Bilkent's library will spend $2.2 million to purchase new books and journals this year. In an interview with Vice Rector Dr. Phyllis Erdošan, Bilkent News found out that operational and administrative costs are not included in the $2.2 million amount. Since Bilkent's library operates from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. 362 days a year, the multiple shifts of personnel required to keep the library operating are impressive. The library does most of its purchases during the autumn semester and the advantage of it is to have a better idea of overall requests that take place throughout the year.
The budgeted amount includes books, journals, microforms, printed music, sound recordings, CD-ROMs, audio cassettes, in short, anything you can borrow from the library. Eighty percent of this amount goes to periodicals, online database subscriptions, and CD-ROMs. "We have new journal subscriptions every year," said Dr. Erdošan. "At present we have more than 3,700 journal titles, of which more than 3,000 are active (some journals cease to publish with time)." In contrast, the number of active periodicals available at METU's library is 1,872. "Also in our collections we have more than 31,000 volumes of bound back issues, which is not bad for a new library."
The benefits of the library are shared not only by members of Bilkent's community, but also by thousands of outside users. "More than 48,000 external visitors used the library in 1998, and both the January and February '99 numbers for external visitors were more than 3,500 for each month. As of the end of February of this year, 21,000 Bilkenters visited the library and 11,000 volumes of books were lent."
"We have to become more electronic for readers to be able to access the sources we have in the library campus-wide. You should not have to come to the library for a CD-ROM, but use it at your desk," said Dr. Erdošan. However, she adds, "It's important to manage a balance between the resources and the comfort of the users. If the cost of one exceeds the other, the library may not be fully functioning."
Bilkent's library also serves other universities across the country by sending them books free of charge for one-month periods. On the average, 1,500 books a month are sent to other universities in that way.
