataloged in cabinets with many small drawers containing standardized index cards. If you wanted to know if the library contained a book or journal, you would check the card catalog. More often than not, unless you were an expert in the Dewey Decimal System, you would ask a librarian for help and then be led to the appropriate stack or journal case. You could check out a book, but if you wanted to copy a journal article you had to take it to the photocopy machine and wait in line to feed it coins.

The card catalog system dates back a century and a half, as devised by Harvard Librarian Langdon Sibley in 1860 with subsequent commercialization by Melvil Dewey in 1881. But during the past couple of decades, with extraordinary speed, this now quaint technology has been transformed by the digital revolution. In the process, university libraries have also been transformed.

We can all agree that technological advances that increase and ease access to information are a good thing. You can access journal articles from home or office with a few keystrokes. And when was the last time you checked out a book?

The University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries, which serve the Gainesville and Jacksonville campuses, have been dramatically impacted by the digital revolution, and have often served as a leader in fostering innovative change. This newsletter is to celebrate this change, and also to convey that we can no longer maintain the two worlds of print and digital journals. I will also update you on plans for an upgrade to the first floor of the library.

From the inception of the Health Science Center some six decades ago, the mission of the libraries was to serve as a storehouse for printed books, journals, course materials and other works; a hub for interlibrary loan and reference services; and a quiet study hall. Now, more and more, print materials on the shelves gather dust as the overwhelming majority of our users seek out information via the Internet. Many heavy textbooks have been replaced in students’ backpacks by mobile device applications, and thousands of journals have become available online.

During the past year our print collection of journals has seen minimal usage at the same time that hundreds of thousands of articles have been downloaded from our e-journals. This trend, coupled with increasing materials costs, has prompted us to reduce print subscriptions over the past few years and now — propelled by the University-wide 5 percent budget cut for the current fiscal year that compounds the effects of multiple budget cuts in previous years — to cancel the approximately 500 remaining print subscriptions. This move will save almost $100,000 a year.

Consider the usage of print and electronic journals from April to December 2011. Of the libraries’ 310,288 print journal volumes, only 317 were removed from the shelves and used inside the library, and even fewer — 194 — were checked out. In contrast, UF users downloaded 775,571 full-text articles from our three biggest electronic journal packages over the same period. It is telling that of the paper journals checked out of the library, almost three quarters were also available online, and of the ones used inside the library, almost half were also available online. The libraries have subscriptions to 108,797 electronic journals, and if a needed article is not accessible via our library’s website we will quickly acquire a copy from an affiliate and deliver it straight to users via email.

The role of the libraries might have changed — but it has not diminished. We have not made the shift to all-electronic journals lightly, nor without evaluating the potential impact on the Health Science Center’s educational, research and , clinical and missions. The ease of electronic access through the library has fostered an extraordinary level of access to journal articles, and this is to be celebrated.

Moreover, online information and interactions have not lessened the importance of face-to-face contact. Many users now see the library not just as a quiet place, but as a venue for interaction with others. Our faculty, staff and students have expressed a wide range of space and service needs, including:

• Collaborative learning spaces
• Rooms for individual and group study
• Teleconferencing facilities
• Computer classrooms and
• Interdisciplinary faculty learning and development spaces

Our libraries are meeting those needs by dedicating more space to group study and interaction. The libraries serve as a “learning commons,” offering spaces and innovative technology for collaboration and team-teaching and learning. Librarians provide in-depth assistance with research and use of new or complex library resources, and help users find information quickly when and where they need it, whether it’s in the classroom, the laboratory or the clinic.

In Gainesville, to address new space and service requirements, the library has designated the first floor for collaborative study. The area is equipped with large-screen monitors that accommodate group projects, a research computing pod with statistical analysis software and movable furniture and whiteboards that allow users to arrange study areas according to their needs. This space has become the most popular area of the library, leading to a 27 percent increase in traffic in a year.

We have engaged a design firm to help us upgrade the environment on the first floor of the library, continuing our renovation of the Communicore that has thus far included a redesign of its lobby and lecture halls. There will be a focus on increasing the availability of power outlets for computers and tablets, along with new flooring, furniture and study spaces. This work will take place over the winter break. Before then, students will have an opportunity to provide input on seating, color schemes and materials, as they did for the lecture halls.

The library’s second floor has additional open areas for collaborative study and most of the library’s individual study spaces, including private rooms. This floor also features meeting and educational spaces that can be reserved by anyone in the Health Science Center at no cost. These facilities include a computer classroom that seats 27, a center with whiteboards and teleconferencing projection capabilities, and a faculty teaching/learning room with specialized software and a large high-tech, high-definition touch screen. The third floor is set aside for quiet study by either individuals or groups.

In Jacksonville, the Borland Library has a large-group study/presentation practice room and a small teleconferencing room that can be reserved by any group on the UF&Shands Jacksonville campus without charge. These facilities complement six existing small-group study rooms, a computer classroom training lab and a self-service computer informatics lab.

Despite increasing constraints on our library budget, we continue to plan for the libraries’ evolving role, devising better ways to meet the needs of the entire UF&Shands community. We welcome and encourage suggestions for creating a library setting that stays in sync with the ways users study, work and meet.

Forward Together,

David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Health Affairs President, UF&Shands Health System