| Fall, 1998 |
California State University Fullerton Library Update |
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| AVCMC Update |
Welcome to another new semester. As with all semesters, this one has its special features which contribute to making it memorable. First, we are quite close to exceeding the high-water mark of student enrollment set in Fall 1990 (we will know for certain after the enrollment census date). Along with the rest of the campus, the Library feels the pressure from this growing demand for access to a quality educational experience. If anyone doubts there are more bodies moving around campus, stand and watch the traffic in the Library's atrium mid-mornings! A statistical reflection of this dynamic is the number of requests our library faculty have received from other teaching faculty for instruction sessions in the use of the Library's resources. Last Fall Semester we conducted 248 such sessions; this semester we have already received 275 requests and, thus, we will exceed our previous record by a sizable margin. In part this reflects the greater number of students on campus. However, the number of instruction requests has been growing steadily since the opening of Library-North two years ago, and I believe the improved physical facilities and a rapidly evolving electronic information environment are the major contributors to this growth. Whatever the cause, librarians who respond to questions at our service points see the benefit in improved student understanding of how to maximize use of information resources in completing class assignments. And, of course, we all hope that the information competency skills acquired at CSUF will have immediate as well as long-lasting value in the "real" world. The second special feature of this semester is one that will give formal recognition to two major Library and University donors. At an October 22 ceremony, the University Library will be renamed the Paulina June and George Pollak Library in recognition of a major gift, the purpose of which is to provide an endowment for library materials. This celebration will also mark the kick-off of a CSUF Emeriti campaign to attract additional gifts in support of library materials. The Library counts itself most fortunate to be the beneficiary of the Pollak's continued generosity. The Salz-Pollak Room was so named several years ago in recognition of an earlier gift. This space adjacent to the Library's Atrium is currently in use as the Studio Classroom, but will revert to general library use with completion in January of two new studio classrooms on the second floor of Library-South. Elsewhere in this issue is new information relating to the still ongoing seismic work on Library-South. It seems to all of us who work in that structure and to many of our users that the Library has been a large construction site for the past five years. The end really is in sight, and although a variety of factors make it difficult to assign a precise date to completion of all construction and the ensuing physical movement of people and materials, it seems safe to say that a new "normalcy" will have been attained before the end of this millennium. Actually, if matters progress according to plan, the date will be January of 1999, but I have seen enough schedule slippage associated with our many constructions/reconstructions that I'm leaving us a margin for error and exigencies! Richard
Pollard
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