SUBJECT:

Library Express Delivery Changes

Effective September 1, 1998, books requested through Library Express will
no longer be delivered to faculty and graduate student offices. Instead,
books will be delivered to any of the UCSD libraries, with the actual library
drop point specified by the individual faculty member or graduate student,
at the time that the Library Express delivery service is requested. Our goal
will be to ensure that every campus user will have a delivery point within
a five-minute walk of the user's campus office or campus place of work.

The elimination of delivery to offices will save approximately $65,000 per
year. These savings will be reallocated permanently to the Library's
collections budget in order to help address the severe funding challenges
associated with library acquisition of and access to scholarly information.

The Library's decision to eliminate delivery of books to faculty and graduate
student offices was based on recommendations made by the Academic Senate
Library Committee. The Senate Library Committee had been asked to solicit
opinions from faculty and graduate students and make recommendations to
the University Librarian on the future of the delivery component of Library
Express. The Academic Senate Library Committee's report and recommendations
can be found at:

http://www.ucsd.edu/ucsdlibraries/lx/lxrec.html

A number of operational details are now being addressed by the Library.
We have had to identify a delivery point for the Revelle area, since the
Undergraduate Library is now closed for renovation. The Chemistry
Department (Room 2040 Urey Hall Addition) has graciously agreed to serve
as a pickup point during the Undergraduate Library closure. The Library is
now exploring a variety of options that can be instituted to alert faculty
and graduate students that materials are ready for pickup at their designated
library. More detailed information on these and other operational matters will
be sent to all current Library Express users before September 1, 1998.

Library Express delivery services have been greatly appreciated by the campus
users of this service. The decision to scale back on this delivery
program has been an extraordinarily difficult one to make. That we would
cut back on this service program is a reflection of the crisis that we now
face with funding collections, especially journals. If you have any questions
about this decision, please feel free to contact me.

Gerald R. Lowell University Librarian