The University of Colorado at Boulder library system is sponsoring several services in an on-going effort to provide assistance to patrons of Colorado State University聮s Morgan Library, which was heavily damaged in the July 28 Fort Collins flood.
About 200 requests a day for interlibrary loan materials, including books and periodical articles, are being filled at Norlin Library for CSU users, according to Yem Fong, assistant professor and head of Information Delivery Services.
CU-Boulder and several other campuses across the state are sending library materials to CSU through a scanning computer system. The system was partially funded by the Hewlett Packard Corp., which donated $28,000 for seven computer scanning workstations with monitors, scanners and laserjet printers, according to Deborah Fink, director of library information.
CU Regent Guy Kelly, an attorney and Hewlett Packard employee, arranged for the donation in August. Some of the workstations have also been paid for with flood relief funds.
Workstations were set up at CSU and around the state in September to receive materials scanned by participating Colorado campuses. One scanning workstation at CU-Boulder is dedicated solely to scanning information for CSU, said Fong. Scanned documents are sent via the Internet to CSU.
Patron use also is up at Norlin Library since the July flood, although most departments do not keep daily figures and cannot quantify the increase, Fink said. However, public service sections of Norlin have reported increased traffic, including the Science Library, the periodicals room and reference and computer sites, which are experiencing 聯heavy usage,聰 Fong said.
The Science Library estimates requests for assistance and materials 聯is up about 20 percent,聰 said Fink.
聯We are pleased to be helping out,聰 said Fink. 聯We know they would be doing the same things for us if the tables were turned.聰
CU聮s Norlin Library is the largest in the Rocky Mountain region and is the biggest lender of library materials through the InterLibrary Loan system among the Big 12 libraries.
Last year, Norlin Library received 89,400 requests to either borrow or lend