The Virtual Library of Virginia
Steering Committee Meeting
Thursday, November 6, 1997
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
MINUTES
ATTENDANCE: Present: Theresa Byrd, Gene Damon, Linda Farynk, Jean Major, Connie
Kearns McCarthy, Barbara Miller, John Walsh, and Karin Wittenborg. Also Present: John Duke
(VCU) and Kathy Perry (VIVA). Absent: Barbara Ford, Eileen Hitchingham, John Jaffe, Roy
Strohl, and Elsie Stephens Weatherington
I. MINUTES
The minutes of the September 18th meeting were approved.
II. PROJECT UPDATE
A. Chair's Report
1. Theresa welcomed Connie Kearns McCarthy (Dean of University Libraries at the College of
William and Mary) and thanked both Paul Metz for his work as interim Collections Committee
chair and John Haskell for his work representing the College of William and Mary over the past
several months.
2. Theresa reported that the VIVA biennial proposal is moving along. Peter Blake had told her
that the State Council endorsed it and it will next be considered for inclusion in the Governor's
budget.
3. Theresa reported on the second Consortium of Consortia (COC2) meeting held September 2224 in Chicago. Eileen Hitchingham, Kathy Perry, and Theresa Byrd represented VIVA at this
meeting. Kathy distributed a summary of the presentations. To subscribe to the COC listserv,
send a "subscribe CONSORT <your name>" message to: listproc@ohiolink.edu
4. Theresa reported that she will begin visiting the committees, and that she and Kathy will visit
the Special Collections Committee first.
5. The meeting with the independent schools is scheduled to take place November 25. SCHEV
will be represented by Peter Blake and Carol Pfeiffer; the independent schools will be
represented by John Jaffe and Bob Lambeth; and VIVA will be represented by Eileen
Hitchingham, Roy Strohl, Kathy Perry and Theresa Byrd.
6. Theresa followed up on the discussion about communication with the various constituent
groups within VIVA. The Steering Committee decided to try sending out "headlines" following
each meeting to give the institutions an early alert on key items such as renewals or new
collections to be approved for purchase, workshops approved for further planning (particularly
those not already announced on the listserv), or other items of general interest. It was agreed that
this would not preclude any individual or committee from sending other notices to the listserv at
any time.
ACTION: Kathy will send out "headlines" following each Steering Committee meeting to report
1-3 items of immediate interest to the VIVA community. The Steering Committee will consider
this a "pilot" test and will review its effectiveness throughout the year.
7. Theresa reported that Linda Farynk agreed to chair the Organization Committee for VIVA.
B. Relationship with the Library of Virginia (Gene Damon)
Gene reported that the VIVA subcommittee (Roy Strohl, Elsie Stephens Weatherington, Kathy
Perry and Gene) met with representatives of the Library of Virginia (Nelson Worley, Elizabeth
Roderick, Kip Campbell, and Audrey Kelly) in Richmond on October 22. Theresa reminded the
Steering Committee that the purpose of the joint committee is to explore the possibility of
inviting the Library of Virginia to join VIVA as an institutional research member. The next
meeting of this joint committee is scheduled to take place November 20 in Richmond.
ACTION: The Steering Committee reaffirmed its intention to explore the Library of Virginia's
association with VIVA as an institutional research associate.
C. Project Update (Kathy Perry)
1. The Virginia Physics Consortium has requested inclusion in VIVA.
ACTION: Kathy will do further research on The Jefferson Laboratory of the Virginia Physics
Consortium.
2. Kathy presented a proposal on behalf of JMU to move the signature authority on the VIVA
Collections budget for Purchase Requisitions to the JMU Procurements Office. Kathy reported
that although the past system had worked very well, given Dennis Robison's imminent retirement
(November 14) and Barbara Miller's retirement in June, a change is necessary. She
recommended that in the interest of efficiency, VIVA work with the JMU Procurement Office to
handle this added function at least through June 30. It was understood that the JMU Procurement
Office might require additional resources to continue this added responsibility beyond June 30.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the recommendation that effective immediately,
JMU's signature power for the VIVA Collections Budget be moved to the JMU Procurement
Office. This will be effective through at least June 30, 1998.
3. Staffing: Kathy reported that GMU agreed to subsidize an additional 10 hours/week of wages
staffing for VIVA central support. This has allowed her to hire Ann Nolan as wages staff for 30
hours/week. Ann is in a transition now and will increase her current 10-15 hours/week to 30
hours/week within the month.
4. Mailings: Kathy reported that the "ACT!" database now has 375 names of VIVA contacts and
is being used to produce mailing labels.
a. Poster inserts were mailed to the User Services representatives on October 10.
b. The ILL allocation letters were mailed to the Library Directors at public institutions on
October 15.
c. The 1996-97 Cost Savings and Value Added Survey was mailed to the Collection
Development Contacts (with a letter from Theresa Byrd to the Library Directors) on October 15.
Fifteen responses have been received to date.
d. The Academic Press IDEAL bill was sent on November 3 to the Collection Development
representatives at the 20 libraries holding Academic Press print collections, with a copy to the
Library Directors.
e. The VIVA brochure has been received and samples were available at the meeting for the
Steering Committee members. Copies will be mailed to Library Directors at the public and
private institutions within the next week. The distribution is based upon double the number of
full-time faculty members reported in 1994-95 SCHEV Fact Book.
5. Listservs: The Steering Committee listserv has been brought up to date and the VIVA listserv
(VAVIRTUA-L) now has 377 subscribers, including a few vendors and out-of-state readers.
6. Statistics: There has been some success with our statistics - OCLC now provides statistics that
can be used to bill the private institutions for their use and that billing will be on a regular
quarterly basis. All vendors have been asked to provide statistics. We now have some statistics
on our MathSciNet use, but they are not in an acceptable format. Also, Johns Hopkins wants to
reduce the statistical reports provided from a quarterly to a biannual basis. Conversations are
continuing with the vendors on statistics. Those statistics that are sent via email, are forwarded to
the collections development and the user services contacts at each site.
7. Web Update: Kathy reported that she has updated the "About VIVA" section, including the
committee members and added the VIVA Fact Sheet and the Travel memo.
8. Notebook materials: Kathy distributed revised materials for the Steering Committee
notebooks, including the Fact Sheet (11/3), ListServ instructions; Financial Benefits
($15,644,106 as of 10/31/97); Collections Budget; Procurement Pending, and revised committee
lists.
III. COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Organization Committee (Linda Farynk)
1. The Organization Committee recommended that VIVA's "Recommendations for Organization
Structure" be revised to reflect the fact that Publicity is now a subcommittee under the User
Services Committee.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the Organization Committee's recommendation
that VIVA's "Recommendations for Organization Structure (Adopted by VIVA Steering
Committee, March 6, 1997)" be revised to reflect the fact that the Publicity Committee is now a
subcommittee of the User Services Committee, rather than a standing committee. (See
Attachment 1) Kathy will add these to the "About VIVA" section of the VIVA web site.
2. The Organization Committee recommended the VIVA Steering Committee state its preference
that individuals making special reports to the Steering Committee attend only that portion of the
meeting.
ACTION: The Steering Committee voted against the Organization Committee's
recommendation to state VIVA's preference that individuals attending the Steering Committee
for the purpose of making a special report would leave the Steering Committee at the conclusion
of their report.
3. The Organization Committee recommended that VIVA increase membership of the Special
Collections Committee to include one representative from the independent institutions and one
representative from the comprehensive institutions. The Steering Committee discussed whether
or not this might require reallocating the funds to these institutions. It is understood that the
VIVA funds would not be reallocated to the independent institutions, but that if the VIVA
project would be enhanced by including resources held at any of the public comprehensive
schools, the committee could reallocate funds to allow those institutions to participate.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the Organization Committee's recommendation to
add one representative from the independent schools and one representative from the
comprehensive schools to the Special Collections Committee.
B. User Services Committee (Jean Major)
1. VIVA Users Group Meeting: Jean reported that over 75 people attended the first VIVA Users
Group Meeting held in conjunction with the VLA and requested feedback. The Steering
Committee voiced support for the concept and thanked the committee for its work.
2. VIVA Video: Jean reported that the Publicity Committee had been working on the VIVA
video. In light of the fact that only $4,500 in vendor support was committed to the total estimated
budget of $12,000, the Publicity Committee requested that the Steering Committee reconsider
whether the video should be pursued. Jean presented pricing for a slide presentation alternative
that was estimated to cost no more than $1,000.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the User Services recommendation that they
change the format for the publicity video and instead prepare slides and/or a PowerPoint
presentation appropriate for presentations to lay groups.
3. Jean reported that OCLC had approved the use of a special authorization and password for the
FirstSearch training. This answers a long-standing request by VIVA user services librarians to
have easier access to the FirstSearch databases for bibliographic instruction sessions. VIVA
librarians will be asked to report their use of this training method. Jane Schillie and John Duke
are working out the format for the secured web access where monthly FirstSearch training
passwords will be posted and will post instructions to the VIVA listserv when it is ready.
C. Technical Issues (John Duke)
1. The Technical Issues Committee has prepared a chart about each VIVA vendor which
includes information such as their web page, their support desk telephone number, and the VIVA
TIC representative assigned to each. Kathy requested that the other members of the "Resource
Management Team" for each VIVA vendor be added to the chart.
ACTION: John Duke will add the contact information for the Collections Committee
representatives and the User Services Committee representatives assigned to each vendor to the
web chart of "Electronic Collection Vendors and Getting Help".
2. The VIVA Workshop on User Authentication is scheduled to take place Tuesday, December
9, 9:30 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. at VCU. The notice has been posted to the VIVA listserv.
D. Collections Committee (Connie Kearns McCarthy)
1. Connie reported that she will be briefed on November 12 by Paul Metz, Carol Pfeiffer, and
Kathy Perry. The full Collections Committee will meet on November 24.
2. Kathy reported on the final pricing for the previously approved renewals: Cambridge
Scientific Abstracts, GaleNet, MathSciNet, and Project Muse. All of these have been sent
forward to JMU Procurement.
3. Kathy presented the Collections Committee's recommendation for the Britannica Online
renewal (beginning 2/1/98). Pricing is based upon total FTE and we are currently waiting for the
SCHEV report on public institutions' actual FTE for the 1996-97 year.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the Collections Committee's recommendation to
renew Britannica Online for the period beginning 2/1/98, subject to successful negotiations.
4. The Steering Committee discussed the question raised at the VIVA User Services Meeting and
the recent listserv discussions about VIVA's cancellation of MLA. The Steering Committee
decided that VIVA needs to officially inform MLA and the VIVA community that the reason
VIVA did not renew our subscription to MLA was that we received an extremely large increase
in price.
ACTION: John Walsh will prepare a statement of VIVA's MLA pricing history and Theresa
Byrd and Kathy Perry will prepare a letter for MLA.
D. Special Collections (Theresa Byrd)
In Elsie's absence, Theresa reported that the Special Collections Committee has met. In addition
to their other continuing work, they were reviewing the Archives USA product.
IV. OTHER
A. Collections Development Workshop: On behalf of the original planning committee (Carol
Pfeiffer and Chris Millson-Martula for the Collections Committee and Liz Hamilton and Theresa
Byrd for the User Services Committee), Theresa presented a proposal for the joint CollectionsUser Services workshop on Collections Development, tentatively scheduled for spring 1998. The
intended audience will be collection development and user services librarians. Since VIVA travel
and training funds appear to be tight, the planning committee will look at ways to reduce the
workshop costs, including the possibility of some cost sharing by participating institutions.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the preliminary plans for the VIVA Collection
Development Workshop, tentatively scheduled for spring 1998.
B. Consortium of Consortia Meeting: Kathy reported that the CoC group is currently planning
the next meeting, possibly in Atlanta in February.
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved the concept of continued involvement in the
Consortium of Consortia meetings.
C. The next VIVA Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 4, at Blue
Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, to be followed the next day by the SCHEV Library
Advisory Council meeting.
Attachment 1
VIVA
The Virtual Library of Virginia
Recommendations for Organization Structure
Revised and Adopted by VIVA Steering Committee, November 6, 1997
To fulfill its charge, the Organization Committee has reviewed VIVA's organization structure
after asking for and receiving comments from both the Steering Committee and the SCHEVLibrary Advisory Council (LAC).
The Committee makes the following recommendations:
VIVA COMMITTEES
STEERING COMMITTEE
1. Keep the representation as it is presently: 6 doctorals; 3 comprehensives; 2 community
colleges; 1 private institution; and the chair of LAC (ex-officio).
2. All members, except the doctorals whose directors are permanent members, serve two-year
terms.
3. The comprehensives, community colleges and private institutions are responsible for naming
their representatives in whatever manner they deem appropriate. It is recommended that they
select new members to begin terms July 1 and that the rotation of new members be staggered so
that not all members change in any given year.
4. The chair, who must be a member of the SCHEV-Library Advisory Council at the time of
election, also serves a two year term beginning July 1.
5. The chair is elected by the Steering Committee from the membership of the Steering
Committee after receiving a report from the Nominations Committee (see below) at the spring
meeting (usually June).
OTHER COMMITTEES
A. Appointments
1. VIVA Standing Committees are: Steering; Collections; Interlibrary Loan; Special Collections;
Technical Issues; and Users Services.
2. Each standing committee shall include at least one member of the Steering Committee.
3. Chairs of all VIVA standing committees reporting to the Steering Committee are appointed by
the chair of the Steering Committee for two-year terms. In order to preserve continuity and
ensure that no more than ½ of the VIVA chairs rotate off in any one year, the Steering
Committee should stagger appointments of new committee chairs.
4. Chairs of VIVA committees, with the advice and consent of the Steering Committee, will
appoint the members needed to carry out the work of their respective committees. In so doing,
the representation established for each committee by the Steering Committee will be maintained.
5. Chairs of VIVA committees will be responsible for appointing members to staggered two-year
terms in order to provide continuity. No more than ½ of the committee should rotate off in any
one year.
6. Subcommittees may be appointed by the chairs of VIVA committees with the concurrence of
the VIVA Steering Committee.
7. Chairs shall determine the frequency of committee meetings.
B. Nomination Committee (ad hoc)
1. Every two years, in the spring, the outgoing VIVA Steering Committee chair will appoint a
three-person nominating committee to recommend the next chair who will serve for a two-year
term beginning July 1.
2. In the event of an unexpected vacancy in the Steering Committee chair position, a nomination
committee will be appointed to recommend a chair to fill out the remaining period of the term