Steering Committee Meeting
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Williamsburg Hospitality House
Williamsburg, VAATTENDANCE: Present: Ralph Alberico, Robin Benke, Gene Damon, Dave Hayes, Mary Mayer Hennelly, Eileen Hitchingham, John Jaffe, Connie McCarthy, Virginia O'Herron, Kathy Perry, John Ulmschneider, and Elsie Stephens Weatherington. Also Present: Ruth Kifer (GMU) and Jim Self (UVA). Absent: Karin Wittenborg and John Zenelis.
I. MINUTES
The minutes of the June 3, 2004 meeting were reviewed.ACTION: The June 3, 2004 meeting minutes were approved.
II. PROJECT UPDATE
A. CHAIR'S REPORT (Ralph Alberico)
1. For-Profit Membership. Ralph reported that VIVA has not received any further information from the for-profit sector as to which resources or services they are most interested in acquiring through VIVA membership. Nevertheless, the issue has been brought to the SCHEV Council's attention and was referred to the Academic Affairs Committee. State Council is seeking advice from the Attorney General's office on whether the state's constitution would allow VIVA to include the for-profit colleges and universities. Other public policy issues such as the impact on the nonprofit schools of such a change in membership were discussed, as well as other alternatives to VIVA membership such as "FindIt.Virginia". <http://www.finditva.com>
2. Committee Memberships. Ralph reported that Eileen Hitchingham has graciously agreed to lead the Resource Sharing Committee. Gene Damon, John Ulmschneider, and John Jaffe will remain as chairs of the Resources for Users Committee, the Outreach Committee, and the Virginia Heritage Project Task Force respectively.
3. The Personnel Committee report was handled in Executive Session at the end of the meeting.
B. PROJECT DIRECTOR'S REPORT (Kathy Perry)
1. VIVA Membership.
a. Saint Paul's has not been invoiced for their administrative costs fees.
ACTION: Saint Paul's will be officially reinstated when the invoice is paid.b. Union - PSCE has a new director and has expressed interest in rejoining VIVA. They have always been a member of VICULA and are eligible to be a member of VIVA, although their largely religious curriculum does not permit them to receive state funds so they will not be eligible for either the Pooled Funds Program or the ILL document delivery funds.
c. Eileen Hitchingham reported that the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research has opened in Danville. There are no instructional or educational programs there yet and all students can be served by their parent organizations at this point. No further action is required or requested at this time.
2. The Steering Committee approved the ICOLC Statement on Current Perspective and Preferred Practices for Selection and Purchase of Electronic Information (Update No. 2, Pricing and Economics),
3. Kathy reported that Lisa Wight, the VIVA Executive Assistant, will be working half time while she is a fulltime student. Kathy will be looking for a part-time worker, perhaps a professional librarian, to fill in.
4. Kathy reported that she and Jim Self (UVA) have agreed to serve as a consortial test site for the Project COUNTER statistics.
5. Kathy reported that on the plans for the afternoon mini-conference, "Success has Many Fathers and Many Mothers of Invention" and the dinner celebrating VIVA's 10th anniversary.
III. COMMITTEES
A. RESOURCES FOR USERS COMMITTEE (Gene Damon)
1. Renewals. The Committee recommended renewals of these products: a. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, b. CIAO, c. Congressional Universe, d. Factiva, e. GaleNet, and f. HighWire (5 titles)
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the following renewals:a. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
b. CIAO
c. Congressional Universe
d. Factiva
e. GaleNet
f. HighWire (5 titles)2. Renewals with New Purchase Recommendations.
a. The Committee recommended the renewal of The American Chemical Society Journals with the addition of a new journal entitled Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the renewal of ACS and the addition of the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation.
b. The Committee recommended that the Blackwell Journal of Advanced Nursing be acquired directly from Blackwell rather than from OVID.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the acquisition of the Journal of Advanced Nursing directly from Blackwell.c. The Committee recommended the renewal of the Project Muse Collection.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the renewal of the Project Muse full collection.
The Resources for Users Committee also recommended the acquisition of the Duke University titles directly from Duke. There was considerable discussion on this item.
ACTION: Although not unanimously, the Steering Committee approved further negotiations to acquire the Duke University titles directly from Duke University, subject to cost.3. Information
a. Gene reported that the Committee is actively reviewing a number of new products.
b. Gene reported that the Serials Analysis Project has generated some excellent data and the project team should be able to report to the Steering Committee later this year.
c. The 5-year contract with OVID is set to expire in 2005. Sharon Gasser (JMU) will once again chair the RFP Committee. In addition to the CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, and PsycArticles databases, several other databases are under consideration for inclusion in the RFP.4. Literature Resource Center. Gene reported that this product has been under review for many months. The Steering Committee discussed the pricing advantages of the digital archives and the implications of this acquisition on the remaining uncommitted funds.
ACTION: Gene will prepare a summary sheet on the pricing options under various timelines and the Resources for Users Committee will continue the discussion at its next meeting.B. RESOURCE SHARING COMMITTEE (Eileen Hitchingham)
1. Ariel 4.0. Eileen reported that the Resource Sharing Committee had wanted to acquire the Ariel 4.0 software for the VIVA libraries, but the upgrade is very expensive.
ACTION: The Resource Sharing Committee will analyze the cost figures for Ariel 4.0 software and consider whether VIVA should acquire the upgraded software, keep using the current version, or explore another alternative.2. ILL Forum. Eileen reported that the ILL Forum, held on July 16, 2004, has received very favorable reviews from the attendees.
C. OUTREACH COMMITTEE (John Ulmschneider)
1. VIVA Homepage. The VIVA web page successfully moved to the new VIVA URL www.vivalib.org in July and the Committee extends its appreciation to John Duke and his staff at VCU for their design changes and the transition to the new URL. The Committee has continued its work redesigning the VIVA web site. The Steering Committee discussion included the suggestion to undertake some usability testing and to include a section specially designed for our vendors. The new site is available at http://dev.vivalib.org for review and comments are welcome.
2. Branding. The Committee has explored alternative logos, sizes, and texts. The Committee will create a resource section on the VIVA web site for this purpose and will work with the VIVA library directors to promote its use.D. VIRGINIA HERITAGE PROJECT TASK FORCE (John Jaffe)
John reported that during this quarter the Virginia Heritage Project Task Force added archival materials in their collections relating to Jamestown to the Jamestown Bibliography (originally compiled by Del Moore for the Colonial National Historical Park's Jamestown Assessment Project) and has loaded it on the web. Susan Riggs oversaw the project and Gail MacMillan loaded the file on the Virginia Tech server at this URL: http://spec.lib.vt.edu/viva/Jamestownbibliographyviva.pdf
IV. NEW BUSINESS
The next VIVA Steering Committee meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday, December 9, 2004, at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.
Steering Committee Minutes
- Contact: Kathy Perry, VIVA Director
- Last Updated 12/6/2004