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Reaching Out to Remote Users: Custom Web Tools for the UW's Friday Harbor Library

Reaching Out to Remote Users: Custom Web Tools for the UW's Friday Harbor Library. Maureen Nolan University of Washington IAMSLIC, 2003. Once upon a time….

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Reaching Out to Remote Users: Custom Web Tools for the UW's Friday Harbor Library

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  1. Reaching Out to Remote Users: Custom Web Tools for the UW's Friday Harbor Library Maureen Nolan University of Washington IAMSLIC, 2003

  2. Once upon a time… • “Two hours by sea from the mainland of the state of Washington lies one of the most remote scientific research libraries in the country. There on the shore of an isolated island sits a pink stuccoed, orange roofed, barracks-sized library.”

  3. …on an island far, far away… • The UW Friday Harbor Labs have been in existence, in one form or another, since 1904 • At first, no formal class work was offered; everyone collected and classified to suit himself.

  4. …there was a laboratory by the sea. • …in 1906, an abandoned fish cannery became the Puget Sound Marine Station. • While there was a building, there was, as yet, “no real scientific equipment” of note…neither was there an official library.

  5. In 1909, a new campus was built. • It consisted of a large laboratory, sixty wooden-floored tents, and a library housed inside the combined dining hall-kitchen-social room.

  6. Class Flyer--1916

  7. By 1920… • Dr. T.C. Frye talked the military into donating a 484-acre property on Point Caution, which became the new Puget Sound Biological Station. • The dining hall once again served as the central gathering place and housed the library. • Echoing today’s budget woes, “because of lack of funds, the growth of the Station Library [was] slow.”

  8. A “Real” Library at Last… • In 1962, a dramatic change to the Labs was the addition of the Fernald Laboratory Building. The building provided the library, for the first time, a space designed for its specific use.

  9. Friday Harbor Library, 2003 • Still located in the Fernald Lab Building, it now houses over 19,000 volumes. • The library is open year-round and 24 hours per day.

  10. Remote Users or Remote Librarian? • The Friday Harbor Librarian is based in Seattle, not at the labs. • A trip to the Labs requires a two-hour drive north of Seattle and an hour-long ferry ride.

  11. Self-Service Library • Because of the open access and the lack of a regularly scheduled on-site librarian, the library must be set up for autonomous use. • This was made much easier with the advent of computers.

  12. Computers come to Friday Harbor • The first major change to affect this island library was the installation of an online catalog (Geac) in 1989. • Then came an Ethernet workstation connected to the UWIN (University of Washington Information Navigator) system.

  13. FH Labs Online • Connection to the UW campus was by 56K modem. • The true revolution came in 1999 with the installation of a T-1 line.

  14. Web Tools for Remote Users • The advent of the Internet • The remote nature of the library • The lack of a full-time on-site librarian • Equaled an opportunity to design a set of custom tools for the researchers and students at the Labs.

  15. A Web Presence • In conjunction with the development of the UW Libraries Gateway came the first set of Friday Harbor Library Web pages

  16. FH Library Home Page

  17. Requesting Materials • Requests for materials were faxed to Seattle two days a week by the very part time Library Assistant. We thought an online form would be faster and easier.

  18. Article Request Form

  19. Sometimes you just need a librarian. • Although not in residence at the labs, I wanted the students to easily be able to contact me (or another librarian) directly…

  20. Resources for Help

  21. Class Papers Index • The Friday Harbor Library has a collection of bound student papers dating from 1949. Without indexing, the papers were becoming virtually inaccessible. • The next Web-based tool was the Friday Harbor Class Papers Index.

  22. Virtual Reading Room • Another tremendous advantage of the Web is online access to the UW’s electronic journals collection. • However, the actual transition to e-journals has not always been an easy one. • The “Virtual Reading Room” is an attempt to ease the transition from print to online access.

  23. What’s Next? • The Labs recently installed a wireless hub in the library for patrons using wireless modems. • There has been some interest expressed in having online tutorials for those databases most used at the Labs. • We also continue to explore the various possibilities of online delivery of resources.

  24. Some things never change… • “Life at the Station is simple and enjoyable. Strong reasons for this are the invigorating atmosphere and beautiful natural surroundings… It all inspires one with a joy of life, a deep breathing of new vigor after the stench of cities and heated winter houses.”

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