Library Office Notes

APRIL LIBRARY EXHIBITS

Career Opportunities with the Federal Government
Government Documents Library, Main Corridor, South End, Wall Display

Between Folk and Country:  Contemporary Border Latina/o Sounds
Latin American Library Display

Histories, Cultures and Communities:  Selected Library Resources for LGBT Studies
Main Corridor

La Litterature Africaine Francophone:  Le Cote Feminin/Francophone African Literature:  The Woman's Side
Modern Languages and Linguistics Library

The Mortenson Center for International Library Programs.  A Unique Professional Development Program for the World's Librarians
Mueller Display Case (East Foyer) (April 10-30, 2000)

I Have a Song to Sing, O":  Arthur Sullivan, 1842-1900
Music Library (April, May, and June, 2000)

From Alchemy to Chemistry - Five Hundred Years of Rare and Interesting Books
Rare Book Room (March 24-April 28, 2000)

The Advertising Council:  Six Decades of Public Service Advertising
University Archives, Outside Room 19

American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award ... and the Winner is ...
Undergraduate Library Media Center (March 1-May 30)

University of Illinois Library Office of Development and Public Affairs

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Upcoming Event

"What Keeps Me up at Night:  The Future of Academic Librarianship"

Paula Kaufman
University Librarian at University of Illinois

"In decades past, academic librarianship was an attractive profession, of interest to both persons with academic training who learned from observation or a student job opportunity that librarianship was a wonderfully rewarding career and to persons training to be librarians whose first choice among all job opportunities was to work in an academic library.  From the end of World War II until about 15 years ago, academic libraries had budgets sufficient to purchase not just those materials needed by today's scholars but materials future scholars were anticipated to need as well...."

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Electronic Information Resources Committee
Meeting Minutes
March 23, 2000

Present:  P. Watson (Chair), G. Youngen, L. Miller, D. Ward, E. Clarage, K. Schmidt, L. German, C. Penka, S. Randall, B. Swann, J. Wiles (for M. Porta)

Absent:  M. Porta

1. Announcements

1. P. Watson reported that we will gain access to HarpWeek and a selection of electronic books from NetLibrary as part of Phase II of the Illinois Digital Academic Library initiative.  L. German reminded the Committee that there is a NetLibrary presentation in Grainger Commons from 2-4 on Wednesday, March 29, 2000.
2. Elsevier Web Editions will be available soon.  P. Watson noted the license does not permit use for reserves.  P. Watson will schedule a meeting in April with all selectors with an interest in future negotiations with Elsevier and other large e-journal publishers.
3. P. Watson and several others met with Chadwyck-Healey and UMI representatives on February 23, 2000.  UMI may add some products to the CIC Chadwyck-Healey proposal whose deadline is June 30^th.  New UMI products include the e-format of Gerritsen Women’s History Collection, American Periodical Collection (1,000 + titles, including 369 newspapers) and selected backfile full text of ABI Inform.

II. EBSCO Online Implementation

A task group consisting of S. Randall, D. Ward, L. DuBois, and W. Ma met on February 22^nd to determine appropriate settings in the database administrative module of EBSCO Online.   D. Ward reported that there are a couple of issues to resolve.  The task group recommended using Advanced Search option as the default screen.  We also need to decide about adding UIUC holdings and linking back to the catalog.  L. German suggested that D. Ward contact A. Copeland in Serials in regard to the relative reliability of ISSN’s as links.

P. Watson again raised the question of whether we should consider cancellation of either of the two general periodical databases we pay for; namely, IAC or Wilson Core, given the number of general periodical databases to which we now have access.  We have ArticleFirst and Wilson Select through the State Library’s statewide provision of FirstSearch; and we will have EBSCO Online through the Illinois Digital Academic Library initiative.  InsideWeb also serves as an index. Were we to consider cancellation of either Wilson Core or IAC, we would need to make a decision soon, since the ILCSO database survey will be received on April 1^st with a return date of April 30^th.  IAC’s coverage of scholarly journals was mentioned as well as the UGL investment of time entering holdings information.  The general inclination was to postpone consideration of cancellations

III. Fund 2001 Free-Balance and E-resource Proposals

The three-year renewal for ISI Web of Science required an additional payment of $90,000 this year to bring UIUC in sync with ISI’s regular payment schedule and the schedules of other CIC participants.  Fund 2001 contributed $25,000 in cash; CDC and its Budget Subcommittee approved using unexpended projected price increase funds for the remainder.

The Committee reviewed the proposals submitted by selectors and the consortium proposals listed on the attached table.  After discussion, it was decided to use the ~$30,000 free balance in 2001 to purchase the following electronic resources:

• Art Index Retrospective
• Blackwell Scientific Journals
• Index to Christian Art
• Music Index
• International Bibliography of German Literature Studies
• Funding for 3 social science indexes:

Political Science Abstracts
International Political Science Abstracts
International Bibliography of Social Sciences

· Women Writers Project
· Zoo Record (networking)
· State Capitol Universe
· Chicano Database

Since the Committee thought CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online) also had a high priority, E. Clarage suggested that Lynne Rudasill decide whether CIAO should be substituted for one of the three social science databases listed above.  [Lynne decided to recommend subscription to CIAO now and to postpone subscription to the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences since we have a 6-month trial.]

Funding of the following was postponed until additional monies are available:   Policy File, MD Consult, Ulrich’s, JSTOR Phase II, selected Chadwyck-Healey databases (including, for example, the New York Times Index and the American Film Institute Catalog).  Since the Chadwyck-Healey databases and possibly OED require a commitment in FY00 to obtain a discount, we will try to provide partial funding for these from end-of-the-year cash, if any is available.

P. Watson will contact Pat Allen regarding his priorities for the agriculture-related databases on offer through CIC.  She will also contact the MD Consult sales rep to see whether we can negotiate a still lower price based on UIC’s subscription.   Decisions regarding additional fees for networking the two CD ROMs (Chicano Database and International Bibliography of German Literature Studies were postponed.

(P. Watson/D. Keleher)

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Executive Committee
Meeting Minutes
Monday, March 27, 2000.

The meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

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Administrative Council
Meeting Minutes
Monday, April 3, 2000

Present:  Paula Kaufman, Chair; Bill Brockman, Bob Burger, Margaret Chaplan, Tina Chrzastowski, Bart Clark, Alan Conrad, Barbara Henigman, Deloris Holiman, Barbara Jones, Lyn Jones, Jo Kibbee, Sara Randall, Diane Schmidt, Karen Schmidt, Paula Watson, Karen Wei

Absent:  Marianna Tax Choldin, Janis Johnston, Joyce Wright

1. User Education Request
   

A request for some uniformity on instruction publications from Sue Searing, on behalf of the User Education Committee, was discussed.  There is a concern that how users find subject matter in one library may not apply to all libraries.  Any handouts that are prepared should include information indicating where the handout originated.  It was recommended that handouts should go to User Ed for final approval.  The User Ed recommendations were approved but questions about Gen Pub publications were referred back to the Committee.

2. Awards Program


(It was suggested that if something is to be discussed, four weeks need to be allowed between the time it goes to the divisions and the time it is to be discussed at the next meeting.  It would be helpful to have a calendar of standing meetings.)

One division representative suggested that there be more than one letter of recommendation.  It was recommended that the same procedure followed by the committee for choosing the recipients of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award might work.   They have several nominees, finalists are selected, and then additional letters are requested.

A fuller discussion will be held at the next Administrative Council meeting.

3. Universal Access


Disability Services:  At the present, there is a very distributed mode of helping patrons with disabilities.  Mary Beth Allen works closely with the people at DRES.   It was suggested that there be someone on staff, part of whose job it is to coordinate services for people with disabilities.  A set of recommendations, presented by Mary Beth Allen, was discussed.  It was decided that it is important that the Library pay attention to users who have disabilities that span a large range.   At one end of the spectrum, disabled students are to be treated like everyone else and be encouraged to do as much as possible for themselves.  While at the other end, they do need extra attention.

It may be useful to have an appointed person who works closely with DRES and other groups on campus to find out what services are made available at other units on campus.   It appears that this should be a responsibility of the new AUL for Services.

It was decided to affirm commitment to surveying people with disabilities and defer implementation until the AUL for Services is hired.

4. Library Committees

Paula Watson provided a current committee membership list, along with recommendations for changes.  It is estimated that 5,000 hours are spent on committees, based on each committee meeting 1 ½ hours once a month.

Questions posed:  Don’t have a specific policy for operational committees or faculty committees.  Who appoints or who advises on appointments?  There are no guidelines for charges.  It was proposed that a hierarchical structure for reporting of committees be defined.  Is it time to step back from the committee issue and think about what philosophy underlies our having committees?  Why do we have them?   What do we expect them to do?  What is the best way to establish task forces to get work done.  Five thousand hours a year seems an inordinate expenditure of time.  As more people are hired, is there a need for as many committees as currently exist?  Is there a need for a joint task force to determine the difference between who creates committees and who governs them?

After a spirited discussion, the group recommended that the committee structure remain in place as it is now and that a variety of related issues, such as why we have committees and how they should operate, be brought to the faculty for discussion.

5. Updates and Announcements

Search Committee for the Chief Information Officer: From April 16-26, three candidates will be visiting and presentations will be given. All are encouraged to attend.

Structure Committee Task Force Report: Recommendations for changing the unit annual report will be on the Administrative Council’s next agenda.

Marking Unit in the basement has physically ceased to exist and has been moved to Technical Services, Room 220.

A question was raised about whether information from the salary book and personal information should be given out over the phone.  The response from Legal Counsel is that it is public information and should be disclosed.

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Electronic Information Resources Committee
Meeting Minutes
April 6, 2000

Present:  P. Watson (Chair), G. Youngen, L. Miller, D. Ward, E. Clarage, C. Penka, S. Randall, B. Swann, J. Wiles

Absent:  L. German, K. Schmidt

I.  EBSCO Online Implementation

P. Watson reported on the task group’s recommendations for the implementation of EBSCO. EIRC members agreed on the following issues

• The default interface for the search function will be the "Expert" search interface.
• EBSCO will be available for users on May 15, 2000.
• Links to holdings will be available, although the Committee is aware of problems with the accuracy of ISSN’s.

2. Encyclopedia Britannica

The question of canceling the Library’s subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica, given that EB is now available at a free web site, was taken back to the divisions.  The feedback was overwhelmingly in favor of cancellation, with the exception of a few librarians in the humanities and the physical sciences.

P. Watson will email the ERO’s and Cindy Clennon (CIC) notifying them of UIUC’s evaluation.  EIRC agreed that we would cancel unless there is new information before the final deadline.

3. ILCSO Proposal

New databases offered by ILCSO through Ovid/IBIS next year include:

BioethicsLine
EconLit
Newspaper Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts
MLA Bibliography
SportDISCUS

EconLit, Sociological Abstracts and MLA would all cost more than we are currently paying through other vendors.  We might have considered paying the additional for EconLit, but E. Clarage was reluctant to require users to learn a new interface for this high-use database. Watson will query M. B. Allen regarding SportDISCUS and life sciences librarians re:  the usefulness of paying $66/year to have BioEthicsLine as a freestanding database.

(P. Watson/D. Keleher)

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Library Staff Steering Committee
Meeting Minutes
April 12, 2000

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