Introduction: Preparing the New

As the 2006-07 academic year was a year of laying foundations for LIS, 2007-08 has clearly been about above-ground construction in preparation for many things new. We set an ambitious agenda of projects (most of which we have accomplished), and managed to pick up a number of unforeseen initiatives along the way (isn’t that always the case). The decision to push ourselves as an organization this year was deliberate, and was informative in determining how efficient and productive LIS can be. The story told in this annual report is clear: LIS has a tremendous ability to move initiatives forward and to get some heavy lifting done when necessary. It remains a privilege to work alongside the many dedicated and hard-working people in LIS as we seek to provide responsive and relevant information support to the faculty, students, and staff of Luther College.

As we head into 2008-09, the fruits of our construction work over the past year are evident across the wide range of services LIS provides. A few of the new initiatives launched by or launching in Summer 2008 that we’ve been hatching this year include:

• New LIS Website – This year has seen the rise of a new web home for LIS (and this summer the beta tag will finally come off).
• New Library Research Portal – The library website has been reconceived and integrated with the LIS website as a new portal for academic research.
• New Discovery Tool for Academic Research – We have deployed a new and much more user-friendly front end for academic research at Luther. Encore is online and will be fully deployed in summer 2008.
• New Library Catalog Interface – Magnus, our library catalog has been completely redesigned for usability and has received some additional functionality.
• Deployment of Windows Vista – We are moving forward to implement Microsoft’s latest operating system on campus beginning this summer.
• Deployment of Microsoft Office 2007 – This summer also has seen the roll out of a new version of Microsoft Office on campus for the first time in more than seven years.
• Deployment of Norse Apps – We are still working through our transition to Google-based productivity software including mail, documents, calendaring, chat, and web page development.
• Vision and Plan for LIS Service Points – We have developed a framework for carrying out additional collaborative improvements for our primary service points located in the library.
• Significant Expansion of Training Opportunities – In 2008, LIS has expanded our training program for all constituents and will be continuing to diversify this curriculum.
• Internal and External Communication Plans – We are taking how we communicate with ourselves and our community seriously and are developing communication plans to guide our ongoing efforts.

With so much “new” rolling out, the 2008-09 year will be more targeted at ensuring quality deployments of these major initiatives, training and communication with our community, and iteratively improving service where appropriate. While the nature of our profession doesn’t ever remove new projects, programs and technologies, we look forward to a year of stabilization and ensuring that our construction work over the past year holds up well and is appropriate and useful for the community.

As always, we welcome comment and discussion on any aspect of LIS’ services, and look forward to a productive 2008-09.

Christopher Barth
Executive Director