By Jo McCulty Library Director Joseph J.Branin is leading the Main Library through a renovation.

Libraries prepare for the next 100 years

In 10 years, Ohio State's Main Library will once again be a showcase facility that houses not only books and the latest in information technology, but study and lounge areas that will welcome students and scholars to spend a half-hour or an entire day.

While plans for long-term renovations move forward with the selection of an architectural team to conduct a feasibility study, patrons will soon be greeted by a more user-friendly library that is cleaner, brighter and freshly painted and carpeted, not to mention capable of serving up steaming cups of coffee.

Library Director Joseph J. Branin, now in his 15th month at OSU, is overseeing a library system in transition. In addition to plans to renovate the Main Library's structure, Branin is working to help shape the future of the University's use of information technology and is helping Ohio State be a leader in the OhioLINK library consortium.

Renovations

Much of Branin's time has been dedicated to renovation plans.

"That's been a focus of a lot of my thinking and energy and the staff's, as well. We're trying to make our Main Library a much better place in the short term and long term," Branin said.

In February, Ohio State selected Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbot (SBRA) of Boston and URS of Columbus to study the renovation needs of the Main Library. The study will address architectural, structural, technological, programmatic and aesthetic issues.

"They (SBRA) are the leading national firm for major research library restoration. They've done hundreds of libraries," Branin said -- including libraries at Yale, Columbia and Harvard.

A 1998 Library Task Force Report stated that when the Main Library opened in 1913, it was a place of beauty, a natural gathering point on campus that brought students and scholars together. Since then, time, limited funds and well-intended but ill-fated renovations in 1952 and 1977 have chipped away at its self-respect.

In the short term, Ohio State has taken several steps to improve the library's atmosphere.

In fact, in the main entrance, the steps have been shined up with brass protectors at the edges and new mats have been placed on the floor. New carpeting is being placed in areas throughout the library during March and April, phones have been installed in the stacks, new and refinished study tables are available for use, and new blue signs with white lettering have been suspended from the ceiling to guide patrons more clearly through the library. Areas of the library also are getting a fresh coat of paint, and the entire building is slated to be cleaned -- and kept that way.

Patrons who want a snack or a quick caffeine boost won't have to walk to High Street anymore. A coffee bar, Java Master, will soon be occupying space in the southeast wing of the library's main floor.

The major renovation has been given strong support by President Brit Kirwan and was listed as a priority in the Academic Plan. The project has a completion target date of 2008 at an estimated cost of $60 million to $100 million.

The libraries are hoping to raise 20 percent to 25 percent of the private funds needed. "A lot of work is already going on to try to raise the money," Branin said. "I'm spending 40 percent of my time doing fund raising."

SBRA/URS will be visiting Ohio State on April 5 and 6 to hold open meetings and focus groups with faculty, staff and students, Branin said, and will work on a conceptual plan for the building during the late spring and summer.

"In the fall, they'll share the plan with the community and revise accordingly," Branin said. The goal is to have the planning phase completed by the end of December 2001.

The renovation provides an opportunity for Ohio State to take a close look at how the library is being used today. "It forces us to raise some interesting questions. What is a library today? What should we do to make a library last another 100 years? What impact will digital publishing have on the library?" Branin said.

Preliminary discussions with faculty and staff have already revealed some insights. "Many people feel we should restore the Grand Reading room and I think that's likely to happen," Branin said. "There's a general feeling that the book collection has crowded out the library user. There aren't enough public computers, offices and study areas. We need a better balance of space."

OhioLINK

Branin came to Ohio State last January, after working as dean and director of University Libraries at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He also had held positions at the universities of Minnesota and Georgia.

"This is an exciting place to be," he said. "There's a lot of good morale and spirit here."

Ohio offers something he hasn't seen elsewhere. "OhioLINK continues to be amazing to me," he said. "By far, it is the best consortium in the world. We are the envy of the country."

OhioLINK, a statewide library and information network that connects many of Ohio's academic libraries together, began in 1994 with Ohio State support. It provides many electronic resources that would be too expensive for member libraries to purchase individually. Full text books also are becoming available. "We're able to take advantage of those first because of OhioLINK," Branin said.

Plans are under way for even more electronic resources. "More and more people earning their master's and Ph.D.s are producing them electronically. Because OhioLINK has a strong base now, it would become the repository for electronic theses and dissertations," Branin said.

OhioLINK's digital media center (http://dmc.ohiolink.edu) currently provides access to thousands of art images, images from the LANDSAT 7 Satellite and Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, but plans also include video and music resources.

Digitization

In areas besides OhioLINK, Ohio State is pushing the boundaries of technology.

"One general trend that libraries are taking is to digitize material," Branin said. Ohio State is undertaking three projects in that area right now: digitizing portions of the Cartoon Research Library collection, the John Foxe collection and spectroscopy images from the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy that is held annually at Ohio State.

"The second trend is more difficult to do. We're seeing if we can use the new digital technology to improve scholarly communication," Branin said. The libraries are helping faculty to look at alternative ways of publishing, such as on the Web, instead of the more expensive options of books and journals.

"The last area is actual research in information technology and becoming part of the University's research effort," Branin said, which can include research on such issues as how to search the Web and find meaningful knowledge.

He still finds print materials vital, though.

"While we're very engaged in bringing digital information systems to the libraries, print is still critically important and will continue to be an important medium into the foreseeable future."

Calendar conversation continues on campus

Campus dialogue surrounding the examination of converting from quarters to semesters at Ohio State is in full swing, most visibly with recent University Senate discussion devoted to the topic and a daylong visit from a University of Minnesota representative who provided information about that school's recent calendar shift.

At University Senate's March 10 meeting, members shared their views on what they deemed important issues to consider in the course of exploring the pros and cons of conversion to semesters. An Ad Hoc Calendar Review Committee is studying issues surrounding the proposed conversion and is due to make a recommendation to the Senate Steering Committee, Faculty Council and President Brit Kirwan by May 15.

From there, consultation among committees will precede the arrival of the recommendation, whatever it may be, on the Senate floor, where Senate is expected to vote on the recommendation regarding calendar conversion at Ohio State. If a calendar conversion is recommended, the Council on Enrollment and Student Progress (CESP) will be required to participate in the consultation, according to the Rules of the University Faculty, which state that proposals regarding policies and procedures pertinent to students' passage through the institution are subject to CESP review. The rules currently state that the University year is divided into quarters; if the conversion is authorized, editorial changes eventually would be made to the rules to reflect the new calendar, said Susan Fisher, secretary of the Senate and professor of entomology and veterinary biosciences.

Issues to consider

Among the issues raised March 10 and considered important to senators and their constituents were:

• How to go about redefining degree, major and minor requirements and how to reconcile the expected elimination of up to one-third of existing courses in some disciplines;

• The need to carefully translate credit hours in the era of budget restructuring at the University;

• Whether cost savings in administration of the academic endeavor can be expected;

• Whether there will be transition costs and how to justify them;

• The quantity of faculty time expected to be contributed to a conversion;

• Whether research-based data shed light on any link between students' academic performance and the calendar under which they study;

• Effects semesters would have on whether or not students drop courses and the impact on students who do drop courses and need to make them up;

• How to ensure that the transition will not prolong students' college careers;

• Advantages some professional colleges would experience if the entire University operated on a semester calendar;

• Expected decreased flexibility for faculty workload under semesters, and the effects of the calendar change on sabbatical leaves and special research assignments;

• Whether or not a calendar change would promote faculty/student exchanges, team teaching with other institutions and study abroad opportunities; and

• How to handle the inevitable fear of transition.

"We actually didn't hear anything raised at Senate that we haven't already heard and discussed as a committee," said Grady Chism, professor of food science and technology and chair of the ad hoc committee reviewing the calendar. "But we feel that the more discussion that takes place, the healthier it is."

Kirwan asked the Senate to appoint a review committee after the October release of the Academic Plan, which proposes a conversion to semesters among facilitating actions for the plan. According to the Academic Plan, the national trend leans toward semesters, which "give students more time for in-depth study, ease the transfer process, provide efficiencies and save money." The plan also notes that of 88 Research I universities, 15 use the quarter calendar. Kirwan and other senior administrators have said in several public discussions that a shift to semesters would better align Ohio State with other institutions for study abroad, distance education, transfer and faculty/student exchange purposes.

Chism noted that one misconception that should be dispelled at Ohio State is that a conversion to semesters would force the University to redesign its Student Information System (SIS). In fact, Ohio State has conducted a needs assessment and already sought expertise in strategizing how to move toward a new SIS, and the Academic Plan recommends a new SIS to enhance the quality of the teaching and learning environment, said University Registrar Brad Myers. What would be affected, Myers said, is the timing of such a project should conversion to semesters occur -- meaning that putting a new SIS in place most efficiently would require implementing it before or in conjunction with a calendar shift.

Chism also said that costs prohibit the committee from using the OSU Poll to survey Universitywide opinion on a proposed conversion, as previous planned, but added that a new Web site will include a method to collect visitor opinions on the issue. The site is on the Web at www.osu.edu/calendarstudy.

UM experience

The conversion to semesters at the University of Minnesota was launched in response to a state legislative mandate. To date, three full semesters have been completed since the conversion took effect in autumn 1999. The overall conversion project began in 1995.

Peter Zetterberg, director of institutional research and reporting for UM and the leader of the calendar conversion there, visited Ohio State on March 8 for a day of meetings in which he shared information about his institution's conversion experience with University officials and faculty involved in various aspects of governance.

Though Zetterberg declined to advise Ohio State on whether to pursue the conversion or not, he did offer three pieces of advice for any university undergoing such a change: Take enough time to complete the project (Minnesota set up a detailed four-year conversion process); spend a lot of that time organizing and setting the rules for the process; and give students two quarters or, even better, a full year to position themselves to most effectively complete their studies under a new calendar.

"It's not the case that the semester calendar is better in an absolute way for everybody. It's better for some disciplines and students, but it's not better for all," Zetterberg told Faculty Council. He added, however, that common sense dictates that it is easier as a semester school to participate in faculty/student exchanges with other institutions on semesters, and noted that the semester calendar is less hectic in general because the university is launching and completing just two major academic terms per year rather than three.

Among the other points Zetterberg made during his visit were an assertion that, to date, Minnesota has not experienced measurable savings from the calendar conversion, and cost estimates that included $4 million "out of pocket" in expenses the university otherwise would not have experienced and an estimated $50 million in redirected faculty/staff time over the entire course of the conversion project. He based that estimate on assuming 1 percent of all faculty and staff time over the four-year transition would have been "acknowledged, but uncompensated" time devoted to the conversion at the same time regular duties were carried out.

"Anxiety about this is understandable, but it's probably overblown. Most everybody at Minnesota seems satisfied," Zetterberg said. "Over the four-year period at Minnesota, no one died, no one was seriously injured, and I think it turned out not to be the hassle everybody thought it would be."

Semester Conversion: Exploring the Issues set for April 3

• 9:30-11 a.m.: Informal Panel Discussion with Question and Answer Period Grand Lounge, Faculty Club; Ohio State: Members of the Ad Hoc University Calendar Committee Alan Kalish, Faculty & TA Development; University of Minnesota: Ann Waltner, professor of history, former associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts; chair of the Curricular Conversion Committee Kate Maple, director of Student Services, College of Human Ecology; University of Georgia: Bill Barstow, professor of botany and member of Conversion Committee; Cleveland State University: Everett Cataldo, professor of political science and chair of Semester Conversion Committee; Michigan State University: Linda Stanford, registrar and assistant to the provost for curriculum and catalog; professor, modern art & architecture

• 11 a.m.-noon: In-depth Discusssion -- Student & Curricular Issues Campbell 271 Kate Maple, Linda Stanford

• 11 a.m.-noon: In-depth Discussion -- Faculty Teaching & Research Issues Campbell 335 Ann Waltner, Bill Barstow, Everett Cataldo

• Noon-1:30 p.m.: Lunch, Faculty Club West Dining Room/ Junior Colleagues Ohio State faculty, students and staff are invited to purchase lunch and join members of the Calendar Committee and guest panelists for further discussion.

• 1:30-2:30 p.m.: Repeat In-depth Discussion -- Student & Curricular Issues Mendenhall 115 Kate Maple, Ann Waltner

• 1:30-2:30 p.m.: Repeat In-depth Discussion -- Faculty Teaching & Research Issues Mendenhall 131 Bill Barstow, Everett Cataldo, Linda Stanford

• 3-4:45 p.m.: Repeat Panel Discussion Grand Lounge, Faculty Club

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