From the Dean of the Weinberg Memorial Library

I hope this issue of Information Update finds you well. As we approach the halfway point of our five-year strategic plan and our 30th Anniversary year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on these important endeavors.

To date, the Library has made significant progress on the goals and objectives of our five-year strategic plan. We’ve enhanced our resources, services, and spaces while looking at our practices compared to trends in academic libraries and higher education. The full strategic plan and our progress updates are proudly published on the Library’s website (www.scranton.edu/library). There are far too many very worthy initiatives to mention, but I’ll try to highlight a few here.

The newly formed Task Force on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility meets regularly to review and discuss our policies and procedures. The task force’s thoughtful recommendations ensure that the Library stays laser-focused on being a welcoming place that meets the needs of our community. We’ve recently removed overdue book fines for students and revised our borrowing and book recall policies to ensure that students have the books and resources they need when they need them without having to worry about potential fines or recalls. We adopted this as part of a wider trend among libraries of all types.

I am pleased to announce that we have raised half of our 30th Anniversary mobile fundraising goal (https://www.scranton.edu/ wml30). This is a testament to the continued support of the library community and our commitment to providing resources and services of the highest quality. The funds raised to date have gone directly to meeting special student requests, including creating new study spaces such as an open student conference room, bean bag seating, and meditation chairs. I am thrilled to report that a $75,000 gift from the Friends of the Library to rededicate the Heritage Room as the Charles Kratz Scranton Heritage Room empowered us to make truly stunning renovations. The space has been updated with powered tables and improved seating, and made the room into a more flexible event space with a hidden television to allow lectures and presentations. Importantly, the majesty of the room has been preserved. The space has already become a popular destination for students looking for a quiet and peaceful place to study surrounded by natural light and fine art.

Recently, we entered into an exciting partnership with the Center for Anti-Slavery Studies to acquire a large part of their book collection. This gift from Sherman and Cindy Wooden will enhance our collection in the areas of the underground railroad and the abolition movement. The resources are of particular value and interest to our region and include important works on Black Pennsylvanians, civil rights, and the Underground Railroad in Northeast Pennsylvania. As a benefit to the Center for Anti-Slavery Studies, this fine collection will now be more accessible than ever as it becomes part of our circulating collection and can be discovered in our online catalog as the Center for Anti-Slavery Studies Collection.

After years of research and planning, the Library has signed an agreement to migrate to a new Integrated Library System (or ILS in brief) and a new catalog discovery layer. The change to a new ILS is a major undertaking for libraries and such moves are never made lightly. I am excited to share that we’ve committed to EBSCO’s Discovery Service (or EDS in brief), and we will have a new online catalog with single search functionality live over Summer 2023. The larger ILS migration, which will be mostly invisible to anyone outside the library, will move us to the FOLIO ILS and will be complete by Summer 2024. The incredible work of the ILS/Discovery Layer Exploratory Committee laid the options out very clearly and made what should have been a difficult choice as clear-cut as possible. As a testament to the quality work of the committee, the University identified EDS and the FOLIO ILS as the best choices for our community. Shortly after that decision, the Library of Congress announced that they were migrating to EDS and FOLIO as well. It’s safe to say we will be in good company when the migration is complete.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that we are in the process of hiring a Research & Instruction Librarian for Student Success. This new tenure-track librarian, who we hope to hire for the Fall 2023 semester, will be a dedicated resource for students seeking additional support in their studies. This librarian will also teach information literacy classes focused on the First Year Experience and ensuring our students have the information skills they need to succeed.

As always, I am grateful for your continued support of the Weinberg Memorial Library, and I hope you join me in looking forward to more exciting things to come.

Sincerely,

George J. Aulisio, Dean of the Weinberg Memorial Library