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Governance Minutes ArchiveOctober 3, 1990
These minutes were approved as submitted at the ULC meeting on November 7, 1990. UNIVERSITY LIBRARY COMMITTEE MINUTES October 3, 1990 PRESENT: Carol Burch-Brown, Provost's Office Kara Goldberg, SGA William Cox, for Engineering Ken McCleary, Human Resources Norman Dodl, Education J. Scott Poole, Architecture Holly Ferguson, CSAC Robert Sismour, for GSA Edward Fox, Arts & Sciences J. D. Stahl, Faculty Senate Paul Gherman, Library GUESTS: Charles Litchfield, Library Frances Painter, Library Paul Metz, Library John Straw, Library Melissa Obenhaus, Library ABSENT: John Bowen, Vet Med Michael Vorster, Engineering Arthur Keown, Business Roderick Young, Agriculture MEETING SUMMARY: The meeting was called to order at 4:05 p.m., and the minutes of the September meeting were approved as submitted. Those new members who had not been able to attend the September meeting were welcomed to the committee. REPORTS: I. LIBRARY ANNOUNCEMENTS A. Update: impact of budget reductions (P. Gherman): In the first round of budget cuts, the library lost 12 positions, however, these were positions that had not been filled in some time with the salary savings being used to supplement the operations budget. The Provost gave the library $250,000 in new operations funds, so the library came out even. Also the new initiative of $404,000 for book funds did go through for the first year of the biennium. In the second round the library lost $110,000 of operating money. The impact of this cut is that $30,000 has been cut from the wage budget (5% of the library wage money), $30,000 taken from the equipment fund, and $50,000 from the book budget. However, this $50,000 was carried in the operating budget to pay for ILL and electronic databases. Those funds have been shifted to the materials line of the budget, which reduced the operations budget by $110,000. The shift makes it clear that these expenses for Ill and electronic information are still part of the acquisitions of information, just as buying a book would be. The library has come through the cuts rather well, and owes a debt of gratitude to the President and the Provost for recognizing the library's situation and affording the library as much protection as possible. The library has lost the new initiative funding of $303,000 for books for the second year of the biennium. With the rate of inflation in serials the loss of this funding means that the library will have to undertake a cut of serials next year. B. Strategic Planning (P. Gherman): Susan Jurow, Director of the Office of Management Services, Association of Research Libraries, who attended the last committee meeting will be sending a report to the Director on the issues identified in her meetings with campus groups, and it will be shared with the committee. The library will invite her to return (probably in January) for a second round of focus group meetings based on the findings from her first visit. After her meetings with the focus groups a task force will be appointed to write a first draft of a long-range plan for the library, which will be circulated for faculty reactions. C. New books list (P. Gherman): The library will begin distributing a new books list to all departments on a monthly basis. The list will be in call number order. This service will be free to departments only for the first couple of months. After that it will be available electronically and available in paper form at a cost to departments which has not yet been determined. The program which produces this list cannot separate out the older books which have been recataloged, but the great majority the list will be new books. D. Collection development (P. Metz): On the monographic side of the book budget it has been possible to move an additional $45,000 to firm orders (any orders not on a recurring basis). These funds will help make up for deficiencies in monographic purchases in the past. E. Departmental Profiles Project (P. Metz): The bibliographers will be compiling departmental profiles in their areas of responsibility. Librarians buy on their own initiative many more books for their disciplines than just those requested by teaching faculty. The librarians need to have a very keen sense of the mission, plans, and scope of each department, so that purchase decisions are based on an intelligent and informed knowledge of departmental needs. The project will begin with a three-way interview among the librarian, the departmental library representative, and the department head. After that each faculty member will be asked to complete a brief, two-page questionnaire. The profile drawn from this information will be reviewed by each department to make sure the librarian has accurately reflected the departments needs. The library has not done a profile in a very long time. It is an extremely valuable tool and hopefully there will be a good response and cooperation from the faculty. NEW BUSINESS: I. EXTENSION OF LIBRARY PRIVILEGES FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS Dean Hooper wrote to P. Gherman asking that graduate students be accorded the same library privileges as faculty and in a related matter asked that the privileges extended to state resident spouses be extended to those who are not Virginia residents. P. Gherman: These questions may be a non-issue. At present the length of loan to graduate students is the same as that to faculty, and the number of books allowed to be checked out is the same. The library does charge fines to graduate students and not to faculty. R. Sismour: Dr. Hooper expressly said he is not interested in having the fines removed. P. Gherman: According to the head of the User Services Department, if out-of-state student spouses can prove that they are currently resident in Blacksburg or close by, the library will lend them books at the same level as general library patrons. The current policy for both graduate students and faculty members is a 100-book limit for 90-day check out, with up to four renewals. General patrons may check out for two weeks with up to four renewals. N. Dodl: The matter seems to be resolved as one of information sharing. Unless the committee hears otherwise, the University Library Committee will assume the information has been sent back by the GSA representative. II. Demonstration of enhancements to VTLS Charles Litchfield, Head of Database Administration, and Melissa Obenhaus joined the committee at this time to conduct a demonstration of some enhancements to VTLS. Committee members were shown how to use a command which gives access to the main database plus three test databases: one for government documents, a Wilson Database of Applied Sciences and Technology (being tested for VTLS), and the library's normal test database used for reviewing all new releases and updates to the VTLS database, where key word searching is now being tested. There are many related factors associated with this capability, and the library is moving ahead cautiously. Members were encouraged to use test databases and to contact Mr. Litchfield with any comments. The meeting was adjourned at 4:57 p.m.
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