Resources for Users Committee -- Minutes
January 26, 2001 -- 10:00 AM
Alderman Library, University of Virginia
Gene Damon, Presiding
Present: Gene Damon, Karen Cary, Jacque Dessino, Sharon Gasser, Pat Hausman, Sandy Kerbel, Pamela
Morgan, Jim Rettig, Sylvia Rortvedt, Michael Walker, Patricia Hardesty (for John Walsh), and Kathy Perry,
VIVA Director.
Absent: Larry Thompson
1. Announcements
The Elsevier trial for the subgroup of VIVA institutions was turned on January 24
2. Changes to agenda:
Gene explained the agenda format but no changes or additions to the agenda were made.
3. Approval of Minutes of , 2000 meeting
The minutes of the November 17, 2000 meeting were approved with a few typographical corrections.
4. Budget (K. Perry)
Kathy distributed a current collections budget and reported on the house and senate budget
amendments that have been introduced to provide additional support for VIVA.
5. Training sub-committee (Pat Houseman)
Pat reported on the meeting of the Training Subcommittee. The sub-committee recommends holding
another training fair, similar to the one held in March 2000. The training sub-committee also suggested
developing local training sessions. A full report is attached (click here for report).
Training Fair: The committee discussed possible dates and locations for the training fair. Without
Piedmont Virginia CC, the fair would be difficult to schedule in conjunction with the Outreach
Committee workshop. The break between summer and fall semesters was suggested for the workshop
with J. Sargent Reynolds Community College or Blue Ridge Community College as possible locations. The
sub-committee will determine the availability of those sites.
Local training: the committee discussed the possibility of providing local training sessions, including
types of sessions, instructors, expenses and guidelines. Kathy Perry suggested surveying the state by
‘district’ and possibly doing small regional mini fairs. Jacque Dessino agreed to develop guidelines for
local training to present to the committee.
6. Renewal Recommendations
PCI : Approved for renewal.
Science: There will be no increase in the price of Science Online to VIVA for the private or public
institutions. Additional public institutions can subscribe using the same price structure as last year.
Beginning in January, access to the Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment (STKE) database will no
longer be included at no charge. AAAS is offering this database at a discount to a subset of VIVA
institutions, if at least 5 institutions subscribe. Renewal of Science Online was approved. The offer for
the STKE database was not approved.
STAT-USA : The basic price will stay the same for next year. This year, USA Trade Online has been
available at no additional cost. To continue USA Trade will double the subscription price. Individual
schools can subscribe to USA Trade and access it through VIVA, if the individual subscriptions can be
billed on the STAT-USA invoice. Kathy Perry will check with Iris Moubray to see if this is an available
option for VIVA. We don’t get any statistics on USA Trade Online so it is hard to tell if use would warrant
the subscription. The committee approved renewal of the base package only. A decision on USA Trade
Online was postponed to later in the meeting.
InfoTrac: Jim Rettig will report on the InfoTrac database renewals at the next meeting or via email. (In an
E-mail vote on March 2 renewal was approved.)
Annual Reviews: Pam Morgan reported that the price remains the same; it is still locked in from the
original negotiation. Renewal was approved.
7. OCLC Update (Patricia Hardesty)
VIVA began the fiscal year with 27 ports and added 6 ports in October in response to the turn-away
statistics. The use of FirstSearch is down from last year, but primarily in the subscription databases.
Using last year’s figures for the per-search searching we should be able to support FirstSearch access
using approximately 40% of the current reserve.
8. Britannica (Kathy Perry)
When the VIVA subscription ended, the contract was kept open to allow individual institutions to
purchase the product. No institutions have used the contract, so it will be closed.
9. CIS
Pam Morgan presented revised pricing for the Congressional Indexes. After discussion, the proposal was
not approved.
10. E*Subscribe (ERIC documents full-text) (Sylvia Rortvedt)
Sylvia reported on the E*Subscribe proposal. The committee members felt the proposal was too
confusing, there were problems with the algorithm used, and access to the microfiche not included
electronically was unclear. Sylvia was asked to continue to negotiate.
11. Institute Of Physics (Pat Hausman)
Pat reported on the current proposal. The committee felt that the proposal was still not appropriate for
the consortium. The Institute of Physics proposal was not approved.
12. Blackwell Science (Gene Damon)
Gene reported that he had not identified many subscriptions to Blackwell journals in VIVA institutions.
Consideration of Blackwell will be postponed.
13. John Wiley (Pam Morgan)
Pam presented the revised pricing for John Wiley. The committee members discussed the proposal. The
revised proposal represents a significant discount, but the cost still exceeds VIVA’s available funding.
The Wiley proposal would only be possible if the VIVA institutions with print Wiley journal subscriptions
were willing to give the funds they currently expend for the print subscriptions to VIVA. The proposal
was not approved. Gene will report to the Steering Committee on the possibility of the individual
institutions transferring the funds to VIVA.
14. National Research Council of Canada (Sharon Gasser)
Sharon presented the proposal from the National Research Council of Canada for journal access. After
discussion, a final decision on the proposal was postponed until later in the meeting.
15. American Chemical Society (Sharon Gasser)
Sharon presented the proposal from the American Chemical Society. SciFinder Scholar is not part of this
proposal. The committee discussed the proposal. ACS needs to include in their count of current online
subscriptions those institutions that have electronic access through SOLINET. In addition, the proposal
for the privates needs some clarification. A final decision on the proposal was postponed until later in
the meeting.
16. Cambridge University Press (Pam Morgan)
Pam presented the proposal from CUP. Some minor adjustment of the proposal can be expected since
CUP did not yet have year 2000 subscription information for all VIVA institutions. After discussion, a final
decision on the proposal was postponed until later in the meeting.
17. Oxford University Press (Pam Morgan)
Pam presented the OUP proposal. Clarification is needed to determine how new titles added during the
year would affect next year’s contract. After discussion, a final decision on the proposal was postponed
until later in the meeting.
18. Final decision on postponed items
After reconsidering the five pending proposals and examining available funds, the committee members
recommended approval of the American Chemical Society proposal, the Cambridge University Press
proposal and the Oxford University Press proposal, pending clarification of items identified above. The
remaining proposals will be discussed again at the next meeting.
10. Other Business
State budget cuts were discussed.
At the next meeting we will determine the general agenda for the next fiscal year and identify resources
that are candidates for review projects.
A question was raised about Project Muse. VIVA does subscribe to the full database.
OpenLinks: 3 schools have implemented OpenLinks. There are several unresolved issues, including the
need to add VIVA holdings without overwriting the individual subscription information that has already
been entered by some schools. Kathy and Gene anticipate resolving these issues in the next few weeks.
Next meeting: March 30, 2001