Resources for Users Committee -- Minutes October 10, 2004 -- 10:00 AM Byrd Conference Room, Harrison/Small, University of Virginia Gene Damon, Presiding Present: Gene Damon, Sherle Abramson, Sharon Gasser (recorder), Ibironke Lawal (for Karen Carey), Louveller Luster, Paul Metz, Pamela Morgan, Jane Penner, Pat Van Zandt, John Walsh, and Kathy Perry, VIVA Director. 1. Announcements Kathy Perry requested that Committee members take the packets containing the Viva VIVA! brochures to their institutions and distribute to key university administrators and General Assembly members. It is a great opportunity to spread the word about VIVA. Kathy reported on the advocacy efforts in Richmond. Kathy, Gene, Ralph Alberico, and John Ulmschneider met with legislators and others about the importance and work of VIVA. Gene suggested that we need to consider leveraging VIVA money by requesting a "buy-in" from institutions. Each member would commit institutional funds annually in order to extend VIVA's purchasing power. By doing so, it would show the General Assembly that members are committed to VIVA. Gene asked RUC members to discuss such a contribution with their Dean or Director. 2. Changes to agenda No changes 3. Approval of Minutes of Minutes were recently posted and will be approved at the next meeting. 4. Budget -- K. Perry Kathy Perry did not distribute a new budget spreadsheet. There were only minor changes from the one distributed at the September 10th meeting. Kathy and Gene identified the amount of money available for new purchases while reserving a portion for inflation on our current products. 5. Renewals Recommendation for renewal of current VIVA subscriptions is based on the price increase, review of usage statistics, and value of the product to VIVA members. a. ABC-CLIO - P. Morgan The publisher price increase is due to VIVA's current discount being "out of line" with that offered to other consortia. Each institution will continue to have 6 ports. One private institution has canceled. After discussion, renewal was approved. b. MathSciNet - P. Van Zandt Renewal was approved. c. AMS Journals - P. Van Zandt Renewal was approved for the 6 journals. d. Journal of American Psychiatry -- S. Abramson This HighWire title was approved at the last meeting pending additional pricing information. The pricing met the requirements set by RUC, and the Steering Committee approved renewal. 6. Factiva - G. Damon The Factiva survey will be distributed this week. Revisions on the survey were made based on Jim Self's recommendations. One copy of the survey will be sent to the Dean or Director for completion. Separate surveys will be sent to user representatives. There was a recommendation that John Tombarge and the Business Subcommittee find out whether NetAdvantage and Mergent Online offer consortial pricing. 7. Training - P. Van Zandt Bowker has offered to conduct training on Books in Print/Global Books in Print and UlrichsWeb for the VIVA community. After discussion, the training would be broadened to a one-day workshop, including a panel discussion on collections and/or acquisitions issues. Paul Metz will organize the panel discussion. The model would be the ILL Forum which brings together ILL staff from across the state. Two workshops will be planned for November or early December. Possible locations include Hollins University and Randolph-Macon College. There was discussion about other potential training opportunities. One suggestion was a session in the spring on the changes in OCLC, particularly the Open WorldCat project. 8. Duke University Press Gene reported on the discussion by the Steering Committee, noting that the RUC recommendation passed with opposition. The current offer includes 29 titles, 11 currently in Project Muse plus 18 additional titles. Titles will be on Ingenta for 2005. There are still unanswered questions about the 2005 license, exact list of titles, cost, and availability of usage statistics. Karen will report at the next meeting. In the meantime, Paul Metz will draft a letter to Duke University Press expressing deep concern about its withdrawal from Project Muse. 9. OCLC Update -- J. Walsh) John reported that a 10% turnaway rate in September 2003 with 18 ports and a 20% turnaway rate in September 2004 based on 21 ports. Approximately 27% of the turnaways are in WorldCat. John expects more detailed data in October. The Committee agreed to postpone a decision to increase ports until the November meeting. 10. VIVA Serials Audit Project - P. Metz Paul Metz distributed the report with the revised table containing data from more publishers. The subcommittee members will have two more weeks to review. Paul will present the findings at the December meetings of the VIVA Steering Committee and LAC. 11. New Offers All new offers were discussed prior to making a decision on approval. a. Institute of Physics - P. Van Zandt The IOP package includes 31 titles. For an additional 15%, all VIVA members would have access to all titles. The offer includes a 6.5% price cap. Institutions currently have the archives for these titles. Any new title would require 2 full rate subscriptions for inclusion in the package. Gene recommended that in 2005 VIVA would pay the additional 15% allowing all access for all institutions and in subsequent years a cost sharing formula be used until the full costs could be assumed by VIVA. Approved based on Gene's recommendation. b. Dissertations Abstracts - P. Morgan Pam Morgan reviewed the terms of the offer from ProQuest. After discussion, the Committee agreed that the price was too high based on individual pricing of current subscribers. Pam will request new pricing and will bring to the next meeting. c. Literature Resource Center - G. Damon/K. Perry Kathy Perry distributed a new spreadsheet and explained the details of Gale's latest offer. The offer includes access for both public and private institutions. Three options are available: annual subscription, 2-year payment plan, or 3-year payment plan. The 2-year payment plan actually means that two payments would be made to Gale in one calendar year but in two fiscal years for VIVA. There is a strong possibility that the private institutions would be willing to contribute one-time funds for the purchase. VIVA retains credit for the VCCS purchase and incurs savings from our current subscription to Contemporary Authors. Approved LRC with the 2-year payment plan. d. Books 24/7 and Safari - G. Damon for S. Rortvedt Sylvia Rortvedt distributed pricing and complete information prior to the meeting. There was some concern with one simultaneous user per institution in the Safari proposal and whether the users would be pooled for all VIVA institutions. After discussion, the Committee decided to table both proposals for the one year. Institutions currently have subscriptions to these products, and institutional usage will inform our decision-making at that time. e. Engineering Handbooks (3 different vendors) - P. Metz and P. Morgan Larry Thompson from Virginia Tech provided an extensive evaluation of the three products. Ibironke Lawal also contributed to the discussion. The Committee decided to pursue an offer from CRC, including ENGnetBASE and CHEMnetBASE. In particular, we are interested in the CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry. Pat Van Zandt will report at the next meeting. f. CQ E-Library - S. Abramson Sherle Abramson reported that Solinet has an offer for CQ E-Library. The Committee decided not to pursue an offer. 12. New Opportunities Using the publisher table from the Serials Audit Project, committee members volunteered to contact the following publishers about a consortial offer for VIVA: a. Historical New York Times - Pat Van Zandt b. Blackwell - Sharon Gasser c. American Sociological Association - Paul Metz d. American Society for Microbiology - Sharon Gasser e. American Institute of Physics - Pat Van Zandt f. Human Kinetics - Karen Carey g. University of Chicago Press - John Walsh h. SIAM - Paul Metz i. Cell Press - Sharon Gasser j. BioMed Central - Jane Penner 13. Reminder Gene reminded all committee members to go "politicking" for money at their institutions and to talk to Deans or Directors about local institutions contributing local funds to VIVA. Next meeting Friday, November 12 We all enjoyed the Byrd Conference room in the new Harrison/Small building, and hope that it will be considered for future meetings. Thanks, Jane!