LIBRARY COUNCIL
December 13, 2004
MEMO TO:
Library Council Members
FROM:
Susan Cozzi, Chair
RE:
Library Council Meeting, Monday, December 13, 2004, 2:30 p.m.,
2nd floor conference room, Robarts Library.
AGENDA
1. Minutes of October 27, 2004
2. Business Arising
3. Report of the Chief Librarian
Carole Moore
4. Information Technology Services Report
Peter Clinton
5. Virtual Reference Project Update
Jeff Newman
6. Media Commons Update
Brock Silversides
7. Other Business
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday, December 13, 2004, at 2:30 p.m. in the 2nd floor
conference room, Robarts Library.
Present: Boyd, A., Cheng, A., Cozzi, S. (Chair), DeDiego, I., Devakos, R., Fleming, D.,
Grof, G., Langlands, S., McLeod, D., McNair, L., Mendelsohn, J., Moore, C., Newman,
J., Prociuk, I., Ruscillo, M., Snow, J., Torossian, H., U, A., Santeramo, A. (Recording
Secretary)
Regrets: Bartlett, K., Bradshaw, G., Chase, V., Clinton, P., Crotty, S., Dondertman, A.,
Downs, V., Forbes, S., Houtman, E., Jaffray, C., MacLean, J., Masters, A., McArthur, L.,
Meindl, P., Owen, V., Sewerin, C., Silverberg, S., Singh, N., Socknat, C., Stevenson,
M.J., Turko, K.
Guests: Langford, L., Silversides, B.
1. Minutes of October 27, 2004: Approval of the minutes was moved by Rea Devakos,
seconded by Mary Ruscillo. The minutes were approved unanimously.
2. Business Arising:
Kronos Flextime System
The Kronos flextime system had been discussed at a previous meeting. It was reported
that problems are still occurring. For example, the automatic ½-hour deduction for the
minimum lunch period allowed seems to be occurring immediately following the lunch
time period rather than after midnight, the completion of a 24-hour cycle. Alfred Cheng
offered to investigate this matter further.
It was also stated that there is no easy way in which staff can determine their credit or
debit balance at any point within the flextime period. As well, the printing function is not
user friendly, nor straightforward to operate. It is very cumbersome.
Alfred Cheng noted that any operational matters can be addressed and suggested that
departments submit concerns and issues to him. Special requests will need to be sent to
the vendor for consideration.
3. Report of the Chief Librarian:
Planning Update
Carole Moore reported that the Provost’s website provides a summary of the planning
process. The document is titled “Stepping Up – Synthesis” and summarizes everything
drawn from the longer “Stepping Up” document. It puts together priority objectives,
including improving the student experience, interdisciplinary collaborations, outreach to
the community, and equity and diversity matters. This report may be accessed at
http://www.steppingup.utoronto.ca/synthesisindex.asp
Presidential Search Committee
We are still awaiting news on the search for a new President. The Committee is actively
meeting, but we don’t expect any news until the new year. The process is documented at
http://www.utoronto.ca/govcncl/pres_search.html
Funding
The University’s response to the Rae Review included the distinctiveness of U of T
library services. Appendix E of this document was distributed. Everyone’s understanding
and support is greatly needed. Carole added that 2005 will be spent talking more actively
to elected representatives on the importance of funding post secondary education. The
amount needed to raise Ontario’s post secondary expenditures to the national average is
1.3 billion dollars.
An international conference that was sponsored by the Faculty of Law and the President’s
Office included members of the Rae Committee and representatives from Australia,
England, and the United States, all of whom shared their experiences. One of the
speakers, Michael Decter, Chair of the Health Council of Canada, devotes a great deal of
his time to making health information accessible to doctors and to the entire community
The Chief Librarian added that we at the Library spend our time making research
information available to our community. We need to think of how we can do more
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outreach in our field and make our contribution to the research mission of the University
more visible.
Google
U of T Libraries has agreed to work with an open access information provider, The
Internet Archives. Watch for an announcement this week from Google about access to
academic material.
Copyright
The Canadian Association of Research Libraries is in the process of promoting awareness
of the restrictions being proposed in new copyright legislation. A recent letter from
CARL on this issue was circulated to members for their information. Victoria Owen,
Head Librarian, U of T at Scarborough, is very knowledgeable on the issue of copyright
and has made an appointment with her Member of Parliament to talk about the
implications of the proposed Copyright Act. It is easier to have an influence on the Act
when it is at the draft stage. The current government proposal is that everything will be
licensed. The Chief Librarian continued to stress the importance of maintaining the right
to make public domain information available.
A member added that those who are interested in contacting their Member of Parliament
or Senator regarding the copyright issue can obtain a list of e-mail addresses on the
Canadian government website, http://tinyurl.com/2p6p2. Please also note that a letter can
be sent to the government postage free.
4. Information Technology Services Report: Postponed.
5. Virtual Reference Project Update: Jeff Newman provided a presentation on the live
online help now available to library users. This service became available on March 28th,,
2004, at 1:00 p.m. and provides service from 1-5 p.m. daily. The presentation
highlighted components of the service offered by staff in the six libraries that are
participating: Robarts, Gerstein, OISE/UT, UTM, UTSC, and Engineering and Computer
Science.
The software cost is $2,000 USD per year, and this is funded jointly by UTM, UTSC, and
the central library system. [It was clarified in Other Business below that OISE
contributed to this funding as well.]
A graph depicting service usage was shown, indicating that it peaked in the Fall and was
steady with peaks during the Summer too. The VRL users are 63% undergraduates, 28%
graduates, and 9% other. Users are requested to answer questions that are designed to
glean information about who they are, where they are, and what they are studying.
Jeff added that this service fits in with the Stepping Up planning process. It is
collaborative and provides students with an online help service simply by clicking on a
Live Help box. There is no waiting and it definitely improves the student experience. It
also allows for more effective use of online materials. It has been a worthwhile
adventure, traffic is moving well, and we hope to continue providing this service to the U
of T community. User feedback is chiefly positive.
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York, Ryerson, and Guelph have started to use the same software. It may be possible to
collaborate with them in order to expand the service.
Challenges to provision of this service include software functional problems, and the
difficulty in being able to staff this service beyond the current time span offered.
Questions and comments arising:
Question: How was this project advertised?
Response: Advertisements were placed in the following sources: the Varsity, UTM’s
Newspaper, UTSC’s Newspaper and on the U of T Web Page. As well, there was an
article on this service in the Varsity and an ad in the Varsity Student Handbook. Jeff
added that green bookmarks describing the service were prepared and distributed to
students when they signed materials out at library circulation desks.
Members were pleased to have had a chance to hear about this exciting project.
6. Media Commons Update: Brock Silversides, Director, Media Commons, reported
that the Media Commons brings together the Audio Visual Library and the Microtext
Library, and has added a third component: archival and special collections. It was
established in January 2003. The archival holdings relate to significant people in
Canadian film/video production, broadcasting, non-print journalism and the music
industry, in essence, any media-based information, entertainment, or popular culture.
Our holdings are already quite impressive. For example, we have collection donations
from:
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Moses Znaimer in his roles in CITY-TV and Much Music
Film producer Robert Lantos
The production and distributing giant Alliance Atlantis (and the several
companies that merged to form it)
Blue Rodeo Productions
Michael Hirsh (the founder of Canadian animation company pioneer Nelvana)
The NOW Magazine collection
The Greg Gormick Collection of radio history
Barna-Alper Productions (the television program producers responsible for
Turning Points of History, Blue Murder and DaVinci’s Inquest)
The more or less complete works of two giants of broadcast journalism, Patrick
Watson and Michael Maclear
The TV and radio advertising collection of Syd Kessler & Jody Colero.
These have all come to us through donations. Brock arranges for proper appraisals of the
materials received. The collections have proven to be of great use to students. Items
such as the NOW Magazine Collection have drawn public attention and interest. Brock
added that we collect anything relating to production files. This is the big difference
between a film library and a film archive. Anyone aware of the potential availability of
eligible collections is encouraged to bring them to Brock’s attention.
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Brock added that all of this material is extremely fragile. A secure environmentally
controlled facility for these important materials will soon be available in the basement of
Woodsworth Student Residence. It will include a processing room and a huge cold
storage vault, approximately 6,000 sq. ft. We will have capacity for all current materials
and room for approximately 5-6 years growth. In early 2005, a transfer of the collections
will begin. Some of them are currently housed in Robarts and Fisher; others are in
various warehouse environments. Tours will be provided in February or March.
Provision of safer access to materials is the next step. Temporary access to screening
rooms is being provided in the University Archives Department.
Questions and comments arising:
Question: Are there plans to get a microfiche scanner?
Response: The Library is investigating this possibility. There is not much good news
about them so far as there seem to be some technical problems. It is hoped that a
decision will be made by February.
7. Other Business: It was clarified that the Virtual Reference funding was a four-part
joint initiative, and includes a contribution from OISE.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
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