Resources for Users Committee -- Minutes
November 19, 1999 -- 10:00 AM
Alderman Library, University of Virginia
Gene Damon, Presiding
Present: Gene Damon, Sharon Gasser, Pat Hausman, Ed Lener (for Jane Schillie), Pamela Morgan, Susanna Pathak, Kathy Perry, Jim Rettig, Sylvia Rortvedt, Jim Self, John Walsh.
1. Changes to agenda
Several items were added to the agenda.
2. Approval of Minutes of , 1999 meeting
No changes --Minutes of the 10/22/99 approved by consensus.
3. Budget
K. Perry presented estimates for the remainder of the 1999-2000 VIVA collection budget. She also presented charts that show that for this biennium 83.8% of the $7 million VIVA budget is devoted to collections (which includes services).
4. Product Renewals
a. StatUSA -- motion (Rortvedt) to renew, at the price based on last year's FTE count; approved.
b. Periodicals Contents Index (Chadwyck-Healy) -- Our previous three-year subscription price was a fixed but will go up with this renewal. It was noted that the database now contains 42% more articles and 70% more journals than when VIVA originally subscribed. Additional database enhancements include the ability to e-mail results. There have been some problems with inconsistency in the statistics. If we pay for the next three years now, the current price will remain firm. Since this is not a possibility, we will ask for a firm commitment as to what future prices will be. Pathak noted that PCI full-text is in the works and will probably be available during the first quarter of 2000. They have an interesting system, whereby they will digitize articles and journal runs on request. The higher level of involvement that a consortium has, the more digitizing requests it can make. Motion (Pathak) to renew; approved. We will investigate the full-text; Pathak will send the demonstration URL to the committee.
c. Harp Week -- the committee will postpone paying the maintenance fee for this product until the next fiscal year. Self will negotiate.
d. Encyclopedia Britannica Online -- the committee discussed at length our current product and the new (and free) britannica.com. Comparisons of the product were ambiguous; most members who tested both actually preferred the free version, and felt that their patrons would also. The committee is unwilling to commit current funds to such an ambiguous product. Motion (Rettig) to defer the renewal decision to February, and accepting EB's offer of a free four month extension to our current subscription; approved. Before the February decision, the committee and volunteers from VIVA institution reference departments will conduct an extensive and intensive comparison of Britannica Online and britannica.com.
e. Georef (Firstsearch) -- Georef will no longer be part of the Firstsearch per-search block as of 12/31/99. It will only be available on a subscription basis. The best price that we have been offered is through SOLINET. Since there is no consortial discount for this product, it does not fall within our subscription guidelines; also, there is limited interest. Walsh suggested that Georef might lend itself to a small group purchase arrangement (as INSPEC). Motion (Walsh) to recommend this course of action; approved. Since William & Mary is the only institution with a separate Georef subscription, Hausman will discuss the possibility of brokering an arrangement with W&M's acquisitions librarian.
f. Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library -- It was determined that our renewal date for this product is 4/30/00. Our contract specifies a three-year fixed price, so our renewal cost need not be negotiated. We have not received any statistics from ACM, which were due 10/31/99. It is also desirable to have a renewal date other than late Spring. Mark Mandelbaum from ACM is checking about extending our current contract through 9/1/00. Motion (Hausman) to move the renewal date to 9/1/00 and require statistics; approved.
5. First Search (John Walsh)
Changes in renewal dates and other changes, including a decrease in usage of FirstSearch, have increased the amount of uncommitted funds for the current fiscal year. Walsh presented an analysis of possible FirstSearch usage, assuming that through August, our usage will decrease to about 85% of last year's. The committee discussed possibilities for using these funds, detailed below. During the FirstSearch discussion, it was noted that the new FirstSearch software will allow cross-database searching. VIVA will not pay for this, although individual institutions may support it. Damon suggested that we need to remind the Steering Committee that we will not support this; schools need to be notified, and we need to have a formal, written agreement with OCLC stating that they will bill individual schools for this service.
6. New Opportunities
Netlibrary -- although this product has possibilities, it doesn't seem to be VIVA-ready. The committee may reconsider it in 6-8 months.
Project Muse -- we voted to renew our current Muse subscription at the last meeting; however, Muse now offers an enhanced package of 110 full-text titles, available at a probable 40% discount through SOLINET. The cost for the added journals are not part of our current subscription.
Language and Language Behavior Abstracts, including Social Work Abstracts (CSA) -- LLBA came gratis last year; Social Work Abstracts is a new product, free this year, but we will be billed next year.
Highwire Press -- we approved one package last meeting; the Journal Science and the Annual Reviews series were not included in that package although there was considerable interest in these titles.
Ovid Full-Text -- Ovid offers a large selection of full-text journals, in pre-packaged subject groupings; we could also propose our own package. The committee felt that a nursing package would be appropriate, given use of the Ovid CINAHL database. We might want to reserve some funds and study what would best serve VIVA, e.g, taking a nursing journal package proposed to Ovid by ODU as a possible model.
Gale Biography Resource Center -- a decision had been made to renew GaleNet this year and evaluate it over the course of next year prior to the next renewal date. Self received a counteroffer from Gale: drop Contemporary Authors and the Biography and Genealogy Master Index, and replace them with the Biography Resource Center (which includes CA and adds the Marquis Who's Who series, but drops BGMI). This change would require an additional funds this fiscal. The committee decided that there is too much uncertainty surrounding this product to commit additional funds this year; we will propose to prorate the subscription into the next fiscal year while we're evaluating the product.
7. New Purchases
Because of various adjustments in our projected expenditures the Committee can make some additional purchases this year. The Committee voted to expend part of these funds as noted below:
Project Muse -- motion (Pathak) to extend the Muse subscription to cover all 110 available journals; approved.
Language and Language Behavior Abstracts (with Social Work Abstracts) -- motion (Walsh) to include these products in our CSA renewal; approved.
Science (Highwire) -- motion (Self) to add this, if it is timely (i.e., no delay in mounting online issues) and if quoted price is confirmed (or reduced!); approved.
Annual Reviews (Highwire) -- motion (Morgan) to add all 26 titles; not approved. Concerns included archiving, price, and desirability of all titles. Self will pursue pricing and archiving issues; committee will reconsider in January.
8. Other Business
Oxford Analytica -- trial period has begun. We have a price for this service. Committee will revisit in January.
Access Science (McGraw-Hill) -- not yet available; trials are scheduled to begin in February.
Training Subcommittee -- Hausman presented the report of the committee. Two training fairs have been scheduled: Monday, March 6, at the University of Richmond, and Monday, March 13, at Virginia Tech. Format will be two general morning sessions, one on the new FirstSearch, and one on Ovid; lunch break; 4-6 concurrent breakout sessions with different vendors (chosen on basis of training survey results); and closing session for questions, explanation of resource management teams, and recruiting of "designated experts." A formal proposal will be submitted for the Steering Committee's approval. Several survey results have already been returned.
Grove Dictionary of Art -- Grove is negotiating with SOLINET to distribute this product; prices will be out in January. It's unclear whether this also will include the Grove II in music. Gasser will pursue.
FirstSearch (again) -- Walsh stated that there should be no shift before the end of the semester to the new interface. FirstSearch will automatically default in January to the new settings.
Next meetings
Friday, January 21
Friday, March 3