Although the NCSU Libraries system primarily serves the needs of NCSU's faculty, students, and staff, because it is North Carolina's premier science, engineering, and agricultural library, it also serves the needs of information seekers in academia, business, industry, and extension from across the state.
The NCSU Libraries is one of three libraries in North Carolina with membership in the prestigious Association of Research Libraries (ARL) [5.2.5.1; 5.2.5.2], and has recently assumed a leadership role in researching and applying new information technologies to improve information access for users. With its second century of service well under way, the NCSU Libraries is engaged in defining for higher education and for librarianship the role of academic libraries in the twenty-first century. The range of this role and the spirit in which the library staff approaches its work is evident in the mission statement of the NCSU Libraries [5.2.1.3]:
One of the primary avenues for the NCSU community to review policies and services, and to raise concerns about the Libraries is the standing University Library Committee, with faculty and student representatives. In addition, library reviews are conducted as needed [5.2.1.3]. In 1990 a Commission on the State of the Library teamed representatives from the NCSU administration, faculty, student body, and library to study and make recommendations on library priorities and needs. Formal user surveys have also been conducted: in 1986 a random sample of users in the D.H. Hill Library participated in a lengthy survey as part of a long-range planning study. Currently, the NCSU Libraries together with its TRLN partners are conducting a study on cooperative resource development in the sciences and engineering, one of five $100,000 projects nationwide funded by the Council on Library Resources (CLR). Early phases of the CLR study included a Symposium on Cooperative Information Resources Development in the Sciences and Engineering, with active participation by faculty, librarians, and administrators, and a survey of information used by a sample of faculty and graduate students on all three campuses. The next phase will include focus-group interviews with selected faculty and graduate studentsincluding those who do not use the libraryto pursue inquiries about their information needs. The surveys administered to NCSU faculty, students, and staff as part of the NCSU self-study are the most recent and wide-ranging surveys of the University community. This report cites the results from the self-study surveys of faculty, undergraduate students, and graduate students throughout.
The library is also regularly included as an element in the periodic reviews for reaccreditation of various programs across campus. In addition, as a federal depository library, the NCSU Libraries is evaluated periodically by the U.S. Government Printing Office, most recently in 1990 [5.2.1.3]. The assessment includes a site visit by an official GPO inspector who submits a formal report on the standing of the depository program, facility, and services.
The University's regular planning cycle provides a formal framework for developing and evaluating the NCSU Libraries' purpose and scope [5.2.1.3]. The planning process always involves staff throughout the library system, asking them to review the Libraries mission statement, formulate goals and objectives, and assess progress made toward previous goals. The completed plan is submitted to the University Planning and Analysis Office for systematic evaluation of program and budget priorities and to ensure consistency with the institution's broader goals. The mission statement and plan are also regularly presented to the University Library Committee's faculty and student members for review and endorsement [5.2.1.2].
Cooperative arrangements extend the borrowing privileges of NCSU faculty and students to the TRLN libraries of Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, as well as at other Raleigh colleges and the rest of the UNC system [5.2.2.4]. Participation in the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program allows NCSU faculty borrowing privileges and on-site access to the major North American research libraries.
For over a decade, the NCSU Libraries' patrons have located many of the materials they need by using computerized databases. The first of these systems, the Bibliographic Information System (BIS), which is an on-line catalog jointly developed by the TRLN libraries, supplemented card and paper sources to make information retrieval faster, more sophisticated, and more convenient [5.2.2.4]. In particular, BIS allowed users to search holdings and check on their availability in any TRLN library through a single search, an advanced feature unique in the country.
In fall 1993 BIS was supplanted by the NCSU Libraries Information System, which continues electronic services provided under BIS, but adds many new ones, including access to the catalogs of hundreds of libraries all over the world [5.2.2.6]. Implementation of the new system was supported by funding for software provided by the Triangle Universities Center for Advanced Studies, Inc., and by funding for the purchase of Digital Equipment VAX hardware provided by the NCSU administration. The new system, using Data Research Associates, Inc. (DRA) software, was selected after a rigorous investigation of its potential to offer greater information services from a single on-line source. Expanded searching options makes information in the on-line catalog more accessible by adding the ability to search by keyword, to limit searches with qualifiers such as date or language of publication, and to provide on-line cross-references to standardized catalog terms, regardless of the terms used in the search. The new system also displays the current status of items the library has on order and more detailed holdings information about specific journal volumes (for example, whether an issue is at the bindery). Moreover, the DRA system can load multiple databases in addition to local collections, thus making them available to many more users than the stand-alone CD-ROM products now permit [5.2.2.4].
The NCSU Libraries has mounted the Government Printing Office database and is negotiating licenses for other citation indexes and full-text files. The networking capabilities of the new system will also provide connections to other library catalogs across the country via the Internet to campuswide information systems, as well as a host of information services being developed around the country and the world [5.2.2.4].
The installation of several hundred CD-ROM databases in the Libraries has made access to materials faster and easier, but it is not necessary to go to a physical library building to find library materials: twenty-four-hour remote access via home, dormitory, or office computers is available to the NCSU Libraries Information System, to the NCSU library's reference service, and to many on-line databases.
Looking ahead to ways of expanding the availability of CD-ROM products, the library is testing a pilot service that makes CD-ROM databases accessible to any computer on the campus network with X-Window capability. The large base of such computers (more than 800 in the College of Engineering alone, principally for the use of undergraduate and graduate students) ensures that these products will reach a substantial portion of the Libraries' clientele. Working together with senior design students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as University faculty responsible for the College of Engineering EOS network (an electronic network providing a comprehensive tool set and services for instruction and research), the Libraries is implementing a scheduling program that will allow users to reserve search time for such databases as much as two weeks in advance [5.2.2.7]. Planning for the networking of high-demand CD-ROM databases has begun. By June 1994 access to them will be available through the campus network and via the Internet.
The concept of access to materials can also encompass the delivery of materials to the user [5.2.2.1]. Forty-seven percent of faculty and graduate student respondents to the Council on Library Resources study's user survey said they often needed information the same day; 48 percent said they often needed it within seventy-two hours. To meet this need for rapid delivery, between 1989 and 1992 the Libraries conducted with the National Agricultural Library the Digitized Document Transmission Project (DDTP), a project to test the transmission of digitized text and images using the national NSFnet/Internet network. A local component of this study, the Electronic Document Delivery Service, demonstrated the feasibility of the electronic requesting and delivery of interlibrary loan materials to users at two branch libraries. In its second phase, the DDTP expanded testing to thirteen other land-grant institutions. This study was funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Education's Title II-D research and development program, and Apple Computer, Inc. It is now exploring an international component. This year another Title II-D-funded project will allow the TRLN libraries to develop a Model Automated Document Delivery System for Research Libraries [5.2.2.4]. The $321,000 award was made to the three TRLN libraries, with the NCSU Libraries serving as lead institution, to develop software to tie in with the next-generation information system that will allow users to order needed documents on-line and have them delivered to the user's office or desktop.
Underlying the ability to support the library's efforts at improving the utility and scope of its on-line resources is the existence of an expert library systems staff [5.2.4.1]. The NCSU Libraries was the first library in the state and one of the first in the country to install a local area network (LAN) to connect all library desktop computers to the University's growing network backbone and to improve program-oriented and internal administrative communications. The LAN provides performance characteristics unique to most research libraries, such as access to OCLC and Internet resources by all computers on the network. It also provides a foundation for research and development initiatives as well as improvements to existing programs. Recent changes to the network improve its speed and provide for delivery of large-image and text datafiles to users, as well as access to the Libraries' new DRA system. Changes include installing the Libraries' next-generation on-line (DRA) system as a high-speed host on the University's fiber-data backbone network, providing large band width for computer-based document delivery. Two new positions in systems will enable the Libraries to maintain its leading-edge standard in the application of new information technologies.
Because a daily truck service delivers mail and library materials among libraries of the TRLN and selected Research Triangle institutions, NCSU Libraries users do not have to travel to other libraries in the Triangle area to access materials. Materials not held by the NCSU Libraries can be requested through the Interlibrary Center. The Interlibrary Center is exploring ways to expedite its services by making access to library collections more interactive [5.2.2.5].
Recommendation 9.1: NCSU Libraries should develop the capability to allow patrons to use the electronic catalog interactively to request materials.
With the development of electronic access to information about library holdings and other library services, the NCSU Libraries faces a different but related challenge: teaching faculty, administrators, and students about the varieties of available services and how to take advantage of these services. This effort is being coordinated with the Computing Center as enhanced electronic services are installed across the campus.
A new, just-created position in reference will focus on developing a comprehensive program aimed at teaching users to navigate in the electronic-information environment.
Recommendation 9.2: The NCSU Libraries should expand its program to teach the University community how to take advantage of library services now becoming available through electronic access.
Within the NCSU library system, local bus service is available from the main campus to the Veterinary Medical Library about one mile away, and to the Textiles Library on the Centennial Campus. This year's purchase of a library van has expedited the Libraries' delivery of materials and mail among its branches.
Library facilities are easily accessible. Open 107.5 hours per week, the NCSU library system leads the UNC system in hours that the main library is open, and is among the upper half of ARL libraries in total hours of opening [5.2.2.3]. Although open building hours were reduced during a recent budget cutback, they have since been restored, following student and faculty demand for funding of this critical service. Some service-desk hours, however, remain at a reduced level. The increasing availability of on-line information resources via the Internet helps to diminish the limitations imposed by hours the building is open.
Hours for the four branch libraries and the affiliated Learning Resources Library vary, but the D.H. Hill Library is open seven days a week during the following hours [5.2.2.3]:
Monday through Thursday: 7:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Friday: 7:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Saturday: 9:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sunday: 1:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
The self-study surveys show some dissatisfaction with the D.H. Hill Library's building hours: 17.9 percent of faculty respondents, 15.4 percent of undergraduate, and 21.4 percent of graduate students said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied [5.2.1.1; 5.2.2.3; 5.2.2.5]. (Branch library hours were not covered in the survey.) In all cases, however, a sizable majority of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied (faculty, 72.3 percent; undergraduates, 79.3 percent; graduate students, 74.1 percent). Faculty (16.2 percent) and graduate students (20.2 percent) also expressed dissatisfaction with service hours, although most (faculty, 68.9 percent; and graduate students, 67.9 percent) were satisfied or very satisfied. Interestingly, the majority of undergraduates (61.9 percent, missing; and 7.8 percent, no opinion) either did not respond or had no opinion, perhaps reflecting less reliance on the library's public-services staff.
For users with physical disabilities, the Libraries has established mechanisms for special access into the facilities, a book-paging service for retrieving needed materials, and a service for mailing materials to patrons [5.2.2.5]. The Special Facilities Room in the D.H. Hill Library contains equipment such as low-vision aids. A TDD device in the Reference Department enables staff to respond to telephone requests from the hearing impaired. A public-catalog terminal designated for handicapped patrons has a Fresnel lens to provide virtually distortion-free enlargement of screen displays. Planning for the new on-line system includes equipment that will enable patrons with physical disabilities to reach and use library computer terminals.
As other special requests arise, the Libraries' policy is to make accommodations when feasible. The library is working with the University's Physical Plant to assess the extent of the library system's compliance with the new Americans with Disabilities Act. As a result, significant changes in the library facilities have already been made and others will follow.
Instructional services include presentations tailored to specific classes on how to use library materials, how to develop information-research strategies, and how to conduct CD-ROM database searches. Methods of instruction include one-on-one instruction, generic group presentations, and customized class instruction via lectures and hands-on demonstrations [5.2.2.2]. In 1991-92, the NCSU Libraries staff made 300 presentations, serving almost 5,000 persons. To meet the needs of the largest single group of new library users, the incoming freshman classes, library staff members created a library research workbook that must be completed by all freshmen in the first-year English courses. Exercises in the self-paced workbook are designed to teach students what sources of information are available, how to find and use them, and how to plan a research strategy. Now in its sixth year, the NCSU Libraries Research Workbook brings many students into the library who might not otherwise venture into the building, and it gives staff a chance to meet many of the students far earlier in their academic careers than they might otherwise. In addition, printed guides and user aids are available to the public [5.2.2.6]. They include general handouts, flyers on specific subjects or tools, brief topical bibliographies, maps, instruction on call numbers and subject classifications, and descriptions of services.
The NCSU Libraries' commitment to the advancement of information technologies led to the creation, in association with the Academic Computing staff, of an Information Technologies Teaching Center (ITTC), a state-of-the-art facility in which students and faculty can develop skills in information retrieval, manipulation, and management in a hands-on environment [5.2.2.6; 5.2.2.7]. With partial support from the gift of the NCSU Class of 1990, the staffs of the Libraries and of the Computing Center have completed the first two phases of the ITTC: a DOS laboratory with room for twenty-six IBM workstations, and a Macintosh laboratory. The DOS laboratory, which has been heavily booked since its opening in 1991, allows an instructor to perform operations on a computer that are relayed to the students' workstations while students are working at their own speeds. A popular ITTC course now taught regularly by librarians and Computing Center staff is Exploring the Internet. This course gives a history of networks and their uses and provides hands-on experience in connecting to remote terminals and transferring files. Work is progressing on the next phase of the ITTC, a facility for high-end workstations. Future enhancements include a teleconferencing center, master classroom, and individual consultation rooms for assessment of new hardware and software products. This kind of opportunity is invaluable in arming NCSU students and faculty to compete economically in an increasingly computerized world and to continue lifelong learning [5.2.2.6].
Public-service librarians routinely work with teaching faculty to assist in effective use of resource materials and to plan instructional sessions most appropriate for their classes [5.2.2.7]. A recent example of such a relationship is the Reference Department's active participation in a persuasive writing course that heavily emphasizes the use of electronic information resources. Members of the library staff also regularly participate in the University's teaching effectiveness workshops for teaching faculty.
Reference assistance has now expanded into nontraditional areas to support computer-based services [5.2.3.3]. The NCSU Libraries offers LibRef, reference services via electronic mail, which allows users to send queries at their convenience and receive answers on-line. Use of LibRef has almost doubled since its introduction last year. Public-service staff also offer staff-assisted searches of hundreds of other on-line databases for users who wish to have their searches conducted by a professional on a cost-recovery basis. Although users can perform their own searches of CD-ROM databases at no charge, reference assistance is still available for those who need it. A compelling next step in reference services is client-centered outreach, in which reference librarians go out to departments to work one-on-one with users in their academic environments.
Partially supported by the University's Industrial Extension Service, the NCSU Libraries' Technical Information Center offers reference services to several thousand clients in North Carolina business, industry, and government [5.2.1.1]. The staff answers reference questions and compiles selective bibliographies and other publications for its clientele.
The self-study surveys showed that a high percentage of faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students were satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of staff assistance (87.5 percent, 78.5 percent, 81.6 percent, respectively) [5.2.4.1; 5.2.4.3]. Note that "staff assistance" was not specifically defined and was intended to mean more than just reference services.
For special subject areas, the public-services staff regularly compiles bibliographies on topics of high interest. In addition, the Technical Information Center staff compiles bibliographies on demand for its clientele, and University Archives staff produces bibliographies on the histories of colleges, departments, and programs at NCSU and on selected NCSU-related topics. The library also publishes catalogs in special subject areas, such as audiovisual materials held in the Media Center and monographs published by the NCSU faculty. A catalog of the Media Center's music compact discs is now mounted on Happenings!, the campuswide information server. The library staff has used Hypercard applications to develop an index to information about North Carolina companies and to maintain an index of audiovisual materials available in the Media Center. Lists of recent acquisitions are automatically generated by the on-line system [5.2.2.4].
Records of information sources not held by the NCSU Libraries are available through standard indexes and bibliographies in reference collections throughout the library system. These tools, whether in print or CD-ROM format, give information on sources and their locations. Again, network access to CD-ROM indexes will distribute access to these sources.
Convenient access to journal articles is especially critical in an institution with a strong science and engineering orientation. Since April 1992 the NCSU Libraries and its TRLN partners have offered the campus community the UnCover table-of-contents service, allowing faculty and students to search on-line from home or office terminals more than 2 million feature-article citations from a database of 14,000 journals. NCSU users responded enthusiastically to this service and have logged the highest use of UnCover of the three TRLN institutions. Although most of the journals in the UnCover database are available locally, the additional UnCover 2 document-delivery service allows users to order desired photocopies on-line and to charge them to personal credit cards [5.2.2.4; 5.2.2.5].
The results of the NCSU Libraries' current Title II-D project on document delivery will help to integrate this type of service into the new on-line system. Additional on-line databases that provide access to journal information have just been made available through the NCSU Libraries Information System. At the Textiles Library, a joint project with the Computing Center and the Fiber Society is developing a table-of-contents service for about 150 journals in the fibers, polymers, and textiles fields. Electronic scanning of contents pages and optical character-recognition software for capturing text are being investigated, and the service will be made available over the Internet. A file of eight journals is currently being tested.
The NCSU Libraries also participates in a national Geographic Information System (GIS) project. Co-sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries and the Environmental Systems Research Institute, the project equips library staff with the skills to help users access geographically referenced information. Training sessions for campus users show them how to bring a representation of the world to a desktop computer, and then customize and display information in map form [5.2.2.6].
Access to external databases via the library's new information system raises a host of policy and technical questions that are confronting librarians across the country. The DRA-implementation effort includes a working group that is analyzing user-access policies, licensing issues, and priorities for the selection of external databases to be mounted on the system.
Respondents to the self-study surveys recorded a high satisfaction rating for access to information sources through indexes, bibliographies, and external databases [5.2.2.1; 5.2.2.4]. This category received satisfied or very satisfied ratings from 80.6 percent of faculty, 77.8 percent of undergraduates, and 79.3 percent of the graduate students responding.
Space projections show that the D.H. Hill Library is adequate for ten years of growth in its print collections, depending on the rate of acquisitions [5.2.2.5]. About 88 percent of the working capacity of the libraries' shelving is currently in use, allowing for an additional 226,338 volumes. The D.H. Hill Library is, however, quickly outgrowing space for special materials such as archives and microfilms. The branch libraries are generally intended to be collections fairly fixed in size and are continually carefully reduced to ensure the appropriateness of materials.
Recommendation 9.3: NCSU should provide increased library space for special materials such as archives and microfilms, including off-site storage, perhaps in conjunction with TRLN libraries.
Special features of the D.H. Hill Library include a new wing opened in 1990, which added 101,483 square feet to the existing building space. Other special features of the D.H. Hill Library include an information-technologies teaching center; four rooms set aside solely for the use of NCSU graduate students (computer room, study, lounge, etc.); eight group-study rooms for general use; a microforms reading room; University Archives and Special Collections; the Special-Facilities room; a Media Center equipped with audio and video equipment in carrels for group and individual viewing and listening; and a theater and group viewing rooms that can be scheduled for presentations [5.2.2.5].
Area, Seating
Library Date in square feet capacity Volumes held
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D.H. Hill (see above) 254,210 2,495 2,084,327
Design 1955; 3,803 60 35,000
renovated 1978
Natural Resources 1989 3,612 40 25,495
Textiles 1991 12,855 145 42,084
Veterinary Medical 1981 12,113 276 60,786
Learning Resources 1970 4,543 85 15,689
Total -- 291,136 3,101 2,263,381
As reflected in its mission statement, the NCSU Libraries is committed to creating a quality environment that is conducive to discovery and fosters individual growth. In the D.H. Hill Library, evidence of the changing physical environment is immediately visible in the handsome new reading room, whose furnishings were supported by the Class of 1989's gift of $126,400 in pledges. As funding becomes available, this enhanced environment will be extended throughout the library building.
Although the library has no general remote-storage facility, the University Archives is temporarily storing some archival materials in a non-library, on-campus site until additional, permanent storage space for archives and special-collections is provided. Materials needed from this remote location can be obtained the same day, if needed, but requests are rare, thus supporting the notion of off-site storage [5.2.2.5].
Accommodating new technologies in the existing physical facilities will pose challenges: The Libraries must identify space for terminals and workstations, and must complete the wiring of its older buildings. The library will establish a task force this year to plan the wiring, scheduled to be installed in 1995.
Despite the new addition to D.H. Hill and recent openings of two new branch library facilities, seating for students is still inadequate by some standards [5.2.2.5]. For example, the Keyes Metcalf standards call for seating for 25 percent of the student body, and the NCSU Libraries provides seating for only about 10 percent. Shortage of seating space is especially evident in the evenings and during exam times. Closed-carrel seating, a typical service available for graduate students in most research libraries, is not available.
In 1989-90, with 10.52 square feet of library space per student, NCSU was eleventh among UNC system libraries in square footage per student. By contrast, UNC-Asheville had 41.61 square feet per student, and UNC-Chapel Hill had 29.26 square feet per student (see figure 9.1).
While such objective criteria indicate room for improvement, students and faculty responding to the self-study survey seem largely satisfied with the University's library facilities. In terms of "space for me to work in the [D.H. Hill] library," 68.8 percent of faculty, 91.2 percent of undergraduates, and 83.2 percent of the graduate students were satisfied or very satisfied. This positive rating most likely reflects reactions to the recent expansion and enhancement of quality of workspace provided by the completion of the new building addition.
Recommendation 9.4: NCSU should provide sufficient library space to meet the space needs of students, using accepted standards for research libraries as a guideline.
In the past, the D.H. Hill Library has had a number of entrances for public and for staff use. The additional staff doors were phased out a number of years ago, and recent budget cutbacks prompted the closing of a back entrance to the D.H. Hill Library via Hillsborough Street, a busy commercial street north of campus. Despite the inconvenience to users, maintaining a single entrance to the library building has resulted in significant, quantifiable savings in staff time and electronic-security-system costs, fewer security problems in the building, and fewer complaints from users about the noise and pedestrian traffic through the first floor. The Erdahl-Cloyd Wing is now a serious study area rather than a bustling corridor used as a short cut through campus.
Results from the self-study survey showed that physical access to the library buildings elicited some dissatisfaction. Among faculty, 28.6 percent were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, as were 29.3 percent of undergraduates and 32.6 percent of graduate students. In all cases, however, a larger percentage of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied (64.4 percent, 61.9 percent, and 61.1 percent, respectively). It should also be noted that the question covered the D.H. Hill Library and all its branches, so it is difficult to identify which particular facility a respondent had in mind. In addition, it is unclear how a respondent may have defined "physical access" (e.g., handicapped access? ease of parking?). In open-ended answers, the single entrance to the D.H. Hill Library did arise a few times as an item of concern from students and staff.
On the other hand, dissatisfaction with the inconvenience of having only one entrance is common among users of research libraries. The matter of inconvenience to the user, however, must be balanced with the issue of security and safety, particularly on an urban campus such as NCSU's. Before the D.H. Hill Library closed its entrance on Hillsborough Street, the library building had the highest record of assaults of any building on campus. When the entrance was closed, there was a dramatic decrease in assaults. In addition to the safety of users and staff, the security of the collections must be considered. Professional thieves operate regularly in research libraries, and the library must protect the University's multi-million-dollar investment in its collections.
Recommendation 9.5: NCSU Libraries should study library access and ensure that D.H. Hill Library is accessible to all users.
One of the most inadequate areas for library users is the space for current, unbound periodicals on the ground floor of the D.H. Hill Library. The planned renovation of the entire first floor of the Erdahl-Cloyd Wing will address the current periodicals space, and the gift of the Class of 1991 to the Libraries is the establishment of a periodicals reading room in a portion of that wing. The library is pursuing further corporate or other external funding to ensure that the entire wing can be renovated in a way that will best serve the public. Planning for the renovation will reconsider the possibility of incorporating an entrance from Hillsborough Street if it can be maintained with no additional staffing and no undue security risks.
Recommendation 9.6: NCSU should renovate the Erdahl-Cloyd wing of D.H. Hill Library, making full use of the space available to meet such library needs as study areas, specialized use, and collections storage.
In the Special Facilities Room of the D.H. Hill Library are housed a Shafer reading stand, Radio Reading Service receiver, a Perkins brailler, a Talking Book record player and cassette player, a microfilm reader for the handicapped, a cassette-tape player with speech-compression capability, volume-adjustable headphones, a magnifying portable reading lamp, a Voyager portable reading aid, a Hitachi closed-circuit television reading system, and two Visualtek closed-circuit television reading systems [5.2.3.2]. The library is also purchasing a workstation and assistive software to make the new on-line information system easier to use for learning-disabled and physically impaired users.
The majority of respondents to each of the self-study surveys were satisfied or very satisfied with the condition of equipment for using library materials (e.g., microfiche, copy machines): 61.1 percent of faculty, 59 percent of undergraduates, and 49.5 percent of graduate students. On the other hand, this item ranked just below physical access as an element of relatively high dissatisfaction among faculty (21 percent dissatisfied or very dissatisfied), undergraduates (14.5 percent), and graduates (31.4 percent). Without further data from the survey results, however, it is difficult to pinpoint the sources of dissatisfaction.
The library has regular maintenance procedures for keeping equipment in good condition and replacing them as needed [5.2.1.3]. Library staff monitor the equipment on a regular schedule.
All loans within the U.S. comply with the American Library Association's National Interlibrary Loan Code (1980); many items loaned within the Southeast are covered by the Interlibrary Loan Code for the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries adopted in 1973. Loans among the constituent institutions of the UNC system are covered by the University Librarians' Advisory Council (ULAC) Model Interlibrary Loan Code [5.2.5.2]. The NCSU Libraries also maintains cooperative lending with its TRLN partners, Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Within the city of Raleigh, the NCSU Libraries has cooperative direct loan agreements with the other five members of the Cooperating Raleigh CollegesPeace College, Meredith College, Shaw University, St. Augustine's College, and St. Mary's College. In addition, the NCSU Libraries is listed with the Library of Congress as an international lender.
In preparation for automation of its circulation functions, the NCSU Libraries completed a bar-coding project among its branch collections, which are now 100 percent bar-coded. Of the D.H. Hill collections, 92 percent of circulating items have been bar-coded, and the remaining 8 percent are bar-coded as they are checked out. All newly cataloged items are routinely bar-coded.
The D.H. Hill Library houses the 1,150-volume Z. P. Metcalf Collection, the most comprehensive collection of literature on Homoptera in the world. It has served as the basis for numerous major systematic works in the field. In addition, the library holds the Tippmann Collection of Entomology. Currently, the library is developing a unique archival collection of materials on greenways. The University Archives, recently incorporated into the library's organization, makes available unique materials on North Carolina State University. When filled, a Special Collections librarian position established this year will ensure the further development of appropriate special collections and the preservation of existing collections.
The NCSU Libraries has been a depository for U.S. government publications since 1924 and receives more than 87 percent of these publications [5.2.3.1]. Beginning in 1992, the Libraries was designated a full depository for North Carolina government documents. The Libraries also receives the microfiche research reports published by the Department of Energy and holds very extensive microfiche sets of the NASA and National Technical Information Service research reports. The NCSU Libraries is also the only full patent depository in the state (and one of fewer than twenty in the United States) holding a complete back run of patents from 1790 to the present, as well as all current patents issued through the Patent and Trademark Depository Library program. The NCSU Libraries was one of fourteen libraries in the country selected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to participate in a pilot test of the Automated Patent System.
The D.H. Hill Library houses a major microforms collection with nearly 3.5 million microform units in all formats. The collection includes the major newspapers, the total ERIC microfiche collection, nondepository government publications, technical report literature from the National Technical Information Service and the U. S. Department of Energy, and back files of many journals and periodicals [5.2.3.1].
The D.H. Hill Library also has an extensive collection of traditional nonprint materials for individual and class use, including audiocassettes, tapes, filmstrips, films, videotapes, audio compact discs, CD-ROMs, and video disks, managed by a staffed Media Center [5.2.3.2]. An extensive collection of nonprint materials at the State Library located in Raleigh is also available for use by the NCSU community. Materials requested from this collection may be delivered for use the day they are ordered.
The branches and their collection strengths are:
Harrye B. Lyons Design Library houses a collection of art, architecture, landscape-architecture, graphic design, and industrial-design videotapes, films, and almost 60,000 slides covering the fields of art, architecture, landscape architecture, graphic design, industrial design, and design.Burlington Textiles Library houses a collection covering textiles, textiles chemistry, and textiles design; and the Harris Fabrics and Speizman Hosiery Collections.
Natural Resources Library houses a collection covering forest resources; marine, earth and atmospheric sciences; ecology; and paper science and technology.
Veterinary Medical Library houses a collection covering clinical and basic medical science, with particular application to nonhuman patients.
Learning Resources Library houses an extensive collection of tapes, filmstrips, slides, films, videotapes, computer software, and interactive video disks; and has production facilities for transparency production, as well as video production and editing.
The NCSU Libraries has also made a significant commitment to resources in electronic formats. In addition to its standard print and nonprint resources, the library is expanding its collection of computer databases, including locally mounted databases, hundreds of electronic databases available from on-line literature services such as DIALOG and STN, and nearly 200 indexing, abstracting, and data services in CD-ROM format. These resources include both bibliographic and full-text CD-ROMs covering fields such as engineering, agriculture, education, business, and patent literature [5.2.2.4; 5.2.3.1].
Collections no longer reside solely in a physical library building, and the implementation of network access to external databases is under way. The DRA information system now implemented will serve as a gateway to a wealth of information sources reaching far beyond the local catalogs. Citation databases and full-text databases (such as the contents of electronic journals) will be available either loaded locally or via the electronic networks. The catalogs of other research libraries will also be available electronically from library, home or office terminals. Databases such as the Government Printing Office tapes have been purchased and are being mounted locally, and still other sources such as the Center for Research Libraries' tapes will be investigated for possible inclusion. Networked CD-ROMs may be available through the information gateway, as well as the ability to generate machine-readable versions of hard-copy material through library initiatives such as the Digitized Document Transmission Project and the Electronic Document Delivery Service. Moreover, the library staff eagerly anticipates the arrival of integrated audio, video, and graphics in electronic form, exceeding the power of interactive CDs and offering a wealth of information available to be downloaded into the personal workstations of individual researchers.
Academic libraries will be profoundly affected by advances in electronic-journal publication. The NCSU Libraries co-hosted with the Association of Research Libraries the nation's first seminar on electronic publishing of scholarly, refereed journals. The library also provides technical support and housing for NCSU's electronic, peer-reviewed journal, Postmodern Culture, published by members of the English faculty, and assisted in conceptual development of this new publishing medium. The library staff is currently exploring joint grant funding with the editors of Postmodern Culture to investigate ways of making it easier for non-information-retrieval experts to find and retrieve electronic documents in a networked document-server environment that is incorporated into existing library systems. Similarly, the library staff has aided in the emergence of another electronic, refereed journal, the Journal of Statistics Education, published by members of NCSU's Department of Statistics.
The NCSU Libraries' accomplishments have been widely recognized in the profession, for example, through its selection as 1992 winner of the North Carolina Special Library Association's Information Management Award for its "dedication to playing a larger role in the information-science community outside the traditional walls of academe as well as being on the cutting edge of new technology."
However, continuation of such accomplishments threaten to be undermined by the growing inability of the collections budget to support the educational, research, and public-service programs of the University.
The CLR user survey found that NCSU respondents rated its library's collections substantially below average (while Duke respondents rated all categories about twice as high as the average, and UNC-Chapel Hill respondents matched the average).
The results of the self-study survey also showed that "periodical collections in my field to support my course/research assignments" elicited the highest degree of dissatisfaction among all the library items from faculty respondents, 57 percent of whom were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (compared with 19.6 percent among undergraduates and 37.6 percent among graduate students). As for "book collections in my field to support my course/research assignments," 46.2 percent of faculty, 13.3 percent of undergraduates, and 29.6 percent of graduate students were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. In addition, answers to open-ended questions showed that all categories of respondents expressed concern over the status of the library collections [5.2.3.1].
That there is substance in such high levels of dissatisfaction with the NCSU Libraries' collections is borne out by comparative figures. Within the fifteen institutions of higher education in the UNC system, NCSU, despite its role as one of the two major research institutions, ranks eighth both in volumes added per student and in collections expenditures per student (see figures 9.2 and 9.3). In 1990-91 NCSU was last within the UNC system in library expenditures as a percentage of university general and educational expenditures (with 2.2 percent); and was 91 out of 101 ARL libraries. Also in 1990-91, NCSU was 105 out of 107 ARL libraries in volumes held, or 1 million volumes short of the ARL median point, a stated University goal for the library (see figure 9.4.)
A 1990 report of the Commission on the State of the Library showed that the deficiency in the NCSU Libraries collections budget stems from historical underfunding by the state, worsened by a funding formula that fails to provide adequately for NCSU's growing needs as the size of its academic programs and student enrollment has grown [5.2.3.1; 5.2.3.4]. Since 1987, inflationary increases, provided annually between 1981-82 and 1985-86 by the North Carolina General Assembly, were not authorized for subsequent biennia. Additionally, in the mid-1980s, economic factors of rising production costs, the weak dollar, and questionable pricing practices by some major foreign publishers produced a disproportionate escalation of journal prices, which has reached as high as 28 percent this year.
Click here for PictureAlthough these factors have affected all academic libraries, the NCSU Libraries has been especially hard hit because of static state appropriations for collections during this period, and because materials in science and engineering -- NCSU's strengths -- are traditionally the most costly. The result is that the number of net volumes added per student by NCSU Libraries was 62 percent less in 1990-91 than in 1986-87 (see figure 9.5). Furthermore, collections expenditures per student has declined, despite a 10 percent increase in enrollment during this period.
Efforts to maintain the strength of NCSU's collections in the University's traditional areas of strength are essential to the future of the University. At the same time, some attention should be directed toward development of the collection in areas in which the library's holdings are not as well developed. Although it is true that students and faculty at NCSU have access to the substantial holdings of the libraries at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, NCSU needs to have a strong basic collection in all disciplines taught on the Raleigh campus so that it will not unduly burden the collections of neighboring institutions.
Recommendation 9.8: NCSU Libraries' annual collections expenditures per student should be maintained at a level that compares favorably with that of peer Research I institutions.
Recommendation 9.9: NCSU Libraries should assess the quality of its holding in all fields and enhance its collections in traditionally weak areas through aggressive and creative acquisition efforts under the guidance of the faculty.
Recommendation 9.7: NCSU Libraries' annual acquisition of volumes per student should be maintained at a level that compares favorably with that of peer Research I institutions.
Such efforts might include judicious purchasing supplemented by careful solicitation of donations, or acquisition of secondhand or reprint editions.
The primary recourse to budget constraints for the Libraries so far has been to cancel serials subscriptions, and 3,000 titles have been dropped in four cancellation projects over the last six years [5.2.3.4]. The cancellation procedure involves faculty and graduate students, who indicate their needs in a five-tiered ranking system. Up to this point, all journals ranked fourth ("marginal"), or fifth ("not related to instruction and research program") have been canceled, as have many of the third-level items ("useful"). Unless additional funding is forthcoming, another 1,500 serials are slated for cancellation in 1993-94 , which will eliminate the remainder of the third-level items. Only serials titles ranked first ("essential for instruction and basic for research") and second ("important for the discipline") remain in the collection. In addition, the library cannot order any new journal titles.
Recommendation 9.10: NCSU Libraries should have sufficient funds to develop and maintain journal and periodical holdings appropriate for a major research university.
Journal cancellations have been accompanied by cutbacks in monographic purchases, which means that the number of books added to the library collections since 1987 is down by 60 percent. This decline has hurt support of disciplines that rely heavily on monographs, such as the humanities and social sciences. At the recommendation of the University Library Committee, the NCSU Libraries now attempts to maintain a 75/25 split between its serials and monographic expenditures.
The loading of the government publications database has made information on which items are held by NCSU available to the public; this change allows the NCSU Libraries to include government documents in its volume count, thus bringing the library closer to the ARL median in number of volumes held. In addition, electronic alternatives may lessen some of the demand for print serials (although they raise new questions of exorbitant licensing fees).
NCSU faculty and students have called attention to the library's collections needs, and both groups have established collections endowments, mostly recently from the Class of 1993. For the first time, the NCSU Parents Association is raising money for the library, and the results of its 1993 phonathon will help to support the collections.
All of these initiatives will help the standing of the NCSU Libraries, but they will not cure the fundamental problem facing the collections budget. Such a cure will require a substantial infusion of continuing funds into the library's base budget and a restructuring of the state funding model to reflect the realities of the pricing of scientific and technical literature and to take non-print-based collections into account.
The NCSU Libraries' staff has developed both short- and long-term strategies to deal with this critical situation [5.2.3.3; 5.2.3.4]. One of the first steps has been to inform the NCSU community and the public about the scope of the problem, which seriously threatens the future of scholarly communication. Answers to open-ended questions in the self-study survey reflect an acute awareness of the problem on the part of students, faculty, and staff, and widespread support for its resolution. The University Library Committee has established a Subcommittee on Scholarly Communication with faculty, student, and library members to address the issues and propose actions. The library has also reallocated resources to support major external fund-raising efforts, including the hiring of its first library development officer. Since 1987 the library endowment has increased by at least 1000 percent, but more growth will be needed before endowment income can alleviate the collections shortfall.
The NCSU administration responded to the library funding crisis with confidence that the Libraries would receive sufficient resources to preserve the majority of journal collections. The 1993-95 NCSU change-budget requests, forwarded to the North Carolina General Assembly by the UNC system, totaled almost $2.5 million in new and recurring library support, which, if funded, would allow for maintaining the current size of the serials collections and some growth in the library collections as well as its user services. These funds represent about 23 percent of total library expenditures for 1991-92; the portion targeted for collections would result in a more than 40 percent increase in the collections budget. Projected increases in the library's budget could also increase its share of the NCSU budget from 2.2 percent to 3 percent. The current governor of North Carolina gave the NCSU Libraries high priority in his budget proposal, so the Libraries stood a good chance of receiving its change budget request for the first time.
Unfortunately, such expectations were met only partially. The North Carolina General Assembly initially pared NCSU's request from $2.5 million in recurring funds to $2 million in recurring funds, then cut the figure further to $1.8 million in recurring funds. Before the budget for 1993-94 was passed, that amount was cut to $1.127 million, and made nonrecurring. In addition, the General Assembly provided an additional sum of $777,802 for the enhancement of information-technology applications, but only $268,000 of that was made recurring.
Thus, the crisis in acquisitions for the NCSU Libraries was abated, in part, and temporarily, but was in no way resolved. In the meantime, journal subscription prices continue to rise, and the effort to accommodate them comes at the expense of the acquisitions budget for monographs and other publications.
Recommendation 9.11: NCSU should provide NCSU Libraries' with sufficient funding to provide and maintain collections, staff, facilities, and services at a level appropriate for a preeminent ARL library.
The collection managers in the Collection Management Department are in constant conversation with department and college administrators, faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students regarding selection, deselection, and other collection analysis issues. The self-study survey for graduate students asked about their satisfaction with graduate-student input into library collections. Although more were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (24.4 percent) than satisfied or very satisfied (16.8 percent), 57.7 percent had no opinion on the matter.
The research librarians bring additional input from faculty and student contacts, and the collection managers regularly work at public-service desks, thus ensuring that those who select materials are directly aware of user needs. In addition, any user may fill out an order request form to suggest an item for purchase.
The library staff keeps abreast of germinating and developing academic programs through the participation of the director of Libraries and the assistant director for planning research in cooperative planning with college and school administrators, and through the participation of the head of the Collection Management Department as a continuing member of the University Courses and Curricula Committee. These formal connections are supplemented by informal ties with the faculty and departments in joint research ventures and collaborative associations [5.2.3.3].
TRLN membership is the most important formal cooperative arrangement for NCSU's collection development. The TRLN libraries have agreements on collection-development responsibilities, with NCSU's focus being science and technology. As a result, the TRLN libraries have collections resources that are almost unparalleled in their breadth of coverage and usefulness. Computer analysis of the machine-readable bibliographic records of the three libraries reveals only a 6.7 percent rate of duplication among the three, a much lower rate than would be found in three comparable collections developed independently. The size of the combined collectionsnearly 9.3 million volumesis second in the U.S. and Canada only to that of Harvard University. The TRLN institutions also have a long history of joint grant funding for their collections; most recently, they were awarded a two-year grant totaling $600,000 from the U.S. Department of Education Title II-C program for a project entitled Documenting the Contemporary American South. At NCSU, the II-C project focuses on the acquisition of materials related to agricultural and industrial labor, the textiles industry, and regional environmental-impact statements.
Preservation efforts at NCSU were previously limited to basic binding and repair work. In addition, a staff Preservation Committee investigated issues such as disaster planning and staff-training efforts. This year's funding of a new position for a preservation librarian, together with the recommendations of the CAP study, is the impetus for establishing a formal, systematic preservation program, including the development of more comprehensive preservation policies [5.2.3.4].
Librarians have faculty status without academic rank and have voting privileges accorded to faculty. These appointments carry most of the salary, leave, economic, and professional-development benefits as do academic faculty. Librarians, however, are not eligible for tenure. They are active participants in NCSU's Faculty Senate and serve on universitywide standing committees. University policies concerning the faculty status, salary, and contractual security for library personnel are laid out in standard documents given to all library employees at the time of hiring [5.2.4.4].
Although the University's student enrollment has been growing (NCSU is now the largest school in the UNC system), the size of NCSU's library staff has not kept pace [5.2.4.3]. In 1989-90, NCSU was next to last among UNC system libraries in terms of students per FTE librarians, with 549 students per librarian (UNC-Chapel Hill is first, with 203 students per librarian) (figure 9.6). Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill each have approximately double our number of professionals, though they each serve smaller student populations. The total size of NCSU's professional staff is also small compared with its ARL colleagues: In 1990-91, NCSU was 84 out of 107 ARL libraries in number of professionals. Figure 9.7 and 9.8 show the total professional and support staff, and professional staff per student for NCSU and a group of comparable institutions.
Recommendation 9.12: NCSU Libraries should employ professional staff in numbers comparable to library professional staff at preeminent ARL libraries.
The NCSU Libraries has 118 FTE support staff whose responsibilities are defined and must be met according to University and state regulations [5.2.4.4]. Minimum qualifications and skills for each level of support staff are defined by NCSU Human Resources [5.2.4.2]. Although NCSU's ratio of support to professional staff is high (reflecting heavy reliance on support staff in the absence of an adequate number of professionals), NCSU is 71 out of 107 ARL libraries in total number of support staff (figure 9.7) [5.2.4.3].
Recommendation 9.13: NCSU Libraries should employ support staff in numbers comparable to library support staff at preeminent ARL libraries.
The library also employs approximately 200 temporary employees. Most of them are students.
The NCSU director of Libraries needs recognition for the level of responsibility that goes with this office. In the budget process, and in setting priorities for the University, the director needs to speak from a position of strength and authority. To achieve this, the Commission on the State of the Library recommended that the director of Libraries be made an associate provost of the University. This proposal is in keeping with the current practice of research libraries in the area. The library directors at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill, the two peer ARL institutions in North Carolina, are both associate provosts of their universities. The proposal of the Commission on the State of the Library was embraced by the provost and endorsed by the Faculty Senate, who recognize the benefits of including the library director in the highest level of planning and decision making for the University. Nonetheless, this recommendation has yet to be implemented.
Recommendation 9.14: NCSU's director of libraries should be made an associate provost of the University.
All four NCSU branch libraries are administered (including staffing and collections) by the NCSU Libraries, although their librarians work closely with the deans of their respective colleges or schools. The branch facilities and equipment are, however, the responsibility of the academic deans. While the Learning Resources Library falls administratively under the College of Education and Psychology, its collections are purchased and cataloged by the NCSU Libraries (see self-study library for a chart showing the NCSU Libraries' organizational structure.)
Professional organizational relationships external to the library include its memberships in the Association of Research Libraries, Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, Southeastern Library Network, and the Center for Research Libraries. Within the University, the senior administrators of the NCSU Libraries and of the University's Academic Computing staff hold regular meetings to plan jointly for the applications of information technology. One such project was the joint development of the Information Technologies Teaching Center.
Within the library, regular meetings are held at varying levels to improve library management and communication. These include the Directors Council (including the director of Libraries and all associate/assistant directors), and meetings of department heads, divisional department heads, intradepartmental staff, all library faculty, and full staff. Library functions and tasks are also advanced through a structure of both standing and ad hoc committees with cross-organizational membership. The NCSU Librarians organization plans programs for professional-staff development, and the librarywide NCSU Libraries Staff Association organizes social activities.
The creation of the Triangle Research Libraries Network in 1980 is evidence of the extraordinary resources available to researchers and scholars at NCSU, made possible through the library's desire for cooperative action. A Memo of Understanding signed by the chancellors of all three institutions reflects the commitment of each institution to its library [5.2.5.2]. TRLN received $1.3 million in early, essential support from the Department of Education under Title II-C. Since 1984, TRLN has been supported primarily by contributions from member libraries. In 1986 the TRLN libraries received $1.675 million from the Triangle Universities Center for Advanced Studies, Inc., to fund new system development, and an additional almost $500,000 in 1991 to acquire the software for the new information system.
In its role as a member of the UNC system, the NCSU Libraries maintains special agreements to provide collection access to the faculties and students of the other fifteen constituent campuses. In 1991-92, the NCSU Libraries filled 2,572 direct, cooperative loans with users from the TRLN institutions, and 2,013 direct loans from the rest of the UNC system. (Figures are not available for direct loans made by NCSU users from those institutions.) Lending of NCSU materials and photocopies via the Interlibrary Center was 1,146 in 1991-92 to the TRLN institutions, while the NCSU Libraries borrowed 2,243 items and photocopies from its TRLN partners. Interlibrary loan and photocopy services are facilitated by telephone requests and by daily truck service delivering books and other library materials among the three libraries, state government agencies in Raleigh, and the libraries of the federal and private research facilities in the Research Triangle Park. Many of the interlibrary loans made within the state during 1991-92 were to the Research Triangle Park's federal and industrial research centers, a number of which have international as well as national ties. The NCSU libraries also serves as a resource library for the Division of State Library's interlibrary-loan referral services.
Overall, the NCSU Libraries lends more of its resources out than it borrows from others. As a net lender, NCSU ranks 44 out of 108 ARL libraries in loans to other institutions. In 1991-92, the NCSU Libraries loaned 28,647 items to other libraries and borrowed 6,683 from other institutions. Locally, with the Cooperating Raleigh Colleges and others, NCSU is the primary provider of materials, recording 1,774 direct loans to CRC borrowers in 1991-92. The NCSU Libraries' resource-sharing agreements are limited to consortial or group arrangements. The library does not enter into one-to-one reciprocal photocopying agreements because it is not to NCSU's advantage to do so. NCSU Libraries is a net lender and has a self-supporting photocopy service that receives no state appropriations to cover the costs of photocopying for items supplied.
To strengthen further the research capabilities of faculty and students at this institution, the NCSU Libraries is a full member of the Center for Research Libraries, the Chicago-based research holdings collection providing extensive access to over 3.5 million book and periodical volumes. By relying on the center's collection of lesser-used but potentially valuable research materials such as archival manuscripts on microfilm and foreign doctoral dissertations, the NCSU Libraries is freed of the necessity of purchasing and housing them for its own collections [5.2.5.1].
Cooperative relationships among libraries have been significantly affected over the last two decades by the evolution of the bibliographic utility provided by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). Via its Southeastern Library Network membership, the NCSU Libraries is able to use OCLC's international database of nearly 28 million bibliographic records. NCSU library staff can share their cataloging data with thousands of other libraries, use records of other institutions such as the Library of Congress, identify other libraries holding desired materials, and transmit interlibrary-loan requests for those items electronically. Through participation in the North Carolina On-line Union Catalog (a group-access database available through OCLC), the library makes its collections accessible to many libraries that are not full members of OCLC.
The efficacy of cooperative agreements are monitored continually through mechanisms such as periodic review of interlibrary lending statistics, including sources of requests and turn-around time [5.2.5.3]. Adjustments are then made as needed (for example, using commercial services such as UnCover to expedite service, improving billing procedures with the British Library Lending Service). Similarly, as specific issues arise, staff members address those needs (for example, through a response-time monitoring project or a task force on optimal OCLC terminal configuration).
UNC Administrative Memorandum 147 specifies requirements to be met and procedures to be followed by each of the constituent institutions offering off-campus courses, and NCSU's procedures exceed SACS requirements. This memorandum places the responsibility for supplying needed materials with the colleges and schools of the institution offering the off-campus courses [5.2.6.1; 5.2.6.4]. Interactive distance learning is generally situated in locations where another UNC system campus can offer library support [5.2.6.2; 5.2.6.4]. Such arrangements ensure access to collections and staff. Where the library of another UNC institution lacks materials specifically needed for an NCSU course, the NCSU Libraries' Access Services Department has established procedures for temporarily assigning NCSU materials to the reserve room at the host institution.
Students who register for credit for courses offered over cable television in Wake County through the Division of Lifelong Education are given access to University facilities upon registration. In the case of courses and degree programs taught through distribution of video lectures and other instructional materials through satellite broadcasts and tape circulation, however, it is not clear that students always have access to needed library resources. Such courses can be "taken" anywhere in the world (and have been, by students in Europe and South America), where physical access to NCSU's resources is limited or difficult.
On the other hand, such offerings are intended primarily for professional development by people already in careers, who may find appropriate resources in their workplace. It is not clear that the occasional student in an "out-of-the-way" spot should be denied access to distance learning because the University cannot provide the student with direct physical access to a library comparable to the NCSU library system in Raleigh. In spite of the problems involved in getting access to library materials, people in remote sites may find that instruction delivered electronically is the only viable way to advance their educations or enhance their professional credentials.
NCSU is aware of its responsibility to provide appropriate library services, and needs to review its offerings to make sure that those taking advantage of innovative technology for enhancing their educations have the University's support in gaining access to appropriate materials.
Recommendation 9.15: NCSU should review its course and program offerings in remote places to ensure that adequate instructional and reference materials are provided.
