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Virginia Tech
Governance Minutes ArchiveNovember 11, 1992
ULC did not meet in December. These minutes were approved as submitted at the ULC meeting on January 13, 1993. UNIVERSITY LIBRARY COMMITTEE MINUTES November 11, 1992 PRESENT: Meighan Belsley, SGA Gerald Luttrell, Engineering Carol Burch-Brown, Provost's Off. Ken McCleary, Human Resources Darrell Clowes, Faculty Senate Martha Rose, CSAC Sherry Edwards (for J.Fithian) GSA James Yardley, Business Joanne Eustis, Library Rodney Young, Ag. & Life Sciences Edward Fox, Arts & Sciences GUESTS: Dave Beagle, Library Paul Metz, Library Buddy Litchfield, Library Marilyn Norstedt, Library Bob Pillow, Library Linda Richardson, Library ABSENT: Norm Dodl, Education J. Scott Poole, Architecture Jeff Fithian, GSA Mark Smith, Veterinary Medicine MEETING SUMMARY: The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. with Ken McCleary chairing for N. Dodl. The October minutes were approved as submitted. NEW BUSINESS LIBRARY REPORT (J. Eustis): With the approval of the state general obligation bonds the library storage building will go to bid very soon. The building will be constructed near the airport and should be finished in about two years. Peter Karp, the University Architect, met with library staff on November 9 to inform them about the proposed addition to the library. The bookstore cannot be remodeled into satisfactory library space; therefore, the university now is considering an addition to the library on the mall side. A four-story addition would add approximately 30,000 sq. ft. and a six-story addition would provide almost 50,000 sq. ft. of usable space. The additional space would be used to create the public areas that the present library lacks. Whatever form the addition takes, the central light court will be glassed over and renovated to create a reading room and a central focus for the building. The proposed addition is not a part of the bond issue, and will be funded in a different way. It has been approved within the university and presented to the building committee, but these are very preliminary plans. Mr. Karp's most optimistic estimate is for completion in about four years. REPORT ON RESOURCE SHARING WITHIN THE STATE (B.Pillow): Interlibrary loan and document delivery have undergone dramatic changes during the past year. The most important change has been the Resource Enhancing And Delivery Initiative project, or READI, an agreement among James Madison University, Va Tech, and the University of Virginia for a three-way cooperative project for resource sharing. During the past year the libraries were able to borrow from and lend to each other in a much more timely and efficient manner by prioritizing requests and aiming for a 24-hour turn-around time. Book material is sent by UPS overnight, and articles or journal materials are faxed rather than photocopied and mailed. During fall semester last year, 10% of requests to JMU and UVa came back to us the same day and over 80% in less than two days, a dramatic improvement. The other four doctoral granting institutions in the state have become interested in joining in this plan, and during the summer the directors, and collection development and interlibrary loan staff from all six institutions met to discuss a READI-like project among the six. Almost 50% of this library's borrowing is done in-state, so that the spread of the program to four more libraries would be a substantial achievement. The library also is involved in an ASERL (Association of Southeastern Research Libraries) agreement whereby materials are supplied free among members and rushed (either by fax or UPS) upon request. All copyright rules are observed by participants in these agreements, which represent an enhancement of traditional interlibrary loan but do not go beyond that. We do not function as a "supplier" as CARL (Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries) does. In the past year the library has also joined the Copyright Clearance Center, through which we pay royalties for some materials that we could not obtain in the past due to copyright restrictions. With the proliferation of full-text databases and commercial sources, interlibrary loan rapidly is becoming a different process and staff must not only learn about new sources for materials, but also develop decision-making processes for selecting the best source based on time and budget requirements. POLICY DISCUSSION ON SHELVING PERIODICALS AND SPECIAL MATERIALS (J. Eustis): This agenda item resulted from requests from the College of Business for special treatment for some tax materials and from the Department of Physics for a special shelving arrangement for some periodicals. Marilyn Norstedt, Head of the Cataloging Department, explained what the classification system does and why libraries shelve materials as they do. A cataloging department both catalogs and classifies. Cataloging is the process of describing the particular item and adding access points so that it can be found. Classification is the organization of what has been cataloged, and many classification systems have been devised over the years. This library uses the Library of Congress system for most material, with the Superintendent of Documents system used for government documents, and an accession number system for media materials such as phono discs and videos. The Physics Department has asked the library to shelve their subject area periodicals in alphabetical order. The library receives similar requests every few years. Classifying in call numbers keeps subject area periodicals together and solves another problem as well. Patrons are seldom aware of the number of periodical title changes, which occur so frequently that one staff member in serials cataloging could be kept occupied 80% of their time doing nothing other than title changes. When a title change occurs the periodical's call number remains the same, as does its place on the shelves. Alphabetical shelving for a part of the periodicals would require the library staff to do frequent shifting of materials. In addition, separating some periodicals to be shelved differently would tend to make that area invisible to other, cross-disciplinary users. In a library of this size it seems most efficient to classify by call number, which allows the users to see items in their subject next to other items in their subject. Alphabetical shelving does have some advantages particularly in a small library; however, for a library of this size the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. The mission of the Cataloging Department is to make materials as accessible to library users as possible, while balancing this objective with what is feasible and efficient for library operations. Ed Fox expressed the concern of the Physics Department that alternative solutions be sought in an open-minded way. The library would like for collection development and cataloging staff to meet with representatives of the Physics Department to explain the true implications of their request. A compromise may be possible which would achieve their purpose in some other way. The Reference Department has been working since last summer to accommodate a request from the Accounting Department to relocate some tax materials from the third floor to the second. Linda Richardson, Head of the Humanities/Social Sciences Reference Department, explained to the committee that this was a very different kind of problem. The former location of a reference desk and study tables on the third floor made these tax materials reasonably easy for students to use. However, the reference desk and study tables are no longer there, which caused many problems for the large classes that must use these materials at essentially the same time. Books carried to other parts of the library, where study tables were available, scattered the materials, and the delay in reshelving meant that some students were unable to find needed materials. This situation resulted in the accounting department's request. The compromise reached has been to reshelve the tax materials on the second floor near the main reference desk with study tables in the same area. The reference area also has its own shelving crew, which means that materials are returned to the shelves quickly. This move required the cooperation of the Cataloging Department and other library staff, and seems to being working successfully. A newly requested further change in shelving arrangement to relocate some materials closer together is currently being discussed and a compromise solution seems possible. The meeting was adjourned at 4:05. The December meeting has been canceled due to a lack of agenda items. The next meeting will be held at 3:00 p.m. on January 13, 1993.
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