To: Participants in the Statewide Assessment

RE: Information from Individual Libraries

Date: September 5, 2001

The final proposal for LSTA funding for the Statewide Library Assessment has been sent in and we are waiting to hear in September whether we will be able to fund the full assessment we have been hoping to do. However, we have received substantial initial funding from the ICCMP and will be able to do an assessment even if the full one is not funded.

Therefore, the committee is moving to set up the project with OCLC/WLN, from whom we will get the records. There are several questions that we need to ask at the institution level to make manipulating the records easier. Many of these questions will need the input of your head cataloger. They have to do with the positioning of call numbers within your records, with the classification types you use, with whether your serials are classified, with whether you use prefixes on your call numbers, and with the manner in which you identify biographies. We will use this information to determine how the records will be counted to determine coverage in a conspectus class range.

We will be putting up frequently asked questions on the ICCMP web site http://libws66.lib.niu.edu/ccm/. If you have further questions about filling out the form attached to this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me at mmunroe@niu.edu or at (815) 753-9805.

We would like to receive replies from you by September 20. Thanks so much for your help in launching this very exciting project.

Sincerely,

Mary H. Munroe
Principal Investigator,
Statewide Library Assessment