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Staff & Administration • Library Documents

University of Waterloo Library

Report to OCUL - May 2001

Recent accomplishments are contained in the University of Waterloo Library Annual Report at: http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/info/annual_99-00/index.html

More recent activities and developments at the University of Waterloo may be of interest:

  1. UNIVERSITY:

    1. New building construction projects this year:

      • Co-op Education and Career Services Building -; September 2003
      • Centre for Environmental and Information Technology (CEIT) -; occupancy summer 2003
      • Mackenzie King Village Residence -; (320-bed facility) -; August 2001

    2. Salaries

      Salary scales went up by 2.65 per cent on May 1 for staff, with individual pay increases depending on performance evaluations as usual. That's the same figure that was announced earlier as the scale increase for faculty members, although staff and faculty have very different salary systems.

    3. Capital Campaign

      UW is putting together plans for its next major fundraising campaign, the Fiftieth Anniversary Fund. Plans call for a public launch sometime in 2002. The Library has submitted two projects:

      • Renovating the Davis Centre and Dana Porter Libraries
      • Building a first class electronic library by creating an endowment for the support of electronic information resources and establishing an electronic library fund.

      A feasibility study will be concluded at the end of this month. The goal for the campaign will then be decided along with the individual unit goals.

  2. LIBRARY

    1. Renovations and Renewal

      • Work continues on the first floor of the Porter Library in a multi-year project. The goal is to provide environmentally stable and secure space for special collections, to enhance the delivery of client service in both Special Collections and User Services, and to address a range of staff needs.
      • This month will see the relocation of Archives from its current temporary location (following the sale of a University-owned building last summer) to its new home in the extensively renovated Commissary Building.
      • Extensive reconfiguration of the fifth floor affecting Library Systems, User Services, and the Dana Porter Information Services and Resources Departments was undertaken in response to the recommendations of a task group convened to address client and staff needs. Actions taken included modifying public study space and the reference area and creating additional staff space for government publications and Electronic Data Service.
      • The Coffee Shop "Browsers" has been highly successful and popular with both library clients and staff.

    2. Operating Budget

      A one-time budget levy of 3.5% for 2001/2002 will be realised through a combination of funds available from vacant positions, anticipated external revenue, and non-salary operating funds. The reduction will mean a delay in being able to fill positions, a postponement of cyclical renewal projects, and a delay in completing ongoing renovations on the first floor of the Porter Library.

    3. Collections and Information Resources budget

      The University of Waterloo Library's major electronic resource acquisitions for 2000/01 were the IEEE Electronic Library, SciFinder Scholar, and BioOne. From CNSLP, additions to resources were Web of Science and Springer LINK. The Waterloo list of electronic journals now includes more than 5,400 titles. Print is being cancelled. The acquisitions budget finished the 2000/01-year very slightly in the red. The increase in base for 2001/02 is small ($200,000) but with the help of CNSLP and by cancelling print, we can make it through 2001/02.

    4. Information Services and Systems

      • The Library's Information Services Management Committee is using ACRL's revised "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" as a basis for exploring ways to encourage the University to integrate information literacy into the curriculum.
      • Waterloo is one of three Canadian libraries (with McGill and Guelph) participating in the current phase of the ARL LibQUAL initiative. The very high response rate for Guelph and Waterloo (approximately 46% in both cases) has our ARL friends intrigued.
      • The Library's Community Needs Assessment Group is, in conjunction with a UW Systems Design class, undertaking a web-site usability study.
      • A Digital Library Co-ordination Committee has recently been formed as "a Library-wide forum for discussion and co-ordination of information systems and technology (IST) issues and initiatives."
      • The Library is a member of a new campus "Committee on Wireless Technologies."

    5. New initiatives and new staff

      • During the past fiscal year the Library made 5 new ongoing appointments, including 2 librarians in the Davis Centre Library. In addition a temporary (one-year) appointment (maternity leave replacement) was also made in Davis.
      • Closer ties were formed with the Optometry Learning Resources Centre. These resulted in the Library's playing an active part in the recruitment of a Library Assistant and the review and reclassification of positions in the Centre. The Library also worked closely with the Office for Persons with Disabilities in recruiting a Library Assistant to co-ordinate library services for persons with disabilities.

    6. Other

      • With the help of Ernst and Young the TriUniversity Group of Libraries has developed cost sharing formulae for the five major TUG Projects.
      • There is a proposal that the Architecture Library move with the School to a new building in Cambridge.
      • In response to student requests, library hours and days of opening were increased.

Murray Shepherd
University Librarian


Administrative Assistant
Last Updated: May 27, 2005