University Library CommitteeMinutesOctober 11, 1999
PRESENT: Rebecca Dorsey, Jane Gray, Mary Jaeger, Gina Psaki, Leland Roth, Brad Shelton, George Shipman.GUESTS: Deborah Carver, Associate University Library for Public Services & Collections; Mark Watson, Associate University Librarian for Technical Services.The meeting was called to order by Mary Jaeger, convenor, at 3:00 p.m. Introductions followed. As this was the first meeting of the year, there were no minutes to approve.SELECTION OF 99/00 ULC CHAIRMary asked for nominations for the 99//00 University Library Committee chair. A motion was made that Gina Psaki serve as this year's chair; that motion was seconded; all voted in favor. The meeting was then turned over to Gina.BUDGET SUMMARY/DEPARTMENTAL REALLOCATIONSTwo documents were distributed to the committee members: 1) a memo from George Shipman about "Departmental Reallocations" and 2) the 1999/2000 Collections and Access Budget Summary. Shipman explained that the ULC receives a budget summary each fall to endorse, or not endorse. Deb Carver reported that the Library is able to set aside 2% additional funding for books, journals, and electronic resources during this biennium. This augment will allow the library to postpone making any cuts in serials expenditures until the first year of the next biennium - 2001/2002. However, in order to prepare for those cancellations, faculty will need to begin identifying titles during fall '00. Approximately $300,000 must be cut in order to protect the discretionary departmental lines for monographs - maintaining the desired serials/monographs ratio of 75:25. Shipman emphasized this is not a new serials cancellations project, but a continuation of the 95/96 cancellation project. Of the titles identified at that time, about 40% of those titles were cancelled. Faculty will have the opportunity to review the existing list of titles before any cancellations are made. Deb then briefly reviewed the other handout on "departmental reallocations." She stated that the library has identified five lines that consistently under spend their allocations and should be adjusted: Asian Studies, East Asian Languages & Literatures, Education, Library Science and Processing. The decrease to each is very minimal, with the total amount being $4,500. The Library would like to distribute those funds to lines that appear to be under funded: Journalism, Music, Philosophy, Media Services, Environmental Studies, Sociology, Theater Arts, and Anthropology. All agreed that these are very minor cuts and that this may encourage departments to be more active in spending their allocations in the future. Brad Shelton made a motion to endorse the Library's budget summary and departmental reallocation proposals. That motion was seconded; all voted in favor of the motion. ORBIS UPDATE George reported that Oregon State University Library is the 14th institution to join the Orbis consortium, adding 1.5 million items. Requests made through Orbis Borrowing, the self-service materials request system, has grown over 25%, as compared to last year. The prior concerns that there would be an imbalance of UO lending in certain disciplines, e.g. Art History, has been corrected. For those certain areas, when another institution requests an item, the system will only check UO's collection if none of the other member libraries have the item. The question was asked if PSU plans on joining Orbis. George replied that it is not likely, as PSU is a member of the PORTALS consortium.FUTURE AGENDA ITEMSGeorge discussed several issues that the ULC may want to be involved with during the year. First, library development activities. It is hoped that the library can purchase and upgrade furnishings in Knight Library. The cost will be approximately $1.2 million. There are several ways the library hopes to obtain this goal:
Second, the Library has produced a new library publication entitled "FYI." This newsletter is intended to inform faculty about how the Library is enhancing teaching, research, and service. Copies of FYI were distributed. George hopes to publish this newsletter several times throughout the year. The newsletter does a good job of drawing attention to the Library's various websites. He welcomes any comments or suggestions for future issues. The third item George feels is of importance to the ULC and university community is the establishment of the new FITT (Faculty Information Technology Training) Center in Media Services. This center was funded with EdTech monies, in response to expressed faculty needs. The Center provides personal support for faculty in the use of instructional technology and multimedia.This spring, the Library will be upgrading Janus. The new "millennium" system will save the library $50,000/year in maintenance costs. The system will pay for itself in a few years. The Library will need to upgrade a large number of workstations in order to run this new Java-based system. The library will need to look at various ways to fund those new computers.George reported that the Library is experiencing an unusually high turnover in personnel. There are several "frozen" positions that need to be filled, plus several department heads have resigned in recent weeks. He said it is possible that the library may receive 16-17 resignations this year. The ULC is typically involved in the interview process for department head positions. The committee members will be notified and sent copies of candidate itineraries and vitas prior to their visitations.Gina asked the members to let her know what other topics they may want to explore this year. It appears that the best time for this committee to meet during fall term is on Mondays at 3:00 p.m. Sheila Gray will notify the members when the next meeting has been scheduled.The meeting adjourned at 3:50 p.m.Submitted by
Sheila Gray