LIBRARY
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Godwin-Hamel
Board Room, 15th Floor
December 5,
2003
MINUTES
ATTENDANCE:
Ralph Alberico (James
Madison University), Robin Benke (University of Virginia’s College at Wise), Kip Campbell for Nolan Yelich
(Library of Virginia), Virginia Cherry (Richard Bland College), Gene Damon
(Virginia Community College System), Elaine Day (Averett University), Cathy
Doyle (Christopher Newport University), Alan Edwards (SCHEV), Tracy Elliott
(Rappahannock Community College), Doug Hurd for Karin Wittenborg (University of
Virginia), John Jaffe (Sweet Briar College), Connie McCarthy (The College of
William and Mary), Virginia O’Herron (Old Dominion University), Kathy Perry
(VIVA), Aileen Schweitzer, (Thomas Nelson Community College), Nancy Seamans for
Eileen Hitchingham (Virginia Tech), Carol Sinwell (Northern Virginia Community
College), John Ulmschneider (Virginia Commonwealth University), John Zenelis (George Mason University).
Guest:
Peter Blake, Deputy Secretary of Education
CALL TO
ORDER:
Robin Benke, Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M.
INTRODUCTIONS
AND PRELIMINARY COMMENTS:
Gene Damon introduced VCCS
Chancellor, Dr. Glenn DuBois, who welcomed the SCHEV
LAC members. Dr. DuBois
outlined the economic challenges facing higher education in
Robin Benke thanked John Ulmschneider and Gene Damon
for the VIVA and LAC arrangements and hospitality at
The minutes of the September 12, 2003, meeting were approved.
VIVA REPORTS:
1. Ralph shared that the VIVA budget proposal for the 2004 – 2006 biennium had been strongly endorsed by the State Council of Higher Education.
2. Ralph reported
that Peter Blake met with John Ulmschneider, Kathy Perry and Ralph in
3. Ralph reported
that VIVA had received the Governor’s Gold Technology Award at the September 22
meeting of the
1. Kathy reported that the VIVA Steering Committee voted to acquire a new domain name for VIVA. Kathy will work with John Duke on the transition and will connect the domain name change to VIVA’s ten- year anniversary celebration.
2. Kathy shared information about the impact of eVA on VIVA’s collection budget. “eVA”
is the mandated electronic procurement system for the
In addition, Gene Damon and a small working group will persevere with strategies for getting an exemption for library materials and services under Chapter 14 of the Commonwealth Purchasing Manual. Gene noted that eVA is costing libraries real dollars and is creating an adverse effect on workflow, virtually doubling processing times, particularly for small libraries.
Resource Sharing Committee:
LeRoy Strohl, Chair
The committee chair was
unable to attend the LAC meeting, but provided a report to the Steering
Committee on December 4, 2004.
John distributed the “VIVA Outreach Committee Quarterly Report, December
4, 2003” and a photocopy of the web page for the organization “
1. According to the report, the
Outreach Committee’s major goal for fall 2003 is: “To develop testimonial letters that
constituents can send to legislators in support of VIVA; to develop means to
disseminate those letters to constituents and encourage their use.”
The committee drafted several versions of testimonial letters appropriate
for undergraduate and community college students, graduate students, and
distance education students. The letters
will be posted on the VIVA web site so that students may access them directly
and so that libraries may link their homepages to them.
2. John further reported that the
committee was exploring collaboration with the
3. John emphasized the importance
of gathering feedback from the library directors about their student
legislative awareness efforts and assessing the impact of these activities.
4. The committee report also
recommended consideration of a new domain name for VIVA because the current
VIVA domain name is challenging to remember.
EDUCAUSE will not allow VIVA to use “viva.edu” due to the rule that .edu names can only be associated with an accredited
educational institution. “VIVA.org” is
already in use by another organization.
VIVA Resources
for Users Committee: Gene Damon, Chair
Gene disseminated the “VIVA Resources for Users Committee Report to the Steering Committee (December 4, 2003),” summarized the Committee’s recommendations for renewals and new purchases, and reported the Steering Committee’s actions on those recommendations:
1. The VIVA Steering Committee approved renewals for: a. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (includes Sociological Abstracts); b. the HighWire Journals package, including American Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Cell Biology, Molecular Biology of the Cell); c. Science; d. LexisNexis Statistical Universe; e. Stat-USA.
2. The Steering Committee approved these new
purchases: a. Licensing META (Mechanical
and Transportation Engineering Abstracts) as part of the CSA subscription; b. The one-time purchase of the
The report also carried these information highlights:
1. Following
2. The number of WorldCat ports will be increased from 18 to 21 in January 2004 due to the substantial increase in utilization.
3. Oxford University Press has offered two additional titles, Journal of the ICRU and Radiation Protection Dosimetry but the Committee voted not to include these titles in the 2004 subscription.
4. Voting on the ABC-CLIO renewal will occur as soon as the renewal price is set. Discussions are underway with the vendor.
5. The Serials audit subcommittee has been working and making progress. Several institutions have loaded their data.
6. The RUC training subcommittee organized two
MLA training sessions at
7. The committee will conduct a thorough review
this spring to consider titles that should replace those withdrawn from the
First Search databases. In addition, the
committee will reassess the Factiva database.
Virginia Heritage Project: John Jaffe, Chair
John summarized current developments of the VHP Task Force: 1.The members met at Virginia Tech on September 30, 2003; Task Force membership has been reduced and is posted on the VIVA web site; 2. The group continues to review material for the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education decision and the Jamestown bibliography project; 3. Members have contributed valuable information in their discussions of the digital landscape, infrastructure practices and standards, and other technical issues.
Library Support and Advocacy Task Force:
John Ulmschneider, Chair
John reported recent activities of the Task Force and its outreach
campaign among legislative leaders: 1. Ralph Alberico,
LeRoy Strohl, Linda Larkin and John Ulmschneider met with Senator Chichester on September 16, 2003. The Senator was well-informed about VIVA,
and was very supportive and responsive; 2.
Peter Blake participated in a very productive meeting with Ralph
Alberico, Kathy Perry, John Ulmschneider, and Gene Damon on October 20, 2003; 3. John noted that some of the Task Force
responsibilities had been shifted over to the Outreach Committee, building on
the work started by Connie McCarthy;
4. John emphasized that the next
sixty days would be crucial for the future of VIVA and that libraries should do
everything possible to raise awareness of VIVA and its contributions to higher
education. As in previous years,
legislators would once again be provided access codes for VIVA.
John disseminated a handout with the Task Force purpose, charge, and
membership. Members are Cathy Doyle
(Christopher Newport University), Gene Damon (Virginia Community College
System), John Jaffe (Sweet Briar College), Roy Strohl (Mary Washington
College), Karin Wittenborg (University of Virginia) and Kathy Perry , ex
officio. John asked that membership
be confirmed or changed to reflect current situations. John Jaffe volunteered to find a replacement
for the private schools’ representative.
Governor’s Initiatives:
Peter Blake, Deputy Secretary of Education
Robin Benke welcomed Peter Blake to the SCHEV LAC meeting, and thanked Peter for his ongoing support of academic libraries and VIVA.
Peter distributed the booklet Education for a Lifetime that summarizes Governor Warner’s educational goals for the Commonwealth in these six areas: Pre-Kindergarten, Accountability and Efficiency Reviews, Senior Year Plus, Teacher Support and Retention, Preserving and Strengthening Higher Education, and Workforce Development (see http://www.governor.virginia.gov/Initiatives/Ed4Life ). Peter highlighted the challenges and opportunities of these goals, emphasizing that in such areas as higher education enrollment growth, the challenge will be not only absorbing 61,000 additional undergraduate students, but assuring that these students graduate with useful credentials and a high-quality college experience. Enormous demands will be placed on libraries and other student services.
Peter acknowledged the ways in which the library community works well together and sets examples for the academic community, noting that the Virtual Library of Virginia is cited in the document as one of the means for encouraging greater use of distance learning and expanding educational opportunities across the state. Furthermore, Peter stated that VIVA’s financial savings and cost-effectiveness are extremely compelling.
Peter recommended that the VIVA advocacy efforts continue their current direction and demonstrate VIVA’s benefits to all areas of the Governor’s initiatives.
Library
of Virginia Update: Kip
1.
Kip reported on a significant collection-filming project that the Library of
Virginia is undertaking in cooperation with the Huntington Library of San
Marino,
2. “Find It Virginia” has become a very
successful service, and the Library wants to expand its access by making it
available in high school libraries.
“Find It Virginia” enables library patrons to have 24-hour access to
online services with their Library of Virginia cards or with their public
library cards.
SCHEV Update: Alan Edwards
Alan announced that SCHEV would host a legislative breakfast on January 21, 2004, and that he welcomes the involvement of Library Advisory Committee members. Alan assured members that discussion of VIVA would be prominent in legislative budget considerations.
Other
Information and For the Good of the Order:
Gene Damon reminded the LAC the he needs information about library activities commemorating the Brown vs. the Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. A letter from the liaison committee will be forthcoming with a calendar of events and major exhibits.
The meeting was adjourned 10:15 a.m.
Future
LAC Meetings with VIVA Steering Committee the preceding day:
March
11 – 12, 2004
June
3 – 4, 2004
September (dates to be determined) 2004
Aileen
Schweitzer, Secretary