ATTENDANCE: Present: Theresa Byrd, Gene Damon, Linda Farynk, Charlene Hurt, Jean Major, Nancy Marshall, Carol Pfeiffer, and Roy Strohl. Also Present: John Duke, Doug Hurd, and Kathy Perry. Absent: Barbara Ford, Eileen Hitchingham, John Jaffe, Dennis Robison, and Elsie Stephens Weatherington.
I. MINUTES
The minutes of the March 14 meeting were approved as presented.
II. PROJECT UPDATE (Charlene Hurt and Kathy Perry)
A. Membership: Charlene reminded the committee members that membership on
the VIVA Steering Committee includes all doctorals, 3 representatives of
the Comprehensives, 2 representatives for the 2-year schools, and one representative
of the independent schools. At their March 1995 meetings, the VIVA Steering
Committee and the Library Advisory Council approved the concept of staggered
membership rotation by representative groups beginning in June 1996.
ACTION: The 2-year and the comprehensive school groups will review their membership on the VIVA Steering Committee to determine if any membership rotation is necessary.
B. Training and Travel Budget: Kathy reported on the status of the travel and training budget.
ACTION: Committee Chairs will alert Kathy to any changes in the estimated expenses for the remainder of this fiscal year.
C. National Library Week: Kathy reported that the press packets went out to all (public and private) VIVA Library Directors for the ALA National Library Week. Additional posters (unfolded) are available for framing and additional bookmarks and fact cards are available for VIVA presentations, workshops, and regional meetings.
III. COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Collections (Carol Pfeiffer)
1. FirstSearch Renewal: Carol presented FirstSearch use statistics and projections.
The Steering Committee discussed and debated the various price possibilities
for the VIVA institutions. On the base package, the Steering Committee approved
the proposal as presented and suggested that since VIVA will be able to
take advantage of a price break (24 ports for the price of 16) for this
part of the FirstSearch service, that we could pass that advantage on to
the private institutions.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the Collections Committee's recommendation
to acquire 24 ports (at a price for 16 ports) for OCLC's FirstSearch base
package. The Steering Committee approved an initial plan to allow the private
schools access to the base package at no charge for this initial period,
but allowed flexibility to Carol Pfeiffer to work with John Jaffe on this.
The Steering Committee discussed the increased cost of ABI Inform and alternate ways of accessing it.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the purchase of 5 ports for FirstSearch access to ABI Inform, subject to successful price negotiations. Carol will work with John Jaffe on the ABI Inform proposal to determine if any of the private schools would like to be included for an additional fee.
The MLA also had a very large price increase (almost 300%) and requires a three-year commitment.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved postponing renewal of MLA access through FirstSearch to allow for further price negotiations, even if it means there is a lapse in service during this period.
The Steering Committee agreed that with our use statistics, VIVA is now better able to predict the annual number of searches. Since several schools have purchased block searches out of institutional budgets, Carol will determine how to handle those outstanding searches purchased by individual VIVA institutions before finalizing any VIVA purchases.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the purchase of 300,000 FirstSearch searches, pending acceptable negotiations with OCLC on block searches purchased by individual VIVA institutions.
2. Survey: Carol presented a draft survey form to collect cost-savings and value added information from VIVA institutions. Overall, the Committee suggests that the survey be completed annually, reflecting information about cancellations for each specific fiscal year. The Collections Committee plans to have the form available by June 15 and VIVA institutions will be asked to respond to the survey no later than September 1, 1996.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the draft survey form to collect cost-savings and value added information from VIVA institutions. Carol will work with Charlene on preparing a cover letter to the Library Directors and the key collection management contacts at each of the institutions.
3. Chadwyck-Healey American Poetry Database:
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the purchase of the Chadwyck-Healey American Poetry database.
4. Options for Group Purchases with Institutional Dollars: Carol presented several different options for determining payments in group purchases. Although no formal action was taken on this subject, it was generally agreed that various arrangements may be possible, depending upon factors such as which schools are involved, the subject area covered, the vendor's pricing structure, etc.
5. Solinet Vendors' Meeting: Carol reported briefly on the Solinet April 30 meeting in Atlanta with vendors.
B. ILL Enhancements (Doug Hurd)
1. Document Delivery RFP: Doug reported that the RFP on the VIVA document
delivery service was released on April 26 and bids are due on May 29. It
is expected that the service will begin on July 1.
ACTION: The ILL Committee will give thought to the appropriate level and format for any required training and information the ILL staff members at both public and independent VIVA schools.
2. OCLC Statistics: Doug shared the OCLC statistics on ILL borrowing and lending for VIVA institutions. The final format is not complete, but once that has been agreed upon, OCLC can produce statistics for the past activity.
ACTION: ILL Enhancements Committee will continue working with OCLC to prepare meaningful statistics on ILL activity. At that time, further distribution of the statistics will be considered.
3. ILL Basic Workshop: VIVA sponsored a Solinet workshop on ILL Basics on April 1, with 11 people attending. Solinet's Serials Union Listing Workshop was cancelled due to lack of interest by VIVA participants.
4. Ariel Workshop: VIVA sponsored two RLG training sessions on Ariel on April 25 and 26, 1996, with 48 staff members from the Virginia Community College System attending. This workshop was held in conjunction with the VCCS peer group meeting in Roanoke.
C. User Services (Roy Strohl)
1. IAC Training: User Services sponsored 5 regional training sessions on
the IAC databases March 22- 28, 1996. Despite some technical problems IAC
experienced with their web server during the first session, the sessions
were well received by the 99 attendees (67 of whom completed the evaluation
form).
2. Chadwyck-Healey Training: A significant number of the user services contacts attending the IAC training sessions requested training on the Chadwyck-Healey databases.
ACTION: The User Services Committee will develop training sessions on the Chadwyck-Healey databases.
D. Publicity (Jean Major)
Jean led a discussion on the objectives of VIVA publicity and whether we
should encourage VIVA library staff members to write articles about VIVA.
One suggestion was to establish an editorial panel and to provide an award
(monetary or honorary) for the best article published on VIVA each year.
ACTION: Jean will explore the possibility of stimulating interest in competitive review of articles about the VIVA project.
The Steering Committee discussed the value of participating in the VLA annual meeting next fall.
ACTION: The Steering Committee agreed to explore possibility of VIVA's inclusion in the VLA program, next fall.
Nancy Marshall shared her most recent faculty-staff newsletter with the committee since it features VIVA.
E. Technical Issues (John Duke)
1. Internet response time: John reported that the Technical Issues Committee
had met with representatives from Vernet and OCLC and had discussed the
poor response time experienced by VIVA sites. The TIC members are tracing
the response times and providing feedback to OCLC on their findings. The
committee is beginning to explore the possibility of developing a different
type of access to VIVA services such as the FirstSearch and IAC. Also, the
committee heard a presentation by VPI on efforts by VPI, ODU, and 2 community
colleges to develop an alternative to Vernet.
2. VIVA's Web Page Content: John led a discussion about the objective of the VIVA web site.
ACTION: John Duke will prepare a statement of purpose for the VIVA web site.
IV. OTHER BUSINESS
A. LAC/VIVA Retreat: Jean, Carol, Linda, and Ray presented the plans for
the LAC/VIVA retreat. The overall schedule remains the same: Wednesday evening,
June 12, dinner with Gordon Davies as keynote speaker. Thursday, June 13,
the LAC retreat on VIVA (9am - 5pm) and Friday, June 14, the VIVA Steering
Committee (9am - 1pm). Shelley Phipps of the University of Arizona has agreed
to serve as the retreat facilitator for the 2-day session. The committee
reviewed the briefing sheet and discussion questions.
ACTION: The LAC packet will include both the logistics packet and the briefing materials for the retreat (the George Soete article and the questions for consideration during the retreat).