9 Humanities and Social Sciences Branch Library
All refurbishment projects planned in 1996 were completed in 1997. Apart from
the construction of the new front entrance, which dominated the first half of
1997, the projects were completed with little disruption to services and no
great inconvenience to clients. The refurbishment has had a big impact on the
front entrance and the reference area and many favourable comments were received
from clients and library staff.
A number of surveys were run during the year. Usage surveys relating to the
number of users in the Library on evenings and weekends provided information to
assist us to tailor Information Desk service hours to meet demand and yet result
in some reduction of staff costs, while usage surveys on music and multimedia
services as well as the exam database service provided valuable information to
make improvements.
The Branch Librarian had discussions with representatives of the Monash
Association of Students and the Monash Postgraduate Association about the
possibility of holding a student forum. There was no great interest from MAS but
the executive chair of the Monash Postgraduate Association was very supportive
and a forum for Postgraduates was held on 21st October with the stated aims: to
provide feedback on Library matters; identify postgraduate priorities for
library services; establish future networks and develop ongoing links with
students. Discussion was wide ranging and a number of concerns raised.
Participants agreed it had been a valuable experience that should be repeated.
Discussions were held with the Bookshop and Technical Services staff to
develop procedures to trial the purchase of student reading material direct from
the bookshop using bookshop lists. A formula was developed to allow for a more
generous provision of books for subjects with large enrolments. Library staff
trained bookshop staff on procedures to ascertain holdings before placing
orders. The trial commenced late in the year and should, together with the more
generous formula, enable us to be better prepared for the 1998 move to two week
loans for undergraduates.
MULTELS, the Monash University Library Telephone Information Service, was
centralised in the H&SS Library and some Interactive Voice Response features
were added. Despite the addition of IVR, demand for operator assistance remained
the same.
The completion of the long awaited CARM Store at Bundoora enabled the Library
to move to the second stage of its storage plan to deal with ongoing space
problems. Late in 1997 we moved to CARM closed serial titles that had been
located in basement storage for at least two years. This move has opened up
space to allow for little used material from the second floor to be relocated in
the basement and so make room for the 1997 bound serials.
The Library and the Japanese Language Centre agreed to establish a Melbourne
Centre for Japanese Language Education to be based in the Asian Studies Research
Library and funded by the Nippon Foundation. The Centre supports school teachers
of Japanese Language in Victoria. The agreement gives 100 teachers of Japanese
Language library borrowing privileges at Monash on an annual basis. The opening
on 16 July was attended by a number of dignitaries including the Consul-General
of Japan. A highlight was a performance by the Malvern Central Primary School
choir singing Japanese songs. Introductory sessions were run for card holders
and the teachers are proving to be enthusiastic users of the collection.
Discussions were held with members of the Arts Faculty as to the possibility
of introducing an EFTSU recognised Information Literacy course/unit as part of
their proposed new core courses. The Library's participation was greeted with
enthusiasm, but unfortunately the project was jettisoned as it was discovered
that the introduction of core first year courses would result in the loss at 2nd
year of some 200 History EFTSU. Talks were held with lecturers from the
Department of Librarianship, Archives and Records as to the Library contributing
an EFTSU loaded unit on Information Literacy within one of their courses. These
plans were overtaken by the work of the User Education Subcommittee seeking to
place Information Literacy material on the Web.
User Education sessions offered were fewer in number but more varied. There
was a steady stream of requests from groups such as ELICOS, EAP (English for
Academic purposes), Enhancement students in specific subject areas, Schools,
TAFE's, mature students and students with learning disabilities. An important
initiative was the introduction of generic classes for new postgraduates. This
should assist in shortening the one-to-one interview subject librarians have
with postgraduates to advise on resources to be consulted for specific thesis
topics.
H&SS now has subject specific Web pages for about 50% of the wide range
of disciplines it services. Lending Services pages were upgraded and a generic
lending services page for all Monash Libraries was developed. An electronic form
for recommending material for Reserve was completed as well as a FAQ file for
Reserve. ASRL produced a comprehensive set of pages with extensive links to key
areas of interest on the Internet. We now have an efficient system for adding
new pages to our site and for keeping the essential information on the Web pages
up to date. H&SS staff were also responsible for mounting a virtual
exhibition for Rare Books to advertise their exhibitions on the Web. These were
well received and resulted in several congratulatory emails from around
Australia.
A promotional plan for the Branch was drafted as part of the Business Plan
and staff have done their utmost to implement it.
A great deal of basic training took place in all sections to ensure staff are
kept up to date with procedures, new equipment and resources as well as the
learning of new skills. Courses attended include ABN training, HTML, Supervising
others, Performance appraisal, PC skills, HEPCIT and VALA. A large number of
staff did HTML training to enable them to participate in the development of Web
pages.
As part of the overall review process in the Library, Marie Pernat convened a
taskforce to review the role of Subject Librarians and a report was produced to
assist the Expenditure Review Committee with its deliberations. Gayle Whyte and
Grace Giannini were acknowledged and thanked as subject specialists by authors
in the introduction to books published in 1997. Simon Huggard was seconded to
draft a strategic paper on networked databases. Stephanie Foott was seconded on
a fractional basis as Publications Librarian to produce The Information.
A number of H&SS staff were involved in PALS replacement taskforce teams.
The author and title card catalogues were relocated and the subject card
catalogue disposed of. The Reference area was completely refurbished and the
result has been very pleasing both visually and operationally. Current Serials
and the new books and serials displays are also located in the new area. The new
newspaper room on the first floor and the West Reading Room offer a very
pleasant environment for clients. New offices were constructed for the Lending
Services Librarian and Reserve Co-ordinator. Other improvements were the
completion of a staff meeting room to be shared with Technical Services and the
installation of a glass divider to reduce noise from the student group study
area.
Discussions were held in June with Associate Deans' Research for the
Faculties of Arts, Education and Business and Economics as to the expenditure of
Research Infrastructure Funds. Agreement was reached that a proportion of the
funds should be used to support access to resources. Projects endorsed were:
replacing or upgrading network PC's, setting up 24 workstations for laptop
access, replacement and maintenance of microform equipment. All projects were
completed satisfactorily and the 24 workstations installed in the West Reading
Room. It is hoped that the University will complete procedures early in 1998 to
enable students to access the University network with their laptops.
Staff losses due to the Monash package and non replacement policy affected
Lending Services and the Attendants in particular. This problem resulted in a
number of reshelving crises during the year. These were only overcome with some
assistance from staff in other Divisions and mobilising all of H&SS staff to
reshelve. At times during the year, for health and other reasons, staffing
levels among the Attendants were completely inadequate to cope with the
workload.
Lending Services staff made a concentrated effort to follow up student debt
over $40.00. This involved a great deal of work and forbearance as staff had to
contend with numerous hard luck stories. The effort was worthwhile in that it
cleared some $40,000 of outstanding debt.
It is pleasing to note that the specialist profile of the Asian Studies
Research Library(ASRL) has continued to attract outside funding. Considerable
effort went into the planning and establishment of the Melbourne Centre for
Japanese Language Teaching which services Victoria, South Australia and
Tasmania. This initiative brought in $12,000 external funding to establish the
facility within the ASRL and $10,000 per annum in subsequent years. In addition,
there is an annual donation of $3,000 from Tokyo Marine. The ASRL is also home
to the NKSC Korean Studies Research Library, and in 1997 its consortium members
contributed $11,000 for collection development. The ASRL has the best Korean
Studies collection in Australia, apart from the National Library of Australia.
The Library is also actively involved in the South Asia: renovating the
national collection project. The Associate University Librarian participated
the South Asia field trip.
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