Electronic libraries

Thu Oct 23 20:43:45 EDT 1997

On Thu, 23 Oct 1997, Sue Kamm wrote:

> Try getting in touch with Cal State Monterey.  (I don't have an address 
> for them, and I'm at home where I'm severely web-challenged.)  They were 
> supposed to be all-electronic.  I seem to recall reading something 
> recently about their library, and why the 'virtual' idea didn't really 
> work.  

Sue,

I reckon some of the folks from CSUMB will jump in, so I shouldn't
probably even speak, as I've moved on.  But I was there the day the
library's doors opened, Oct. 16, 1995.  There were no books, no
bookstacks, no periodicals, no pc's. We carved a library, and a campus,
from an abandoned U.S. Army base in a matter of months.

It was NOT easy;  it was, in fact, incredibly stressful, at times. If you
weren't flexible, you were history.  There were new crises all over
campus, all the time.  But the library faculty and staff at CSUMB were, in
my 2 year experience, committed to their jobs, their ideals, and their
patrons.

They served an under-represented regional student body in an area where
such an institution is sorely needed.  Both the faculty and the student
body are roughly 25-33% Hispanic.  I admire this in CSUMB.

The "all-electronic" you mention was quoted from the CSU Chancellor before
the university even opened, quoted from a now-infamous Newsweek article.

As to the all-electronic not working - they subscribe to approx. 300 print
magazines and journals, and to over 2700 electronically.  Go to their
Resources, A-Z page at

http://library.monterey.edu/infocenter/shortcut.html

and you'll see what they subscribe to electronically.  They have fast
document delivery service; many article requests are faxed within 1-2
hours.  They do not even accept paper copy of ILL/doc del.  You have to
submit requests via a Web form.  And hey ... for the cost of many a
journal subscription per year, these days, you can buy LOTS of ind.
articles. 

Furthermore, they were charged to do just what they have done--to deliver
information electronically whenever possible, and to supplement w/ paper.  
Maybe the whole grand experiment at CSUMB won't work.  What intimidates
alot of librarians, I believe however, is that this new paradigm *will*
work.  The level and pace of technological change at CSUMB and elswhere is
threatening to many librarians.

 As to your remark "try to get in touch with them" - I took numerous calls
from librarians all over the U.S. and described to them on the phone from
Ref Desk or my office what we were doing.  We had lots of folks wander in
and look.

As to a recent article you may have read...I've no idea which one - but a
Chronicle of Higher Ed reporter was on campus during the fall of '96 and
didn't even get his facts straight.  He faulted the CSUMB library for not
running CD-ROMs, making them sound ineffectual and behind the times.  All
this AFTER he was told repeatedly that the Web was the primary delivery
mechanism for lib. information there.  Which he ALSO didn't mention in his
article.

These people--librarians, faculty, staff, and students alike--are taking a
HUGE risk, in a VERY high-stress professional environment. The librarians
on-board are some of the best I've ever had the honor to work with,
including a former Director of Systems at UC Berkeley and the man who
built the InfoSlug gopher at UC Santa Cruz. 

Some of the old ways don't work anymore. Libraries don't have the $$ for
every journal on the planet.  I think the librarians at CSUMB deserve
respect for the job they have undertaken and for the cause to which they
are committed.

Like I said - this ain't directly my business anymore.  I hope some of the
CSUMB folks are reading this listserv and will respond more eloquently
than I can. 