Going Global: New Frontiers in Academic LibrarianshipBenjamin Andrus, Rachel Jaffe and Julie Wang

Binghamton University Libraries

Thinking Diversely, Acting GloballyInternational Book Exchange Program

In the global information age, libraries and librarians are no longer the sole providers of information there has been much ado about having to prove our relevance. In the last year at Binghamton University, librarians have forged partnerships with Beijing Normal University, presented at international conferences, and processed a gift of what may be the largest collection of Kurdish materials in North America. We hope share our accomplishments and the ways in which we measure and evaluate our global impact as an institution.

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[Background] Until recently Binghamton University’s collections in vernacular Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) materials were limited in number and scope. Support from the 2002 Freeman Foundation grant, allowed the Libraries to begin building an academic and research level CJK collection, with over 32,841 volumes available in 2011. This quickly growing CJK collection serves as an example of the University’s rapidly rising standards of academic excellence and growth of its research mission. The strength of the Libraries’ collections helped support the creation of the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies (DAAAS) in 2008. The rapidly growing demand for Asian, Asian American and global education materials at the University, and Chinese language materials in particular, is evidence of the need for greater collections support. In response to high demand and to address the current budget situation at BU, the Libraries successfully initiated an international partnership with the Beijing Normal University (BNU) Library in 2008. The University’s Director of Libraries, John Meador and BNU Library Director, Dr. Songbo Liu signed a memorandum of agreement to begin a book exchange program and trade 1000 titles in 2009. The pilot program completed in 2011.

[Assessment]

• Increased BU Libraries’ profile

• Gained first hand experience of working with an international partner

• Well-established partnership will lead to new opportunities

[Workflow]Binghamton China

• Data of gift titles being input into MS Access (Technical Services) • Title selection and decision making (subject bibliographers) • Notify partner library for selection (Gift/Coordinator) • Sort selected titles for the partner library (Gift) • Pull materials according to partner’ selection (Technical Services) • Packing & Shipping (Technical Services/Gift)

China Binghamton

• Receive pick list from BNU (Coordinator) • Select & return the selected list(Coordinator)• Receive books from BNU library (Technical Services) • Catalog and add a special gift note (Cataloging)

Books received from China

• Low cost• Censorship in China

Assessment

• Changing procedure• Reduce staff time

Adjustment

• More exchanges• Using expertise

Extension Books are ready to ship to China

University Pick lists received from partner

Total titles on the pick list

Titles selected from the pick list

% from the original pick lists

Actual received titles

Average cost per book

Binghamton University

8 5469 1294 24% 1083 $2~3

Beijing Normal University

8 1848 1057 57% 1032 $1

[Visit to China]With the support of the President Lois B. DeFleur International Innovation Fund in 2009, the libraries initiated a library delegation to Beijing Normal University to discuss the existing book exchange program and additional collaborations in library technology, collection planning and materials processing.

From late May to early June, 2010, Dean John M. Meador, Jr. and Julie Wang, the Asian & Asian American Studies Librarian, made a trip to Beijing, reaching out to library colleagues in China.

The delegation observed the book cataloging process for exchanged titles and was able to inspect books designated for future shipment to the Binghamton University. The coordinators also discussed details of the procedure, were enable to modify some workflow and procedural issues according to the practice.

Vera Beaudin Saeedpour Kurdish Library and Museum Collection

[Background]In Spring 2011, the Libraries received the Vera Beaudin Saeedpour Kurdish Library and Museum Collection. This collection contains more than 3,000 books, journals, and newspapers in Kurdish and other languages. It also includes artifacts, costumes, maps, jewelry, photographs, musical instruments, artwork, and other unique materials. To date, the print monographs have been cataloged; the artifacts are in the process of being photographed, described and added to our local digital collections. Many of the materials are still on exhibit at the University Libraries.

[Impacts & Assessment]While the collection itself, in terms of its content and scholarly value, is international in scope; its impacts have largely been local. Our acquisition of the collection aligned with our purchase and installation of the Rosetta digital preservation system. Owing to this circumstance, the Kurdish Collection became one of the pilot projects for Rosetta and its processing (digitization of images, description and ingest into the repository) over the last year has informed our not only our internal workflow for digital projects but it has enhanced our understanding of how Rosetta works and our connection to a local community of international students and scholars.

Institutions in Context: The Welfare State

Presented at Institutions in Context: The Welfare State, this presentation examined trends in research being done by universities across the country. The purpose of the presentation was twofold, first to examine and report how research in the in the United States is impaction the Welfare State, and two, to examine how this trend in research will impact the direction that libraries to focus their collection development.

The final conclusion of presentation was that now more than ever higher education is being called upon to solve problems in local communities and to contribute more to the “social good”. What this means is that more than ever libraries may be forced to become specialized with their local collections. Researchers are shifting their focus from large theoretical and formal theory to using those thoughts and applying them to solve issues in the community or states they are housed in. This means that libraries and librarians need to be prepared to meet the data and information needs of these researchers. Librarians need to examine ways to partner with local government, school systems, and not for profit agencies to collect, data, reports, and trends they can to help stream line the research process for researchers.

[ A Glance of Usage]

On the day of April 27, 2012, 16 out of 912 titles that received from the Book Exchange Program with BNU are currently checked out.