Oberlin College Library Perspectives

Number 10, September 1994

From the Director--

The inauguration of Nancy S. Dye as Oberlin's thirteenth president marks the beginning of a new phase in the College's history. The advent of her administration and the process of institutional priority-setting that naturally occurs at such a juncture provide a fitting occasion for the Library to rearticulate its plans for the future. Accordingly, in the weeks ahead I will be developing--in consultation with library staff, the faculty library committee, and the College administration--an Oberlin College Library Plan for the Year 2000. While my work is only preliminary at this point, I expect that the plan will address six main areas.

1. Collection Development. In my conversations with faculty and students I am continually reminded of the extraordinary resources represented by our library collections. As but one example, I recently listened to a faculty member speak enthusiastically about our collections relating to World War I, many of them the result of the personal efforts of President King. The Library's holdings were one reason why the faculty member decided to develop a new course on that topic. As a librarian I am very aware that collections such as the one he mentioned did not simply appear at Oberlin. They were built over time through the patient and persistent efforts of faculty and library staff, working together in close cooperation and with sustained financial support from the College. Continuing to develop the extraordinary print resources represented by the Library's collections will remain one of the Library's highest priorities in the years ahead.

2. Collection Preservation. As the faculty member's comments illustrate, our older collections represent an exceptional resource for the College community. Yet the age of those collections also presents extraordinary challenges. While the Library has maintained an active program of collection preservation for over a decade, we must expand it to address the problems posed by deteriorating acidic paper that was used in printing most of our older books and journals. The Culpeper Foundation preservation grant, which we received last year, is only an initial step in that direction.

3. Information Technologies. As it happened, the above-mentioned faculty member and I touched on the library collections only in passing as part of a discussion on another topic. In the two days immediately following our encounter I exchanged five electronic mail messages with him about our other concern. The speed and flexibility with which we addressed the question at hand illustrates one of the enormous advantages brought by the widespread communication of information in electronic form. As I have noted in earlier issues of Perspectives, emerging information technologies are quite literally revolutionizing the way in which modern academic libraries function. There is no doubt that Oberlin, as an institution, must do much more to tap the advantage of these newer technologies--no doubt, too, that the Library will be a central part of that effort.

4. Increased Curricular Integration. The implementation of newer electronic technologies and the continuing expansion of printed information present real challenges for our Library's users, especially our students. The complexity of the environment they face, including the extraordinary volume of resources from which they must choose and evaluate relevant information, requires of Oberlin an improved job of teaching its students how to take best advantage of information resources, both those that are housed in our local collections and those that are accessed electronically. This effort will require building even closer ties between the Library and the curriculum, expanding the role of both the library staff and the faculty in teaching Oberlin students the value of information resources and the critical thinking skills necessary to make wise use of them.

5. Facilities. Oberlin is for the most part blessed with a superb library physical plant, but one that is aging steadily and that is inadequate in some respects. Several facilities projects must be completed if we are to continue implementing newer information technologies, have adequate space for managing the Library's collections, and serve the needs of our users.

6. Staff. As I believe library users are well-aware, our Library is fortunate to have developed a staff of exceptional quality. An essential key to our continued success in every area--from traditional collection development, to the expansion of electronic resources, to the teaching and curricular role of the library--is the maintenance of a library staff of superb quality. A number of measures, both internal and external to the Library, will be necessary to insure continued success in this area.

This is an exciting time for the entire college community. I look forward to working with President Dye's administration to address these library and college concerns in the years ahead. I remain confident that Oberlin will continue in the forefront of the nation's liberal arts college libraries, fulfilling our traditional functions while meeting such challenges as those posed by the new information technologies.

--Ray English, Director of Libraries

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