Ahh...a sabbatical leave...

Time to step back and catch my breath....after 11 years as Assistant Dean of Library Services.

A wonderful opportunity to explore the new technology changes in the information environment that will impact Pasadena City College.

A time to breathe as well as to prepare myself for the exciting challenges that lie ahead.

BACKGROUND: The Library has played a key role in utilizing technology to support education at Pasadena City College. The Library has been at the forefront of technology since 1978 when we became early members of the international cataloging cooperative, OCLC. Since then, the Library has been the first area of the college to use

• barcodes
• scanners
• student IDs for transactions
• provide student accessible daatabases over the network
• web based services
• 24/7 available services including remote authentication and access to databases
• online request forms
• virtual reference transactions
• numerous online resource guides for students.

In the last six years, librarians at the Shatford Library have experienced a expansion of their instructional and participatory roles as they work one on one with instructors to deliver appropriate educational resources geared to the curriculum. Information competency and critical thinking skills are integral in academic research and the evaluation of online resources.

Librarians have taken active roles in forming relationships with colleagues in subject disciplines to build library collections to support instruction both in and out of the classroom. Courses and sessions in library orientations have grown exponentially as faculty realize the role Librarians play in supporting them as well as their students in their quest for quality information resources.

Today, in the digital age, librarians are no longer simply information providers or the 'keepers of knowledge'. Dynamics of change in the digital environment dramatically effect how resources are stored, accessed, retrieved and delivered. Information has changed the way patrons and students are able to access, retrieve and use information. Instantaneous access to information through the Web provides vast amounts of information and data available to anyone with a computer and a connection. Although print resources still have a strong following, the use of digital access to information has changed the construct of instructional services and instruction regardless of place, time or format.

I have taken a strong leadership role at PCC, in both institutional planning and advocating for library technologies. With this leave, I will explore new concepts for not only library resources but also resources for the entire college. It is this agenda that I propose to study independently during 2006- 07.

I propose the following framework of activities:

1. Consolidation of access to campus resources with a focus on Contentdm.

• Library unit plans since 2001 have indicated the need to fully explore the wide range of information resources on campus and integrate them into a single access path. The Library is positioned to take a leadership role in this integration. Time and staff restraints have limited our ability to achieve this goal. I intend to meet with each division and instructional lab to identify existing resources, plan for cataloging/indexing these resources, and finally providing a unified access through web accessible resources cataloged in Contentdm.
  
• Preliminary focus will be on consolidating and extending access to existing archival as well as departmental resources (art slides collections, digital music collections, photograph collections including the Courier archives and back files, application software, and historical archives.
  
  Advisory team: Dale Pittman, Robert Cody and Pat Rees

2. California Community Colleges and the digital arena

• Since I have been Assistant Dean, Library Services, I have taken an active role in statewide agendas. I lead the way and managed the cooperative purchasing effort with the Community College League and the CSU. I formulated the framework for funding a minimal core collection of library resources for each college library through TTIP.
  
  Now, as I consider where PCC needs to go to move forward in the digital arena, I will also survey and assess the status of other community colleges in the state. This project will include:
  
  Explore this agenda fully in the literature
• Survey statewide community colleges
• Survey and visit selected community colleges known for their progressive use of technology
• Frame a discussion paper on planning for continued technology growth and development.
• Summarize findings in a document for the Council of Chief Librarians similar to the one I prepared in 1977: Onramps to Electronic Highways: Database Trends, Practices and Expenditures in California's Community College Libraries.
  
  Project Advisor: Gregg Atkins, Executive> Director, Council of Chief Librarians
  

3. Explore professional development with a focus on project management and long range planning

• Work with OCLC's consultant at the Digital and Preservation Resources Center to create grant opportunities as well as project plans.
• Attend conferences and workshops relating to this agenda especially those sponsored by the OCLC Digital and Preservation Resources Center.
  
  Copyright and Intellectual Property Management for DigitalMaterials
  Developing and Funding Digital Projects
  Kick Start Your Digital Program
  Digital Photograph Collections: Long-term Preservation and Management
  Digital Project Infrastructure
  EAD Encoding Practices and Policies
  Grant Writing and Funding Strategies for Preservation and Digitization
  Making Newspapers Accessible Via the Web
  Managing Libraries in the Digital Age
  Metadata for Digitization andPreservation
  Preserving Born Digital Collections
  Strategies forPreservation of Historical Materials
  
  Project Advisor: Gayle Palmer, OCLC's Digitization and Preservation Center, Lacey, Washington