Annual Report 2001-2002 - Cambridge University Library ...

servicesThe Reference Department dealt with a growingnumber of enquiries, of which the overwhelmingmajority (91%) arrived by email. More than half ofthese (57%) came from outside the University, andalmost 20% were about subjects other than Cambridge,the University or the Library. Moves towards theestablishment of an electronic reference library arebeing contemplated, as such a development shouldenable these enquiries to be handled more efficiently.The programme of user education continued, withfewer sessions but a higher number of participants. Themost heavily subscribed were the library inductionsessions and those on electronic resources. Severalfaculties now include details of the University Library’sworkshops in their own timetable for students,especially postgraduates. Tailored workshops havealso been offered, such as one for graduate students inthe Faculty of English on Commonwealth materials.These workshops, though very popular, are staffintensiveand have almost become a victim of theirown success. Plans are being drawn up to develop avirtual learning environment whereby documentationand tutorials can be made available online.The statistics gathered by the turnstile in theEntrance Hall show that the Library continues to beused heavily by readers who are not current staff orstudents of the University. The largest single categoryis that of Cambridge graduates who are not studyingor employed in the University and who would beregarded as external readers by most universities(indeed many of them are academic staff elsewhere).These plus other external readers account for morethan half the total number of registered users and thesetwo categories account for about half the use of theLibrary measured in terms of the number and durationof visits.Up to September 2001, the British Library’sDocument Supply Centre had dealt with requests thatit could not satisfy by referring them to ‘back-up’libraries, of which Cambridge University Library wasthe principal one. From the beginning of October thatarrangement ceased, and this Library was, therefore,faced with the choice of running down its inter-libraryloans service, to the detriment of users around thecountry as well as to local users (as the service makes amodest surplus which is used to subsidise the costs ofrequests made by Cambridge readers), or of offering aservice independent of the British Library. It chose thelatter course. Even during the first year of this newservice, the number of requests remained at a levelclose to that of the previous year. The ‘back-up’arrangement for the British Library’s ‘premiumservices’, Urgent Action and Lexicon, continued tooperate successfully.9An engraving byEdmund Evansfrom Walter Crane,Beauty and the Beast(London 1874),which was ondisplay in the‘Beauty and thebook’ exhibition.