Specific Recommendations

To implement these new roles for the library will require a major overhaul in how they do business. Library staff will need state--of--the--art networked computers and software on their desktop. However, librarians should not become specialists in computer systems/hardware/software. These infrastructure activities should stay with those with expertise in academic computing (ACS). This means that different departments at UMBC need to work much more closely together. For example, ACS and the Library should have administrative ties that force them to work together closely.

• The relevant library staff should have up--to--date network information retrieval software on their desktop computers.

• The library staff, in consultation with academic departments, should identify high--cost, less--used journals to cancel. The funding saved from these cancellations should be put toward the cost of articles purchased by the article from commercial vendors. Some provision should be made for student access to articles from canceled.

• We should explore the possibility of giving the library responsibility for the logical structure of networked based information systems at UMBC. To be specific, the library should manage the ``home page'' of UMBC's World Wide Web server, which we believe is the best delivery vehicle for open electronic information, including information developed within UMBC by ACS, Instructional Technology, Administrative Computing, Accounting, Office of Sponsored Research, etc. This is not to say that the library will decide what information is provided, just how it is organized. Some organization should have the formal responsibility for giving UMBC a coherent ``presence'' on the network. If the library is not the proper organization, another one should be identified.

• The library should encourage, and organize departmental efforts to store articles, class notes, reviews, etc. generated by UMBC faculty members. We should encourage secondary schools to use this collection as a window into UMBC. For example, a search of this collection would identify experts at UMBC in fields of interest to secondary schools teachers and students, and allow them to communicate electronically by publishing an email address for each author.

• The library should take the lead in getting faculty generated information on--line at UMBC. This might include journal article preprints, etc. Many universities now do this on a departmental basis. It might make sense for UMBC to do this in a more organized fashion, especially so it can be used as a resource for local schools. A large scale effort like this might involve providing high speed digital scanning services to faculty.

It should be noted that many (not all) of the above recommendations can be implemented with very little additional equipment. What is needed is of cooperation between departments, the library, and ACS. This cooperation will probably require someone dedicated to the task facilitating the coherent organization of UMBC information, which we now lack.