ATTENDANCE: Present: Theresa Byrd, Gene Damon, Linda Farynk, Barbara Ford, Eileen Hitchingham, Charlene Hurt, John Jaffe, Jean Major, Carol Pfeiffer, Dennis Robison, Roy Strohl, and Elsie Stephens Weatherington. Also Present: John Haskell and Kathy Perry. Absent: Nancy Marshall.
I. MINUTES
The minutes of the March 6 meeting were approved.
II. PROJECT UPDATE
A. General Project Update: Kathy gave an abbreviated project update report
and distributing a procurement status report showing the following four
resources in Collections Committee: Congressional Compass, FirstSearch renewal,
IAC (4 databases) renewal, and IAC - Books in Print. The Dow Jones procurement
is on hold until further information can be provided about sharing passwords.
Carol reported that UVA will have the Chadwyck-Healey American Poetry database
available within a month.
B. Biennium Proposal Discussion: Charlene reviewed the origins of the VIVA project funding and the environment in which it developed. Dennis led a discussion about possible areas of expansion during the 1998-2000 biennium. The group agreed to pursue the possibility of the Library of Virginia becoming a member of VIVA based on its official status as a research library (with suggested effective date to be the next biennium, possibly sooner if funding is not an issue). The Steering Committee also agreed that we would be open to other possible areas of cooperation with any consortium of public libraries which the Library of Virginia might develop. In addition, it was agreed that cooperation with K-12 was of interest, and consideration would be given to the possibility of a pilot program to add the Governor's Schools as additional members during the next biennium.
ACTION: Dennis will handle possible expansion of VIVA to include Library of Virginia as a VIVA member library. Kathy will gather more information about the Governor’s Schools for consideration in VIVA expansion.
III. COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Organization Committee (Charlene)
Charlene reported that the Organization Committee was approached by a library
director about a candidate for the half-time technical support position.
The Organization Committee had indicated that the position could begin July
1.
ACTION: Charlene will follow up and ask the applicant to submit a resume.
B. Nominations Committee (Barbara)
Barbara Ford reported that the Nominations Committee (Dennis Robison, Nancy
Marshall and Barbara) recommended Theresa Byrd to be the chair of the VIVA
Steering Committee, beginning July 1.
ACTION: Roy moved and Dennis seconded the motion to elect Theresa Byrd to be the next Steering Committee Chair, beginning July 1, 1997. The motion was carried unanimously.
C. Collections Committee (Carol)
1. Books in Print: The Collections Committee recommended that VIVA renew
its subscription to Books In Print via IAC at the same price as the 1996-97
year.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the 1997-98 renewal of 15 ports for Books in Print through IAC at the same monthly rate as our current contract.
2. IDEAL: Carol presented the Collections Committee’s recommendation to use "Model B" for funding the 1998 VIVA renewal to the Academic Press Journals as developed by the VIVA Science and Technology CCM Subcommittee. In this model, VIVA will use central funding to pay for a portion of the AP electronic license fee, but a significant portion of the fee will be charged back to member institutions. The cost will be distributed based on each institution’s proportional share of the 1996 AP subscription base. This model was recommended in large part because it will not penalize institutions for any local cancellations they may choose to make. Specifically, the committee recommended that local institutions pick up 75% of the license fee and that VIVA pick up the remaining 25% of the license fee. The Steering Committee discussed this proposal and whether it was a good long-term approach to e-journals.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved Model B for the Academic Press - IDEAL contract, but encouraged the Collections Committee to review the use statistics carefully. The committee will also clarify whether and how an individual institution or VIVA as a group may cancel an electronic version of individual title(s).
3. FirstSearch/OVID Proposal: Carol presented a proposal to reduce the
number of databases available through FirstSearch and to offer several databases
through OVID. She also presented a summary of VIVA libraries’ access
to MLA through local subscriptions.
ACTION: While the Steering Committee was open to considering the overall
strategy, and possibly as early as the 1997-98 year, they requested that
the Collections Committee do further research and bring the proposal back
to the June 5 Steering Committee meeting.
D. OTHER COMMITTEES
Due to the lack of time, reports by the ILL Enhancements, Publicity and
User Services Committees were postponed until the June 5 Steering Committee
meeting.
IV. OTHER BUSINESS
A. Workshop on Organizing Library Work for the Next Decade: Dennis gave
a brief outline of a workshop idea.
ACTION: Kathy will gather more information about the Richard Dougherty workshop on "Organizing Library Work for the Next Decade".
B. Announcements: Kathy reported that the Commonwealth’s travel regulations have changed. GMU will implement them beginning June 1, 1997.
ACTION: Copies of the revised instructions were available in the retreat packets and will be mailed to all VIVA library directors and VIVA committee members.
C. Next Meeting: The next Steering Committee meeting will be held Thursday, June 5, 1997, 1-5 P.M. at Christopher Newport University (to be followed Friday morning by the SCHEV - Library Advisory Council meeting).