[This text is machine generated and may contain errors.]

North Carolina Libraries

TABLE OF CONTENTS

* THEME ARTICLES: FINANCIAL ISSUES IN LIBRARIANSHIP



ISSN 0029-2540

4 Foreword, Larry P. Alford

6 Financial Implications of Strategic Planning,
Gary D. Byrd

12 Management Information Systems and Changing
Technologies in Libraries, John E. Ulmschneider

21 Use of Microcomputers for Library Financial Planning,
D.W. Schneider and Catherine Seay

26 Automation of the Public Library: Cost Implications for
the Library Budget, Dale Gaddis

33 How to Manage the Serials Budget in TodayTs Climate,
October R. Ivins

38 From the Cayman Islands to Washington: Development
in Academic Libraries, Joline R. Ezzell

OTHER ARTICLES

43 The Triangle Research Libraries Network: A History
and Philosophy, Willy Owen

FEATURES
2, From the President
3 Over to You
52 North Carolina Books
57 Candidates for NCLA Offices
60 Candidates for NCASL Offices
64 NCLA Minutes
65 ALA Midwinter Report
65 SELA Representative Report
64 About the Authors

Cover: Larry Alford, oForeword, for the Financial Issues in Advertisers: BroadfootTs, 45; Ebsco, 31; Faxon, 11; H.W.
Librarianship issue, North Carolina Libraries 47 Wilson, 25; Quality, 3; SIRS, inside front cover;
(Spring 1989):4. Southeastern Microfilm, 16.

Volume 47, Number 1 Spring 1989

Libraries ... Spread the
News

NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

From the President

The January NCLA Executive Board meeting
at the South Central Regional Education Center
in Carthage, with regional consultant Nelda Cad-
dell as host, was one of our most impressive yet.
The board authorized a new section"Library
Administration and Management"and heard
reports from both our new round tables"Special
Collections and Paraprofessionals. The rest of the
section and round table and committee reports
were full of news of upcoming events and confer-
ence plans. President-elect Barbara Baker assured
us that the biennial conference in Charlotte
October 10-13, oDesigning for the Nineties,� will be
the best ever.

It was a meeting that demonstrated the sub-
stance of what NCLA as an organization is doing,
which made me proud of us as a group. I was even
more pleased that we had representatives from so
many other library groups at the meeting: Gorda
Singletary, president, Friends of North Carolina
Public Libraries; Ed Sheary, president, North
Carolina Public Library Directors Association;
Edward T. Waller, president, North Carolina
Chapter of the Special Libraries Association;
Carol Lewis, from the Department of Public
Instruction; and Jane Williams, director, Division
of State Library.

Jane has been a faithful guest at NCLA exec-
utive board meetings, and her departure from her
position and from the North Carolina library
world will leave a void. Under her too-brief lead-
ership, the State Library moved briskly into new
areas, in a two-year era of change that I would bet
is unmatched in the history of the State Library.
However, what I personally have appreciated
most about Jane is her thoughtful consideration
of any library issue brought to her. She is one of
our best and our brightest, and she will be missed.

Two other individuals at the January meeting
who perform in often unsung positions deserve
special note: Doris Anne Bradley and Rebecca
Taylor. Doris Anne, from UNCC, is our parlia-
mentarian. Parliamentarians tend to be invisible
until you need one; but when you need one,

2"Spring 1989

nobody else will do. We have absolute confidence
in Doris AnneTs rulings. If she says we are on the
right track, we are (and thank heavens, usually
she rules in the affirmative). Her other assign-
ment is chair of the Constitution, Codes and
Handbook Committee. By the end of the bien-
nium, that committee will have completely revised
the Handbook, which will ensure that NCLA stays
on course procedurally. Thank you, Doris Anne.

Rebecca Taylor, New Hanover County Public
Library, is chair of the Finance Committee,
another hard-working group. I contend that
nobody has been busier with NCLA duties this
biennium (except, of course, Treasurer Nancy
Fogarty, whose work for NCLA should entitle her
to library sainthood), and no one has done a huge
job more efficiently or as well. Beyond their day-to-
day chores of developing a budget and spending
guidelines, the Finance Committee has had to
organize NCLATs special project grants program,
doing everything from developing the goals of the
program to writing detailed budget and financial
reporting forms. RebeccaTs leadership has made
the process run deceptively smoothly, because
she works the kinks out before they become
stumbling blocks. Thank you, Rebecca.

These individuals represent the contributions
being made daily by others throughout NCLA
with the ultimate goal of providing the best possi-
ble library service in every type of library in North
Carolina. Thank you"everybody.

Patsy J. Hansel, President

Over to You

Letters to the Editor

NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARIES invites your comments.
Please address and sign with your name and position all cor-
respondence to: Frances B. Bradburn, Editor, NORTH CARO-
LINA LIBRARIES, Joyner Library, East Carolina University,
Greenville, N.C. 27858. We reserve the right to edit all letters for
length and clarity. Whenever time permits, persons most closely
related to the issue under discussion will be given an opportu-
nity to respond to points made in the letter. Deadline dates will
be the copy deadlines for the journal: February 10, May 10,
August 10, and November 10.

Dear Editor:

Congratulations on the exceptionally high
quality of articles in the Winter, 1988 issue of NCL.
As a veteran reference librarian, I found all of the

articles illuminating and useful.

Ilene NelsonTs definition of reference service
as othe sum of all its various and everchanging
parts� is one of the best capsule definitions I have
seen. Admittedly, ITm biased, but I honestly believe
reference service is the most rewarding aspect of a

career in librarianship.
Both you and guest editor Ilene Nelson

deserve an oversize bouquet of red roses for your
efforts in producing this outstanding issue!

Alva Stewart .
Reference Librarian

National Library Week
April 9-15

WERE BIG

IN

SMALL PRESS

700 Presses

5,000 Titles

All in Stock

Adult Non-Fiction
Annotations Services
Preview/Approval Plans

QUALITY BOOKS INC.

JOHN HIGGINS

SALES
REPRESENTATIVE

Toll Free
Call Collect

1-800-323-4241
312-295-2010

Spring 1989"3

Foreword

Larry P. Alford, Guest Editor

Library managers have always needed to
show that they are using their resources well and
to demonstrate that the libraries they operate are
effective, service oriented organizations. In todayTs
financial and political climate, however, public
institutions are subject to even greater scrutiny
from governing boards, from their users, and from
tax payers who want to know that public resour-
ces are being used wisely and effectively.

At the same time, librarians are faced with
enormous changes in how they provide informa-
tion services. Donald Riggs writes in Strategic
Planning For Library Managers, oLibraries are...
being pressured by societal demands to do pro-
gressively more with progressively less.�1 New
technologies such as CD-ROM and other kinds of
automated information services are revolutioniz-
ing the way information is provided without
replacing or reducing the cost of more traditional
information services. College and university li-
brarians are faced with competition from other
campus units, such as computer centers, seeking
to provide information services that have tradi-
tionally been the province of the library. Public
librarians must compete with the private infor-
mation broker and other purveyors of informa-
tion services.

Further, in the last three or four years many
libraries, especially the academic libraries, have
been faced with an extraordinary increase in the
cost of serials. This has resulted in the severe ero-
sion of the purchasing power of those librariesT
book budgets as they have struggled to maintain
their serial and standing order collections. Many
of these libraries face increasing criticism from
the faculty and students whom they serve
because of the perceived failure to provide the
new information services that make the tasks of
the researcher so much easier while maintaining
the book collections in the face of the exploding
cost of serials.

All of this means that librarians must be
better prepared to demonstrate that they are
accountable for the financial resources made
available to them. Thus, this issue of North Caro-
lina Libraries is devoted to finance in libraries.

Larry P. Alford is Assistant University Librarian for Planning
and Finance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.

4"Spring 1989

Clearly, that is a topic that covers a lot of ground.
The financial issues facing libraries affect virtually
every aspect of librarianship and could fill
volumes. The guest editor decided, therefore, to
focus the first part of this issue on the topics that
are of most relevance to the overall operation of
libraries, planning and management information.

Good planning is essential to good manage-
ment. Good planning requires information about
the activities in which the organization is engaged.
Much of the knowledge of those activities comes
from the financial transaction records and budget
information maintained by the organization.
Thus, the article written by Gary Byrd deals with
strategic planning and its financial implications
for a library. The Health Sciences Library at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has
been engaged in an extensive strategic planning
effort for the past two years. Mr. Byrd has been
actively involved in that effort and is intimately
acquainted with the need to integrate the finan-
ces of a library with formal planning.

A management information system is the
mechanism through which a library collects and
analyzes the information it needs to plan system-
atically. John Ulmschneider provides an overview
of information systems in libraries and their use
in the decision-making process.

Finally, D.W. Schneider and Catherine Seay
give some specific examples of the use of micro-
computers to collect certain specific kinds of
financial data. Their examples are not intended
to be a comprehensive catalog, but they should
give librarians many ideas on how to use micro-
computers to improve the management informa-
tion available in their libraries.

The second section of the issue deals with
three topics that are of great importance to
todayTs library managers. Many libraries are pur-
chasing automated library systems including
acquisitions systems, serials check-in systems,
online catalogs, and circulation systems. Dale
Gaddis has surveyed public librarians throughout
the state of North Carolina to determine the prob-
lems they have encountered in implementing
online systems. She provides a comprehensive list
of the problems and the financial implications for
automating a library. We have all heard the hor-
ror stories of libraries that bought a new compu-

ter Only to discover upon delivery they needed
another $15,000 to build a controlled environ-
Ment computer room. This article should help
librarians avoid those unanticipated costs.
October Ivins discusses the implications for
Managing the library materials budget with the
�,�xplosion in serials prices noted previously. Most
large research libraries have seen the purchasing
Power of their book budgets fall as the decline in
the value of the dollar and inflation in serials and
Standing orders have eroded the money allocated
for the purchase of monographs. Ms. Ivins pro-
Vides a number of helpful solutions to libraries
Seeking to manage this serious problem.
re
The most successful libraries
im the next decades will be
those able to supplement their
usual budgets by unusual

means.

Finally, Joline Ezzell discusses fund-raising in
libraries. Most libraries, whether tax supported or
Supported through the revenues of a private insti-
tution, cannot provide adequately all of the serv-
~ces demanded by their patrons from existing
stitutional or governmental budgets. Librarians
must become entrepreneurs and bootstrap new
Services and new technologies if they are to main-
tain their position as frontline information pro-
Viders into the twenty-first century. The best way
to do that is not to reduce existing services in
Order to offer new services, although that ap-
Proach has its place, but to seek innovative ways
to find new monies from outside the tax or insti-
tutional receipt base. The most successful librar-
l�,�s in the next decade will be those able to
Supplement their usual budgets by unusual
Means.

Susan K. Martin writing about libraries and
New technologies in the Winter 1989 issue of
Library Trends says, oWe must seize the initiative
to ensure that we control, and are not controlled
by, the technologies of the future.� To seize the
Mmitiative and to shape and control our future as
Information providers, we must have a firm
Understanding of the finances of our operations,
even those of us who may not have direct respon-
Sibility for the budget. We must know how we are
Using our resources if we are to justify keeping

and increasing those resources.

References

1. Donald E. Riggs, Strategic Planing for Library Managers

Ses Arizona: Onyx Press, 1984), 8.

xh usan K. Martin, oLibrary Management and Emerging Tech-

Stak The Immovable Force and the Irresistible Object,�
rary Trends 37 (Winter 1989): 382.

RTSS Announces New Award

The purpose of these awards is to recognize
promising and practicing librarians. Each award
will be for $250. The recipients will be recognized
at the Fall Conference of NCLA. Deadline for nom-
inations is July 31, 1989.

Student Awards

1. The award is open to any student actively
enrolled in library education or pursuing a
career in the library field as of July 1, 1989. If
the student has graduated, he or she must be
in the library profession in North Carolina.

2. The student must be intending to pursue a
career in Technical Services.

3. The student must have a demonstrable poten-
tial for contribution in the field.

4, Self-nomination is permissible.

For applications contact:

Georgianna Francis
Asheville-Buncombe Library System
67 Haywood Street
Asheville, NC 28801

Significant Contribution Award

1. The librarian will have made a significant con-
tribution to his or her institution or to the
profession.

2. At least part of the applicantT s current work

must involve an aspect of technical services,

acquisitions, cataloging, classification of
resources, collection development, preserva-
tion of library materials, or related activities.

The applicant must work in North Carolina.

The applicant must be nominated by a cur-

rent member of NCLA.

300.

Submit nomination and supporting materials
to:

Betty Meeham-Black

Acquisitions CB#3902

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3902

Telephone (919) 962-1120

For further information or questions concerning
either award contact:

Betty Meeham-Black

Acquisitions CB#3902

Davis Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3902 al

Spring 1989"5

Financial Implications of
Strategic Planning

Gary D. Byrd

Financial management requires, almost by
definition, a planning perspective on the part of
library managers. Planning is, after all, one of the
primary responsibilities of all managers, includ-
ing those responsible for financial resources. To
secure money and other resources for effective
operations, library managers need more than the
technical and political tools of economics, cost
analysis, accounting, fundraising, and budgeting.
They also need a clear perspective on where the
library is headed and how it will get there. The
library must have a plan"that is, a clear state-
ment of its mission, goals, and objectives"as well
as the specific strategies and resources needed to
reach those goals and objectives. This article will
explore the ways that planning and financial
management support and complement each
other and the ways specific aspects of financial
management fit into a formal strategic planning
process.

Strategic Planning

A growing number of libraries and library
associations have come to recognize the value and
importance of formal long-range or strategic
planning. A combination of factors are responsible
for this growing interest. First, new information
technologies, especially the computer, are helping
to reshape and redefine the basic mission of the
library. The traditional library archive designed to
protect books, journals, and other physical con-
tainers of our society's cultural and intellectual
heritage is changing to an organization concerned
primarily with information and knowledge stor-
age, dissemination, and education services. Sec-
ond, the escalating costs of traditional printed
resources, as well as the high cost of new technol-
ogies needed to provide effective library services,
require the reallocation of existing financial
resources and effective strategies to secure new
resources. Finally, libraries face increasing com-
petition from commercial database developers
and information brokers. It is no longer sufficient

Gary D. Byrd is Associate Director of the Health Sciences
Library at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

6"Spring 1989

for most libraries to rely solely on continued good
will support from taxpayers and parent organiza-
tions. In an environment where commercial
competitors market their information services as
fast, comprehensive, and cost-effective, library
managers need to be able to demonstrate the
economic value of library services and resources
to the institutions and communities they serve.
Strategic planning is a process specifically de-
signed to help organizations cope with these
external and internal pressures of technological
change, escalating costs, and intense competition.

What then is strategic planning? The follow-
ing working definition captures the essential fea-
tures of the process. Strategic planing is the
systematic analysis of an organizationTs basic mis-
sion as well as its long and short term goals and
objectives in light of external threats and oppor-
tunities and internal strengths and limitations.
This analysis provides the framework for strate-
gies and action plans designed to capitalize on
opportunities and strengths and to deal appro-
priately with threats and limitations. The planning
process usually involves a substantial commit-
ment of time and management energy to com-
plete, and often results in a substantial realloca-
tion of existing financial resources and strategies
to secure new resources.

The following summary of the six essential
steps in strategic planning provides a framework
for looking at the financial implications of this
process.

1. Situation Analysis This is the essential first
step of all strategic planning. It answers the ques-
tion, oWhere are we now?� Managers start by look-
ing at the threats and opportunities outside the
library (that is the social, economic, technological,
and other trends affecting the library and/or its
users), as well as the strengths and limitations of
the libraryTs internal resources (staff, collections,
technology, facilities, etc.).

2. Mission and Goals This step answers the
question, oWhat is our basic purpose?� At this
stage managers look critically at the libraryTs
basic purpose in light of the situation analysis and
then agree on a new mission statement for the

future. The mission statement usually incorpo-
rates long-term goals which define the scope of
the libraryTs services or resources in broad general
terms.

3. Objectives This step answers the question,
oWhere do we want to go?� Here managers de-
Scribe for each goal the changes the library has
some reasonable expectation of bringing about.
To be most useful, these objectives should be
stated in measurable terms such as percentage

changes or target numbers to reach by a certain
date.

eee

Financial resources are the key
generic resource needed to im-
plement a libraryTs objectives.

4. Strategies This step is the core of strategic
Planning and answers the question, oHow can we
get there?� With strategies, managers outline a
general course of action and indicate how resour-
Ces, strengths, and opportunities will be used to
reach the objectives. Strategies are broad in scope
and show the basic route to be followed in attain-
Ing the objectives.

5. Action Plans This is the final step before the
library begins to implement the plan. Action plans
answer the question, oExactly who will do what,
where, when, and at what cost?� This stage of the
planning process commits the library to specific
amounts of time, staff, facilities, and money to
reach the agreed upon objectives.

6. Feedback and Change This final step in stra-
tegic planning recognizes the fact that planning
Cannot be a one-time activity. As external or
internal circumstances change, the library needs
to be able to modify its plans. Feedback occurs at
regular intervals after the plans are being imple-
mented and answers the question, oAre we on
track?�

Many organizations add another step to stra-
tegic planning before or concurrently with action
Planning. This step looks separately at the strate-
gies to obtain and allocate the ogeneric� resources
Needed to reach all objectives and keep the organ-
ization running. These generic resources for a
library would include such things as staff devel-
Opment and recruitment, a management infor-
mation and communications system, the libraryTs
Organization or governance structure, and, most
importantly in this context, the financial resour-
5 oe available to the library. Because the question
this planning step answers is how to obtain or
Manage resources, it is often called ogeneric
Strategies� In this sense financial management is a

generic strategy in the libraryTs planning process.

Financial Management

Financial resources and their effective man-
agement clearly underlie all good planning,
whether short-term and operational or long-term
and strategic. Financial resources are the key
generic resource needed to implement a libraryTs
objectives. Without money staff cannot be hired,
collections cannot be acquired, facilities cannot
be constructed or maintained, technology cannot
be used, and certainly services cannot be pro-

vided.
Finance has been defined very simply as othe

provision of money when and where required.�
Thus, financial management is the professional
expertise needed to provide money when and
where needed for effective operations. In most
organizations financial management has both
external and internal aspects. Managers must
find external sources of long-term funding and
capital needed to start the organization and to
insure its continuing existence. Within the organi-
zation, managers must also find and control the
resources needed for day-to-day operations.

Because libraries usually exist as depart-
ments or divisions within a host institution or
government, their long-term funding depends on
external resources secured by that parent institu-
tion. Although a library manager must be con-
cerned with the overall financial health of the
government or institution which supports the
library, this rarely means the librarian goes
directly to the financial marketplace (such as the
banking system, the bond markets, or the stock
market) to raise long-term capital as corporate
mangers must do. This is not to say that librarians
cannot play a significant part in securing external
financial support for their operations and serv-
ices. Seeking grant support, negotiating contracts
with other agencies, or marketing library services
to non-primary users are all legitimate ways that
library managers can be fundraisers. But this is
ofundraiser� in a more limited sense than the
business manager, who must raise capital from
stock sales or bank loans.

Although the external fundraising aspects of
financial management are relatively limited in
most libraries, the internal aspects of finance are
central to successful library management. The
librarian must prepare and justify a budget for a
fair share of the host institutionTs or the govern-
mentTs resources, maintain an accounting system
to analyze and control revenues and expendi-
tures, and also constantly measure the costs (in
time and money) of providing collections and serv-

Spring 1989"7

ices with various resources. Together with
external fundraising, financial management is a
sort of interrelated hierarchical system:





Fundraising
External
Internal fi
Budgeting
Accounting

Costing

Working up from the bottom of this system, cost-
ing measures the monetary value of the processes,
services, and other goods the library requires.
Accounting categorizes and presents these costs
for analysis and control. These two activities, in
turn, support the budgeting system used to moni-
tor and justify the resources needed and used.
Finally, effective fundraising depends on the three
parts of internal financial management to present
the resource needs of the library convincingly to
potential funding agencies.

The techniques and procedures of financial
management overlap and reinforce those used in
strategic planning to a great degree. Budgeting, in
particular, also deals with the future and the
ways resources will be deployed to support library
objectives. However, budgets, accounting systems,
and costing normally deal with the immediate
future (that is the upcoming fiscal year or two)
while strategic planning is more concerned with
the medium or long-term future. This means that
the library's annual or semiannual budget cycle
must feed into the action planning part of stra-
tegic planning, or appropriate resources will not
be available to implement the plans.

Strategic Budgeting

The budget process is central to effective
financial management in libraries. If a library
undertakes strategic planning, the budget must
become the key planning document for justifying,
in quantitative terms, the immediate high priority
programs identified by the planning process.
Koenig and Stam point out the ramification of
this relationship between strategic planning and
budgeting: oat least as a planning procedure,
budgeting must be thought of as a program based
procedure.� This, in turn, means that traditional
budgeting techniques such as line item, lump sum,
performance, and formula budgets will make
strategic plans more difficult to implement.

8"Spring 1989

Line item or object of expenditure budgets
allocate resources into rather fixed olines� which
reduce managersT flexibility to make program
changes. Designed for maximum control, this kind
of budget gives little indication of goals or objec-
tives, but shows only how much money will be
spent in various categories. Lump sum budgets
provide a specific amount of money to the library
for a single fiscal period. Although this allows the
library manager maximum flexibility in allocating
these resources for program objectives, it does
not give much opportunity to relate the budget to
goals and objectives, since the librarian usually
has little input in deciding the size of the lump.

Performance budgets focus on the unit costs
of goods and services to be provided by the

' library. The emphasis is on efficiency of opera-

tions without particular attention to long or short
range objectives. Finally, formula budgets attempt
to relate (at least indirectly) library resource
needs to indicators of growth or change in the
parent institution. The formulas used range from
fixed percentages of the total institution budget
to complex formulas resulting from elaborate
cost analysis. This budget system has the com-
bined problems of all the others; it tends to be
inflexible, reduces librarian input after the initial
formula is set, and has almost no relationship to
library objectives.*

With program budgeting, in contrast to the
above traditional systems, the library analyzes
and delineates its proposed expenditures accord-
ing to the functions or oprograms� it plans to
undertake. An easy way to present a program
budget is in the form of a matrix (see Figure 1).
The columns can represent different programs or
objectives, and the rows can continue to show the
traditional line item categories. The important
difference is that a program budget shows what
the library plans to do and what each resulting
service, function, or program will cost.

Strategic planning provides a
framework for libraries to in-
vent their futures and to dem-
onstrate effectively the value of
their resources and services.

The program budget has important advan-
tages for strategic planning. By explicitly showing
planned expenditures for each program or serv-
ice, management is forced to consider and ana-
lyze the cost and value of library objectives. In
addition, by clearly showing the cost of what the
library plans to do, a program budget provides

%0°00T %0°6 %FET %0°6 %0°61 oSTI %0'68 TVLOL JO uadteg
0z9'9EE$ 996'0E$ BL6 TPS SrE~0Es GL8'E9$ BEL '8ES LVETEIS$ TIVLOL

000~8$ 0$ o$ 000~e$ 000~s¢ 0$ o$ sjuswoaoiduyy peqideg °

002°29$ 00s~s¢ 00g~sT$ 000~ET$ OOT~SI$ SASNAdXa ONILVUAdO TVLOL

000~eT$ 000'T$ 00S~9$ 000~e$ 000'T$ ssao0e aseqeiep ~Buisseooid eyed 1'¢
00z'e$ oos¢ 000'T$ oos$ 00r$ Joael] oQueUdoTedap [BUOISSeJo1g 9'¢
oos~e$ 0$ 0$ 0$ o0g~e$ sulpulg ¢'¢
000'6$ 00s~T$ 00S~z$ 00s~T$ 00s~T$ quowdinba 7 ainyuing 7g
00g~s$ o0s$ 00g~T$ o0s$ 00z$ souvUjUTeUl 7 suredey ¢"g
000~8$ 000~T$ 000~e$ 00s~T$ 00s$ Teul-q 3 suoydeyay, z'¢

000°0z$ 000~T$ 000°F$ 000°9$ 000°¢$ sayddng T'¢
sosuedxy Surye10dg

00~S0T$ 000~F6$ SNOLLISINOOV TVLOL
000°F$ 000~z¢ aIVMIOS JoIndulog GZ
000°L$ 000~9$ surei8o1d [enstaoipny 7'Z
000°0z$ 00S~9T$ sydesZou0y, ¢°z
o0s~9T$ 000~21$ Slap1oO SuIpuRIg ZZ
00S~Lg$ 00s~2¢¢ suondiiosqns jeummor ['z
suontsinboy *

OZF~ TOTS 9SL'be$ CLV'PE SPrE'sts$ GL8~ce$ BOL SS$ L¥ZSZS TANNOSUAd TVLOL

000'9$¢ 0$ 000~s$ o$ 0$ 000'T$ 0$ sosem jyeqs Areroduray, g'T
0Z0°ST$ 9GL'e$ CLP'PS GTe$ P68$ 68L'T$ P68$ syyoueq asury jyeqs yaoddng FT
00z~eT$ 0$ 0$ 6866S 186~8$ 6862S eS6'E$ SyJous osuLy [eUoIssejorlg ¢'T
002'29$ 000~T2$ 000~ez$ 00%¢T$ 000~¢$ 000°0T$ 000~¢$ salreyes yes Joddng ZT

000°E9$ 0$ o¢ 000~FT$ 000°Ez$ 000~0T$ 000~9T$ SolIVyes [BUOISSeJOIg TT
joeuuosieg ~T

ueoy £do20,0y4g uolneonpy aoUdIEJoYy Surisoyeyeo, quowdojeaeq
Areiqiy1equy /uonyepnaat9 rasp uorqda][09

x1jeyY jospng weis01g Areaqry ajdureg

~T aanola

Spring 1989"9

the information needed for open political dia-
logue between all levels of management within the
library and its parent institution or government.

This budget systemTs disadvantages, on the
other hand, tend to be the same as the disadvan-
tages of all formal planning processes, including
strategic planning. A program budget requires
substantial time and effort to prepare, though the
calculations are not nearly as complex as those in
performance budgets. Also, because this kind of
budget is inherently value laden and political, it
increases the potential for conflict as the propo-
nents of different objectives compete for limited
resources.

Implications and Conclusion

What then are the key financial implications
of strategic planning? By systematically reviewing
the library's mission, goals, and objectives in light
of opportunities and constraints in the external
and internal environment, strategic planning
encourages innovation, change, and the rede-
ployment of financial resources. The library
which engages in strategic planning will no longer
be content to defend or add increments to its base
budget year after year.

Financial management in this planning en-
vironment changes from budget defense to a posi-
tive discussion of the cost and value of the
libraryTs goals and objectives. A strategic plan and
its supporting program budget will give the
libraryTs host institution or governing board a
priority menu of programs, services, and objec-
tives from which to select, rather than a target
line item list of projected expenditures to pare or
cut. Russell Ackoff has described the objective of
planning to be the odesign [of] a desirable future�
and the oinvent[ion of] ways to bring it about.�
Strategic planning provides a framework for
libraries to invent their futures and to demon-
strate effectively the value of their resources and
services.

References

1. S.A. Roberts, Cost Management for Library and Information
Services (London: Butterworths, 1985), 24.

2. Michael E.D. Koenig and Deidre C. Stam, oBudgeting and
Financial Planning for Libraries,� Advances in Library Admin-
istration and Organization 4 (1985): 78.

3. Shari Lohela and F. William Summers, oThe Impact of Plan-
ning on Budgeting,� Journal of Library Administration 2 (No. 4,
1982): 176-78.

4. As quoted in Donald E. Riggs, oThe Rewards of Strategic Plan-
ning,� Show-Me Libraries 38 (July 1987): 4.

10"Spring 1989

Bibliography

The following is a short list of additional useful references
on planning and financial management for librarians.

Koenig, Michael E.D. Budgeting Techniques for Libraries and
Information Centers. New York: Special Libraries Associa-
tion, 1980.

Levin, Dick. The ExecutiveTs Illustrated Primer of Long-Range
Planning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981.

McClure, Charles R., Ed. Planning for Library Services. New
York: Haworth Press, 1982.

McKinney, Jerome B. Effective Financial Management in Public
and Nonprofit Agencies. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press,
1986.

Prentice, Anne E. Financial Planning for Libraries. Metuchen,
NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1983.

Ramsey, I.L. and J.E. Ramsey. Library Planning and Budgeting.
New York: Franklin Watts, 1986.

Riggs, Donald E. oEntrepreneurial Spirit in Strategic Planning.�
Journal of Library Administration 8 (Spring 1987): 41-52.

Strategic Planning for Library Managers.
Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1984. al

INTERNATIONAL LITERACY YEAR

Hi fi £%
LAA
ie

i

Barry Moser has created a poster on 1990 International Liter-
acy Year for the ChildrenTs Book Council. The poster, measur-
ing 24� x 3214", is in six colors. It costs $15.00 and is shipped
rolled in a mailing tube. Send a 25¢ stamped, self-addressed
envelope to CBC (P.O. Box 706, New York, NY 10276-0706) for
Current Materials Brochure for details.

ate}sie) 1987 1988
P.AR-O2D: UC TW oY

Posy is a critical concern in todayTs library. That's why more and more decision makers are looking
into Faxon. We can be the best source for all of your journal and continuation subscriptions. Our services

enable you to devote your valuable personnel resources to other crucial library functions.

As a full service agent with access to more than 200,000 different periodicals, we can handle
ordering, claiming, check-in, and routing. Our growing international network links you to other
libraries, publishers, online systems, and networks.

If you can profit from improved productivity, a call to Faxon figures.

1-800-225-6055
or 1-617-329-3350 (collect)

fa:on

The Faxon Company 15 Southwest Park Westwood, MA 02090

Spring 1989"11

Management Information Systems and
Changing Technologies in Libraries

John E. Ulmschneider

In the past two decades management science
has come to regard change as a constant in an
organizationTs operations. Libraries no less than
other institutions are subject to constantly shift-
ing demands and constraints. Consequently the
flexibility to respond quickly to opportunities
and problems has become an important skill for
library managers. Such flexibility requires the
ability to speak authoritatively on the present
state of a library from the basis of accurate man-
agement information. Financial information is
particularly important, since planning for and
dealing with change depends wholly on accurate
information about the need for, availability of,
and utilization of resources. For resource-
strapped libraries, the allocation of resources
occupies a central role in many decisions. For this
reason library managers increasingly recognize
timely and accurate management information,
especially financial information, as a strategic
resource crucial to the ongoing operations of a
library. The health and prosperity of a library
depends critically on what information is avail-
able for decision makers in the library and how
management structure provides for the flow of
information to them.

The technology for capturing, disseminating,
and analyzing management and financial data in
libraries has undergone accelerating change in
this decade. Two developments in particular have
had important influence. First, the widespread
introduction of desktop computers beginning in
the early 1980s brought new power and flexibility
to individual library managers for the analysis of
financial and other data. Second, the growth of
computer networks has greatly enhanced the
ability of librarians both to capture data and to
disseminate it (often in the form of analyzed
data) directly to persons with a need to know.
While library research and literature have re-
flected the application of new financial analysis
tools available to librarians!?, the literature (as
well as management literature in general) has

John E. Ulmschneider is Head of Library Systems, North
Carolina State University Libraries, North Carolina State Uni-
versity, Raleigh

12"Spring 1989

only begun to discuss the issues raised by compu-
ter networks for financial and other management
data. The combination of powerful desktop com-
puters and distributed network data presents
new opportunities that improve upon the capabil-
ities of earlier management information systems
designs, but it also exacerbates problems asso-
ciated with duplication of data, timely dissemina-
tion of data, locating correct data, and proper
analysis and use of the data available.

MIS and Management Science: An Overview

The term management information systems
(MIS) traditionally has described the capture and
analysis of statistical data about an organizationTs
operations in support of decision making by man-
agement. Research and literature about MIS is
divided roughly into two camps: the technology
and implementation of MIS and the management
theory of MIS.

Management theory often recognizes three
different types of decision making in organiza-
tions, with different management information
needs for each decision typeT. Strategic planning
involves setting goals and objectives, defining and
refining the mission of the institution, arranging
long-term acquisition and allocation of resources,
and monitoring the organizationTs working en-
vironment for feedback on progress and for
opportunities. Management control is concerned
with obtaining and allocating resources and en-
suring their effective and efficient use to accom-
plish tasks related to the goals and objectives of
the organization. Supervision or operational con-
trol is the close monitoring of specific tasks car-
ried out to meet goals and objectives. In libraries
these tasks are primarily transaction-oriented
activities such as circulation, cataloging, refer-
ence, and acquisitions. Transaction tasks include
most budget and financial transactions, such as
generating purchase orders, paying invoices, ap-
plying fines, and encumbering monies for mono-
graph and serial orders. Transaction records
provide much of the raw data about a library's
behavior and activities that become the founda-
tion of management information systems.

The decision process itself has been variously
Modeled. Older models describe well-defined
Stages in a structured decision making process.~.
Recent research supports a less structured pro-
Cess, characterized by individual differences in
analyzing problems and developing solutions,
heavy reliance on oral communication among col-
leagues, and the presence of a considerable ambi-
suity in both problem analysis and the data
brought to bear on a given problem®. In particu-
lar, newer research shows that decision makers
Often follow an iterative decision making path
that involves formulating alternatives and solu-
tions, gathering information to elaborate or test
alternatives, and then refining alternatives or
developing new ones. For this reason newer deci-
Sion models regard unimpeded information trans-
fer, both access to information and exchange of
Information, as the most important component of
the decision making process.

Management information systems as a dis-
Crete technology appeared conceptually in the
late 1950s as an outgrowth of management expe-
Nence with computertized financial control sys-
tems, Important lessons learned from financial
Systems included the need to define and stan-
dardize operational and statistical data, and the
awareness that managers involved in strategic
Planning had need of comprehensive information
on all aspects of an organizationTs operations, not
Just its financial operations. Developed primarily
Mm the 1960s and 1970s, the chief technology of
Management information systems is centralized,
Comprehensive collections of statistical and finan-
Clal data, marked by a high degree of data stan-
dardization and pervasive computerization of
data capture operations. Data analysis is carried
Cut by batch programs and presents results in the
form of recurring and ad hoc reports. Ad hoc
reports generally are designed to the task, with
little flexibility and no interactive management
Control; managers are required to formulate
questions of data and receive the answers at a
later time. A few reporting tools provide flexible
analysis of data, for instance SPSS and SAS, but
their use generally requires programming skills.
Libraries rely heavily on MIS technology in inte-
8rated library systems, and have achieved partic-
ular success in standardization of data descrip-
tions, in collection of statistics, and in
Computerization of important transaction activi-
oes. Today most library automation systems
employ MIS-type technologies.

MIS technology resembles a powerful man-
agement reporting system, useful for operations
Control and mangement of processes, tasks, and

projects. Importantly, MIS has changed the
nature of organizational decision making, because
it carries with it considerable emphasis on the
collection, accuracy, and use of management
data. It also has instituted pervasive computer-
ized data capture, setting the stage for easier dis-
tribution of data by electronic means. But MIS has
been a manifest failure in its support of manage-
ment decision making in strategic planning and in
some aspects of management control for two rea-
sons:

1. It does not provide direct management
access to data and does not include much
crucial information contained in manual sys-
tems or elsewhere;

2. It does not include data analysis tools that
support individual mangersT exploration of
data to develop alternatives and test solu-
tions to problems.

Existing integrated library sys-
tems can expect to become one
part of a library-wide decision
support system, a single com-
puter system on a network con-
necting many computers.

In the late 1970s management and informa-
tion scientists developed a new conceptualization
of MIS called Decision Support Systems (DSS).
DSS incorporates recent findings in management
science about the decision making process and
addresses most of the major shortcomings of tra-
ditional MIS for management control and stra-
tegic planning. DSS theory and technology places
great emphasis on how individual decision mak-
ers acquire and employ information in the deci-
sion making process. Consequently, DSS empha-
sizes techniques that provide more integrated
and easier access to data and analysis rather
than more comprehensive collection of data. It
encourages designs that allow physical independ-
ence of data from the applicatoins that require
data (mainly by standardizing on data exchange
formats between applications), relieving man-
agers from dependence on centralized, highly
structured data analysis characteristic of tradi-
tional MIS. Particularly important to DSS tech-
nology has been the introduction of powerful,
flexible, inexpensive, and easy-to-use software
tools for exploring data. Collections of such tools
provided to managers on desktop or otherwide
easily accessible computers (such as departmen-

Spring 1989"13

Figure 1

Management Information Systems in Libraries
Typical Configuration

Requests for information

Programmers
and analysts

Data analysis
specifications

8
ole
ae
oh
00

Transaction and statistical databases

Structured reports

Structured data
analysis reports

Mainframe

computer

Transaction data capture operations

Interlibrary Reference

loan

Circulation Acauisitions

tal minicomputer systems) support the individual
cognitive styles of managers involved in the itera-
tive decision-making process.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Network
Technology

Figure | represents a typical library MIS con-
figuration using technologies prominent in the

14"Spring 1989

materials
processing

Cataloging

Research
& planning

Serials Personnel

control

Purchasing

late 1970s and early 1980s. The typical MIS in this
design relies on a large central computer as a dis-
tributed resource, gathering raw transaction data
from transaction centers and storing it in data-
bases. The central computer represents a rela-
tively costly resource and therefore is not applied
to all transaction processing, nor is it available for
all mangement decision making. Data on the
computer is provided to managers in the form of

Figure 2

Decision Support Systems in Libraries
Typical Configuration

purchase management
computers and terminals

requests for information

personnel management !
computers and terminals decision maker desktop
Sichred ant ae computer systems

=
research & planning structured data; analyzed
computers and terminals and summarized data



campus, municipal,

ia : other networks
administrative systems

electronic mail, telefax,
digital imaging, etc.

other library computer systems:
branch, regional, national libraries

departmental computer systems

reference computers and
terminals

campus or municipal
administrative computer system

external computing resources

serials control computers
and terminals

ILL computers
and terminals

Network backbone

circulation computers
and terminal

Point of sale systems

acquisitions computers
and terminals

cataloging computers
and terminals

eliriioniites sateen materials processing systems

vi
Ore
JU
Bab
JU

Large transaction and statistical databases

Spring 1989"15

SIM

Southeastem
Microfilm, Inc.

AND MINOLTA.

TWO
ORGANIZATIONS
THAT CAN
HELP YOU GET
ORGANIZED.

EQUIPMENT

We're Southeastern Microfilm, Inc. and we can help you reduce
your filespace by 90% or more, help make your record keeping
more organized and your staff more efficient.

Our micrographics professionals can help you select the right tools
from a whole range of advanced Minolta micrographic equipment.
They can tailor a system to meet your needs exactly.

Southeastern Microfilm, Inc. is the most complete

micrographics dealer in North Carolina, offering

advanced production services, a complete line of

equipment and supplies and total customer MINOLTA

SERVICE

ONLY FROM THE MIND
OF MINOLTA

WE HAVE A LOT OF MICROGRAPHIC
SOLUTIONS LOOKING FOR PROBLEMS.

Asheville ¢ Charlotte e Greensboro © Greenville e Raleigh
1-800-532-0217

16"Spring 1989

structured reports, usually as regularly recurring
reports but sometimes as ad hoc reports.

Figure 2 shows a library DSS environment
that reflects newer technologies gaining promi-
nence in this decade. Traditional MIS emphasizes
centralized databases, but in fact data often is
distributed in the sense that the central database
usually does not contain comprehensive data; a
considerable amount of data resides in manual
systems or is otherwise not available to central
computers. In the evolving library DSS, important
data also is distributed, but is more readily avail-
able for two reasons: more data resides on com-
puters because of the increased use of desktop or
departmental computers, and data is more easily
transferred because of network links. The central
computer represents a single computing resource
in a network of computing resources, applied
where appropriate and used by other computers
where appropriate. In addition, external (outside
the library) computers provide essential en-
vironmental information to the library for stra-
tegic planning, and are available with roughly the
same ease as internal computers and data.
Finally, the analysis of enormous amounts of
basic transaction data can be carried out by
knowledgeable staff appropriately close to the
data using their own computers, and the results
easily cumulated and delivered to supervisory
and administrative staff. Managers can refine the
results using their own software tools, request
additional analysis, or access the raw data them-
selves. The result incorporates an_ intelligent
review of raw data into ongoing analysis carried
out directly by managers using their own compu-
ters and software tools.

The drawbacks of such DSS designs are plain.
On the one hand, desktop computers and compu-
ter networks combine to generate new tendencies
away from centralized, standardized data reposi-
tories typical of MIS. The result is increased
duplication of data, decentralized and widely dis-
tributed data, and difficulties locating needed
data. On the other hand, networks help amelio-
rate the problems inherent in distributed data by
providing powerful information transfer facilities
(such as electronic mail and multi-user database
management systems) notable for their speed, flex-
ibility, and capacity. These facilities not only dis-
tribute data as needed for analysis, but make
available data formerly difficult for managers to
obtain. In addition, the same technologies provide
new tools for the analysis and exploration of data,
characterized by their power, ease of use, and
flexibility, that overcome the limitations of MIS-
designed tools.

Importantly, DSS does not solve some fun-
damental problems in library decision making
frequently noted in the library literature. In partic-
ular, it contributes nothing to the ongoing effort
to standardize descriptions for library data and
library statisticsT. As long as librarians cannot
agree, for example, on how collection sizes are
Measured, the ability of individual DSS to use
data from other libraries for environmental com-
Parision will be frustrated.

DSS and Library Financial Management

Three administrative conditions inherent in
financial management of libraries (and other
Nonprofit organizations) motivate the application
of DSS to library financial management:

® the need for the most timely, up-to-date
financial information possible during decision
making

® the requirement for accountability in both
expenditures and operations

® the crucial role of financial information in
strategic planning and change decisions.

Each situation is in some way poorly served
by traditional MIS, but can draw on particular
Strengths of DSS to meet its needs. Figure 3 sum-
Marizes these three conditions, the main draw-
backs of MIS in meeting the needs of each, and the
Particular strengths of DSS in relation to the
Same needs.

Need for timely information

In a change-oriented environment, decisions
frequently must be made on crucial issues in a
Matter of hours or days. The most up-to-date
information possible is required for many de-
Cisions. But financial data generally has multiple

sources and is generated by multiple processing
centers; locating data quickly can be difficult. In
libraries these sources include acquisitions, pur-
chasing, personnel, circulation, and the like. Tra-
ditional MIS designs provide a framework for
capturing raw financial transaction data from
such processing centers, but unfortunately the
analysis of transaction data in such a system
reaches decision makers only in the form of
recurring reports. Changes introduced by recent
transactions generally are not known. In addition,
much essential data is simply unavailable in tra-
ditional MIS designs, locked away in staff experi-
ence or manual systems. Decision support systems
alleviate these drawbacks in two ways. First, DSS
distributes computing power in the form of desk-
top computers directly to supervisory staff respon-
sible for day-to-day operations. Data formerly
residing in manual systems or staff expertise
quickly migrates in some form to these desktop
systems. Second, DSS employs network designs
that provide access both to these desktop compu-
ters and to other computers responsible for cap-
turing transaction data and for analyzing trans-
action data. Software tools mounted on desktop
or departmental computers then can access and
make use of the most up-to-date management
data and analysis, including models and projec-
tions, in the course of management deliberations.
Software tools are even used to capture, analyze,
and present data during management meetings
to reflect the results of implementing alternatives,
speeding up the iterative decision-making process
by providing immediate feedback on the results of
certain decisions.

Accountability
Libraries no less than other organizations

LT
FIGURE 3.

MIS and DSS solutions to financial management requirements
i

Condition MIS solution

DSS solution

TT

Need for timely information

Programmer intervention normally required

Raw transaction data usually not available

Accountability
analysis

Modeling and projection tools require

programming
Strategic planing

Access limited to specific data

Ignores important data on environment and in

non-MIS systems

Recurring and ad hoc batch reports only

Emphasis on supervisory and operations

Supports structured data analysis

Interactive formulation of reports

Data analysis by managers using desktop
computers

Most transaction data and analysis available

Emphasis on strategic analysis

Interactive, end-user modeling and projection tools

Supports exploration of data
Access provided to most data and analysis

Includes most computer-managed data

a

Spring 1989"17

must account in detail for budget expenditures.
In addition, the cost effectiveness of library pro-
cesses and the efficiency of library operations are
subject to management and audit review. Finan-
cial information figures importantly for input and
output measures, for auditing, and for all aspects
of cost analysis for services. Analysis and model-
ing software supplied by decision support sys-
tems, such as spreadsheet programs, accounting
systems, and project management software, sup-
port determinations of the cost effectiveness and
efficiency of library operations. With such soft-
ware tools library managers can explore data and
test alternatives quickly and easily, without the
need to translate the data requirements of a par-
ticular problem into query specifications for gener-
ating structured reports. In addition, network
access to data residing with parent organizations
can assist in evaluating budgets and allocations
with respect to the parent organizationTs goals
and objectives, for example, assessing materials
expenses in relation to enrollment information.

Role of financial information in strategic
planning

Most strategic planning and change decisions
involve the deployment or redeployment of insti-
tutional resources, very often financial resources.
Comprehensive information on financial history
and financial resource projections and utilization
models are indispensable to planning and deci-
sion making. MIS designs focus access to financial
data through knowledgeable managers able to
produce query specifications that can be under-
stood and translated by technical staff. In con-
trast, decision support system technology
broadens the accessibility and use of financial
data to all managers as the need arises. In DSS,
networks and desktop or departmental compu-
ters encourage librarians involved in strategic or
long-range planning to take account of financial
data formerly inaccessible to them. The result is
more comprehensive and accurate planning for
changes and services. In addition, libraries have
long used various allocation and charging formu-
las to manage materials expenditures and the col-
lection of fines and other income (though in many
respects with unfortunate resultsT). Financial
management information available in DSS tests
the accuracy, validity, and usefulness of such
formulas.

DSS and Library Financial Data Management
in the Future

Currently most automated systems support-
ing library decision makers, including financial

18"Spring 1989

management systems, employ designs character-
istic of MIS technology of the late 1970s and early
1980s. The scarcity of capital funds for invest-
ment in newer computing and network technolo-
gies will perpetuate this pattern in many libraries
through the mid-1990s. Larger libraries, however,
particularly research libraries at major universi-
ties, have begun significant investments in net-
work infrastructure and desktop computer tech-
nologies that will continue and increase over the
next five years. Generally such investments are
motivated by the need to deliver electronic servi-
ces from library service units directly to patrons,
and to communicate better with patrons, the
parent institution, and regional and national
libraries. But the infrastructure also supports
evolving DSS technologies, and research libraries
already are exploring how networks and desktop
computers might be applied to develop informa-
tion systems for decision makers. Figure 4 shows
how a typical financial decision support system
using DSS technologies provided by such infras-
tructure investments might appear.

A number of issues still must be addressed in
the design and implementation of future library
decision support systems. These include:

© Standardization of data descriptions: Al-
though financial data uses many widely
accepted standard descriptions, this is not
true of other library management informa-
tion. Standardization of expression is in-
creasingly important for sharing data, for
inter-institutional comparisons, and for account-
ability to parent institutions.

@ Location of data: Networks encourage dis-
tributed data capture and analysis; fre-
quently important data and findings are
present on several computers in a network.
This is true of bibliographic information sys-
tems as well as management information sys-
tems. One solution is development of intelli-
gent oknowledge finder� software that
maintains network inventories and assists
users in navigating data soruces.

@ Security: Desktop computers and networks
offer multiple points of access to sensitive
and important data on distant computers,
often with the full privileges accorded to data
on a local computer. Library managers will
need a clear awareness of security issues pre-
sented by decision support systems in this
context, such as who is allowed access to
computers, where data resides, and the
nature of tasks (and the data required to carry
out those tasks) assigned to different staff.

© Use of computers by library management:

Figure 4
Financial Management Decision Support System

Typical Configuration








ion

Desktop computer:





head librarian S

c

c

8

Desktop computer:
chief financial officer ¢

°

ww

¢

Desktop computers: S
assistant librarians g

r

¢

}

rr)

A

Administrative A
mainframe financial =
management system 9
v

3

v

Cc

9

2

- . at
Other financial 3
management computers 2
ae

°

B

Cd

yv

=z

Many library managers still regard desktop
computers as expensive resources appro-
priate mostly for typical MIS applications, for
instance, capturing and managing transac-
tion data. Decision support systems, however,
regard desktop computers as essential tools
no different from pencils and calculators.
Access to data formerly not available to
managers is only one-half of a decision sup-
port system: access requires tools and exper-
tise to use the data appropriately. Libraries
should make the necessary training invest-
ment as well as the capital investments
required to ensure that library managers will
use desktop computers, software tools, and
network access to data and analysis in the
process of management decision making.

Purchasing,
accounting local
area network

Acquisitions &
serials processing
local area network

Acquisitions & serials
control system

Integrated library
system (circulation
data, etc.)

© Electronic transfer of financial transactions:

Financial data demands special considera-
tion for network communication ana desktop
computer access, because audit requirements
are strict. The ability to carry out financial
transactions electronically, with appropriate
electronic signatures, is a likely possibility for
some libraries: delivering, receiving, and pay-
ing orders for library materials directly
through network gateways, for example.
Libraries already interact with the computer-
ized financial management systems of parent
organizations in a number of ways (e.g., online
access to central accounting information). As
financial administration comes to rely more
heavily on electronic management of funds,
libraries will need to follow existing financial

Spring 1989"19

standards and ensure that audit require-
ments are met.

Library decision support systems will con-
tinue to evolve with the development of electronic
delivery of library services and the process of
connecting libraries to local, regional, and national
networks. Existing integrated library systems can
expect to become one part of a library-wide DSS,
a single computer system on a network connect-
ing many computers. The MIS-based design of
library information management systems will
move in the direction of decision support tech-
nologies as networks and desktop computers con-
tinue to expand their presence in libraries.

References

1. Claudia Perry-Holmes, oLotus 1-2-3 and Decision Support:
Allocating the Monograph Budget,� Library Software Review 4
(July-August 1985): 205.

2. Joseph McDonald, oDesigning a Decision Support System
(DSS) for Academic Library Managers Using Preprogrammed
Application Software on a Microcomputer,� Library Software
Review 5 (January-February 1986): 9.

3. Robert N. Anthony, Planning and Control Systems: A
Framework for Analysis. (Boston: Division of Research, Gradu-
ate School of Business Administration, Harvard University,
1965).

4. Herbert A. Simon, The New Science of Management Decision.
Rev. ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1977).

5. Ronald W. Chorba and Michael R.W. Bommer, oDeveloping
Academic Library Decision Support Systems,� Journal of the
American Society for Information Science 34(1) (1983): 40.

6. Robert S. Runyon, oTowards the Development of a Library
Management Information System,� College & Research Librar-
tes 42 (November 1981): 539.

7. Glyn T. Evans and Albert Beilby, oA Library Management
Information System in a Multi-Campus Environment,� in
Library Automation as a Source of Management Information,
Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing, 1982; edited
by F. Wilfred Lancaster. (Champaign, Ill: Graduate School of
Library and Information Science, Univeristy of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, 1983): 164.

Subscription Order

Please place mailing label
from your issue here.

North Carolina Libraries is published four
times a year by the North Carolina Library
Association. Subscription: $32 per year; $50
foreign countries. Single copy $10. Address
new subscriptions, renewals, and related
correspondence to Frances B. Bradburn, edi-
tor; North Carolina Libraries, Joyner Library,
East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
27858 or call (919) 757-6076. (For member-
ship information, see address label on jour-
nal)

20"Spring 1989



Lighten Up:

A Call for Papers (Great and
Small) Illustrating the Humorous
Side of the Library Profession

ItTs said that librarians take themselves and
their work too seriously. ItTs said, in fact, that
we have no sense of humor at all.* North Caro-
lina Libraries is planning an issue devoted to the
fun and whimsical side of our work. If you would
like to tackle one of the items listed below (or
come up with one of your own), please contact
by April 1:

Rose Simon

Gramley Library

Salem College
Winston-Salem, NC 27108
(919) 721-2649

Spoofs on our research methodology and results
(cf the Journal of Irreoroducible Results)

Letters to the Editor (of NCL) with replies and
counter-replies





Horrendous manuscripts (puns, misspellings, mis-
statements of fact &Cc.)



Rethinking our professional philosophies, theo-
ries of cataloging and classification, public ser-
vice, etc.



From the Public"mangled reference questions,
citations; excuses for lost and damaged mate-
rials



Biographies of (Fictitious) Librarians
Histories of (Fictitious) Libraries



Floor Plans for New (Fantastic) Library Build-
ings"submitted by: a cataloger, a reference
librarian, a director, & a patron



A Day in the Life . . . (a librarian for wnom every-
thing possible goes wrong)



Epistolary Sequences concerning:
an overdue book; a vendor who continually
misbills you for something; a patron protest
of a harmless book (e.g., Cinderella)



(Fictitious) North Carolina Books and Their
Reviews




Proposed New Bylaws for NCLA

*lf true, North Carolina Libraries will present you with its
complimentary official blank book in lieu of an issue.

Use of Microcomputers for
Library Financial Planning

D.W. Schneider and Catherine Seay

The purpose of financial accounting is to

Maintain control of financial resources. Library
administrators are allocated financial resources
for the purpose of carrying out the mission of the
libr ary. Because a library rarely receives sufficient
Tesources to meet fully all aspects of its mission,
financial control becomes critical in order for
Tesources to be allocated effectively to meet
immediate and long-range priorities.
5 Whereas financial accounting is a system of
~keeping track� of money, financial management
IS a process of allocating resources. These two
functions are often performed by technical staff
(accountants) and by administrators respec-
tively. Library managers need current and accu-
Tate financial data to make critical resource
allocation decisions. The implementation of library
accounting functions on a microcomputer can aid
making both the accounting and the manage-
Nal functions more effective.

The Library Budget

_ Today libraries often receive annual budget
Information in the form of a computer printout.
Since most libraries, school, public, special, or
academic, are part of a larger organization, their
budgets generally are derived as part of a larger
Computer budget run. Usually the parent organi-
ZationTs budget is maintained and updated on a
large main frame computer housed in some sys-
tem/ computer center remote from the library.
Many library administrators consider themselves
fortunate if they receive monthly updated print-
Outs of their budgets from the central accounting
Office,

Although these updates are ocurrent,� they
are seldom oreal time,� i.e., seldom do they reflect
the libraryTs transactions performed immediately
Prior to or since the computer run. Often due to
the organizational distance between the library,
the purchasing department, the accounting office,
and the computing center, there can be a signifi-
eats

Dw. Schneider is Associate Director for Public Services, Loui-
Slana State University Libraries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Catherine Seay is a Graduate Assistant in the School of
Library and Information Science at Louisiana State Univer-

Sity,

cant discrepancy between the update reports and
the actual state of the libraryTs budget. The lack of
real time data can be especially critical as budget
lines become depleted and at the end of fiscal
years. In order to compensate for this lag in
budget information, libraries usually set up an
internal bookkeeping system and maintain man-
ual account information within the library. How-
ever, internal records are seldom the final budget
word. The monthly updates should be reconciled
systematically against the library's records to
ensure that all transactions have been recorded
and to correct errors made either in-house or by
central accounting.

Depending on the size of the budget and the
complexity of the library organization, the in-
house accounting system can range from very
simple to quite elaborate, requiring a staff of five
or more to maintain. Almost all libraries, even
one-person branch operations, have some budget
allocation for materials and devise some account-
ing system to keep track of funds encumbered
(books ordered), funds expended (books re-
ceived), and fund balance (money remaining to
spend). Library bookkeeping systems can vary
from solitary accounts of a few hundred dollars to
systems that provide for personnel, materials,
equipment, supplies, travel, maintenance, com-
puter expenses, etc., and amount to many million
dollars.

Financial Accounting and Budget Management

Two key elements of accounting (the system-
atic recording of revenues and expenditures)
are 1) to record where monies are spent, and 2) to
reflect how much monies are left to expend. To
maintain records of budgeted funds, ledgers are
established in accounts and subaccounts to
reflect expenditure responsibility (library admin-
istration, chemistry library, social science biblio-
grapher) and source of funds (budget lines: stu-
dent wages, books, equipment). To track fund
balances, each account contains cells to record
allocated funds, encumbrances, expenditures,
and free balances. If encumbrances and expendi-
tures are posted in a timely fashion and accounts
summed, balances can be maintained that reflect

Spring 1989"21

a realistic current state of the budget. Creating an
up-to-date or current picture of the budget for a
small organization can be accomplished with a
minimum of effort; for larger, more complex
budgeting units, balancing accounts can be a time
consuming and costly function.

The use of a microcomputer, with concom-
itant application of spreadsheet software or an

accounting package, can simplify and accelerate -

the internal accounting process. By providing
high speed computing power, data storage, and
ease of data entry, the in-house microcomputer
can be a tool that makes accounting more effi-
cient and provides a possibility for more effective
financial management.

Accounting is only one aspect of financial
management. In addition to keeping track of the
money expended in each account, financial man-
agement also entails setting up the budget (allo-
cating sums of money to each account), moni-
toring the rate of expenditures, and adjusting the
budget when appropriate. To make effective
budgeting decisions, managers compare current
spending rates with previous patterns, weigh the
current rate against expected future conditions,
and adjust the budget to ensure the total budget
is expended as intended. The electronic spread-
sheet provides an array of statistical and compu-
tational functions that can aid the librarian in
determining rates of expenditure and in making
comparisons of financial data.

Whereas financial accounting
is a system of okeeping track�
of money, financial management
is a process of allocating re-
sources.

The Microcomputer and the Electronic
Spreadsheet

oAccording to Larry Blasko, ten years ago the
personal computer was in the same league as the
personal army"cumbersome, expensive, and not
really very useful for problems below the global
scale.�! This may have been true ten years ago
when the knowledge of a programming language
such as BASIC was necessary in order to perform
simple operations on a microcomputer when the
capacities of microcomputers were limited to a
few megabytes, and when the cost of the
machines relative to computing power was very
high. Today, however, due to the price competi-
tion in hardware, the proliferation of software
developers, and the ouser friendliness� and variety

22"Spring 1989

of software (word processing, spreadsheets, data
base management, communication, etc.), the
microcomputer has become a viable tool for
almost every library.

The microcomputer itself is a tool not unlike
a power drill, very useful and powerful but only
with a drill bit. Just as different kinds of drill bits
are needed for various purposes, different soft-
ware serve different functions and achieve differ-
ent goals. The microcomputer used with a
spreadsheet is particularly useful as a tool for the
purpose of library financial management.

Microcomputers, when used with one of the
standard spreadsheets such as VisiCalc or LOTUS
1-2-3, make excellent high speed calculators. But
the electronic spreadsheet makes the computer
more than just a calculator. It also makes it an
easy and efficient programmable device for set-
ting up budget accounts, producing reports, and
creating charts and graphs. Any number of com-
mercially available spreadsheets can be used
(depending on the make of the machine and per-
sonal preference) to set up a financial accounting
and reporting system for a library. This discussion
is based on experience with LOTUS 1-2-32 The
1-2-3 electronic spreadsheet is flexible enough to
be used with a single book account or a budget
exceeding six million dollars.T

In addition to their calculating power, there
are many characteristics and functions of elec-
tronic spreadsheets that make them useful for
financial accounting and easy to learn and use.
Without going into great detail or describing all
the attributes of an electronic spreadsheet, some
of its more useful functions are:

© Cell/range copy Formulas, functions, and for-
mats can be copied from one cell or range to
another. Once an individual line or account
has been set up, it can be copied at other
locations on the spreadsheet. The copy
function reduces key-stroking and the possi-
bility for error when designing and setting up
a set of spreadsheets.

@ Arithmetic functions Cells can be program-
med to sum, to average, to count, and to
calculate percentages. These functions are
performed automatically each time data is
changed or new data added. Automatic
calculation can make the account oreal time�
with each data change.

@ Data transfer and import Data can be
extracted, copied, added to, or subtracted
from one location in a spreadsheet to
another or from different spreadsheets auto-
matically. This capability makes it possible to

Oe.

TABLE 1.

Sample Spreadsheet Statement

i

ADMINISTRATIVE 12-Jan-89 % Year Remaining: 48.5%
SUMMARY
% of Funds

Account Name Budget Encumbered Expended Balance Remaining
Salaries 1,832,223 878,072 954,151 52.1%
Wages 295,860 127,925 167,925 56.8%
Term. Pay - Mo. 1,304 1,511 (207) -15.8%
Term. Pay - Bi. 2,574 2,574 0 0.0%
Graduate Asst. 212,728 109,803 102,925 48.4%
Students 304,422 132,633 171,789 56.4%
Travel 31,000 12,787 18,213 58.8%
Operating Serv. 147,684 42,955 107,576 (2,847) -1.9%
Computer Serv. 36,000 19,086 16,914 47.0
DP An alyst Serv. 1 (1)
Supplies 115,500 12,744 71,054 31,702 27.4%
Prof. Sery. 314 (314)
Other Serv. 77 (77)
Capital Outlay 6,033 20,748 2,373 (17,088) -283.2%
Capital Repairs

TOTAL: 2,985,328 76,447 1,465,786 1,443,095 48,3%

transfer data electronically from the mate-
rials or personnel spreadsheet to a summary
spreadsheet; data only needs to be keyed into
the accounts once.

® Macros Macros are internal programs writ-
ten to perform repetitive and/or complex
sets of functions. They can be written to aid
data input or to perform a set of steps neces-
Sary to update a summary statement.

Graphics Line graphs, bar charts, pie charts
and xy graphs can be plotted easily and
interchangeably with 1-2-3. Graphs can give
pictorial comparisons of current and histori-
cal data. They are particularly useful in con-
Junction with owhat ifT analysis; a graph can
depict the outcomes of several courses of
action in one easily understood visual repre-
sentation.

In addition to the functions mentioned here,
there many more standard operations (statisti-
Cal, complex financial, data query) that make the

Spreadsheet useful for library financial manage-
ment.

Spreadsheet Lay-out and Maintenance

Table 1 is an example of a printout from a
1-2-3 spreadsheet. The data represents the sum-
Mary of the separate accounts of a single budget-
ary unit (library administration) and presents
account balances as well as percentages of
accounts unexpended. These percentages are
asily compared with the o% of Year Remaining�
figure, which is calculated from the current date
�,�ach time the account is updated.

In order to track the expenditures for each
account line, individual tables are set up at var-
ious locations within this spreadsheet; table loca-
tions are mapped so that they can be located
readily for updating. In addition to the data ele-
ments that parallel the summary table (encum-
brances, expenditures, balance), the individual
account tables usually contain cells for invoice
numbers, vendor names, date of purchase, date
received, etc. It is also possible to use the date
functions of the spreadsheet to oage� accounts
and to program the table for automatic notifica-
tion of outstanding purchases that might be of
concern. The individual account tables can be
printed out separately from the summary table to
be used as status reports on the equipment
budget, supply accounts, etc.

The general procedure for most libraries is to
issue purchase orders or requisitions (for non-
book purchases) to a central purchasing office
and to notify that office when items have been
received so payment can be processed. Accounts
are accumulated and reports issued periodically,
resulting in the library receiving outdated infor-
mation. However, if every transaction is recorded
in the appropriate spreadsheet table before it is
forwarded, the microcomputer can be a means
for providing the library immediate budget infor-
mation that can enhance the budget managerTs
ability to make timely financial decisions. Because
data entry into spreadsheets is quite simple,
properly supervised clerks and student assistants
can input most transactions.

Accounting for book and serial purchases is
often done differently from accounting for other

Spring 1989"23

purchases; the microcomputer can be especially
helpful in keeping track of material fund expendi-
tures. Book orders are often ordered directly by
the libraryTs acquisition department. As books are
received their orders for payment are forwarded
to central purchasing. This practice results in
only oexpended� and obalance� information being

reflected on central accounting updates, usually

for only one line called oBook Funds�. Encum-
bered funds (outstanding orders) and the in-
house re-allocation of the book funds (fiction,
psychology, social science, womenTs studies) are
usually tracked only by the acquisitions depart-
ment. The spreadsheet is particularly useful in
setting up numerous subaccounts in the book
budget. Each book budget allocation can be main-
tained and monitored separately; year-to-year
expenditures can be compared (individually or in
aggregate) for purposes of reviewing levels of sub-
ject or program support (chemistry, young peo-
pleTs collection, humanities). Use of the micro-
computer can provide daily fund balances that
reflect not merely what has been spent, but also
the amounts of individual book allocations that
are left to be encumbered.

Efficient spreadsheets are designed so that
data is only entered once into the individual
accounts. The summary table is generally a series
of spreadsheet formulas and functions that
gather data from individual accounts and sub-
accounts and compute summary figures. In cases
where additional figures are needed (year-to-
date, monthly average, one year ago), historic
tables can be established and macros designed to
permit easy compilation of the data.

In general, spreadsheet design is a process of
compartmentalization and aggregation. For ease
of maintenance, accounts should be logically
separated in a manner that reflects the libraryTs
assignment of fund responsibility; they should be
summarized in a form that facilitates analysis.

oWhat If� Analysis

Many times financial managers are faced
with questions like: oWhat if our revenue accounts
are down six percent this year?� oWhat if we get a
mid-year budget adjustment of five percent?�,
oWhat if twenty percent of our overseas book
orders donTt arrive before the end of the fiscal
year?�, or oWhat if all of the above?� In the past it
has been quite cumbersome to ocrank out� the
multitude of budget calculations necessary to
ascertain what effects such actions could have or
how budget adjustments might be made in
response to them. Because spreadsheet tables can
be copied easily, data can be changed at almost
any point in a table and balances calculated

24"Spring 1989

immediately. The spreadsheet presents an effi-
cient way to test various scenarios that are raised
by what-if questions.

A variation of the what-if question is the ~How
can I� question: oHow can I allocate a fixed sum of
pay raise money to 120 staff, taking into account
merit differentials?� The computing capability of
the microcomputer and the ease of programming
and copying formula changes make tasks such as
this manageable. A supervisor can test and re-test
various percentage assumptions until an opti-
mum distribution is reached.

In addition to computing power, 1-2-3 also
provides a graphing capability that can be useful
in what-if analysis. Line and bar graphs are easily
constructed from tabular information. Plotting
several what-if scenarios on the same graph often
makes possible trends and outcomes more under-
standable and can be an aid in the decision-mak-
ing process.

Summary

Library financial managers need the budgets
for which they are responsible to be maintained in
an accurate and timely manner. In the past, they
have often been dependent on offices outside of
the library to provide them with updated budget
information.

The combination of microcomputer and
spreadsheet software now provide a tool that
permits in-house establishment of budget ac-
counts that can be easily and inexpensively main-
tained. Line item allocations can be subdivided
into accounts that reflect the libraryTs assignment
of fund responsibility. Spreadsheets provide quick
analytical calculations that can aid the financial
manager in making budgeting decisions. Most
importantly, the library's microcomputer can
furnish updated budget information on demand.
The immediate in-house access to this informa-
tion can give financial managers a control of their
budgets not provided by the periodic reporting of
central budget offices.

References

1. Monica Ertel, oMicros for Productivity: Where Will We Stand
Tomorrow?� in Nancy Melin Nelson (Ed.), Connecting With
Technology 1988: Microcomputers in Libraries (Westport, CT:
Meckler Corporation, 1988), 7.

2. In Philip M. Clark, Microcomputer Spreadsheet Models for
Libraries, (Chicago: American Library Association, 1984), the
author provides several VisiCalc models for library budgets as
well as for other library operations.

3. At the LSU Libraries, a series of five LOTUS 1-2-3 spread-
sheets have been set up by Lorry Trotter (Accountant I) to
account for the library's six million dollar budget. She has
designed output tables that display data from individual budget
lines (materials, administrative, etc.) as well as summary tables

that use data from several distinct spreadsheets. a
ae

ns

Wy AY /\ ue
Wie Mi aw

FROM THE H.W.

aC wy xu
ges
Gy raat 2

Zo\\
i COG

WILSON COMPANY

: RN N

hs VN Sat.

Btn

ie

SPRING Ses,

READERST GUIDE ABSTRACTS
Print Edition

$199 U.S. and Canada, $229 other countries (with subscription to
ReadersT Guide in print or on CD-ROM; or ReadersT Guide Abstracts
on CD-ROM or microfiche); $229 U.S. and Canada, $259 other coun-
tries (with subscription to Abridged ReadersT Guide); $249 U.S. and
Canada, $279 other countries (without subscription to ReadersT Guide,
Abridged ReadersT Guide, or ReadersT Guide Abstracts in any format).

oA welcome alternative.� "BOOKLIST
Combining the renowned ReadersT Guide indexing with high-
quality, informative abstracts, the new ReadersT Guide Abstracts

Print Edition is the key to successful research. RGA is also availa-
ble in CD-ROM, online, and microfiche formats.

FACTS ABOUT THE STATES

by Joseph Nathan Kane Spring 1989 700 pp. approx.

ISBN 0-8242-0407-7 Price to be announced.

An invaluable addition to any reference collection, this title pro-
vides data on the history, topography, and demographics of
each of the 50 states; and includes maps, state chronologies,
and bibliographies for further research.

FACTS ABOUT THE PRESIDENTS
Fifth Edition

by Joseph Nathan Kane Spring 1989 450 pp. approx.

ISBN 0-8242-0774-2 Price to be announced.

Packed with data about the lives, careers, and administrations
of our Chief Executives, this newly revised and updated edition
of a reference classic is an authoritative compilation of facts and
Statistics about American presidents from George Washington
to George Bush.

TWICE UPON A TIME

by Judy Sierra and Robert Kaminski Spring 1989
180pp. approx. ISBN 0-8242-0775-0 Price to be announced.

A collection of twenty traditional folktales selected for their
imaginative content and their ability to inspire creative work in
young listeners, this new book offers ideas and instructions for
dramatic, writing, and illustrating activities, as well as advice on
storytelling techniques.

INDEX TO POETRY FOR CHILDREN AND
YOUNG PEOPLE, 1982-1987

Compiled by G. Meredith Blackburn III
ISBN 0-8242-0773-4 Price to be announced.

Over 100 poetry collections published between 1982 and 1987
are indexed in this listing of approximately 10,000 poems for the

very young and elementary, junior ,and senior high school students.

COMMONSENSE CATALOGING
A CatalogerTs Manual, Fourth Edition

by Rosalind Miller and Jane Terwillegar Spring 1989
160pp. approx. ISBN 0-8242-0776-9 Price to be announced.

Providing general rules and explanations for the cataloging of
print and non-print materials, as well as for new media now
found in libraries, this newly revised and updated edition
provides a thorough review of cataloging techniques for both
general and specialized collections.

b40 TO ORDER CALL TOLL-FREE

YT 1-800- ctr

Led
"Ze === _ In New York State call 1-800-46
eo

Ais in Canada call collect 1-212-588- 3400

«\' we
SAY
oss!

Spring 1989 450pp. approx.

PLAY INDEX, 1983-1987

Fall 1988 522pp. ISSN 0554-3037.

$55 U.S. and Canada, $60 other countries.

Listing individual plays; one-act and full-length works; radio,
television, and Broadway plays; plays for children and young
adults; as well as those for amateur production, Play Index is an
indispensable guide for all interested in the theater.

SIXTH BOOK OF JUNIOR AUTHORS
& ILLUSTRATORS

Edited by Sally Holmes Holtze Spring 1989 350pp. approx.
ISBN 0-8242-0777-7 Price to be announced.

This newest volume in a classic series provides information on
approximately 240 outstanding creators of childrenTs literature
who have achieved distinction since 1983, including Barthe
DeClements, Bruce Brooks, Patricia MacLachlan, Richard Egielski,
and James Cross Giblin.

CURRENT BIOGRAPHY
YEARBOOK 1988

Ready 687pp. ISSN 0084-9499
$48 U.S. and Canada, $58 other countries.

An invaluable reference source for researchers, students, and
librarians, the 1988 Yearbook cumulates, in a single hardbound
volume, all articles and obituaries in the 11 monthly issues of
Current Biography, and offers an index to all articles that have
appeared since 1980.

PUBLIC LIBRARY CATALOG
Ninth Edition

Summer 1989 1,450pp. approx. ISBN 0-8242-0778-5
Price to be announced. (Includes main volume plus 4 annual
paperbound supplements)

Representing a well-balanced collection of approximately 8,000
of the best adult, non-fiction, English-language titles, this Ninth
Edition encompasses a broad spectrum of titles that meet the
diverse reading needs of adult American library patrons.

cy

qe NEW FROM
ONLINE SERVICES

COMING SOON " NEW DATABASES

Consumer Reports and Religion Index will soon be available
through WILSONLINE®

For more information
call the toll-free number listed below.

Ask About Our
NEW
DATABASE LICENSING SERVICE.

THE H.W. WILSON
COMPANY

950 University Avenue, Bronx, New York
(PAPA Rertstomey-1010)

Spring 1989"25

Automation of the Public Library:
Cost Implications for the
Library Budget

Dale Gaddis

When one addresses the question of budget-
ary implications of automated systems, it is very
tempting to get into a full discussion of the whole
process of planning, procurement, conversion,
implementation, and operation, since costs are
dependent on the choices made throughout this
process and the choices made are often depend-
ent on the costs. I have not had much success in
avoiding this temptation, but I hope that the
information I have included can be used as a
practical guide for budget planning and decision
making as a library automates its functions.

Public libraries in North Carolina have ap-
proached automation in various ways, including:

@ Turnkey minicomputer-based integrated li-
brary systems, with a computer housed in the
library, a dedicated library computer housed
in the county or city data processing head-
quarters, or a shared county or city compu-

[eit

@ Online commercial circulation systems using
supermicros or local minicomputers con-
nected to vendor mainframes;

® Microcomputer-based circulation systems;

®@ Online public access catalogs as part of inte-
grated systems;

® CD-ROM public access catalogs;

e Automated cataloging using OCLC;

e Automated cataloging using CD-ROM sys-
tems;

@ Systems developed in-house for patron regis-
tration, overdues control, etc.

However, the majority of public libraries in the
state have no automated library functions at all.

In an attempt to broaden the scope of this
article beyond my own experience with a turnkey
minicomputer-based integrated library system, I
surveyed public libraries in the state which I had
identified as having automated functions. In the
survey, I sought information on the types and
sizes of systems installed; procurement proce-
dures and problems; and the costs of the systems,

Dale Gaddis is Director of the Durham County Public Library,
Durham.

26"Spring 1989

their implementation, and their continuing oper-
ation.

Although I felt that a comparison of system
costs would be interesting, I predicted that cost
information would not be easily retrieved nor eas-
ily compared. Responses to survey questions
proved this assessment to be correct and I do not
attempt to provide such a comparison in this
article.

Planning for Automation

There is great concern among public librar-
ians that once a library is automated, other
budget areas will be adversely affected because of
funds required to keep the system operational.
Public libraries in North Carolina have not been
automated long enough to test whether this con-
cern is in fact valid. Certainly, before automating
a library, it should be determined that benefits to
be gained by automating are of sufficient value to
warrant the funds to be invested, and that, by
investing the funds for this purpose, other aspects
of library operation with equal or higher value will
not be sacrificed.

It is absolutely required, therefore, that thor-
ough planning precede any decision to auto-
mate. Not only will planning help to prevent
future unwanted drifting of budget priorities, but
it could also reduce significantly the cost of
automation. Decision makers need to have a good
idea of what the future holds for library services
in the community served. A service development
plan should be in place which is based on solid
information regarding demographic, social, and
economic trends in the community, and which
includes projections of library use, collection size,
and number of registered patrons. Functions to
be considered for automating and benefits to be
gained should be identified.

The five-year budgetary impact of automat-
ing, in light of the functions required and the
benefits to be gained from the system, should be
compared with the budgetary impact of perform-
ing the functions and achieving the benefits using

a manual system. This cost study will help to
determine whether the library should automate
and, if so, which functions and what growth
requirements will be needed. This analysis also
may be required before any funding authority will
underwrite the purchase of a system.

Budgetary considerations must be assessed
for the planning process itself, including consul-
tant costs, if one is used, and a significant amount
of staff time whether a consultant is used or not.

Funding for the System

Libraries in the state have used a variety of
Sources to fund automation. Most have been very
dependent on local funds, but with supplements
from federal and state sources. Over the years the
State Library has supported automation projects
with consultative support from its staff and with
LSCA funds for feasibility studies and major
automation project grants. (Now that the major-
ity of large public libraries in the state have auto-
Mated, there has been talk that the major
automation grant funds may be allocated differ-
ently.) Libraries have also used their state alloca-
tions and funds from LSCA enrichment grants to
Supplement local appropriations. Other sources
mentioned in the survey were foundation grants
and gifts.

System Procurement

If the feasibility planning for the system has
been done thoroughly, much of the information
needed for the procurement process will have
been gathered. Before going out for bid for any
size system, it is necessary to know exactly what
the system will be required to do. Getting this
information into a format for bidding, identifying
potential vendors, preparing the bid advertise-
ments, conducting a biddersT conference, and eval-
uating the bids normally requires outside assist-
ance. This assistance needs to be included in the
library's budget and will vary in cost depending on
the amount of expertise available on the library's
Staff and in the countyTs or cityTs finance, data
processing, and legal departments.

Request-for-Bid Proposal Preparation

Information needed for the request for bid
Proposals (RFP) includes processes to be auto-
mated and how they are to function, the pro-
Jected size of the data base, activity to be
accommodated by the system with growth projec-
tions included, and the number of peripherals to
be required. The growth potential of the system
will affect future costs, so these projections should
be very carefully considered.

In addition to consultant assistance in the
process of developing the RFP, significant secre-
tarial time is needed for typing and copying the
RFP for distribution. The document may be very
long, depending on the complexity of the system,
and since it may be revised several times, it can be
costly to type and reproduce. If a consultant is
used for the development of the RFP, the prepara-
tion of the final document may be part of the
services provided.

Bidding Process

Costs incurred by the library during the bid-
ding process will depend on whether or not the
county or municipal purchasing office plays a
role. Costs are still there, of course, regardless of
who assumes them.

Advertisements need to be prepared, RFPs
copied for the number of vendors requiring them,
and postage allocated for mailing the documents
to the vendors. Express mail may be required
depending on the time involved.

If the library holds a biddersT conference,
costs incurred by the library and/or purchasing
office are mainly time in the conference, including
consultant time and expenses, and the prepara-
tion and mailing of addenda.

Certainly, before automating a
library, it should be determined
that benefits to be gained by
automating are of sufficient
value to warrant the funds to be
invested...

Bid Evaluation

The bid evaluation process is extremely
costly in staff and consultant time, and should
involve the government purchasing and data
processing staffs to ensure their concurrence with
decisions made. The bid evaluation often includes
visits and calls to installation sites and attend-
ance at users group meetings. Travel costs and
long distance calls should be included in the
budget to accommodate these needs.

North Carolina statutes require that local
governments accept the lowest responsible bid. Of
the libraries who responded to the survey and
were required to bid out their sytems, four out of
five did not accept the low bid. In all cases, the
systems did not meet specifications or evaluation
criteria as stated in the RFP. Charlotte-Mecklen-
burg set as its evaluation criterion othe optimum
combination of functionality, hardware configura-
tion, software design, delivery, approach to

Spring 1989" 27

migration from Dataphase system, five year cost,
and vendor viability/past performance.� Selection
was based on this criterion, not on the lowest
price bid. In Durham we were using a similar eval-
uation method, and discovered that the low
bidder clearly did not meet the specifications as
stated for a major function we required.

In many local situations, the lowest bid can
appeal to funding authorities, whether or not
specifications are met. Extra effort is required to
convince them that the low bid will not accom-
modate the needs of the local situation. In
explaining how not selecting the low bid was justi-
fied to funding authorities, one library responding
to the survey stated: oWith lots of charm.� In Dur-
ham, charm might also have been a factor, but it
helped to have had the data processing and pur-
chasing staffs involved throughout the bid evalua-
tion process and in agreement with the recom-
mendation being made to the Commissioners.
Three of the libraries who responded to the sur-
vey were using county computers and thus were
limited by the available hardware in the systems
they could consider. This situation simplifies the
selection process and works to the library's advan-
tage if the system which runs on the local compu-
ter is also the best functional selection for the

library.

Contract Negotiation

Contract negotiation may require the pres-
ence of the consultant and will require the time of
an attorney and the purchasing agent. The
amount of time is dependent on the number of
changes which will be required from the RFP and
whether or not a standard contract can be used.

At contract signing, the vendor may be
required to submit a performance bond. The cost
of the bond is often included in the price of the
system bid.

The library or funding agent may choose to
purchase the system outright, to lease the system,
or to purchase the system through a lease/pur-
chase arrangement. Leasing and lease/purchase
arrangements involve less initial outlay of funds,
but cost more over an extended period. In addi-
tion, lease and lease/purchase arrangements may
require dealing with a third party. North Carolina
statutes regarding lease/purchase arrangements
are relatively complicated. ;

System Costs

Hardware costs are determined by taking
into consideration the libraryTs requirements for
the following components and services:

©@ Central processing unit. Several of the librar-

28"Spring 1989

ies responding to the survey use the local
governmentTs computer for their applica-
tions. This is one way for the system cost to be
less; however, the libraries may end up com-
peting for computer space with other depart-
ments of the government. In one situation,
the county computer had to be upgraded. In
another, during the time that it took for the
library to build its data base, other depart-
ments took all the space that was available in
the county computer. This resulted in the
unexpected need for a stand-alone system.

Disc and/or tape storage/drives.
Printers.
Terminals, for staff and patron access.

Wands or laser readers. Wands are less
expensive, but laser readers may be required
in busy locations.

e@ Interfaces to other systems.

© Freight and Installation. Installation costs
can be saved if county or municipal data
processing staff is available to perform some
or all of this task. In Durham, the vendor
installed the central site hardware; the
county installed all peripherals. However, if
there is any concern that the vendor will not
provide support for equipment installed by
local staff, these will be false savings.

@ Maintenance. The number of hours, the days
of the week, and the response time required
will affect the cost of maintenance, as will the
requirement for on-site maintenance versus
off-site. If the maintenance contract calls for
off-site maintenance, the budget should ac-
commodate shipping costs and the need for
replacement equipment.

@ Furniture to house equipment (terminal
tables, chairs, printer stands).

Software costs will include the costs of the
operating system and the application programs
or modules. Maintenance costs again are depen-
dent on the hours, days of the week, and response
time required from the vendor. Software costs
may also include the price of customizing to
accommodate local conditions. In turnkey sys-
tems, the profiling of the system to meet local pol-
icy requirements is usually included in contracted
costs. Changes to the profile after a period nor-
mally included in the contract will cost extra,
usually on a per-hour basis. If the system is devel-
oped in-house, in-house expertise is required as
well as the time to develop the system.

Communications devices are required if any
remote stations are to be established or if the sys-

tem is linked in any way to a mainframe in
another location. The library needs to plan for the
Purchase of modems and/or multiplexors, de-
Pending on the number of terminals to be
accommodated. One such device is needed at
each end of the telecommunications line. Tele-
Communications lines, either dedicated or dial-
access depending on use, are also required and
represent an ongoing cost of the system. Other
methods of establishing communication links are
available, including data radios. The initial cost of
data radios is relatively high, but there are no
Ongoing telecommunications costs. These instru-
Ments do not work in all locations, however.

Backup systems should also be considered in
the budgeting process. When the system goes
down, how the library is to circulate materials or
have access to the catalog are important consid-
erations. Circulation backup systems include
Mexpensive legal pads for recording barcode
Numbers or the more expensive microcomputer
Workstation or portable reader. Backup for a
Computer catalog may include a microfilm or
fiche catalog or a CD-ROM catalog, the latter
being the more expensive alternative.

Site Preparation

Site preparation can be a major cost consid-
eration in planning for library automation. Depend-
ing on the type of system chosen, the following
Could be required:

® Space. If the system to be installed is a turn-
key, minicomputer based system, space is a
prime consideration. The amount of room
required is very dependent on the type of sys-
tem chosen and could affect the cost com-
parisons of the system bid.

® Air conditioning.

® Raised floor.

® Dedicated electrical power.
© Power protection.

© Fire extinguishing system.

® Grounded electrical outlets for all peripher-
als.

® Individual surge protectors, anti-static mats,
and cleaning kits for terminals.

® Cabling throughout building.

Several of the libraries responding to the sur-
vey have their computers housed in the county
Computer room or use the county computer.
Major site preparation costs are saved by doing
this; however, it is possible that the room will
need to be enlarged or rearranged and electrical

and air conditioning systems upgraded if equip-
ment is added.

Conversion Costs

Bibliographic. Conversion of the bibliogra-
phic data base may represent the greatest cost in
automating a library system. This will depend on
whether machine readable records are being
created as part of the current cataloging process,
and on the number of titles in the collection not in
machine readable form. Cost elements to be con-
sidered in budgeting for the conversion include
staff time, network or vendor costs, telecommuni-
cations costs, and equipment costs. Once the con-
version is completed, a computer tape of the data
base must be profiled and processed for loading
into the local system. Once loaded, the records
need to be indexed.

Copy-level Conversion and Barcoding. Copy-
level conversion can be accomplished at the
same time as title conversion (described above),
depending on the method chosen for automated
cataloging. In Durham, we did not do this for two
reasons: lack of access to our records on OCLC to
make changes when copies were added or
removed, and the length of time it was projected
to complete the retrospective conversion. As a
result, it was necessary once the data base was
loaded in-house to add the copy information to all
of the titles. This involved hiring temporary staff
for a four-month conversion project.

Not only will planning help to
prevent future unwanted drift-
ing of budget priorities, but it
could also reduce significantly
the cost of automation.

Barcoding of the collection can be done at the
same time that the copy information is being
added to the data base, or it can be done as a
separate project by generating smart bar codes
from a tape of the data base. Costs involved
include the barcode production and a substantial
amount of staff time to plan the project, to place
the labels in the materials, to clean up the data
base at the completion of the project, and to deal
with problem items which turn up regardless of
the quality of the conversion effort.

Patron Conversion. Creating the patron data
base is also costly in staff time and as much of it
as possible should be completed before the system
is brought up. Budgetary considerations include
the possibility of using temporary staff, barcode

Spring 1989"29

purchase, printing of new patron registration
forms, and the cost of new borrowersT cards.

Implementation Costs

Planning. An extraordinary amount of staff
time goes into the implementation of the auto-
mated system, even beyond the data base conver-
sion efforts described above. Library policies and
procedures must be reviewed for changes required
or made possible by the new system, and the new
system must be profiled to reflect these local poli-
cies. Installation and all it entails must be coordi-
nated with the vendor (and the local data
processing department, if applicable).

Training. Initial training is normally in-
cluded in the contract with the vendor. However,
I think that most libraries have found that sup-
plemental training is always required. This train-
ing may be done by staff, by contracting with the
vendor for additional time, or through off-site
workshops sponsored by the vendor or other
sources. This followup training can involve sub-
stantial travel costs and/or registration fees, and
a significant amount of staff time.

A training room is nice to have available so
that several people can receive hands-on experi-
ence simultaneously. This requires terminals,
cabling to the room to accommodate the termi-
nals, and tables and chairs. Terminals that will be
used later for circulation or as public access com-
puters (PACs) can be used temporarily for train-
ing.

Training is needed not only on system func-
tioning but also on the new policies and proce-
dures implemented by the library as part of the
automation process.

Publicity/Public Relations/Public Acceptance.
One major aspect of any automation project is
communicating the changes to the public. Staff
time is needed to plan and coordinate public rela-
tions efforts. A printing budget is needed for pro-
ducing brochures to publicize and orient the
public to the new system and to new policies.
Video and slide presentations may also be consi-
dered for publicity and orientation.

Staff Recognition. Computer implementation
involves a tremendous effort from the staff over
and above the daily demands of operating the

library. Budgets should include funds to recognize
that effort.

Ongoing Operational Costs

Hardware operation will require local staff to
bring the system up and take it down, to do file
saves, to troubleshoot problems particularly with

30"Spring 1989

peripherals and software operation, and to coor-
dinate vendor maintenance. The amount of staff
time required will depend on the type of system
chosen and the amount of support available from
local data processing staff.

Time will also be required to prepare docu-
mentation of hardware operations as they are
handled locally, including emergency procedures,
etc.; to perform whatever day-end processing
might be required; and to generate reports and
notices. ;

Most systems include software enhancements
as part of the contract provisions. Although there
may be no additional purchase cost involved for
enhancements, they are costly in staff time to
load on the system and to review for changes
which will need to be communicated to the full
staff.

The library will want to become a member of
the users group for the system if there is one.
Costs involved will include membership fees,
travel costs, and staff time to attend meetings.

Resulting Budgetary Impact of Automation

Revenue Changes. Of the libraries respond-
ing to the survey, the effect on fine and fee
revenues ranged from zero to fifty-nine percent.
In Durham, fines have increased forty percent as a
direct result of automation; payment for lost
books has increased twenty-four percent. Unfor-
tunately, Durham County required the library to
increase fines four months after automating, so a
valid comparison of fine revenues could only be
made for two months. With our new fine struc-
ture, our revenues have increased more than
eighty percent.

Personnel. I have attempted to outline above
the new duties that are required as a result of
automation and the enormous amount of staff
time involved in the conversion and implementa-
tion process. The major effect on personnel fol-
lowing implementation is, of course, on the
number of manual tasks that no longer must be
performed"no catalog cards to be filed or pulled,
no overdue notices to type, no circulation files to
put in order or to search for returned books, no
shelf list to maintain, no registration card and
cross reference files to be maintained.

Libraries surveyed cited the ability to use
staff more flexibly than in the past and to
accommodate substantial growth in library use
without adding staff. New Hanover reports a 21
percent increase in circulation, a 212 percent
increase in reserve activity, a 23 percent increase
in patron registration, and a 26 percent increase

in reference activity. They have not had to add
Staff to accommodate this growth. Libraries
reported that, as a result of automation, staff
have been transferred out of technical services
and circulation into other areas of the library.

To use staff more flexibly, however, does
require hiring personnel with skills which can be
used in various areas of the library. This affects
Classification and salary levels. Computer skills
and more paraprofessional library skills will be
needed if existing staff"released from the cleri-
Cal tasks they previously performed"are to be
used to upgrade or provide new services. As
recruitment standards for positions change, suc-
cess at recruitment may also be affected if the
new skills required are not available in the local
labor market.

Telephone and Postage. These two lines in
the budget increase drastically the first year of
Operation under a new system. Telephone costs
are affected by the number of lines required to
remote sites, and may be even greater if the
vendor does not have a toll free number.

Postage may be affected if the library has
previously been unable to keep up with patron
notices for overdues and holds. Prior to automa-
tion, the Durham Library was only sending

overdue notices when items were six weeks
overdue. With the computer system, we send
notices after two weeks, and additional notices
after six and twelve weeks.

Supplies. Automation may result in some
savings on supplies. Catalog and book cards are
eliminated. The number of borrower cards may be
reduced if renewal is not required for regular
patrons in good status. It may be possible to use
less expensive patron cards than have been pre-
viously used.

There will most likely be an increase in the
number of notices required, however. The cost of
notices will depend on the type chosen, crash
notices being more expensive but reducing staff
time required to stuff envelopes. There will be a
continuing need for barcodes, printer paper for
reports and diagnostics, printer ribbons, and
magnetic tape for file saves.

Utilities. None of the libraries surveyed men-
tioned the impact of automation on utility costs.
With the central computer in Durham housed in
the county data processing department and
another department budgeting and paying our
utility bills, it is very difficult to know our
increase. It must be significant, however.

EBSCO has all your serials
needs covered"from ef-
ficiently processing your
order for an obscure pub-
lication to keeping your
active claims up-to-date to
providing you with custom-
ized reports for improved
serials management to
timely response on all your
questions and problems.
Because we are as commit-
ted to keeping your cus-
tomer service needs met as
we are to increasing our
huge database of serials
titles, we operate 23 re-
gional processing and ser-
vice centers throughout
the world. At EBSCO, in
addition to a qualified sales-
person, your account will
be serviced by a knowl-
edgeable customer service

representative and an en-
tire regional office staff
dedicated to providing you
with sound customer ser-
vice. And, because we
want to better understand
and serve your needs,
many of our regional cus-
tomer service personnel
have actual library training
and experience.

IsnTt that what you ex-
pect from a professional
subscription agency?

EBSCO

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
8000 Forbes Place, Suite 204
Springfield, VA 22151
703-321-9630 (Tel)
800-368-3290 (Outside VA)
703-321-9159 (Fax)

Spring 1989"31

Equipment. The only savings in equipment
costs resulting from automation are in card
catalog and shelf list cabinets and in the old circu-
lation equipment which are no longer needed.

There is ongoing maintenance required on
the computer hardware and software; and once a
system is installed, everyone wants his or her own
terminal. This leads to the need to upgrade the
system. The more terminals available, however,
the more effectively the system can be utilized.

Materials Budget. Depending on the level of
automation, the library may be able to make
much more effective use of its materials budget.
Collection development can become more
focused towards user needs. Use statistics may be
available for individual titles and copies; purchase
alerts may be generated for materials in high
demand; and printouts may document materials
not circulating. Much better control is gained over
the collection. We know where materials are and
can retrieve them without having to add copies
throughout the system to meet occasional
demand.

... once the library is depen-
dent on an automated system,
demands for access to the sys-
tem from both staff and patrons
multiply rapidly.

System Upgrade. Among libraries surveyed,
one important consideration in determining the
budgetary impact of an automated system is the
need to upgrade the system. This was cited by
several respondents as an unexpected cost.
Adding just five more terminals to a system, if it
is not designed to accommodate them, could
require a new port board, additional memory in
the CPU, additional disc storage, an additional
processor, or even a new system altogether.

An upgrade will eventually be required in any
library situation where there is growth in patron
and/or staff use, where additional functions are
desired on the system, or where there is growth in
the data base to be accommodated. In initial
planning, it is wise to project growth and type of
use for at least five years, and to make sure that
even if the system purchased does not accommo-
date the growth with the initial configuration that
it can be expanded at a reasonable cost and with
little disruption to existing operations. It is also
wise to be liberal in the estimation of growth,
because once the library is dependent on an
automated system, demands for access to the sys-

32"Spring 1989

tem from both staff and patrons multiply rapidly.
Funds should be budgeted annually, if possible, to
be reserved for system upgrade.

Summary

The automation of a public library will have a
major impact on the libraryTs budget. The highest
costs are in the early stages of automation, during
the planning and implementation phases. Even
spreading the costs out over five years requires a
financial increase. However, if one were to esti-
mate the cost of maintaining with manual sys-
tems the services and collection control made
possible by automation, it is likely that the costs
would exceed the budgetary limits of most librar-
ies. Once one enters the world of automation, it is
extremely difficult to turn back. Careful planning
is therefore required to prevent a cutback in tra-
ditional services which might be made necessary
by the increasing budgetary demands of a system
which was originally implemented to enhance

those services. all

How Doth Thou Flower?
Use Your Library!

How to Manage the Serials Budget
In TodayTs Climate

October Ivins

Serials inflation is not a new problem. In
1976 and 1977, well-known librarians like Richard
DeGennaro and Herb White wrote to warn and
complain about the growing trend for serial
renewal prices to limit monographic purchases.
More recently, Deana Astle and Charles Hamaker
have examined parallels to the pricing crisis of
the 1930s. The situation is now so serious that
research and college libraries are reporting mate-
rials budgets with serials purchases consuming
seventy to eighty percent of the funds, while
monographic purchases have been reduced by an
estimated twenty percent since 1985. The phe-
nomenon has generated discussion at recent
library meetings and in print. Many participants
are in agreement that the problem is not just
prices, but the whole system of how research
is funded, produced, and communicated.

Although the situation is very serious, prog-
ress has been made. We now have better methods
for projecting costs and conducting deselection
projects. Mary Elizabeth Clack and Sally Williams
demonstrated the limitations of using national
price indexes to project costs for an individual
library and provided a methodology for using
index prices with local information. A new ARL
SPEC Kit on oSerials Control and Deselection Pro-
jects� provides practical assistance with docu-
ments from twelve ARL libraries and from the
Research Libraries Group, Inc.

Thanks to the research efforts of Deana Astle,
Stuart Grinell, Charles Hamaker, Bob Houbeck
and others, we have gained a much clearer
understanding of pricing patterns. This research
examines the premise that higher costs are asso-
ciated with particular subject areas; that is, that
Scientific/ technical/ medical journals are the
most expensive. Research confirms this premise
and adds information: three large, commercial
publishers dominate this segment of the publish-
ing industry. These firms are Springer-Verlag,
Elsevier, and Pergamon. There is some evidence
that for comparable journals in the same subject
area, those published by other presses are less

October Ivins is head of Serials Services at Louisiana State
University Libraries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

expensive. This raises in turn a number of other
questions, such as how quality is evaluated and
whether the more expensive publications are
more valuable. Perceived charges of price gouging
have encouraged publishers to attend library
meetings and discuss their points of view, and a
dialogue has developed that may eventually pro-
duce a more efficient means of disseminating
information, if not lower prices.

What do these developments mean to the
practicing librarian with responsibility for manag-
ing the serials budget in one library? Whether
serials budgeting decisions are shared among sev-
eral staff members and departments (for exam-
ple, among serials, acquisitions, and collection
development) or are the primary responsibility of
one individual, effective management of the serials
budget must be a high priority. The goals of
serials budget management are similar to those
for maintaining any budget: to identify how funds
were spent, to track current spending, and to pro-
ject future expenses. For many libraries, the only
way to balance the serial budgets has been to
cancel some titles, while reducing or suspending
orders for new titles. The issue of deselection,
while related, is only briefly addressed here. Addi-
tionally, there are many opportunities in the daily
processing of serials and their invoices to employ
good financial practices and conserve funds. A
discussion of practical methods of serials budget
management and funds conservation is the focus
of this article.

Historical Budget Data

The serials budget should document where
the money has gone with enough specificity to use
in projecting future costs. Clack and Williams
suggest that nine years worth of budget data is
needed to project the next yearTs prices with high
accuracy. Unless payment records were auto-
mated for the entire nine-year period, I suspect
that locating and analyzing nine years of pricing
data would be a gigantic undertaking in many
libraries. It is also likely that some changes were
made in the recording and collecting of payment
data in a nine-year period. For example, when

Spring 1989"33

automation is introduced, one expects some
information previously collected to be discon-
tinued while new data is added. Thus, libraries
that can closely follow the nine-year guide are for-
tunate. The rest of us can use some short cuts.

Hamaker, Astle and Houbeck determined
that titles costing more than two hundred dollars
account for more than half of the budget, but less
than ten percent of the titles. Thus, tracking the
earlier prices of only the ten percent of high-
priced titles would be one useful shortcut. This
approach to reconstruction is particularly useful
if these titles are also targeted for a deselection
review. Faculty members may recall the original
purchase price and be shocked to see the evi-
dence of huge annual increases.

Another short cut is to use vendor-supplied
data. Several large vendors can supply data show-
ing prices over a multi-year period. Even if your
titles have not been with the same vendor for the
entire period, earlier prices can be supplied. This
data is the most useful if a majority of titles are
ordered through vendors who provide this ser-
vice. There are other advantages to ordering from
a variety of vendors, especially for research librar-
ies, so this method is probably the most useful for
smaller libraries.

Current Budget Practices

Probably no two libraries employ the same
treatment definition for serials, so it follows that
no two library serial budgets will include the same
categories. Nevertheless, some general guidelines
are suggested. Examine what is purchased with
the serials budget. Even if you choose to pay every-
thing out of one fund, it is very useful to create
internal sub-funds for different kinds of mate-
rials. Continuing commitments should be separ-
ated from one-time purchases. Subscriptions,
where payment is made in advance of receipt,
would be one division with two sections: initial
charges and added charges. The ability to track
added charges is especially critical in monitoring
expenditures during the course of the fiscal year.
True annuals are more similar in billing to sub-
scriptions and could be included in that fund.
Continuations, where publication is irregular and
volumes are billed as they are shipped, would be a
second division. Other continuing commitments
such as memberships in bibliographic utilities,
consortia, etc. should be a separate category, as
should binding, if these are paid from the serials
budget. Back files and replacement copies should
be assigned a separate fund. The library may also
choose to assign subject or location funds, and/or
to track purchases by format (microform, video,

34" Spring 1989

CD-ROM).

Various forms of automation are available to
assist with budgeting requirements. In the absence
of more sophisticated options, using a simple data-
base management system on a personal computer
is preferable to compiling data manually. Regular
statements, produced monthly in the first half of
the fiscal year, weekly early in the second half,
and finally daily are needed to track spending. It
is not uncommon to exhaust funds in some lines
months before the end of the year, and adjust-
ments may be needed. If the decision to suspend
invoice payments for the remainder of the fiscal
year is made, it should be communicated to firms
supplying invoices with an estimated date of
expected. payment.

... the problem is not just pri-
ces, but the whole system of
how research is funded, pro-
duced, and communicated.

Reviewing Continuations

Many libraries are deciding that standing
orders for monographic series are no longer
appropriate. There is a feeling that the subject
integrity of some series is not as well controlled as
it once was, and that every volume of a series may
no longer meet the collection development crite-
ria of the library. Such titles are available through
approval plans or as firm orders, and can
appropriately be purchased from the book budget.
Shifting this material from the serials budget
helps solve the problem of irregular publication
and wide variations in prices from volume to
volume that makes budget projections difficult.

Ask the reference or collection development
staff to examine annuals, directories, and similar
materials. Does the library need every year, or
would every second or third year be adequate?
Vendors will accept orders like this, so complex
tracking and reordering procedures are not
required: What can be cancelled entirely based on
availability in online databases or other new
sources?

Reviewing Subscriptions

Although vendors provide many important
services and serials staffs could not begin to cope
with their workload without them, some titles are
more appropriately ordered directly from the
publisher. Several publishers offer lower rates for
direct renewals; the extra work required of staff
must be weighed against the savings in price. If

problems with duplicates and then gaps with ful-
fillment center titles occur, direct orders offer an
improvement. Expensive translation journals are
often billed far in advance of publication; if
ordered direct, publication can be monitored and
renewals paid only as due.

Multi-year renewals can offer savings, but are
sometimes prohibited by local accounting regula-
tions. This practice should be avoided for titles
that are candidates for cancellation. It is most
effective when a pool of titles can be divided so
that two year renewals come due for half of the
group each year; this avoids budget imbalance.
Multi-year renewals are also recommended for
fulfillment center titles, whether ordered directly
or through vendors.

Vendor Selection and Reassignment

The selection of a vendor or vendors has
implications for service provided and cost in
terms of price of materials and service charge.
Changes in vendor assignment require advance
planning and notification to minimize duplication
and avoid gaps in subscriptions and continua-
tions. Knowing the total volume of business with
each vendor and adjusting these totals as titles
are ceased or cancelled, as orders are transferred,
and as new orders are placed is another shortcut
to determining budget projections.

Exchange Rates, Service Charges, and
Prepayment Bonuses

This area overlaps with evaluating vendor
performance. Commercial publishers do not set
One universal price that both vendors and librar-
ies pay. Publishers may or may not grant a dis-
count to a vendor, which may or may not pass along
the discount on a title by title basis. The vendor
may simply use all of the discounts to offset a
libraryTs service charge. Similarly, there are a var-
iety of ways that exchange rates are calculated.
Libraries should spot check prices in current
issues with the price they are charged to deter-
mine how their charges relate to list prices. The
charge recorded in the serials payment records
may include handling, postage, and the service
charge. If it does not, use the original invoice to
evaluate charges.

... higher costs are associated
with particular subject areas...

Many vendors offer early payment discounts,
Such as a reduction in service charge rate or a
Credit. This is because the vendor invests your

payment. Evaluate each offer; some are more
advantageous than others. Consider whether
holding your payment in an interest bearing
account will be more cost effective than prepay-
ment. In other situations, you may want to pay a
foreign vendor early while exchange rates are
advantageous.

... nine years of budget data is
needed to project the next
yearTs prices with high accu-
racy.

Automatic Renewals

Always ask to review renewal lists before
large annual invoices are issued by vendors.
Check the renewal against check-in and payment
records. Do not renew titles already paid in
advance and not received. Such titles are either a
supply or publication delay problem. Hither way,
your subscription should be current before auth-
orizing additional payments. If the publisher goes
out of business or sells the title to another pub-
lisher, the vendor is not obligated to refund your
money unless the publisher does. Reviewing the
renewal is also an opportunity to see that pre-
viously cancelled titles have been deleted and that
title changes are accurately recorded.

Monitoring Serials Procedures

The serials staff has many opportunities to sup-
port or undermine the fund allocation process.
Procedures should be developed and employed to
report several types of information to collection
development and/or accounting. Price increases
above a set dollar amount or percentage for new
or established titles should be reviewed. Mid-year
added charges should be added to the initial
charge and the total price increase considered. If
a title has not been invoiced for more than two
years, it should be reevaluated like a new order
rather than automatically reinstated. Unsuccess-
ful claims for single issues or gaps should not be
automatically handled as orders; purchases above
a set amount should be referred to collection
development. Simple replacement orders should
not be converted into expensive out-of-print
searches without collection development review.
Title and scope changes should be reviewed by
collection development in case the change makes
the title less appropriate for the collection.

Duplicate Issues, Credits and Refunds,
Statements

Publishers donTt like to return money. They

Spring 1989"35

would prefer to fulfill the balance of a subscrip-
tion to a ceased or merged title with another title,
often one the library already receives. (This is one
reason to check duplicates carefully. If the
amount due back is small, it is probably not worth
the staff time to request and process a refund.)
Another way publishers and vendors avoid
refunding money is to issue credit memos. If you
can apply the credit in a reasonable amount of
time, such as six months, there is no problem. If
you do not anticipate using the credit, your staff
should write immediately and ask for a refund
check. Generally, it is safe to accept credits from
large vendors and publishers. When in doubt,
check last yearTs payment file to see what the
volume of business is likely to be. When staff first
write about billing problems, they should be
careful to specify when a refund is desired.

ERIS a RR eV OE ee
... titles costing more than two

hundred dollars account for
more than half of the budget,
but less than ten percent of the

titles.
Si SR RA Mata Gal

Another source of duplicates are volumes
received on firm order or through approval plans
which duplicate titles received on continuing
order. Depending on the price of the material, the
non-standing order duplicate should ordinarily
be returned for credit. Continuation orders
should be clear, and pre-order and post-receipt
searching should include the continuation file.
Careful review of publisher- and vendor-supplied
account statements can indicate duplicate pay-
ments, unapplied credits, payment delays, and
other situations in need of investigation by a
supervisor.

Unsolicited Material

There are several varieties of unsolicited
material, that is, material that does not appear in
the check-in file and has not been ordered or
requested as a gift. Sometimes such material
involves financial transactions and should be
examined carefully. Some publishers send unor-
dered material with an invoice. The library has no
obligation to pay for the material or to return it.
Instructions developed by the ALA RTSD Publi-
sher/ Vendor/ Library Relations Committee are
available.? Other items may come as the result of a
renewal error; for example, the vendor or pub-
lisher may have entered an order for a package of

36"Spring 1989

several titles when only one title was requested. It
is also fairly common for publishers to supply a
relatively onew� publication free as a come-on; but
only the first year is free. Issues of a publication
new to the library may be sent in fulfillment of
another ceased subscription. Such problems must
be identified in a timely manner, or the supplier
will not be willing to make an adjustment and the
libraryTs subscription funds will have been miss-
pent.

Clear Procedures and Good Staff

As all of these items suggest, the librarian
responsible for managing the serials budget can
determine budget projections and design proce-
dures, but there are many other savings that can
be realized only by a conscientious serials acquisi-
tions staff. Constant exceptions are the rule with
serials, and encouraging staff to question and
investigate them is the best way to ensure that
procedures are steadily refined and new varia-
tions are recognized.

Other Activities

Many additional suggestions for becoming
involved in the serials pricing debate are outlined
in a recent article by Charles Hamaker in Ameri-
can Libraries. He suggests writing publishers,
attending meetings, keeping up with the litera-
ture, conducting research and sharing the results,
participating in cooperative deselection projects,
and so forth. There is a quarterly column in
Serials Review by the author that discusses new
developments with serials pricing. Marcia Tuttle,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is the
chair of a subcommittee of the ALA RTSD Pub-
lisher/ Vendor/ Library Relations Committee that
is planning to produce an electronic mail news
memo with current information about the prob-
lem.T Solutions to the serials pricing crisis must be
found through a combination of sound local fis-
cal management and a current awareness of the
developing dialogue.

References

1. All articles cited in the text are listed in the selected bibli-
ography instead of in footnotes.

2. To obtain the handout on handling unsolicited material
shipped with invoices, write: Publisher/Vendor/Library Rela-
tions Committee, c/o American Library Association, Resources
and Technical Services Division, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL
60611.

3. The news memo will be distributed both electronically and
by regular mail. For information, or to be added to the distribu-
tion list, contact Marcia Tuttle at (919) 962-1067, or Tut-
tle@UNC.Bitnet or Tuttle on DataLinx (Faxon).

Selected Bibliography

Astle, Deana and Hamaker, Charles. oJournal Publishing: Pricing
and Structural Issues in the 1930s and 1980s,� in Advances
in Serials Management, v. 2, eds. Marcia Tuttle and Jean G.
Cook, (Greenwich, CT.: JAI Press, Inc., 1988): 1-36.

Bonk, Sharon C. oRethinking the Acquisitions Budget: Anticipat-
ing and Managing Change,� Library Acquisitions: Practice
and Theory 10 (1986): 97-106.

Boyer, Robert E. oSerials in the Small Public Library: Not Out of
Control,� Library Resources and Technical Services 29
(1985): 132-138.

Clack, Mary Elizabeth and Sally F. Williams. oUsing Locally and
Nationally Produced Periodical Price Indexes in Budget
Preparation,� Library Resources and Technical Services 27
(1983): 345-356.

De Gennaro, Richard. oEscalating Journal Prices: Time to Fight
Back� American Libraries 8 (February 1977): 69-74.

Grinell, Stuart F. oThe 6 Percent Effect,� Library Issues 8 (March
1988): 1-3.

Hamaker, Charles. oThe Least Reading for the Smallest Number
at the Highest Price? American Libraries 19 (October 1988):
764-768.

oLibrary Serials Budgets: Publishers and the Twenty

Percent Effect,� Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory

12 (1988): 211-219.

. oSerials Costs and the Carrying Ability of Serials
Budgets, 1987.� In Leigh Chatterton and Mary Elizabeth
Clack, eds. The Serials Information Chain: Discussions,
Debate and Dialog: Proceedings of the North American
Serials Interest Group, 2nd Annual Conference, June 14-17,
198% In Serials Librarian 18, 2/3 (October/November
1987): 129-134.

Houbec, Robert. oIf Present Trends Continue: Forecasting and
Responding to Journal Price Increases,T Serials Librarian
13 (October/November 1987): 129-134.

Ivins, October. oSerials Prices,T in Serials Review, 14, 3 (1988):
61-66; 14, 4 (1988): 55-63, 78; and continuing.

Okerson, Ann. oPeriodical Prices: A History and Discussion,� In
Marcia Tuttle and Jean G. Cook, eds. Advances in Serials
Management, v. 1 (Greenwich, CT.: JAI Press, Inc. 1986); 101-
134.

oSerials Control and Deselection Projects,� SPEC Kit 147, Sep-
tember 1988, Association of Research Libraries, Office of
Management Studies.

Taylor, David C. Managing the Serials Explosion. (White Plains,
NY: Knowledge Industries Publications, Inc., 1982.)

Tuttle, Marcia. oMagazine Fulfillment Centers: What They Are,
How They Operate, and What We Can Do About Them,�
Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory 9 (1985): 41-49.

Varma, D.K. oIncreasing Subscription Costs and Problems of
Resource Allocation,� Special Libraries 74 (1983): 61-66.

White, Herbert S. oStrategies and Alternatives in Dealing with
the Serials Management Budget,� in Sul H. Lee, ed., Serials
Collection Development: Choices and Strategies (Ann Arbor:

Pierian Press, 1981): 27-59. ei

Copies of articles from

this publication are now
available from the UMI
Article Clearinghouse.

ONC Arti ouse

Mail to: University Microfilms International
300 North Zeeb Road, Box 91 Ann Arbor, MI 48106



(cal)

Young Librarian Award

The Junior Members Roundtable will recog-
nize an outstanding young librarian at the 1989
NCLA Biennial Conference with a certificate and
a $25 cash award. Eligible persons must be:

@ Members of NCLA

© Under age 35, or employed as a librarian for
less than six years

e Professional librarians in North Carolina for
at least one year

® Making an outstanding contribution to
librarianship in North Carolina.

Applications and nominations may be made
to:

Judi Bugniazet

Bell Library

Montreat College

Montreat, NC 28757

(704) 669-2382
Deadline: July 15, 1989.

The Baker & Taylor/JMRT Grassroots Grant

The Baker & Taylor Company is providing
North Carolina an opportunity to offer a $250
grant to one library science student to attend the
North Carolina Library Association Conference,
October 11-13, 1989.

The grant recipient must be a member of the
North Carolina Library Association, and a member
of the Junior Members Round Table. A prepared
statement and application must be sent no later
than August 30, 1989 to:

Melanie Collins, Chair
NCLA/JMRT
Harnett County Library
POB 1149
Lillington, NC 27546
(919) 893-3446
Call or write for an application.

Spring 1989 "37

From the Cayman Islands to Washington:
Development in Academic Libraries

Joline R. Ezzell

An enterprising librarian in the Cayman
Islands decided to seek funds from departing
tourists. The large ceramic whiskey bottle labeled
~Funds for Library Books� placed among the
jewelry, cameras, and other items on sale at the
airportTs duty-free shop was soon overflowing
with coins left by those with no further need for
Cayman money.! This ingenious strategy for
library development is but one of many. Consider
the following:

® an appeal to turn over tax rebate checks to
the library

an auction of Audubon Society prints

an evening event at a dinner playhouse
radio spots

a bookstore

newsletters

antiquarian books auctions

exhibits

sales of cards, notepaper, and book totes
library want lists

All these ideas and more have been used by librar-
ies as development activities.

What is library development? Thomas Broce
thought that it must involve photography. In his
excellent book, Fund Raising, he relates the story
of his introduction to the field of development.
Figuring he could ohandle everything I under-
stood and fake the rest until I learned it}? he ap-
plied and was hired for the position of director of
public relations and development at a small uni-
versity. He was certain that odevelopment� had
something to do with photography and did not
ask the president what it meant until after he had
received his first paycheck. The presidentTs shock
at his question and his shock at the presidentTs
answer were equal, but, he reports oin time both
the president and I recovered.�

Library development is, in the narrowest
sense, fundraising, and in the broadest sense,
proclaiming the library's mission, goals and
accomplishments in such a way that individuals
and groups are eager to have a part in its success.

Joline R. Ezzell is Special Projects Librarian, Perkins Library,
Duke University, Durham.

38"Spring 1989

Planning

The first step in development should be a
planning session in which the library answers the
following questions. Who are we? What is our mis-
sion? How do we accomplish this mission? What
are our goals for the next ten years, the next five
years, the next year? What are our greatest needs
and challenges? What innovative solutions to
these challenges can we formulate? Who will
benefit from these solutions?

The answers to these questions will form the
basis for initiating both public relations and fund-
raising activities. Moreover, these questions should
not be asked and answered only when a develop-
ment program is initiated; they should be asked
and answered annually, to ensure that the stated
needs and goals match reality.

Public Relations

The oproclamation� of the libraryTs plans and
activities should precede, as well as accompany,
all efforts to gain support. No individual or group
is likely to give to an institution about which little
is known. Potential donors want to know what
the organization does, how it does it, and what
makes it worthy of support. A continuing, positive
public relations program will put, and keep, the
library in the publicTs sight, whether that public is
legislators, trustees, alumni, faculty, or students.

The positive nature of the public relations
effort cannot be overstressed. People give to going
concerns. They want to be associated with suc-
cess. They will jump on the bandwagon when they
are certain that the bandwagon is moving for-
ward.

Public relations can take a variety of forms,
adapted to suit a particular institution. Larger
academic institutions will have a news bureau or
public relations office that maintains contacts
with local newspapers and radio and TV stations.
This office will often be willing to send press
releases to library-related publications as well. A
good working relationship with staff in such news
bureaus is invaluable to the library.

Libraries may handle their own publicity,

either by choice or necessity. Then the working
relationship needs to be built with staff from the
local media. Libraries can also use brochures,
annual reports, newsletters, and flyers to publi-
cize their activities and accomplishments. Other,
less overt types of public relations include tours
and focus groups comprised of oconsumers� of
library services.

Once a vehicle for publicity is identified, the
next logical question is what should be publicized.
Suitable topics are new collections or services,
exhibits, programs (such as lectures and discus-
sions), and major gifts. Too often libraries tend to
restrict the broadcasting of such news to the
campus, if not to the library itself. But the major-
ity of the libraryTs financial support, beyond that
appropriated by the college or university admini-
stration, will come from those outside the library
and, indeed, outside the institution.

Relationships

Fundraising for the academic library tradi-
tionally has been a responsibility of the library
director. The importance of outside funding has
grown in direct proportion to the increased strin-
gency of academic budgets during recent years.
As a result, several academic libraries have at
least one additional staff member whose duties
include raising money.

Regardless of who bears this responsibility,
one of the most valuable weapons in an academic
library fundraiserTs arsenal is a good working
relationship with the individual(s) responsible for
fundraising for the entire academic institution.
oDevelopment done well is development done col-
laboratively�4 For purposes of discussion I will
Call this individual the development office. This
office should be the first target for the libraryTs
public relations campaign. Academic fundraisers
must be made aware of the importance of the
library to the overall goals of the institution.
Library staff should regularly inform this office of
additions and improvements to the libraryTs col-
lections and services. With this information, insti-
tutional fundraisers will be alert to individuals or
foundations with a potential interest in funding
library programs, will be able to express clearly
and accurately the library's goals and needs, and
will be able to answer questions about the library.

The development office may also maintain a
Clearance list of prospects, both individual and
Corporate/foundation. The aim of a clearance
System is to prevent different units of the institu-
tion from competing with each other for dona-
tions. The development office generally grants
Clearance to approach a potential donor to the

unit of the institution that most closely parallels
the donorTs interests (i.e., the unit with the best
chance of obtaining a gift). Several units may be
given clearance to approach the larger founda-
tions which may have many different funding
programs. Again, it will be easier to obtain clear-
ance if there is a good working relationship
between the library and the development office.

Library development is, in the
narrowest sense, fundraising,
and in the broadest sense, pro-
claiming the libraryTs mission,
goals, and accomplishments...

Individuals

What are the potential sources of external
funds for the academic library? First and fore-
most should be those who benefit from its servi-
ces, namely students, faculty, and staff of the
institution. Though rarely large donors individu-
ally, they can, as a group, make up the bulk of the
continuing support for the library. Students will
be least likely to contribute; however, as future
alumni they need to be made aware of the impor-
tance of the library in the life of the institution.
Another class of individuals now more frequently
being tapped for donations to the academic
library is local business people, who often make
use of the library's reference services. If the
library provides borrowing privileges to residents
of the city or county, these individuals may also be
solicited.

A Friends of the Library group is an excellent
source of support. Its members can provide extra
funds for the library through membership renew-
als and special contributions. A Friends group
may also raise money for the library through book
sales or through other fundraising efforts. More-
over, members of the Friends can serve as
another vehicle for publicity by telling their
friends and colleagues about successful Friends
programs or library services.

At least one academic library has established
another type of outside support group. The
library of Texas A&M University formed a devel-
opment council to assist with its fundraising. This
group consists of twenty-two members, geogra-
phically distributed in areas pinpointed for fund-
raising activities, who serve three-year terms.
This body gathers frequently to work on projects
and meet with potential donors. Those chosen for
the development council are often individuals just
completing a term on the university's Board of

Spring 1989 "39

Regents. The library has judged the development
council to be a success.

In addition to the fundraising strategies men-
tioned at the beginning of this article, many other
ideas for raising money from individuals abound
in the literature. Just one of those ideas will be
mentioned here. The adopt-a-book/ adopt-a-jour-
nal program solicits money from donors for use in
purchasing books or journal subscriptions. Li-
braries employing these programs often allow
donors to specify the subject area of the book or
journal to be purchased and may also encourage
them to make the contribution in honor or
memory of a loved one. Many of the fundraising
successes described in library literature come
from public libraries. One should not make the
mistake of dismissing them out-of-hand as inap-
propriate to a college library. With slight adapta-
tions, they can often be used profitably in an
academic setting.

The annual solicitation of alumni by the uni-
versity can prove an excellent source of income
from individuals. Pledge cards or donation slips
frequently list various components of the insti-
tution to which donations may be assigned. If the
library is one of those components, a relatively
steady flow of operating income can result.
Furthermore, if the library staff thanks these
individuals and maintains contact with them via
newsletters, mailings, etc., it is likely that they will
continue to contribute annually.

The library can also benefit from individualsT
donations through deferred-giving programs.
These include charitable remainder unitrusts,
pooled-income funds, and charitable-gift annui-
ties. A charitable remainder unitrust is a life-
income plan created by the donor that irrevocably
transfers assets to a trust. The trust pays the
donor an annual income for life, based on a fixed
percentage (not less than five percent) of the fair
market value of the trust assets, as valued each
year. When the transfer is made, the trust
becomes the property of the recipient institution.
A pooled income fund also involves an irrevocable
transfer of funds or securities to an institution. A
representative of the institution signs a contract
agreeing to pay the donor income for life. The gift
becomes the absolute property of the institution,
which adds it to a pool of other income gifts and
invests the lump sum. Through a charitable-gift
annuity, the donor transfers funds or securities to
an institution in exchange for an annual fixed
payment to the donor or survivor for life. The
transfer is part gift and part annuity. The rate of
return is based on the age of the donor and any
other conditions that may be specified.5 Fund-

40"Spring 1989

raisers should work with their institutionTs
development office to become familiar with such
arrangements, as well as with gifts through wills
and insurance contracts.

The library may also seek funds from individ-
uals for special purposes. Such appeals may be
designed to meet the matching requirements of a
grant or challenge program, for a capital cam-
paign, or for a special project such as renovation.
For such a solicitation the fundraiser will want to
tap all those in the potential donor pool: students,
alumni, faculty, staff, other borrowers, Friends of
the Library, annual fund donors, trustees, and
local business leaders. The support of the aca-
demic administration is crucial to the success of
a special appeal, and careful preparation is essen-
tial. Goals, objectives, and strategies must be iden-
tified well in advance of the public phase of the
campaign. The specific steps to be followed in
carrying out the program are described in the
many books on fundraising, including BroceTs
publication, previously cited.

Foundations and Corporations

A major source of funding for academic
libraries is foundations and corporations. Accord-
ing to a preliminary report from the Conference
Board, in 1987 charitable donations from com-
panies to education probably reached $2.2 billion,
a record amount and 44 percent of all corporate
donations. Colleges and universities typically
receive from seventy to seventy-five percent of
these funds. The Foundation Center reports that
$68,196,000 was distributed in the form of grants
to libraries in 1986. Of that amount, $3,046,000
came from community foundations, $2,601,000
from company-sponsored foundations, and
$62,103,000 from independent foundations. There
ts money available from foundations and corpo-
rations for academic libraries.

At the same time, most foundations and cor-
porations receive requests for many more dollars
than they have to give away. They must make a
choice, often among very good and worthwhile
projects. How do they decide which proposal to
fund?

The majority of foundations and corpora-
tions conduct their charitable activities under
specific guidelines. These parameters may have
been established by the organizationTs founder or
by the current governing body. The guidelines will
include geographic limitations, subject area, and
restrictions as to the type of items for which
funds can be expended. In addition, the founda-
tion or corporationTs charitable activities will be

limited by its financial resources. All of these fac-
tors must be considered when determining which
foundation or corporation to solicit for a specific
project.

How does one learn about foundations or
Corporations that will support proposals from
libraries and that will make grants for the specific
Purpose in mind? A good starting point is The
Foundation Directory and Corporate 500: The
Directory of Corporate Philanthropy. The Foun-
dation Directory includes oinformation on the
finances, governance, and giving interests� of
foundations owith assets of $1 million or more or
which have annual giving of at least $100,000."
Corporate 500 is a directory of the top 560 USS.
Corporate foundations. Both of these publications
describe the types of support and the limitations
of each organization included. Another excellent
Printed source is Foundation Center Source Book
Profiles, which is issued in looseleaf form and
revised biennially. Its information on foundations
awarding $200,000 or more each year includes
descriptions of recent grants awarded. This refer-
�,�nce work may be available in the university's
development office, if not in the library.

Two good sources of more current informa-
tion are the Grants and the Foundation Grants
Index databases available through online search
Services. The latter file, which is updated monthly,
Contains information on grants awarded by more
than 400 major foundations, including descrip-
tions of past grants awarded by each organiza-
tion. Such descriptions are helpful in determining
an agency's possible interest in a library project.
Boolean search strategies, as well as date restric-
tions, may be used in searching these files to
Sather a list of the organizations to solicit for a
Specific funding idea. oBusiness and Philanthropy,�
a section within each issue of The Chronicle of
Higher Education, frequently contains articles
about foundations and their current interests,
and regularly contains a listing of private gifts
and grants made to educational institutions.

Once a possible source of support has been
identified, a proposal must be prepared. Libby
ChenaultTs article, oApplying for Foundation
Grants� in the Winter 1986 issue of North Caro-
lina Libraries describes in detail the preparation
of a grant proposal. Let it suffice to stress here the
importance of explaining clearly in the proposal
why the foundation/corporation should award a
grant to ABC college, why the project is best
Suited to ABC college, and what long-lasting, and
(it is hoped) wide-ranging benefits will come from
Completion of the project. Foundations and cor-
Porations want to know that their gifts will make

a difference. Corporations, being businesses, want
to know whatTs in it for them and how their com-
pany will benefit (e.g., public relations, increased
sales).

Governmental Sources

Another good source of funding for academic
libraries is the United States government. Several
programs are available specifically for libraries.
The Department of Education has three pro-
grams created especially to benefit academic
libraries: 1. Strengthening research library
resources program (Higher Education Act, Title
II, Part C), 2. Library research and demonstration
program (Higher Education Act, Title II, Part B),
and 3. College library technology and cooperation
grants program (Higher Education Act, Title II,
Part D). Information about these and other fed-
eral programs is available in the Catalog of Fed-
eral Domestic Assistance (Washington, Office of
Management and Budget). In addition, academic
libraries may benefit from the DepartmentTs
Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA)
Title III program. This program provides funds to
state library administrative agencies for establish-
ing and operating local, state, and regional sys-
tems or networks of libraries. In past years, funds
have been awarded to support interlibrary and
reference networks, the production of computer-
ized lists and catalogs, multistate cooperative
efforts, and continuing education and staff devel-
opment related to networks.

No individual or group is likely
to give to an institution about
which little is known.

In addition, the National Endowment for the
Humanities, the National Endowment for the
Arts, the National Archives and Records Adminis-
tration, and the Department of Health and
Human Services sponsor several programs appro-
priate for academic libraries. The National En-
dowment for the Humanities offers challenge
grants for humanities research, for preservation
projects (including the U.S. Newspaper Project),
to support humanities projects in libraries, to
fund projects to improve access to research
resources, and to fund the creation of reference
works for humanistic research. The National
Endowment for the Arts also provides challenge
grants. The National Archives and Records Admin-
istration sponsors National Historical Publica-
tions and Records Grants, which may be used for

Spring 1989"41

the collection, preservation, arrangement and
description of records of historical interest, as
well as the publication of papers and documents
of national historical significance. Projects in
manuscripts or archives departments are partic-
ularly suitable for these grants. The Department
of Health and Human Services, through its Medical
Library Assistance program, offers grants in
seven separate areas, all with the objective of
improving health information services.

In contrast to many foundations and corpo-
rations, government agencies generally provide
specific information about their grants programs.
By the same token, the requirements for submit-
ting proposals are frequently more stringent than
those of foundations and corporations. For each
program, information is readily available about
the format for proposals submitted, the deadline
(usually one deadline per year), the average size of
grants awarded, and the criteria used for judging
proposals.

Those who know their gifts are
appreciated are most likely to
give again.

Tears and Smiles

By now, the fundraiserTs quiver is full. It con-
tains an innovative idea translated into a well-
stated proposal, a granting agency or individual that
is capable of providing the amount -of funding
needed and whose giving history indicates poten-
tial interest in the library and in the idea, and
support from the institution in the form of clear-
ance to approach the potential donor and of
commitment to the proposed project. The ques-
tion, then, is will the arrows hit the target? Will
you bag some bucks? Possibly. A huge number of
worthy causes seek funds from foundations, cor-
porations, and government agencies. Because
these agencies have limited funds for grants, they

must reject more proposals than they accept.
Individuals, particularly those having the where-
withal to give, also receive hundreds of solicita-
tions, many more than they can, or want to,
accommodate. They, too, must choose. The pro-
posal that is carefully prepared, clearly written or
stated, and most appealing to the potential donorTs
current interests and funding ability will be the
one chosen.

Two more arrows are needed. The fundraiser
must have perseverance and a thick skin. He or
she must be able to recover quickly from the dis-
appointment of being turned down by a prospec-
tive donor or from having a grant proposal
rejected, fresh and ready to seek other donors
and write new proposals.

The fundraiser must also have, and use, the
arrow of gratitude. Donors want to know how
their funds are being spent, what the recipient
has accomplished, and how the gift has made a
difference. Individuals who have established
endowments enjoy learning how the income is
being spent. Regular reports detailing the items
purchased with endowment income strengthen
the relationship with the donor, apprise the
donor of the good stewardship of the funds, and
serve as an expression of gratitude. The fund-
raiser or other appropriate personnel, then,
should sincerely thank each and every donor.
Those who know their gifts are appreciated are
most likely to give again.

References

1. Library Journal 98 (September 15, 1973): 2498.
2. Thomas Broce, Fund Raising; The Guide to Raising Money
from Private Sources, 2nd rev. ed. (Norman: University of Okla-
homa Press, 1986), ix.

be i Re a

4. Susan Getman Abernathy, oGifts, Grants, and Grantors: Gar-
nering the LibraryTs Fair Share,� in Library Fund Raising: Vital
Margin for Excellence, ed. Sul H. Lee. (Ann Arbor: Pierian Press,
1984), 16.

5. Broce, pp. 163-164.

6. Foundation Directory, 11th ed., (New York: Foundation Cen-
ter, 1987).

42"Spring 1989

The Triangle Research Libraries Network:
A History and Philosophy

Willy Owen

The Triangle Research Libraries Network
(TRLN) was created by a consortium of three
neighboring research universities in North Caro-
lina: Duke University, North Carolina State Uni-
versity, and the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Operated by the libraries at these
universities, with the support of each university's
administration, its purpose is the creation, devel-
Opment, and maintenance of a computerized sys-
tem which provides high quality bibliographic
Control of and access to library collections at all
three institutions.

In the spring of 1989, TRLN is operating a
full-function online public access catalog known
as a Bibliographic Information System (BIS) in a
distributed network of Tandem computers, and it
is maintaining a data base of more than two mil-
lion records. The circulation sub-system is online
in a beta-test environment, with full implementa-
tion expected later in the year. Many more
enhancements, including advanced searching
Capabilities and acquisitions and serials control,
are already in the development stages. TRLN is a
nationally recognized innovator in the creation of
Online public access systems. What makes TRLN
unique is its distributed and cooperative approach
to solving the problems of library automation. The
roots of that cooperative approach lie more than
fifty years in the past, in days when computers
Were still a dream in a few mathematiciansT imag-
inations.

The long history of cooperation among the
Universities in the Research Triangle area began
in 1933 when Robert B. Downs, Librarian at the
University of North Carolina (UNC) and Harvie
Branscomb, Librarian at Duke, drafted a series of
documents outlining agreements between the two
libraries for coordinating the development of
their collections and the shared use of those col-
lections. A program for the exchange of printed
Catalog cards representing new library acquisi-
tions was initiated. Along with the exchange of
Cards came new policies regarding interlibrary
lending of materials and the creation of a docu-

+ tialiptaaeaatiaamccaning
Willy Owen is Technical Support Manager at Davis Library,
University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill.

ment delivery service which exists to the present
day.!

In the 1940s, these agreements were ex-
panded beyond mutual access programs to actual
definitions of shared collecting responsibilities. A
grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, awarded
jointly to UNC, Duke, and Tulane University,
allowed for the coordinated purchase of Latin
American materials. For the next twenty-five
years this cooperative approach to the acquisi-
tion of area studies materials was formally
extended to many other areas of the world. In
Commonwealth studies, for example, Duke main-
tains strong holdings in Canadian materials,
which are complemented by UNCTs extensive col-
lections of Australiana. In East Asian studies,
UNC collects Chinese materials and Duke, Japa-
nese. Francophone and Lusophone Africa are
particular strengths of UNCTs collections, while

Duke focuses on studies of Anglophone Africa.
These cooperative agreements have continued

to be strengthened and refined. In addition to
defining collection development by broad geogra-
phical areas, bibliographers have refined areas of
common interest by adopting a historical perspec-
tive. For areas of more specialized research in
Russian history and literature, for instance, UNC
collects extensively in materials on pre-Revolu-
tionary times, while Duke places greater emphasis
on Soviet studies. Recently, negotiations between
the two universities were concluded which define
collecting responsibilities from French regional,
or provincial, history. While Tulane is no longer a
partner in these agreements, and the University of
Virginia has begun to cooperate in the acquisition
of Slavic studies materials, the central core of
cooperative collection development agreements
between Duke and UNC remain in place and con-
tinue to grow stronger.�

The existence of these agreements, along
with the increased funding for library materials
that became available in the 1970s, set the stage
for events that would lead to the formal creation
of the Triangle Research Libraries Network and
the development of a shared cooperative online
network of library holdings and resources.T In
March 1976 Connie Dunlap, University Librarian

Spring 1989"43

at Duke, and James Govan, University Librarian
at UNC created the Duke/UNC Committee on
Cooperation. The purpose of this new committee
was to review the collection development agree-
ments between the two universities. One formal
endeavor was the initiation of a serials review
project aimed at the reduction of duplication
among serial subscriptions at the two schools.
The committee met frequently for the next
year, and its work met with enthusiasm on the
part of the library staffs. In April of the following
year, 1977, Connie Dunlap wrote to James Govan
proposing that the two universities begin a formal
long-range planning process to broaden and
develop further the cooperative efforts already
underway. Quickly, a new group was formed,
known as the Cooperation Committee, which now
included Cy King, Librarian at North Carolina
State University (NCSU). With the addition of
NCSU to the consortium, the strong liberal arts
collections at Duke and UNC gained the support
of the stateTs premier scientific and technical
library. The new group was known as the Triangle
Universities Libraries Cooperation Committee
(TULCC). A subgroup, the TULCC Technical
Commumittee, later became the TRLN Coordinat-
ing Committee, which oversaw the early stages of
the networkTs development. The responsibilities of
this group reside today with the Executive Board
of the Triangle Research Libraries Network, the
governing body of TRLN as it is in 1989.

That each database exists and
operates independently of the
other two, while at the same
time being ultimately linked to
them, is the unique accomplish-
ment of the Triangle Research
Libraries Network.

At the end of 1977, TULCC produced a report,
Proposal for Funding to Support Cooperative
Library Development Programs, which resulted
in a federal grant of $250,000 in Title II-C funds to
support library acquisitions at the three institu-
tions during fiscal 1978/79. The ideas contained
in this report laid the foundation for all that was
to follow. The Proposal recognized that the long
history of cooperation in the Triangle provided
the framework for a new and significant approach
to the use of library resources. It explicitly men-
tioned othe utilization of the collections as a sin-
gle, unified resource� positing the development of
an interactive online catalog of library holdings as

44"Spring 1989

essential to successfully implementing such a
concept. The report proposed a three-year pro-
gram to explore further the automation of library
services, the cooperative provision of public serv-
ices, and access to the collections. Funding for
cooperative collection development gave new
vigor to the agreements among the three universi-
ties.

In 1978 the three libraries working to further
the goal of automating access to the collections
retained a pair of consultants, John Knapp and
Ritvars Bregzis, to follow up on the committeeTs
recommendations as stated in the Proposal. The
Knapp/Bregzis Report, released in January of
1979, recommended the development of a dis-
tributed local area network for the provision of
bibliographic access and became the source for
much of the second (and successful) Title II-C
proposal for development funding in fiscal 1979/
80.

While the second Title II-C proposal was
being drafted, TULCC established the Task Force
on the Syntax of the 049 Field. This group, which
later became the TRLN Cataloging Policy Commit-
tee, worked throughout much of 1979 to produce
a report which detailed the complexities of cre-
ating machine-readable holdings statements as dis-
tinct from bibliographic records. The report led to
much important work in the design of what
became a core component of the Bibliographic
Information System~. At the same time the COM
Catalog Task Force was established and began to
produce specifications for the unified microfiche
catalog of machine-readable library holdings. This
catalog served as the union list of TRLN library
holdings until the public introduction of BIS in
1985.

The decision to develop a system locally was a
significant one, and undertaken after consider-
able deliberation. There were several turnkey sys-
tems available at this time. Two factors, however
"one economic and one philosophical"argued
for the creation of a ohome-grown� project. In the
matter of economics, there was widespread con-
cern in the late 1970s about the long-term stability
of commercial vendors and their commitment to
librariesT needs. As the nearly complete failure in
this country of IBMTs DOBIS system has since
shown, this concern was not unfounded.

More importantly, the commercial turnkey
systems at the time were simply automated circu-
lation systems. There existed a perception that
computers were not powerful enough to support
the processing requirements of a system that
could replace the conventional card catalog.
Those librarians who envisioned the creation of a

cooperative program in the Triangle, however, felt
that what was truly needed was an integrated
system designed to address all aspects of biblio-
graphic control and access. The most important
and fundamental element of such control was the
MARC record. By combining the strengths of the
traditional card catalog with the power of auto-
mation, librarians of the Triangle libraries hoped
to create a new approach to automating library
services which gave primary emphasis to the col-
lections being described. This philosophy demon-
strates how cooperative collection development
and access have always been the inspiration for
their efforts.

Local development of an automated system
was rapidly approaching. A search was begun to
hire qualified systems staff to begin design and
implementation. Jeanne Sawyer was hired as a
library systems analyst. She had been a science
cataloger at UNC with a strong interest in auto-
mation, which was supported by work at the En-
vironmental Protection Agency and by her mem-
bership on the UNC Computer Applications Task
Force. She was also pursuing advanced degree
work in computer science at UNC. Also recruited
for the project was Gwyneth Duncan, an employee
of UNCTs Administrative Data Processing center.
She had several years of experience with auto-
mated library applications in her work with main-

taining circulation and serials records for the
campus libraries. Under the leadership of Sawyer
and Duncan, a programming staff was assembled
and work was begun on several projects.

By the end of 1979, specifications were being
established for the COM catalog. The items con-
tained in this catalog would be processed from
tapes containing MARC records, received by the
libraries at UNC and NCSU from OCLC, and from
records in the Technical Services Data Base main-
tained at Duke. The first step toward the creation
of a local online network would be the develop-
ment of a system for processing these archival
tapes. This system would create new records for
each of the three libraries consonant with the
demands of the cooperative system, which was
designed to accommodate expansion if more
libraries joined the consortium. Additionally, the
archive tape system (ATS) would ensure the bib-
liographic integrity of the records of each institu-
tion, a point given considerable importance in the
program of local cooperative development since
its earliest days. A third major project, the devel-
opment of the online editing system (OES), to
allow for the local editing of records once they
had passed through the ATS, was also initiated.

In June 1980 the name Triangle Research
Libraries Network (TRLN) was officially adopted
by the consortium, marking a historic milestone

Pn

"Since 1971"

BROADFOOT'S

North Carolina Book Sellers Helping North Carolina Librarians

Broadfoot's of Wendell

6624 Robertson Pond Rd. * Wendell, NC 27591 * (919) 365-6963
The largest selection of North Carolina books anywhere
Free Catalog Cards » Same Day Shipment
Catalog on request

BROADFOOT PUBLISHING COMPANY

Route 4, Box 508-C * Wilmington, NC 28405 ° (919) 686-4379
Publishers of historical and genealogical reference sets.

Now reprinting North Carolina Troops " Volumes I-VII
Catalog on request

Spring 1989"45

in the fifty-year collaboration of universities. And
in many other ways, 1980 was a signficant year
for TRLN. Coding for the ATS was completed in
May and, after successful testing, the system went
into operation in September. At the end of the
year, the first edition of the COM Catalog was
produced and was distributed to the member
libraries in January 1981.

Until this point, operations were being car-
ried out on a UNIVAC computer at UNCTs Adminis-
trative Data Processing offices. Another task force
investigated the purchase of equipment that
would permit the network to be independent of
existing computer resources on the three cam-
puses. Among the leading vendors was Tandem
Computers, a small, growing company based in
Cupertino, California. The final decision to pur-
chase Tandem equipment was precipitated by the
sudden opportunity to buy a used system at a
greatly reduced cost. There were several impor-
tant factors that led to the consideration of Tan-
dem which ultimately have proved crucial to the
success of the program.

Three basic design elements of Tandem com-
puters were of over-arching importance. The first
of these was the ofault-tolerant� nature of their
operation. Dual processors support the work of
the system under normal conditions. Should one
of the processors fail, the operating load is shifted
to the processor which is still functioning. Non-
critical operations can then be suspended, if
necessary, to maintain system performance. This
fault tolerance is what has led to the adoption of
Tandem systems by organizations such as banks,
airlines, and stock exchanges, which cannot
afford even minimal downtime on their systems.

It has been the aim of TRLN,
from the start, to provide not a
90% system, but a 99.9% system
that would accommodate the
demands of three different uni-
versity libraries.

The second consideration was the modular
nature of TandemTs processor architecture. In the
ordinary manner of constructing processors, a
limit to transactions and performance is imposed.
If the demands of the system exceed the limits of
the processors, the entire system must be up-
graded, or to put it more bluntly, replaced. Even
with a trade-in on the old processor, this repre-
sents a considerable expenditure each time a pro-
cessor upgrade is required to meet increased

46 "Spring 1989

system loads and may involve software conversion
as well. TandemTs modular approach however,
allows the addition of new, supplementary pro-
cessors to existing ones with the processing load
being redistributed among them. This approach
significantly reduces the initial investment in
hardware, as well as making the cost per upgrade
considerably easier to bear. Additionally, most
minicomputer systems available at the time were
limited in the number of terminals they could
support. With Tandem equipment, additional
processors could be acquired to support an
expanded number of terminals attached to the
system. For institutions bound by significant re-
straints in budgeting and purchasing, such an
option was of critical importance.

Finally, since its inception, TRLN had been
seen as a distributed network of computers. Each
university would maintain its own database on its
own hardware; these systems would be net-
worked to provide unified access to the individual
databases and a transparent interface between
them. In the early 1980s, Tandem was a leader in
the production of distributed systems and net-
working; the concept was integral to the proces-
sorTs design. For these reasons, Tandem was the
system of choice for TRLN.

With basic functional design work in pro-
gress, and the Tandem hardware installed, work
on the online editing system (OES) became the
primary focus of the project. The software design
of the OES was completed in the fall of 1981, two
200-megabyte disk drives for storage of the data-
base were purchased, and the system became
operational in the spring of 1982.

Since the earliest days of TULCC, system
design had been accomplished with the direct
participation of the library staff who would be the
primary users of it. Task forces and committees
comprised of library staff working in cooperation
with systems staff became an integral part of the
design process. Each new system design proposal
was presented to the library staff for review, along
with an explicit statement for the rationale
behind the development. While this slowed down
the design process considerably, it ensured that
staff had significant input into a system that
would become central to their library's opera-
tions. It also allowed for the incorporation of
many points of view: the system was not a techni-
cal processing system, a circulation system, a
opublic� system. From the beginning, it was con-
structed as an integrated system. The primary
emphasis in development had always been the
librariesT collections. The broad involvement of
library staff in deciding how to implement access

to those collections was the key to a successful
implementation of the system.

During 1982, staff began to use the OES to
edit local records and to make recommendations
for the implementation of what was called BIS-1.
This was to be the preliminary model of the public
access catalog (the actual public catalog being
known as BIS-2). While design work continued, so
did national interest in the project.

With a number of independently developed
systems around the country in operation, consid-
erations for creating a national database of
shared bibliographic records came to the fore,
and discussions began between OCLC and TRLN
to address the issue. As TRLN was developing
considerable expertise in the networking of online
systems, the TRLN/OCLC link was to have been a
prototype for the linking of OCLC with all other
local systems. Work on direct computer-to-com-
puter links between OCLC and TRLN got under-
way, and excitement grew with the prospect of
becoming a full partner in this national network-
ing project. The direct link would have allowed
immediate updates of both the TRLN database as
local catalogers added TRLN holdings to the
OCLC records, and the OCLC database, as local
catalogers created original records on the TRLN
system for addition to the OCLC database. In
early 1983 the link seemed to be one of TRLNTs
major contributions to library networking in
general.

Unfortunately, to anticipate history for a
moment, the proposed link never came to pass.
TRLN was awarded a grant by the Council on
Library Resources to support development work
on the link, but technical difficulties in establish-
ing standards at the national level for the inter-
face, delays in OCLCTs development of its new
application system (known then as the Oxford
Project), and the general difficulty of achieving
agreement between disparate national organiza-
tions forced the project to be suspended. Its
future remains uncertain even today.

The 1983/84 fiscal year marked a significant
turning point in TRLNTs history. Until then, pri-
mary support for development and hardware had
been provided by grant monies totaling more than
$1.7 million dollars. The three libraries had made
only limited financial contributions to the sys-
temTs development, but had allocated significant
staff resources to design efforts. In 1983/84
financial support from the three universities
increased considerably in anticipation of the end-
ing of federal funding for development.® Although
strong support for the project existed among all
of the directors of the main libraries at each cam-

pus, it was felt that the universitiesT administra-
tions should be more fully involved in the
governance and control of TRLN.

Accordingly, the three directors approved a
governing structure recommended by the TRLN
Organizing Committee. In summer 1984, the
chancellors of the three universities signed a
oMemorandum of Understanding� which restruc-
tured the organization of TRLN and created the
position of Director of TRLN. Prior to this agree-
ment, the Director of the Academic Affairs
Library at UNC, the sponsor of the Title II-C
grants, had been the Project Director. Under the
new arrangement, a governing board comprised
of library directors, including the four directors of
the separately administered libraries on each
campus (e.g., the UNC Health Sciences Library
and DukeTs Fuqua Business School Library) as
well as academic officers at each institution, was
created. The TRLN Director reported directly to
this board.

... the contributions TRLN has
made to the understanding of
automated library systems, their
functioning and their develop-
ment, represent a significant
advance in librarianship.

In addition to the structural reorganization,
the Memorandum of Understanding established
the commitment of all three universities to the
continued development and funding of TRLN.
Thus the project could be said to have matured
from an experimental system to stable organiza-
tion sponsored by three major research universi-
ties. After a national search for the TRLN
Director, Jeanne Sawyer, TRLN Library Systems
Analyst, was selected to lead TRLN into the
future.T

In the meantime, work had continued apace.
Initial testing of BIS-1 proved successful, and the
transition from the original OES to a full-featured
online catalog was made with little disruption to
normal staff activities. Support for asynchronous
terminals (in addition to the synchronous Telex
terminals used with OES) was implemented, and
plans were made to bring the system up for the
general public. By June 1985 support for author,
title, and control number searching, including
ISBN, ISSN, LC card number, and record identifi-
cation number was provided for the over half a
million records in the system. The creation of sub-
ject heading indexes to allow subject searching of

Spring 1989"47

TRLN records by Library of Congress Subject
Headings (LCSH), Medical Subject Headings
(MeSH), and locally created subject headings was
well underway. Development of call number
searching also began.

In the meantime, TRLN advisory committees
on circulation, acquisitions/serials control, and
cataloging policy continued to define specifica-
tions for the system. Staff also began addressing
the difficult problem of providing comprehensive
authority control, a feature no other automated
system in existence offered.

August 12, 1985, marked another milestone
in the history of TRLN. On that day, the first pub-
lic catalog terminals were installed in Davis
Library at UNC. After nearly a decade, the online
catalog had arrived and was available to the pub-
lic. Within six months, dial-in access to BIS from
remote terminals on the UNC campus was made
available. At the same time a Tandem system was
installed at NCSU to support public access termi-
nals on that campus. The following July, the third
node of the network became operational at Duke.
While these events naturally had important rami-
fications for staff and patrons at all three univer-
sities, they also marked an important change in
operations for TRLN staff.

Before the introduction of public online
searching, the system had been available in a con-
trolled testing environment where refinements
were scheduled, and obugs� in the system were
fixed fairly easily. Suddenly, users eager to exploit
the systemTs capabilities conducted ambitious
experiments in bibliographic retrieval. As use
increased, TRLN staff faced new problems that
could not have been uncovered in the testing
environment. Whereas previously TRLN staff
could focus most of their efforts on new develop-
ment of systems, there was now a significant ele-
ment of system maintenance. More time had to be
diverted to the resolution of problems rather than
the development of new features. The net result of
this change was a slowdown in development and
a readjustment of priorities.

During 1985/86, with the installation of Tan-
dem computers at Duke and NCSU, telecommuni-
cations lines connecting the three campuses were
laid, and the UNC Educational Computing Servi-
ces, located in the Research Triangle Park,
assumed responsibility for maintenance of the
network lines. New system software was put into
development to allow multi-institutional search-
ing of the databases, and additional staff time had
to be diverted to maintain the network.

Jeanne Sawyer estimates that, once BIS
became a public system, the amount of staff time

48 " Spring 1989

available for new development was cut from
ninety percent to fifty percent. Thus, the amount
of time that would be required to introduce new
features to the system nearly doubled.

At the same time, a whole new class of users
of the system, including librarians who previously
had been at most marginally involved with TRLN,
became vocal participants in the development
process. Even though nearly ten years had gone
into the development and testing of BIS, and per-
haps because the available features worked so
well, expectations about future performance
became extremely high.

As noted above, 1985/86 was the first year of
TRLNTs history when the cost of development and
hardware resources required to support an
increasingly complex system had to be borne by
the universities themselves without significant
external assistance. Concomitantly, inflation,
especially in the cost of library materials, but also
in general operating expenses, was putting a
severe strain on the operating budgets of the con-
sortium and, by extension, on the budget of TRLN.

Although each campus had purchased its
own expensive Tandem computer, development
work on the system was still being carried out on
the UNC installation. The high overhead in com-
puting resources required to operate the online
catalog at UNC as well as the development work
for the entire network caused unacceptable
response time at UNC. Not only did library
patrons find the system slow to use, but the
demands of increasing use at UNC meant that
programmersT testing and development work
proceeded more slowly. Routines that might have
required only minutes to run now took hours as
critical CPU resources were dedicated to process-
ing patron searches of the database. Not only was
there less time available in terms of TRLN staff
hours for development, but less processor time
for creating and testing new developments was
available.

The solution was to purchase a fourth Tan-
dem system, to be located at UNC and dedicated
solely to development work. Skillful planning on
the part of TRLN systems staff reduced the
impact of this purchase on an already strained
budget. TRLN reconfigured the UNC computer so
as to effect an upgrade of the hardware at UNC

Here at last was the distributed
network of three universitiesT
collections outilized as a single
unified resource�...

along wth a migration of the older UNC equip-
ment to the dedicated use of the TRLN staffs
development activities.

Despite these strains on resources, develop-
ment work continued. In November 1986, subject
Searching of the databases was introduced, the
first major upgrade to the systemTs capabilities
since its public introduction. This was an impor-
tant step forward in providing access to the col-
lections of the three universities and one which
again necessitated a significant investment in
hardware resources to support the maintenance
of the large subject indexes.

Once subject searching had been imple-
mented, work on call number searching began in
earnest. This was a feature that would be
required for the implementation of the circula-
tion subsystem, but it proved to benefit library
Patrons as well. A UNC research study showed
that for many library users the ability to browse
the stacks for relevant resources is an important
component of library services. Constuction of the
call number indexes, which allow patrons to enter
a complete or partial call number and then to
view an online shelflist, was complicated by the
existence of three separate classification schemes
at the member libraries. While NCSUTs catalog is
entirely based on LC classification, the Perkins
Library at Duke uses the Dewey Decimal classifi-
cation. At UNC, the main library collections are
Split between LC and Dewey, and the medical
libraries at both Duke and UNC employ the
National Library of Medicine system. Despite the
complexities posed by these varying classifica-
tion systems, call number searching became opera-
tional at UNC in the summer of 1987. Implementa-
tion of this newest feature of BIS was again
delayed at Duke and NCSU because of a lack of
disk storage space to support the call number
indexes.

In February 1987, with Tandem computers
Operational at all three sites and network lines
connecting the three in place, the introduction of
multi-institutional searching became a reality, and
the long-sought goal of supporting a distributed,
networked system became a reality. With network
hardware installed, the introduction of the soft-
Ware supporting multi-institutional searching
Meant that TRLN had achieved what no other
Online system in the world is capable of accomp-
lishing. It became possible for a patron at Duke to
Search local holdings, then to forward that search
to UNC, to NCSU, or to both, and to obtain a
merged retrieval set of the holdings of all three
libraries. Here at last was the distributed network
of three universitiesT collections "utilized as a sin-

gle unified resource� as outlined in the first prop-
osal for Title II-C funding for the systemTs
development in 1977. That each database exists
and operates independently of the other two,
while at the same time being intimately linked to
them, is the unique accomplishment of the Trian-
gle Research Libraries Network. The importance
and prevalence of distributed computing, in
which the resources of multiple, discrete systems
are combined to provide transparent utilization
of those resources to users, have become increas-
ingly evident to computer professionals through-
out the seventies and eighties. Firms such as DEC,
one of IBMTs leading competitors in the provision
of hardware and software in traditional comput-
ing areas, have built their reputations and their
success on distributed networks. Only the Trian-
gle Research Libraries Network has successfully
applied these principles to the library environ-
ment; in doing so it has made a significant contri-
bution to library automation.

The future of TRLN holds many challenges.
Work on the circulation sub-system is nearly
complete. Beta-testing of circulation began at
NCSU in spring 1989. A major problem that
remains to be solved before circulation can be
effectively implemented concerns the confiden-
tiality of patron records. For most efficient opera-
tion, TRLN desires to load patron information
such as status (faculty, staff, student, other),
addresses for billing and notifications, and other
necessary data from electronic files already avail-
able in the universitiesT administrative units.
However, because these data contain sensitive
information"at all three schools, for example,
social security numbers are used for student
identification"legal concerns may slow down the
implementation. The matter is currently under
study by legal advisors at all three universities,
and it is hoped that a resolution can be reached in
the coming year.

The initial implementation of circulation
includes the ability to charge and discharge mate-
rials, to record holds, to produce overdue notices
and bills, to create oprovisional� records for
items not already included in the database, and to
check out materials to temporary locations, a fea-
ture useful for keeping track of materials charged
through interlibrary lending to schools other than
the TRLN institutions. It will also allow for the
sharing of patron data among the three institu-
tions. This last is an extremely significant feature,
as it will allow a student from NCSU to check out
materials from Duke, for example, and thus
further enhances the treatment of the three col-
lections as a single resource.

Spring 1989"49

Once circulation is operative, the develop-
ment schedule projects a year to implement
enhanced searching features. These include the
ability to perform keyword searches on specified
fields in the database and to combine keywords
with boolean operators to increase subject access
to the collections and obviate the necessity for
using the controlled vocabularies of LCSH and
MeSH.

At about the same time a oglobal change� fea-
ture will be introduced. This feature although large-
ly transparent to patrons, will allow library
staff to make quick and comprehensive changes
to controlled fields in the MARC record. Many
librarians remember the proliferation of split files
in card catalogs after the introduction of AACR2,
when Samuel Clemens officially became Mark
Twain, and they will appreciate the importance of
this element in the system design.

Design work is now in progress on the penul-
timate major sub-system of BIS, acquisitions and
serials control. While some years away, this
module will provide important benefits to users of
the system. Searches will retrieve, in addition to
items cataloged for the collection, records for
materials on order, in process, backlogged, or
otherwise unavailable through ordinary means.
The serials component of this system will allow
patrons to determine whether the latest issue of a
journal received on subscription has arrived,
whether items not on the shelves are missing,
being claimed, or at the bindery. A related devel-
opment, which should be in place by 1990, will be
the loading of detailed holdings information
about serials currently owned by the libraries into
BIS. This information already exists in machine-
readable form, and the process of converting it
into BIS holdings statements is moving forward
on all three campuses.

Once the system provides all the basic ele-
ments of a fully functional online catalog"cata-
loging, circulation, acquisitions, and serials"there
will be one last important element to put into
place: authority control. While the oglobal change�
feature can replace Clemens with Twain, it will
not help the user who searches for oMussorgsky,�
unaware that official LC cataloging rules call for
the spelling oMussorgskii.� Complete authority
control, with its extensive system of intelligent
cross-references, is still far off. No online system
now provides true authority control, and much
research still remains to be done into how this
crucial element of a cataloging system can be
effectively implemented.

* Oe KR KK OK

The Triangle Research Libraries Network, as

50"Spring 1989

Jeanne Sawyer observed two years ago, has
passed out of its childhood and has emerged into
adolescence. Like most adolescents, it is undergo-
ing growing pains, not the least of which was Ms.
SawyerTs recent resignation, in August 1988, as
TRLN Director in order to complete her disserta-
tion in computer science and to pursue other
career goals. Her leadership has brought TRLN to
its current level of achievement, and her wisdom,
warmth, and dedication will a have a lasting
impact. TRLN will face most of its adolescence
without her guidance.

Joe Hewitt, Associate University Librarian for
Technical Services at UNC, has noted that most
automated library systems can be described as
o90% systems.�8 That is, they are constructed to
handle ninety percent of the materials likely to be
found in research libraries. He goes on to specu-
late that many of the o90%� systems are in reality
o75%� systems that lack many of the important
features of conventional card catalogs, such as
the ability to record extensive piece-specific hold-
ings information. When a large multi-volume
monographic set published in Germany has
twelve Baende, each of which comes in one or
more Teile, which are further divided into Abtei-
lungen; when each of these smallest parts is a
physical volume of several hundred pages; when
the individual parts are published as they are
completed and not in numerical order; and when
the circulation librarian must deterine whether
the one piece that a patron urgently needs is in
the libraryTs collection, lost, misshelved, on order,
or simply (and frequently) still unpublished. ..; in
such a circumstance the deficiencies of the o90%
system� become apparent"to the librarian at
least, if not necessarily to the hapless patron.
BoschTs oGarden of Earthly Delights� contains no
such horrifying vision of Hell.

It has been the aim of TRLN, from the start, to
provide not a 90% system, but a 99.9% system that
would accommodate the demands of three differ-
ent university libraries. This commitment to qual-
ity, to exhaustiveness, and to control has been a
guiding philosophy of TRLN since its inception.
But such high aspirations have their price. For
TRLN this has meant delaying the gratification of
introducing new features, enduring prolonged
testing of systems, and spending long hours of
research to identify small but important features
that must be considered in the design and coding
of the system.

Similarly, while the broad involvement of
library staff in the design of the system has
resulted in the application of considerable exper-
tise to the problems of creating an effective online

System, it has also demanded a price in terms of
development time. Nearly two years has gone into
the creation of specifications for the acquisi-
tions/serials control system, and another year of
detailed functional design by systems staff will be
required before programmers can begin the task
of coding, testing, and debugging the software to
operate it.

As noted above, during 1985 and 1986, TRLN
underwent a sea change. The introduction of a
Public access catalog meant that BIS was no
longer an experiment: it was a success to which
the libraries were committed. With the expiration
of grant funding at approximately the same time,
that commitment became financial as well as phil-
osophical. The rapid growth in the database (UNC
alone was adding 120,000 volumes a year in the
early 1980s) demanded a concomitant growth in
hardware resources, as did the introduction of
new features such as subject searching. A new
universe of users expressed their often disparate
Opinions of the system, opinions which demanded
a careful listening ear. Staff time which had pre-
viously been devoted almost entirely to develop-
ment was curtailed sharply by the demands of
maintenance. Allocation of scarce processor
cycles to the needs of public searching com-
pounded the loss of man-hours by slowing down
the speed at which new developments could be
tested and debugged. TRLNTs adolescence had
indeed arrived. A sudden, rapid spurt of growth
left in its wake an awkwardness and a heavy dose
of uncertainty. Those persons associated with
TRLN"its developers, its librarians, its users"
wondered about the future and what it will bring.
What will TRLN be when it ogrows up�? What is
the best way of getting there? Are other develop-
ing library systems coping better with their grow-
ing pains? How will we know when maturity has
arrived?

These are serious questions which will not be
resolved overnight. Conflicting answers to them
abound. Is the emphasis on exhaustiveness per-
haps too idealistic, too impractical? Might other
systems be purchased and integrated with BIS?
Do we need to do all the development by our-
Selves? Will TRLN become outmoded, overtaken
by the strength and resources of OCLC and its
LS2000 system or some other competitor?

In its thirteenth year, TRLN is in a state of
profound transition. But much serious considera-
tion is being given to these issues, and that in itself
is a sign of vigor and health. As Socrates pro-
Claims in PlatoTs Apology, the unexamined life is

not worth living. TRLN is taking a long hard look
at its accomplishments and its objectives. The
answers will be found.

TRLN and its frequently indistinguishable
child, the online catalog system known as BIS, is a
vast and complex organism. Sometimes it works
well; sometimes it doesnTt. BIS is a work-in-pro-
gress. If TRLN can maintain its dedication to
producing the 99.9% system it set out to achieve,
its accomplishments will truly be enviable.
Indeed, in creating the only distributed, wide-area
network library system in existence, its record is
already enviable, and the contributions TRLN has
made to the understanding of automated library
systems, their functioning and their development,
represent a significant advance in librarianship.

The basic principles that underlie the work of
TRLN are sound. Cooperation among libraries is
not simply desirable, it is essential, and coopera-
tion is at the heart of the Triangle Research
Libraries Network. The TRLN project reflects the
belief that a manTs reach should exceed his grasp;
such a proposition, however, is often painful to
live with. TRLN has not yet created, as many may
have hoped, oThe Library System of the 1980s.�
But, by continuing to attend to the fundamentals
of librarianship, the system will evolve and adapt
to the future, and, indeed, can lead the way there.

References

1. Joe A. Hewitt, oCooperative Collection Development Pro-
grams of the Triangle Research Libraries Network�, Resource
Sharing and Information Networks 2, 3-4 (Spring/Summer
1985): 140.

2. Ibid., 143-44.

3. Unless otherwise noted, the details of the development of
TRLN projects and systems from 1976 to 1983 are taken from
the text of an unpublished speech by Joe A. Hewitt entitled
oTRLNTs History and Prospects,� which was delivered on March
23, 1983 at the National Humanities Center to participants from
all three TRLN universities. Some of this information is available
in an abbreviated form in Gary D. Byrd, et. al., oThe Evolution of
a Cooperative Online Catalog,� Library Journal 110, 2 (Febru-
ary 1, 1985): 71-77.

4. For a thorough discussion of the work of this Task Force and
the TRLN Cataloging Policy Committee in establishing specifica-
tions for the holdings statement, see Arnold Hirshon, oConsider-
ations in the Creation of a Holdings Record Structure for an
Online Catalog, Library Resources and Technical Servies 28, 1
(January-March, 1984): 25-40.

5. See Jeanne Sawyer, oAn Archive Tape Processing System for
the Triangle Research Libraries Network,� Library Resources
and Technical Services 26, 4 (October-December 1982): 362-69.
6. Byrd, et al., 72.

7. Information on the development of TRLN from 1984 onward
comes largely from the unpublished Annual Reports of Jeanne
Sawyer, TRLN Director from 1985 until 1988. wr
8. Hewitt, oTRLNTs History and Prospects.� C l

Spring 1989"51

North Carolina Books

Robert Anthony, Compiler

Stephen E. Massengill and Robert M. Topkins. A
North Carolina Postcard Album. 1905-1925.
Raleigh: Division of Archives and History, North
Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1988.
172 pp. $55.00. ISBN 0-86526-236-5.

Postcards have a long history. They were
introduced in Austria in 1869, and the United
States government issued official postcards in
1873. The year 1898, however, marks a major
milestone. Government legislation for the first
time permitted private companies to issue cards
that could be mailed for one cent, half the first-
class rate.

This single development had explosive results.
Large companies were formed to produce cards,
but, perhaps more importantly, many small
companies as well as private individuals got into
the act. Eastman Kodak introduced photographic
paper in the postcard format that could be
printed from negatives exposed in its two-dollar
camera. Amateurs loved it. An additional stimu-
lus came in 1907 when the government allowed
handwritten messages on half of the address side
of a card. It is estimated that from 1907 to 1914
perhaps a billion postcards were produced. This
was the heydey of the medium.

The second-class postcard does not often get
first-class treatment. In A North Carolina Post-
card Album, 1905-1925, Stephen Massengill and
Robert Topkins have attempted just that. The
format of this hardbound volume is large. Page
size is eleven by fourteen inches, definitely coffee-
table material. It has a table of contents as well as
an index. The real story of this book, however, is
the picture postcards, all 520 of them.

Categorizing a large and diverse group of
images is no small task. The authors came up with
a dozen divisions that constitute the arrangement
of the postcards"(1) Cities, (2) Small Towns,
(8) Transportation, (4) Agriculture, Industry,
Business, and Commerce, (5) Education and
Religion, (6) Social Life and Popular Diversions,
(7) Hotels and Inns, (8) Parades and Public
Gatherings, (9) Mishaps, Fires, and Floods,
(10) Novelties, (11) County Courthouses, and

52"Spring 1989

(12) Everyday Life. This arrangement allows the
reader to start anywhere in the book with equal
ease.

Commercially produced postcards usually
present sanitized scenes"pristine landscapes,
prosperous and bustling cities, streetcars, trains,
automobiles, and thoroughfares without a rut or
pothole in sight. Fortunately for us, the farther
postcard makers were from major cities, the less
attention they paid to such details.

A North Carolina Postcard Album, 1905-
1925, gives a real cross section of life in the state
from places such as Waynesville in the west to
Winterville in the east. Exotic-sounding names
like Hotel Zinzendorf (Winston-Salem) or Niagara
(Moore County) evoke thoughts of places far
away. The diversity of subjects depicted is sure to
keep the readerTs mind from wandering. There are
fires, floods, fish markets, hardware stores, textile
mills, academies, orphanages, baptisms, county
fairs, chain gangs, circus parades, picnics, beach
trips, tobacco warehouses, and the cotton patch.
Do you remember how grand our train stations
once looked? It is all here and more.

Stephen E. Massengill and Robert M. Topkins,
both employees with the North Carolina Division
of Archives and History, are avid postcard collec-
tors. This volume was surely their labor of love. It
was years in production, and their search for
images led them to diverse collections both public
and private. Photographic reproductions are of
good quality, images are well identified, and
layout is uncluttered. The book is an attractive
work and should appeal to libraries with state
and local history collections.

Much can be said for supplementing printed
history with the photographic record. A North
Carolina Postcard Album, 1905-1925, along with
H.G. JonesT North Carolina Illustrated, 1524-
1984, are books of choice in this category. It is
difficult to see how this volume can be eclipsed on
the subject of North Carolina postcards. Perhaps
that will be of some consolation to those who pay
its $55.00 price.

Jerry Cotten, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Laurence Naumoff. The Night of the Weeping
Women. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1988.
239 pp. $16.95. ISBN 0-87113-187-0.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once compared bitter fam-
ily quarrels to osplits in the skin that wonTt heal
because thereTs not enough material.� Sometimes
the deep psychic wounds that result are infected
long before there is any visible sign of pain or dis-
tress. Within the insular vacuum of family life
some members may cling to their private suffering
as a drowning man to a lifeline, and this may go
on for years because it is their only contact with
reality. But when the charade of Beaver Cleaver-
like order can no longer be maintained within the
household, all the ruined visions and past betray-
als may rise as one. Laurence Naumoffs unset-
tling first novel, The Night of the Weeping
Women, unfolds just as the carnage begins.

The civilized world lived in houses.
Within the houses the most uncivilized
things took place. Family members ate into
each other. They cut each other up and then
ate from the leftover torsos with forks, all
the while ignoring the screams of the chil-
dren who knew they were next.

This passage accurately reflects the hostility
and deep resentment that has broken the spirit
and stability of the ocivilized� Neal family. Ervin
and Margaret no longer live with their daughter
Sally, who has married; yet the motions and ritu-
als of familial duty are still observed with a grim
inevitability, as if walking through a minefield.
Thanksgiving and Christmas, times of together-
ness, each year approach like harbingers of doom.
This is a family where closeness is repugnant,
where each memberTs mere presence becomes an
unspoken, savage condemnation against the
other.

Clearly these people have a dark history, and
Naumoff examines the Neals, and to some extent
their in-laws, in tight, unsparing closeup, in a
language both lyrical and ferociously precise. It is
at times an uncomfortable reading experience"
these people are our neighbors (maybe our-
selves). Almost the entire action occurs during
the oseason to be jolly,� when that minefield begins
to explode. Naumoff divides our attention equally
between enemy camps (outside Chapel Hill and
Wilmington), as husband and wife, parents and
child square off with some of the wickedest,
darkly comic dialogue in recent memory. It all
culminates in a nighttime battle royal, when all
the unwelcome, ugly secrets from the past emerge
like poisonous mushrooms.

A native of Charlotte, Naumoff writes know-
ingly of a region and its inhabitants that readers

North Carolina Books

in public libraries will recognize. This story of col-
lective family guilt, however, has profound uni-
versal elements. He is a writer to watch closely.

Sam Shapiro, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg
County

Hugh M. Morton and Edwaré L. Rankin, Jr. Mak-
ing a Difference in North Carolina. Raleigh:
Lightworks, 1988. 319 pp. $39.95. ISBN 0-942399-
06-4.

It contains extensive text and 400 photo-
graphs, measures ten by fourteen inches, weighs
six and a quarter pounds, and concludes with an
index reading like a WhoTs Who of North Carolina
during the past half century. Most of all, this huge
book is literally Making a Difference in North
Carolina.

Hugh Morton, whose family is noted for its
development and promotion of natural and his-
torical attractions on the coast and in the moun-
tains, was only thirteen when he sold his first
photograph for publication. In the subsequent
fifty-four years, he has attained the uncontested if
unofficial title of Photographer Laureate of North
Carolina, and his enormous collection of nega-
tives is the stateTs most important single photo-
graphic resource for the middle quarters of the
twentieth century. But Morton is more than a
recorder of events; he has also been a major par-
ticipant in both governmental and _ private
enterprise promoting North Carolina.

Morton alone could have produced a book of
significance, but what makes the difference in this
work is his collaboration with another versatile
Tar Heel whose strength has been the pen rather
than the camera. Edward L. Rankin, Jr., was a
newsman before becoming a confidante of and
administrator for three governors (Umstead,
Hodges, and Moore). In those capacities and in his
later years in the private sector, Rankin has been
associated with Morton in a variety of undertak-
ings. It is not surprising, therefore, that the two
authors appear together in several of the photo-
graphs.

Making a Difference in North Carolina,
though, is more than the personal story of two
friends, for it covers a remarkable range of per-
sonalities and events of the past half century. Its
inclusiveness is demonstrable: every gubernator-
ial administration beginning with Hoey; every U.S.
senatorial term beginning with Hoey except
EastTs; most major public events from inaugura-
tions to cultural celebrations; most nationally
known North Carolina personalities from Billy
Graham to Carbine Williams; lesser-known but

Spring 1989"53

North Carolina Books

interesting characters like David Haywood and
Joe Hartley; even the destruction wrought by
Hurricane Hazel and the controversy over the
location of the Blue Ridge Parkway. True-blue Tar
Heels, the authors naturally give disproportionate
space to the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill and its athletics, but there are also
chapters on oPeahead� Walker and Meadowlark
Lemon and coverage of oBones� McKinney, Wal-
lace Wade, Leroy Walker, Richard Petty, and other
sports figures.

One of the most poignant chapters relates
RankinTs experience during the illness and death
of Governor Umstead. Then just thirty-five years
old, the private secretary served several days as
virtually the acting governor. Another touching
chapter recounts the visit of a terminally ill black
butler from North CarolinaTs Executive Mansion,
oUncle Dave� Haywood, to the White House, where
he knelt and kissed the arm of a chair once occu-
pied by President Franklin Roosevelt.

The best surprises, however, lie in the youth-
ful faces of now-famous North Carolinians"
county commissioner Jim Martin at the unveiling
(by President Nixon) of a marker at Billy Gra-
hamTs birthplace; student Orville Campbell with
All-American George Glamack, his campaign
manager for editorship of the Daily Tar Heel;
student Louis Harris (whom Campbell defeated)
with visiting lecturer Eleanor Roosevelt; amateur
Andy Griffith playing the role of Sir Walter Raleigh
in the Lost Colony; and slim, hairy-headed
Charles Kuralt interviewing Governor Hodges in
1960.

Each reader will choose his favorite picture
story. Two probable candidates show thirty-five-
year-old Jim Hunt nursing a bear cub and a 1959
picture of actor Ronald Reagan holding MortonTs
second camera during an azalea festival in Wil-
mington. A unanimous choice is likely to be found
on page 290"struggling young reporters Ed
Rankin and Jesse Helms, roommates who shared
a single bathroom with five other men, caught by
an itinerant photographer as they strolled down
Fayetteville Street in Raleigh a few months before
Pearl Harbor.,

Here is the book of the year for those with a
very sturdy coffee table.

H.G. Jones, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Marie E. Bartlett. Trooper Down! Life and
Death on the Highway Patrol. Chapel Hill:
Algonquin Books, 1988. 215 pp. $16.95. ISBN 0-
912697-81-4.

54" Spring 1989

If the reader forms his first impression of
Trooper Down! by its title, the copy on the jacket,
and the foreword by columnist James J. Kilpatrick,
he might feel that he is in for a large dose of over-
rated sensationalism. If so, this impression will
evaporate by the time the reader reaches the
middle of the first chapter. Marie Bartlett has
produced an account of the life and work of the
North Carolina Highway Patrol which is as infor-
mative as it is moving.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Bartlett was
reared in western North Carolina. As a freelance
writer and Associated Press correspondent, she
has published hundreds of articles in magazines
and newspapers. Trooper Down! is her first book
and began as a series of newspaper feature arti-
cles. Law enforcement and criminology are her
special interests"she is currently working toward
a degree in criminal justice, writing a novel about
an international child-snatching ring, and serving
as magistrate in her county. During her research
for this book, she rode along on patrols, had
access to the campus of the Highway Patrol Train-
ing Center in Garner, N.C. and interviewed dozens
of troopers and trooper family members.

Large portions of Trooper Down! are written
in troopersT own words with very little commen-
tary from the author. It is largely through this
technique that she succeeds in humanizing the
men and women who are to most drivers anon-
ymous and adversarial authority figures. She
allows the troopers to speak to their readers
about their rigorous training, the stresses on their
personal and family lives, the temptations of the
job, the boredom, and the always present dangers
they face. The frustrations of the job range from
the petty aggravation of not getting the new
cruiser to the heartbreak of working for hours to
free the one surviving child in a family car
crushed under an overturned bus.

The lighter side of the job gets its turn as
well"an injured drunk driver escapes on foot
wearing a hospital gown, an elderly speeder
explains she had never driven on high-test gas
before, and a backseat assailant turns out to be
an alarmed pet chimp.

But the constant threat of danger and the
dedication and professionalism of the officers
who meet that threat daily is the thread that
unites Trooper Down! Bartlett opens the book
with the wounding of one trooper on a traffic stop
and concludes with the 1985 killings of three oth-
ers. In each case she describes in detail the officer,
his family and career, and the grueling police
work needed to bring in the assailants. The sense-
lessness and brutality of the attacks make for

hard reading.

Trooper Down! might best be described as an
oral history of an institution which is widely taken
for granted. There is no index or bibliography, but
a number of black and white photographs add to
the immediacy of the book. No one who has driven
North CarolinaTs back roads and interstates can
read it without the uneasy sensation of having
unwittingly passed through scenes of crime and
tragedy and human drama. Trooper Down! is a
remarkable book, strongly recommended for pub-
lic libraries and driver education courses.

Dorothy Davis, New Hanover County Public Library

John Ehle. Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of
the Cherokee Nation. New York: Anchor Press/
Doubleday, 1988. 424 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-385-
23953-X.

In 1984 North Point, a small press in San
Francisco, had the surprise hit of the publishing
season. Son of the Morning Star, Evan S. ConnellTs
account of the obliteration of General George
CusterTs Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little
Bighorn, rose to the top of the bestseller lists. The
story of the oLast Stand� and the fateful day of
June 26, 1876, had been often told, but never with
the style and sense of drama that Connell dis-
played. Now Doubleday and John Ehle have taken
upon themselves the task of telling the story of
the Cherokees, up through their removal from
their homelands in 1838 by the federal govern-
ment, in a single volume. The two books, upon
initial examination, have much in common. Con-
nell and Ehle are both successful writers in mid-
career. Each has written nonfiction, but both are
best known for their novels. Even the book covers
and design are almost identical.

Ehle (as well as his editor Marshall DeBruhl)
grew up in Asheville. Among his works of non-
fiction is The Free Men, an account of the civil rights
movement in Chapel Hill twenty-five years ago.
His novel The Winter People, set in western North
Carolina, was especially well received and was the
basis for a motion picture. For this latest book
Ehle turned to the published works of historians
such as William G. McLoughlin and Duane H. King.
From his notes and bibliography it is clear that he
relied heavily upon their studies.

The special skills that one expects a writer
such as Ehle to bring to the history of the Chero-
kee Nation are an aptitude for storytelling and a
felicitous use of the language. The entire book is
laid out as a series of episodes, and a few inci-
dents, such as the visit of a Cherokee delegation

North Carolina Books

to Washington in 1819, do stand out. Extended
portrayals of leaders such as Sequoyah, Major
Ridge, and John Ross, are meticulously detailed
and well drawn. But, too often, the author disap-
points or confounds. Events rush by, with a host
of characters appearing onstage for but a
moment, allowing for little sense of continuity.
Tenses shift and the voice of the narrator at times
becomes that of one of the participants. Docu-
ments up to four printed pages in length are
quoted in their entirety where the space could
have been better used to fix their context and
consequences. The prose, though at times ap-
propriately dramatic, is as often ill chosen. Thus,
othe river ran red� and odiarrhea and dysentery
were gut-twisting in the camps.� All of this makes
for a narrative that is difficult to follow and less
likely to be appreciated.

This is unfortunate, for the story of the Cher-
okees, their leaders, their capital at New Echota,
the broken treaties, and the oTrail of Tears� is one
as full of hope, dashed dreams, and palpable
tragedy as any in American history. No doubt the
book could have benefited from an editorTs heav-
ier hand, but it is possible that any attempt to
cover so much in a single book is bound to fail.
Whereas Connell could focus on the events of a
single day, Ehle assumed a greater challenge. He is
to be commended for the attempt, but the reader
is advised to search the ever-increasing list of
books on Cherokee history for another introduc-
tion to the subject.

Michael Hill, North Carolina Division of Archives and History

Other Publications of Interest

Records of the Executive Council, 1735-
1754, volume eight of The Colonial Records of
North Carolina [Second Series], has recently
been released by the Historical Publications Sec-
tion of the North Carolina Division of Archives
and History (109 East Jones Street, Raleigh, 27611,
ISBN 0-86526-251-9, $45.00 plus $3.00 postage
and handling). The volume presents minutes and
offical papers of the royal executive council, the
key institution of central government in the col-
ony. The council, composed of twelve men,
advised the governor and had to concur in many
of his more important executive actions. This 723-
page volume, edited by Robert J. Cain, includes a
lengthy introduction that sets the political, social,
and economic scene in the colony and a detailed
176-page index to all individuals mentioned as
well as to subjects.

Spring 1989"55

North Carolina Books

The University of North Carolina Press has
issued a paperback edition of North Carolina: A
History, by William S. Powell. First published in
1978, the book offers a concise history of the state
for the general reader. A new preface and con-
cluding chapter bring the story into the 1980s. A
oSuggestions for Further Reading� section and an

index are also included, although illustrations are
limited to two maps. (ISBN 0-8078-4219-2, $8.95,
paper, 231 pp.)

In Strengthened by the Storm: The Coming
of the Mormons to Harkers Island, North
Carolina, 1897-1909, author Joel G. Hancock
chronicles the struggles of members of the
Church of Latter-day Saints to win tolerance and
acceptance in one small coastal North Carolina
community. He recounts a story of prejudice and
violence encountered, but also one of eventual
triumph. Although focused on Harkers Island,
Strengthened by the Storm offers a glimpse of
lifestyles and attitudes among turn-of-the-cen-
tury coastal Carolinians. (Campbell and Camp-
bell, Publishers, 710 Arendell Street, Morehead
City, N.C., 28557-4259, ISBN 0-922005-001, $19.95,
cloth, 168 pp.)

The Courthouses of North Carolina and
Tales That Whisper in the Stone celebrates those
buildings where Tar Heels most often see their
laws administered. Each of the stateTs 100 county
courthouses currently in use is pictured in a
black-and-white photograph and, for some coun-
ties, prior court buildings are also shown. For
each courthouse, a short historical note gives
information such as date of construction, archi-
tect, cost, and fate of earlier structures. Brief
accounts of several of the stateTs legendary trials
precede the photographic section. Both text and
photographs are by Charles Heatherly. (Harrison
Company, Publishers, P.O. Box 7500, Norcross,
Ga., 30091-7500, ISBN 0-910694-03-6, $29.95,
cloth, 207 pp.)

In 1831, the first branch of the United States
Mint opened at Charlotte to coin gold mined in
the southeastern U.S. Except for a brief closing
because of fire, it operated until the Civil War. In
1869 it reopened, although functioning as an
assay office only, finally ceasing all operations in
1913. Today the building houses the Mint
Museum of Art. The story of the mint is told in
detail in The United States Branch Mint at Char-
lotte, North Carolina: Its History and Coinage,
by Clair M. Birdsall. In addition to this historical
text there are charts and statistics on gold
received and coinage issued and color illustra-
tions of coins minted. The book also includes
index and bibliography. (Southern Historical

56"Spring 1989

Press, P.O. Box 738, Easley, S.C., 29641-0738, ISBN
0-89308-629-0, $30.00, cloth, 123 pp.)

In Murder in the Carolinas, Nancy Rhyne
presents popularly written accounts of thirteen
notorious homicides that took place in the Caro-
linas (six in North Carolina and seven in South
Carolina). The earliest crime occurred in 1803,
the latest in 1985. Rhyne describes the murder
and any resulting legal trial. In some cases the
perpetrators were brought to justice; in others,
the apparent murderer escaped punishment. The
North Carolina killings include the 1932 death of
Zachary Smith Reynolds and the Klenner-Lynch
murders/suicide in 1985. (John F. Blair, Pub-
lisher, ISBN 0-89587-063-0, $7.95, paper, 166 pp.)

The restless dead, some of them victims of
violence and some of accidental tragedies, frighten
and perplex the living in Mountain Ghost Stories
and Curious Tales of Western North Carolina,
by Randy Russell and Janet Barnett (John F.
Blair, Publisher, ISBN 0-89587-064-9, $8.95, cloth,
109 pp.). This collection of eighteen stories relates
legends and tales of mysterious sights and sounds
and of unexplained natural phenomena from the
Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains regions of the
Tar Heel state. Some, such as the legend of the
Brown Mountain Lights, will probably be familiar
to most readers, but others may be new.

Candidates for NCLA Offices
for the 1989-1991 Biennium
NCLA Nominating Committee Report

Janet L. Freeman, Vice President
(President-Elect)

Present Position
College Librarian, Meredith
College, Raleigh

Education

M.LS., Peabody College of
Vanderbilt University

B.A., University of North
Carolina at Greensboro

Professional Memberships
and Activities

NCLA, 1975-

NCLA, College and Univer-
sity Section, Secretary/
Treasurer, 1979-81

NCLA, Nominating Com-
mittee, 1980-82

NCLA, Biennial Conference
Local Arrangements Com-

mittee, 1985

NCLA, Executive Board, Director, 1987-89

ALA, 1975-

ACRL, Chapters Council, N.C. Representative, 1979-81

SELA, 1971-

SELA, Southern Books Competition Committee, Chair, 1984-
1988

Capitol Area Library Association, Executive Committee, 1984-

Metrolina Library Association, 1975-84

North Carolina Center for Independent Higher Education, Li-
brary Purchasing Committee, 1982-

Southern Baptist Library Association, Executive Secretary, 1988-

Beta Phi Mu

Delta Kappa Gamma

Benjamin F. Speller, Jr., Vice President
(President-Elect)

Present Position

Dean and Professor, School
of Library and Information
Sciences, North Carolina
Central University, Durham

Education

Ph.D., Library and Informa-
tion Science, Indiana Uni-
versity, Bloomington, IN

M.A.T., Library Science, In-
diana University, Blooming-
ton

A.B., History, North Carolina
Central University

Professional Memberships
and Activities
Memberships:

NCLA, Resources and Technical Services Section, Director, 1967-
1969

NCLA, Library Resources Committee, Chair, 1969-1971

NCLA, Resources and Technical Services Section, Chair, 1983-
1985

American Library Association (Life Member)

ALA, Membership Committee and Membership Chair for Region
VI (Southeast)

American Society for Information Science (ASIS)

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

SELA, Library Education Section, Chair, 1985-1987

Association for Library and Information Science Education,
1975-

Durham County Library Association, President, 1977-1978,
1982-1983

National Education Association, 1973-

North Carolina Adult Education Association

North Carolina Association of Educators, Inc., 1973-

North Carolina Association for Institutional Research, President-
Elect

Indiana University Alumni Association (Life Member)

North Carolina Central University Alumni Association (Life
Member)

North Carolina Public Librarian Certification Commission, 1983-

St. JosephTs Historic Foundation, Durham, North Carolina

Awards and Honors

North Carolina State Library Science Scholarship, 1964

Distinguished Service Award from Elizabeth City State University,
1971

GovernorTs Public Service Certificate for Volunteer and Com-
munity Service in Northeastern North Carolina, 1976

President's Distinguished Service Award from NCCU SLIS
Alumni Association, 1982

Listed in WhoTs Who in America 1986-87

Louise Maxwell Award for Outstanding Achievement in Library
Science, Indiana University, 1987

Beta Phi Mu

Phi Delta Kappa

Spring 1989 "57

Candidates for NCLA Offices

Amanda R. Bible, Secretary

Present Position
Director, Columbus County
Public Library, Whiteville

Education

B.A., Eastern New Mexico

University.

M.L.S., Texas WomanTs Uni-
versity,

Additional studies at East-
ern New Mexico University,
New Mexico State Univer-
sity, University of Texas at
E] Paso, University of North
Carolina

Professional Memberships

and Activities
Memberships:
NCLA
SELA
ALA

NEA (life membership)

Past Positions:

Secretary, Border Regional Library Association, El Paso, TX

Secretary-Treasurer, Public Libraries Division, Texas Library
Association

Chairman, Adult-Young Adult Committee, Public Library Section,
NCLA

Treasurer, North Carolina Public Library Directors Association

Secretary, North Carolina Public Library Directors Association

Member, State Library Processing Center Advisory Committee

Member, State Library Audiovisual Advisory Committee

Member, Personnel Committee, Public Library Section, NCLA

Treasurer, Intellectual Freedom Roundtable, ALA

Director, Intellectual Freedom Roundtable, ALA

Member, Intellectual Freedom Committee, NCLA

Present:
Member, Intellectual Freedom Committee, NCLA

Alice Beverley Gass, Secretary

Present Position

Director of the Learning
Resource Center, Guilford
Technical Community Col-
lege, Jamestown, NC

Education

Candidate for the Doctorate
of Library Service, Columbia
University

Advanced Certificate in Li-
brarianship, Columbia, 1986

Master of Librarianship,
Emory University, 1971

Bachelor of Science, Uni-
versity of Tennessee, 1966

Professional Memberships
and Activities

American Library Asso-
ciation, Association of College and Research Libraries, Community
and Junior College Libraries Section, Reference and Adult
Services Section, College Libraries Section

58"Spring 1989

North Carolina Library Association - Currently: Community and
Junior College Libraries Section, Publications Committee, Goals
and Objectives Committee, Editorial Board of NC Libraries;
Formerly: Director of RASS, Director of Community and Junior
College Libraries Section, Representative from Community and
Junior College Libraries Section

Southeastern Library Association

North Carolina Community College Learning Resources Asso-
ciation, President, Vice President, Newsletter Editor, Secretary,
Chairperson: Priorities Committee, Planning Committee on the
Future of Learning Resources in the Community College System

Guilford Library Association, President, Vice President

American Association of Community and Junior Colleges

American Association of Women in Community and Junior
Colleges

Guilford Technical Community College Staff Association, Presi-
dent

Awards and Accomplishments

Wrote two successfully funded proposals for HEA Title II-D
document delivery project and Guilford Technical Community
College Foundation project to subsidize online searching for
students

Attended Management Development Seminar conducted by
Association of Research Libraries

William G. (Bill) Bridgman, Treasurer

Present Position
Director of Libraries, Sand-
hill Regional Library System

Education

B.A., Mercer University, 1961

M.L.S., George Peabody Col-
lege for Teachers, 1967

Ed.S., University of Georgia,
1974

Professional Memberships
and Activities

American Library Associa-
tion, Library Administra-
tion and Management
Association, Library and
Information Technology
Association, Public Library
Association (Intellectual
Freedom Committee)

Southeastern Library Association

North Carolina Library Association, NCLA Governmental Rela-
tions Committee, Past Chairman, NCLA Governmental Rela-
tions Committee, North Carolina Public Librarian Certification
Commission (Past Service)

North Carolina State Library Conimission (Past Service)

North Carolina Public Library l)irectors Association, NCPLDA
Treasurer, NCPLDA Governmenial Relations Committee

Beta Phi Mu

Secretary, Public Library Section, North Carolina Library Asso-
ciation, 1974-75

Chairman, Public Library Section, North Carolina Library Asso-
ciation, 1981-82

Chairman, Standards Committee, Public Library Section, North
Carolina Library Association, !{176-77.

Co-Chairman, Standards Committee, North Garolina Public Li-
brary Directors Association, 1987-88.

Michael J. Lacroix, Treasurer

Present Position

Director of Library Services,
Ethel K. Smith Library,
Wingate College

Education

1985-present, Doctoral stu-
dent in Library Science,
UNC-Chapel Hill

1983, M.B.A., UNC-Greens-
boro

1972, M.S.L.S., University of
Kentucky

1970, A.B., MacMurray Col-
lege

Professional Memberships
and Activities

American Library Associa-
tion, 1972 to present. Li-
brary Administration and Management Association, Library
Organization and Management Section, Financial Management
Committee: 1985-1989, Program Committee: 1986-1988. Asso-
ciation of College and Research Libraries, College Library Sec-
tion, Handbook Committee: 1986-1989. Resources and Techni-
cal Services Division, Reproduction of Library Materials Sec-
tion, Standards Committee: 1985-1987.

Southeastern Library Association, 1980 to present. University
and College Library Section, Chair, 1988-1990. SELA Executive
Board, 1988-1990.

Special Libraries Association, 1975 to present. Central Ohio
Chapter, 1977-1980. North Carolina Chapter, 1975-1977, 1980 to
present. Treasurer, 1982-1984. Sara Aull Student Paper Award
Committee, 1983 & 1988. Chair, 1988. Nominating Committee:
1983 & 1987; Chair, 1983. Awards Committee, 1988 to present.

North Carolina Library Association, 1980 to present. Honorary
and Life Membership Committee, 1982-1983. Resources and
Technical Services Section. Executive Committee, 1985-1987.
Collection Development Program Chair, 1987.

Medical Library Association, 1977-1980. Kentucky-Ohio-Michigan
Regional Conference Planning Committee, 1979-1980.

Metrolina Library Association, 1983 to present.

North Carolina Center for Independent Higher Education, Li-
brary Purchasing Committee, 1980 to present.

North Carolina Center for Independent Higher Education, Auto-
mation and Networking Advisory Committee, 1988 to present.
Piedmont Librarians Acquisitions Information Network, 1980 to

present.

Guilford Library Association, 1980-1983. President, 1982.

Microcomputer Users Group for Libraries in North Carolina,
1985 to present.



Have a question?
all the library!

Candidates for NCLA Offices

David Harrington, Director

Present Position
Director Media Services,
Rowan County Schools

Education
M.L.S., East Carolina Uni-
versity

Professional Memberships
and Activities

NCLA

NCASL

ALA

AASL

NCASCD

Legislative Representative
for NCASL, 1989-1991

AASL Affiliate Assembly
Delegate 1987-1988

Conference Planning Com-
mittee for NCASL, 1988

President of Rowan County
Literature Guild, 1988

NCLA Executive Board, Treasurer 1979-81

James R. Jarrell, Director

Present Position

Head, Technical Services
Division, F.D. Bluford Li-
brary, North Carolina A&T
State University, Greens-
boro, NC

Education

M.S.LS., Atlanta University

BS., Winston-Salem Teachers
College

Mellon-ACRL Intern, 1974-
1975

Professional Memberships
and Activities

Guilford Library Association
(President, Treasurer, and
Chair, Nominating Commit-
tee);

North Carolina Library Asso-
ciation (Chair, Library Resources Committee, Secretary, College/
University Section, Nominating Committee, and Director,
Roundtable for Ethnic Minority Concerns);

American Library Association (Member, National Library Week
Committee and Curriculum Materials Committee)

.

Spring 1989"59

Candidates for NCLA Offices

Willie Nelms, Director

Present Position

Director of Libraries, Shep-
phard Memorial Library,
Greenville, NC

Education

B.A. (History), Old Domin-
ion University, Norfolk, VA,
1971

M.A. (History), University of
Kentucky, 1973

MS.L.S., University of Ken-
tucky, 1974

Professional Memberships
and Activities

Member: Advisory Committee
for Library Services and
Construction Act Funds,
State Library, 1984-1985

Chairman, N.C. State Processing Center Advisory Committee,
1985-1987

Vice Chairman, Southwest Virginia District, Virginia Library
Association, 1979; Chairman, 1980

Member: American Library Association, Southeastern Library
Association, North Carolina Library Association, North Carolina
Public Library Directors Association

Founder & Chair, Pitt County Library League

Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, Director

Present Position

Associate Library Director,
Forsyth County Public Li-
brary

Education

B.S., Winston-Salem State
University, Winston-Salem,
NC

M.LS., Atlanta University,
Atlanta, GA

Professional Memberships
and Activities

American Library Associa-
tion, Office for Library Out-
reach Services Advisory
Committee, 1988-1990;
Black Caucus, 1981-

Public Library Association,
Conference Program Coordinating Committee, 1985-87

Southeastern Library Association, Public Library Section, Secre-
tary, 1988-90

North Carolina Library Association, NCLA Recruitment Com-
mittee, Chair, 1987-89; Minority Recruitment Task Force, 1989;
Public Library Section - Trustees/Friends Committee, Chair,
1988-89; Roundtable for Ethnic Minority Concerns, Chair, 1985-
87; Editorial Staff, N.C. Libraries, 1983-1985; Advisory Council
N.C. Library Services & Construction Act, 1981-83

Sian |
we

Forsyth County Library Association, Director, 1984-85; News-
letter Editor 1983-87

Publications:

oThe Black Experience . . . Twenty-Six Adventures in Reading
(with Satia Orange), North Carolina Libraries (Fall 1984)

oAre Ethnic Minority Public Librarians Becoming an Endangered
Species?� (with Myra Worrell), North Carolina Libraries

(Spring, 1987)

Awards & Accomplishments
Annette Lewis Phinazee Award, 1986
WhoTs Who of American Women 1983-84

Nelda G. Caddell, ALA Representative

Present Position

Regional Coordinator, Media
and Technology Services,
South Central Regional
Education Center

Education

M.L.S., East Carolina Univer-
sity

B.S., East Carolina University

Professional Memberships
and Activities

NCLA, 1977-

NCLA, Intellectual Freedom
Committee, 1977-

NCLA, Services to Special
Populations Committee,
Chair, 1987-1889

ALA, 1985-

NC ASCD, Region IV Membership Committee, Chair, 1988-1989

NC EMA, 1977-

NC EMA, Board of Directors, 1987-1988

Patricia A. Langelier, ALA Representative

Present Position
International/State Docu-
ments Librarian

Education

A.B., Boston State College,
1975

M.S.L.S., University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1979

Professional Memberships
and Activities

American Library Associa-
tion, GODORT

NCLA Documents Section
United Nations Association
of the USA

Member, State Library De-
pository System Advisory
Board

Past Chair, NCLA Docu-
ments Section

National Library Week
April 9-15 _

60"Spring 1989

Candidates for NCASL Offices
for the 1989-1991 Biennium
NCASL Nominating Committee Report

Nona Pryor, Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect

Current Position
Media Coordinator, Randle-
man High School

Education

B.A. - Elementary Education,
UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Ashe-
ville

M.LS. - UNC-Greensboro

Curriculum Instructional
Specialist I - UNC-Greens-
boro

Mentor

Professional Activities
Randolph-Asheboro Media
Association, Co-founded
organization (1981), Past
Vice-President/President

(1981-1985)

UNC-G LS/ET Alumni Association, Committees - Scholarship

(1980), Program (1981), Past Vice-President/President (1986-

1987)

Micro - 5

NAPPS (National Association for Preservation and Perpetuation
of Storytelling)

Phi Delta Kappa

NC High School Library Association, District Director, Historian

NCLA

NCASL, Exhibits Chair, 1982 Work Conference; Media Fair Chair,
1984 Work Conference; School Library Media Day Committee,
1983-1986; School Library Media Day Chair, 1986-Current

ALA

AASL, School Library Media Month Committee, 1986-Current

Publications
On Matters of Media (co-authored this continuum of media
skills), Randolph County Schools, 1978

Awards and Accomplishments

Completed Mentor and TPAS (Teacher Performance and Ap-
praisal System) training, and taught TET (Teacher Effective-
ness Training) workshops. (1986-1987)

Presented oTeaching Research Skills in the High School� at AASL,
Minneapolis, Minnesota. (9/86)

Exhibited oLighten the Load: Let the Computer Do It� in
Successful Practices at ALA, New York. (6/86)

Chaired Film Selection Committee for Randolph County Schools.
Weeded and updated system collection, revised circulation pro-
cedures. (1985-Current)

Served as consultant on using computers in media center
management for various school systems and at UNC-CH.
(1985-1986)

Participated on SLMD Committee for NCASL which won Grolier
Award, ALA, Dallas. (1984)

Demonstrated computer uses at first statewide Micro-5 Con-
ference. (1984)

RHS cited as one of six oExemplary Media Programs� in the
Southeast during U. of Arkansas doctoral study. (1981)

Designed and taught in-service courses for RHS/Randolph
County personnel. (1981-Current)

Named RHS Teacher of the Year. (1978)

Gayle Keresey, Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect

Current Position
Media Coordinator, East
Arcadia School, Bladen
County Schools

Education

M.A.L.S., University of Ken-
tucky, Lexington, KY

A.B., Miami University,
Oxford, OH

Professional Activities

NCLA Intellectual Freedom
Committee

NCASL Executive Commit-
tee, 1983-1985

ALA

AASL/SIRS Intellectual
Freedom Award Selection
Committee, Chair

AASL AffiliatesT Assembly Delegate, 1984

YASD Program Planning Clearinghouse and Evaluation Com-
mittee, Chair .

YASD Board of Directors, 1985-1988

YASD Intellectual Freedom Committee, Chair, 1981-1985

ALSC Filmstrip Evaluation Committee, 1983-1987

Kentucky School Media Association, Executive Board, 1977-1978

Keynote Speaker for Virginia Library Association Intellectual
Freedom Committee and ChildrenTs and Young Adult Round
Table, 1984

Keynote Speaker for Tennessee Education Association, School
Library Media Section, 1982

Freedom to Read Foundation

National Education Association

North Carolina Association of Educators

Awards and Accomplishments

1987 AASL/SIRS Intellectual Freedom Award

1981 ALA/Junior Members Round Table Shirley Olofson Award

Reviewer for School Library Journal, School Library Media
Quarterly, Journal of Youth Services in Libraries, Voice of
Youth Advocates

Spring 1989"61

Candidates for NCASL Offices

Susan S. Cannady, Secretary

Current Position

Media Coordinator, Grimsley
High School, Greensboro

Education

M.LS. University of North
Carolina at Greensboro
B.A., University of North
Carolina at Greensboro

Professional Activities
NCLA

NCASL, Membership Com-
mittee

ALA

AASL

Greensboro Association of
School Librarians, Co-
Chairman of Organization
and Bylaws Committee

Guilford Library Association

NEA

NCAE

Delta Kappa Gamma, Secretary 1986-1988, Finance Committee,
Membership Committee

UNC-G Library Science Alumni Association

Bettye N. Woodburn, Secretary

Current Position

Media Coordinator, Walker-
town Middle School,
Winston-Salem/Forsyth
County Schools

Education

M.L.S., University of North
Carolina at Greensboro

B.A., North Carolina Central
University

Professional Activities

NCASL :

NCEMA

Forsyth School Media Asso-
ciation, Public Relations
Chairperson

National Education Asso-
ciation

North Carolina Association of Educators

Forsyth Association of Classroom Teachers

Awards and Accomplishments
Educator of the Year, Walkertown Middle School, 1981
Delta Sigma Theta

go for it!
use your library

62"Spring 1989

Elizabeth M. Pitts, Treasurer

Current Position
Media Coordinator at Jones
Magnet School, Greensboro

Education

M.L.S., University of North
Carolina at Greensboro

BS., State University of New
York at Plattsburgh

= , Professional Activities
"S j ALA

ALSC

Southeastern Library Asso-
Treasurer 1981-82
Greensboro Association of School Librarians, Public

ciation
NCLA, Local Arrangements,
Relations, Central Services Committee
NEA

Standards Committee,
Media Fair, Chair 1988

NCAE

IRA

Guilford Library Association,

Awards and Accomplishments

NCASL Media Coordinator of the Year, 1988

Nominee for Terry Sanford Award at Jones School, 1981-82

Nominee for Teacher of the Year, Jones School, 1985

Nominee for Ben L. Smith, Outstanding Young Educator, 1987

Alpha Delta Kappa, Historian, Corresponding Secretary

Secured Funding outside the school for visits of Author/Illustra-
tor Steven Kellogg and Mare Brown

Fred E. Trantham, Jr., Treasurer

Current Position
Director of Educational

Media, Haywood County
Schools

Education

Ed.S., Western Carolina
University

M.A. Ed., Western Carolina
University

B.S. Ed., Western Carolina
University

Professional Activities/
Accomplishments

NCASL

Phi Delta Kappa

NCASCD

IRA

NCEMA

NCASL, Planning Committee for NCASL Pre-Conference

Haywood County Library Association

NCAE, Treasurer, Vice-President, President-Elect, Haywood
County

PTA Secretary, North Canton School

Effective Teacher Trainer

NC Teaching Fellows Selection Committee