In 1990 the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, instituted a policy that requires each program within the state's three regents institutions to undergo a program review at least once every seven years. The purpose of such reviews is to provide a mechanism to ensure the improvement of the universities' academic programs. Each review entails three steps: the preparation of a self-study report, an external peer review, and the development of a plan of action.

The first University Library review took place during the spring semester of 1996. The second and most recent program review was completed in spring 2004.

Findings and recommendations from the 1996 review, along with the Library's response, are summarized in the March 15, 1997 letter from then Library Dean Nancy L. Eaton to then Provost John J. Kozak. Recommendations from this review resulted in the following actions taken by library administration in the ensuing years:

• Two previously autonomous divisions, Collections and Public Services, merged to form a single Public Services and Collections Division. Subject specialists in the newly formed division assumed responsibility for collection development, reference, instruction, and liaison relationships with the teaching faculty.
• The Library began a more ambitious and systematic approach to surveying students, faculty, and staff, including the biennially administered LibQUAL+ survey.
• Planning was completed for a new Library Storage Building, constructed and occupied in 1997.
• With the availability of new space in the Library Storage Building, public seating was restored in the Parks Library, growing from 2,040 seats in 1996 to 2,410 seats in 2005 (an increase of 370 seats, or 18%).
• Wages for student employees were increased, to encourage recruitment and retention.
• Funds were reallocated within the library to create new library faculty positions in strategic areas (including the life sciences).
• Interlibrary Loan (ILL) processes continued to be streamlined and improved through cooperative lending agreements, increased automation, and participation in national-level cost/performance studies.
• Fee-based document delivery services were expanded.
• The Library increased its efforts to acquire and mount full-text databases, and to maximize remote access to them.
• The Library 160 course tutorials were made available via the Web.
• The Library's e-Reserve service was planned and implemented, eventually growing to include over 80% of the course-reserve material requested by faculty.
• Library hours were expanded during "dead" and finals weeks, and also during holiday and break periods, to better serve nontraditional students.
• The transition was completed from mainframe to client/server-based software for library automation.
• Task forces and planning groups were formed to develop a more systematic approach to library web pages, and to plan for both the architecture and the content of the electronic library.
• Systems activities within the Library continued to be centralized and consolidated.
• Efficiencies were achieved in Technical Services processing, such as the implementation of PromptCat for cataloging, and the elimination of secondary check-in of periodicals in the branch facilities.

The 2004 program review focused exclusively on the e-Library, the comprehensive, web-based electronic library unveiled to the university community in spring 2001. All library staff were invited to participate actively in the self-study component of this review, as described in the February 6, 2004 letter from Library Dean Olivia Madison to library staff (see below). Core portions of the resulting self-study report may be viewed below as a PDF file; a complete bound copy (with appendices) is available in the Library Dean's office. The external peer review was conducted April 11-13, 2004. Review team members' resumés are provided below along with a schedule of events during the team's site visit. Also provided is the Library's response to the external review team's report.

February 6, 2004 letter from Dean Olivia Madison to library staff

Five-year Program Review of the e-Library (self study report)

Resumés of external review team members:

Brian E. C. Schottlaender, University Librarian, University of California at San Diego

Ann J. Wolpert, Director of Libraries, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lawrence A. Woods, Director of Information Technology, University of Iowa Libraries

Schedule for external review team visit, April 11-13, 2004

Review team's final report:

Cover letter to provost

Report

Library response to external review team's report

Recommendations from this review are currently being considered by the Library's Administrative Cabinet, and will inform both strategic and operational planning in the upcoming years.