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Nimitz Library
Nimitz Library

Nimitz Library Project Files, 1965-1988 (bulk 1978-1984): Finding Aid

Published in 1989

Summary Information

  • Publisher: United States Naval Academy. Special Collections & Archives.
  • Publisher Address:
    589 McNair Road
    Annapolis, Maryland 21402-5029, USA
    Phone: 410-293-6917
    https://www.usna.edu/Library/sca/index.php
  • Call number: MS 243
  • Location: Special Collections & Archives Department - Manuscripts
  • Title: Nimitz Library Project Files
  • Dates: 1965-1988
  • Bulk Dates: 1978-1984
  • Size: 1.25 linear feet
  • Container Summary: 3 manuscript boxes
  • Creator: Nimitz Library
  • Language(s) of material: English
  • Abstract: The Nimitz Library Project Files pertain to specific personnel and review projects in the late 1970s and early 1980s, specifically, the SHORSTAMPS program, the Commercial Activities (Contracting Out) Program, and accreditation, including Middle States.

History of Nimitz Library

Construction of Nimitz Library, the United States Naval Academy Library, was completed in the spring of 1973 and the building was dedicated on the seventh of September of the same year. Designed by the architectural firm of John Carl Warnecke (1919-2010), Nimitz Library brought together, at its opening, the roughly 365,000 volumes of library materials that had previously been dispersed across six smaller libraries located throughout the Academy.

During the period from 1979 through 1986, the Nimitz Library was involved in three major projects: SHORSTAMPS, the Commercial Activities (Contracting Out) Program, and Efficiency Review/Accreditation. These projects had the potential to impact the Nimitz Library's organizational structure, staffing models, and academic accreditation.

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Description of Contents

The Nimitz Library Project Files, comprising 1.25 linear feet of documentation, span from 1965 to 1988 and pertain to specific personnel and review projects during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Specifically, the files are related to the SHORSTAMPS program, the Commercial Activities (Contracting Out) Program, and accreditation, including Middle States.

The Project Files consist of the working papers for three projects in the above mentioned areas, and are organized into three series according to project. The files include memoranda, correspondence, official documents, evaluations, reports, surveys, instructions, notices, periodical articles, drafts, revisions, and notes.

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Arrangement

The Nimitz Library Project Files are organized into the following three series:

  • Series 1: SHORSTAMPS Files, 1976-1988
  • Series 2: Commercial Activities [Contracting Out] Program Files, 1976-1983
  • Series 3: Efficiency Review/Accreditation Files, 1965-1986
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Access and Use

Access

Access is unrestricted.

Copyright and Permission

The Nimitz Library Project Files are the physical property of Nimitz Library. Copyright belongs to the authors or creators of the works, or their legal representatives. For further information, consult the Head, Special Collections & Archives.

It is the responsibility of the researcher to secure written permission to publish, reprint, or reproduce material from Special Collections & Archives. The researcher assumes responsibility for infringement of copyright or literary or publication rights. Please contact the Head, Special Collections & Archives for permission to publish and for further information.

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Acquisition and Appraisal

Provenance and Acquisition

Unknown.

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Related Materials

Related Archival Material

Various proposals, plans, programs, etc. for a new Naval Academy Library (which evolved into the Nimitz Library) can be found among The United States Naval Academy Library Records (Manuscript Collection No. 239).

Materials pertaining to Library planning and construction, the Library opening and dedication, some of the Nimitz Library's early history, and the Library's exhibit program can be found in the Nimitz Library Records (Manuscript Collection No. 240).

Materials Cataloged Separately

No materials have been removed from this collection and cataloged separately.

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Processing and Other Information

Preferred Citation

Nimitz Library Project Files, MS 243

Special Collections & Archives Department

Nimitz Library

United States Naval Academy

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Mary R. Catalfamo in 1989. Finding aid written by Mary R. Catalfamo in 1989.

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Subject Headings

Name and Subject Terms

  • Accreditation (Education) -- Maryland -- Annapolis
  • Library personnel management
  • Nimitz Library
  • United States Naval Academy -- Accreditation
  • United States. Navy -- Personnel management

Genre Terms

  • Articles
  • Correspondence
  • Manuscripts
  • Notes (documents)
  • Reports
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Contents List

Series 1: SHORSTAMPS Files, 1976-1988 Box 1

Series Description

In 1976, the U.S. Department of the Navy initiated the Shore Requirements, Standards and Manpower System (SHORSTAMPS), a system to document the number of working hours required to perform a particular task. SHORSTAMPS was a means to justify budget and personnel requirements with quantifiable data.

The Navy, in accordance with SHORSTAMPS, attempted to develop a single staffing standard which would define appropriate staff levels at the Navy's four academic libraries, including the Naval Academy's Nimitz Library. Between June 1981 and June 1983, Nimitz Library was involved in the Navy's SHORTSTAMPS Program and helped critique the drafts of the staffing standard.

In March 1983, the staffing standard (which used only two variables) was evaluated by Nimitz Library and found inadequate for application to the Navy's graduate and undergraduate libraries. Professor William Fasnacht of the Naval Academy's Physics Department concurred in this finding.

In June of 1983, the negative evaluation was forwarded, through appropriate channels, to the sponsoring office. As a result, the project to apply the staffing standard to the Navy's academic libraries was dropped.

Series Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by document type and topic.

Box 1 Folder 1

Enclosures and References to Memo of Jan. 83, 1980-1982

Box 1 Folder 2

Miscellaneous, 1976-1978

Box 1 Folder 3

Miscellaneous, 1979-1980

Box 1 Folder 4

Miscellaneous, 1981

Includes Nimitz Library personnel's comments regarding SHORSTAMPS library staffing proposal.

Box 1 Folder 5

Miscellaneous, 1982

Box 1 Folder 6

Miscellaneous, 1983

Includes Professor Fasnacht's April 7, 1983 evaluation.

Box 1 Folder 7

Major Papers, 1981-1988

Cover letter, September 8, 1988 to K. Coffman, with enclosures of five of the more significant Nimitz-SHORSTAMPS papers.

Box 1 Folder 8

Operate An Academic Library (ICS 10.009) - Publications, 1980-1982

Measurement plan, staffing standards report, guide.

Box 1 Folder 9

OPNAV Instructions: SHORTSTAMPS, 1978-1981

Box 1 Folder 10

Presearch Inc. Package (File copy), 1978-1981, undated

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Series 2: Commercial Activities [Contracting Out] Program Files, 1976-1983 Box 2

Series Description

In September 1982, the Navy, under its preexisting Commercial Activities (CA) Program, targeted thirty-five positions in Nimitz Library for review to determine whether they should be contracted out to private industry. The Naval Academy strongly objected to this course of action, protesting that no academic institution in the nation has turned over integral parts of its academic library to an outside party. In August 1983, the Navy excluded the Nimitz Library from the CA Program.

The Commercial Activities Program Files document the Nimitz Library's efforts to keep informed of the Navy's evolving CA Program and the Program's possible ramifications for the Library; the Library's plans, proposals, and actions for dealing with contracting out; communications with other federal institutions and assorted interested parties; and the Library's ultimately successful endeavors to have itself excluded from the CA Program.

Series Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by document type and topic.

Box 2 Folder 1

Miscellaneous, 1980

Box 2 Folder 2

Miscellaneous, 1981

Box 2 Folder 3

Miscellaneous, 1982

Includes Nimitz Library staff's comments on potential impact of CA Program on the Library.

Box 2 Folder 4

Miscellaneous, 1983

Box 2 Folder 5

Miscellaneous - John Cummings, 1978-1983, undated

Box 2 Folder 6

Nimitz Library Functional Analysis, undated

Box 2 Folder 7

Nimitz Library Proposed Exclusion from CA Program - Reasons, Miscellaneous, 1976-1982, undated

Box 2 Folder 8

Nimitz Library Proposed Exclusion from CA Program - Reasons, Status as a Research Library, 1981-1983, undated

Box 2 Folder 9

OMB Circular No. A-76 (Revised) (1979 March 29), 1979-1980

Policies for Acquiring Commercial or Industrial Products and Services Needed by the Government. Also includes later transmittal memoranda.

Box 2 Folder 10

OMB Circular No. A-76, Proposed Revision - Request for Comments (1983), 1982-1983

Assorted items including Nimitz Library comments.

Box 2 Folder 11

OMB Circular No. A-76 (Revised) Supplement (Aug 1983), 1983

Performance of Commercial Activities.

Box 2 Folder 12

Synopsis of GAO Reports Involving Contracting Out Under OMB Circular A-76, 1983

Box 2 Folder 13

U.S. Naval Academy Photographic Laboratory CA Analysis, 1982, undated

Box 2 Folder 14

Work Statements and Service Contracts, Generic and Specific, 1982-1983, undated

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Series 3: Efficiency Review/Accreditation Files, 1965-1986 Box 3

Series Description

As a requirement for its exclusion from the Navy's Commercial Activities Program, Nimitz Library was directed to perform an Efficiency Review. The Efficiency Review study was carried out within the context of the Library self-study required in preparation for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools Accreditation visit scheduled fro the fall of 1985.

Included among the Library's Efficiency Review/Accreditation activities were self-studies by each Library functional unit, an overview study, and surveys of faculty, midshipmen, and staff.

The Faculty Accreditation Committee served as a review-evaluation-recommendation body for the Library's preparations for the Middle States Association visit. The Committee also wrote its own management study of Nimitz Library.

On November 4 and 5, 1985, Mr. Jay Luckner, Director of M.I.T. Libraries and a member of the Middle States Accreditation Review team, visited Nimitz Library. Mr Luckner authored the required evaluation of the Library.

Series Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by document type and topic.

Box 3 Folder 1

Accreditation Study - Faculty Library Accreditation Committee, 1984-1985

For more on this topic, see Memoranda For the Nimitz Library Files, 1983-1984

Box 3 Folder 2

Accreditation Study - Middle States Association/Luckner, 1986, undated

Box 3 Folder 3

Accreditation Study - Nimitz Library Self-Study, 1965-1984, undated

Overview, individual self-studies, etc.

Box 3 Folder 4

Efficiency Review, 1983, undated

Box 3 Folder 5

Faculty Support, undated

Box 3 Folder 6

Literature Search, undated

Box 3 Folder 7

Memoranda for the Nimitz Library Files, 1983-1984

Box 3 Folder 8

Middle States Association - Publications, 1969-1983

Box 3 Folder 9

Office of Management Studies, Association of Research Libraries - Publications, 1982-1983

Box 3 Folder 10

Standards for Research Libraries, 1975-1983, undated

Box 3 Folder 11

Surveys, Nimitz Library - Faculty, 1984

Box 3 Folder 12

Surveys, Nimitz Library - Library Staff, 1986

Box 3 Folder 13

Surveys, Nimitz Library - Midshipmen, 1984

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