A Year in Review

by Tom Wilding

UTA President Robert Witt (center) is joined by Sam Maverick (far left), Chauncey Jackson, and Library Director Tom Wilding (right) at the grand opening of Sam's Click Cafe.

After several years of planning, Sam's click Internet Café opened in Summer 2000. With gourmet coffee, 36 computers, and network drops for laptops, the café is a hub of campus activity. Sam Maverick (left), Chauncey Jackson, and Library Director Tom Wilding (right) watch UTA President Robert Witt cut the ribbon.

The year 1999/2000 was too full of accomplishments to list them all. This section will record some landmark accomplishments and particularly noteworthy highlights. In no way should this diminish in importance anything that isn’t listed here, as the efforts of all of the staff to move the Libraries’ forward has enabled us to get to this point.

An artist's rendering of the Internet Café
.

Artist's rendering of the proposed Internet Café.

Electronic reserves were implemented in the summer, enabling students to get access to course materials from anywhere in the world. During the second summer semester, sixty-nine items were put on electronic reserve, and total accesses of these items numbered 1,723, nearly three times the number of uses per item that traditional reserve materials have.

Students using Sam's Click Internet Café didn't let the grand opening distract them from their work.

Students using Sam's Click Café didn't let the opening ceremonies distract them from their work.

Requests for very new items through interlibrary loan were handled by purchasing the items whenever possible under the assumption that if one person wanted a book, more would as well.

More services were added to the website. Users could place reserve requests, inquire about bills for overdue items, or get their articles from interlibrary loan delivered directly to their computers.

The backlog of items awaiting cataloging was reduced by 79%. Cataloging of print materials rose 30%. Cataloging of electronic resources rose 128%!

Texas history teachers use historical maps in "Cartographic Connections"

Texas history teachers use historical maps from the cartographic collection of Special Collections while enrolled in "Cartographic Connections."

Work continued on the grant funded project Cartographic Connections. Entering its third year, the project continued to develop curriculum and curriculum materials for the teaching of Texas history in secondary schools, using historical maps from cartographic collections of Special Collections.

"Jews, Germany, Memory" was a travelling exhibit mounted by Kit Goodwin (top).

Curriculum-based library instruction increased to almost 300 sessions. 5832 students had direct contact with librarians in the classroom.

The Libraries completed a strategic planning process resulting in a strategic plan for 2000-2005. The process involved all library staff as well as faculty and student input.

Sam’s Click Café opened at the end of August 2000 just in time for the beginning of the fall semester. This internet café is a joint project of the Libraries and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and was funded by a grant from the Texas Infrastructure Fund. Though the coffee bar part of the project was delayed in opening, the thirty-six computers, the OIT-staffed help desk, and the relaxed reading and group study spaces ensured that Sam’s quickly became one of the most popular spots on campus.

Physical facilities improvement projects were carried out in the Architecture and Fine Arts Library, the Information Technology offices, and almost all user spaces in the Central Library. We played host to the School of Education dean, some faculty, and many student support services during the renovation of their areas.

The Libraries Sixth Floor Parlor, a popular meeting facility on campus, played host to one hundred eleven events and 4,200 attendees.

A technology replacement program was established to ensure that a regular cycle of replacement and upgrade would keep the Libraries’ information technology at an appropriate level. This program enabled the Libraries to meet and exceed its Y2K goals for information technology.

The Libraries and the University planned carefully for the Y2K transition, and no resources, equipment, or service were lost as we moved into the 21st Century.

Each June the Texas Rangers program introduces area 5th graders to Texas history via Special Collections resources.

A digital media laboratory was opened to support UTA faculty members who wanted support for the integration of information technology into their teaching.

The Summerlee Foundation of Dallas presented to the Special Collections Division Alexander von Humboldt’s Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne (second French edition, 1825) with the accompanying atlas titled Atlas Geographique et Physique de Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne. The three-volume set and the accompanying atlas were given in honor of the 25th anniversary of the first gift that Jenkins and Virginia Garrett made to the UTA Libraries.

The Libraries added a number of important electronic resources, including American Chemical Society Online Journals, Columbia International Affairs Online, IEEE/IEE Electronic Library Online, Keesing’s Record of World Events, NetLibrary Electronic Book Collection, OVID Nursing Collection II, Oxford English Dictionary Online, Political Risk Yearbook Online, Science Direct, Springer Link, Teatro Espanol del Siglo de Oro, ARTBibliographies Modern, Index to Current Urban Documents Online, and Philosopher’s Index.

The Libraries also expanded access or coverage to existing resources, including Catalogue of Foraminifera, Catalogue of Ostracoda, FIS Online (Moody’s Company Data), Institute of Physics Electronic Journals, Social Work Abstracts (site license), and Sport Discus.