ATTENDANCE: Present: Theresa Byrd, Gene Damon, Linda Farynk, Barbara Ford, Eileen Hitchingham, Charlene Hurt, John Jaffe, Jean Major, Nancy Marshall, Carol Pfeiffer, Dennis Robison, Roy Strohl, and Elsie Stephens Weatherington. Also Present: Laura Ford and Kathy Perry.
I. MINUTES
The minutes of the September 25, 1996 meeting were approved.
II. PROJECT UPDATE
A. Kathy reported that the VIVA listserv membership was reviewed and new
people have joined since last month, for a total of 351 subscribers on the
VIVA listserv as of November 7. The "About VIVA" web site has
been brought up to date and a new powerpoint presentation will be available
on the VIVA website soon. She distributed printouts of the presentation.
Kathy distributed the a memo about a Dun & Bradstreet discount on CD-ROM
and print only offer available to VIVA libraries. (This product is not yet
available via the Internet.)
Kathy distributed a draft presentation of statistics for the four VIVA products: Britannica Online, FirstSearch, IAC Search Bank, and Project Muse.
ACTION: Steering Committee members will review the draft presentation of VIVA use statistics for Britannica Online, FirstSearch, IAC, and Project Muse, and will provide comments to Kathy.
B. Presentations: Charlene reported that she had given a talk on VIVA to the SouthEast Library Association (SELA). Kathy reported that Sharon Gasser (JMU) and John Walsh (GMU) will represent VIVA at the Charleston Conference on Collection Development, Nov. 9. Charlene and others will represent VIVA at the VLA meeting, Nov. 15.
C. Charlene reported that Psych Abstracts has offered GMU their archival copies of approximately 1,200 journals indexed in Psych Abstracts since 1988 or 1989. Members may send suggestions to Charlene.
D. Charlene reported that OCLC had given VIVA 4,000 additional searches.
III. RETREAT FOLLOW-UP
1. Organization Committee (Nancy Marshall): Nancy shared the revised VIVA
Mission Statement (approved at the September 26 meeting) and the Vision
Statement.
ACTION: Nancy will send out the Vision Statement via email to the Steering Committee members and they are to give her suggestions for changes as quickly as possible.
The Steering Committee went into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters.
2. Assessment (Jean Major): The Steering Committee discussed the need for information at various levels, including use statistics for all VIVA library directors, information for the collections and the technical issues committees, and use statistics to assist with planning for the next biennium. Jean will work with Kathy on assessment.
III. COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Publicity (Jean Major)
Jean presented her committee's plans for publicity in the next several months.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the reprinting of publicity materials (e.g. the fact card, bookmarks, and possibly the poster) as needed.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the workshop on publicizing VIVA during the LAC meeting, December 6, 1996.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the concept of a coordinated "News Day" for January or February 1997.
B. Collections (Carol Pfeiffer)
1. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts: The proposal to purchase Cambridge Scientific
Abstracts was discussed and the purchase was approved.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the subscription of Cambridge Scientific Abstracts.
2. Dow Jones: The committee reviewed the proposal to purchase the Dow Jones Academic Edition (includes the Dow Jones Newswires, Disclosure SEC Database, Quotes and market data, and access to articles in Academic American Encyclopedia as well as several significant business journals. Access will be thru 39 passwords for the public institutions. Access through the WWW is not yet available and the Collections Committee will work to encourage that access development.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the subscription of Dow Jones Internet Service.
3. Books in Print: The committee reviewed the proposal to purchase Books in Print (including Books out of Print) through IAC. The committee discussed whether or not to have local institutions restrict access to the Books in Print available through FirstSearch, since that represents about 10% of VIVA's FirstSearch searches.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the subscription to IAC's Books in Print and agreed to turn off access to Books in Print through VIVA's FirstSearch.
4. Mathematical Reviews: The Steering Committee reviewed the proposal to license Mathematical Reviews Online, including coverage from 1940 to the present, with both bibliographic data and review texts available from 1980-present. License is for unlimited simultaneous users and there is no penalty for cancellations.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the purchase of Math Reviews.
5. FirstSearch Block Searches: The Steering Committee reviewed the fact that as of 11/5/96, there are only 140,000 searches remaining of the 300,000 VIVA has purchased.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the purchase of 300,000 additional FirstSearch block searches.
6. American Business Information: The Steering Committee reviewed the proposal to purchase several print and CD-ROM products published by American Business Information (ABI, not to be confused with ABI Inform). The products are not currently available via remote access.
ACTION: The Steering Committee did not approve the purchase of the American Business Information products with VIVA funds, but did encourage the Business CCM to investigate a discount for individual institutions to buy the CD-ROM and/or print versions with their local funds.
7. VIVA's Database Provision Strategies: The Steering Committee discussed the draft proposal for an ad-hoc task force to review VIVA's database provision strategies.
ACTION: Charlene will develop a small committee structure to look at VIVA's database provision strategies.
8. CONSORT Meeting: Carol presented information about the Consort group of consortia, which plans to meet in the winter/spring of 1997.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved funds for 1-3 people and VIVA's participation in the "Consort" group meeting in St. Louis. Interested Steering Committee members are to contact Charlene.
Carol also reported that the CNI program is holding a workshop on Licensing Electronic Resources. Since no VIVA Steering Committee members were planning to attend that conference in San Francisco, there was discussion about other possible participants (who might already be planning to attend).
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved $300 registration funds for a VIVA representative to attend the CNI Program on Licensing Electronic Resources.
9. Cost Savings and Value Added Survey: Carol distributed the summary sheet for the Cost Savings and Value Added Survey, 1995-96.
10. John Jaffe distributed a chart reflecting participation of the independent schools in VIVA purchases and subscriptions.
C. ILL Enhancements (Dennis Robison)
1. Wayne Burton is working on the survey on ILL issues, including information
about the 24/48 hour response rate.
2. ILL is reviewing the use and effectiveness of the FedEx service. Gene
pointed out that in any future payments similar to the FedEx arrangement
only require one letter for all VCCS members.
D. User Services (Theresa Byrd)
1. Chadwyck-Healey Training: Theresa reported on progress for the Chadwyck-Healey
training session. The Steering Committee agreed that although registration
is limited for this workshop, a second workshop could be offered next spring.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved funds for the User Services training session on Chadwyck-Healey databases, including travel for faculty and librarians from public institutions.
2. The Steering Committee discussed the need for additional committee members.
ACTION: Steering Committee members are to share suggestions for new members of the User Services Committee with Charlene.
IV. OTHER
1. Charlene reported that a representative from the JSTOR Journals had approached
her with pricing information for VIVA. She pointed out that it did not offer
any discount to our consortium.
2. The next VIVA Steering Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, December
5, 2-5 pm, Virginia State University, Petersburg.