Maintaining and Enhancing Academic Quality Assuring a Student Oriented Campus Becoming a Model Citizen in the Borough of Brooklyn
This report presents the Library's achievements from July 2003-June 2004, together with our planning efforts and aspirations for the future. The context is the College's Strategic Plan 2000-2005 <http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/president/planning/final/enter.htm> and its three principal themes:
The Library is a large and complex organization with multiple initiatives. Because of this, our own themes are interwoven with those chosen by the College:
... the new Library
... an expansion of the Library Café
... technology hub
... cultural center
... art gallery
... for teaching
... for students
... for information management and delivery
... to meet basic needs
... to seed new activities
This year, our second in the new building, has given us breathing room we've not had for many years. Despite yet-to-be-resolved building issues, we feel enormous satisfaction and pleasure at the new Library's capabilities and beauty, as well as the responses of students and faculty. We have settled in and began turning our attention to new initiatives including the installation of wireless connectivity throughout the Library, the R&D phase of a handhelds/pocket PC project, a spring survey of student opinion, chat reference service, and digitization policy and planning.
Although staffing remained strong, money for collections continued to shrink. While State funding cuts stripped away essentials, the CUNY Student Technology fee kept our heads above water. As the year closes, the Library has assumed an exciting yet somewhat unexpected new role as a cultural center. We are about to break ground for an extension to the Library Café. A number of new services has been introduced. Library faculty and staff have reason to take great pride in their strength and their successes.
