**University of Virginia Report**

**for Chief Collection Development Officers,**

**Technical and Public Services Directors of Large Research Libraries**

June, 2007

**New Provost:**

Arthur Garson, Jr., current dean of UVA's Medical School will become the
University\'s provost on July 1. He succeeds outgoing Provost Gene
Block, who will become the chancellor of the University of California,
Los Angeles this summer. At UVA, the Library reports directly to the
Provost.

**Collections and Preservation:**

-   Carol Hunter is UVA's new Associate University Librarian for Public
    Services and Collections and will represent UVA on CCDO and Public
    Services Directors of Large Research Libraries. She was formerly
    Director of the Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library at
    UVA.

-   A Collection Management Oversight Committee has been formed to
    oversee and coordinate management of print holdings at all
    University of Virginia Libraries (including Business, Law and Health
    Sciences). The Committee's tasks include developing collection
    management criteria and de-duplication and last copy plans,
    overseeing de-duplication and de-accessioning activities, and
    updating the stacks status report (capacity, fill rates, etc.) for
    all UVa Libraries.

-   Digitization and Publishing Services has become the home of the
    largest Cruse Scanner in a library. The scanner, capable of scanning
    flat items as large as 57" x 96", will accommodate most maps,
    architectural drawings and framed items owned by the Library.

**Digital Initiatives:**

-   UVa's Google Team is putting procedures in place to begin shipping
    books for digitization beginning the end of June.

-   The Library's Digital Scholarship Services department is sponsoring
    two graduate student fellowships in digital humanities beginning
    fall 2007. These fellowships are made possible because of donor
    contributions to the Jeffrey C. Walker Library Fund for Technology
    in the Humanities, the Matthew & Nancy Walker Library Fund, and a
    challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The
    scholarships for fall semester, 2007 have been awarded to graduate
    students Lee Bidgood, (Music) and James Cocola (English).

**Online Library Environment update**

-   June 11 saw the unveiling of the Library's redesigned website
    ([http://www.lib.virginia.edu](http://www.lib.virginia.edu/)) The
    Library's Communication and Publication Department developed the
    site in collaboration with many staff groups including a
    re-invigorated Usability Team.

-   Excellent progress has been made toward implementation of Serials
    Solutions suite of products. Working in tandem with Serials
    Solutions, library staff migrated our current knowledgebase of
    electronic journal subscriptions, installed the new Article Linker
    interface, and loaded nearly 70,000 full and brief catalog records
    into our OPAC. We are currently testing the federated search module
    (Central Search) with the goal of having complete functionality in
    place by fall 2007. Much clean-up remains to be done.

-   Following up on the a self-study of our Online Library Environment
    (OLE), an OPAC Landscape Team was formed to survey the products and
    services available for improving discovery of library materials. One
    of the Team's recommendations has been approved: the local
    development of an open-source discovery application called
    Blacklight, a tool developed at UVA.

**Collaborations**:

-   In late May, the Library, UVa's Information Technology and
    Communication (ITC) division, and the Arts and Sciences Center for
    Instructional Technology co-hosted a week-long technology forum "New
    Horizons in Teaching and Research." The workshops, presentations,
    and "how-to" sessions on the use of technology in teaching and
    research were open to all interested faculty, students and staff.

-   The Library has established a "Library Computing Collaboration
    Group" in order to facilitate coordination and collaboration between
    the Library, ITC and Printing and Copying Services on issues of
    common concern such as wireless access, authenticated login, unified
    build of public workstations, remote access to library resources and
    computing help-desk services in the libraries.

-   This year's Scholarly Communication Institute 5 will be held July
    8-10, 2007 in Charlottesville. With a focus on visual scholarship,
    SCI 5 will bring together 'visual scholars' from the humanities and
    sciences, (both theorists and practitioners) with those who possess
    expertise in libraries, advanced technologies, publishing, museums,
    and other relevant arenas. 

**Personnel and Staff Development:**

-   Recent hires include Ophelia Payne (Serials Cataloging Coordinator),
    Keith Weimer (Reference and Instructional Technology Librarian) and
    Mary Johnston (Semester@Sea Librarian). Searches are underway for
    the following positions: Director, Digital Scholarship Services;
    Director, Science, Engineering and Education Services; and Director,
    Library Human Resources and Staff Development.

-   A"Not-for-Geeks-Only" series was launched this year with
    presentations by staff for staff on topics such as "Gadgets, Gizmos,
    and other Handheld Wizardry," del.icio.us, Flickr, MySpace, Library
    Blogs and RSS Feeds and LibraryThing. In addition the Library's
    Professional Issues Committee sponsored visits by Lorcan Dempsey
    (OCLC) and Susan Gibbons (AUL for Public Services, University of
    Rochester).

**On the lighter side:**

UVA Football Coach Al Groh served as guest University librarian on
Thursday March 15. The highlight of his visit was his presence at the
reference desk of Alderman Library. When one of Coach Groh's players
asked how he could find a certain call number in the stacks, the coach
handed him a library reference brochure and suggested using it just like
a playbook. Coach Groh said his visit showed him that the library "is
about people, energy and ideas." His visit followed University Librarian
Karin Wittenborg's appearance as guest football coach at the UVA-Western
Michigan game in 2005 -- Hoos winning 31-19.

Submitted by Carol Hunter, AUL for Public Services and Collections

Jane Edmister Penner, Director, Content Management Services