Embracing Digital Collections: Access Issues and Practices for Academic Libraries Oregon Library Association Salem, OR April 7, 2006 Emily Asch Cataloging/Technical Systems Librarian Pacific University Library aschej@pacificu.edu http://myweb.pacificu.edu/aschej/OLA2006.ppt

Pacific University Profile Private university 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students 200+ faculty Liberal Arts undergraduate Graduate programs focus on Health Sciences and Education

Library Profile 14 staff 4 librarians 250,000 volumes Partial government document depository 1,000 print journals New 49,000 square foot library (opened in August 2005)

Electronic Resources 200 Research Databases Includes paid & free resources Accessed through separate web page Divided by subject Some are cataloged in our catalog JSTOR, Project MUSE, etc. 33,000 electronic periodicals

Library’s Role The Library currently does not provide formal access to digital collections This is not to say that we wouldn’t love to provide this access… There are many limitations that have prevented us from providing access to these digital collections

TIME Limitations ITYPES – cassette, video, … Media items – Our videos (still need to be desensitized), DVDs in locked cases Barcode placement – sometimes hard for our students to find, they are in four to five different locations, etc. If they were in a consistent location we could have the item placed in the V and the barcode scanner would scan the barcode while it was sitting in the V Magstripe New system (which can always create interesting things) Could not separate out just the barcode so I had to create a filter…

What takes so much time? Selection / Weeding Points of access Library website, catalog, subject guides, faculty websites Maintenance of links Catalogers, subjects specialists, faculty Educate faculty and students about the use and access of these resources

Faculty Use of Digital Collections Directly provide access to students Webliographies, syllabus, course management software Many do not know what is out there No time Don’t know where to look

What Faculty Want Resources and links provided for them and their students Information about what type of research can be sustained In a timely manner When and where it is needed, not ahead of time Not sure of the best access route

Future Work with faculty to provide most effective access Collection development policies Selection and cataloging Improve the work of our faculty and students and open new avenues of research and …

Creating Pacific University Digital Collections Limited Resources Time, personnel, money, and servers Political arenas Plans are in the works for some of our archival material