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The Daily Tar Heel

Letter: Library editorial lacked key facts and research

To the editor:

Your April 11 editorial concerning the University Libraries began with a premise we fully support: That Carolina's libraries have a great deal to offer residents of the Tar Heel State when it comes to research materials.

Unfortunately, the editorial board failed to do its own research. The editorial proposes several areas for action, and I would like to address them in turn, with correct information.

First, NC LIVE, far from being a search engine, is actually a powerful consortium that selects and licenses digital resources on behalf of every North Carolinian. The legislature considers this function—and the cost savings it provides—important enough that it allocates money for NC LIVE through the state budget. Librarians from colleges and universities, community colleges and public libraries work together to select and deliver online subscriptions that will provide the most value to the most people.

North Carolinians can access NC LIVE at one of these libraries, or else by logging in with their higher education i.d., public library card number or a password available from their public library. The need for these passwords is not a library decision; it reflects the realities of the marketplace for scholarly content. In general, publishers price subscriptions by the number of people who can access the resource. Making even a single journal available to any user anywhere in the state would be prohibitively expensive.

Improving open, non-fee access to current scholarly research is one reason that the University Libraries has built, manages and continues to develop the Carolina Digital Repository (cdr.lib.unc.edu). This rapidly growing open-access collection allows UNC-Chapel Hill researchers to share their scholarly papers, data and other materials directly and freely with the public.

The second action your writer recommends is more digitization. In fact, digitization is thriving at Carolina. Early 2017 saw the millionth item scanned from the rich historical collections of the Wilson Special Collections Library. And, as you reported on March 8, the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center (digitalnc.org), based at the University Libraries, is in consideration for a prestigious national medal, precisely for its efforts to bring the state’s history and culture to audiences everywhere through digitization.

Finally, you recommend integration of interlibrary loan with all libraries statewide. Interlibrary loan is one of the oldest ways that libraries have of bringing more resources to more people and it is a responsibility that we take seriously.

Last year, the University Libraries sent hundreds of items to more than 40 public libraries across the state at no cost to them, other than postage to return the books. In fact, our practice is not to charge a fee for loaning an item to a North Carolina library, with the exception of a reduced rate for medical and health publications.

Tar Heels have a great deal to be proud of when it comes to library and research support for residents of our state. We hope the Daily Tar Heel will take another look soon.

Sincerely,

Judy Panitch

Director of Library Communications

University Libraries

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