Director sets goal:
library to be No. I
v - -
. ..u mm
by Bill Smitherman
John W. Heussman has set
his goal to make the UNL
libraries the number one
research facility in the state.
Heussman, who took the
the director job August 1, said
the UNL libraries are now
definitely not number one.
"In a survey of 50 leading
American and Canadian
university libraries conducted
by the University of Illinois
Dean of Library
Administration and myself and
published in 1970 by the
American Library Association,
the library here came in as No.
50 on the number of volumes
in the libary, and in the lowest
percentile on many other
factors such as total
expenditures for the library,
staff salaries and wages,
expenditures for books and
other materials, and library
expenditures per student,"
Heussman said.
"Significantly," he added,
"Nebraska was not one of the
smaller universities included in
the study. In terms of
enrollment, it ranked 20th
among the 50 libraries."
Though the library has had
trouble with appropriations in
the past, Heussman said he was
excited about his possibilities
as director. "I've had nothing
but real satisfaction since I
took the job." he s aid.
The director said he was
hopeful because of a great deal
of unsolicited support that had
come, from faculty, students
and citizens of ihe state. He
said he had also been gratified
by the support of librarians
around the state for the effort
to make Love a first class
research library.
Heussman, who graduated
from Corrcordia Teachers
College in Seward in 1950, said
Ihe primary need of the library
is sufficient financial support.
"The citizens of the state
can, and we are convinced will,
adequately support its major
research library," he said.
"Such support will result in
better service to all campuses
of the University of Nebraska,
to outstate agricultural
research stations and to all
citizens of the state. Citing
increasing space problems,
Heussman said that building
would be a high priority for
Love Library.
He said he had visited many
libraries and that many of
them have poor facilities. "But
I think the lack of facilities
here has the most detrimental
effect I've seen."
If the next legislature
approves the funds, an addition
to the library may be
completed by 1974, he said.
This will be a two-floor
addition and would serve as
phase one of a four-floor
expansion plan.
He predicted that the space
created by the first phase of
this expansion would be filled
in a maximum of 10 years.
The new director said the
UNL libraries also need to
greatly improve their student
services. The first of a series of
programs to improve students'
knowledge of the library has
already been produced.
The slide-tape program on
the use of Love Library is
planned for showing in all
sections of freshman English,
starting this fall. He added that
a librarian will present the
program and answer questions.
Phase two and three of this
program have been projected,
but not really planned,
Heussman said. They are to
focus on phases of library
service and show students how
to use them.
Emphasizing that these
phases are only in the planing
stages, Heussman said that the
presentations may be shown in
classes or set up for automatic
showing. Much of the planning
Ant f
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j " -i
vm
1
is contingent on the
appropriation of funds, he said.
The 4 3 -year-old director
said there are some prospects
of better library funding. There
is a possibility of more funds
from a Library Improvement
Program, which the Board of
Regents recommended in its
budget guidelines adopted at
its Scottsbluff meeting during
the summer.
The Improvement Fund
would provide an extra amount
over the normal per cent
increase in library funds, he
said.
As other goals, Heussman
said he would like to see a
great increase in the size of the
book collection and
coordination of book
collections throughout the NU
system. "We need to build
compatible Lincoln and Omaha
collections," he said.
Heussman added that it
would be wasting money to
duplicate resources between
the Lincoln and Omaha
campuses. So, he hopes to
develop a shuttle service
between the Lincoln and
Omaha libraries to
avoid unnecessary duplication . of
books.
The budget for the
procurement of books and
materials needs to be expanded
greatly, the director said. Much
of the proposed library
improvement fund would go
for this purpose, he added.
Presently, the procurement
budget for Love Library is
about $825,000 per year, he
said. But he estimated that to
keep up with the tremendous
amounts of new material being
produced and to make up for
past shortages, the budget
should be about $1 million for
next year.
"I realize that this is a lot of
money," Heussman said. "But
the state can justify one really
good research collection."
He said there are also other
prospects for securing the
money needed to improve the
library. Among these are
Turn to page 10.
Library director Heussman.. .NU libraries must
cooperate to improve research facitities.
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