Steering Committee Meeting
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Rappahannock Community College
Warsaw, VirginiaMINUTES
ATTENDANCE: Present: Ralph Alberico, Robin Benke, Gene Damon, John Jaffe, Connie McCarthy, Frank Moran, Virginia O'Herron, Kathy Perry, Roy Strohl, John Ulmschneider, Elsie Stephens Weatherington, and John Zenelis. Also Present: Doug Hurd (UVA) and Don Kenney (Va Tech). Absent: Eileen Hitchingham and Karin Wittenborg.
I. Minutes of the June 5, 2003 meeting.
ACTION: The June 5, 2003 meeting minutes were approved.
II. PROJECT UPDATE
A. CHAIR'S REPORT (Ralph Alberico)1. New Committee Chairs: Connie has resigned as the Outreach Committee Chair due to the press of other duties. Ralph appointed John Ulmschneider to lead the Outreach Committee and Roy Strohl will lead the Resource Sharing Committee. Ralph thanked Connie for her leadership and work on behalf of the Outreach Committee and thanked John and Roy for accepting these new responsibilities.
2. Organization Committee: Ralph reviewed all of the changes recommended by the Organization Committee (Eileen Hitchingham, Ralph Alberico, and Kathy Perry) to the VIVA Organization Plan. Most of the changes were fairly minor housekeeping changes addressing the appointment of committee chairs and committee membership. The draft was discussed in depth and the suggestion was made to amend the draft so that in the event of an unexpected vacancy in the Steering Committee Chair position, the LAC Chair will appoint a nominating committee. The committee reaffirmed the importance of annual requests for committee members, with a clear indication of the number of committee vacancies and the criteria required of committee members. ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the proposed Organization Plan as amended and will refer the draft to the SCHEV Library Advisory Committee meeting for approval. The Organization Committee will review minor editorial changes via email.
3. VIVA Proposal: Ralph reported that the VIVA proposal for an additional $4 million was submitted to the State Council in mid-August and it has received the SCHEV staff recommendation for support. The proposal reflects the Steering Committee Retreat resolution to make a bold statement on behalf of the Virtual Library of Virginia and reflects not only the case statement (written by Karin Wittenborg and John Ulmschneider) but also the State Council's strategic goals to support the increased enrollment, improve the Commonwealth's research agenda, and support the Commonwealth's instructional quality. The proposal will go before the SCHEV Council for the Council's review on September 17. Ralph thanked the other members of the proposal subcommittee (Gene Damon, John Ulmschneider, and Kathy Perry) for their work on the proposal during the summer.
4. Governor's Senior Year Initiative: Ralph reported that the Governor is promoting his Senior Year Initiative. Complete details have not been made available, but it was the consensus that VIVA could play a role in this initiative. ACTION: Ralph appointed an ad hoc subcommittee to gather more information about the Governor's initiative and to draft a brief statement on VIVA's ability and willingness to support the Governor's Senior Year Initiative. The subcommittee will include John Ulmschneider (chair), Ralph Alberico, Gene Damon, and Kathy Perry.
5. VIVA's 10th Anniversary: The year 2004 marks VIVA's 10th anniversary, with the official 10th birthday on July 1, 2004. This represents an opportunity to achieve a number of outreach goals, specifically to take stock of our progress to date, to gain wider recognition for VIVA's accomplishments, to recognize and thank many of our hard-working committee members, and to celebrate our success. Outside funds will be sought to support publications and celebrations. ACTION: Ralph appointed Berna Heyman (W&M) as chair of the committee. Other committee members will include Roy Strohl, Joy Galloni (Richard Bland College), and Kathy Perry. Other members will be added as needed.
6. Personnel Committee: Ralph reported that it is time for the director's annual performance evaluation. He has appointed John Zenelis to serve as chair and has asked the other committee chairs (Gene Damon, Roy Strohl, and John Ulmschneider) to serve on the Personnel Committee for this purpose.
B. DIRECTOR'S REPORT (Kathy Perry)1. E-votes: Kathy reported on 2 votes handled electronically since the last VIVA Steering Committee:
a. MLA RFP: The Steering Committee approved the Resources for Users Committee's recommendation that the Gale Group be awarded the contract for the Modern Languages Association International Bibliography.
b. MLA Training: The Steering Committee approved funds for MLA Training on the Gale platform.
2. COUNTER: The Steering Committee discussed membership in COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources).ACTION: The Steering Committee approved voting membership in COUNTER.
3. VCOM: Kathy reported that the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) has requested membership in VIVA. After consulting with John Jaffe and Alan Edwards, she recommended that the Steering Committee approve VCOM's membership as a private nonprofit college member. Because it is too late for VCOM to participate in the pooled funds program this fiscal year, they will not be eligible to participate in the pooled funds program this year. They are, however, eligible to participate in VIVA contracts using their local funds. ACTION: The VIVA Steering Committee approved the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) as a new private, nonprofit member of VIVA.
4. ILL Allocations: Kathy reported that the ILL Allocation statements have been mailed to the library directors of all public institutions. Gene Damon will again handle the allocations for the VCCS. The statements represent the $225,000 available for distribution based upon the previous year's instate lending of originals (returnables such as books) to other VIVA libraries. The library directors were urged to process their request for the funds as quickly as possible. Kathy also distributed a chart showing the ILL allocations for the VIVA public institutions over the 8-year period, 1995-6 to 2002-3. The instate lending of originals has increased at all institutional levels, with the 4-year schools showing the largest increase (68.3%), the doctoral institutions showing an increase of 49.9% and the public 2-year colleges showing an increase of 49.1%. The increase for all public institutions is 54.9%. Kathy will prepare similar charts for the borrowing.
5. Publicity: Kathy reported on the following publicity activities:a. Kathy gave a speech before the Virginia Council of Health Science Librarians on July 25, 2003, at VCU.
b. VIVA has been nominated by the SCHEV Council for the Governor's Technology Award for Government Service in Higher Education. The award will be announced on September 22 in Roanoke.
III. COMMITTEES
A. RESOURCE SHARING (John Ulmschneider and Roy Strohl) John reported on the successful ILL Community Forum held on July 11 with 112 people in attendance.B. RESOURCES FOR USERS COMMITTEE (Gene Damon)
1. Renewals: The following renewals were presented for approved by the Steering Committee:
a. American Chemical Society Journals.
b. The American Mathematical Society Journals.
c. The American Mathematical Society MathSciNet.
d. Cambridge University Press Journals.
e. CIAO.
f. GaleNet.
g. Oxford University Press Journals.
h. Project Muse Journals.
i. HarpWeek maintenance.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the renewals as presented.
2. Traininga. The Committee recommended funding a training session for the Bowker Serials Analysis system. ACTION: The Steering Committee approved funds for the Bowker Serials Analysis system, including funds to reimburse travel for all VIVA (public and private nonprofit) subscribing participants.
b. Gene reported that the Steering Committee had previously approved funds for the MLA training and those sessions will be held on September 23 at ODU and September 24 at JMU.
3. For Information:
a. Gene reported that the MLA RFP subcommittee had successfully completed its work and the contract was awarded to Gale. Gene recognized the subcommittee (chaired by Paul Metz, Virginia Tech, Karen Cary, VCU, John Tombarge, W&L, and ex officio participation by Iris Moubray and Kathy Perry) for its fine work in a very short timeframe.
b. Gene reported that several institutions participated in a beta test of the Bowker Serials Analysis System (SAS) this summer and the testing identified several issues that Bowker agreed to address, including updating their software to meet our requirements. This beta test has been led by Sharon Gasser (JMU) and more information will be available soon to all VIVA SAS subscribers so that the serials audit project can proceed.
C. VIRGINIA HERITAGE PROJECT TASK FORCE (John Jaffe)1. John acknowledged the publicity on the SOLINET award for Outstanding Library Programs.
2. Work is underway to review the manuscripts for the U.S. Park Service's Jamestown Bibliography, preparing for the 2007 celebration commemorating the establishment of Jamestown. The Virginia Heritage Project Task Force hopes to make the updated bibliography available on its site.
3. The Committee is supporting the statewide preparations for the 50th Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education ruling by identifying related collections in our libraries and developing appropriate links to them.
4. The Committee is reviewing the Virginia Heritage website following the heuristics principles used at UVA and the process for review they developed.
5. The Committee completed a survey of scanning technology in the Commonwealth and will prepare basic guidelines for use in scanning. These guidelines will delineate standards for scanning and procedures that ensure file structures and organization are coherent and access mechanism are efficient. The guidelines will also contain recommendations for backup and maintenance of digital resources.
6. The Committee will meet at Virginia Tech on September 29 to review the technological infrastructure and procedures necessary to their grant application.D. OUTREACH COMMITTEE (Connie McCarthy and John Ulmschneider)
1. Connie reported on the successful completion of 3 regional workshops on the "50 Minute Librarian" held on July 25 at Virginia 25, August 7 at Hampton University, and August 14 at the University of Virginia. A total of 142 VIVA members participated in these workshops.
2. Work is underway on the advocacy letters and John Ulmschneider will pick up that project.
IV. OTHER BUSINESS
A. Gene reported that the Library of Virginia is getting support from schools and public libraries for the acquisition of electronic resources.
B. Gene reported that he is involved in the statewide planning for the commemoration of the Brown vs. the Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. There will be a major event in January 2004. In addition, all academic libraries are urged to let him know if they mount an exhibit in their libraries anytime in calendar year 2004 so that this information can be included in the full report.
C. Kathy reminded members that the VIVA Users Group is scheduled to be held at the Virginia Library Association meeting at the Homestead on Thursday, November 6, 2003, 5:15 - 6:15 P.M.
D. Kathy reported that UVA is successfully using electronic resources for electronic Interlibrary Loan (e-ILL). She had a conference call with Doug Hurd, Jean Cooper, and 2 other key UVA ILL colleagues and the UVA ILL personnel did not report any problems with e-ILL. In fact, to the contrary, they reported that the quality of the copy was much improved, no additional steps were necessary, and e-ILL saved the office significant time in performing ILL. She will be a co-discussion leader for the ICOLC discussion on e-ILL and will be working to encourage other libraries (both within VIVA and elsewhere) to explore this process.
E. The next meeting of the VIVA Steering Committee will be held at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond on December 4, 2003 (followed by the LAC meeting hosted by the VCCS at the Monroe Building in Richmond on Dec 5, 2003).
Contact: Kathy Perry (George Mason University), VIVA Director.
Last updated: 12/18/03