...............................................................................................................................................................

Three Far-Reaching Branches   An Appealing Abundance of Archives   Plath's Vibrant Zest for Life

Running Out of Room But Not Ideas Smith College is justly proud of its library system, the largest of any undergraduate liberal arts college, and its collections of close to 1.6 million pieces in several media. Demands on this extensive system have increased significantly in recent years. The most critical revolve around three areas: adequate and safe storage space, response to the impact of technology, and maintaining and increasing the collections. Archives, manuscripts, music, and primary and rare materials must be preserved in their original formats and stored in climate-controlled areas, presenting urgent space problems. This lack of space restricts the ability of the libraries to solicit, process and promote the use of distinctive and valuable resources. To relieve severe overcrowding and enhance the availa- bility of primary resources, all of the special collections need added storage space that is secure, environmentally sound and can accommodate collection growth. Concerted efforts have been made to meet the high costs of obtaining and maintaining the relatively new digital technologies. The expansion of full-text and networked electronic resources presents special challenges. The libraries have increased offerings not only of indexes and abstracts but of journals, images, and reference sources. The convergence of audio/video, multimedia, analog and digital technologies creates new needs for equipment, public services and administrative organization. The evolving curriculum also creates new demands on library resources. New majors, interdisciplinary programs, and Five College collaborations require resources necessary to support the coursework. Faculty across the disciplines are concerned about an erosion of purchasing power as publishing in all formats and in many new subject fields is increasing. Interlibrary lending is pursued vigorously, but it is inadequate when the course involves numerous issues of journals, runs of microfilm, or semester-long use of materials. Scientific, technical, and specialized periodical prices still increase by about 9 to 10 percent annually, and many foreign publications increase even more. Purchasing power at Smith has been generally flat or has even decreased slightly in some fields. Through its comprehensive campaign, the college seeks $14.25 million to strengthen and enhance information resources that are the heart of scholarship, and thus enable Smith libraries to retain their level of service and position of leadership among college and university libraries.

..............................................................................................................................................................

NewsSmith is published by the Smith College Office of College Relations for alumnae, staff, students and friends.
Copyright © 2000, Smith College. Portions of this publication may be reproduced with the permission of the Office
of College Relations, Garrison Hall, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063. Last update: 9/27/2000.

Made with Macintosh