1994-96 Biennial Project Proposal 1994-96 Biennial Project Proposal
In September 1993, the academic libraries of Virginia requested funding for a 1994-96 Budget Initiative which will enable them to lay the foundations for a Virtual Library for the Commonwealth of Virginia - a library which will be developed and held cooperatively by the libraries, using advances in information technology to enable effective sharing of resources. This proposal builds and expands on several important initiatives that the libraries have taken in the last two years, and on the establishment of the Virginia Library and Information Network, which has been identified as a priority by the Virginia State Library and Archives.
At the end of the two-year funding program the libraries will have laid the foundations upon which development of the Virtual Library of the Commonwealth can be expanded to reach all citizens of the Commonwealth, ensuring equity of access to information for all people of Virginia. This approach is designed to get information to people as efficiently as possible in order to enable the lifelong learning essential to support economic development in the information age. Its success will position Virginia to play a leadership role in the emergence of regional and national information networks.
The underpinning of the Virtual Library is resource sharing, with the task of supporting the electronic dissemination of information divided among the regions of the Commonwealth, revolving around the public institutions in each of those areas. This will facilitate the instructional and research needs of faculty and students throughout the state.
To build the foundations of the Commonwealth's virtual library the project has two major components:
* Regional electronic resource centers which cooperatively purchase, develop and store a wide variety of databases, including bibliographic, textual, and image, and which provide training and education for access by all academic libraries of Virginia;
* An enhanced Virginia Academic Library Consortium which supports and expands existing resource sharing agreements to share information already owned and usually in traditional formats.
The two-year budget of $5,238,1000 has been approved for this project, of which $2,527,400 is for Electronic Resource Centers and $2,710,700 is for VALC enhancement.
The project will be directed by a steering committee made up of the members of the subcommittee on networking and the library directors of the six doctoral institutions. The subcommittee is part of the Library Advisory Committee of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
The Steering Committee members include: Charlene Hurt, Chair, George Mason University; Barbara Ford, Virginia Commonwealth University; Joanne Eustis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Jean Major, Old Dominion University; Nancy Marshall, College of William and Mary; Carol Pfeiffer, University of Virginia; Wendell Barbour, Christopher Newport University; Dennis Robison, James Madison University; Theresa Byrd, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College; Lew Terpstra, Virginia Community College System; John Jaffee, Sweet Briar College.
In addition to the Steering Committee, other committees and their chairs are: Technical Issues, Charles Litchfield, VPI; InterLibrary Loan Enhancements, Dennis Robison, JMU; Selecting Electronic Collections, Carol Pfeiffer, UVA; and User Services, Wendell Barbour, CNU.
Contact: Kathy Perry, (George Mason University) VIVA Director.
Posted: February 18, 1996. Last updated: 2/12/2001