ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries July /August 1986 / 447 L ib ra ry services to extension students By Sherre H. Dryden Librarian, University o f South Carolina Salkehatchie Campus Library USC’s Walterhoro branch library grows to meet the needs of Salkehatchie students. W h e n the Salkehatchie Campus of the Univer sity of South Carolina began offering classes in Walterboro, 45 miles from its base in Allendale, li brary services for those students were not planned. It soon became clear, however, that as the program in Walterboro grew, some type of library support for the curriculum was essential. Service was haphazard for several years until, in September 1982, student and faculty demand for library materials became so great that a proposal, based on the A CRL “Guidelines for Extended Campus Library Services” (C&R L News, March 1982), was drafted and presented to the campus administration for approval. The proposal, which was accepted, recommended a two-phase program of library development, beginning with public li brary support of the curriculum and culminating in the establishment of a branch library by the fol lowing fall semester. The recommended tim e frame was followed, and the Walterboro branch of the USC Salkehatchie Library began operation in Fall 1983. No special funding has ever been allocated by the University to assist with development of the W alterboro branch. In fact, the library experi enced a sig n ifica n t budget red uction in the branch’s second year of operation. That year, 1984–85, the librarian’s budget proposal to the Ac ademic Affairs Committee, which serves as the li brary advisory committee, called for the entire ma terials budget to be allocated on a per F T E (full-time equivalent student) basis equally be tween Allendale and Walterboro. The committee recommended against this, so a lump sum was allo cated for Walterboro acquisitions. The same rec ommendation met with the same response in the branch’s third year, 1985–86. Despite this lack of funding, and perhaps because of it, the Walterboro branch has flourished. Because of the budget constraints, emphasis for the first years has been on building a collection through relocating duplicate Allendale materials and acquiring gift materials, locating and training staff and developing a program of services that not only meets the needs of the students, but that also actively solicits their use of the library. The collection has grown rapidly. Over 1,400 volumes, largely gifts, were added between the branch’s opening and December 1985. A few new materials, primarily reference sources, have been purchased specifically for Walterboro. Although there are times when duplicate holdings are neces sary, they are avoided if possible. A preferable so lution is for Allendale to have one source on a topic and Walterboro to have another. Both libraries subscribe to Magazine Index, but issues of more specialized indexes are sent from Al lendale when they are superseded. So that Walter- 448 / C & RL News boro students will have the opportunity to learn some research techniques, Allendale librarians compile bibliographies from periodical index vol umes not available in Walterboro. The Walterboro branch subscribes to ten periodicals (eight of which are unique titles) but all back files are maintained in Allendale. Expensive or specialized reference sources are housed in Allendale unless requested to support research by a particular class or faculty member. Special arrangements are frequently required to provide Walterboro students with the materials they need, but these arrangements have no rigid structure. The librarians work closely with one an other and other faculty members to determine needs and to assure that all options are considered. Whatever seems the best solution for each case is carried out. Intra- and interlibrary loan are used heavily to obtain materials for Walterboro faculty and stu dents. The USC University and Four Year Campus Libraries use an internal electronic mail system to process loan requests. An IL L librarian, a para- professional and a number of students handle re quests at the Library Processing Center (LPC) on the University’s central campus in Columbia. Re quests that cannot be filled within the USC system are routed through the O C LC Interlibrary Loan Subsystem. Interlibrary loan requests from Walterboro pa trons are sent first to Allendale, then on to other USC libraries if Allendale cannot fill the request (a union list of serials is available at each library and the LPC maintains a union title file). There are few restrictions on who may request loans and from which libraries loans are requested. Although the majority of requests come from students and fac ulty, community patrons may also borrow through IL L . The Walterboro branch received over 800 ILLs in 1984–85, well over four items for every stu dent, faculty member, and community patron as sociated with the branch. Reference questions may also be forwarded to other libraries if resources are not sufficient in Walterboro. Again, the policy of routing first to Al lendale is followed. Questions range from ready- reference queries that can be solved by telephone to questions requiring in-depth research. The Allen dale librarian completes the research, then for wards the answer and any supporting material to Walterboro. If requests cannot be handled in Alle dale, they are usually sent to the LPC where per sonnel use the resources of the Columbia campus li braries. In some cases, large segments of the Allendale collection are temporarily relocated to W alter boro. This is most frequently done when a course being taught in Walterboro is not also offered in Al lendale. Other arrangements include having fac ulty (who often teach sections of a course in both locations) assign different research topics in Allen dale and Walterboro, preparing special bibliogra phies of material available on assigned topics and roviding Walterboro students with free photo opies of Allendale-based materials. Whenever ossible, even if artificial means are necessary, nor al library conditions are provided to Walterboro tudents. Admittedly, the sources available locally to USC alkehatchie students in Walterboro do not match hose in the Allendale library. However, care is aken to see that Walterboro students have what ver they need to meet the same research require ents expected of A llendale students. As the alterboro branch grows, it is possible that some f the services now provided will become unneces ary, or will not be used to the same extent. It is ore probable that most of the services will be ex anded and used in both Allendale and Walterboro o increase the library resources available to all SC Salkehatchie students. etters ibrary service in India o the Editor: In the interview with Girja Kumar conducted y William Sheh Wong (C &R L News, December 985, pp. 633–36), Mr. Kumar did not elaborate n his generalized statement of having found the ask of running a large library a “frustrating experi nce” and that the “academic library system is be oming socially irrelevant.” My own experience as n observer of contemporary Indian academic li raries is that the framework for maximizing aca emic library resources does exist but motivation is acking at various levels, especially in the top eche ons of Indian librarianship. It is also unfortunate that Mr. Wong recorded he statements of university librarians without hecking their accuracy or examining the quality of heir monographs.—B.K . Kum ar, D ocum entation fficer, D e p ’t o f Chinese and Jap an ese Studies, niversity o f Delhi. he author replies: It is fine if Mr. Kumar would like to express his pinion on library services and information policy n India. Because I asked and obtained curriculum itae from all except one of the librarians I men ioned in my article, I believe that my title-count of heir publications is fairly accurate. These records upport my impression that there is a keen interest n research and publication activities among In ian academic librarians. I had not intended to ass ju d g m en t on the q u a lity of these ublications. — William S. Wong, Asian L ib ra r an, University o f Illinois, Urbana. p c p m s S t t e m W o s m p t U L L T b 1 o t e c a b d l l t c t O U T o i v t t s i d p p i