Steering Committee Meeting
Thursday, March 6, 2003
Sweet Briar College
Sweet Briar, Virginia
MINUTES
ATTENDANCE: Present: Ralph Alberico, Robin Benke, Gene Damon, John Jaffe, Connie McCarthy, Don Samdahl, Roy Strohl, Elsie Stephens Weatherington, and John Zenelis. Also Present: Elaine Day (Averett U), John Duke (VCU), Doug Hurd (UVA), Pamela Morgan (ODU), and Kathy Perry (VIVA). Absent: Eileen Hitchingham, Frank Moran, Virginia O'Herron, John Ulmschneider, and Karin Wittenborg.
I. Minutes of the September 12 meeting.
ACTION: The September 12, 2002, meeting minutes were approved.
II. PROJECT UPDATEA. Chair's Report (Ralph Alberico)
1. Content Linking Task Force Report. Elaine Day discussed the Task Force's work from April 22, 2002 to date and shared their draft Executive Summary with the Steering Committee. Key findings include:
a. Serials Management is fundamental to content linking and makes a good first step for improving access to electronic full-text journals.
b. Reference linking will be implemented by database vendors and publishers through the proposed OpenURL standard and use of digital object identifiers (DOI's).
c. A statewide strategy for reference linking faces challenges, specifically with authentication of remote users and the need to provide links to electronic resources licensed by individual libraries.
d. Federated searching presents daunting technical challenges even at the institutional level.
e. Short of content linking and federated searching through a coordinated system, VIVA can support local implementations by sharing expertise, providing training opportunities and negotiating consortium discounts on content linking products.
f. VIVA may benefit from development partnerships with selected vendors.
The Task Force has scheduled the "Workshop on Digital Resources Management, Content Linking, and Federated Searching; Administrative, Public Services, and Technical Issues" for May 22, 2003, at Sweet Briar College. The task force will revise the draft based upon discussions held at the workshop. They plan to have the final report available in time for the June 6 Steering Committee meeting.
2. Personnel Committee
The Steering Committee went into executive session to review the director's annual performance for 2001-2002.
3. Solinet Outstanding Library Programs Award. Ralph reported that he had worked with Elsie, Kathy, and John Jaffe to nominate the Virginia Heritage Project Task Force for the Solinet Outstanding Library Programs Award. Although the Virginia Heritage Project could qualify in all award areas (Continuing Education and Staff Development, Preservation and Electronic Information, and Multitype Library Cooperation), the nomination was made in the area of Preservation and Electronic Information. The award is to be made at the May Solinet Annual meeting.
4. Nominating Committee. Ralph reported that he appointed Gene Damon to serve as the Chair of the VIVA Nominating Committee. Robin Benke and Eileen Hitchingham have both agreed to serve with Gene on this committee. They will recommend the next Steering Committee chair to serve a two-year term beginning July 1, 2003.B. Director's Report
1. Electronic Vote: The Steering Committee meeting scheduled for December 5, 2003, was cancelled due to winter weather and the Steering Committee conducted an electronic vote on December 6, 2002, approving the following items:
a. The Steering Committee approved the extension of the Content Linking and Management for Electronic Serials and Other Digital Materials Task Force's term of service through June 2003.
b. The Steering Committee approved funds for the Content Linking Task Force's Workshop, to be held in May 2003.
c. The Steering Committee approved funds for licensing the Academic Press IDEAL archives through OCLC Electronic Collections Online (ECO)
d. Renewals:i. American Chemical Society Journals Online for 2003.
ii. American Mathematical Society MathSciNet for 2003.
iii. American Mathematical Society Journals for 2003.
iv. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts for 2003.
v. Cambridge University Press Journals for 2003.
vi. HighWire (5 titles: American Journal of Psychiatry; Journal of Applied Physiology; Journal of Biological Chemistry; Journal of Cell Biology; and Molecular Biology of the Cell) for 2003.
vii. LexisNexis Statistical Universe for 2003-2004.
viii. Project Muse for 2003
ix. Stat-USA for 2003-2004.2. Retreat Summary. Kathy reviewed the action items from the February 4 Steering Committee retreat held in Charlottesville. During the retreat, the Steering Committee approved the following actions:
a. Ralph appointed John Jaffe to chair the Virginia Heritage Project Task Force, effective March 1, 2003.
b. VIVA will not renew the Proquest Periodicals Contents Index (PCI) product effective March 31, 2003.
c. VIVA will issue an RFP for the Modern Language Association (MLA) product. This should be completed by mid-August 2003.
d. Funds for 3 regional Outreach Committee workshops to be held in summer 2003 to enhance teaching skills for librarians.3. HarpWeek. The Steering Committee discussed HarpWeek's request for letters of support to gain foundation support for the remaining HarpWeek Gilded Age sections for all of VIVA. Several VIVA directors have already written letters of support and no conflicts were identified.
ACTION: Kathy Perry will write a letter of support of foundation grant support for the HarpWeek Gilded Age Collection, 1878-1912, on behalf of the VIVA Steering Committee.
4. Publicity. Kathy shared news of several publicity events occurring since the September 12 Steering Committee meeting. The Outreach Committee has posted or is seeking permission to post many of the articles on the committee's website: http://www.viva.lib.va.us/viva/outreach/.
a. The Roanoke Times, Editorial, "Ill effects of an avoidable crisis", September 20, 2002.
b. VLA Users Group Meeting, October 17, 2002, Williamsburg, Virginia.
c. Gale Advisory Board, October 29-30, 2002. In the spirit of full disclosure, Kathy reported that she has been appointed to serve on the Gale Advisory Board.
d. "Virginia Library Consortium Impressed with CSA" in Information Today, November 2002. http://www.infotoday.com
e. Perry, Katherine. "Cooperation or Commitment: VIVA's Approach to E-Journals". Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the United Kingdom, Committee for Content Services, Warrington, England, November 12, 2002.
f. Alberico, Ralph. "Academic Library Consortia in Transition" a chapter in New Directions in Higher Education (no 120, Winter 2002)
g. Perry, Katherine. "Quality and Value for Higher Education". Commonwealth of Virginia. House Appropriations, Subcommittee on Higher Education. Richmond, Virginia, January 13, 2003.
h. Perry, Katherine. "VIVA Meets the Budget Challenge for 2002-2004" in Virginia Library Association Newsletter (Vol. XVII, No. 1, February 2003) p. 3-4.
i. Perry, Katherine. "Usage Data: Making the Numbers Add Up". Panel presentation for "Adding Value to Electronic Publications: What do Librarians and Users Want?" at the American Association of Publishers, Professional/Scholarly Publishing Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., February 5, 2003.
III. COMMITTEESA. OUTREACH COMMITTEE (Connie McCarthy)
Connie reported that the committee met on February 21 and the members are planning the 3 workshops to be held at Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, and Hampton University. They will also be coordinating the students involved in the advocacy.
B. RESOURCES FOR USERS COMMITTEE (Gene Damon)1. Gene reported that the Resources for Users Committee recommended renewing three VIVA contracts:
a. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online
b. AAAS Science
c. Gale Group InfoTrac
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved renewing Britannica Online, Science, and InfoTrac. Kathy will write a letter to the AAAS publisher explaining the VIVA's displeasure with the current pricing model and other subscription issues.2. Bowker no longer works with outside vendors so the Books in Print product can no longer be included in the Gale InfoTrac contract. The Resources for Users Committee reviewed both the Books in Print and the Ulrich's Web products and recommended licensing both.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved licensing the BIP Global and Ulrich's Web products.
3. Gene reported that Paul Metz (Va Tech) is chairing the MLA RFP Committee and that work will proceed in an accelerated fashion this spring and summer. The committee seeks approval of funds to hold a vendor fair for the MLA RFP finalists, if the committee deems that meeting to be necessary.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved funds to convene a vendor fair this summer if the MLA RFP process requires one.C. RESOURCE SHARING COMMITTEE. (Doug Hurd)
1. Doug provided a brief overview of plans for "ILL-5", the fifth annual ILL Community Forum, scheduled for July 11, 2003.
2. Doug shared the revised draft ILL Guidelines. The Steering Committee saw no problem with the changes proposed but declined to vote on the document until the ILL Subcommittee has had a chance to review them.D. VIRGINIA HERITAGE PROJECT TASK FORCE (Elsie Weatherington and John Jaffe)
Elsie presented her final report for the Virginia Heritage Project and John reported that he will meet with the task force on March 27.
ACTION: Ralph will write a letter to the VSU President commending Elsie for her leadership on the Virginia Heritage Project.
IV. OTHER BUSINESS
The next VIVA Steering Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, June 5, 2003, at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
Contact: Kathy Perry (George Mason University), VIVA Director.
Last updated: 4/16/2003