Computing and Information Services February 9, 1988 10-1.0 Introduction The area of computing and information services has witnessed far-reaching changes since the 1975-76 Self-Study. These changes are expected to have major impacts on the delivery and effective- ness of not only the teaching program, but also on research, extension, and public service. Although the changes are viewed as positive and have catapulted VPI&SU into the forefront in this area at the national level, some unique problems have resulted. These include a decline in the rating of the library collection, additional costs, and to some degree, a pressure on the faculty to keep pace with technological changes, whether or not that can be directly translated into an improved ability to help the University accomplish its mission. This chapter will consider the current status, activities, and plans for computing and information systems including discussions of the possible impact of these and other external trends in the information area on future University activities. Recommendations are included to help ensure that progress is made in a planned and balanced fashion during the next 10 years and beyond. 10-1.1 Charge and Organization of Committee The Computing and Information Services Committee was charged to evaluate the University's performance regarding SACS criteria 5.2 and 5.4 for computing and information services. Although the SACS criteria refer specifically to computing and the library, the committee also evaluated services relating to areas such as data transmission and learning resources. All of these services fall under the leadership of the Vice President for Information Systems. The committee included representatives from each college, the administration, the University library, the University communi- cations services, and the undergraduate and graduate student bodies. Several subcommittees were organized to study the following areas: * Instruction * Extension * Research * Administration * Library * Learning resources Each subcommittee collected information from written reports and questionnaires, as well as through focused interviews. Additional information was obtained from administrators in the Information Systems area and has been incorporated into this chapter as needed. Various drafts of this report were developed by the committee chairs, with assistance from other committee members. Summaries of findings and recommendations were reviewed by the whole committee. Portions of this chapter are based upon material presented in the December 1987 draft copy of "Information Systems: Annual Report" by R. C. Heterick, Jr. The evolution of information technology, the organization and general situation in the information systems area at the University, and the Integrated Systems Concept that is the focus for coordinated Information Systems efforts are discussed. In later sections of the chapter, each of the units in Informa- tion Systems are reviewed. History, status, comparison with peer institution units, organization, facilities, budget, staff, activities, and recommendations for the future are key topics discussed for the various units, especially the larger ones. The Annual Report is again drawn upon where appropriate. There is also a discussion of important issues and recommendations from various perspectives, which include different user communities, personnel in the information systems units, resources and their allocation, training and assistance, research and development, and planning and decision making. 10-1.2 Historical Perspective With the advent of print technology more than 500 years ago, print grew to be the dominant means by which information would be shared. That the evolution of education in our society has paralleled the development of print media indicates a close symbiotic relationship between the two. In the present century several alternative information technolo- gies have evolved gg television, radio, film, records, tapes, and telecommunications in general. Until recently each of these technologies remained an information medium separate and distinct from any other. Corporations and individuals have been in the "television business," the "publishing business," or the "record- ing business." Few people thought of themselves as part of the "information business." In the past two decades the digital computer, coupled with telecommunications technologies, has made deep inroads as a major information instrument essential to the operations of government, business, and industry. More importantly, its information encod- ing techniques provide a mechanism whereby other information technologies may be easily assimilated. Indeed, in today's electronic information systems it is impossible to examine a digital datum and know whether it serves to represent a part of a letter of the alphabet, a blip of sound, or a pixel in a television image. Moreover, the information consumer of the future may expect to receive increasingly integrated multimedia information services both at home and in the work place. Educational institutions, responsible for preparing many of the young information workers of tomorrow, are under intense pressure to use productively the converging information technologies and new integrated information environments in classrooms and labora- tories. Traditionally, information skills (specifically reading and writing) have been learned in our schools, and libraries have served as the primary information support resource. Other infor- mation technologies have moved into the education arena, but none alone has challenged the dominance of print. In the university, as in society at large, each new technology has found its own niche separate and distinct from the others. Consequently, educational institutions have responded organizationally by creating separate and distinct units to support each technology. VPI&SU seems typical in this respect, having supported separate units for telephones, printing, computing, television, and more. The increasing potential for the integration of media and infor- mation presents challenges and opportunities to the university communityggchallenges and opportunities that require proactive response and cooperative action. The University is responding to the information challenge on both an organizational level and a technical level. Organizationally, the University created the position of Vice President for Infor- mation Systems. This person is responsible for providing vision and leadership on these matters and virtually all information units on campus now report directly to this vice president. Those units are discussed later in this chapter. VPI&SU's technical response to the challenges can be best under- stood in the context of working toward an Integrated Information System, as discussed below in Section 10-1.5 "The Integrated Information Systems Concept." Since 1985, efforts in this direc- tion have been broadly based but coordinated around the concept of the single system image as described in An Information System Strategy.* Implications of this approach are discussed throughout the remainder of this chapter. ----------------------------------------------------------------- * R. C. Heterick, "An Information Systems Strategy", CAUSE/EFFECT, Volume 9, Number 6 (September 1986). ----------------------------------------------------------------- 10-1.3 Organization and Overview of Information Systems The Information Systems group at VPI&SU, which incorporates various units under the direction of the Vice President for Information Systems, was established by the President and Board of Visitors in 1983. The Vice President for Information Systems reports to the President through the University Provost and is responsible for overall policy and planning of the University's information systems, including University-wide computing, commu- nications (voice, video, and data), the University Library, educational technology, and printing. The Vice President for Information Systems is responsible for information and technology-based support for the instructional, research, and extension programs of the University and the activ- ities required to administer that tripartite mission. The Vice President is charged: * to develop and propose strategic planning initiatives for the integration of information technology into the activities of the University, and * to direct and monitor the activities of the departments charged with the provision of information and technology- based services so as to provide effective planning, manage- ment, and evaluation of the resources required. As a land grant institution serving 22,000 students and 8,000 faculty and staff, VPI&SU offers a well-developed and still- growing computer environment. Centralized instructional, research, and administrative computing activities are under one manager, the Director of the Computing Center. There are over 10,000 personal computers on campus and 2,500 terminals attached to one or more of the University's mainframes, which include a Class VI supercomputer. The University is a node on BITNET, and has access to CSnet, ARPAnet, and NSFnet, and supports profes- sional organizations as a member of both EDUCOM and CAUSE. A comprehensive telecommunications plan is being implemented that features a 16,000-line digital switch with a fiber-optic infrastructure connecting 125 buildings on the Blacksburg campus. The University also operates a teleport with KU and C band uplinks and 40 downlinks at off-campus sites. Library resources include over 1.5 million volumes and 17,000 serial subscriptions. Library circulation records are computer- ized and much of the catalog is on-line and accessible through terminals in the library and through the campus computer network. Library automation is provided by VTLS, Inc.gga system developed at VPI&SU. The library is a member of the Association of Research Libraries and subscribes to the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC). The University is a member of the National University Teleconfer- encing Network and operates a fully equipped television studio and two teleconferencing classrooms to provide original program- ming to over 20 sites in three states. Comprehensive design, photographic, audio, and machine-scoring services are supported. Duplicating, collating, binding, and quick-copy services are available in the University's two Copy Centers. The Printing Department provides comprehensive services to the University community, such as duplicating, binding, multi-color offset printing, and process color offset printing. The units reporting to the vice presidency represent a combined staff of 500 and an annual budget of $30,000,000 (see Figure 10-1). 10-1.4 The Integrated Information Systems Concept The availability and use of advanced technology in instruction, research, and extension has had major impacts on the academic community at VPI&SU. As our society in general and the Univer- sity in particular enter the Information Age, close cooperation is called for between organizations dealing with information storage (e.g., University Library), distribution (Communications Network Services), manipulation (Computing Center) and utiliza- tion (Learning Resources Center). Evolutionary shifts in respon- sibilities among those central units and between related groups in other parts of the University, including ones in many colleges and departments, have resulted from changes in computers, storage devices, communication systems, printers, display devices, and data entry equipment. The future points clearly toward increased use of electronic data transmission for research, classroom instruction, and for the delivery of information around the state and beyond. The increased emphasis on technology will produce new opportu- nities and new problems. On the plus side, information dissem- ination no longer requires the participants' presence at specific sites or times, but rather can occur at the convenience of the student, staff, or faculty member. Also, new media can deliver to students educational materials that can better describe concepts and processes, and field experiences can be delivered to the students through media methods that were unavailable a few years ago. These include computer-aided design, simulation and visual presentation of mathematical and scientific concepts, and electronic access to information databases. 10-1.4.1 Information Sources The University Library is the most obvious and probably the largest--certainly the most well organizedggcollection of infor- mation on campus. The 1.5 million monographs and 17,000 serials subscriptions represent a significant, yet increasingly insuffi- cient, University resource. The University ranks 49th in terms of research expenditures, but only 75th in most Association of Research Libraries categories--holdings, current acquisitions, budget, staffing, etc. Even at its current level of operation, the Newman Library building is rapidly being outgrown. If acqui- sitions were to continue at no more than the currently inadequate rate, significant new space, either in the form of new branch libraries or major additions or renovations to Newman, will be required in the next five years. There is the very real prospect that by the year 2000 it will be possible to slow the rate of growth of space requirements for collections. At that time, an international standard for electronic storage of full text (and graphics) will be available, as well as the capability to distribute significant amounts of text via some form of electronic publishing. In the interim, however, increased space needs in the Newman Library will become critical. Increased automation in the University Library is both necessary and desirable. The Library is well positioned with a mature computer system that supports much of the acquisition and cataloging activity and has begun to assume a proactive role in studying the applications of videodisc and CD ROM information retrieval technology.* It is important that the Library increase ----------------------------------------------------------------- * H.M. Kriz (Chair), "CD ROM: Evaluation and Proposals for Distributed Access", May 1987. ----------------------------------------------------------------- these efforts, particularly in the areas of full text capture and dissemination. Growth in graduate and research programs will require that the Library become both more efficient and more effective in provid- ing consulting and reference assistance to faculty and graduate students. This is an activity that the Library currently does well, but at relatively low volume. More effective techniques, possibly augmented by electronic mail, need to be developed. In addition to the University Library, there are many other information sources on campus. It seems appropriate, given the Library's demonstrated capabilities, that these sources be cataloged in the library automation system. There are numerous important and expensive slide and video collections, audio tapes, museum-size artifact collections, as well as major databases in research, extension, administrative, and instructional units that should be more widely available and more easily accessed. The Library needs to assume a leadership role in collecting and cataloging information regarding these collections. A recent project, the study of a database of databases, needs to be expanded. It is apparent that conventional MARC records may only partially address the cataloging requirements of many non-text sources. It is in the area of databases that the University will experi- ence the most immediate pressure for better access and management techniques. In an increasingly pluralistic and distributed world of computing, better tools must be available to access, manipu- late, and update data distributed across several physical systems. It seems unlikely that in the next four or five years there will be commercial offerings that will handle campus needs. Whether such commercial software will be available in even ten years seems open to debate.* ----------------------------------------------------------------- * Phyllis Johnson (Chair), "A University Resource Directory", October 21, 1987. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 10-1.4.2 Distribution Channels A substantial increase can be expected in totally electronic distribution channels by the year 2000. However, it is necessary to recognize that there will still be a number of physical and labor-intensive channels, even ten years from now. The digital switch project will bring both telephonic and computer data distribution channels totally under University control. No developments are foreseen in the next decade that should substantially change the economics of this decision. It is expected that Integrated Systems Digital Network (ISDN) will be a relatively mature standard by the turn of the century and that the University will respond with evolutionary changes in its voice/data digitally switched network. Of greater fiscal import will be the need to maintain an infrastructure capable of handling increasing bandwidth. At this juncture, with very rare exceptions, bandwidth requirements are dictated by graphics. There will be an increase in the creation of information on campus in the form of faculty-generated papers and monographs, original artwork and ancillary productions (slides, video, etc.); and administrative reports, statistics, and analyses. The typical piece of scholarly or administrative work will include graphics, which will require coding schemes to convert the graphic media to digital form; it is this process that requires an increased bandwidth. Pilot projects need to be developed that use the campus local area networks (LANs) for such wideband activities. Another concern will be to devise methods to make very-high- bandwidth information available beyond the campus LANs. Students and staff in the town, as well as those beyond Blacksburg, will not have equal access to information sources if current bandwidth limitations are not overcome. Growth and maturation of on-campus distribution channels will create the potential of a two-tier student body; those on-campus with a rich array of learning support (36 channels of cable television, economical low-speed data connectivity, access to megabit data rates, etc.), and those off-campus students (even in the Town of Blacksburg) who are unable to connect to those services without a trip to the campus. Methods to establish off-campus distribution channels need to be developed. The University should also investigate an increase in the number of channels available to it on the cable franchise in the Town of Blacksburg. Better costing information needs to be developed to permit rational allocation of resources to this task. The process and character of instruction will be significantly impacted by both television and the new interactive videodisc and CD ROM technologies. The introduction of both, in a major way, into the teaching/learning environment promises to change dramat- ically the primarily lecture-oriented environment. The capabil- ity to deliver instruction to the student's workstation conjures all sorts of interesting scenarios of a learning environment beyond the conventional classroom. This raises many interesting questions in domains as far removed as the economics of dormitory construction/operation to compensation and support services for faculty with perhaps thousands of students enrolled in their "lectures". The next decade needs to be a time during which every classroom on campus is upgraded to contain a basic complement of audio/visual equipment. This would include permanently mounted television receivers capable of displaying the screen of a computer device used by the instructor in the classroom, as well as cable programming. These receivers may also be the best way to handle some "slide" presentation formats if some form of remote control of the "projector" is developed. The cable programming will be both University-produced and from national and international broadcasts. This year a KU-band data uplink and television downlink will be added to the C-band uplink in the University's teleport. The University will be actively pursuing funding sources that will permit installation of a National Public Radio compatible uplink. With the exception of several specialized downlinks, the base capability of the teleport will be in place. It is evident that expansion of those facilities needs to begin now to handle growth in off-campus, distance learning, and teleconferencing. The next step will be the development of the capability to simulcast television programming on both KU and C bands. This will require the construction of two additional antennas. A suitable partner, located in the Corporate Research Center, will help make the business case for an Intelsat antenna to provide a direct link to Europe. The University will also require more flexible access to satellite transponder time and potential audiences. Because both two-way and compressed video will be important to future programs and initiatives of the University, there is a need to begin research efforts on distribution of compressed video to locations where downlinks are unavailable and T1 telephone connections must be used. Compressed video may also have a significant role in teleconferencing. Another concern with distribution channels revolves around print- ing, which presents a number of issues that range from how printed computer output reaches the end user to the appropriate use of graphics on University publications and correspondence. If the dramatic drop in the cost of laser printing technology continues, it is not unrealistic to expect that many, if not most, personal workstations will have a laser printer. The roles of laser printer computer output, xerography in the copy centers, and offset printing in the Print Shop need to be assessed. 10-1.4.3 Control Mechanisms The non-computational uses of the computer play, by far, the most important strategic role in the future of the University. In the next decade the personal computer revolution will permeate all aspects of the University community. The next generation of desktop and portable machines will be true workstations; capable of megabit communication speeds, television-quality graphics, high-fidelity sound, current minicomputer performanceggall at affordable price to students, faculty, and staff. The student's workstation will replace (or subsume) the textbook, the labora- tory, the physical library and perhaps even the classroom experi- ence itself. This integrated delivery will displace the attitude that "comput- ers are for computing and our students don't need to compute." The development of the full potential of integrated delivery media is at least a decade away. That development will require significant shifts in attitude and an openness and willingness to support new ideas. The single system image is construed as a computing and communi- cations environment that permits distribution across campus of voice, video, and computer-based information. It will provide for the future integration and electronic delivery of a broad range of information services. Over the next three to five years, the design and development of the capabilities related to the single system image will be a major thrust of those units that report to the Vice President for Information Systems. Research in several academic departments could also be instru- mental if this ambitious project is to be accomplished in the near future. The prospectus for the single system image calls for development efforts for mail, archive, print, and database servers. It is clear that without significant augmentation of Computer Center and Systems Development staffs the development of the single system image will be delayed. Another, and probably more effec- tive, option would be to divert current development resources to the image project, leaving development activities on administra- tive systems to either the software marketplace or contractor development. In fact, a combination of these, supplemented by in-house resources, is currently the method by which the new accounting system is being handled. To avoid anarchy in such a distributed environment, it will be necessary to consider a more active and independent role for Data Administration in developing written standards, procedures, and methodologies. Standards must be put in place that guide, but do not prescribe, system development standards. These activities need to be shaped, as well as adhered to, by the total University community. As the entire University becomes more dependent upon computer- based technologies, the issues of security, privacy, and disaster planning assume a more prominent role. Historically, these have not been major issues in University computing environments. The threat to daily University operations from these exigencies can no longer be dismissed or ignored. The University must address these issues, emphasizing the importance of compromising ease of use and avoidance of investing too large an amount of University resources to their implementation. A great deal of VPI&SU's future reputation and success will depend on the degree to which its information agencies maintain the technical competence to support the new technologies needed by faculty and students. Of equal importance with technical competence will be the degree to which the information agencies acquire the concepts, the organizational abilities, and the skills that will allow them to coordinate their activities effec- tively in the new information environment. 10-1.5 Planning and Decision-Making Several costs are associated with the opportunities in computing and information services. These include substantial dollar expenditures for equipment and maintenance, expenditures for training in the use of electronic equipment and computing systems, and a loss of sense of community as communications and learning occur more through the electronic media than by direct personal contact. The most serious problems are the added financial and personnel costs associated with the up-front development of new information and communications systems. Over time, these expenditures should allow the University to improve efficiency; recruit additional students (both traditional and non-traditional) in locations away from the main campus; and provide access to information that otherwise would be difficult, costly, or slow to obtain. If the expansion of information and communication systems is to be successfully executed at VPI&SU, substantial recovery of costs or well-documented educational opportunities must be attained. Accumulation of sophisticated communications or computing equip- ment for its own sake is unacceptable. On the other hand, funding agencies and employers will increasingly seek out students and faculty capable of incorporating time-saving technology into their activities. Accordingly, such activities should be encouraged. Recommendation 10-1: That procedures be implemented that require the Vice President for Information Systems to document the enhanced benefits, reduced costs, or added efficiency for major procurements that appear to be needed to expand information and communication systems. Before a new initiative is put into place, the specific benefits to be achieved should be included in the developmental plan and that plan should be properly publicized and reviewed by faculty and others. Because communications and information systems profoundly affect the academic community at VPI&SU, decisions regarding changes in these systems should have the benefit of input from the entire University community through the University governance system. At present, there are University committees for Communications Network Services, the Library, and the Computing Center (there is, however, no committee for the Learning Resources Center). These committees, in theory, receive their direction from and report to University Council. In practice, however, these committees are not required to subject their actions to approval by University Council and therefore have effectively been excluded from the governance system. Recommendation 10-2: That a Commission on Computing and Infor- mation Services be established by University Council to provide coordinated input through the University governance system. The existing committees for CNS, the Library and the Computing Center (as well as any future committees relating to the LRC or other units) will be continued under their current composition as subcommittees of the commission. The chair of each committee should be a member of the commission. Membership of the commis- sion and committees should ensure that due consideration is given to need for representation of constituencies (especially by faculty) as well as access to technical expertise. There should be close interaction between the commission and the office of the Vice President for Information Systems. 10-2.0 University Libraries In many ways the progress made by the University Library in the past ten years parallels that made by the University. As VPI&SU has greatly expanded its graduate offerings, moved into new disciplines, and won recognition as a research university, its library has developed the collections and services that mark a mature research library. Since the 1975-76 Self-Study, the library collection has grown by 50 percent, from just over one million volumes to over 1.5 million; the attendance of the main library has increased by 70 percent; and both on-campus circu- lation and interlibrary loan volume have nearly doubled (See Table 10-1). Other, less quantitative signs of progress supplement these statistical indicators. While growth in the size of the library staff has been negligible, the library's classified staff now encompasses a wealth of experience and technical skill that far surpasses previous expectations, and an increasingly diverse and talented body of professional librarians have raised their own horizons through active participation in state and national professional associations and by reaching new levels of research and publication. The quality of the library's technical services has been recog- nized by admission to the select body of libraries allowed to enhance bibliographic records on OCLC. The Special Collections Department has been both honored and strengthened by the addition of the American Archives of Aerospace Exploration and the Inter- national Archives of Women in Architecture. 10-2.1 Recent History The past two years have been a pivotal period in the Library's history. In June 1985, a new director assumed responsibility for the University Library. Almost immediately, the top administra- tive structure of the Library underwent a complete transforma- tion. The resulting structure included assistant directors for the major functional areas and a personnel officer. These positions brought VPI&SU more into line with the structure of its peer institutions and made it possible to assemble a management team capable of meeting the challenges of today's information environment. Once positions had been filled, a second phase of reorganization began, which reached further down into the library both for its sources of ideas and in its direct consequences for service. This second phase of reorganization emerged from a broad-based strategic planning effort, which drew on the labors of seven task forces comprised of forty-nine volunteers from the library staff, as well as members of the teaching faculty. The various task forces' recommendations covered a wide range of issues, including space, internal automation, and telecommunications. The most dramatic change to emerge from the strategic planning effort was the Steering Committee's recommendation to reorganize the Library's public services along functional lines. Previ- ously, public services had been organized by subject, with functional generalists providing the entire range of services for their respective disciplines. Four reference desks, one for general services and one each for the humanities, social sciences, and science and technology, offered parallel services over half the time the library was open. While this system had real strengths and was not abandoned lightly, the Steering Committee's final conclusion was that the subject-based pattern no longer reflected the interdisciplinary nature of academic research, that it unduly promoted redundant services and collections while incurring patrons' frustration with multiple referrals, and that it made it difficult for the library to provide adequate services for some of its collections, which cover all disciplines but differ in format from traditional materials. Under the new arrangement, reference services have been brought together into a single department with specialists in the impor- tant functional areas of on-line literature search, library instruction, and locating government documents. The Special Collections Department has been strengthened with additional professional positions. Current periodicals in all areas have been centralized so as to increase the library's physical control over them while facilitating interdisciplinary use of these materials. Reserve has been recombined with circulation services, and all services relating to physical access have been brought together under the User Services Department. In compliance with a key recommendation of the Strategic Plan, the library administered a "Survey on Library Collections and Services" to all faculty and a large sample of students in the spring of 1987. Similar instruments will be administered each year to discover what unmet library needs the library's clientele perceive to exist. The results of this first questionnaire, together with the Strategic Plan itself, have provided key background information for this Self-Study. 10-2.2 Current Status It would be untrue to claim that in every particular the Library's progress has matched that of the University. Indeed it has not, and in some important ways the Library's problems may in time limit the University's future progress. A brief review of the recommendations of the 1975-76 Self-Study provides a conven- ient means to measure the Library's progress over the past decade. Many of the recommendations were fulfilled, and by and large the library's progress is greatest in these areas. Other recommendations were not heeded, and here a disproportionate share of the Library's problems may be found. On the positive side, the Library followed through on recommen- dations to add both off-site storage space and a large measure of air-conditioned library space on campus. Efforts were made to fill collection deficiencies identified ten years ago; a security system was installed; the Library has maintained its commitment to a strong centralized structure; and technical services have increasingly moved toward an acceptance of the Library of Congress and national networks as sources of both leadership and bibliographic data. Perhaps most dramatically, the Library not only finished the development of its circulation and finding system, but went past this goal to participate in the development of one of the better integrated library systems that have yet emerged, the Virginia Tech Library System (VTLS). All of these changes represented the fulfillment of recommendations from the 1975-76 Self-Study, and all represented important progress for the University Library. On the negative side, the 1975-76 Self-Study team recommended that a total of 451,000 square feet be available to the library by 1986; however, less than half that space now exists. The team also recommended the annual addition of 100,000 volumes so that a collection of two million would be attained by 1986, but growth has been just over half the recommended level. It was also recommended that the Library's share of the University budget be held constant so that the two-million-volume collection could be achieved. This key parameter of the University's commitment has eroded continuously since the 1975-76 Self-Study. 10-2.3 Peer Comparison The consequences of the University's economies in library support have been inevitable. The University is justifiably proud to have achieved the 49th rank in total research expenditures. However, the Library's rank, based on total amount of University financial support, has fallen from 47th place to 75th place in the past decade. Comparisons between the VPI&SU library and the libraries ranked 49th in various parameters of library resources suggest deficiencies that may in time slow the University's further progress. The University Library suffers from comparison with the libraries that hold, among American academic libraries, the same rank on various indicators as VPI&SU holds in research support (see Table 10-2). The shortfalls identified by these comparisons illustrate painful deficiencies in collections and services. While the Library's 4.2 million microform pieces place it fourth among American libraries in this regard, the insufficient and outmoded equipment to read and copy these materials greatly reduces their utility. Advanced in some respects, the Library's adoption of modern technology has been weak in others; unlike many of its peers, the library has yet to acquire any information resources on CD ROM. 10-2.4 Organization The University Library is administered by a director aided by two officers and three assistant directors (see Figure 10-2). In addition to the central Newman Library, there are four branch libraries: Art & Architecture, Geology, Northern Virginia Gradu- ate Center, and Veterinary Medicine. 10-2.5 Collection As of June 1987, there were over 1.5 million volumes and 17,000 active serial subscriptions. Microform holdings were nearly 4.2 million. During the period 1986 to 1987, over 50,000 volumes were added, half of which were monographs. 10-2.6 Facilities By any available standard, the University libraries are woefully deficient in space. The 212,000 square feet currently available fall 239,000 square feet short of the recommendations of the 1975-76 Self-Study and 189,000 square feet short of the amount called for by the SCHEV Space Planning Guidelines. This is the single largest space deficit on campus, and has continued to grow in spite of the fact there have been several building efforts undertaken in recent years. Because of the long planning horizon for buildings, planning and initial steps must be taken if a severe crisis in the mid-1990's is to be averted. In ten years, the deficiency, according to the SCHEV guidelines, will have grown to 220,000 square feet. This deficiency already forces unpleasant compromises with the Library's service goals. No more than 2,497 patrons from a campus community of nearly 30,000 can be accommodated at one time; this is less than the 1985-86 median value for ARL of 2,850. Space for this small number is preserved only by the exigency of storing approximately 250,000 volumes of materials off-site. These materials, which are becoming more numerous, already include many recent and relevant items that are available to patrons only after a wait of from three to 29 hours after they have been requested. Furthermore, the off-campus storage facil- ity (CHEDS, named for the department store that formerly occupied the building) will be filled within the next two or three years and materials sent there are difficult and labor-intensive to access. A permanent solution must be found for the collection now at CHEDS. Rent is being paid for this minimally acceptable space, to house a collection that will be held by the library for decades. Without additional library space, another CHEDS-type building will need to be leased by the early 1990's. Additional labor costs will also result as the shelf load in the Newman Library increases to over 80 percent of capacity, since more shifting of books, sometimes even of several sections of books, becomes necessary to fit each new book into its proper place. It is inevitable that these conditions will appear as "the good old days" within the foreseeable future and that a genuine space crisis for the Library would be unavoidable even if a new build- ing were approved in 1988. The Library's stacks are now 70 percent full, the level that is generally considered at the upper limit of utilization. At a net growth rate of 50,000 volumes annually (lower than any year of the past decade, except one), the library will have exhausted its off-site storage space and reached the maximum feasible shelf load of 86 percent by the summer of 1994. The least acceptable option for facing this crisis would be the proliferation of branch libraries. The 1975-76 Self-Study called for a commitment to a strong central library. The wisdom of this position rests on the diseconomies of scale of branch libraries, on the redundancies they necessitate, and on the inconvenience they cause readers with interdisciplinary interests. In the current instance it is perhaps more to the point that more branches would not in fact solve the problem; data indicates that it would require the annual addition of a facility larger than the largest current branch library for the Library simply to break even on space. Any such facility would require at least two full-time staff members, placing further demands on scarce staff resources. A much more efficient and logical approach is that recommended in the Library's "Strategic Plan," which is to create a separate Science and Technology library of at least 135,000 square feet, which would absorb the Geology Library and free up the space on the fourth and fifth floors of the Newman Library. The majority of CHEDS materials could then be moved back to campus. The suggestion has been made that a major addition could be built on the north side of Derring Hall. Of any possible major division of collections, the split between science and technology and all other disciplines would be most compatible with the pattern of collections usage the Library has observed. The resulting facil- ity would achieve economies of scale and would free sufficient space in Newman Library so that future space shortages for both facilities would not reappear until early in the next century. Unfortunately, SCHEV's current stance on new library construction makes approval of such a facility unlikely. An alternative might be to construct an addition to Newman Library on the Mall side of the building, adding to the second, third, and fourth floors. This would be a 40,000-square-foot compact book storage facility that would hold 80 percent more material per square foot than conventional shelving. Access to the area would be limited to library staff and faculty only and would house intermediate-use materials, in contrast with the high-use materials in the main portion of the library and the low-use materials at CHEDS. The cost of this addition would be significantly less than a separate Science and Technology Library and would avoid the additional cost of staffing a separate facility. However, this type of addition would be less flexible, require more effort for collection organization and access, and be less serviceable for students and others in the University community. Whatever option is chosen, additional library space must be made a priority of the University and placed high in the queue for new facilities. Recommendation 10-3: That a new library building or addition to the current building become the highest priority on the University's list of requested space additions. Alternative plans should be solicited and considered by the University community as soon as possible, so that completion of construction would occur during the early 1990s. Certain physical changes remain to be made in connection with the reorganization and physical reconfiguration of the Library. Several permanent walls need to be constructed, new circulation and reference desks need to be purchased, and a comprehensive signage system needs to be designed and installed. Another serious deficit is the total lack of group studies areas where students can meet and discuss their work, and a lack of faculty carrels. The library ought to have a minimum of 100 carrels where faculty can continue long-term library research. Currently there are none. 10-2.7 Automation 10-2.7.1 On-Line Public Access Catalog The Library's role in developing VTLS was truly one of its signal accomplishments of the past decade. The development process was enormously educational for the library staff and the result was well worth the immense effort. The success of this system has made it possible for the Library to close its card catalog and to distribute bibliographic information to some 2,000 terminals on campus, a number that will grow tenfold in the foreseeable future. Important components of the system, including serials check-in, acquisitions, and word searching, are now near completion by VTLS, Inc. Despite the library's progress in automation, there are valid causes for concern, two of which are especially troubling. One is that an increased reliance on bibliographic information in electronic form ultimately translates into an increased depend- ence on the extent and quality of the data available electron- ically. Much of the collection of the University Library (perhaps 300,000 records in all, representing a larger number of physical items) predate the Library's automation efforts and are not represented in VTLS. An additional 200,000 records reflect the brief, nonstandard records of the precursor system to VTLS. These records are not accessible at all by subject, and are not always reliably accessible by other means. As a result of these deficiencies in the Library's bibliographic data, a large portion of its treasures are unavailable or only marginally available to those who search its most powerful access tool. Heretofore, the labor and computer costs to fully convert these records have prohibited its accomplishment. Nevertheless, this year contracts have been executed with AMIGOS to up-grade 200,000 short records in the database to full MARC status, giving faculty and students subject access to this significant portion of the collection. However, there will still exist about 300,000 additional books in the library that are not represented at all in VTLS. Conversion of these records will be far more expensive and labor-intensive and will cost close to $500,000 to convert to electronic form. Yet their conversion should be a priority over the next three years. Funds have already been requested from the Commonwealth to assist with a large share of the costs involved. Regardless of the result of that request, this task should remain a priority item for the library for the next three years. Recommendation 10-4: That the Library convert its manual records to full, standard machine-readable catalog records in the most cost-effective and timely manner possible. The second source of concern is a cautionary fear that the Library not be blinded by one of its own successes. The develop- ment of the Virginia Tech Library System is evidence that the Library was at one time in the forefront of library technology. A separate for-profit corporation, VTLS, Inc., was set up and should move to the Corporate Research Center in 1988. VTLS, Inc. has done very well in sales, especially to smaller libraries. Yet, reports of efforts at other major research libraries suggest that the Library may have outgrown the capabilities of VTLS, and there appears to be little involvement by VTLS, Inc. in research or provision of new services to large libraries. There is a continuing concern that the Library will outgrow the Hewlett- Packard product line used by the VTLS system. The long-term future of library automation would seem better served with equip- ment from DEC or IBM. Consequently, the potential of VTLS should be examined relative to other options available in the market- place. Ties between the library and VTLS, Inc. should be based solely on the needs of the former. Recommendation 10-5: That the Library, with the participation of the campus community, review its commitment to VTLS and the relationship with VTLS, Inc. in light of the present and future capabilities of VTLS and its competitors. 10-2.7.2 Electronic Information VPI&SU is building the infrastructure that will allow the Univer- sity community to obtain access to information by electronic means. Yet little attention has been given to collecting infor- mation and making it accessible electronically. Currently the library does offer access to VTLS via Localnet, both to campus offices and to homes. The expected increase in usage because of the new campus communications network is likely to far outstrip the services provided by currently available ports. With the upgrading of the main Library computer to an HP 3000 Model 950, and possibly with some improvements in algorithms and file struc- tures that could be used in VTLS, however, it should be possible to meet the increased demand for quantity and quality of service. The power and capacity of the 950 system should permit the use of Boolean search capability, so that volumes can be found that match combinations of natural language words appearing in the title, as well as in the controlled language of the Library of Congress subject headings. This should substantially increase ease of access to the Library's collection. The Library currently offers information via INFO about hours of service, instructions on how to access VTLS, news notes, and access to books on order in the sciences. An increase is expected in the use of this type of electronic service in the near future by offering reference service through electronic messaging. The goal will be to increase the scope of this electronic reference service to support the tenants of the Corpo- rate Research Center and the Technology Transfer Directors located at the community colleges across the state, and to become a campus information center that deals with questions that go beyond the traditional library reference service. It is of critical importance that the Library begin to subscribe to the new sources of electronic information now available, both on CD ROM and on tape. Presently there is very little on-line searching of numeric, bibliographic, or full-text databases at VPI&SU, even though the number of such databases has risen to well over 3,000. Part of the problem is that the Library has slow, inadequate equipment to support a heavy load of searching, and so has not advertised or otherwise encouraged such use. Yet, if the new campus network is to be used to its full potential and faculty are to retain their competitive edge in seeking research support, the same electronic information that researchers in private industry and many other research universities already take for granted must be provided. 10-2.7.3 Budget It is difficult to escape the conclusion that many of the Library's problems stem from a serious and growing divergence between its needs and the resources available for the Library's use. During the past decade the University has greatly increased its graduate enrollment, while moving rapidly into the top fifty universities in research expenditures. Both graduate education and advanced research place the greatest possible demands on library resources, requiring that they be many times more exten- sive than would be required to support only the mission of under- graduate instruction. New electronic technologies for information transfer have increased the demands of this more-sophisticated clientele, and while the Library has been successful in providing advanced technological means of information delivery (e.g., on-line catalog access), the great expense of these services has further stretched scarce resources. And if electronic information collection and access is to fully develop, additional large expenditures must be made. As a final straw, predatory pricing practices for scientific serials, inflation, and a severe decline of the dollar have recently threatened to seriously limit the Library's ability to acquire new materials. At the same time, as demands on the Library have increased dramatically and the costs of its most basic needs have consist- ently outpaced the cost of living, the University's support for library resources and services has been continuously falling. Perhaps because the Library, unlike the colleges, has no alumni, the University's spectacularly successful efforts in obtaining private support have been only marginally beneficial to the Library. While the University's Campaign for Excellence achieved twice its goals for fund-raising support, the Library component of the campaign fell far short of its goal of one million dollars. Only the Library's successful efforts to generate more revenue through improved photocopy services and other recovery enterprises have prevented an even greater erosion of its resource base. As the size and sophistication of its clientele have grown, the Library's staff has remained static in size. As competition for current information has increasingly become the struggle that determines winners and losers in research, as well as in society generally, the share of University resources devoted to the Library has steadily fallen. The extent of the University's divergence from the 1976 goal of a stable proportion of overall funding for the Library is made clear in Table 10-3. The most critical sacrifices have been made in collection devel- opment, the one area in which any future freeing of resources may not be able to remedy current deficiencies. Having discovered that library demand for critical serial titles is almost completely elastic, foreign publishers in particular have not hesitated to increase subscription rates several times over. As a result largely of this practice and the declining dollar, the Library has been forced to cut back severely on its purchase of monographic materials. This year the Library has adopted the strategy of paying for the increases in journal subscriptions by curtailing the purchase of monographs by over 37 percent and by cancelling a number of duplicate subscriptions. The serials budget will soon absorb 70 percent of the book budget and if not controlled could soon place the Library in the position of having no funds for monographs. Unless significant increases to the budget are made, the Library may be forced to cancel between 500 and 1,000 serials titles next year. At the end of the 1987 fiscal year, there were over 12,000 monographs requested by the faculty or identified by bibliographers that the Library was unable to order. At the current rate of acquisitions, the point is being approached where the Library will only be able to buy about one book for each faculty member and student. One can hardly expect a vigorous research program to be maintained at this rate of acquisition. In the last decade, the Library has slipped from an annual acquisition rate of 60,000 to 70,000 books to as few as 25,000 to 30,000 volumes. If relief is not granted soon, the Library will find that its efforts to maintain its serial holdings exact an excessive price on monographic purchases, potentially eliminating them, and will be forced to make severe cuts in periodicals and other continuing orders. It is anticipated that a $300,000 cut in periodical expenditures will need to be made in 1988; while some pruning may be possible, there are presently outstanding requests for some of the many new journals recently launched. Deficiencies generated in the collection through insufficient funding are very difficult to recover, if possible at all, due to the much smaller print runs of titles produced by the publishers. Should the Library manage to receive better funding at a later date, recovering past deficiencies could cost many times more than what it would have cost to acquire them in the first place. It is clear that the Library has done all it can to maintain services despite increasingly inadequate financial resources. Services have already begun to suffer, and now the quality of the collection itself is at risk. The time has come for the Univer- sity to recognize the long-term harm that may ensue from these trends and to take corrective measures. Recommendation 10-6: That the University restore its support of library collections and services to at least the level of 3.9 percent of University educational and general expenditures that prevailed in 1975-76. Further, it is hoped that additional funding can be obtained to bring the collection level up to that of comparable institutions, and to allow for the enhancement of services through the use of technology and by hiring of additional staff. Considering the types of demands placed on the Library to expand and change its role on campus over the next several years, attention must be given to the Library as a focus of private fund-raising. An initial campaign to identify those interested in the Library needs to be developed this year, and to be directed toward the current short-fall of the book budget. Once this core group of Library supporters is identified, then further work can be done to target this segment and enhance their interest in the Library. Other research libraries are experiencing good success in raising funds; VPI&SU should not be an exception. 10-2.8 Staff It is clearly a truism that change is accelerating and that the body of knowledge a worker brings to a job must be refreshed or even replaced at ever shortening intervals. This statement is truest of all in the information professions, and nowhere more so than in libraries. The University libraries now use over 50 personal computers (a device unknown in 1976) for word process- ing, student payroll, inventory, and communications. The variety of software packages available for these and other purposes is bewildering, making it a major challenge for the Library simply to keep track of what is available in this area. Together with the introduction of a new administrative style and changed expectations for professional activities such as research, the dislocations and anxieties caused by high technol- ogy have caused morale problems within the Library. Many staff members are unsure about what challenges they should expect and less than confident about their ability to meet these challenges. While not a panacea, a greatly increased effort to educate the staff, to keep them abreast of the changing technology and techniques of the information world, will go a long way toward solving this problem while maximizing the Library's efficiency and guaranteeing that it delivers state-of-the-art information products. Recommendation 10-7: That the Library institute an ongoing program of staff education and training by increasing its support for external training opportunities and by dramat- ically enhancing its programs of in-house staff training. The Library continues to fall short in the number of classified positions approved and funds for wages for student shelvers are limited. This difficulty will be compounded by the need for helpers to find and catalog materials not in the electronic catalog and by delays resulting from reshelving materials as sections of the stacks become overcrowded. 10-2.9 Additional Activities Within the next three years, the Library will begin to supplement its ongoing commitment to traditional paper-based information sources with an ever-growing commitment to the delivery of electronic information. The campus infrastructure should be in place by the fall of 1988 to allow access to electronic informa- tion via the new fiber-optic and digital switch network. By that time, the Library could have a significant amount of electronic information that can be delivered over the network. In addition to their other responsibilities, then, the Library faculty must also meet the challenge of accepting and utilizing the new technology. There are already a number of activities and proposals indicating this change in roles. Some of the most interesting are: * A locally produced series of three CD ROMs with serials holdings, along with other University-produced databases, is being developed under grants from Nimbus Records, SCHEV, and CIT that have been awarded to the Department of Computer Science and the Library. * A experimental project to prepare dissertations using SGML standards and the new AAP standard for document markup is now underway. In addition to the Library, the Computing Center, Computer Science, Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate School are involved, as is University Microfilms International and SoftQuad (of Toronto). The Graduate School and UMI will accept suitably formatted dissertations in electronic form, possibly for ultimate publication on CD ROM instead of paper. * A proposal has been made to CIT to establish a Resource Research Center at the Newman Library in support of the Technology Transfer Directors connected with the Common- wealth's community colleges. This Center would also serve the tenants of the Corporate Research Park. * A proposal is under development to establish a University Information Center at the Newman Library, which would direct individuals and agencies outside the University to appropri- ate faculty members for their expertise. * A study has just been completed that calls for the Library to create a University "Database of Databases," which could be expanded to include listings of all University collections of rocks, slides, biological specimens, etc. * Optical Character Recognition equipment is being sought to enhance the electronic conversion service in the Library to support University offices, and to allow the library to convert articles into ASCII format to transmit them to faculty and other libraries. Such equipment would also allow the library to scan contents pages of heavily used journals and deliver them over the campus network. * Many internal operations, such as wage payroll, inventory control, and statistical data collection, have also been automated. Over the next three years and during the decade of the 1990s, the Library can take major steps toward assuming its role for the future. If space and budget limitations can be dealt with as a result of increased University support, the University Library should be able to further increase its level of service to the entire community and become the major source of information supporting the University mission. 10-3.0 University Computing Widespread instructional computing is new in this Self-Study. The 1976-77 Self-Study observed that "computer services are essential to many educational programs" and "all students should be encouraged to make some practical use of these available resources." Demand for computing services was expected to increase and to include demands for interactive computing and computer-aided instruction. Through 1983, there was a steady growth in use of central comput- ing facilities as predicted. There were also a small number of departmental computer centers, such as in Computer Science, primarily serving the needs of researchers. But with the emergence of powerful microprocessors and their delivery in personal computers by vendors such as Apple and IBM, a new era of widespread distributed processing began at VPI&SU. Simultane- ously, the first high-performance workstations from SUN, Apollo, and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) were ordered. Since 1983, campus computing facilities have grown rapidly in quantity and capacity. Spurred by decisions to require students to purchase PCs and by numerous donations by interested vendors, academic and administrative departments have obtained thousands of computers from a wide variety of vendors and applied them to text processing, communication, administration, research, instruction, and extension tasks. Today the central computing center has resources comparable or superior to VPI&SU's peer institutions. One of the largest IBM mainframes has been available to the entire University since 1986. There are many more PCs than at any other similar univer- sity. A moderate number of workstations are available, less than the number at peer universities, but as PCs are replaced or supplemented by units like the Apple Macintosh II or IBM PS/2 Models 60 and 80, computing power comparable to all but the latest workstations is coming into use. Minicomputers in depart- ments around the University are present in comparable numbers to those at peer institutions. In most criteria, the computational capabilities of the central computing center and of the other distributed resources meet or exceed those of peers. In specialized areas such as computer graphics, however, there are cases where the computational support is not yet up to par. 10-3.1 Computing Center 10-3.1.1 Facilities and Services The Computing Center at the University is built around two large IBM systems, a 3090/200 VF and a 3084QX. The two IBM mainframe machines are used to support instructional, research, extension and administrative activities. The IBM 3084 complex operates under the control of VM/CMS and MVS and has 64 megabytes of memory. The IBM 3090 operates under the control of VM/CMS and has dual Vector Facilities to support supercomputing. The installation of the 3090 addressed not only a critical capac- ity shortfall for general services, but also provided for the first time local Class VI supercomputing power to the research community. The accompanying vectorizing support software is recognized as being among the easiest for the scientific program- mer to use. The 3090 system complements an FPS 164/MAX array processor that also supports scientific computing. There are also four DEC VAX 11/780 systems and two IBM 4341 systems. Two of the VAX 11/780 systems are clustered to provide reliable interactive computing under VMS, primarily serving undergraduate instruction. The remaining VAX systems are dedicated to CAD/CAM and research purposes. One IBM 4341 system is a dedicated CAD/CAM system that supports an array of sophisti- cated graphics workstations. The other 4341 is an internal test and development system. The Computing Center is also equipped with a diverse array of support peripherals, including high-speed laser printers, tape and cartridge drives, and high-quality plotters. The systems have more than 150 gigabytes of on-line storage. For interactive access to the various systems, a wide variety of terminals operating under different communication protocols and line speeds are supported. In addition to terminals located in faculty and administrative offices, there are laboratories and personal computer facilities, housing approximately 300 units for student use. Remote printing stations are located across the campus, as well as at many off-campus locations. The systems support an extensive list of compilers and interpret- ers, as well as statistical, mathematical, simulation, graphics and other special-purpose packages. In addition, the systems have highly versatile text processing and data base management packages that are available for faculty, staff, and student use. The introduction two years ago of the high-speed IBM 3800 laser printers and the development of support software has been a boon to the University's document preparation activities. Graduate theses, research manuscripts, reports, sponsored research and contract proposals, and other University documents now take on a polished, professional form with much reduced production efforts. The value to the University of the improved appearance of the documents that represent it is widely recognized. There is also an interface with the printing plant, which provides for typesetting of computer-generated text. 10-3.1.2 Organization The organizational structure, responsibilities and staffing levels of the Computing Center are shown in Figure 10-3. In the last two years there has been some reorganization of the staff to provide more technical assistance in key areas such as supercom- puting and distributed processing. Otherwise, staffing levels have changed very little. The User Services Department provides: * Liaison between the Computing Center and the user community; * Consulting: desk, telephone, on-line; * Publications: documentation, user guides, handouts, newslet- ters; * Installation and maintenance of application software; and * Instruction: short courses to faculty, staff and graduate students. Distributed Computing provides: * Maintenance of the Computing Center network control and telecommunication software; * Consulting for purchase and use of workstations and network- ing equipment; * Projects to provide connection to national networks; and * User documentation. Advanced Scientific Computing provides: * Support for large-scale computing, including vector process- ing (3090, floating point system); * Support for remote supercomputing; and * User documentation. Systems Programming provides: * System software maintenance; * Performance and configuration analysis; and * Identification and evaluation of major computer hardware and software needs and changes. The Operations Department provides: * Computer systems, RJE, and access facilities operation; * Tape library maintenance and operation; and * Management for physical changes to the Computing Center plant. In addition to the professional staff, there are 45 wage employ- ees who support Computing Center access facilities and general logistics services (runners, clerks, monitors). 10-3.1.3 Budget Budget information for the Computing Center for the past four years was supplied by the Vice President for Information Systems. These data are estimates and may include some mixing of Computing Center and Systems Development budgets, particularly on salaries. Dollar allocations for the Computing Center have remained almost static over this period (see Table 10-4). When one considers that the budget for operations includes expenditures for the IBM 3090 computer, a real decline in the operations budget is evident. In addition, due to a mandated increase in salaries, fewer people are in salaried positions that four years ago. The Computing Center budget reflects a significant commitment to decentralization of computing activities on campus. It is the expectation of the Vice President for Information Systems that the Computing Center will reach a steady-state operational level somewhat below the current status with services provided only for those computing activities provided by the Computing Center. Because of the decentralization of computing activities, accurate resource allocations for campus-wide computing are difficult to obtain. It is estimated by the Vice President for Information Services that approximately 20 million dollars was expended in 1987 on campus-wide computing activities, including hardware purchases. Budget figures for computing and Computing Center activities are also difficult to categorize. The operations budget for the Computing Center does not distinguish between uses, so separations such as administrative computing, word processing, and "number crunching" cannot be made. Recommendation 10-8: That more detailed and better defined budget information for both the Computing Center and campus- wide computing be provided, both for administrative use and for dissemination on campus. 10-3.1.4 Current Projects and Priorities The Computing Center has established a list of projects and activities to be completed in the next one to three years. In some cases, the items reflect steps being taken to provide remedial action to correct past deficiencies. * Upgrade the operating system running on the IBM 3090 to VM/XA. The most critical benefit of doing so is the relief of the 16MB address constraint imposed by the current VM/SP system. The 16MB limit is unrealistically small for many research projects; among research programmers, it is the most reported limiting feature of the computing environment offered on the systems. * Improve the graphics support environment. Much of the avail- able graphics software and hardware is more than ten years old. The current competing graphical standards are being evaluated. New graphics hardware (plotters, film recorders, and terminals) will be added as funds become available. * Upgrade the instructional systems. The DEC VAX systems, which now support a large portion of the undergraduate computing requirement, have become unreliable and uneconom- ical and must be replaced. * Plan for upgrade to IBM mainframe system. Computing in all categories is increasing greater than 50 percent per year. Usage statistics indicate that capacity will be exhausted within one year. * Continued development of network support. TCP/IP ethernets are still new at the University and will require considerably more effort to become established. Security considerations are a primary concern. Expanding these networks to a state- wide stature is also a priority. In joint projects with CNS, the Southeastern University Research Association network (SURAnet) and the Virginia Research Network (VRN), proposals have been funded by NSF. * Provide electronic mail services for all constituents of the University, including, especially, the undergraduate students with microcomputers. A joint project with CNS is underway and aimed at producing a mail system based on the X.400 international standard. * Integrate the separate CAD/CAM system into the general University systems. This will provide more widespread access to the capabilities of the powerful graphics system, and at the same time, allow development of sophisticated facilities management applications within the University's own infrastructure. * Identify and develop document-preparation, document-storage, and print standards that permit universal sharing and exchange, device independence and merged graphics. Analysis of the SGML standards are a beginning for these efforts, but a great deal of work lies ahead. * Continue to enhance the terminal and PC access facilities in the public and departmental/college areas. The goal is to provide student access to the mainframe systems in support of the instructional program on suitably modern equipment. * Continue to develop and enhance on-line information systems. 10-3.2 Training and Assistance Based on surveys of both students and faculty, it appears that the utilization of the University computing resources could be greatly enhanced by improved training programs and user assist- ance. Most of the faculty concerns about computing at VPI&SU are found in the "Crofts Report," which was completed in 1982 by the Ad Hoc Committee on Research Computing, chaired by George Crofts. The most universal complaint had to do with the absence of user support and training. User Services teaches short courses, but these deal mainly with mainframe software; personnel who teach the courses are programmers, not trainers. Most faculty train and support themselves on PCs, and they usually train their students as well if they use PCs in class. Faculty and graduate students alike complain about the level of User Services consult- ing. One specific complaint is that users get helped by whoever is on duty, regardless of what expertise a given problem requires. Users feel they should be able to get expert help on problems that require it. Even Engineering faculty find training inadequate for faculty and staff. Said one chemical engineer, "[The University assumes that] buying a PC will permit us to do wonderful things." Like a book, though, if we "don't know how to use it, just having the computer may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory." Recommendation 10-9: That training laboratories to support both mainframe and PC computing be provided and staffed with professional trainers to teach students and faculty how to use hardware and software, manage their data, and use graph- ics and printing capabilities. Further user support services should be provided, including additional short courses, more annual presentations to colleges on recent innovations, and introduction to appropriate on-line expert systems. The University needs a state-of-the-art development lab that could be used to: * provide the facilities to teach faculty and students how to use computer-based technologies for teaching; * teach extension seminars for faculty at other institutions; and, * teach standard workshops for Virginia business and other markets. It is expected that a state-of-the-art computer lab for the faculty would lead to further development of software for instructional purposes and an increased spread of the software and techniques at VPI&SU and other universities. Such achieve- ments would be accelerated if both the Computing Center and the LRC helped make this effort a success. In conjunction with Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc., software licensing and faculty consultation can be arranged to further promote the interests of faculty and the University. Workshops on desktop publishing, computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), graphics, and other application that require advanced computing equipment and knowledge can also be planned and coordinated, charging top rates for instruction. Recommendation 10-10: That development of educational programs, including short courses and industrial institutes, be greatly expanded to take advantage of the available expertise at VPI&SU and to generate much needed support for further devel- opment of sophisticated computing and information systems. 10-3.3 Training and Development An increase in expertise in these areas brings the opportunity for VPI&SU to become a leader in the field of information systems through the development of educational programs for use by other universities and by industries that may wish to adopt similar technology. By offering a variety of courses, both on and off campus for VPI&SU students and faculty, and for business and academic personnel from off campus, this technology can become more widely used and can generate opportunities for additional development and educational programs. Such programs will provide students with skills desired by industry and government through- out the country. At present, no degree program in library and information services is available in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Because of the development of computer-based data systems, including those in the library, VPI&SU is uniquely positioned to provide graduate training in information science and technology. There is already a Master of Information Systems degree offered by the Department of Computer Science that could serve as the basis for developing a Ph.D. program. Such a program could rely on the combined resources of the computing and information systems areas (Library, Computing Center, and Communications Network Services), and the departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineer- ing to develop a unique and marketable graduate and research effort. Recommendation 10-11: That the development of an academic program to encourage research and to provide degree offerings at the graduate level in the area of information science and technology be studied. An outgrowth of such a program would be the transfer of the practical expertise gained by such units as CNS or the Computing Center to both students and faculty so that these activities, in addition to their existing role as instructional and research support units, would also have a strong educational component. At the same time, instructional and research contributions from the academic program would inform and strengthen the services. It is envisioned that all faculty associated with this program would have joint appointments with the information science and technology program and CNS, the Library, the Computing Center or other departments. From such a group, large proposals for research and development of new computing and information systems should be forthcoming, thereby transferring some of the develop- ment burden from the University to external funding sources. 10-3.4 Resources and Allocation Not surprisingly, the allocation, distribution, and adequacy of funds for computing and other information services is controver- sial. Concerns include the adequacy of funds to accomplish all the computing that is desired, skewing of funds from other educa- tion areas into computing, fund allocation among departments, and decentralization of computing activities without an accompanying decentralization of funds. Although the dollars allotted for computing are not easy to identify, an estimation from budget codes indicates that about $20,000,000 per year is the current expenditure. Of this, nearly 50 percent is expended by departments, in part due to the increased purchase of PC-related hardware and software and partly due to decentralization. A logical concern of the entire Univer- sity community is whether this heavy orientation toward technology-based education is appropriate. Since questionnaires to the computing community show that the demand for computing services has not been satisfied, it appears that continued expan- sion of campus-wide computing will result in future restrictions in other educational programs. Decisions about the educational direction of the University in the future will be based on the availability of resources and the use of those resources. The clear emphasis at VPI&SU has been toward a technology-based educational system with computing at the center of this thrust. It is appropriate at this time to evaluate the progress made in this direction and to consider whether continued expansion in this direction is desirable, particularly given the limits on resources. A careful accounting and critical review of resource allocation needs to be undertaken with regard to expenditures for computing, and this review needs to include faculty input. Evaluation should consider impact on research, instruction, and extension and issues of equity. Positive effects of efforts at other universities should be studied and incorporated where applicable at VPI&SU. The current system of allocating funds for use of the mainframe is viewed benignly by individuals in departments with ample funds. Others have a less charitable view. One administrator described the system as follows: The so-called SMARTDOLLAR system for the allocation of computing resources was devised in a much different time in the relative short history of central computing at this University. As such, it is no longer adequate or appropri- ate to the changing needs and conditions that drive the computing facilities and resources and should therefore be abandoned as soon as possible. This system produces a false sense of resource priorities, rations capacity unnec- essarily, creates a bureaucratic nightmare of doling out SMARTDOLLARS as if they were bowls of rice in the Sudan, and results in incremental adjustments in a very dynamic 'supply-demand' relationship. When asked whether they prefer funding information services out of user fees or the University general budget, responses were mixed. Representative responses were: "User fees should pay all costs"; "Developing a user fee approach to funding would open up a political can of worms which we feel would work to the disad- vantage of the politically weak, low-use users." Several individuals suggested a combination of funding sources with each user guaranteed a minimum level of access to information services. Recommendation 10-12: That the University investigate methods to improve its allocation of computing and information resources. This change in allocations might be accomplished by: 1) provid- ing each graduate student and faculty member with a satisfactory minimum level of access to library databases, mainframe time, and long distance and local networks; 2) augmenting departmental operating budgets to reflect the ongoing decentralization of computing and information services; and 3) developing an alterna- tive system to allocate mainframe computing resources. 10-3.5 Personal Computers Substantial donations of PC equipment have been made by IBM, Digital Equipment Corporation, AT&T, and Apple Computer. Large quantities of PCs have been purchased by students, staff, and faculty for personal use. Many systems have been purchased by individual investigators, by research groups, by departments, or by the central administration for a wide variety of uses. In total there are well over 10,000 systems present at VPI&SU. Students in the College of Engineering were required as of 1984 to purchase IBM-compatible systems. In 1987, entering freshmen in the College of Engineering were required to purchase computers from the IBM Personal System 2 family. All of Engineering's over 5,000 undergraduates are now expected to be equipped with PCs. Apple Macintosh personal computers, required for students in the Computer Science Department, make up a substantial minority. Starting in Fall 1985, the Department of Computer Science began requiring about 200 entering freshmen to acquire Macintosh systems with hard disks running the UNIX operating system. The Macintosh was initially chosen because it was the only affordable system supporting UNIX. By the fall of 1988, all computer science undergraduates will be equipped with a Macintosh system, with three of the four classes using a Macintosh II. These systems are more expensive than the IBM microcomputers, but better serve the needs of computer scientists by providing many of the features of a state-of-the-art workstation. With PC-equipped students, the Engineering faculty redesigned the curriculum from Engineering Fundamentals on up to take advantage of the new technology. By Winter Quarter 1987, the College of Engineering estimated that roughly 90 percent of its courses used computers to some extent. The College of Business is currently planning for significantly greater use of IBM microcomputers or compatibles. In Winter Quarter 1987, the college estimated that by 1989-1990, when the current freshmen are juniors and seniors, roughly half of the college's undergraduate courses would use computers, with all but a few of those using IBM microcomputers. Plans do not call for required purchase by students. The added cost of computers has not limited the number of under- graduate applicants. Indeed, in 1985 the Computer Science Department overaccepted, expecting a greater number of rejections, and ended up instead with roughly 25 percent more freshmen than usual. 10-3.5.1 PC Labs, Software, and Access Until recently, VPI&SU operated as many as eight personal computer laboratories throughout the campus, open to any student or faculty member who wanted to use them. In 1986, these labora- tories contained roughly 189 PCs and various other computer tools. Students and staff could obtain software to use in the labs or to use on their own PCs. VPI&SU pioneered the use of site-licensed software for educational institutions to make commonly-used software such as word processors and spelling checkers legally available to all students, staff, and faculty at little or no cost, thus reducing the risks of software piracy and copyright violation. Faculty could also place programs in the labs for students to use as part of their class assignments. The software was available by exchanging a student ID card for the software to be used in the lab, or by exchanging a blank, format- ted diskette for software to be used on personal machines. As a supplement to student-owned PCs and University-managed laboratories, many colleges and departments, among them the College of Education and the departments of English, Sociology, and Computer Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, operate laboratories for their faculty and students. These have generally been built by equipment donations, grant funds, or departmental discretionary funds. Much of the departmental equipment purchases represent conscious choice to buy PCs rather than to support other faculty educational activities. As part of the overall plan to decentralize computing facilities, the Computing Center began in 1987 to transfer ownership and operational responsibility of PC labs to colleges and depart- ments. Though this action seemed to have been accelerated as a result of budget limitations in the Computing Center, the ultimate intent was for the new operating units to be given suitable funds allotments so as to properly maintain and run the labs. It was hoped that this plan would lead to improved support of PC-based computing, since departments responsible for specific requirements regarding the use of PCs would have direct responsi- bility and control. Indeed, student use of PC labs appears to be mostly by students in or taking courses taught by Engineering, Business, and Computer Science. Students with PCs at home often use the labs to print results or to complete assignments during the day. Surveys indicate that adequate capacity exists to satisfy the current demand for access to PCs, as shown by attendance figures. However, there are various complicating factors regarding decen- tralization of labs. First, there is the tendency for the departmental/college laboratories to be opened only to students with particular majors or in certain courses, and to thus exclude other students, faculty, and staff who lack PC access. Second, there is the increased competition for funds in colleges, so that in times of scarce resources departments will be pressured to use their own resources or (in opposition to educational preference) to discourage use of their PC labs and instead advocate use of central computer resources through "free" SMARTDOLLARS. Third, there is the conflicting requirement for having labs in precious space near the administering departments versus having PCs in convenient places in publicly accessible dormitories. A key consequence of the transfer appears to be the perception and probably the reality of reducing accessibility of PCs, especially to students and others not related to the units running the labs. The Graduate Student Assembly and the Commission on Graduate Studies in its June 1987 meetings expressed their concern regard- ing possible reduction in accessibility of PCs to graduate students. There have been discussions by the Computer Committee and Faculty Senate as well. It seems clear that there is widespread sentiment that, given the emphasis in recent years to encourage use of PCs, it is essential that adequate access to PCs be afforded to the entire University community. Somehow this must be reconciled with trends toward decentralization. Recommendation 10-13: That PC labs be provided at a sufficient number of locations in sufficient quantity and with adequate rights of access to support the needs of the faculty and students. 10-3.6 Equipment Purchases, Repair, and Obsolescence It is expected that steadily increasing amounts of equipment will be purchased, making rapid obsolescence a major concern. Projections are for continued growth at the rate of 2,500-3,000 microcomputers per year to a level of 14,000 workstations by 1989 and as many as 20,000 PCs by 1990. The University has set up repair facilities and maintenance agreements for faculty and students who buy PC equipment through University channels. Several faculty complained about those agreements, though, saying that they could find cheaper repair service from outside sources. Some departments reported having discontinued their maintenance contracts after projections showed lower costs if repairs were contracted for as needed. Fewer than half of the students responding to the questionnaire had had their equipment serviced. Of those, roughly two-thirds were satisfied with the service; the rest were not. A vast majority had required no service at all. Recommendation 10-14: That repair and maintenance costs be examined closely by the Computer Committee. If the Univer- sity cannot repair equipment as cheaply as outside firms, it should cease to provide repair service. An investigation should be made of more economical and effective means to maintain actively used equipment. Many faculty and administrators have expressed concern about the absence of systematic means to replace equipment. In public, college, and departmental laboratories, obsolescence is becoming a major problem. By January 1987, IBM had discontinued the original 8088-based PC, which makes up the bulk of equipment currently available in laboratories. With the half-life of PC technology estimated at roughly 18 months, regular replacement and equipment update are critical to maintain not only working equipment but also new equipment like that which students will encounter on the job. Requiring students to purchase PCs partly solves this problem because the equipment pool turns over every four or five years at graduation. Thus administrators may change the equipment requirement as market changes dictate. Continued stiff competi- tion for admission shows that the College of Engineering and the Department of Computer Science have not been hurt by their computer requirement, although it is possible that the student mix may have changed. Furthermore, other students' responses to the Office of Institutional Research's survey show that a healthy majority (68 percent) would purchase a PC if their major required it. Recommendation 10-15: That a program be developed that provides for the orderly replacement of PCs for faculty and for PC labs. Arrangements for repair, maintenance, and replacement of other computer equipment should also be investigated. Many faculty express dissatisfaction with the University's focus on IBM products, suggesting that generic MS-DOS and Apple Macintosh equipment would have been better and that VAX systems are more effective than IBM mainframes. In physics, for instance, faculty have purchased NEC PCs for their superior graphic capabilities. Furthermore, a physicist asked why VPI&SU isn't in competition for the "3M" machines (mega- instructions/second, megabytes, mega-pixels), which cost about $3,000 each; only in Computer Science are machines of this type required. Faculty have expressed the need for computers other than the Intel 8088- or even 80286-based PCs currently in use if they are to teach students the most up-to-date equipment and techniques. Clearly there is need for more emphasis on workstations as opposed to PCs, but in recent years workstations have been purchased without much coordination, mostly by individ- ual investigators or by departments using research or state bond funds. Additional concerns have been expressed about the quality of computer graphics and printing. Recommendation 10-16: That a process be established through which Computing Center equipment upgrade or procurement decisions, especially of larger systems, receive adequate input from the user community. This process should consider both the acquisition of funds to support computing and the selection of specific pieces of equipment and systems. One possible solution is to adequately involve the Computer Committee in these decisions. It should be noted that during the period 1980-84, it was common practice for the Computer Committee to be engaged in discussions prior to making major outlays for computing facilities. 10-3.7 Distributed Computing Outside the Computing Center are a wide variety of smaller centers, in colleges and departments, with minicomputers, supermicros, workstations, and microcomputers. In addition to over 10,000 personal computers, there are approximately two dozen departmental minicomputers and numerous sophisticated workstation installations serving specialized research programs. These facilities can be used for word processing, publishing/printing, storage/access, scientific computations, statistics, business reporting, and a variety of other tasks. Generally, good software on PCs, once identified, is easy to use and in many cases becomes quite popular. Most units outside the Computing Center are owned by the relevant administrative unit. Some are managed by the Computing Center and some are even located in space allocated to the Computing Center, but due to manpower limitations, such arrangements are only possible if a number of constraints on technical support and administration are acceptable to the unit owing the equipment. Other units have their own staff or rely on the expertise of students, staff, and faculty, as well as the vendor or other support agent. Rarely is there support for much training, so all users share in the burden of learning how to use and maintain their equipment. There is no central support for most of the distributed comput- ing, except through regular operating budgets or from overhead returned on grants. This totally distributed budget arrangement creates problems for departments whose expenses increase, especially when research support is not sufficient to cover costs. In selected instances, the University has provided assistance, though it is more commonly in the form of cost- sharing for procurement rather than assistance with maintenance expenses. 10-3.7.1 Power Supply and Air Conditioning University-provided electrical power and air conditioning are often significant problems for departmental computer systems. The power situation is an especially critical one; during the summers of 1986 and 1987 there were lightning strikes and other power faults that cost many man-years of time and hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. Plans for new buildings and changes to existing structures should always be reviewed to ensure that future computer use is consid- ered. Staff involved in building renovation, repair, and mainte- nance should be trained in key issues about computing equipment. Recommendation 10-17: That serious attention be given to the need for clean, reliable power to support the growing number of computer and computer-related devices on campus. 10-3.7.2 Interconnection and Coordination In many departments where moderate to large numbers of systems or terminals have been installed, there has been substantial invest- ment in cabling or networking to provide access to the various resources. File transfer and electronic mail are universal goals in these situations. While distributed processing has clearly become the norm at VPI&SU, however, there are significant problems that should be addressed for the long term. There is almost no adherence to standards for data, computer languages, word processing, network- ing, and software purchases. Many systems are totally isolated and cannot receive mail; even development of the single system image approach will leave support of large numbers of PCs and larger units stranded for several years. There is little coordi- nation of computer maintenance that might lead to quantity discounts or local stocking of parts. There are some good discounts on purchases, but many more could be possible if more coordination was enforced. Substantial savings in funds, time, and labor are possible if planning, establishment and adherence to standards, and ongoing coordination became the rule for distributed computing. 10-3.8 Research Computing During the past ten years, the computation and information requirements of the VPI&SU research community have increased by an extraordinary amount. As one measure of this growth, expendi- tures for computing services (hardware and software) under the research mission of the University have increased from less than $500,000 in 1977-78 to over $3.5 million in 1985-86. It has been estimated that there is now much more computing capacity outside the Computing Center than within. Major changes provide a number of challenges and opportunities to the University, particularly in the areas of coordinating and connecting services. The 1985 Crofts survey found that seventy percent of those responding felt that research computing facilities and resources at VPI&SU equal or exceed those available at comparable universi- ties. Several individuals responding to the questions commented on the impressive array of hardware available at the university. As one researcher said, "I feel very fortunate to have the kind of power we have at our disposal." The benefits of the Universi- ty's strong support for computing were expressed by one faculty member, who wrote "Without a doubt this University is committed to a progressive high tech environment. From my point of view, that commitment encourages faculty to stay here because there are few campuses that compete with us; it encourages students to come here; and it potentially will limit bureaucratic growth of department support staff as we do much of our own computer work." Researchers at VPI&SU use computers for a variety of tasks. The most popular areas of computing are data analysis, "number crunching," and word processing (see Table 10-5). These statistics indicate that fewer than half of the respondents used computers for producing graphics. One reason for this is dissatisfaction with the quality of graphics on the mainframe as expressed in response to the questionnaire. Similar statements might be made for other advanced computer services that require specialized hardware or software. Other issues of concern include the difficulty of finding the right consultant in (the Computing Center's) User Services to ask a specialized question, the need for more site licenses for microcomputer software, and difficulties in obtaining knowledgeable advice on hardware purchases. Further, there is a general perception by researchers that the centralized computing facilities favor administrative users more than research users. The research community anticipates a trend over the next few years toward greater decentralization of computing on the campus. In light of this, they ask for more advice and support for hardware and software purchases and maintenance outside of the Computing Center. The University is attuned to this trend and the Vice President for Information Systems is actively promoting efforts to create an infrastructure that permits the integration of campus-wide systems. However, it does not appear that decen- tralization of funding to support the decentralized computer activities is underway. This is a critical need which must be addressed as soon as possible. Most faculty and graduate students feel that they have little voice in decisions regarding computing and information services beyond the departmental level. The Crofts Committee reported the following two findings related to this: 1. Only 53 percent agreed with the statement "The Computing Center appears interested in providing the computing services that I need for my research." 2. By a greater than 4 to 1 ratio, the faculty that responded believe that faculty members in their department had less influence on decisions of software purchases than on the decisions of purchases of library journals. 10-3.9 Extension Computing Modest uses of computer systems by the Extension Division began in 1975. Between 1975 and 1978, the Special Programs Office of Extension developed several major data base systems. The 4-H system was designed to record 4-H enrollment data for 4-H members, leaders, and friends of 4-H. A publication inventory system was implemented to manage the distribution of over 4,000 different Extension publications. Other systems developed included property control and mailing list management. For Extension's Continuing Education Center, there are CEU programs, an in-service registration system, and a centralized mailing list management system. In January 1982, a project was begun to develop a computer network to enhance the program management and delivery capabili- ties of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service (VCES). The network was designed to provide: * an electronic link for communication and program delivery for Extension staff at VPI&SU, Virginia State, district and unit offices, research stations, and 4-H educational centers; * capability to manage information, personnel, and clientele data bases at all levels of the organization; and * additional means for timely, efficient, and coordinated program delivery. Significant accomplishments have been made toward an Extension computer network. All the Virginia Cooperative Extension Offices across the Commonwealth have microcomputers that are connected to the IBM mainframe in Blacksburg. VCES maintains two collections of computer programs on the mainframe computer system. These collections are identified by the terms CMN (Computerized Management Network) and XNET (Exten- sion Computer Network) and are the strength of Extension comput- ing. All the computer applications in the CMN and XNET have been written or updated since 1982. The major support group for the VCES computerization effort is the Extension Computing Resources group. The computer program development activities include computer program design, develop- ment, testing, and implementations for the CMN and XNET. With its responsibilities for information dissemination, Exten- sion has moved toward electronic document delivery as a replace- ment for its warehousing of publications. Funding from the Kellogg Foundation and assistance from the LRC has enabled devel- opment of videodisc-based delivery approaches. CD ROM-based information dissemination is also being investigated in connection with research in the Department of Computer Science. Most of the concerns of extension personnel relative to computer use have to do with information dissemination. Since many of the services provided by Extension involve information brokering, much more extensive use of PCs and other information transfer systems may drastically alter the manner in which field operations function. It is anticipated that courses directly from the campus to clients will become more widespread. These may be either live presentations or taped programs for use in VCRs. Although some field instruction may be eliminated by information links from central locations, it is expected that other field- based programs will continue or expand. Instruction in the use of PC software will become an important activity for Extension personnel as data management becomes more critical for successful small business operations. Traditional means of information dissemination, such as newsletters, slides, and overhead trans- parencies, can be made more cost-effective and time-efficient by using computer-based production methods. Information delivery with videodiscs, CD-ROMs, or other laserdisc systems will also be developed. For these technologies to be properly applied, there must be additional instruction for Extension personnel, and improved delivery and printing equipment must be available. In addition, access is needed to databases provided by outside information suppliers, either locally from optical discs, or remotely through network connections; the relative costs and special requirements in each situation should be contrasted. Recommendation 10-18: That a long-range planning effort be undertaken by the Vice Provost for Extension to study the use of new and changing computer-based technology in Extension. 10-3.10 Users by Group Survey information has been collected regarding the views of various groups at the University on the current situation in information systems. Other data has been obtained through inter- views and inquiries by the committee. The following subsections provide some of the key findings of this investigation, and complement the observations made in the rest of this chapter. It should be noted, however, that this committee has not been able to obtain all the information that would be desirable for such a study, and that it is the members' hope that future self- study efforts will be able to draw upon a larger amount of more specific findings. Thus, while the vast majority seem to feel that services are "adequate," the committee is not sure what that means, and feels that more effort is needed to determine what people "need" or "want." It is hoped that future data collection efforts will be planned with more direct aid by faculty, staff, and students so that more specific lessons can be learned. 10-3.10.1 Faculty The 1987-88 Self-Study faculty survey indicated that 86.3 percent of the faculty agreed or tended to agree with the statement that the computer services at the University were adequate. Areas of concern include the adequacy and distribution of computer funds, the quality of printing, the level of service provided by the Computing Center, and the limited flexibility in vendor selection. Overall, however, computer facilities are considered to be among the better university systems. 10-3.10.2 Administrators A survey of administrators indicates satisfaction with the current system. Administrative uses of computers include record keeping, communications, and data transmission. These services and a demand for additional services has required substantial assistance from Systems Development. In the future, a need for Systems Development to focus on system integration, as opposed to development, may produce conflicts between administrative and other users. Administrative considerations should be fully incorporated into the Single System Image to ensure that their needs are included in the overall University-wide information system network. 10-3.10.3 Students Students agree or tend to agree by 74 percent that the computer services at the University are adequate. In a 1986 student survey of computer services, two items were of concern. The level of assistance by faculty and staff was frequently criti- cized, as was access to computers. The facilities were consid- ered satisfactory. 10-3.10.4 Handicapped Users In 1984, the Handicap Concerns Counselor (EO/AA Office) was able to obtain a one-time grant from the Virginia Department for the Visually Handicapped to purchase special computers and peripheral equipment for blind, legally blind, and learning disabled users in the University community. The equipment includes a Kurzweil Optical Character Reader, M-Boss 1 Braille Printer, Digital DEC Talk, two IBM PCs, Panasonic enlargement monitor, Votrax voice synthesizer, and Apollo reader. One unanticipated bonus to the voice computers has been the language development of learning disabled dyslexic students. The auditory support has helped students identify and correct their writing and reading problems faster than with conventional write and rewrite techniques. One additional benefit of new technology and voice synthesized computers can be demonstrated by a blind professor in the English department. The professor teaches freshman English sections that require all students enrolled in the classes to have access and prior knowledge of PCs and word processing. The students turn in their papers and assignments on disks, and the professor is able to review and grade all work without the aid and expense of readers. It is important that the beginning efforts to support the acces- sibility of educational processes by the handicapped be contin- ued. Since special computer equipment and software are not funded by any department on campus, a special "computer acquisi- tion" budget should be established in the EO/AA Office to upgrade and purchase state-of-the-art computers for disabled users. In addition, before adopting new software, departments should discuss with companies whether the software will work with voice synthesizers and adaptive equipment for the disabled user. Recommendation 10-19: That whenever possible, software that is compatible with voice synthesizers be purchased to facilitate access by visually handicapped persons. 10-4.0 Communications Network Services 10-4.1 History and Current Status The Department of Communications Network Services (CNS) was formed in 1984 in order to 1) coordinate University-wide communi- cations services, 2) to improve voice and data transmission while controlling costs, and 3) to develop and support the complex data and information systems needed in a world where access to and the ability to transmit information is of critical importance. CNS provides all voice, data, and video services to the VPI&SU commu- nity. The services provided by CNS range from developing and managing large-scale projects, to the design and planning of new network services, to the financial management and billing for the communications services. A major CNS goal is to provide services that maintain and enhance the University's leadership position in the delivery of instructional, research, and extension services. To accomplish this goal, a concerted effort has been made to maintain a "leading edge" position with respect to advances in communications technology. CNS is operated as a cost-recovery utility. Two operational guidelines dictate the operation and planning of CNS. These are: 1) to determine the facilities and services necessary to develop or advance the University's competitiveness, and, 2) to determine a mechanism to pay for these facilities and services. The commu- nications infrastructure affects institutional competitiveness and therefore, long-term effect on competitiveness is determined by how efficiently and effectively that infrastructure shrinks distances and stretches time. The competitive opportunities to the University include reducing the cost of communications, increasing market accessibility, and creating service differen- tiation. 10-4.2 Organization Communications Network Services is organized in four major departments to best serve the communication needs at VPI&SU. Each department is headed by a manager that reports directly to the Director of Communications Network Services, who oversees the entire organization's operation (see Figure 10-4). 10-4.3 Facilities The University-wide facilities that are managed by CNS to enhance the University capability in voice, image, and/or data trans- mission include a 9-meter (diameter) C-Band satellite uplink antenna to transmit video and audio signals, located at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, and a network of satellite-receiving earth stations (downlinks) in 26 locations across the state (the sites include: two 4-H centers, three VPI&SU agricultural research centers, and 21 county and district extension offices). Two additional satellite dishes are planned for installation. These will augment C-Band and soon-to-be-built KU-Band uplink facilities. The first of these is a 5.7 meter Simulsat C-Band receive-only dish to distribute entertainment and education programming on campus. The second is a 5.5-meter C-Band transmit/receive dish to distribute extension, sports, cultural, and information programming to radio stations throughout the Commonwealth. During fiscal year 1987-88, VPI&SU began installation of communi- cations facilities that will provide state-of-the-art voice, data, and video services. These facilities are being financed by $16 million in revenue bonds. One key aspect of this project is the development of a communications distribution infrastructure (i.e. cable and wire plant), which will provide greater informa- tion transfer capacity, be significantly less costly to maintain, and will be vendor independent with respect to digital switching systems and termination equipment (i.e. telephones, modems). A second salient component of the project is the acquisition of digital switching facilities to integrate voice and data communi- cations over the distribution system. Perhaps the best way to define these initiatives is in terms of what individual users of the system will see and experience. Most of the current telephones on campus, including the rotary dial, multiline sets, will be replaced with modern, multibutton/multiline digital sets. Each digital set will have numerous programmable buttons that will allow users to tailor the telephone for individual needs. Such needs may include the ability to have multiple lines, to hold or transfer calls, to initiate conference calls from pre-defined lists, to query voice mail messages, and many others. All of the phones will have an intercom capability, a message waiting indicator, single-button speed dealing, automatic redial, and line status indicators. The entire system, with its anticipated low-cost long-distance links, will be cost-recovered through the per-telephone station charges and through an overhead charge per minute for long distance usage. The campus-wide wiring infrastructure, the Virginia Tech Cable Plant, will include cable to every workspace (offices, dormitory rooms, and classrooms) for video and some specialized data commu- nications services. A project in conjunction with the digital communications system will provide a rich array of video program- ming on this broadband cable system. It is quite conceivable that 35 to 40 channels of programming, providing access to instructional programs, teleconferences, and informational services, will be distributed over this cable system. The video system costs are to be recovered through a charge per connection in dormitories and offices. 10-4.4 Budget Total CNS revenues/expenditures for fiscal year 1986-87 were approximately $9 million. This included about $2.2 million for the purchase and resale of personal computers, approximately $.3 million to support video and satellite transmission services, $4 million for telephone services and approximately $2.5 million for data services. These totals include all operating and personnel costs. Totals for the current fiscal year are approximately the same. For fiscal year 1988-89, about a $3 million increase in revenue/expenditures is expected over the current year due to the provision of services to students housed on campus. The demand for data communications services has grown each year and as the cost of basic telephone services has increased, a greater portion of most department operating budgets has been spent for communications. Several departments spend close to 50 percent of their operating budget for communications services, compared to less than 10 percent five years ago. A few, in an effort to control costs, have required two, three, and four faculty members to share a telephone. Whereas basic research capabilities would be enhanced by having faculty personal comput- ers connected to the University network facility, many cannot get support for this connection. Recommendation 10-20: That every faculty member have some basic level of communication services that are not a part of department operational budgets (i.e., come from central funds). These are: * a basic single line telephone set * a 19.2 Kbps data connection While this will be costly to implement, the existence of a University-owned digital switch and cable plant will make this a problem in funds allocation rather than capital outlay and procurement. 10-4.5 Staff Because of the extraordinary manner in which CNS is funded (it is run as a cost center and virtually all of its monies are recov- ered by billing departments for services), some unique staffing problems exist. Approximately 70 percent of the staff are wage (temporary) employees. Wage personnel are hourly employees with no holiday or health benefits. There is no security in these jobs and retirement benefits are nonexistent. These factors cause the higher quality employees to seek salaried positions outside CNS. Communications-related expenditures and personnel costs exceed $10 million a year. CNS is involved in several development projects in state-of-the-art computer and communication facili- ties. Both of the above circumstances call for extraordinarily competent and experienced management personnel. It is also necessary to employ knowledgeable professionals involved in state-of-the-art communications developments. Under the Common- wealth's classified system, positions that provide adequate compensation for professionals in the communications field are unavailable; new classifications are sorely needed. This situation restricts the ability of CNS to employ personnel adequate to fulfill their mission. Recommendation 10-21: That CNS be provided additional and appropriate positions for faculty and professional classified personnel. 10-4.6 Additional Activities The following are current development projects: * Digital Switch System and telephone facilities This project is allocated approximately $8.5 million for the implementation of an IBM digital switch and telephone system. * Video System This project is allocated approximately $1.5 million for the implementation of a 64 channel video system. * Cable Plant This project is allocated approximately $4.5 million for the implementation of the specification "The Virginia Tech Cable Plant Plan." * Teleport development The Virginia Tech Teleport, which consists of a 9-meter C-Band transmit/receive earth station, is being expanded to include two additional facilities: a multi-feed receive-only earth station, which will receive programming to be distrib- uted over the new VPI&SU video system; and a KU-Band transmit/receive earth station, which will be used, exper- imentally, to provide communications capability to Northern Virginia, as well as by the Satellite Engineering Group in the Electrical Engineering Department. This project is allocated $1.5 million. Also, a feasibility study is under- way for the development of a Blacksburg-Europe link via an Intelsat satellite facility. * Virginia Research Network This project is being funded by the National Science Founda- tion, for approximately $250,000, and will establish a network among many of the institutions of higher learning within the Commonwealth. * Departmental Networking Initiative This project involves the development of a long-range plan for networking, at very high rates of speed, for the entire campus. In addition, assistance and guidance will be provided to individual departments in the development of their own departmental network, and the connection of that network to the University "backbone." * Joint Development Projects with IBM IBM is sponsoring a multi-faceted joint development project with VPI&SU, providing $2,000,000 of funding. This project encompasses a number of areas of joint interest to IBM and VPI&SU, and is expected to be a starting point for a mutually beneficial partnership. The areas being investigated include: - Network Administration Center - This project involves developing a highly-distributed network administration center, to handle all of the facets of administration of a large-scale telephone and cable-TV company. - TCP/IP - TCP/IP is a communications protocol that is used on the largest networks in the world, including the DoD-funded ARPAnet and NSFnet. - Bridges and Backbones - VPI&SU, in cooperation with IBM product development laboratories, will be investigating methods to create "bridges" between separate networks, as well as methods of developing a campus-wide "backbone" to tie all networks on campus together. - The Electronic Library - In the not-too-distance future, libraries will be accessed much more frequently via personal computers. This "electronic library" will require much more communications capability than currently exists on campus. - Satellite Test Bed and Monitoring - This project will create a satellite test bed, in order to experiment with different communications protocols and technologies, with emphasis on satellite transmission. This project will also create remote monitoring mechanisms for all of the teleport facilities, in order to reduce operational costs. - Electronic Mail for Every Student - This project is the first stage of "SSI" or "Single System Image," and is intended to create an electronic mail system that can be used by every student, faculty member, or administrator, regardless of what computing system they choose to use. 10-5.0 Learning Resources Center 10-5.1 History and Current Status The mission and focus of the Learning Resource Center (LRC) has gradually evolved since the 1976-77 Self-Study. A major role of the center remains the support of instruction, research, and extension through the Audiovisual Services and Educational Technologies divisions. The Research and Measurement Division is designed to assist the quantitative evaluation of students, faculty, and courses has been added since the 1976-77 Self-Study. The Instructional Development Division and Instructional Television Division have been combined into the Educational Technologies Division. This change recognized that increased University use of new information technologies, such as video teleconferencing and computer-assisted interactive videodiscs, would be enhanced by integrating program design and production services with project implementation services. In the 1976-77 Self-Study, the suggestion was made that charges to departments for instructional materials be eliminated. These charges still exist and there are no plans to eliminate them. Major growth areas for the LRC are apparent in an examination of its current activities. They center on the computerized design, production, and technologically-based delivery of instructional materials, such as graphics, slides, and video. They include: 1) the production of short courses and ad hoc video teleconferences; 2) the design, development and production of interactive computer-videodisc programs; and 3) advances in computer-based testing of students. 10-5.2 Peer Comparison In 1987, the LRC was nationally recognized in the profession as an Exemplary Media Center with Exemplary Practices. The LRC was one of seven media centers at doctoral-granting universities in the nation to receive this award. 10-5.3 Organization The organization and staffing levels of the divisions of the Learning Resources Center are shown in Figure 10-5. 10-5.4 Facilities and Their Use Traditional facilities of the LRC continue to be used. Color slide production has ranged from 30,000 to 45,000 slides annually, but growth has not been steadily upward. In 1984-85 and 1985-86, 43 percent and 37 percent, respectively, of graphic arts use was for instructional purposes. Overall, use of other services has declined since 1983-84. For instance, use of films dropped from 5,180 in 1983-84 to 4,113 in 1985-86, possibly reflecting the faculty's discovery of newer technologies. ID card production rose dramatically, largely in response to the introduction in 1986 of a card with a magnetic stripe encoded with a student's ID number, for use in readers in food service, Newman Library, and other departments. The new card has made record-keeping both more reliable and more flexible. Production services include graphic arts for various media usage, color and black and white photography and processing, and silk screen printing. Audiovisual equipment is provided on short-term loan to faculty. A delivery service and technical support for auditoriums are provided. The Center maintains a library of University-owned films and a film rental service. A test scoring and questionnaire processing service to include analysis of results is provided. Assistance is given in the design and development of tests, questionnaires, and evaluation procedures. 10-5.5 Services 10-5.5.1 Direct Faculty Assistance The primary focus of the Learning Resources Center continues to be the improvement of instruction through the use of modern instructional technologies and techniques. The LRC also provides an increasing amount of direct support to research, extension, and administrative activities. The design and production of media products (e.g., slides, videotapes) continue to be the most used categories of services available. Other services include faculty development activities, both on an individual and depart- mental basis, and providing for more effective evaluation of both students and faculty. The emphasis on individual faculty assist- ance, as opposed to large groups or facility development, provides a unique and valuable service for those faculty who avail themselves of the available services. However, it is unclear how the vast majority of the faculty, who do not use this or other services, can be best aided. Services available to all faculty include assistance in the systematic design of instruction using various teaching styles and media technology. Consultation is provided in the instruc- tional use of computers, interactive videodiscs, and other media. Production services are available for computer graphics, interac- tive programs using video and computers, and video teleconfer- ences. Studio and on-location color television production services are provided. Electronic classrooms are used for televised teaching via satellite to off-campus classrooms. Other functions include the management of planning and producing multi-media materials, planning independent study facilities, conducting in-service workshops for faculty and field extension staff, and providing self-service media production facilities for faculty. 10-5.5.2 Teaching/Learning Grants In the early 1980s, a "remote batch" site in Burruss Hall, designed to input card decks, was undergraduate students' main access to computing. Today, with PCs available, curricula are changing to use the new technology. Data on the LRC's Teaching/Learning Grant programs show a slow but steady trend toward computer-based instructional innovation. In 1982 and 1983 combined, only six such grants involved computers; in 1986, 16 funded proposals involved computers. Over the five-year period, the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Education received most of the grants (see Table 10-6). They affected courses in family and child development, industrial engineering, biology, food science, geography, chemistry, theater arts, veterinary medicine, vocational education, forest manage- ment, and introductory sociology. LRC's Faculty Summer Fellowship program, which awards two fellow- ships each year, also reflects increased interest in teaching with computers. In 1982 and 1985, one fellowship each year supported development of computer-based instruction. In 1983, 1984, and 1986, both did. Most of these fellowships went to faculty in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education, and Engineering (see Table 10-6). 10-5.6 Projects and Activities 10-5.6.1 Research and Measurement The Research and Measurement division continues to track progress of new testing ideas at other institutions with an eye on poten- tial implementation at VPI&SU. Those ideas include: * Test Banking - The development and maintenance of secure banks of test items of established quality. Such a service would include item writing and editing and the updating of statistical characteristics for the test items. * Automated Test Construction - The construction and printing of tests based on instructor specifications and subject to instructor approval. Such a service, based on an item bank, would allow the efficient and effective production of high- quality tests for classroom use. * Test Administration - The administration of group tests and individual make-up tests in a classroom or laboratory environment might provide significant benefits both for faculty and students. * A Central Testing Facility - The existence of a central testing facility not only would support teacher-made tests mentioned above, but also would permit administration and scoring of various psychological and other inventories for groups such as the Counseling Center and the Psychological Services Center. 10-5.6.2 Audiovisual Services Computer Graphics The graphics unit in Audiovisual Services is providing state-of- the-art computer graphics output in the form of 35mm slides, overhead transparencies and paper plots. These materials are produced by the graphics staff from ideas submitted by the faculty, either in the form of rough drafts or computer files that require enhancement by an artist. Future plans call for growth in the level of sophistication and power of the hardware and software, which includes animation for television, ability to scan existing artwork for enhancement, and faster film recorders to decrease exposure time for complex images. Classroom Projection Equipment The classroom AV unit in Audiovisual Services has acquired video and computer projection equipment to support teaching and confer- ence presentations. These units are of two types. The larger and more expensive unit projects video and computer images in full color. This type of unit is best suited for permanent installation in the classroom. The plan is to install these units as rapidly as possible in heavily used classrooms. The second type of unit is portable and is used in conjunction with an overhead projector. These are currently being loaned to faculty. The unit is also doing some cost-sharing with depart- ments on the purchase of units when the demand is heavy enough to justify departmental investment in the equipment. Electronic Photography The photo unit of the division is continuing to monitor the price/performance specifications and appropriate applications of electronic photography. The current units that are reasonably priced and portable enough for field photography lack sufficient resolution for the precision scientific and other demanding applications that the photo unit provides for faculty. High-Quality Scanning Audiovisual Services is currently pursuing a cooperative effort with the Computing Center to acquire a high-quality scanner to digitize text and graphic images. These images could be incorpo- rated into a variety of documents through the use of desktop publishing software and may be useful in the process to prepare 35mm slides and overhead transparencies. Consulting and Design Consultation is provided on the setup and use of microcomputer graphics software for production of 35mm slides and overhead transparencies. The best graphics software is constantly being evaluated and advice is being given to prospective faculty purchasers regarding the usefulness of these packages for their needs. One particularly easy to use and relatively powerful package is being distributed to selected faculty on a pilot basis for evaluation purposes. 10-5.6.3 Educational Technologies Interactive Video Growth of the interactive video market segment has been dramatic over the past years. In recent months, Educational Technologies has significantly enhanced its ability to design and produce products and services related to videodisc and other computer- based interactive media (e.g. Hypertext). While such capabili- ties may not have short-term potential for the academic classroom due to present high cost, their long-term potential is signif- icant. Advances in design and production techniques will continue to reduce costs, and faculty will become increasingly familiar with the technologies and their potential. Therefore, Educational Technologies will continue to develop, support, monitor, and evaluate these technologies for possible future faculty application. Meanwhile, Educational Technologies is in an excellent position to support external research and development contracts that require interactive videodisc design and production. The strat- egy will be to continue to enhance the capability, while closely examining appropriate ways to use it. Teleconferencing Electronic teleconferencing is increasingly popular on a national basis and is receiving much use in Extension programs. The past year has seen a significant increase in demand for such telecon- ferences. The trend is expected to continue, and the unit intends to refine its abilities to produce and originate such teleconferences. Distance Learning As the demographics of student populations continue to change, VPI&SU will want to place higher emphasis on its ability to attract non-traditional students and to deliver instruction remotely in non-traditional ways. Correspondence courses, teleconferences, and individualized computer-based distance instruction all have potential to contribute to the University's mission in this new area. Educational Technologies, in collab- oration with the Director of Distance Learning, will continue to track trends in this new business and make every attempt to position its program designers and production facilities in conjunction with other units to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. 10-5.6.4 Academic Activities The role of technology as an academic pursuit must not be overlooked. Several LRC faculty hold adjunct appointments in the College of Education and teach graduate courses related to their specialties. The LRC feels that direct academic involvement helps to expand and improve relationships with faculty and students by increasing cooperation and mutual awareness of needs, opportunities, resources, and constraints. 10-5.7 Plans and Technology The University-wide commitment toward increasing use of technol- ogy in teaching research and extension will require a substantial amount of support for the expansion of advanced electronic class- rooms, improved computer graphics, and a major commitment to train and support faculty involvement in the newer instructional technology. The impact of several new forms of technology may soon alter some faculty's use of production services. Increasingly, the means to produce certain media are becoming more directly available to faculty. For example, commonly available computer software permits faculty to create presentation graphics on their own PCs. Similarly, low-cost video camcorders permit faculty to document laboratory and field experiments. As budgets and equipment permit, the LRC service role will shift to support this distrib- uted production. The LRC staff may increasingly provide direct consultation and advice to faculty on more effective uses of media technologies, in addition to traditional production roles. Thus the service-oriented past history of the LRC may likely be refocused to include a strong consultation component. The means to provide these expanded services may themselves be augmented technologically for efficiency. In the future, electronic classrooms, video-conferencing, and computer-based interactive videodisc (or CD-ROM/CD-I) programs for independent learning will all play vital parts, especially in off-campus programming. To ensure effectiveness, emphasis should be placed on having adequate program development resources and support staff available to faculty through the LRC. This new role will require a different focus for the LRC, away from its successful individual faculty focus to an equipment and facility emphasis. To accomplish this, a separate division of the LRC could be established and additional funding used to begin the transition to technologically-based material delivery. Several activities currently underway at the University suggest the need for immediate implementation of a technological focus for the LRC. First, renovations and additions to several buildings are underway and, as classrooms are renovated, they need to include capability and equipment to transmit technologically-developed information and to train faculty in their use. Second, because some faculty will begin using new technology on an individual basis, whether planning occurs or not, equipment and supplies would be purchased that may be uselessly duplicated or incompatible, thereby wasting limited resources. Finally, the LRC should continue its development of effective teaching tools. The use of the LRC staff and facilities to support the development and integration of media technologies into instruction is consistent with their current role. Recommendation 10-22: That, in response to the need to incorpo- rate new technology into delivery of education materials, the LRC expand its activities devoted to technology-based educa- tion. This activity will no doubt involve collaborative work with CNS and the Computing Center, and may involve the University Library and various academic departments as well. To nurture the new perspective, the LRC will take the following general actions: * Each division will continue to analyze the logical extensions of its present capabilities and make every effort to maintain technological currency. Such activities in recent years have resulted in the rapid expansion of computer-based production capabilities in audio-visual services and the upgrading of television production capabilities compatible with the needs of interactive videodisc and teleconferencing. * The leadership of LRC will attempt, through study, consulta- tion, and increased involvement with the leadership of other units, to analyze the shape of new businesses and LRC's potential contribution to them. Of particular present inter- est are interactive videodisc, video teleconferencing, and the evolving area of distance education. * The LRC will continue to aggressively pursue cooperative projects, external contracts and funding, and other liaisons that promise to broaden its exposure to new technologies or to enhance the potential for integrated activities. * The LRC will publish periodic reports that reflect its evolv- ing perceptions of present and future activities. These reports will provide the basis for dialog with the Vice President for Information Systems and with other information systems organizations. 10-5.8 Consolidation and Coordination The major concern that has been expressed by members of the University community with regard to the operation of the LRC and to the use of media resources campus-wide is the lack of consol- idation of facilities and resources. Because of space problems on campus, portions of the LRC are spread between six separate buildings. Consolidation of the LRC, coupled with an expansion of its activities, may result in relocation of the LRC off-campus in the new research park. A danger with this is the fact that development of media resources by several departments and other units in addition to the LRC has already resulted in duplication of equipment and ineffective use, and further duplication may result due to greater distance. Services of the LRC now are located in Whittemore, the Old Security Building, Saunders, Smyth, Sandy, and Patton. Public Affairs facilities extend from Burruss to the Media Building; Educational Communications from the Media Building to the Media Annex to WVTF in Roanoke. Movement of the production units of the LRC to the Corporate Research Center may solve the LRC space problem and increase the quality and quantity of services avail- able to faculty. The use of on-campus service consultants and a drop-off/pick-up point may alleviate potential service access problems. For many years, the LRC TV studio has been used for two labora- tory sections of one course in Communication Studies, offered yearly. The use of LRC staff and facilities for direct education of students in Communication Studies may need to be re-examined in light of the LRC mission. The LRC will continue to offer centralized design and production services, much of which requires state-of-the-art hardware and software. It provides faculty and administrators with these communication tools; dupli- cation of facilities among other units of the University should be resisted as reducing the ability to compete for resources campus-wide. Recommendation 10-23: That the University establish a media resources committee to oversee the use of campus-wide media resources. This committee should report to the proposed Commission for Computing and Information Services. 10-6.0 Other Units This section deals with Data Administration, Systems Development, publications-related efforts (i.e., Printing Department and Faculty Book Publishing), and the new Distance Learning depart- ment. The departments currently reporting to the Director of Information Resource Management are the Printing Department and the Systems Development Department. The Data Administration Department, which was originally a part of that organization as well, is temporarily directed by the Assistant Vice-President for Information Systems as it begins to position itself organiza- tionally to assume broader responsibilities. 10-6.1 Data Administration The data administration activity evolved at VPI&SU in much the same way it did in other data processing operations. The increased use of data base management systems in the early 1970s required the coordination and enforcement of standards and proce- dures. Data Administration started at the University as a "one-person" operation and has grown over the years to its present staff of five (which includes four analyst level staff members and one production control technician). Responsibilities over the past 15 years have not changed significantly. The current Standards and Procedures Manual has the following mission statement: The Data Administration function exists for the primary purpose of facilitating an interface between Information Management Systems and the end users. To this end, Data Administration's concerns are concentrated as follows: * Integrity and availability of the data resource, * Security and auditability, * Service and education for all administrative users, * Research and implementation of new tools, * Liaison role. The rapid growth of information technology has resulted in a new high-level emphasis on many university campuses. Most insti- tutions feel information systems are becoming more critical to the missions of an institution, and that common strategies are very important. In the recent strategy for information systems, it was stated "we have begun to recognize that we may have overvalued the obvious computational capabilities of computing machines and undervalued the informational capacities that they offer." Data Administration supports departmental and institutional goals through its technical expertise and management of security measures to meet well-defined restrictions. However, Data Admin- istration must look beyond these areas and prepare to enter into this era of change. Development functions at the University will likely change over the next five years; that is, there will be a decrease in actual development of systems and more emphasis on distributed technology, specialized software, and available third-party products. As a result, Data Administration needs to take a lead role and accept new challenges to coordinate, integrate, and disseminate the "new wave" of information technol- ogy. The future of Data Administration must be evaluated, and modified if necessary, so that its activities become an integral part of the goals for the University's overall information systems environment. 10-6.2 Systems Development The Systems Development Department is currently organized into two groups: analysts and programmers. The primary responsibil- ity of the senior members of the staff are to analyze the admin- istrative data processing requirements of the user departments and provide the programming staff with detailed specifications for development, testing and implementation. The programming staff, in turn, writes the necessary computer code to success- fully implement the intent of the program specifications. The analysts are ultimately responsible for overall project coordi- nation and implementation. After successful development, testing, and implementation, the systems are 'turned over' to the appropriate Systems Coordinators for operation and maintenance. The role that the staff currently devote to the development of administrative data processing systems will likely change dramat- ically in the coming years. The department has had under devel- opment several major strategic University projects. The conversion of the academic calendar to the semester system has consumed a majority of this department's resources. Central to the successful implementation of the semester conversion project was the total rewrite of the Student Records System, as well as the peripheral systems that access it. These include the Under- graduate Admissions System, Financial Aid System, Graduate Admis- sions System, and the Student Accounting System. Other smaller modules are also dependent upon the conversion to the semester academic calendar. The Department is also providing support for the implementation of the new University accounting system, which is the first major software system to be purchased commercially. The Department continues to work on projects that will further the concepts of source-point data capture and the electronic signature. Both of these concepts are being built into all new modules being developed. Security, at the person level, is also a major design criterion. Most, if not all, of these concepts appear to be absent as features of commercially available software. Consequently, it is necessary to invest heavily in modification and/or enhancement to purchased systems or leave these initiatives behind. The Systems Development Department must seriously consider both a reorganization of it staff as well as a retreading of its techni- cal expertise. It is unrealistic to believe that Systems Devel- opment can continue to develop all of the decision-support systems needed by the University. The demands are too great and the resources too limited. Both the organization and the staff expertise must place more emphasis on system integration as opposed to system development. This is a major challenge for the future. Given the rapid proliferation of intelligent workstations and departmental networks into the University's computing environment, it is imperative that Systems Development position itself to begin development of the Single System Image. 10-6.3 Publication 10-6.3.1 Printing Department The Printing Department faces many challenges. It will have to continue to be competitive with the private sector in order to remain a viable campus service, while at the same time it must keep up with changes in technology. Quality of work and timeli- ness of delivery continue to be foremost in the minds of the department's customers. The number of printing jobs has declined over the past five years (although gross revenue has increased) as customers are becoming more selective in the jobs that are being printed; but these same jobs are higher-quality and more complex. The Printing Department must deal with several major issues to meet the challenge of being competitive while deliver- ing quality, fair-priced printing jobs, produced on technically advanced equipment. Most departments submit between 20 and 50 jobs per year. Many of the jobs are 4-color brochures, particularly in the areas of research and student recruiting. An increase is expected in the number and complexity of these jobs. This increase will largely be due to the competitiveness of student recruitment nationally, particularly at the graduate level, and the increasingly keen competition for sponsored research funding. The Printing Depart- ment will play a key role in these instances by providing the highest-possible-quality printed image of the institution. There will also be an increase in the number of jobs that will come to the Printing Department 'camera-ready' due to the rapid proliferation of high-resolution laser printers and desk-top publishing systems. The Printing Department must meet the challenge to provide customers with the best information possible regarding mechanical style and subsequent printing processes. An associated trend will be the quantity of materials that will come to the Print Shop electronically by way of the university's communications infrastructure. The Print Shop enjoys a distinct advantage over its commercial counterparts by being connected to the communications system itself. The sources of these electronic documents will be varied, so the Printing Department must prepare the receiving mechanisms to handle inbound traffic. This may also change the nature of the specialization of services offered by the Printing Plant. One concern expressed by Printing Department customers in a recent survey is the cost of printing. Some respondents felt the price of a printing job was too high. The reason for the "appar- ent" high cost of printing is due to several factors. As a department within a State agency, the Print Shop must adhere to the Commonwealth's graded salary scale and benefits package. This cost routinely increases 7 to 10 percent annually. Further- more, the full administrative cost of the Printing Department must be charged back to the departments using printing services. Another problem the Printing Department is faced with is the equipment it has to work with. The major presses are the singly most deficient area in the Printing Plant. The most recently acquired press is 7 years old. The average age of the major press equipment is 17 years old. Although the typesetting equip- ment is 3 years old, it may become outdated rapidly as laser printing technology changes almost daily. 10-6.3.2 University Press Because VPI&SU has significant computer and telecommunications power, it is positioned advantageously to establish a scholarly press to publish in traditional and electronic formats. Perhaps one of the most compelling reasons to establish a press is to enhance the University's reputation for scholarship and to strengthen its image as a major, comprehensive research institu- tion. While only a modest percentage of books and other products published by any university are the work of its own faculty, a university press brings the institution to the attention of scholars elsewhere in many disciplines. A press helps to estab- lish a university's credentials, as it were, by announcing its intent further to disseminate scholarly research. Books are ambassadors that can be found in any library in many lands. As the costs of producing books have increased and the market for serious scholarship has shrunk in the last ten years, fewer scholarly books are being published by general, commercial publishers; thus, the importance of the university and other scholarly presses has increased. At VPI&SU, a subvention committee, established in 1984, allocates modest funds provided by the Provost's Office. These funds are matched by a faculty member's department and college to help scholarly publishers offset the high price of printing titles in small quantities. As the title earns royalties, the faculty member returns the subvention to the University. The availabil- ity of these funds has made the difference between a publisher publishing or not publishing a book. From 1975 to 1983, VPI&SU had a subvention arrangement with the University Press of Virginia (UPVa) in Charlottesville. However, the flow of manuscripts to UPVa was stopped because VPI&SU admin- istrators could not discern an editorial program or a consistent quality of content in the titles that were supported. Discussions have also been held for the past ten years to deter- mine if there is interest in establishing a press at VPI&SU. To start a new university press today would not be inexpensive, but after five to seven years, a successful program could earn back a substantial portion of its costs. Another option is to start an editorial office at VPI&SU, where the publishing decision would be made and the project carried to the point of a copyedited manuscript. At that point, the project would be turned over to an existing press to design and produce the work, then promote and sell it, all for a fee. In this fashion, VPI&SU would have an imprint, which would be distributed by another university press. An editorial office would cost money, but not as much as a press. The UPVa is also seeking a new director and it is possible in the future that the person hired might want to create a true state-wide university press, with which VPI&SU could make a new and more beneficial subvention arrangement. Since VPI&SU, like every other major research institution, requires publications of high quality from faculty who are promoted and tenured, it has seemed to many faculty who were queried that the University should do more to assist them, especially younger scholars, in getting published. In many of the disciplines for which VPI&SU is best known -- engineering, agriculture, architecture -- books are not the most efficient or primary method to disseminate the results of research. While a combined electronic/print publishing program might serve the entire University, it is the faculty in the other disciplines -- the arts, humanities, social sciences, human resources, educa- tion, and business -- that would benefit most from establishment of a university press. Recommendation 10-24: That the University continue to study the feasibility of establishing a University press or editorial office at VPI&SU. 10-6.4 Distance Learning The Office of Distance Learning was created in November 1987 to further develop credit and non-credit telecommunication activ- ities throughout the University. Creation of this office signals the University's intent to utilize telecommunications systems more extensively in the future to reach widely dispersed audiences with timely information and courses. The Office of Distance Learning, in conjunction with several colleges, is exploring ways in which additional curricula offerings may be added to the televised programs currently offered in the College of Engineering. VPI&SU, though its instructional, research, and extension missions, has been instrumental in creating and disseminating knowledge to constituents on and off campus for decades. Faculty have worked with students in the classrooms, adults seeking information at conferences (locally, nationally, and interna- tionally), and more recently, though the electronic technology of television and satellites to unseen learners. The University is in its fifth year of broadcasting graduate engineering courses to practicing engineers throughout Virginia. The program originated in 1983, with two courses telecast to the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, using the microwave system of the public television stations. The program expanded during the following year to include Northern Virginia and Tidewater. The University, in cooperation with other universi- ties in the state, has developed a program that has widely met the needs of a number of individuals employed in industry who seek graduate courses but are unable to leave their place of work to attend a University. A variety of engineering disciplines are being offered to students. Nine courses were offered in the fall of 1987. The program is now in its second year of using satellite technol- ogy for dissemination of courses. Courses all originate live in specially designed classrooms and are transmitted to a satellite via an uplink located on campus. This system allows any industry or university site that has a C-band downlink to receive and participate in the program. Approximately 22 sites in Virginia have received courses from the VPI&SU campus. All classes are live and interactive, which allows students in each receiving classroom, through a telephone response system, to ask questions during the course of instruction. Nationally, there is a strong interest in the development of telecommunications systems that will serve widely dispersed audiences. Corporate satellite networks are expanding rapidly; universities are exploring networking to a greater degree; and linkages between industry and higher education are being explored. VPI&SU is a participating member of the National University Teleconference Network, so it is positioned to play a part in these new activities. The specific role played by VPI&SU will depend on support by the faculty and the level of funding provided to expand distance learning opportunities. 10-7.0 Summary This chapter has elaborated on the progress achieved over the last decade in the computing and information systems area, described current plans by the relevant organizational units, and provided recommendations. Since VPI&SU clearly has surpassed the level of support needed for accreditation in this field, the committee's focus has been on identifying real or potential weaknesses or inequities and on making suggestions to help ensure that the University builds upon its successes to become a true leader in information systems. The most notable cause of concern is that of library funding and space. The committee recommends that additional funds and space for the Library and library resources become a key University priority, so that the needed books, journals, and other resources that are a natural part of a nationally respected research university are accumulated and properly stored. As many as possible of those library resources should be made available for direct use and, as appropriate, be made accessible for electronic search and transfer. In this Information Age, there are myriad possibilities for developing information systems to support the missions of the University. VPI&SU, through the efforts of administrative personnel, faculty, staff, and students, in departments through- out the University, has made an enormous investment of both time and resources for computing and communications. The University now has the opportunity to follow through on this work and to make sure that expenditures bear fruit. To be successful, however, key issues must be addressed First, communications must be improved among all parties involved in this venture. On the administrative side, an appropriate organization is evolving, though attention must be given to the roles of such departments as Systems Development and Data Admin- istration. However, there is also a clear need for a University commission to be established that will coordinate with the current committees and ensure that there is sufficient input into the policy-making process through the shared governance system. Further, administrative units serving the University must be engaged in more dialog with those being served. To support effective communications, data on user needs and resources must be collected and considered in the planning process. Equitable access to information system resources will be possible only if needs are identified and the creative ideas of the University community are solicited prior to acquisition and system implemen- tation. Second, building upon the open communication called for above, the University must ensure that a coordinated thrust into the further development of information systems is maintained. This will require development of an academic program in information science and technology, as well as hiring of staff in key organ- izational units, so that the needed research, development, and training in the information area can take place. Adequate support is a necessity if the University is to follow through on its efforts in communications, building the Single System Image capability, making use of new educational technologies, distance learning, and providing electronic access to information. Planning, based upon knowledge of the current situation and needs, as well as technological alternatives, requires coordi- nated efforts and standards, and must go hand in hand with effec- tive communication so that individuals throughout the University can become excited about and participate in these varied activ- ities. Finally, in the several organizational units responsible for information services, current problems must be surmounted and new opportunities must be embraced. The Computing Center must become further involved in computing activities throughout the Univer- sity, to ensure that "servers" exist for diverse needs such as printing, parallel computing, graphics, database access, special languages and operating systems, etc. It must deal more with smaller systems, help with setting of standards, and in general rethink its role in the University's evolving distributed comput- ing environment that will result from the Single System Image effort. CNS, born and rapidly developing in recent years, must obtain more permanent staff to be able to follow through on its ambitious plans. The LRC, with a new thrust in the area of educational technologies and in connection with the new office of Distance Learning, must be involved in more University planning activities and must play a more active role in seeing that computing and communication resources are understood and used by the faculty. Rather than simply responding to faculty requests, the LRC should develop new projects to truly transform the process of teaching at VPI&SU, so that students can derive greater benefit from the University's investment in computing and communication resources. The Library, when given additional funds, should also rethink its role in this age of electronic information, and develop into a provider of desired information of all types.