Resources for Users Committee -- Minutes June 21, 2005 -- 10:00 AM Clemons Library, University of Virginia Gene Damon, Presiding Present: Gene Damon, Karen Cary, Sharon Gasser, Louveller Luster, Paul Metz, Pamela Morgan, Jane Penner, Jim Rettig, Sylvia Rortvedt, John Tombarge, Pat Van Zandt (recorder), John Walsh, and Kathy Perry, VIVA Director. 1. Announcements Donuts from Spudnuts were provided by Jane & Bruce Penner. Frank Moran (BRCC) will be joining us during the next year as CC rep replacing Sherle. Eric Rector, from U-Md. Baltimore County, begins July 14 as Associate Director of VIVA 2. Changes to agenda Added discussion of Gale's new interface to Training item. 3. Approval of Minutes of May 12, 2005 meeting No changes --Minutes approved by consensus. 4. PBS video offer -- G. Damon The offer will probably fail because of licensing disagreements. PBS is not sure that their original permissions allow them to distribute the material as per the proposed agreement. VIVA would be obligated to cover unforeseen costs if this type of use, is later found to be unacceptable to the various rights owners. 5. Budget -- K. Perry RUC discussed the budget dated 6/20/2005. We're handling more money for privates than in the past. 6. Renewals - none 7. Training -- P. Van Zandt Training fairs will be held August 3 (W&M) and August 5 (Radford). Proposed vendors are Proquest, Gale, CSA, OED, and the successful bidder for the current RFP. A. Gale PowerSearch (Rettig) - the interface is ready and we need to get out information asap. The old interface will be around for about one year concurrently with new one. Gale is offering webinars for training, and the Gale trainer will demonstrate PowerSearch at the August training fairs. Jim will contact Kate Vincent to get a summary and timetable of changes. Jim will arrange a schedule of VIVA webinars for July and August. 8. RFP Committee Report A. Report on final recommendation -- S. Gasser The committee recommended the successful vendor unanimously for CINAHL, PsycInfo and PsycArticles; negotiations are still ongoing, including pricing for privates. We will realize excellent savings over current costs. The vendor offers a 15% discount on other databases purchased by VIVA institutions; Iris will ask re credits for current subscriptions. There are also current offers for VIVA-wide product purchases. VIVA is requesting an August 1 start date for the new contract but we will seek to have service begin earlier. Econlit and PAIS will go to another vendor, also still in negotiations. B. Steering committee decisions -- Damon, Perry All steering committee members contacted so far have approved the RFP committee recommendation. C. Next steps -- S. Gasser We still have a current trial with Bio Abs and Biosis Previews, but didn't release trial information generally. Are these a cost sharing possibility? There was a general feeling that this is most desirable database that we don't have. We want to find out from this trial which vendor we want to go with. We will look at our expert evaluations from Ed Lener at Tech and Carol Coughlin at VIMS). These offers extend through December 31. We will consider a review of nursing journal packages next year; Karen will review the content of Proquest, Ebsco and other collections and compare them with our current vendor offerings. Sharon will summarize for RUC other options that we have as a result of RFP. 9. VIVA serials audit project -- P. Metz A. Serials Paul is sending out periodic reminders to the serials analysis listserv. He is not monitoring the privates but is pushing medical and law schools. Most have loaded and done corrections. He is hoping that Bowker has come through with offline de-duping to collate paper and electronic holdings. B. Monographic analysis packages Paul described the OCLC Worldcat Collection Analysis product demo. There is an ASERL offer available through July 15, for 37 ASERL doctoral institutions. Does such a program encourage us to be more alike or can we maintain our individuality? It's an excellent weeding tool. Schools buying will try it out and come back to VIVA in a year to see if it would be a good VIVA product. 10. Blackwell journals -- S. Gasser Sharon compiled a chart of institutional holdings and expenditures for Blackwell. We will propose a package of 165 titles. Blackwell primarily handles society publications. This is another good example of where cost sharing could come into play. Sharon will continue to talk to Blackwell and we will keep this negotiation on the table. We would probably look at this for 2007. We still need to know if schools have electronic or print for transition purposes. Sharon will send the spreadsheet of titles/holdings out to RUC. 11. OED proposal -- J. Penner Jane moved that we approve this offer for the publics; RUC approved. There is interest in including the privates and Jim Rettig and John Jaffe will follow up on this. . Jane will ask OED to be part of the training fair. 12. Oxford reference database J. Penner This is an offer for 130+ online reference titles. Jane will ask for a VIVA trial and we will consider in the fall. 13. ASA Journal offer -- P. Metz This is an offer for all American Sociological Association titles. RUC had difficulty with lease vs. no perpetual ownership rights. We need perpetual access so schools would feel comfortable about cancellation. This group has not had much experience with consortia. Paul will pursue the perpetual rights question. It would make a difference if some or all titles are in JSTOR; Paul will check. 14. FirstSearch -- J. Walsh We have no problems with access at the moment. We bought enough searches at this year's rate to carry us through all of next year and probably into next. Next year we just have to monitor ports; we should also probably hold some funds to buy searches at next year's rates for the following year. 15. Ongoing support from member institutions As part of the ongoing discussion on how we would develop a model for cost sharing among the VIVA institutions, the RUC discussed a draft chart, compiled by Kathy, of the top journal and database expenditures from VIVA institutions. One possible way of approaching cost sharing would be to focus on how we could leverage the existing State-wide expenditures for journals or databases, such as those on Kathy's chart, so that access is expanded to all institutions. Such an approach would have to deliver a clear advantage to those institutions that are currently paying for those titles and would, at some level, continue to do so. Is there a "magic" number such that the institutions that carry the major cost, would still see a positive cost incentive to participate? For example would a 15% reduction in ongoing subscription cost with no print purchase requirement be enough convince an institution to agree to a long term commitment to support a purchase? Another model, and more traditional, would be for each institution to pay an agreed upon amount -- "a member fee" -- and those funds be managed in the same way that existing funds are managed, i.e., as part of the collection funds "pool." A third model is the "buying club," where institutions buy only the products for which they have an interest. This approach would require a larger VIVA office staff as the management of these diverse contracts would become quite complex. As a result of the discussion, the RUC members were requested to update Kathy's chart to ensure that their expenditures for the listed items are reflected. 16. Other business A. IOP VIVA will split cost of last year's subscriptions with institutions; can cancel all and remit part to VIVA. Kathy will send out a letter and a payment chart. B. University of Chicago journals -- J. Walsh They are working on proposal but are having trouble figuring out their revenue stream. 51 titles, many are widely held in the state. Next meeting August 26, 2005 -- UVA