VIVA Collections Committee Meeting
Friday, 5 September, 2014 10 AM
Location: Byrd/Morris Room, Harrison/Small Library at UVa
The meeting began with a welcome to new members and a returning member of the Committee.
In attendance: Alison Armstrong (new member from Radford University), Beth Blanton-Kent, Karen Cary, Abbie
Basile (new member from Tidewater Community College), Tara Cassidy, Stephen Clark (recorder), Anna Creech,
Cheri Duncan, Sharon Gasser, Maureen Hady, Shaunna Hunter (new member from Hampden-Sydney College), Ed
Lener, Louveller Luster, Anne Osterman, Kathy Perry, Rob Tench, John Walsh (returning member from George
Mason University).
1. New Governance Plan
Sharon had sent out the Committee’s new governance plan earlier this summer. She wanted to remind
Committee members that they have expectations of Committee participation to arrange with their supervisors
to be able to conduct their committee work. This is vital work that is being conducted for the Commonwealth,
and the expectation is that allowance must be made for all to be able to perform assignments for the
Committee.
2. Budget – Kathy
Kathy passed out the latest budget and explained how and why it is laid out to the new members of the
Committee and to remind everyone else to keep up with the resources for which they are responsible.
The Committee’s budget is sitting with a shortfall, and facing a possible 5% cut this year, with (possibly) an
additional 2% more the following year. A delegation from VIVA had gone to Richmond to state their case. We
have to move forward and be prepared for whatever may come.
There was time to go around the table with each committee member discussing the budgetary situation at their
institution. Almost everyone had a different story to tell.
3. Monograph Collection Analysis Task Force
Alison reported for the task force which recently came up with a report offering 3 recommendations:
 Collaborative retention of widely held monographs.
 Establish a recommended threshold of VIVA holdings for new purchases.
 Collaborative publisher-based e-book acquisitions.
All three recommendations were passed for submission to the Steering Committee.
4. OUP e-book proposal
John submitted a proposal put forth by Oxford University Press for its Oxford Scholarship Online collection. The
initial collection in 2015 contains 1,470 titles. OUP provided pricing for public institutions and opt-in pricing for
the privates institutions. There was a fair amount of discussion and questions. John was asked to go back to
Oxford and ask if they would allow purchase of specific collections by the Private Institutions. This was an
informational proposal upon which there was no action taken at this meeting.
5. Cancellation Plan
Due to the fact that VIVA is facing a shortfall in its material budget and potential 5% and 7% cuts over the next
couple of years, recommendations for cancellation had to be made to cover this funding situation. Discussions
centered on the results of a survey sent to committee members from VIVA Central showing the titles which
institutions identified most desirous of keeping and those which could be cancelled. The Committee came up
with a 2 phase recommendation to respond to the differing levels of possible cuts.
Ulrich’s was chosen as a title to cancel, but it will not be cancelled until 2016, since its renewal had already
been recently paid this fiscal year.
The 2 phases of recommendations are:
Phase 1.
AMS Journals
CIAO
Highwire – 3 journals (Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Cell Biology and Molecular Biology of
the Cell
Oxford Reference Online
Springer e-books: Earth and Environmental Science
Ulrich’s [to be cancelled in FY2015-16]
Phase 2.
Congressional
Elsevier e-books
Highwire – Journal of Biological Chemistry
MathSciNet
Anna requested that pricing be obtained for Oxford Online Reference for the Privates.
6. Renewals
The Committee recommends renewal of the following resources:
 ACS
 Gale LRC
 IEEE
 IOP Journals and archives
 Oxford Journals, including new titles
 Project Muse (Standard Collection)
 Springer e-books: Behavioral Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences, Computer Sciences
 Taylor & Francis CRC
 Taylor & Francis EngNetBase
7. RFP
Contracts are expiring for nursing resources CINAHL and Ovid Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins and for EconLit,
PAIS, and Sociological Abstracts. Sharon thanked those who volunteered to serve on RFP committees. It was
decided to make one committee to issue an RFP for all of the titles at once for ease of operations. A chair of
the committee is being sought for this committee.
8. Demand Driven Acquisitions Final Report
Anne reported that there are 14 titles that can be purchased with left over funds from the pilot. A deposit
account report will come out in early September to give a final report of how much is left to spend. An email
was sent out to ascertain whether any folks would like to continue the DDA project. There is also some
investigation being done on a smaller DDA project – Humanities and Social Sciences, for example.
9. Video Last Copy Project Report
No report.
Reminders:
23 October – VLA/VIVA User Group Meeting in Williamsburg with John Helmer of Orbis Cascade Alliance
14 November – Next Collections Committee meeting