Library Office Notes

NOVEMBER LIBRARY EXHIBITS

The Mexican Revolution
Latin American Library Display

Celebrating Faculty Achievements:  Library Selections from
Newly Promoted or Tenured Faculty at UIUC
Main Hall Case

Nobel Prize in Literature:  Gao Xingjian (Chinese Novelist)
Modern Languages and Linguistics

Undergraduate Library Celebration -- 30 Years!
Mueller Display Case

James Jones and WW II
Rare Book Room

Lost University of Illinois--"What Once Was--What Might Have Been"
University Archives, Outside Room 19

University of Illinois Library Office of Development and Public Affairs

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Collection Development Committee Meeting Minutes
September 26, 2000

Present:  M. B. Allen, A. Bregman, S. Clark, L. German, D. Ward, J. Hoffmann, B. Jones, L. Miller, L. Rudasill, M. Stuart, P. Watson, Jane Williams, G. Youngen

Guest: J. Kibbee

1. Discussion of CRL superceded editions program (Schmidt, Kibbee):

Three and one-half years ago was the first time that CRL proposed keeping superceded editions of reference works.  Do we want to rely on them?  At the beginning, CRL was not offering references and that was a major problem.  Now this service is available.

Two question arose:  What are our comfort levels with this arrangement?  When is it okay to let duplicate copies go?  These are questions that need to be addressed in the divisions.

There has been a lot of discussion in the CRL Task Force about the quality of reference service that is being received from CRL, and there were reports of dissatisfaction.   It would be useful to do some trial checking.  Jo Kibbee agreed to give this a try as well as to poll her other CIC colleagues and see if they have had problems.   Most of the other CIC Libraries have taken advantage of this program, but not necessarily all of the titles.  There seems to be a general agreement that one copy is enough.  It was suggested that some shelf measures be done. It was decided to put this item back on the agenda for October.  It was requested that the question be taken back to the divisions.

2.  Discussion of Rare Book Room collections and budget decisions (B. Jones):

Barbara Jones reviewed rare book and special collections activities and policies regarding collections.  Last year, she found that there are still some questions and confusion about what Rare Books buys and what their policies are about what is collected.   Last year, they had over one million dollars worth of requests from departmental librarians, most of which had to be denied.  In terms of money, the total to spend every year, after obligations, is about $80,000.

Rare Book Room is trying to get away from supporting any one professor or one student’s research.  There no longer is the financial support to do this.   If Barbara has to decline a request from a librarian or a faculty member, as often happens, and if that librarian or faculty member goes elsewhere to try to get the money, Barbara needs to know.

Please be judicious about what you want transferred even if it’s rare.  There is a space problem because more and more gifts are being received, with no place to put them.  Barbara would be happy to talk to anyone about transfers because, in some cases, they will transfer material over.

They are redoing their definition of what is rare.  Alvan Bregman is updating and formulating a series of policies, including new collecting statements.

As they redo the definitions, Barbara would like to share them with the Collection Development group because it will clearly have an impact on some of their collections.   They are taking in new materials as gifts, but much less aggressively than in years past.  The Development Office understandably wants to take in a lot because gifts-in-kind are given to the library for fund raising, for campaigns, etc., but Rare Book and Special Collections is at the point where they don’t have anyplace to put them, can’t preserve them, and they have a large backlog.

3.  Review and approval of Tangible Electronic Products document (Ward):

The issue of security strips needs to be addressed. Otherwise, the document is fine.

Karen will ask David to put a sentence in about marking with the 3M strips and will take it to Administrative Council.

4.  Library Allocation Steering Committee:

Karen presented an outline of the presentation that Alex Scheeline, Paula Kaufman, and Tonya Gallagher made to the Council of Deans about the Library Allocation Steering Committee.

There will be more information about the hearings forthcoming from the Provost’s office soon.

5.  Collections Web Page:

Karen’s Graduate Assistant is working on the Collections Web Page.

6.  Electronic Resources Strategic Plan:

Paula Watson reported that there is a draft available now that includes a planning environment statement, a vision statement, and a fairly small number of strategic goals with some specific statements objectives.  A final draft version will be available shortly for wider review.

The committee is meeting tomorrow to review a proposal to distribute the $174,000 one-time money.  The BSC also will make a recommendation to the CDC regarding $30,000 money in recurring money that has not yet been assigned to any funds.

7.  Acquisitions System:

In order to prepare for the III Acquisitions system that will be implemented July 1, Lisa German’s staff are reviewing all the open orders.  This is a proactive claiming project, starting with fund 0001 and going to 0099, working toward the middle from both ends.  Lisa is also figuring out a new naming scheme for fund codes.   This has been sent out to a small implementation group.  Lisa reiterated that if new journals are ordered, money must be available to pay for them.

8.  Gifts Task Force:

Lyn Jones, Barbara Jones, and Karen Schmidt met to talk about gifts and the manner in which gifts are handled, the flow of gifts, the acknowledgement of gifts, donor relations, etc. Barbara, Sharon, and Karen will meet soon to revise the gifts draft.  In the meantime, if gifts are received, the Library Friends Office needs to be made aware if gifts are being acknowledged, and who the donors are.

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Library Staff Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
October 25, 2000

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Electronic Information Resources Committee Meeting Minutes
November 2, 2000

Present:  P. Watson (Chair), E. Clarage, K. Schmidt, D. Ward, M. Porta, B. Swann (for K. Medows), J. Pilch, C. Prom, L. German, G. Youngen, C. Penka

Absent:  S. Randall

1. Outcomes

1. The EIRC agreed to ground rules.
2. The number of simultaneous users for Web of Science will be increased ASAP by five users, for a total of 15 users.
3. The EIRC agreed to cancel Science’s Next Wave which is up for renewal to free funds for an institutional subscription to Science Online.
4. EIRC endorsed the Electronic Collection Strategic Plan.
5. EIRC will begin work on creation and update of its policies and procedures including, for example, use of Fund 2001, selection criteria, and the role of use statistics in database evaluation.
6. Watson will supply updated budget accounting; price increases are reducing the amount of money available for new purchases in Fund 2001.

1. EIRC Ground Rules

The revised EIRC Ground Rules were distributed and P. Watson went over the additions that had been suggested.

Outcome: Ground Rules were accepted, subject to revision when needed.

2. Web of Science (WOS)

There are reports of frequent turnaways when users attempt to access the Web of Science, with the most recent being from Grainger. The current subscription allows 10 simultaneous users. WOS simultaneous users are sold in blocks of 5 at $2,250 per block. The Committee discussed whether we should make an expenditure against fund 2001 prior to a decision on an e-journal package. Given that we currently spend close to $100,000 on WOS, the Committee agreed that it is not cost-effective to limit access to this important, interdisciplinary resource and endorsed the purchase of the 5 additional users. Watson will contact ISI immediately and ask that the access quota be increased as soon as possible, even though it will take considerable time to get license addenda and invoices through CIC.

Outcome: 5 additional simultaneous users will be added to Web of Science.

3. Science Online/Science Next Wave

P. Watson brought to the Committee’s attention licensing issues regarding Science Online. The main issues are archiving, the vendor not committing to perpetual access to full content, and a clause specifying the ability to change license terms without notice. M. Porta reported that despite the archiving issue her division wants to obtain Science Online. G. Youngen concurred that the archiving issue was not a "deal breaker". J. Pilch questioned whether everyone interested in this database had had the opportunity to give their input. P. Watson indicated that not everyone had responded, but science division representatives believed they spoke for their divisions. P. Watson also reported that Science Online will cost $500 more than originally quoted, bringing the subscription to $5,500. It had been agreed at the previous meeting that Science’s Next Wave would be cancelled, freeing $2,400 to be used as partial funding for Science Online, with the source for the remainder needed to be identified by K. Schmidt.

Outcome: The Committee agreed to cancel Science Next Wave and use the funds to partially fund the subscription to Science Online, with K. Schmidt designating a fund to cover the balance due. Cancellation of Next Wave is viewed as a temporary expedient to permit purchase of Science Online. Reinstatement will be considered as soon as funds are available. Watson will forward just-received Next Wave usage statistics to EIRC.

4. Friends Supplementary Fund Request

S. Searing and N. O’Brien have submitted a request for the Works of John Dewey (Past Masters web product) to the Friends Supplementary Fund. A member of the UIUC faculty would like to use this product in his course. In accordance with the procedures established by the EIRC and BSC regarding electronic resource purchase requests, a copy of the request was sent to P. Watson to be reviewed by the EIRC. There was discussion regarding the product and also the format of the Friends Supplementary Fund application form.

Outcome: K. Schmidt will ask S. Searing and N. O’Brien to provide more information on search capabilities of the non-SGML Dewey product to aid the Friends Supplementary Fund Committee in making its decision. P. Watson and K. Schmidt will clarify wording on the application form.

5. Review of the Electronic Collection Strategic Plan

P. Watson asked the Committee for input on the final draft of the Electronic Collection Strategic Plan. L. German suggested the Plan include a more specific statement on bibliographical control. There was a brief discussion on the wording of this statement and the suggestion that access through OPACs may become less important in the future. Knowing that the Plan Committee agreed that certain issues were more appropriate for EIRC to handle, K. Schmidt reported that people are nevertheless expecting the plan to address topics like the use of fund 2001, centralized vs. decentralized funding, selection criteria and various other policy and procedural issues. P. Watson reiterated that EIRC will work on updating and creating policy and procedures this year.

Outcome: L. German will solicit input from her division on the inclusion and wording of a bibliographic control statement. The EIRC endorsed the Plan, with a small amount of editing and rewrite as needed. The Plan will be distributed with the clarification that policies and procedures to be developed by EIRC will follow.

6. Strategies for Internal Reallocation Through Cancellation of Currently Subscribed E-Resources

There was a preliminary discussion. The possible redundancy of general periodical databases should be examined, although clearly each makes its own contribution. EIRC should seek advice in particular from Central Public Services on recommendations concerning these resources. The Committee agreed that usage statistics would be very helpful in evaluating all our databases. P. Watson was asked if we have statistics on all databases we subscribe to and responded that we have (or can obtain) statistics on many. K. Schmidt mentioned that she is pulling together a group to examine journal use statistics (electronic and print) and that EIRC might want to cooperate or at least share information with this group. P. Watson will be a member. P. Watson also mentioned obtaining information from the recent pre-conference at Charleston on use statistics.

L. German will obtain information on the Charleston pre-conference.

(P.Watson/D.Keleher)

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Academic Search Position Update

Support Staff Positions Open

Library Clerk II, 100%, Law Library
Library Clerk III, 50%, Asian Library
Library Clerk III, 50%, Government Docs Library
Library Clerk III, 100%, Education Library
Library Clerk III, 100%, IRRC Library
Security Guard Supervisor, 100%, Business Office
Security Guard, 100%, Business Office

Support Staff Positions Filled

Library Clerk III, 100%, Undergraduate Library, Lewis Chatman
Library Technical Assistant, 100%, Music Library, Patricia Lee
Shipping/Receiving Clerk, 100%, Technical Services, Daniel Hataway

(J. Lowder)

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