NEW LIBRARY DIRECTOR AT SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY SETS GOALS

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Slippery Rock University's new library director, Philip Tramdack, will shepherd a major technology upgrade at Bailey Library, including installation of 30 new computers and 36 laptops.

Tramdack, who succeeded Dr. Barbara Farah, comes to The Rock with 32 years experience in academic libraries. Most recently, he was associate dean at The College of New Jersey Library.

Since taking charge of the 450,000-volume library in December, Tramdack has met with library faculty to understand their goals and to plan services, including the technology upgrades. Thirty new computers will be installed in the reference area this semester. Laptops are being readied for the wireless access system being installed. Laptops, available for use anywhere in the library, will provide students opportunity for use in study carrels or the library’s stacks.

"I feel very comfortable coming to SRU because of the commonality of the two universities," Tramdacksaid. "Both are strong teacher-education institutions with similar missions."

For three of his six years at The College of New Jersey Library, Tramdack was chief administrator of the library. Prior to that he was an assistant dean. Over the years, he has worked as an assistant library director, automation librarian, modern languages librarian, head of technical services, head of circulation and original materials cataloger. He has been an active member of the American Library Association for 21 years.

The library is making the most of recent technology upgrades, including online databases and links to sister State System of Higher Education libraries. Its computers will soon be connected to the EnCompass federated search engine system, allowing increased efficiency in searching catalogs, indexes and the Internet without changing databases.

Tramdack says, “I have been very impressed with both the library faculty and non-instructional staff. I hope they will be the ones to come up with new ideas for what we want to do better, or differently, to make the most of the library’s resources. These idea and changes will result in better, more complete, service for students and faculty. We will be working to make the library more attractive to students,” he says.

Library may host exhibitions, performances

Tramdack, who holds masters degrees in library science from Drexel University and French literature from Trinity University, sees the library becoming even more central to the university’s operation. “We are considering a café, and we hope to host exhibitions and casual, informal performances throughout the semester that will draw the university community to the library. Our goal is to capture students as soon as they step on campus so they are comfortable with the library and all of its services and resources.”

Librarians can help develop curriculum

“I often think of the library as a very complicated complex. It has purchasing functions; organizing and retrieval functions; inventory functions; and think tank functions in which librarians network with faculty and students to supply needed information,” he explains. “We would like to work more with faculty in developing curriculum that allows faculty to make use of existing library resources -- or obtain needed resources. I want to strengthen the role of library faculty – and that will start with increasing awareness of the kinds of support our librarians do already, and what we can supply in the future. We will be looking at ways to collaborate with faculty to promote the information literacy goals of the institution, and we want to position SRU to deal with the enormous societal changes being advanced by technology,” Tramdack says.

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