Athena and the WebCat

Library Access for the 21st Century

Terese Messantonio '02 inspects a volume from the library's collection of large format art books.

The combination opens the virtual door to the library's new online catalog that was installed in the summer of 1999. The new software pulls together materials in the print collection, local and remote databases, and the World Wide Web, allowing users to search all options from a single Web-based program on the Athena site. The new system will also streamline library workflow in circulation, reserves, purchasing, cataloging and interlibrary loans.

The integrated system is "an enormous increase in scope, reach and efficiency," over the library's previous online catalog, explains Warren Funk, vice president for academic affairs. It arrives at a time when the library is setting records for the size of the collection -- currently surpassing 260,000 volumes. Use by students and faculty is at an all-time high, due at least in part to the ability to access library resources from any networked computer on campus 24 hours a day.

Same Mission, Changing Methods
"Our Mission -- to connect our students and faculty with the quality information they need to do their research -- remains the same. But the way we're accomplishing that mission is evolving constantly," says Kathleen Gunning, director of the Blough-Weis Library and coordinator of information resources.

"Previously one of the great challenges for a rural college library was getting all the information people need," she says. Today's challenge is helping users effectively select from among the rapidly growing amount of information available. Access to external resources is skyrocketing, thanks to the library's links to the Internet and the ability to purchase or subscribe to research databases -- huge collections of specialized documents, articles and statistics. Use of the electronic collection now accounts for an estimated 68 percent of total library usage.

Reference Librarian Kathleen Dalton demonstrates use of online databases to incorporate discipline-specific research skills into major courses.

Electronic Advantages
The electronic tools have revolutionized a process that used to begin with flipping through the card catalog or multiple volumes of the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, then sometimes waiting days or even weeks for interlibrary loans. Today's Susquehanna students are able to type in key words and click on hot links to jump instantaneously from site to relevant site. they can view and even print citations and journal articles from their computer screens.

The library's extensive network can provide full-text articles from 2,395 periodicals -- 71 percent more than were available five years ago. Many of them are acquired through a University subscription to First Search, which includes articles from more than 60 general and specialized databases.

Collectively, the electronic reach "provides access to materials that because of space, money, or their very specialized nature, are not available in print form," explains Reference Librarian Kathleen Dalton. The online sources can also be more current than print documents. Some news databases, including Lexis-Nexis, which offers information on areas including business, government, medicine and politics, are updated daily.

Support for the Curriculum
The library selects resources to support the curriculum. The Checkpoint federal tax database, for instance, "has really helped with the learning environment in tax classes," says Associate Professor of Accounting Richard Davis. "Students are learning how to use the kinds of databases they will be using in future careers."

"Although we are a small school, I can generally find a large portion of whatever I need within our library," says psychology/English major Amy Kimball ' 01. "I have always received enormous amounts of help from the library staff -- whether it's locating sources for a research paper or finding an obscure text needed for my work as a research assistant in the English department."

Access to information supports increasingly sophisticated student research projects, says Associate Director of the Library Rebecca Wilson. "With books you would have to look in ten different places to do one search. With computers, you can do ten different searches without moving from that spot. You can also use a combination of complex search terms simultaneously."

The result is that students and faculty can spend less time searching for information and more time analyzing data and practicing critical thinking skills, says Charles B. Degenstein Professor of Communications James Sodt. In the past, students in one of his public relations courses found it so difficult to get corporate information that most of his time was spent suggesting sources. Now, with such data widely available on the Web, "My 'coaching' jumped to a whole different level," says Sodt.

Lehn Weaver '02 consults a database from a library terminal. Use of electronic resources now accounts for 68 percent of all use of the library.

Internet Trash and Treasure
The variety of tools, choices and quality of information has led to a convergence of teaching and reference services at Susquehanna. The library provides 76 hours of reference services a week, even relying on a beeper to call other librarians for back up when the reference librarian is away from the desk. Students can also e-mail or call from elsewhere on campus. "Our role is to help them find information," says Dalton. "It doesn't make any difference whether they're sitting in their dorm room doing a database search or they're standing in front of you at the reference desk."

A series of classes support the University's three-phase information literacy program begun in 1995. Students learn basic use of electronic resources and the Internet in a Core curriculum computer literacy class. The reference librarian then works with faculty to teach information retrieval skills in Core critical thinking and writing classes, and then to incorporate discipline-specific research skills into major course. "I want my students, within the liberal arts tradition, to become facile, discriminating users of information, regardless of major and career interest," notes Assistant Professor of Psychology Ira Blake.

The sheer volume of information poses one challenge and the sometimes-dubious quality of online sources another. "It's not unusual for a student to use one of the Internet search engines and get 10,000 hits. Too much is almost as useless as too little," says Gunning. "Students need help with intelligent, effective searching and some direction." Librarians, faculty and even links to online Web sites work to help students distinguish the quality of the information by carefully considering the source, credentials, point of view, and the presence of supporting footnotes of bibliographic material.

Library facilities provide a quiet place to study and meeting space for small group projects.

Virtual Limitations

Despite the wealth of options, the virtual holdings remain only one component of a well-equipped library. "It's simply not true that everything is on the Internet," cautions Wilson. Many older, traditional sources are still available in print only. Some images, such as fine art representations, are too detailed for effective screen display. Other information available in electronic format today might be gone tomorrow at the whim of a publisher or Web site.

The physical library also provides study and work space for students who make particularly heavy use of the building in the evening and on Sundays during the academic year. "More and more faculty are assigning group projects because businesses are saying they want people who can work as part of a team," says Wilson. "We are still a place for students to come together and do that."

Melissa Trego '00 consults sources for a biochemistry project in the stacks of the Blough-Weis Library.

Running out of Shelving Space
Support for the library continues to grow -- library endowments increased 144 percent in the past five years to approximately $4.2 million. A $350,000 NEH Challenge Grant matched by $1.4 million to be raised by the Susquehanna 2000 capital campaign will fund library acquisitions, information technology and faculty development to support the humanities curriculum. The library has also received several significant recent gifts, including an extensive collection on international affairs from the estate of the late Claude Buss '24. A Stanford University professor emeritus of history, Buss is known for his distinguished career in diplomatic and military service.

But gifts and acquisitions require shelving at a time when the Blough-Weis Library is literally running out of space. A former 24-hour computer lab in the lower level was moved to Degenstein Campus Center this summer to make room for more books. As a longer-term solution to maximize use of space, the library plans to install compact shelving in 18 months to two years. The compact design is expected to provide space for another eight years of collection growth.

"When major renovations were done to the library ten years ago, it was predicted that the project would provide ten years of growth space," explains Kathleen Gunning. "It looks like we're right on schedule."