Resources for Users Committee Meeting Minutes
August 28, 2009
Present: Pat Van Zandt (Chair), Karen Cary (recorder), Sharon Gasser, David Gray, Ed
Lener, Louveller Luster, Jane Penner, Kathy Perry, Cathy Reed, Sylvia Rortvedt, Joan
Ruelle, John Tombarge, John Walsh
Absent: Pam Morgan
Welcome
Pat Van Zandt opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and introducing new
members, Ed Lener and Cathy Reed. Pat noted the present uncertainty surrounding
the state budget, but said that the Committee would proceed with business as usual for
now.
Corrections, Changes, Additions to the Agenda
A report on OCLC resources by John Walsh was added to the agenda.
Minutes
Pat explained that today’s meeting would begin a new cycle of recorders for Committee
meeting minutes (including meetings by conference call), going in alphabetical order by
last name. Pat asked that meeting minutes be sent to her by the Friday of the week
following the Committee meeting.
Steering Committee Retreat Discussion
Pat and Kathy Perry gave a brief overview of the recent VIVA Steering Committee
retreat held July 30-31, 2009. The new Chair, Gene Damon, called upon all VIVA
committee chairs to discuss how VIVA is going to be effective in the future, what VIVA
may do, and issues of concern to VIVA. Three general areas emerged as of most
interest to VIVA. These were:
1. Collection Development: What kind of media should be collected? Besides journals
and databases, should streaming media, electronic books, and data sets be
considered? Other topics on the table included cooperative collection development,
shared approval plans, issues of duplication and last copy protection, purchase on
demand for VIVA as a whole, patron-initiated collection development, support for faculty
teaching and research, and mobile delivery methods.
2. Discovery Tools: Issues include the OPAC, linking, digital asset management,
widgets, among others.
3. Infrastructure: Issues include improving the relationship with campus IT groups,
digital repository systems such as DSpace, cloud computing, etc.
How can VIVA contribute to helping its members with these issues?
To address these areas, the Steering Committee appointed three groups to draft
charges for three task forces. The charges will be shaped by considering what is costeffective, feasible, and productive. Each task force will study and report on its particular
area. Pat (William & Mary), John Jaffe (Sweet Briar College), and Eileen Hitchingham
(Virginia Tech) were selected to draft the charge for the Collection Development task
force. Once the charge is written, it will go to the Steering Committee for review. Once
approved, it will be forwarded to Kathy for distribution to library directors. Directors will
be asked to nominate task force members. Members can come from outside of the
RUC, although RUC will have representation. The charge must be drafted by
September 1, 2009. The task force preliminary report is due to the Steering Committee
by December 4, 2009, with the final report due by January 15, 2010. The task force
should emphasize what is viable and what can be accomplished. The report should
include scope, context, and define what actions VIVA should take. The report also
should include a set of recommendations. Once the report is completed, it will be
reviewed by the Steering Committee. Sharon Gasser asked if it would be possible for
the RUC to review the report before it is submitted for final approval. Pat said she
would ask Gene about that.
Orientation for New Members
Pat and Kathy gave an orientation for new members, which began with a session on
navigating the VIVA website. Kathy asked that members, when working with vendors
on product renewals, remember to ask for an updated list of titles included in the
product and to send such lists to her for posting on the VIVA website. Kathy also
reported that a new tool for examining use statistics by institution for all VIVA resources
was under development in her office and should be ready in about a month. Pat then
asked RUC members to describe their experiences negotiating with vendors for their
assigned VIVA resources. Kathy then explained how to format a quote for VIVA
resources. It is essential to have the date and title of the resource on the quote. Kathy
strongly encouraged compactness in formatting quotes, confining it to one page when
possible. She also reminded everyone to ask vendors to provide quotes for both the
public and private institutions. Finally, Kathy reviewed budget matters, including
reading and interpreting the VIVA collections budget spreadsheet and the process for
VIVA travel reimbursement.
OCLC Resources
John Walsh reported that he had been fielding calls about the new OCLC platform that
integrates e-content. He reported that OCLC had sent a mailing explaining the option to
configure this new access for WorldCat.org, new FirstSearch, Electronic Collections
Online, netLibrary, e-audio books, ArchiveGrid, and Camio. FirstSearch is the only
resource of concern for VIVA because it uses the same administrative module. There
are nineteen FirstSearch databases activated for VIVA, limited to one database at a
time, with a five-minute timeout. Use of the new interface by members may tie up the
ports, although John does not anticipate any problems. Please let John know if the new
interface is adopted at your institution. John also informed the Committee that OCLC
will be sending out another mailing about configuring and implementing WorldCat Local.
The mailing will also ask if institutions want to take advantage of the free offer for
CONTENTdm. John pointed out that this mailing was not an issue directly related to
VIVA, but would likely raise questions from VIVA members. John will send information
to the Committee once he gets the mailing.
2010 Renewals
The following resources were recommended for renewal:
ACS: Current contract goes through 2010. Price cap of 5% plus 1% for each new title.
Two new titles for 2010: ACS Chemical Neuroscience and Journal of Physical
Chemistry Letters. Chemical & Engineering News Online increased 15%. In response
to the economic crisis, ACS is offering a 3% early decision discount. Price increase for
publics is 3.8%; privates is 2.9%.
AMS Journals: no change from last year
MathSciNet:. no change from last year
Blackwell Journals: Current contract ends in 2010. Price cap of 5%. Adjustments to
the final price will be made for transfer titles and cessations.
CIAO: 2.63% increase for publics; 3.31% increase for privates.
LRC: no change from last year
ProQuest/CSA: no change from last year.
Highwire: .09% increase.
CRC, EngnetBASE: 3% increase.
Oxford Reference Online: no change from last year.
Quotes for Project Muse and Oxford Journals will be sent to the RUC once the
information becomes available.
IOP
The Committee voted unanimously to recommend to the Steering Committee that
schools be billed 20% of the total cost for IOP for 2010, rather than the planned 25%.
The Committee felt that it was important to maintain the cost-sharing trajectory, but, in
light of budget reductions, to decrease the increment this year.
RFP Update
Sharon reminded everyone that the RFP is for the licensing of online access to
American Psychological Association resources currently licensed by VIVA. It includes
provisions for both VIVA pricing and discounts for individual institutions for new APA
resources with the understanding that the state economic climate may prohibit new
subscriptions. It also includes pricing for the online version of the Publication Manual of
the APA (if available). The first meeting of the RFP Committee is October 9, 2009.
VIVA and CLOCKSS
Kathy distributed information on discount pricing for VIVA members to join CLOCKSS.
The Committee decided that it could not endorse this deal without more information
about how CLOCKSS works and compares to Portico. The current budget uncertainty
also makes this a difficult year for many libraries to consider joining CLOCKSS.
Discussion of RUC
The VIVA Collection Development Policies were briefly reviewed. Karen Cary will check
to make certain that the 2006 revisions were incorporated into the online Policies. Ideas
about acquiring new formats, such as images, electronic books, and streaming media,
were discussed. It was pointed out that these formats could be used effectively in
online instruction and distance education. Patron initiated collecting also was
mentioned. When contemplating new resources, it was observed that some
consideration for continuity of current resources was important, given that some
institutions had canceled print subscriptions in favor of electronic access provided by
such resources as EbscoHost.
The Committee discussed training at length. Training is a mandate for the RUC and
there was discussion about whether the current RUC membership had the appropriate
skill set for training and publicity. It was decided that adding at least two members
(possibly ex officio) to RUC to concentrate on all aspects of training, i.e., determining
the need, planning, creating training modules (such as Webinars), assessing/evaluating
training programs, etc., would be recommended to the Steering Committee. It was
proposed that directors send names of potential members to the Steering Committee
and that RUC select from among the nominees. The possibility of partnering with
ACRL’s Virginia chapter in training was raised. Jim Self was asked if he would consider
giving a training session on use statistics, similar to the programs he has given in the
past. Jim agreed, date to be determined, and suggested that Tansy Matthews also
present on using Excel for use statistics at the same session. It was suggested that the
session be recorded for those who are unable to travel due to budget restrictions.
Another proposed area for examination was the overall collections—how they are used
and at what level. As a beginning, Pat, Kathy, and Tansy will do an analysis of
spending by subject, format, and type of resource.
There was general discussion on communicating with the VIVA community. A survey
was suggested as a method for determining if needs in this area were being met.
Placing a “recommend a resource” button prominently on the VIVA home page,
distributing Committee minutes to collection contacts, and utilizing an RSS feed were all
mentioned as ways to improve communication.
Other Business
Electronic books: There may be some funds for electronic books. To prepare for that
possibility, Jane Penner will investigate Oxford, Cathy Reed will investigate Safari
business books, and Karen will investigate Taylor & Francis.
Media: Sharon will take a look at the options for streaming media from FMG.
SCHEV has asked VIVA to put together a proposal for the next biennium, not for new
resources, but the amount that it would take to offset cost increases, including ILL costs.
SCHEV meets September 15, 2009. The VIVA Steering Committee will meet on
September 24th and December 4, 2009.
The next meeting will be held on October 19, 2009.