VIVA Outreach Committee Meeting
Report to the Steering Committee

March 9, 2000

The VIVA Outreach Committee met on Monday February 7, 2000 in Charlottesville.

For Information and Discussion

1. VIVA Brochure - The redesigned VIVA brochure was completed and distributed to VIVA member libraries. Member libraries are encouraged to distribute copies of the brochure to board members and administrators. Thanks to Berna Heyman for overseeing the graphics and production work on the brochure.
   
   
2. Outreach Committee Web Site - The Outreach Committee web site has been moved to the VIVA server at VCU. This was done in order to endorse the concept of providing stable consistent URLs for VIVA services and in anticipation of a review of the overall VIVA web presence. This move should also facilitate tracking of demand for Outreach services offered via the web. The committee announced VIVA Spotlight, a feature designed for an audience of students and faculty focusing on noteworthy VIVA resources and services. The next Spotlight will focus on VIVA as a source of quality information and plans are underway to do one on the OED. VIVA members have also been encouraged to submit items for Spotlight. A documentary record of articles about VIVA is largely complete and available on the web site. We are seeking permission from Library Trends and Library Journal to post articles that mention VIVA. Jack Bales has volunteered to convert articles from Virginia Libraries, which are now offered as GIF images, to machine-readable text.
   
   
3. Press Releases - Press releases on the HighWire Press titles and the UVA/netLibrary initiative have been posted since the last Steering Committee meeting. The committee discussed guidelines for developing press releases related to existing VIVA resources and services. Our rule of thumb will be to develop releases for existing services and resources when changes are substantive enough to be considered newsworthy. Following that principle, press releases on recent changes to Project Muse and anticipated FirstSearch changes are slated for the future. The committee also discussed our role in developing press releases related to cancellation of existing resources. The Committee decided that since each library may choose to deal with cancellations in a different way and since there are potential liability issues associated with publicizing the reasons for a cancellation that we would not develop press releases if and when licenses are cancelled. A simple message from the Resources for Users Committee seemed more appropriate.
   
   
4. VIVA Promotional Materials - The committee discussed the idea of a "VIVA viewbook" modeled after the publication developed by the CIT and schools across the state to promote graduate education in Virginia. Before committing to such a project, the committee wanted to get a sense from the Steering Committee about its desirability. The Committee also discussed development of other promotional items (e.g. mousepads, Frisbees, pens) and decided to pursue that only if there interest from the Steering Committee and VIVA Director.
   
   
5. Documenting VIVA impact - Members of the committee discussed ways to document the impact of VIVA on students and faculty and to use the forthcoming VIVA assessment report to publicize and promote VIVA. We will begin by taking photographs and soliciting testimonials from faculty and students at our own institutions. We will aim to highlight faculty who have been recognized as outstanding teachers or researchers. Our goal is to have examples of testimonials with pictures as well as a video segment by April 15, 2000. Once that work is completed we will provide the Steering Committee with examples and recommendations on how it might be expanded and disseminated. Possibilities include a "VIVA viewbook", a VIVA video presentation, and a web presentation.