The Virtual Library of Virginia
Steering Committee Meeting
Thursday, March 11, 2004
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA
MINUTES
ATTENDANCE: Present: Ralph Alberico, Robin Benke, Gene Damon, Eileen Hitchingham,
John Jaffe, Frank Moran, Kathy Perry, and John Zenelis. Also Present: Doug Hurd (UVA).
Absent: Connie McCarthy, Virginia O'Herron, Roy Strohl, John Ulmschneider, Elsie Stephens
Weatherington, and Karin Wittenborg.
I. MINUTES
The minutes of the December 4, 2003 meeting were reviewed.
ACTION: The December 4, 2003 meeting minutes were approved.
II. PROJECT UPDATE
A. CHAIR'S REPORT (Ralph Alberico)
1. Ralph reported that VIVA's biennial proposal for additional funds was included in the
Governor's budget at the rate of $1.47 million each year. The Governor's budget for VIVA
was accepted in the House version but was reduced in the Senate version. It is anticipated
that it will take some time before the next biennial budget will be known.
2. Representatives of the SCHEV LAC (Ralph Alberico, Gene Damon, Cathy Doyle, John
Jaffe, Kathy Perry, Roy Strohl, John Ulmschneider, and Elsie Weatherington) met with
representatives of SCHEV (Nancy Cooley, Alan Edwards, and Rick Patterson) and
representatives of 3 of the for-profit libraries (Carolyn and Larry Leonard from Stratford
University, Rebecca Tabakin and Myrtle Humphrys from ECPI, and Elizabeth Terry from
Strayer University) on January 21, 2004. The meeting covered a number of general issues
concerning the request to include the for-profit institutions in the Virtual Library of Virginia,
including some of the background of VIVA's development, the current decentralized
organization structure, some legal issues of the nonprofits providing services for the forprofits, and the expected costs and alternatives to membership in VIVA. SCHEV will convene
another meeting.
3. John Zenelis shared a copy of the brochure "Virginia Higher Education IT: Collaborations"
prepared by Joy Hughes on behalf of the academic IT officers and led a discussion about the
brochure. It was noted that VIVA is mentioned on page 2 as one of the successful
collaborative projects in the commonwealth.
4. The Steering Committee met in executive session to discuss personnel matters.
B. PROJECT DIRECTOR'S REPORT (Kathy Perry)
1. VIVA Domain Name: Kathy reported that she had purchased the domain name
www.vivalib.org from Network Solutions.
ACTION: Kathy will work with John Duke, the VIVA webmaster, and John Ulmschneider,
the Chair of the VIVA Outreach Committee, on the transition plan and the announcement. A
tentative date of July 1, VIVA's official 10th birthday, is proposed for the transition date.
2. Committee Membership: Committee Chairs were reminded to review their memberships
to see if vacancies will occur after June 30. Ralph reported that Roy Strohl's term is set to
conclude on June 30. Gene reported there will be a change in representation for the 2-year
schools as well.
ACTION: The committee chairs are to let Kathy know of any vacancies in their committees.
Replacements for the Steering Committee are to be selected in advance of the June
Steering Committee meeting so they can be announced at that time.
3. Kathy reported that the Anniversary Task Force (Berna Heyman, Chair, Joy Galloni, Roy
Strohl, and Kathy) had met once in person and convened by conference call to draw up
plans for VIVA's 10th year Anniversary celebrations. Fundraising letters are going to the
largest VIVA contractors. Funds will be deposited into a new VIVA account in the GMU
Foundation and will cover the celebration dinner (tentatively planned for September 30 in
Williamsburg), design and printing for the 10 Year Progress Report, and appropriate
commemorative mementos.
4. ACTION: The Steering Committee conducted an e-mail vote February 6, 2004, and
approved the Resources for Users Committee's recommendation to renew the 2 ABC-CLIO
databases: America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts.
III. COMMITTEES
A. RESOURCES FOR USERS COMMITTEE (Gene Damon)
The Committee met on February 20 during this quarter.
1. Renewals: The Committee recommended renewal of the following VIVA resources: Annual
Reviews, Encyclopaedia Britannica, MLA, and the Nature journals.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the following renewals:
a. Annual Reviews
b. Encyclopaedia Britannica
c. MLA
d. Nature
2. New Acquisition: The Committee recommended adding Nature Reviews Microbiology as
part of the Nature subscription.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the acquisition of the Nature Reviews
Microbiology.
3. For Information:
a. The Committee has two purchases under review for possible acquisition if additional
funds are obtained in the next biennium: Nature Archives and BioOne.
b. Although the first quote from Wilson was prohibitive, Wilson appears interested in
continuing negotiations. The RUC had identified these databases as priority: Art Index,
Applied Science & Technology, Essay & General Literature Index, Index to Legal Periodicals
& Books, Library Literature. There are no guarantees these negotiations will be successful.
c. VIVA's use of WorldCat has increased substantially this year and we increased the
number of ports available in January, from 18 to 21. Further data analysis is necessary to
determine if additional ports will be needed.
d. The Committee has 2 product reviews underway: The Factiva Review Subcommittee is
chaired by John Tombarge (W&L) and the MLA Review Subcommittee is co-chaired by
Virginia Kinman (Longwood) and Janet Holly (VMI).
e. The Resources for Users Committee will establish a subcommittee to evaluate the Wilson
databases and develop alternatives. Committee members are needed for this work.
f. The work on the Serials Analysis is going forward. Two training sessions are scheduled for
March 16 (JMU) and March 17 (ODU). Institutions are beginning to load data. Analysis will
take place following the completion of the data loads.
B. VIRGINIA HERITAGE PROJECT TASK FORCE (John Jaffe)
The VHP met at the University of Virginia on December 12, 2003 and February 27, 2004.
1. The Committee has completed the work updating the Jamestown Bibliography. The work
is being reviewed by the National Parks Service and will be posted to the VHP web page
soon.
2. The Committee has posted materials to the VHP web site relating to the Brown vs. Board
of Education Supreme Court decision in Virginia.
3. The Committee has revised the VHP web site.
4. The Committee has completed the heuristics review of the VHP database web site and
presented the results to the UVA web group.
5. EAD specifications and software are being upgraded now. Best practices guidelines are
being updated. On completion of the upgrade, training for encoders will be updated.
6. The Committee has added the National Sporting Library in Leesburg to the project and
trained their staff members on EAD.
7. The Committee has begun to describe projects to include in the digitization grant,
building on work already done in the guides. Institutions are to submit focused statements
on what is to be included by April 2.
C. OUTREACH COMMITTEE (Kathy Perry for John Ulmschneider)
The Outreach Committee has not met in person during this quarter but has been very busy
nonetheless.
1. Testimonial Letters: The Committee worked with the LAC Advocacy Committee and the
Alliance for Virginia's Students (http://www.vastudents.org) to develop and distribute draft
letters for testimonials. The Committee chair sent 2 mailings to every VIVA library director
in Virginia to inform them of the Alliance Web page tools.
2. The Committee will work to promote the use of the new VIVA Domain name.
3. The Committee will work to advance the use of the VIVA logo and name for web-based
resources, develop an agenda of changes to the VIVA Web site, and explore the possibility
of a promotional video for VIVA.
D. RESOURCE SHARING COMMITTEE (Kathy Perry for Roy Strohl)
The Committee has not met during this quarter due to scheduling problems; however, the
ILL Subcommittee has continued its work planning the ILL Forum which will be held on July
16, 2004, at Sweet Briar College and they are designing a test of direct e-ILL with the OVID
LWW titles.
IV. NEW BUSINESS
The next VIVA Steering Committee meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday, June 3,
2004, 1 - 5 p.m. at George Mason University.