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University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, November 9, 1977
5
Inconveniences plague branch libraries
By MARY ANNE OLIVAR
Staff Writer
Although some University of Kansas library users may find it convenient to have departmental libraries in their buildings, they often need a headache for library administrators.
Those administrators and a number of users hope to help the library that would use such a system in an important historical library.
According to Jim Ranz, dean of libraries, one of the problems departmental libraries present is that they are expensive to operate.
There are four departmental libraries:
Science Library in Malott Hall;
Engineering and Architecture or Marvin
Hall; Engineering and Mathematics
Murphy Hall, and Mathematics Library in
Strong Hall. The Law Library in Green Hall
and the Medicine Library on the KU
Medical Center campus in Kansas City,
are not included in the KU library
system.
THEERE ARE THREE reading rooms in the library system: Dyce Reading Room, Entomology Reading Room in Snow Hall Reading Room in Summerfield Hall.
Ranz said last week that keeping card catalog or each departmental library was necessary.
each time we create a departmental library, we have to make about half a dozen catalog cards for each book that goes into the library," he said.
There are more than 300,000 brief-listed
books or books that are not catalogued.
Another problem is lack of space in the departmental libraries.
A plan for the Upgrading and Expansion of Library Facilities, prepared by the Libraries Facilities Planning Committee to enhance the Central Libraries had outgrown their quarters.
According to the plan, the libraries currently occupy 224,858 square feet, about 58 per cent of the 389,988 square feet that the library provides. The libraries provide 55,593 square feet, which accommodate one-third of the recommended number of students. The libraries have 122,415 square feet for books, which is about 60 per cent of the recommended amount, according to the Regents guidelines.
BECAUSE BOTH SCIENCE and Marvin libraries have exhausted their stack space, books have to be placed in storage and in other libraries. The plan said Marvin was overcrowded to the point where it was almost unsusable.
Finding scattered materials is a common problem for a number of student users, according to a user survey completed in spring 1976.
According to Bill Deacon, librarian in Marvin Library, Marvin is quickly running
"We receive about 4,000 bound volumes every year, and there is room for only about a quarter of them."
KATHY DUGAN, chairman of the University Senate Libraries Committee and Lawrence graduate student, said she regularly had to go to Watson, Spencer Hall Reading Room and Dyce Hall Reading Room to do research for a Ph.D. in history of science.
More than 5,000 of the lesser-used volumes are in storage in the east sub-basement of Watson Library, Deacon said. Some volumes are on loan from three to three places to find materials they want.
Richard A. Robison, professor of geology, said it was not worth his time looking for a book in five libraries (Marvin, Science, and Dyne Reading Room and Dyche Reading Room).
According to the survey, users particularly criticized Marvin.
"I find it cheaper to buy the book from the publisher," he said. "I receive the book anywhere from a week to a month after I've ordered it."
However, looking for scattered materials in the libraries is not the only problem.
Colleen Brotenstein, St. Charles, Mo,
junior, said "Marrin is overloaded, noisy
and irritating."
architecture, said some people were confused with Marvin's filming system.
BREITENSTEIN, WHO is majoring in
Some books are filed by the Dewey decimal system and are kept on the main floor of the library. Others are filed by the Library of Congress system and are kept on the floor below. Journals are filed in both systems.
Another complaint, according to another architecture student, was the lack of
Nicole Omaes, Springfield, Pa, graduate student, said, "They don't have a lot of coverage in certain areas, particularly because our or five departments are here in Illinois."
Books from engineering, architecture,
geology and geography are located in
According to Deacon, Marvin is missing more than 2,000 books. Replacement costs are $375,000.
Deacon said the books could have been missing any time during the past 10 years because an inventory of the books in Marvin had not been made for at least 10 years.
To prevent theft, Deacon said, one of the entrance doors has been closed to the public. He added that the lock is a keyed system.
DEACON HAS BEEN concerned about a possible theft problem for about a year, he said. "We're getting
enough staff to make an inventory until last summer.
new books, which also have been missing,
according to Deacon, are now in the library
"Anybody can look at them and check them out," he said. "We just placed them there so that people could not take them away so easily."
Library administrators think they have a solution to the users' problems.
"The most efficient and most satisfactory solution for students would be to have a library as centralized as you can," Ranz said.
The Libraries Facilities Planning Committee has proposed to build a new library that would provide space for all the libraries in the three reading rooms.
THE NEW LIBRARY is a two-step plan for improving library facilities at KU. The first step is renovation of Watson Library. Renovation is expected to begin in 1979 or 1980. Once started, the renovation is expected to be completed within two years.
The new library would be constructed where the Military Science building is now, behind Marvin Hall. It is expected to be finished in 1884 at the earliest. Departmental libraries and reading rooms would give up space they now occupy.
According to the Planning Committee, there would be ample bookstacks for the collections, reading space for about 3,000 users, full reference and circulation services, periodicals, and documents quarters and conference and group study rooms.
We Write All Risks
However, some students who complained about the scattered materials said they preferred departmental libraries to a centralized library.
Under the sponsorship of L'Association Francaise d'Action Artistique of the Government of the French Republic and with the patronage of the Cultural Services of the Department, the Directorate of Education is supported.
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