Budget, staffing and statistics for 1990:

Books $128,048

Serials $86,100

LION Catalog $35,500

OCLC $23,625

Binding $10,443

Student Assistants $42,861

Library Staff 5 Faculty and 8 para-professionals

Library Holdings 190,000 monographic volumes

Circulation 14,456

Interlibrary Loan 1644 items borrowed, 2337 items lent

The year 1990 was the first year of the implementation of the LION (Lynchburg Information Online Network) consortial public access catalog, circulation, acquisitions and materials cataloguing system. The collections of SBC, R-MWC and Lynchburg College became available via text based access. The Library also changed its classification system from the Dewey Decimal System to the more appropriate Library of Congress system. The LION system was our only electronic resource. Because there was no Library Electronic Classroom, all bibliographic instruction sessions were held at the tables in the reference room.

Lights in the open stacks were incandescent, the HVAC system was (and still is) insufficient and continues to cause mold growth during the humid summer months. The roof leaked incessantly during every rainstorm. A new roof was installed in August 2000. The HVAC equipment room on the roof leaked into the main floor whenever the drain was backed up (4 or 5 times each year). This room still leaks, most recently, January 2001 when the Physical Plant attempted to clean and seal it. Work continues on the physical structure to allow operations until renovation of the library facilities is done. The ceiling and the lighting in the Main Library building were fixed, therefore, no cables could be run above the ceiling for computers, cable television or computers. This ceiling was replaced in 2000 on two levels and has alleviated the problems somewhat. In the bulk of the building, particularly the 1927 structure, no easy access for wiring and infrastructure is available.

Budget, staffing and statistics for 2000:

Books $134,420

Serials $102,000

LION $35,500

OCLC $27,000

Binding $8,500

Student Assistants $86,000

Library Staff 5 Faculty and 5.83 para-professionals

Library Holdings 248,000 monographic volumes

Circulation 26,801

Interlibrary Loan 1821 items borrowed, 2638 items lent

In the year 2000, the Library holdings and services continued to change. Thanks to memberships in SOLINET (South Eastern Library Information Network) and the VIVA (Virtual Library of Virginia) Consortium, our students, faculty and staff have access to hundreds of academic databases that cover all of the subjects studied at the College. The consortial relationships have strengthened and offer both increased resources and extra staff training opportunities. The variety of media managed by the libraries has changed significantly and larger numbers of video, music and other electronic formats are being ordered for use by students and faculty in the curriculum. Book use has declined except in areas of leisure reading. Significant new technology has been added over the last decade including computers, video projection devices, video viewing facilities. The most recent changes include the installation of wireless computing access throughout the library and the first introduction of loaner laptop computers which helps alleviate somewhat the lack of ability to get wiring into the old building. In order to maintain the system of three branch libraries and the main library, student staffing has been increased enormously. This was done to allow staffing at all hours these facilities are open and to have uniform hours among facilities. The loss of a full time branch assistant and the reduction of the only other branch regular staff to a 10 month position causes heavy demands on other staff to cover the supervisory, scheduling and training responsibilities of managing the student workers. The existing branch staff resigned in December 2000 and a search is underway for a replacement. The position will be made full time 12 months by reducing summer staffing funds to pay for the change. Expansion of information literacy teaching and dealing with issues of the physical structure are the main areas occupying library attention. Three library faculty have teaching responsibilities, two in the Freshman Seminar program and one in the Physical Education department as a coach. Two faculty act as academic advisors.