SCHEV -- LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

University of Mary Washington

Simpson Library – Classroom Room

Fredericksburg, Virginia

 

September 16, 2005

9:00 a.m.

 

 MINUTES

 

 

ATTENDANCE: Ralph Alberico (James Madison University), Christopher Bean (Shenandoah University), Robin Benke (University of Virginia’s College at Wise),  Tom Camden for Nolan Yelich (Library of Virginia), Virginia Cherry (Richard Bland College), Gene Damon (Virginia Community College System), Elaine Day (Averett University), Alan Edwards (SCHEV), Tracy Elliott (Rappahannock Community College), David Hayes (Radford University),  Pat Howe for Wendell Barbour (Longwood University), John Jaffe (Sweet Briar College), Don Kenney for Eileen Hitchingham (Virginia Tech), Connie McCarthy (The College of William and Mary), Mary Mayer-Hennelly (Tidewater Community College), Frank Moran (Blue Ridge Community College), Virginia O’Herron (Old Dominion University), Jane Edmister Penner for Karin Wittenborg (University of Virginia), Kathy Perry (VIVA), Eric Rector (VIVA),  Don Samdahl (Virginia Military Institute), Aileen Schweitzer (Thomas Nelson Community College),  Mary Sellen (Christopher Newport University), Carol Sinwell (Northern Virginia Community College),  LeRoy Strohl (University of Mary Washington), John Zenelis (George Mason University).

 

CALL TO ORDER: Don Samdahl, Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M.

 

INTRODUCTIONS AND PRELIMINARY COMMENTS:

Don Samdahl thanked LeRoy Strohl  for the VIVA and LAC meeting and dinner arrangements and for the hospitality at the University of Mary Washington.

 

The minutes of the June 10, 2005, meeting were approved with one correction noting that John Zenelis had attended the meeting. 

 

 

VIVA REPORTS:

 

 

Connie McCarthy, Chair, Steering Committee, VIVA

1.  Connie welcomed Robin Benke back to the Steering Committee and welcomed Eric Rector as the new VIVA Associate Director

 

2.  Connie shared highlights from the Steering Committee retreat on July 14 – 15, 2005, at Wintergreen.  Significant discussion topics were:  a. Cost sharing – The Resources for Users Committee will explore options and examples; b. Cooperative print collection sharing and remote storage – David Hayes and Connie McCarthy will bring information to the December meeting; c. VIVA funding and support of multimedia collections – Ralph Alberico will chair a taskforce to address related issues.

 

 

 

3.  Connie reminded LAC members that decisions about VIVA priorities inform the VIVA budget process.  Connie provided a budget update and reported that the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia had approved the VIVA budget proposals for one-time and ongoing funds for the 2006-08 biennium.

 

4.  Connie announced several changes in committee membership:

      a.  Resources for Users – Frank Moran (Blue Ridge Community College) has replaced Sherle Abramson (Rappahannock Community College)

      b.  Resource Sharing – John Euliano (GMU)  has replaced Ruth Kifer (GMU) for the remainder of her term

      c.  Virginia Heritage Task Force – Dave Hayes (Radford) will succeed John Jaffe (Sweet Briar) as the task force chair

 

 

 

Resource Sharing Committee: Don Kenney for Eileen Hitchingham, Chair

1.  Don distributed a handout prepared by Stuart Frazer, Chair of the 2004-05 VIVA ILL Subcommittee, summarizing the activities of the 7th VIVA Interlibrary Loan Community Forum held July 15, 2005, at Sweet Briar College.  Participant response to the forum was very positive.  Papers presented at the forum are posted online at:  http://www.lib.virginia.edu/vivaill/presentations.html

 

2.  The “Resource Sharing Committee Quarterly Report, September, 2005” was disseminated.  Don noted these updates from the report:

            a.  RSC membership replacements:  Cyril Oberlander (UVA) is replacing Jean Cooper (UVA); Ruth Kifer (GMU) has relocated to San Jose State and therefore the Director of GMU libraries will designate a GMU member to fill Ruth’s committee position

            b.  Resource Sharing Committee business for 2005-2006 will consider these issues:

·         Should RSC members themselves assume responsibility for putting on the annual ILL forum?

·         Should ILL guidelines include a formal mechanism to deal with non-returned items?

·         RSC web site and responsibilities

·         Review of Ariel 4 implementation

 

VIVA Resources for Users Committee:  Gene Damon, Chair

Gene disseminated the “VIVA Resources for Users Committee Report to the Steering Committee, September 15, 2005,” summarized the Committee’s recommendations for renewals and reported the Steering Committee’s actions on other matters:

 

1.  The VIVA Steering Committee approved ten renewals for 2005-2006:  a. American Mathematical Journals; b. AMS MathSciNet database; c .American Chemical Society Journals; d. Association of Computing Machinery; e. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts; f. CIAO; g. CRC Handbook & EngNetBase; h. Galenet and LRC; i. LexisNexis Congressional; j. Proquest Factiva..

 

2.  The Steering Committee approved the purchase of four new titles in the Institute of Physics Journals:  a. Journal of Geophysics and Engineering; b. Journal of Neural Engineering; c. Physical Biology; d. Physica Scripta

 

3.  The Steering Committee approved the cancellation of Stat-USA at the end of the subscription period, April 30, 2006.

 

4.  Gene included a report from the RUC Training Subcommittee on the August 2005 Training Fairs held on August 3rd at William & Mary and August 5th at Radford.  Trainers and vendors from five VIVA vendors participated in the fair:  Thomson-Gale, EBSCO, ProQuest, Oxford Online and Cambridge Scientific Abastracts.  Attendance at both venues was strong, with librarians rating the presenters and the events in general uniformly high.  Local arrangements for the workshops were made by Pat Van Zandt (William and Mary0 and Gerald Gordon (Radford).

 

 

Virginia Heritage Project Task Force:  John Jaffe, Chair

John distributed the “Virginia Heritage Task Force Report to VIVA Steering Committee, September 15, 2005,” which summarized recent task force activities:

 

1.  Through August 2005 UVA student encoders have encoded 200 guides for six institutions (UVA, Library of Virginia, William and Mary, VCU, Virginia Tech and Wytheville Community College).  Cost of the guides has decreased in the last year due to efficiencies from the new EAD software, the quality of student encoders and the management by Edward Gaynor.  Edward Gaynor estimates the cost per page to be approximately $1.25.

 

2.  The main focus for the task force in the immediate future is drafting a proposal for the IMLS grant, with a Feb. 1, 2006 deadline.

 

3.  The next Virginia Heritage meeting will be held on October 17, 2005, at the University of Virginia.

 

4.  During the next few months John Jaffe will work together with David Hayes, the new task force chair, to assure a smooth transition.

 

 

VIVA Outreach Committee:  Kathy Perry for John Ulmschneider, Chair

Kathy distributed the “VIVA Outreach Committee Quarterly Report, 9-15-05” that noted  a committee meeting in Charlottesville on June 13 and that summarized progress on the committee’s main project of the VIVA web site.  The Committee finalized its work and turned over further design and implementation refinements to technical staff.  Eric Rector (VIVA) and John Duke (VCU) have been working closely together to create a strong technical foundation for the site and to simplify its maintenance and operation.  The Committee still must develop a custodial structure for VIVA web pages.  It is anticipated that the new web page will be up by the December/January timeframe and thus will be available for legislators to peruse.

 

The VIVA central office disseminated approximately 30,000 VIVA bookmarks to all VIVA members as part of the Outreach Committee’s awareness program.  The bookmarks are to be distributed within books loaned to other VIVA libraries and will provide information about VIVA services to faculty and students.

 

 

 

 

 

Kathy Perry, VIVA Project Director

1.  Kathy reported the results of decisions handled by electronic voting this quarter:

·         The RFP for general databases CINAHL, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, ERIC and Medline were awarded to EBSCO. Kathy thanked Sharon Gasser for her work as committee chair for the RFP.

·         The new, enhanced version of the Oxford English Dictionary was acquired

·         The BioOne journals subscription was renewed

 

 

2.  The Steering Committee approved hiring a full-time administrative assistant for the VIVA Central Office. Total administrative cost for the 2004-2006 biennium is estimated to be less than 4%.

 

3.  Letters with the interlibrary loan allocations for document delivery were mailed to the library directors at the public institutions on September 12, 2005.

 

4.  Eric Rector has updated the VIVA Contacts Directory and has posted it on the VIVA web site at http://www.vivalib.org/about/communication.html.  Members were asked to review contact information and provide any corrections. The Contacts Directory serves as an important resource for library directors and VIVA contacts in key areas for all participating VIVA institutions.

 

5.  Kathy and Eric will attend the Virginia Independent College and University Library Association meeting on October 14, 2005 at Ferrum College.

 

6.  Kathy reminded LAC members of the VIVA Users Group meeting at the Virginia Library Association Conference in Williamsburg on October 20th.

 

 

 

VIVA Technical Issues Task Force on Multimedia Collections:  Ralph Alberico, Chair

Ralph reviewed the background and current status of VIVA’s license negotiations for the PBS collection of more than 300 video titles. Ralph reminded committee members that the vendor does not host the content, but only distributes the content in raw, uncompressed format, and then the licensee is responsible for compressing the content for streaming to desktop delivery.  The licensee retains distribution rights in perpetuity. Due to the complexities of multimedia distribution, the rapidly evolving technologies, and the disparities of technical readiness among the academic institutions, the Steering Committee agreed that a task force should be formed to address these and other issues related to multimedia collections for VIVA institutions.  Ralph Alberico accepted the assignment as task force chair person and will solicit task force participants representing each type of VIVA institution.  Task force members should have expertise in current multimedia distribution, authentication, and technology issues. Ralph noted that the task force will not be a standing committee and should complete its work within one year.

 

Ralph then distributed a briefing paper he had prepared for the Steering Committee outlining “assumptions, potential action items and key questions to be considered by a VIVA Technical Issues Task Force on Multimedia Collections.”  The proposed project goal is to:  “Develop a model for providing secure, reliable online access to VIVA multimedia collections for VIVA member institutions by December 1, 2006.”

 

 

 

The proposed Task Force charge will be to:

  • Serve as a forum for exchanging information about technical issues related to VIVA multimedia collections and best practices for managing those collections
  • Develop expertise among VIVA members about the technologies, information formats, evolving markets and distribution channels for multimedia collections
  • Develop recommendations for VIVA members on technical specifications and technical support for multimedia content licensed by VIVA
  • Develop recommendations on distribution models and access control for VIVA multimedia collections
  • Identify the kinds of human resources, technology investments and organizational structures within VIVA institutions that will be needed to support streaming media
  • Develop recommendations for user support including minimum desktop technical requirements, training strategies and documentation
  • Consider service integration issues and propose models on how to integrate multimedia content from VIVA with existing library services and with campus learning environments

 

 

Disaster Preparedness:  Jane Penner, University of Virginia

Jane provided a handout on “Library Disaster Preparedness Plans” to accompany her overview of library disaster preparedness resources and practices.  Jane highlighted useful websites and contacts at SOLINET, the Library of Virginia, James Madison University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. Jane then facilitated a discussion in which LAC members shared a wealth of emergency planning information from their institutions.  Members emphasized the need for libraries to be involved up front with college disaster planning, the need to review emergency plans frequently, the need to communicate the plan to all staff --including non-library staff, and the need to retain hard copies of the disaster planning handbook in several off-site locations.  Questions were raised and addressed about valuing library collections.

 

Tom Camden reported that the Library Virginia’s disaster plan was created with help from SOLINET and that a disaster planning workbook could be downloaded from the LVA website and used as a template.  In addition, the website provides links to emergency response suppliers, vendors, and other resources.

 

 

Strategic Plans of Local Institutions

Don Samdahl proposed a future meeting agenda topic of “strategic planning for libraries,” with various representatives providing briefings.  The presentations would address the issue of library involvement in long-range planning at each institution.  Representatives are John Zenelis (GMU), Wendell Barbour (Longwood) and Nolan Yelich (Library of Virginia).

 

 

VIVA Budget and Advocacy Issues:  Gene Damon

In preparation for the upcoming legislative session, Gene urged LAC members to encourage strong support for VIVA among the college presidents and public relations staff, and to share information that will generate enthusiastic backing.

 

Gene noted that the only question that arose at the September 13 SCHEV meeting concerned the expenditure of funds for licensed electronic databases when “everything is free on Google.”  The VIVA Steering Committee will draft a position paper about the relevance of acquiring new digital resources and will make it available to VIVA directors.

 

 

SCHEV Update:  Alan Edwards

1. Alan offered his congratulations to the new VIVA Steering Committee and SCHEV LAC officers.

2.  Several new SCHEV members will be appointed during the upcoming year and Alan will continue providing background information to them about VIVA.  An overview of VIVA would be an appropriate presentation for new Council members some time in the near future.

3.  SCHEV will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2006.  Alan suggested that colleges may have archival materials related to SCHEV’s history that could be shared for the celebration.

4.   Nancy Cooley is interested in services to victims of the Gulf Coast disaster and is seeking advice on the response that Virginia can make to libraries affected by the disaster. It was noted that computers are greatly needed by the public libraries in the affected areas.

5.  SCHEV approved the proposed VIVA budget for the 2006-08 biennium at the September 13, 2005, meeting.

6.  SCHEV will be taking action in September or October on Institutional Performance Standards to measure how institutions are responding to the Commonwealth’s goals for higher education as outlined in the Higher Education Restructuring Act.

7.  A feasibility study is underway concerning the establishment of a new public four-year institution in southern Virginia.  Of what considerations should SCHEV be aware from a library perspective? Alan welcomed any input regarding the impact on VIVA if such an institution were created.

8.  Additional feedback on the issue of textbook affordability is still being sought.

9.  SCHEV is co-sponsoring an “Online Learning Summit” in Richmond on November 15.  Letters of invitation will be mailed to college presidents and provosts.

10. LAC members supported the posting of LAC minutes on the SCHEV website.

 

 

Library of Virginia Update: Tom Camden for Nolan Yelich

Tom shared the following updates on behalf of the Library of Virginia:

1.  The Library of Virginia budget has now stabilized to the point where recruitment is underway for a number of positions.

2.  The Library of Virginia completed its year-long study on all aspects of public library service in Virginia and will present the final report to all public library directors.  The report will also be available online.  Tom stated that the report indicates that Virginia’s public libraries are comparable to the national average.

3.  The Library of Virginia has just completed its strategic planning document review.

4.  Exciting progress is being made on the Virginia Newspaper Project, building on the NEH grant that involved five libraries and digitizing more than one million pages of newspapers from 1900-1910

5.  The winners of the 8th Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards will be hosted at a celebration in Richmond on October 15, 2005.

 

 

 

 

For the Good of the Order

1.  Ruth Kifer (GMU), who was serving as VLA president, has taken a position as Dean of Libraries at San Jose State University.

 

2.  Brochures were distributed to honor the 100th anniversary of the Virginia Library Association and to encourage support for the Virginia Library Association Foundation.

 

3.  Carol Sinwell announced that she is still interested in receiving feedback on her survey about library support services for distance learning.

 

4.  Don Samdahl thanked Jane Penner and Ralph Alberico for their well-prepared presentations to the LAC.

 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 a.m.

 

Future LAC Meetings with VIVA Steering Committee the preceding day:

 

December 9, 2005         Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave

March 3 or 10, 2006      SCHEV and VCCS, Richmond

June 30 2006?               Radford University

 

 

 

Aileen Schweitzer, Secretary