Positioning the library — Get it in writing!

   

1) Campus Master Plan

2) Campus Facilities Plan

3) Library Technology Plan

   

Approval of a new building will be followed by a few years of frenzied and professionally satisfying activities.

Activity One: Planning and re-planning service delivery:

Activity two: Visit other libraries — lots of other libraries

 

Activity three: hold many campus focus groups to assess the expectations and needs.

Activity four: work with the "owner" e.g. become a member of the project management group. Earn your hat.

 

Activity five: Make sure your F & E spending plan is as flexible and changeable as possible.

 

Activity six: Keep the staff involved every step of the way.

 

The Cabrillo library project

At Cabrillo we really accelerated all of the above activities. The gap between funding/approval of the building and ground breaking was 6 years. Those were six years in which our profession and the patterns for delivering services were transformed by the growth of the Internet and switch from CD to online sources. When ground breaking and construction activity started we went into high gear.

Planning activities:

  1. Wrote four different Library educational master plans.
      • Library Instruction
      • Collection Development / Reference Services
      • Systems management and Technical Services
      • Library Administration and General Services Plan
     

  2. Visited newer or recently remodeled libraries.
    3.  

  3. Defined the collection as focused on "currency" not absolute size
    4.  

  4. Planned for delivery of Computer Aided Instruction modules
    5.  

  5. We hired an interior designer
    6.  

  6. Planned for functional but cost effective furniture to free money for the unanticipated technological needs.
    7.  

  7. Made the decision to have a network printer behind the Circulation desk 

  8. Sought and found piggyback contracts for the chosen furniture. Used a Federal GSA contract for the shelving.
    9.  

  9. Set up focus groups of students from DS&PS.  

  10. Accepted that Reference area with over 40 workstations was NOT going to be a quiet space.  

  11. Purchased prototype servers, workstations, Ghost, and security software. Worked out bugs prior to deployment in new building
    12.  

  12. Secured resources for future materials collection development.
    13.  

  13. Student senate support for extending library hours has led to funding for increased hours throughout the semester and further extension for the two-three weeks prior to finals
 

 

Construction Activities  

  1. Began attending the weekly walk through meetings the first week I was on campus.  

  2. We did a rapid reality check of such details as the building's electrical and data wiring plan. A very expensive but absolutely necessary Stop Work Order followed  

  3. Converted an inadequate classroom space into an extremely functional electronic classroom with 24 stations, which are in 48" low carrels with enough room to allow for doubling when large classes come to the library.
    4.  

  4. Moved from weak studs in the library to stronger studs in the construction
  5. Finished off a wonderful library