Welcome back. Returning students will note some changes in the Library, especially on the second floor. We have removed the shelving from the middle of the floor where current periodical issues were shelved and done some rearranging of second floor seating.
Why have we done this? The Library begins this year with a budget reduction of $100,000. Adjusting to a reduction of this magnitude meant the Library had to cancel approximately that amount in journal subscriptions. The Library staff has worked with academic department heads, Deans, individual faculty members, and the Faculty Senate to identify which titles to cut. Recent surveys of our users show a marked preference for online journals over print. Our usage studies of our print journals have borne this out, hence our decision to focus on print journals, resulting in our cancelling over 50% of those journals from the second floor. These cancellations leave us with only about 260 titles we still receive in print.
The cancellations meant we had no need for most of the current issue shelving, so we decided to remove the shelving and interfile recent issues with bound volumes. We did this over the summer so as to minimize disturbance of our users. Recent issues of journals received in print are now sitting next to bound volumes of that title from previous years, shelved by call number. To find a recent issue of a periodical, look up the call number in the online catalog or ask for assistance from any service desk.
On a positive note, the removal of shelving allowed us to create more group study space at the table clusters. We have added multiple power outlets at these clusters for plugging in laptops. In addition, we took advantage of this shift to build a browsing collection of popular magazines on the first floor adjacent to the newspapers.
If you have questions or wish to make comments, please feel free to contact the Library Dean directly at Theresa-Liedtka@utc.edu or call at 4506.