In an effort to more effectively share departmental resources, Library Sciences merged with Information Technology Services this summer to create the Library and Technology Services department, according to officials in the new office.Finances for the merger came from both departments, producing a collective LTS budget of over $10 million.

Department head Perry Hanson, the vice president and vice provost for libraries and information technology, said he believes the merger allows for a natural combination of library resources and new computer-based innovations.

"There is a teamwork between technology and library, an inherent partnership ... this is where the world is heading," he said.

ITS and the library had been working together to utilize WebCT, an online course supplement for students and professors. The two departments saw the need to make the connection official and more permanent, Hanson said.

Although the ITS help desk will remain in Shapiro Campus Center, the Instructional Technology Resource Center (ITRC), has been moved next to the main desk in the library from its previous location in Feldman.

Ann Frankel, who served as assistant head librarian before the merger, said the move will help to improve collaboration between the two groups. "It makes us more familiar with what each of us do," she said.

Now LTS' associate director for research and instruction, Frankel thinks the merger will be more convenient for students, pointing out that students wanting to learn to create Web pages can now collect information and learn to post it online after only one trip to the library.

Hanson, the head of the new department, said LTS' next step is to discover how to use the merger to bring more resources into the library to help students. "We are asking questions such as, 'Should there be a self-service checkout? Should we move the ITS help desk?'" he said.

Hanson said surveys and focus groups will be conducted to obtain community feedback on future improvements to LTS.

"We're dreaming how to do things for the future," he said. "The question is to ask, 'What is a library? What do you want in it?'