Library

Sterling assets

Not long ago, research at the campus library meant hours of sorting through titles in the computerized "card" catalog, combing the shelves for archived journals, and standing in line at the copy machine.

Times have certainly changed. Today, students can sit at one of 102 computer workstations in the DiMenna-Nyselius Library and tap into more than 130 subject databases leading to reference books and articles in nearly 24,000 journals, from Accounting Horizons to the Zimbabwe Independent. Moreover, they can conduct the same research on their own computers at any time of day or night, anywhere in the world. They can print out articles, use course reserve materials, and communicate with a reference librarian 24 hours a day.

For director of library services Joan Overfield, the beauty of DiMenna-Nyselius Library goes far beyond its appearance.

"We have taken the library beyond the library walls," says Joan Overfield, director of library services, who is leading Fairfield University into the 21st century of electronic library technology. "James Estrada (University librarian and vice president, information services) got us on our current path," she says, "and is the driving force in all this."

In her 29 years on staff, Overfield has seen the library nearly double in size, the materials budget for books, periodicals, and media grow from $104,000 to more than $1 million, and the number of librarian-taught courses increase 150 percent. Now she is guiding its evolution from a text-based system to an automated, Web-based one.

One of the best features of the library's new website is an online book catalog offering a wealth of information on the library's 320,000 volumes. Individual listings may include a summary of the book, excerpts, reviews, table of contents, author biography, and even a photograph of the cover. "Not every library has this kind of detailed content available on its books," says Overfield. "It allows our students to be much more efficient in their research."

In addition to enhancing the online book catalog, the electronic system allows the library to subscribe to a growing number of online databases, including the full-text websites for Encyclopedia Britannica and periodicals such as the New England Journal of Medicine. Five years ago, library visitors could do a subject search on a dozen CD-ROM databases and two Web-based databases. Today, the library subscribes to more than 130 online databases - from ABI/Inform, offering business news coverage of more than 60,000 public and private companies, to WORLDCAT, a global catalog of books, Web resources, and other materials. The most popular library databases are JSTOR, an electronic journal collection; Expanded Academic, a sort of sophisticated Readers' Guide; LexisNexis, covering news, law, and business; and Literature Resource Center, providing in-depth background on 2,000 of the most-studied authors.

Most of the databases are paid for by the library at a subscription cost of nearly $200,000 a year. A dozen or so are available free through iCONN, a state-sponsored project that has made information databases available to schools, libraries, and universities in Connecticut since 2000. Overfield and her staff are continually testing new products from database vendors.

The exponential increase in journal access has opened a world of research for students. "My students write seven short research papers each semester," says Dr. Katherine Kidd, director of international studies. "Five years ago, the library subscribed to a few hundred scholarly journals. Those were your options. You could order something through interlibrary loan, but it might take two or three weeks for it to come. Now my class has access to literally thousands of journals. No matter what topic they come up with, I can tell them with confidence that they can use our library to find at least three sources."

Despite all the convenience and excitement of online databases, many professors want to make sure their students don't lose sight of a fundamental resource - one that requires a trip to the library. "Books are vital and always will be," says Dr. Katherine Schwab, associate professor of art history. "While I use technology regularly in my research, there are so many advantages to having a book in hand. Not the least of these are the ability to savor an image, touch the page, and bring the book elsewhere to peruse and ponder. Those pleasures a computer cannot replace."

By Carolyn Malkin