One survey response complained that the survey did not allow respondents to indicate which other libraries he used:
The first question does not take into account other libraries which a faculty member might use. I generally search the on line catalogue for the entire Upper Hudson Library region and have my books brought to the William K Sanford library in Colonie since it is closer to home and because it is open more often than the Saint Rose library.
There are a few good thoughts contained here, along with one factual error. First the mistatement of facts. A check of the Sanford Library website indicates that the library is open seven days a week for a total of 70 hours per week. The Neil Hellman Library is also open seven days a week during the fall and spring semesters for a total of 93 hours per week. If it was a football game, the Saint Rose library would have won by over 3 touchdowns!
In reading this comment, I am not certain if it is a complaint or praise of the larger library community. Either way it raises the point about inter-library cooperation, a cornerstone of librarianship, with a long history of success. At its core, inter-library cooperation is a realization by each library that by itself it cannot satisfy all user needs; but working together, libraries can satisfy a high percentage of user needs.
Having said that, it is important that I acknowledge the frustration that users (and students in particular) feel when they need a book on social life in Darfur and one is not to be found in the Neil Hellman Library. The normal process of identifying books elsewhere that fill the need, submitting a request through interlibrary loan, and waiting from 2 days to 3 weeks does not satisfy the majority of students. Particularly in the current networked environment, where information is one-click rather than three weeks away, this often does not appear to be a viable solution. And it leads many people to make the blanket statement, “This library doesn’t have anything.”
However, it is important for all library users to understand that there is a natural hierarchy of library collections, to which money is the framework. Books cost money and the direct correlation is more money equals more books. Libraries at large institutions, such as Stanford or Yale or University at Michigan (or University at Albany), have large acquisitions budgets, lots of shelving space, and much, much larger and richer collections than small to medium sized colleges like Siena, Sage Colleges, or Saint Rose.
It is thus not a fair complaint that UAlbany has a much better library collection than Saint Rose. It should and it does. UAlbany is a research level institution that supports a much larger student body, more degrees, including a large number of doctoral programs.
The other distinction between libraries that many users don’t acknowledge is the very different goals that public libraries seek to fulfill. Public libraries are tax supported institutions that offer a lot of popular and current titles; many have strong collections beyond the popular titles also. To satisfy my leisure reading needs, I’d go to the Guilderland Public Library before I’d go to UAlbany. Guilderland would also be my destination to check out a DVD or to browse through its popular music CD collection. Academic libraries may try to provide some leisure reading materials, but almost always this is a secondary goal, behind the goal of providing materials that support the curriculum.
Does all of this explain away inadequacies in the Neil Hellman Library’s collection? No, not by a long shot. There should be reasonable expectations as to what the collection of an academic library supporting less than 5,000 students should look like, but within those expectations, students and faculty have every right to complain. Indeed, from my position as library director, I think more resources should be devoted to building a stronger collection of books. This goal is in the library’s strategic plan and it is in the College’s strategic plan. All voices that add to our call for a better library help this cause.
Finally, back to the user’s comment above. This faculty member has discovered and is utilizing a great tax-supported resource: the public library system in the Capital District. He indicates that he can search the system through its integrated catalog. One search accesses the collections of the Albany Public Library system, Guilderland, Bethlehem, East Greenbush, and many more. (Here is the link to their catalog.) Even better, these libraries under the coordinating efforts of the Upper Hudson Library System (again your tax dollars at work) provide a delivery service between their libraries. Find a book in their system – and it can be located anywhere, and you can ask that it be sent to you at any of the libraries in their system. I often use this system to have books shipped to the Pine Hills branch of the Albany Public Library system. I’ll receive an email, usually within a day or so, indicating the book is ready, and I walk two blocks to pick it up.
Combine this with the power of interlibrary loan – in which we will request books or articles from libraries across the world – and you will sense what is really available to support your research or your leisure reading.
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