Minutes of VIVA Outreach Committee, April 20, 2001

Present: Ralph Alberico (chair), Jack Bales, Patricia Butler, Patricia Hardesty, Berna Heyman, and Ginger Young.

The meeting began at 10:15 a.m. at U.Va.  Ralph thanked Pat Butler and Jack Bales for quickly writing press releases for the new VIVA journal resources

VIVA Brochure

Ralph opened the discussion of revising the VIVA brochure.  Since VIVA's mission statement has changed, that text needs to be updated.  The committee agreed that minor revisions should be made to include the date, and Kathy Perry's phone number.  Ralph raised the issue of including a tag line.   The phrase suggested by Liz Chabot, "Common Knowledge for the Commonwealth," struck a chord with the committee.  Consensus was reached on recommending a change to the front panel of the brochure to include this tag line at the head of the panel, but to delete "Envision a library" and "VIVA" from the front.  The committee also suggested that bookmarks, handy for distributing in libraries, be designed to carry through the design and tag line of the brochure.  Berna will estimate the designer's cost and printing cost based on the expense of the original brochure, Jack will revise the text content, and Ralph will bring the idea to the Steering Committee.

Gale Group

Ralph announced that the Gale Group has offered to provide advisory and financial support to VIVA for public relations, although the details were unclear.  He would be attending a meeting in Washington on May 1st where this offer would be discussed further with Gale representatives, Kathy Perry and others.  Berna thought that the netLibrary PR materials had been well-targeted to the academic market and served as a good model.  She also expressed hope that VIVA might develop packages, perhaps with Gale's assistance, to address research in specific subject areas.

VIVA Spotlight

Ralph handed out an offering for the VIVA Spotlight.  Highlighting InfoTrac's Expanded Academic ASAP, the text had been prepared by Richard Bland librarian, Ellen Andes, and an English professor, Alexandra Duckworth.  Ralph had added a "tip" about the database and discussed using the piece for the next Spotlight.  The committee felt that it could be used if edited to provide consistency with the style of the previous spotlights.  Jack offered to edit the piece.  Ralph will get back to the author to get the go-ahead for making editing changes.

VIVA Across the Curriculum Forum

Local Arrangements

Berna, with staff assistance, with be handling most of the local arrangements for the forum in Williamsburg.  She recommended circulating a list of places to stay in lieu of reserving a block of rooms.  Berna described the University Center as having a large room that can be divided in half (lunch can be served in one of the halves), along with five breakout rooms.  She got quotes from three catering possibilities, and recommended an outside caterer who could provide box lunches at $7.50 per person plus tax.  We will also provide coffee, tea, and pastry in the morning, and possibly drinks in the afternoon. 

The Committee decided on an initial registration deadline of July 6^th, to allow time to get an estimate to the caterer, as well as to reopen for late registration should there still be space available.  If numbers are too high, we may have to restrict the number of registrations from one institution.

Travel Expenses and Arrangements

Discussion followed on the parameters for reimbursement of travel expenses.  Expenses for the speaker and panelists will be covered by VIVA.  The Committee considered it reasonable to encourage room-sharing, but to offer reimbursement on hotel expenses for two rooms for each institution if the traveling distance is more than 175 miles.  There was uncertainty on whether traveling expenses could be covered for participants from the private institutions.  We need to run our travel questions by Kathy Perry.

Publicity and Handouts

Jack, Ralph, and Patricia Hardesty will coordinate announcements, and the web registration form.  The announcement will contain the goals of the event, the agenda, and speaker information; suggestions of materials for participants to bring; URLs for W&M information, phone number for questions, and cancellation information.  The announcement will be sent to the VIVA list-serv and in print to library directors and user services heads, and there will probably need to be distinct announcement for the privates and the publics.

Ginger and Pat Butler will be coordinating handouts for the forum.  They will put together a packet for each attendee, including info about VIVA programs, bib/webliography on information literacy trends and projects, list of attendees, agenda, and evaluation form.  The ACRL standards might also be included.  Attendees will bring examples of work being done at their institutions to share with their colleagues. 

Agenda

Based on the outline of the agenda from the last meeting, the Committee fleshed out the plans for the day, summarized in the table below:

Panelists and the keynote speaker will be invited to dinner with the Outreach Committee and VIVA director on Thursday night for a final planning session.

Next Meeting : The Committee tentatively planned to meet the week of July 9^th in Williamsburg.

 Respectfully submitted,

 Patricia Hardesty