Fiscal Year 1995 Cost of Library Services To: "DC - All District Chiefs", "B - Branch Chiefs and Offices" cc: "A - Division Chief and Staff", "Alice C Dilandro, Secretary (S), Reston, VA" , "Sandra E Mitrani, Secretary, Reston, VA" Subject: Fiscal Year 1995 Cost of Library Operations Date: Mon, 06 Nov 1995 10:18:53 -0500 From: "Catherine L Hill, ACH/Operations, Reston, VA" In Reply Refer To: Mail Stop 441 MEMORANDUM November 6, 1995 To: District Chiefs Branch Chiefs From: Catherine L. Hill Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Operations Subject: Fiscal Year 1995 Cost of Library Services RESPONSE REQUESTED BY NOVEMBER 22, 1995 In September, the Director announced the formation of the Library Issues Team to identify issues involving library services throughout the U.S. Geological Survey. We have been asked by the team as part of their fact-finding activities to determine the cost of providing library services within Water Resources Division. Similar requests are being made in Geologic Division and National Mapping Division. The team developed a definition of library services to better understand the scope of its responsibilities. That definition is attached. The entities that fit the definition are those for which data is needed. Office collections are excluded from the definition, but if an office collection has evolved into having any staff time spent organizing materials and providing service, then the office collection has become a library and needs to be counted. Note "staff" need not be a trained librarian, need not be full time, and can even be consistent volunteer time. There is no intent to capture the cost of every book or periodical subscription that is part of an office collection. The attached table of library services itemizes the areas of cost information that the team would like to gather. Please send your responses or questions regarding this data request to Jurate Landwehr (703-648-5893 or jmlandwe@usgs.gov). The team will appreciate receiving these data by November 22. Copy to: Senior Staff 2 Attachments Attachment 1 Definition of library being used by the Library Issues Team (adopted from American Library Association Glossary, 1982): Library -- a collection of materials organized to provide physical, bibliographic, and intellectual access to a target group, with a staff that is trained to provide services and programs related to the information needs of a target group. Library, therefore, includes three elements: o an organized collection of materials, o some level of staffing, and o provision of at least a minimum level of library service. Basic library services include acquisition of materials for the library, organization of materials in the library, dissemination of information, and interaction between the library staff and customers. Using this definition, the "libraries" of many WRD Districts would be described as "office collections." Attachment 2 Library Issues Team Information Request 1. District 2. Name, title, phone, and e-mail address of district contact on library service issues. 3. From where does the district primarily get library services? (Check off all applicable below.) YES NO _____ _____ The USGS Library? If yes, which branch: _____ _____ Reston Branch? _____ _____ Denver Branch? _____ _____ Flagstaff Branch? _____ _____ Menlo Park Branch? _____ _____ Internal district library? _____ _____ Through another WRD district? If yes, which district? _____ _____ Other Federal Agency? _____ _____ Through Academic Libraries? _____ _____ Other? Identify. 4. If the district provides internally its own library services: a. How much staff time is assigned specifically to satisfy library needs? ____ b. What is the approximate annual cost for: __________salaries and benefits __________books and periodicals __________other, including space c. How is it paid for? _____Overhead _____Charges to non-district staff _____Charges to non-USGS staff _____Other d. Does the library staff obtain information and materials from outside sources in response to customer needs, such as contacting the USGS library on behalf of district staff, or participating in OCLC, or providing searches of commercial databases? 5. Does the library staff respond to general information requests and/ or provide USGS publications to persons from outside USGS. If so, what percent of their time is spent answering outside requests? Thank you for your time. *************************************************** * Cathy Hill * * Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Operations * * U.S. Geological Survey * * 441 National Center * * Reston, VA 22092 * * Phone: (703) 648-5031 * * Fax: (703) 648-5295 * ***************************************************