User education tops on Baker's list

Nancy Baker

Baker, the new University librarian, started at Iowa on Aug. 15. She came from Washington State University, Pullman, where she was the director of libraries since 1991. From 1984 to 1991, she was the associate director of Libraries for Public Services, University of Washington, Seattle.

When asked how she’s adjusting to life in Iowa, she admits that an Iowa summer isn’t quite like those in Washington.

"This humidity takes some getting used to," Baker says with a smile. "But I’m very pleased to be coming into such a well-established program that’s distinguished itself nationally in the library world."

Getting out to various departments and divisions in the libraries has occupied much of her early days.

"It’s wonderful to meet people who are excited about what they do and what they want to accomplish," Baker says.

One of the library staff’s most recent accomplishments is the conversion from the libraries’ previous automated system, OASIS, to InfoHawk, which went on-line in early August.

"A huge amount of work went into this, and now I get to come in and brag about it," Baker jokes. She says that staff in the libraries and ITS logged 28,000 hours transferring information from the old system to the new.

"This new system will offer us a wonderful opportunity to move in many new, exciting directions," she says. "For example, it will give us the ability to link web sites, full text, and images to the catalog. If someone looks up a journal article and we have it available electronically, they can link to the full text directly. I think everyone will really love the system once they become familiar with it."

The library is offering a series of courses on how to navigate InfoHawk (see www.uiowa.edu/~fyi/issues2000/09082000/intro_infohawk.html), and this kind of instruction is a special passion of Baker’s.

"As libraries become more automated, user education is increasingly important," Baker says. "We’re teaching people how to use the technology and how to use these systems efficiently and effectively."

Baker says that by the time undergraduates finish their degrees, no matter what their major, they need to be able to consult electronic information resources with some level of proficiency.

"It’s important that students graduate with basic information-seeking skills—to be able to use existing systems and know how to develop the skills needed to master future information systems. That’s as important as being able to write effectively," she says.

Students also need the critical skills to assess the value of the information they find electronically.

"The Internet is the ultimate tool for self-publishing," Baker says. "That’s great in some ways, but we need to help students learn how to evaluate the material they find on-line and to understand how to choose the best sources, whether on-line or in print."

Baker feels that one of the best ways for this to happen is for students to learn to use information resources in the context of their course work.

There are challenges that come with her new position. One that Baker welcomes is the variety of interests and needs among library patrons at a large, research institution like Iowa.

"There are research scholars, teaching faculty (and the two aren’t mutually exclusive), clinical faculty, undergraduates, and our greatest user population, graduate students, in a wide range of disciplines. And because we’re a public institution, we have a responsibility to the public as well," Baker says. "With all of these different groups with different needs, it’s important to juggle them all, provide balance, and not overlook someone. Fortunately, library staff have done in-depth user-needs studies of our various user groups, and we’ll continue to make a real effort to address all these needs."

Another major challenge facing the libraries, and all of higher education, is the cost of scholarly publications and costs of maintaining up-to-date technology. This issue is especially critical in light of this year’s budgetary shortfall at the University. Baker says she’s been through a similar budgetary situation in Washington.

"You do the best you can with what you’ve got, and you do what you can to help prevent shortfalls in the future," Baker says. "It’s not ideal, but the libraries will ride it out pretty well this year. We are not canceling journals, and we were able to increase operating hours in the Main Library. I talked with some of the student leaders, and they expressed appreciation for the libraries’ increase in operating hours. This was an important priority to students, and we were able to implement that increase thanks to the student services fee. So there is a silver lining."

Article by Linzee Kull McCray