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A decade ago, forecasters were predicting the
death (or serious decline) of university libraries as a result of
the digital revolution. While the world does look different today,
it is interesting to see that visits to Monash University
Libraries increased by 3.5% in 2006 compared with 2005, while
loans were almost static. Reference enquiries increased, document
delivery requests reduced, but the major change continues to be in
the area of use of electronic resources with a 55% increase in the
use of Library-supplied databases as an example. It can now be
seen that these new resources complement, rather than replace,
more traditional collections and services.
The past decade has been referred to as one
of ‘white water change’ for university libraries, with services
being transformed to be more user-focussed, dramatic shifts
towards the use of electronic resources and the library playing a
different role, helping to showcase and manage research output for
the university.
This is certainly true of Monash University
Library, and excellent progress was made in all of these areas in
2006. With regard to the library buildings, the newly refurbished
Hargrave-Andrew Library and the Berwick Library and Learning
Commons were opened and have been greatly appreciated by users.
Planning for an improved Pharmacy Library occurred, and new
facilities for both Malaysia and South Africa were in
construction. The move towards learning commons, where library and
information technology and other services are combined, advanced
significantly at Berwick, Malaysia and South Africa, but also at
Pharmacy. These changes, together with further improvements in
information literacy, led to the University’s decision to transfer
responsibility for language and learning support services to the
Library. This will take effect from the middle of 2007.
The Library continued to acquire significant
electronic resources (44.2% of the collection budget is now spent
on these), but it now has an established role in creating,
managing and disseminating electronic resources and services. The
Lectures Online service investigated the feasibility of podcasting,
which will be introduced in 2007. The ARROW Repository was used to
support the University’s Mock Research Quality Framework (RQF) and
several collections were developed for inclusion in the
repository, including pictures from the Centre for Gippsland
Studies, electronic copies of higher degree by research theses and
working papers from the Faculty of Business and Economics. The
Australian Government provided an additional grant of $4.3 million
for the national ARROW project, which is led by Monash University,
to continue in 2007. The Monash University ePress, which is
managed by the Library, enjoyed its first full year of operation
with fully functioning software, publishing the equivalent of 17
titles (15 journal issues and 2 monographs).
Services were improved in a number of ways,
including participation in ask.monash, use of SMS for informing
users, an upgrade in the printing and computing environments and
increased and standardised of hours of opening.
The Library in Australia continued to support
the two overseas campuses. In 2006 this included leading the
design processes for the two overseas campus library and learning
commons, negotiating access to electronic resources and providing
systems and overall management support.
The treasures of the Library’s collections,
particularly from the Rare Books and Asian Studies Research
Collections, were showcased through a range of exhibitions
throughout the year, and a feature of both the Hargrave-Andrew
Library and the Berwick Library and Learning Commons are permanent
displays of art works from the University’s collections.
I would like to thank the University for the
way it clearly expresses the value it places on its Library, the
many members of faculty who engage with the Library through its
collections, services and information literacy programs, and the
wonderful staff of the Library, whose inspired work results in the
Library performing extremely well in University and external
surveys.
Cathrine Harboe-Ree
University Librarian
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 University Librarian, Cathrine Harboe-Ree |
