Thursday, February 17, 2011

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the UI&U Library’s Virtual Transition

What is the virtual transition?

The Union Institute & University Library will transition to a fully-virtual library on June 23, 2011. In 2008, the Gary Library building along with the physical resources housed therein were sold to the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Since the sale, we operated under a temporary, three year lease arrangement, sharing the library facility. That lease is ending in June 2011, at which time, the Vermont College of Fine Arts will begin operating the Gary Library on its own. The UI&U library staff will move at that time to a new work space being created in Stone Science Hall on the Montpelier campus. Over the past several years, UI&U has been creating a totally virtual library model, building a substantial collection of online books, journals, dissertations, and other web-based resources in preparation for this new, entirely virtual, library model.

What virtual resources will I have access to?

The Union Institute & University Library has an extensive collection of online scholarly resources, including sixty thousand e-Books, hundreds of reference e-Books, one million dissertations, thousands of peer-reviewed journals, and over a hundred article databases with access to millions of full-text articles. The UI&U Library is committed to expanding this virtual collection and will continue to add e-Books and other online resources over time. If you would like to learn more about finding and accessing these online resources, the library is offering research workshops throughout February, March, and April. Workshop dates and descriptions are available on the library’s Ask a Librarian page.

What if I need a book or other resource that is not in the virtual library collection?

If you need a book or article that is not in our online collection, please contact the library. We may be able to find you an alternative resource or obtain a copy of the document you need through interlibrary loan.

What services will be changing? What will remain the same?

The UI&U Virtual Library will no longer have direct access to the physical materials housed in the Gary Library after the transition. The UI&U library staff will be moving to a new office space in Stone Science Hall in Montpelier. All other services, including course and residency instructional presentations, online research workshops, reference and research support, and interlibrary loan, will remain the same.

Can I check-out print books belonging to the Gary Library in the months prior to the transition?

Yes, the circulation of print books will continue as usual until the last lending date, April 22nd. During this time, all overdue fines will be waved. All Gary Library books need to be returned no later than May 31, 2011.

What will happen if I check-out a book on April 22nd?

All books checked-out on April 22nd will be due on May 31st and cannot be renewed. Please help us make this transition as smooth as possible by returning your Gary Library print books by their due date. To return books, please mail them to 62 Ridge Street, Suite 2, Montpelier, VT 05602 or use the return mailing label provided with your books.

Will interlibrary loan services still be available?

Borrowing books and articles from other libraries will continue, as usual, through the transition process. These interlibrary loan books will have their own due dates separate from the Gary Library due date.

What is happening to the learner studies currently located in the Gary Library?

Bound Bachelor of Arts culminating studies and microfiche versions of MA program theses completed prior to 2002, when Vermont College was owned by Norwich University, will be transferred to the Norwich University library archives for permanent safekeeping. Undergraduate and Master’s theses produced by Montpelier-based UI&U academic programs produced since 2002 will either be stored in Stone Science Hall or returned to the academic program offices in question. All of UI&U’s Montpelier based academic programs (BA, MA, M. Ed) are now submitting their learner theses to the library as virtual documents, and these will continue to be made available to library users as full text links in the UI&U virtual library catalog since they require no physical storage.

How should I contact the library if I have questions or need help?

All contact information, including mailing address, will remain the same both during and after the transition. Staff members can be reached by email at library@myunion.edu or by phone, toll-free, at 888-828-8557, extension 8747.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Virtual Library Transition

Memorandum

From: Matt Pappathan, UI&U Library Director
To: Union Institute & University Community
Re: UI&U Online Library Transition Update

On behalf of the UI&U Library staff and the Provost’s Office, I’m pleased to update you on the progress of the UI&U Library transition to a comprehensive online library. Our goal is to be fully virtual by June 23, 2011. Much progress has been made since our initial decision to transition the existing operations into an online university library, and we will soon be entering the final operational phase.

What does the transition to an online library mean for our academic community?
Two benefits stand out:
• The UI&U Library is committed to an ongoing process of adding more virtual research resources.
• All virtual items can be accessed simultaneously by multiple library users, are never lost in the mail, damaged, or unavailable, and can be transmitted from our library to your computer desktop or mobile internet device almost instantaneously.

Most aspects of our library research services will remain unchanged:
• We will continue to offer the wide range of online databases that we currently have available, including access to electronic books, journal articles, dissertations, and theses.
• UI&U Library staff will continue to provide the comprehensive services that our community has come to expect and enjoy.
• We will continue to offer access to reference librarians, research instruction services, interlibrary loan, document delivery, web-based research guides/self-tutorials, and much more.
• We will continue to offer access to more than 60,000 electronic books, 800,000+ online full text doctoral dissertations and master’s theses, and more than 100 million full text journal articles.
• Our contact information (library@myunion.edu or 888.828.8557, ext. 8747) will remain the same.

What will change?
• UI&U library staff will move to the Stone Science Hall at UI&U’s Montpelier Academic Center.
• We will no longer have direct access to the books and other printed materials housed in the Gary Library building. Those materials, as well as the Gary Library building are the property of the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
• The library will no longer be called the Gary Library, but instead the UI&U Library.

What’s next?
As we get closer to the June 2011 final transition date, we will be sending out further communications, by email or by university website postings to let our library users know when Gary Library’s print books on loan need to be returned. We will provide answers to frequently asked transition questions, etc. We have timed the transition to coincide with the end of the university’s spring academic term in order to minimize any potential disruptions to our library users’ research activities.

Questions?
The UI&U library staff members are available to answer any questions that you might have about this transition. Please contact us at library@myunion.edu or 888.828.8557, ext. 8747.