FACULTY
Collections, access key to library's future
Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlon Alger Professor of American History. See larger image
Ambitious doesn't begin to describe the task Kraig Adler embarked on three decades ago: writing an encyclopedic tome cataloging every single reptile and amphibian in China.
It would be the first book of its kind in any language, and Adler – who chairs Cornell's Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and co-authored the book with a visiting researcher – was sure the books and journal articles he needed as references would be impossible to find. Much of the literature originated in China, in five different languages and specialized publications like universities' tiny in-house journals. Adler worried that the literature was "unbelievably obscure."
Enter Cornell University Library.
"Cornell had what I needed, right here, almost every time," Adler says. It took him nearly 10 years to finish "Herpetology of China," but speed was still a key factor.
Kraig Adler, chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior. See larger image
"When you're writing a 522-page book … you don't want to waste time. I have no idea how much longer it would have been if I'd had to somehow track down that literature myself," Adler says. "With the library, we could have all the literature we needed right here."
Faculty members, as well as students and staff, are using Cornell's library more than ever. In 2011, the library posted its highest-ever use statistics: Physical facilities saw more than 4 million visits and digital resources were accessed more than 7 million times.
Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlon Alger Professor of American History, calls Olin Library her "second home," but the library's role in her intellectual life goes far beyond its physical presence. Some of her newest research would be impossible without the digitized materials that now serve as a cornerstone of the library's collections.
Norton's most recent book addressed public roles of women in the early 18th century, and databases of early printed documents allowed her to comb original sources for the words "public" and "private" near the words "woman" or "family." Searching electronically enabled her to prove that English speakers commonly used the terms "private" and "woman" or "family" together by the 1730s, as the concept of women's private sphere developed for the first time.
"It's ironic that someone who works in the early modern period is now so reliant on technology – but I could never have known that without the digital collections," she says.
Michael Tomlan, Ph.D. '83, director of the Historic Preservation Planning Program in the Department of City and Regional Planning. See larger image
Norton's experience highlights a tension between online and print formats that can hamper librarians trying to build strong collections and stretch a budget to its breaking point.
"In the digital age, libraries maintain a tricky balance. It's not only determining what people need, it's also figuring out what format – and it doesn't always follow the traditional lines drawn by disciplines. Historians need databases; biologists need books," says Anne Kenney, the Carl A. Kroch University Librarian. "The idea of collections goes beyond physical 'stuff,' and it really speaks to the deepest needs of the people who use the library."
More than half of collections funding goes toward online materials, and the library is embarking on a $15 million campaign to raise funds for the collections that faculty members need not only for research, but for teaching as well.
Michael Tomlan, Ph.D. '83, director of the Historic Preservation Planning Program in the Department of City and Regional Planning, teaches international students about national architecture from their home countries through the library's blueprints, maps, photographs and other original sources.
"The library is what distinguishes our institution," Tomlan says. Students find collections that give them "the means by which they understand their own world. Without the growth of our collections, that connection is impossible to make. … As alumni, we have a responsibility to make sure the library can provide for them."
Visit now.cornell.edu/library and now.cornell.edu/faculty