Artemas Martin Collection

The images featured in this annual report are taken from a collection of rare books held in the AU Library’s Special Collections: The Artemas Martin Collection, donated in 1918.

The Martin Collection features a rich variety of mathematical texts from the fifteenth through the twentieth centuries. Artemas Martin (1835–1918) was a self-taught mathemati-cian, who also worked as a farmer, district school teacher, and market gardener. He founded two mathematical publications, Mathematical Visitor and Mathematical Magazine, serving as editor, publisher, and typesetter of both. Martin was also a librarian of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and as “computer” (mathematician) in the tidal division. The bulk of the col-lection relates to algebra, arithmetic, and number theory, though some texts relate to survey-ing and other sciences.

To learn more about this or other items in the library’s Special Collections, or to support this important work, please contact the University Archivist at 202-885-3197.

Welcome from the University Library 2

Enabling Student Success 11

Supporting American University Library 19

Preserving History by Looking Forward5

Changing the Face of Research and Reading27

Looking Forward 33

Dear Friends,

American University Library celebrates the completion of another academic year filled with innovation and excellence in enabling the success of our students and faculty. As we enter the 2012–2013 school year, the library is in transition between leaders.

In the beginning of June, Bill Mayer resigned his post as our University Librarian to accept the prestigious position of Executive for Research Services at the National Archives and Re-cords Administration. Fortunately, libraries and those who work in them excel at transform-ing themselves and seizing opportunities that manifest in the crossroads. In September, Nancy Davenport took the helm as our Interim University Librarian while we conduct a na-tional search for a dean-level leader. Ms. Davenport has served in leadership roles within the Library of Congress, the D.C. Public Library System, and the Council on Library and Informa-tion Resources. We are grateful for her willingness to serve American University during this process.

As we move into the next academic year, I would like to take this occasion to acknowledge the contributions that Bill made to this library during his time as our leader. There are numer-ous tangible achievements—some of which will be featured in the rest of this report—that were facilitated by Bill’s leadership, but often the lasting impact is felt in culture change. As many who worked closely with him know, Bill fostered a culture of experimentation that led to many exciting changes to our organization. Likewise, he actively sought partnerships with other groups on campus that resulted in some outstanding new initiatives, such as the open-ing of an IT help desk in the library. This and many other achievements speak to his leader-ship at AU, and his impact will be felt for a long time to come.

I am proud to say that during these past few months, the library as a whole and in groups has continued to engage in strategic planning and is moving forward with exactly the kind of cre-ative, forward-thinking, entrepreneurial spirit that we have cultivated in our organization. To that end, the following projects have been completed or are under way, and they will help foster the continued success of our students and faculty.

Welcome from the University Library

• Bringing Blackboard and the New Media Center under the library’s roof• Hiring a new subject specialist to serve SPA• Upgrading the physical spaces via new furniture, more outlets, and better technology• Acquiring new print and eResources to keep up with the growing curricular needs of AU

students and the research needs of our faculty• Bringing new special collections to AU

During the past year, the library became increasingly more invested in relationships and partnerships with other groups on campus. The librarians have always played an important role on faculty committees, often facilitating agreements between constituencies who have variant interests, and we have worked closely with the Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning (CTRL) for years. Members of the library serve on many more external committees: subject librarians are increasingly embedded into the academic units, and our partner collec-tions with various groups in Student Life deepen those relationships. Finally, of course, our partnership with the Office of Information Technology (OIT) is a particularly fertile ground for collaboration.

This orientation toward looking outward for potential partners all around campus puts the library in an unusual and powerful place within the university. This year, more than ever, we cultivated outside relationships, and—in the course of building and maintaining those relationships—we have learned what is happening in different parts of the university, what people value, and what concerns them most. That knowledge underpins our active role in creating innovative opportunities that benefit the university as a whole in truly meaning-ful ways. Documented in this report are many of the impressive achievements from this past year, which were only possible through the dedication of the many people who support us as partners in these endeavors. As we look forward to another year of innovation and dedication to our students and faculty, I hope that you will stand by us during this transition and help us continue to transform ourselves into the type of library that exceeds all expectations. These are thrilling times, and we look forward to working with you.

Gwendolyn Reece, Ph.D. Acting Associate University Librarian

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Preserving History by Looking Forward

“The AU Library, including the University Archivist,

has been instrumental in supporting my research and

writing about the history of AU’s School of International

Service. The Archivist especially has helped me navigate

the extensive and rich history of the university using

both digital and more traditional collections.”—Donald Hester, SIS/BA ’64

6 Explore Your History at AUDiscovering AU history has never been easier! The University Archives has digitized many re-sources about AU that are available online, 24/7.

Looking for historic photographs about AU, including images of campus, commencement, and AU presidents? Visit the AU Photograph and Print Collection: http://www.american.edu/library/ppc/.

Want to know more about the history of AU, from its founding onward? Check out The Uni-versity Courier, the university’s official newsletter, which includes articles on the campus plan and individual buildings including the oldest: Hurst and McKinley. Also included are stories and images about the War Department’s use of campus during World War I. Available through Internet Archive: http://www.american.edu/library/courier/.

Need to retrieve a past course description or to verify the name of your favorite professor? Want to know what AU’s tuition rates were 50 years ago? AU’s Course Catalogs (1914–2009) provide information on course

offerings, faculty, tuition costs, and enrollment figures. Available through Internet Archive: http://www.american.edu/library/ia/.

Want to take a quick trip down memory lane? Check out the AUCOLA and Talon yearbooks. You can even download the yearbook for your graduating class! Available through Internet Archive: http://www.american.edu/library/ia/.

Can’t remember the location of that great concert you attended on campus? Find out and also take a moment to look yourself up. The Eagle (1925–2009) is a great source of information on campus happenings and events. Visit http://www.american.edu/library/eagle/.

Did you attend the Washington College of Law (WCL) or just want to know more about it? Learn all about the growth and development of legal education for women in Washington,

View AU’s history through photographs like this

image of the Downtown Campus at G Street N.W.

from the 1940s.

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D.C., through class schedules, scrapbooks, and yearbooks. In addition, there are materials re-lating to WCL founder Ellen Spencer Mussey and her family. Visit http://www.american.edu/library/wclhc/.

What about events and changes since 2009? Where can you find information about more re-cent campus life? We have been archiving AU-related websites since 2009. All captured sites are fully searchable: http://www.american.edu/library/webarchive/.

Want to learn more about what’s going on in Archives and Special Collections? Check out the Archives Blog: http://www.american.edu/library/archblog/.

New Collections

American University Library is pleased to announce the donation of three collections from AU alumni: William F. Causey, Jack Child, and Paula Diehl.

The William F. Causey Collection contains more than 1,900 titles dating from the 1790s to the present. The collection consists of works of fiction and nonfiction, many of which are first edi-tions and were published since 1990. Featured authors include Charles Dickens, Dick Francis, Graham Greene, John Grisham, Norman Mailer, Patrick O’Brian, William Shakespeare, and John Updike. The nonfiction portion of the collection encompasses works on the Civil War, eminent figures such as Winston Churchill, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, and Abra-ham Lincoln, as well as biographies and memoirs. Some of the books are signed by the au-thors, while others also have personal inscriptions.

The Jack Child Collection houses materials on the art, history, and literature of Latin Ameri-ca and the Caribbean, with an emphasis on the areas of Argentina, the Falklands/Maldives, and Antarctica. Jack Child was on the faculty of AU’s College of Arts and Sciences and taught Spanish and Latin American Studies. The collection includes books, maps, photographs, post-age stamps, audiovisual materials, and professional and teaching materials. Some items are in Spanish.

The Paula Diehl Collection consists of more than 70 manuscripts of musical compositions by Paula Diehl, along with sound recordings of her works. Ms. Diehl developed a new tonal com-position system called “SEPARATION.” The manuscripts comprise vocal pieces, piano solos, string quartets, chamber music, and various works of instrumental music, including those

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performed on nontraditional instruments such as prepared piano. Many of these works will be digitally archived and available to the public in the near future.

Electronic Resources Collections

American University further enhanced its Electronic Resources Collection this year with some exciting new additions, such as Scopus and American Film Scripts Online. As ever, our librarians sought out input from faculty and students about how best to support the curriculum.

Thanks to the generous funding provided by the Provost’s office, AU Library added SciVerse Scopus to our ever-expanding roster of powerful online research tools. The library requested funding for Scopus based on faculty requests and the library faculty’s assessment of the im-portance of program to AU’s research enterprise. Created by Elsevier, Scopus is the world’s largest index of scholarly peer-reviewed literature, containing more than 45 million records that cover the journal literature in virtually every academic discipline and in numerous pres-tigious academic digital repositories. Scopus is especially significant for the sciences, and the science faculty strongly advocated for its acquisition. It is a valuable resource for the social sciences and humanities as well.

Electronic resources continue to be heavily

used. In addition to the increased number of

eJournal subscriptions, the library has also

increased the number of eBooks that are

available. More than 180,000 eBooks are now

accessible, up from 93,000 last fiscal year.

FY ’10 FY ’11 FY ’12

1,087,000

69,000 105,000

873,000

45,000

1,036,000

Number of eJournalsNumber of full-text articles accessed

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Scopus is also critical as a means for gathering information about the impact of scholarship. Indicators, termed “bibliometrics,” can be used to help build a picture about the importance of particular journals, articles, authors, or even discourses. Scopus joins the Web of Science and Google Scholar as a tool that can assist faculty in demonstrating the effectiveness of their scholastic contribution in advancing knowledge. Access to these records includes deep cita-tion indexing and linking so researchers on campus can fully realize the impact of their work, seek out faculty from other universities doing similar research, and track research trends in their particular subject areas. The database is also a powerful tool for administrators seeking a better understanding of the entire research output of the campus.

The College of Arts and Sciences was pleased to see the addition of American Film Scripts Online to our collection of scholarly resources. This Alexander Street Press database contains more than 1,000 scripts of motion pictures from 1903 to 2006. Most have never been published before. Facsimile images for more than half of these scripts are provided, along with notes from directors and producers, and information about the scenes. This collection is searchable by title, director, writer, character, year, and subject. Users will find scripts by such legend-ary writers as William Faulkner, Nathaniel West, Ring Lardner, Lillian Hellman, and Dalton Trumbo, as well as shooting or continuity scripts by such director-writers as D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Martin Scorsese, and Gus Van Sant. There is even a section of scripts that were never produced, including Clifford Odets’s 1944 screenplay for a film based on Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. This database directly supports the research and curriculum in the School of Communication, the Department of Literature, and the Department of Performing Arts.

Enabling Student Success

“Our library is also much more than just a place to access

books or to study; it serves as a central meeting spot for

group work both for classes and clubs… [it] is simply a

crucial part of a student’s life on campus.”—Emily Yu, Student Body President

12 Undergraduate Research AwardsThe University Library continued its undergraduate awards program established in 2010 to recognize excellence in research. For this program, the library awards two prizes: the Uni-versity Library Prize for Best College Writing Research Paper or Project and the University Library Prize for Best Undergraduate Research Paper or Project. These prizes recognize and honor AU undergraduates who make extensive use of library collections and show evidence of critical analysis in their research skills, including locating, selecting, evaluating, and syn-thesizing information. This initiative supports the university’s strategic goal of enhancing the undergraduate educational experience through an emphasis on integrated, inquiry-based learning. Papers and projects submitted for the awards must be accompanied by a brief essay describing the student’s individual research process. Submissions also require the nomina-tion by the professor responsible for the course and are evaluated by a committee of AU fac-ulty from the library, the College Writing Program, and other academic units. Each prize win-ner receives a certificate and $1,000.

On May 1, 2012, at a ceremony and reception hosted by the library, Sarah Palazzolo won the Best College Writing Research Paper prize for “Girl Power: Searching for Female Identity in South African Popular Music.” Her faculty sponsor was College of Arts and Sciences professor Lacey Wootton. Mana Aliabadi, also a student of Professor Wootton, received an honorable mention in this category.

In the general category for Best Undergraduate Research Paper, Miranda Schaeffer received the $1,000 prize for her paper, “Comon Todos Juntos: A School-based Nutrition Interven-tion for the Latino Community of Columbia Heights, D.C.” Her faculty sponsor was School of International Service professor Maria DeJesus, and her paper was prepared for the course Health Communication Across Borders, Immigrants, and Refugees. Alyssa Callan and Jonelle Walker received honorable mentions for their papers in this category.

Tutorials

A recent development in higher education pedagogy, the flipped classroom is a method that allows students to learn conceptual ideas before they are tried or addressed in the classroom or in our Washington, D.C., environment, which functions as an urban learning laboratory. Lecture or new content is provided before class so that meeting times can be used for hands-on, collaborative learning facilitated by AU faculty.

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AU’s online, self-paced information literacy tutorial has followed this flipped model since its inception in 2004. The tutorial allows students to learn the concepts of academic library re-search in preparation for their various research pursuits inside and outside of the university setting. For AU’s undergraduates in the College Writing Program, this method is particularly useful, as they are required to complete the tutorial before they spend time in class learn-ing how to use the library’s resources for their research and writing projects. Many teaching faculty of all curriculum levels use the tutorial to help scaffold their students’ learning of re-search concepts, such as building search strategies, evaluating information for credibility and quality, and citing sources to ensure academic integrity in the scholarly communication and production processes.

The library’s current online tutorial shows its age through pre-2004 website design. With funding from the Office of the Provost, our new online library research tutorial will better prepare flipped learning for the 21st-century student. The funding provides the AU communi-ty with a new instructional design librarian, who leads the project along with the support of several other instructional librarians. Early design is under way and will continue with beta testing through spring 2013. Over time, additional online modules and planned revisions will keep this iteration up to date with improved design and advanced technology, and such efforts will continue to bolster AU students’ research productivity.

New Media Center

The New Media Center (NMC) relocated to the library slightly more than a year ago. Space renovations have created a friendly, welcoming work area for students on the library’s lower level, with 22 high-end Macintosh computer workstations, collaborative work studios, and even overnight access by appointment. This represents a large improvement over the mul-timedia resources available to students as recently as spring 2011. NMC staff has assisted

“AU’s online, self-paced information literacy tutorial... allows

students to learn the concepts of academic library research

in preparation for their various research pursuits inside and

outside of the university setting. ”

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students from every teaching unit on campus, from freshmen from SIS putting together pod-casts to SOC graduate students adding effects to their thesis films. The center’s expert staff is on hand to assist students, staff, and faculty doing multimedia production. In addition to one-on-one support, the NMC provided 188 workshops during the fall 2011 and spring 2012 semesters, with at least one session—and sometimes two—per day during the regular se-mester. The center developed instructional sessions based on user input and provided a wide range of topics for all audiences. Workshops included podcasting, beginner video production with iMovie and Final Cut Pro, and highly technical sessions on video color correction, 3-D graphics, and green-screen technique. The NMC saw more than 4,500 users in the last fiscal year.

The NMC is now the main location for AU users to borrow the audiovisual equipment nec-essary to create multimedia projects. The center has a collection of more than 120 pieces of equipment, including audio recorders, high-definition video recorders, tripods, and profes-sional-quality microphones. NMC staff can train users in operating the equipment and has created a series of animated instructional videos—you may even see the library’s mascot monkey and robot helping out in the videos! In the last fiscal year, the NMC lent audiovisual equipment to AU students, faculty, and staff on approximately 2,195 occasions.

Embedded Librarians Break New Ground On and Across AU Campus

During the past five years, the embedded librarianship model has taken the library world by storm, moving librarians toward new types of information expertise and pushing them into more in-depth partnerships with key populations across campus.

Often compared with the example of “embedded journalists” who were attached to specific military units during the Iraq War in the early 2000s, the embedded librarians of today are frequently attached to specific schools or academic programs with whom they build deeply collaborative relationships and provide targeted forms of academic outreach and support. By emphasizing long-term goals over “one-shot” fixes and encouraging both formal and infor-mal communication between librarians and faculty, embedded librarians break new ground in building both trust and a sense of community across otherwise segmented portions of campus.

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At AU, the embedded librarianship model is alive and well—particularly with the hiring of two full-time librarians whose positions are embedded in the School of Communication and School of Public Affairs, respectively. Although AU librarians have long valued the building of close and meaningful relationships with students, staff, and faculty around the quad, the new school-based model of library collaboration has created even more opportunities for AU librarians to understand and enhance the scholarly and creative pursuits of specific campus entities.

Overall, embedded librarianship is just one more way the library continues to support the needs of an actively evolving campus. By emphasizing the importance of planning, collabora-tion, and trust between and across the schools and units, the library not only “embeds” but also unites, creating community as much as serving it.

Student Satisfaction with the Library

The library is focused on continually improving the student experience, and that includes lis-tening and responding to feedback. Three ways in which the library has had great success in meeting student needs recently are the introduction of a General Education Course Reserves program, the purchase of MacBooks to lend to students, and a new approach to managing noise within the library.

“...embedded librarianship is just one more way the library

continues to support the needs of an actively evolving

campus. By emphasizing the importance of planning,

collaboration, and trust between and across the schools and

units, the library not only ‘embeds’ but also unites...”

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General Education ReservesSeeking a way to take more initiative regarding students’ needs, the Course Reserves de-partment decided to focus on General Education courses. When the Course Reserves depart-ment presented this idea to the Student Government, students were incredibly enthusiastic about the project and supported the use of funds from the Library Student Endowment for a one-year pilot. The pilot was so successful—with a dramatic increase of books usage within Course Reserves—that the library incorporated this project into its standard materials bud-get. This year, Course Reserves extended the program to include mathematics textbooks and expects to continue identifying areas of particular usefulness to students in the future.

MacBooksThe 2009 OIT Student Technology Survey showed that almost 50 percent of students were Macintosh users, but at that time the library only had one Mac laptop available for checkout. Given how many students preferred Macs, the library wanted to more readily provide this choice to the student population.

The Technology Services department drafted a proposal to purchase MacBooks and an associ-ated cart for holding and charging the laptops. Recognizing a need, the library purchased six MacBooks and a cart in October 2011. This service has already been a great success, showing almost 4,000 circulations within the first seven months of the service, and the Library has purchased eight additional MacBooks to put into operation this fall.

Windows Laptops 12,250

MacBooks 3,829 Six MacBooks circulated almost

4,000 times in FY ’12. Due to

the overwhelming demand,

the library has purchased an

additional eight MacBooks.

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Changing the Noise Policy and SignageThe library is an important space on campus for students who want a quiet place to study as well as those who want to collaborate on group projects. It is a popular place to be—often filled to capacity around finals—but these needs have different acceptable standards of noise, and this can create stress for students.

In an attempt to make the library a usable place for both of these populations, the noise pol-icy was changed last year. Previously, the second floor had been the “quiet floor,” with the other floors having more variable noise allowed, but this year the third floor became “quiet,” the second floor “silent,” and the first floor and lower level “moderate,” with other smaller, so-cial spots in the library, such as the Mud Box Café, allowing more variable levels of noise. This new policy came with new signage that used color coding to show the level of noise and dis-tinguished between individual and group study, and more.

This change has been successful for students. In a survey conducted about the new policy and signage, 80 percent of students indicated that the new policy meets their needs for both in-dividual and group study. Additionally, 88 percent of the students surveyed indicated that the noise level expectations for spaces throughout the building were clear and adequately la-beled. The library will continue to request feedback from students to ensure that their needs are met.

Noise Level:

Silent No Talking No CallsIndividual Study

Noise Level:

Moderate Low-level Talking No CallsGroup Study

Noise Level:

Social Group Study Laughing Calls Permitted

Noise Level:

Quiet Whispering No CallsIndividual Study

The new Noise Policy signage is

meant to clearly communicate and

accommodate the different study needs.

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Supporting American University Library

“We are very grateful and pleased to see how [our

daughter’s] spirit continues to be present at AU through

the Larissa Gerstel Critical Literacy Endowment fund,

which supports AU students/student teachers’ learning

and therefore enables their success as teachers in DC’s

multicultural public schools.”—Robin Seitz, SIS/MA ’95

20 About FriendsThe Friends of AU Library is a community of alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents, neigh-bors, businesses, associations, and other well-wishers with a strong commitment to up-holding the library’s centrality in university life. They help preserve and protect, through the University Archives, AU’s history and legacy, from the university’s founding in 1893 to the present. Recognizing the vital role the library plays in learning, teaching, and research, Friends of AU Library work to raise awareness and build support for the library.

University Librarian Visionary Fund

During the past year, the American University Librarian Visionary Fund supported the in-stallation of more than 200 individual outlets on the quiet floor in preparation for the 2011–2012 school year, constituting a 25-percent increase in accessible outlets. This was a major milestone toward our goal of achieving an outlet for every seat in Bender Library.

The University Librarian Visionary Fund is the major source of discretionary funding, pro-viding support for the library’s area of greatest need. The fund is made up of both small and large annual donations from Friends of AU Library and helps to finance critical projects, such as new technology, aggressive collection growth in key areas of scholarship, and access to the best academic research databases available. Money from this fund was also used to purchase new lounge seating, improved individual study carrels, and better tables for the second floor.

Monetary donations to the library have

more than doubled since last fiscal year.

Among other initiatives, this increase

allowed the library to enhance access to

archival collections.

FY ’12$194,960

FY ’11$93,934

FY ’10$99,381

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The fund also provides support for emerging book and information technologies, allowing us to circulate laptops, eReaders, and computer accessories. Via the suggestion box, one gradu-ate student in the School of Public Affairs enthused, “I love the library. Just checked out a Kindle for my vacation! So cool.” These projects are just a few examples of how every dollar donated to the library translates into an improved student experience.

New Library Endowment

American University Library is pleased to announce the Vincenza and W. Donald Bowles En-dowment for the Study of Productivity, Income, and Poverty in the United States. The endow-ment will provide an award to an undergraduate or graduate student conducting research or other scholarly or artistic efforts to understand the relationships between productivity, in-come, and poverty. Widening income disparities highlight a classic source of friction in our democratic republic, and achieving an appropriate wealth balance for all is a question dat-ing to our very founding as a nation. AU has a rich collection of resources in economics and American studies. As importantly, the university is in a position to systematically organize access to the relevant data available in both federal and private collections in Washington, D.C., so that they become more accessible to students and faculty.

Professor W. Donald Bowles received his master’s degree in economics and the Certificate of the Russian Institute at Columbia University in 1952. His appointment as Research Fel-low at the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in 1955–1957 permitted completion of his PhD dissertation on the Soviet economy at Columbia. He joined American University as an instructor in 1957. He was named Chair of the Department of Economics in 1961 and be-came Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1965. Four years later, he was appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs, a position he held until 1973. At that time, he received a one-year fellowship at Columbia University’s Institute on Communist Affairs. In 1974, he returned to full-time teaching; he retired in 1993. In 2001, he moved to California with his wife to be near family. Professor Bowles views this endowment as an extension of his teach-ing career at AU.

This award is unique because it seeks to support a student working in this area through any single discipline or across multiple disciplines, which is why the University Library is best suited to administer the award. Acting Associate University Librarian Gwendolyn Reece ex-plains: “The library is the one academic unit on campus that supports every academic field equally. A topic such as the problem of poverty cannot be fully understood from within the

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confines of a specific discipline. Often the most innovative work on the urgent and significant issues we face as human beings arises from combining approaches from multiple disciplinary discourses and their epistemologies ranging from the physical sciences to the arts. As such, the library is ideally situated to support this type of holistic research.” The University Library is the center of academic research and is honored to steward this endowment, which further enhances AU’s mission of enabling student success.

Fund Descriptions

University Librarian Visionary FundContributions for the University Librarian Visionary Fund can finance critical projects to ad-dress space needs and to leverage innovation opportunities.

Larissa Gerstel Critical Literacy FundIn memory of Larissa Gertsel’s contribution to AU and the community, her family and the School of Education started this fund to support collection and materials growth for the li-brary’s Curriculum Materials Center (CMC).

Helen Goldstein FundIn 2004, to recognize the legacy of Helen Goldstein, Access Service Librarian at AU, the li-brary established a fund in her memory to support professional development opportunities for library staff.

Special Collections FundThe Special Collections Fund supports the ongoing work of conservation and makes it pos-sible for our Archives and Special Collections department to continue to provide students, re-searchers, and the public with access to historical and significant works.

Technology Innovation FundThis fund supports student-centered programming and library enhancements that incorpo-rate the innovative use of technology.

Eagle Digitization FundWith the help of donors, the library has been able to digitize AU’s student newspaper, The Eagle, from its earliest issue in 1925 through 2009.

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Endowment Fund Descriptions

Roger and Nancy Brown Endowed FundAmong the original founders of the Friends of the AU Library, Roger and Nancy Brown set up this fund to strengthen the library’s collections, resources, and facilities.

Keker Endowed Library FundSamuel and Lucy Keker established this fund to enhance the operating budget of the library, which allows for building renovations, collection expansion, and much more.

Student Endowment FundCreated in 1998 by the American University Student Government and Graduate Leadership Council, the Student Endowment is a student-funded and student-advised fund to finance the growth of library resources.

Roger Brown Preservation FundMargaret D. Anthon started this fund in honor of Roger Brown. It supports the ongoing pres-ervation of library collections through cleaning, repairing, binding, or replacing books of sig-nificant value.

Lewis Alexander FundMade possible by a generous bequest from Lewis Alexander, this fund supports the purchase of resources in the fields of economics and business administration.

Class of 1942 Endowed FundIn an effort to support the acquisition of books, newspapers, and periodicals dealing with history, economics, sociology, and literature during the World War II years (1938–1946), this fund was established by the class of 1942.

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Anonymous

Lynda Lees Adams

Karin A. Akerson CAS/BGS ’96 & Daniel F. Akerson

Bonnie Berk

Sherrill Berk & Jeffrey L. Swartz

Vida Berkowitz

W. Donald Bowles

Roger H. Brown & Nancy Barrow Brown

Jim W. Carroll SPA/PhD ’77

Jack C. Cassell SOC/BA ’77 & Denise Cassell

Nancy A. Caton

William F. Causey SPA/BA ’71 & Sally Gere

Richard T. Cockerill CAS/MS ’78 & Becky Cockerill

Elsie and Marvin Dekelboum Foundation

Paula J. Diehl CAS/BA ’77

Ann S. Ferren

Gary S. Gadren & Joann Gadren*

William A. Gaines SPA/BA ’69 & Katherine S. Gaines CAS/BA ’70

Gail S. Hanson & John N. Hanson

Thomas L. Jacobson SIS/BA ’87 & Mabel Shaw

JSTOR

Betty Ann Leith* CAS/MA ’81

Karen S. Leopold & Norman L. Leopold

William J. Levitt CAS/BS ’72 & Sherry L. Levitt CAS/BA ’71, CAS/MA ’74

Gerald S. Malitz CAS/BA ’72 & Ruth L. Marcus

Michele L. Mikkelsen SPA/MS ’00 & Donald J. Mikkelsen

Gert H. Mueller

Catherine M. Perrin SOC/BA ’73, SOC/MS ’81

George Putnam & Kathy Z. Putnam

Markley Roberts CAS/MA ’60, CAS/PhD ’70 & Jeanne A. Roberts*

Arthur J. Rothkopf & Barbara S. Rothkopf

Robin Berk Seitz SIS/MA ’95, Richard Seitz, & Loree Seitz

Neal A. Sharma SPA/BA ’98 & Angela M. Sharma CAS/BA ’98

Teufel Family Foundation

Irene Tinker & Millidge P. Walker

Joseph P. Turner & Martha M. Turner

Patricia A. Wand

Charles P. Ziegler SPA/BA ’70 & Janet Ziegler

President’s Circle

Friends of AU LibraryWe are pleased to recognize the generous support from those who supported the library be-tween May 1, 2011, and April 30, 2012, at President’s Circle, Laureate, Collector, and Author levels. Thank you!

*Deceased

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President’s Circle: $1,000 and up; Laureate: $750–$999; Collector: $500–$749; Author: $250–$499

Anonymous

Jorge J. Abud KSB/MS ‘93 & Barbara A. Bartoo

Janice L. Flug SPA/MPA ‘80

Laureate

Anonymous

Bethany J. Bridgham WCL/JD ‘88

Teresa L. Fernandez SPA/BA ‘95 &

Reinaldo E. Fernandez

Friends of Colombia

Helen M. Harkins CAS/BA ‘67

Pankaj C. Kapadia & Mrinalini V. Kapadia

Fern E. Polaski & Carole L. Krasick

Trudi K. Trimiar CAS/BS ‘56

Diana L. Vogelsong CAS/MA ‘81 &

Wallace C. Duncan

Collector

Anonymous

Charles I. Bartfeld &

Ruth D. Bartfeld CAS/MED ‘82

Lincoln E. Bragg

Douglas Galbi

Krassimir H. Genov SOC/BA ‘96

Alex R. Hodges

Mark J. Horoschak SPA/BA ‘73

Cathy Hubbs & Kent M. Hubbs

Patricia B. Kolber & Vincent A. Kolber

Barbara Poe

David Alan Rosenberg CAS/BA ‘70 &

Deborah L. Rosenberg

Maria S. Sims CAS/BA ‘02

Judith J. Vandegriff SIS/MA ‘71 &

John H. Vandegriff

Author

26

Changing the Face of Research and

Reading

“The Library has been like my second home! I met with

librarians a lot during my first year as I learned to do

research. It was helpful to talk through my ideas with

them and to learn where I could find the best articles and

books for my topic.”—Miranda Schaeffer, SIS/BA ’12

28 Reference Librarians & Subject Specialists

During the past decade, the role of academic libraries has shifted dramatically, and AU Li-brary has adapted to these changes by modifying our building to meet the needs of the digi-tal age while also reshaping the roles of library faculty and staff to meet the research needs of the university. In the past, librarians carefully curated knowledge for students and faculty, and a trip to the reference desk was primarily about pointing students toward a part of the pre-sifted slice of wisdom we maintained. In a digital age, we are confronted with an astound-ing wealth of data. The library subscribes to digitized collections of primary source data that, once upon a time, you could only access through a grant to travel to an exotic cathedral col-lection. We have access to disaggregated data that enables types of new research and analysis that simply weren’t feasible a decade ago. These are innovative, exciting advances, enabling even our undergraduate students to conduct types of research that only the privileged schol-ars of the past could have performed. But it comes with many costs.

AU’s students, as a group, have an astounding idealistic drive to be of service to the world, and this will require them to learn to skillfully curate their own collection of knowledge and transform it into wisdom. Cultivating these habits of discernment is the role of AU Library’s Reference and Instruction Librarians and Subject Specialists. This past year, in 470 instruc-tion sessions, librarians taught 9,396 students about how to critically use information in the pursuit of research. Our librarians conducted 13,409 research coaching sessions for students, alumni, and community members at the reference desk or through electronic media, and sub-ject specialists met with 756 students during intensive personal research consultations, typ-ically lasting an hour. We have two goals: to help students develop the skills necessary to thrive in a “knowledge economy,” and to support them in building the knowledge culture that will be critical to realize their ideals.

“AU’s students... have an astounding idealistic drive to be

of service to the world, and this will require them to learn

to skillfully curate their own collection of knowledge and

transform it into wisdom.”

29Collection Highlights

Graphic Novels Collection—Our Graphic Novels Collection grew steadily this year, as we added more than 100 new titles. These books continue to be some of the most used popular reading in the library and the response from students has been tremendously positive. This collection en-compasses a wide variety of books, from clas-sic super-heroes, such as Batman and Wonder Woman, to Marjane Satrapi’s thought-provoking work on her childhood in Iran, Persepolis.

Music Library Additions—The Music Library has continued to improve upon and expand its score collection this year, adding dozens of 20th-cen-tury and contemporary pieces to the collection, including many works by György Ligeti, Arvo Pärt, and—just in time for his centennial cele-bration—John Cage. Additional enhancements were made to the collections of solo instrument

and ensemble repertoire, even for odd combinations of instruments, providing AU music stu-dents with more options for collaboration.

eJournals in Public Health—Preparing for the planned new focus on campus in the areas of public health and public health policy, the library now has access to research from a number of highly respected, peer-review medical journals, including: AIDS, American Journal of Epide-miology, Global Public Health, Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Journal of Wom-en’s Health, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

eBook Collections—The library greatly expanded its eBook offerings through the direct pur-chase of hundreds of titles from academic publishers Springer-Verlag, Oxford University Press, and Palgrave MacMillan. Access is campus-wide, including off-campus, with the li-brary retaining ownership in perpetuity. Investment in eBooks at the research level grows the collection in a sustainable way and responds to increased student and faculty demand for authoritative, academic eBook content.

The 614 titles in the

library’s Graphic Novels

Collection have circulated

nearly 5,000 times. On

average, each novel was

checked out eight times.

614Titles

4,988 Circulations

30 Digital Futures ForumEach year, the AU Library tackles a technology topic that resonates with libraries and higher education at the Digital Futures Forum. The library has engaged faculty, graduate students, and librarians from around the region on such subjects as the future of print, open-access publishing, and how we interact with digital information. This year, the library presented Forging a New Path: How Technology and Digital Literacy Are Changing Higher Education, and we were fortunate to have Robert DeMillo, author of Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Col-leges and Universities, as the keynote speaker.

DeMillo, Distinguished Professor of Computing and Professor of Management at Georgia In-stitute of Technology in Atlanta, challenged the audience to contemplate the demise of high-er education as we know it, discussing such new entrants as open courseware and Massive Open Online Courses, an experimental format being trialed at Georgia Tech. His talk focused on the fact that higher education has become comfortable with the status quo, and that so-cial, economic, and political changes are forcing those in the ivory tower to reexamine teach-ing practices. In the end, he made the point that both mentoring and peer-to–peer learning have been around since the beginning, and that these new social learning formats can be—and, in fact, already are—employed in higher education to extend and enhance the college learning experience.

His presentation was followed by a panel discussion that included AU faculty members Laura DeNardis and Christopher Simpson of the School of Communication and Jill Klein of the Kogod School of Business. Moderated by librarian Alex Hodges, the panel discussed such top-ics as how the “crowd-sourcing of knowledge” is not just happening in higher education but is a societal trend; the dichotomy of closed scholarship (e.g., scholarly journals) versus open learning; the university as a provider of credentials; and the role of the library and university in helping students become good “digital citizens.” You can view this presentation at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18393955.

“[DeMillo’s] talk focused on the fact that higher education has

become comfortable with the status quo, and that social,

economic, and political changes are forcing those in the ivory

tower to examine teaching practices.”

31Campus Partner CollectionsThe library is poised to continue its partnerships with other organizations around the campus to better accommodate student needs, and it has seen specific success after pairing with the university’s Career Center. Teamwork between the library and Career Center has increased student interest in the Career Center Resource Library, a collection of 400 books and peri-odicals to help students search for internships, develop job skills, and prepare for postgradu-ate life. Thanks to the inclusion of those resources in Bender Library’s cataloging system in August 2009, student use of the Resource Library in the 2009–2010 school year increased by 400 percent, according to student sign-in information.

The partnership between the library and Career Center, the first of its kind in the consor-tium, has inspired similar relationships at other universities, too. Georgetown University is also in discussions to connect its Career Education Center collection with the main library; it began considering cataloging its resources for circulation among students after learning of AU’s model.

32 Staff & Faculty Profiles

Nobue Matsuoka began studying marimba at the age of 10 with her aunt, Kayoko Kito, in Nagoya, Japan. By her 15th birthday, she was performing professionally as a member of the Nagoya Marimba Trio.

In 2006, Nobue came to American University to become the music/performing arts librarian. As the head of the Music Library in the Katzen Arts Center, she is respon-sible for the overall management of this unique branch of the library.

Nobue has also continued to pursue her musical career. She teaches orchestral percussion as an adjunct professor in the Department of Performing Arts, and she collabo-rates with faculty musicians and composers in the devel-opment and performance of new works. Her primary in-terest is electroacoustic and experimental music.

Rob Kelshian has been working at the University Li-brary since 1999, when he joined the staff as a Circula-tion Specialist. In 2004, Rob was promoted to the Interli-brary Loan Coordinator position, and in 2008 he became the Head of Access Services. Access Services includes the units of Circulation Services, Interlibrary Loan, Course Reserves, and Technology Services, and all of these units have changed significantly under Rob’s leadership.

Rob graduated from American University with a bach-elor’s degree in Literature and a master’s degree in Film and Video. Now he is taking the next step in his career in libraries by pursuing a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Tennessee.

Nobue Matsuoka Music/Performing Arts Librarian

Rob Kelshian Head of Access Services

33

As we look forward to next year, we are excited about the possibilities. On the horizon are new developments for virtualizing computer labs so that students can be off campus and still access the software they need for their projects; capturing classroom lectures and making them available online for distance education or hybrid classes; and a role for AU Library and all academic libraries in obtaining and preserving research data for future use by other re-searchers — also known as data curation. As always, in our ongoing efforts to improve space for AU’s researchers, we have a space project or two up our sleeves.

As we work toward fulfilling these new needs, we will continue to keep our mission and core values in mind — first and foremost, we want to enable the academic success of our students and researchers. We plan on doing this with our consistently high customer service stan-dards, for which we receive superlative marks on every survey. Working with the creative and innovative AU community energizes us. We love our interactions with students and faculty: selecting materials for the broad range of classes and research projects going on at AU and creating new academic technology solutions that support the campus. Check out our website, http://www.american.edu/library, to see what we do this year.

If you would like to support our efforts, visit http://www.american.edu/library/friends/ and become a Friend of AU Library today!

Looking Forward

34

American University Library 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20016-8046 | 202-885-3237 | www.american.edu/library/

American University Library enables educational and research success by:

• building collections and facilitating access to information across all formats• teaching people how to locate, assess, and use information to meet their needs• providing welcoming spaces that support a full range of intellectual endeavors