Future of the Libraries Committee – Lib
Agenda and Minutes – December 2, 2014
Room 800BB
AGENDA
1.
Review and questions about reading assignments. In particular, let’s talk about the questions on pages Xiv-x15 on understanding your current practice – in the EAB document.
2.
Organization of the libraries (chart attached and in Sharepoint)
3.
Summary information about library budget and collections expenditures (attached and in Sharepoint)
Additional information Bill Hook uploaded to Sharepoint : https://int.vanderbilt.edu/academics/Libraries/committees/libfuture/SitePages/Home.aspx
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Summary circulation statistics
Summary reference statistics
MINUTES
The conversation addressed some of the questions on pp.xiv – xv in the EAB report.
A. E-books are available through the library and software providers are constantly improving
platforms. Fair Use can be overridden by a contract. When we contract with e-book
providers, we may be limiting the exercise of fair use for e-books in a way we do not with
print books.
B. What is the Copyright Taskforce doing re: copyright? [Minutes of meetings are being posted
on OAK. Cliff Anderson and Sandy Stahl described the considerations of the Task Force and
the sense of urgency about posting a usable policy in December 2014 before the start of the
spring semester. Cliff explained that there are 4 primary ways to post material on line:
1. Materials are in the public domain.
2. Individuals can upload their own materials.
3. Licensed materials can be posted per conditions of the license.
4. Fair Use practices
C. Does the Library have a clear policy re: purchasing print vs. electronic sources?
D. Cataloging is no longer a high priority. There is a trend of several years to outsource
cataloging of materials, though not extensively here at VUL. In the Central library, some
Spanish items have been sent out for cataloging. The Blair Library feels there is value in local

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customization of materials, as well as in cataloging special collections and unique items.
E. One of the strengths of our library system is that each divisional library is different in order
to meet the needs and interests of its particular constituents.
F. The Heard Library loads many large batches of journals and e-book sets, far in excess of the
number of titles individually purchased and cataloged .
1.
RDA is a new cataloging structure that makes material more searchable, more usable, and provides more granular information.
2.
MARC is the structure that has been used to describe bibliographic data. The MARC record will become a coalescence of links out to sources. There is no longer copying and pasting material to an on-line site.
3.
We are not using linked data at this point. Is there vendor support for linked open data?
H. Questions from Bill’s and Jody’s presentation to the Faculty Section of the Future of the
Libraries Committee:
1.
Does the Library track cost for securing e-versions of articles v. hard copies via the
Interlibrary Loan System? Answer: NO Bill asked Nancy Godleski to see if she could come up with some data in answer to this question.
2.
There have been some multi-institutional studies that indicate transaction costs at close to $29/loan. Those seem to indicate the costs are about $20 to borrow an item and $10 to lend. The Faculty is highly complimentary of InterLibrary Loan Services.
I. Organization of the Library – The University Library System has 8 campus libraries.
In the 1930’s, VU and Peabody both applied to the Federal Government for funding to
develop a research library on their own campus. The Government responded that it would
not build two research libraries across the street from each other and that VU and Peabody
should cooperate. In 1936, VU, Sarratt and Peabody proposed the Join University Library,
whose building commenced in 1941. The collection was not truly a shared collection as each
of the partner schools still maintained its own collection. In 1975 the Science and
Engineering Library was established.
1.
Innovations to the Library: a. Mid-1980’s, The first Integrated Library System (ACORN) was introduced b. Acorn created a closer federated system through the on-line catalog. c. 1984-86 – Blair joined the University.
2.
The Organizational Chart (attached) reflects the reorganization in post-2008 era (move to the ONE University model). AccessVU was centrally funded and funding for the
Library system was removed from the school Deans and managed centrally.
3.
With the appointment of Dean Dowell, and the transition to the ONE library vision, several of the divisional library director positions remained vacant. Three are still vacant, currently we are interviewing for a director for the Peabody Library.
4.
The library system has moved to a more multidisciplinary approach as we have moved from print to e-versions of materials. Many electronic resources were purchased by funding from multiple campus libraries.

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5.
In the last 4 years, the leadership team has been engaged in considerations of how to transform the Library for the future, dealing with many of the issues raised in the reports we have been reading.
6.
We are looking for different ways of measuring success based upon our VU values and these metrics are likely to differ from the ARL metrics. The question becomes whether we are measuring easy values as opposed to our values.
7. Marcia (Eskind Library) thinks more in terms of services to faculty rather than in terms of
collections. Are library staff skills improving and changing with the changing
technology? Can library staff help a faculty member publish?
8. The Library system needs to more aggressively educate and market its resources and
services to the faculty and students on campus. Start small and build on the first pilot
initiative.