Fondren’s Ranking Makes Big Jump

It’s no secret that information is the name of the game, and while that’s probably always been the case, it’s never been more true than now.

According to Nielsen/NetRatings, Internet usage in America’s 20 most-wired cities ranges from about 40 percent to about 60 percent. The point isn’t to marvel at how fast the Internet has grown but to realize how much sheer information power we now literally have at our fingertips. In essence, the average desktop computer with an Internet connection has become a personal library with vastly more information capacity than world-class libraries of even 20 years ago.

But that doesn’t mean the concept of the library is defunct. The old paper-storage facility of the past is being transformed thanks to an infusion of new life from information technology, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Certainly, this is what’s happening at Rice. Just this past year, Charles Henry, formerly vice provost and chief librarian, was appointed vice president and chief information officer, with jurisdiction over both Fondren Library and Rice’s Office of Information Technology. “Information Technology and the library have responsibility for information management and delivery,” says Henry, “and both entities rely on technology for their fundamental services and programs.”

Henry says that merging information technology with Fondren was a “logical and tactically sound move,” because it allows for greater coherency when developing new services and programs and bringing the respective strengths of both professional units to bear when building the strongest support for teaching and research at Rice. It also doubled the size of the staff and the library’s operational budget.

The merger—and Fondren’s recent increase in its holdings—has had a positive effect on the library’s national rankings. In just five years, Fondren’s ranking among university research libraries in the United States and Canada moved to 63 from 104, according to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). “This dramatic jump in statistics represents a strategic change at Rice University,” Henry affirms.

The ranking is based on an index developed by ARL to measure the relative size of university libraries. For the most recent ranking, 1999–2000, Rice is listed as having 2,116,862 volumes and 15,508 current serials in its library, with 62,684 volumes added during the previous fiscal year. Total expenditures amounted to $19,134,032—an increase of 109.8 percent since 1994–95, which is the largest increase in total expenditures during that five-year span. Fondren’s permanent staff numbers 213.

The ARL rankings are used mostly by libraries for comparison and analysis of annual budgets. Harvard University’s library ranked No. 1, with 14,437,361 volumes (289,322 volumes added during the previous fiscal year), 109,528 current serials, total expenditures of $80,862,137, and a staff of 1,088.

—Christopher Dow
with reporting by B. J. Almond