David Ferriero, University librarian, delivered a presentation to members of the Arts and Sciences Council Thursday afternoon about his first year at the University and his plans for the future.
Ferriero, who came to the University Oct. 1 after spending 31 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he has spent his first year becoming acquainted with the University. "I come from a background of strategic planning," he said. "I want to find out where the University is going, and where the library needs to go" to serve it best. A strategic planning committee-comprising five library staff and two faculty members-is expected to release a list of "strategic imperatives" for the library this fall, Ferriero added.
Ferriero ranked the library system's lack of space as its most pressing issue. "Perkins is full, and the branches are full-in fact, they are overflowing," he said. "Doing something about Perkins is one of our top priorities. The space, although it has great potential, is not being used to the greatest advantage." Expanding or renovating Perkins is a possible solution, he added.
Changing the library's organization from the Dewey decimal system to the Library of Congress system-a change that would cost the University $5 or $6 million-is another goal Ferriero said he has been investigating thoroughly since his arrival. A report detailing three different proposals to reorganize the library's collection under the Library of Congress system is currently in the hands of Provost John Strohbehn, whom Ferriero said will refrain from giving his approval until the strategic planning committee issues its recommendations this fall.
Ferriero raised a number of other concerns, such as increasing expenditures from "an already stretched budget" and preserving the library's aging materials.
Following Ferriero's presentation, Peter Fish, professor of political science and law, spoke for the Committee on Curriculum. "We have been dealing with a complex undergraduate curriculum lacking cohesion... due to layers of reform interspersed with minor changes," he said.
Among several issues facing the Committee on Curriculum, Fish said Duke Student Government, as well as a number of undergraduate departments, have filed petitions specifying a total of 32 classes they feel are worth more course credits than they currently are assigned. The committee, fearing a barrage of similar requests from all over the University, is hesitant to make the changes because, he said with a grin, "Who doesn't think their course is worth more than everyone else's?"
Another concern, Fish said, is the tendency for departments to change course numbers from less than 100 to more than 100-thereby qualifying them for "upper-level" status-in order to attract more students to introductory-level courses. The 1984 curriculum reform, which mandates that all students take upper-level courses in four of the six areas of knowledge, "has had the effect of draining survey courses," Fish said.
William Chafe, dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, continued the discussion of curriculum with a brief statement about next year's anticipated curriculum review. Revisions, he said, may include reinstating core requirements, reimposing the language requirement and "simplifying the current structure in terms of the number of courses required for graduation."
Chafe then bid farewell on behalf of the faculty to Richard White, retiring dean of Trinity College. After a year at Cambridge University in England, White will return to the University as a professor of botany.
"It has been one of the joys of my career to work with Richard White," he said. "He brought with him flair, experience, humor... and his [administration] has been a tour de force."
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