Coordinating Committees
CUWL CRS Coordinating Committee
Conference Call, Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Present: Ewa Barczak, Ron Hardy, Karen Jander, John Jax, Lee Konrad, Richard Reeb, Tom Reich, Mary Rieder, Kathy Schneider
Excused Absent: Lisa Jewell, Dina Kaye, Lisa Pillow
Chair Richard Reeb called the meeting to order at 8:50 AM.
The committee approved the 4/2/08 conference call minutes as prepared by Tom Reich with one change. Tom will send them to Karen Dunn to post on the CUWL Website.
Highlights of CUWL meeting in Green Lake
Richard and Ewa reported on the CUWL meeting in Green Lake on April 21-22. Ewa was elected incoming Chair of CUWL. Kathy Schneider was asked about the future of the relationship between WiLS and OCLC. At this point they don’t know what is going to happen to the relationship, but she assured that WiLS’ interlibrary loan and cooperative purchasing operations would continue as is no matter what happens as they are functionally distinct from the OCLC operations. They will be sending out a survey to library directors and OCLC contacts and other interested parties on the general directions we would like to see WiLS go in. Nothing will be changing for the upcoming fiscal year. Any changes would happen next year.
Summer Conference
Richard reported that much planning for the conference has been going on. The program is out and there will probably be between 140 and 170 attendees. A survey of attendees will be sent out soon to determine preliminary room assignments. The response to the conference has been positive so far. Richard was asked why the Double Tree Hotel is not on the hotel list for the conference on the wiki. He will find out from Steve Frye if it can be added.
Extending access to password-protected document to CDC members
Richard and Karen talked about the CDC having the login to the password-protected portion of CRS’ wiki page. CDC members would like access so that they can see the list of databases compiled in support of the 2009-11 DIN proposal, as well as the latest versions of the complete Shared Electronic Collection budget spreadsheet. This area can then also be used to communicate other proprietary information to CDC members. The committee members agreed that this would be a good idea. Karen will send the password out to the current CDC members, not to the mailing list because it appears that many past members and others are still on the list. Richard will contact Lisa J. about posting the current SEC budget with past expenditure amounts included. Karen and Richard felt that the data on the budget sheet also needs updating of current database names and they would like to see a spreadsheet version of the budget posted rather than a PDF. Richard will talk to Lisa about these issues.
Update on CDC & CRS working groups
Karen reported that at the last CDC meeting there was a Library Dynamics introduction given by Howard Harris, the summer database renewals were approved, and the Emerald renewal situation was discussed. There are issues with it because the quote given by the vendor was for a larger package than UW System wanted and there have been access problems with it. Cheryl Bradley of WiLS spoke to the CDC. It was very enlightening as many members did not realize how many databases were licensed through larger WiLS groups. There is a possibility that System could join the WiLS CINAHL group to lower our price. Cheryl will be getting a quote. Purchasing by the larger WiLS group carries more weight with vendors than System alone. There was a discussion of the new CUWL committee structure. It was mentioned that CRS agendas should be sent out sooner so that CDC members can provide feedback on items to be discussed. Richard noted that the CDC has historically had problems receiving usage data in a timely manner and that we’ve been in a transition period because of many changes in staffing. Lisa J. is new and still learning; Susan Barribeau of Madison has transferred to a different position and is no longer working as closely with e-resource licenses; Chris Kline of Madison is now doing more of this work. We have different players now and their strengths will improve as everyone settles in.
Richard stated that the Library Dynamics Working Group chaired by Joan Robb of Green Bay would be meeting in Madison this coming Thursday for a Webinar and in-depth training. Joan, Richard and several other Madison staff members met with Howard Harris and Mark Foster, a DoIT staff member, about development of the Library Dynamics product for serials and e-resources usage and purchasing data. Howard has been told that there is a need for more frequent updating of the data and he is going to work on that.
Mary reported that the Universal Borrowing Working Group is preparing four documents as part of its report back to CRS. These documents will address the three issues they were specifically asked to make recommendations on, show current UB settings as compared to past CUWL recommendations, give recommended standardized UB settings, and show which item types UB is allowed on for each UW library. These documents will ideally be posted on the CUWL wiki and website. She asked, because of the timing of the reporting date to CRS (June 1) and the dates of the Summer Conference (June 3 and 4), if it would be alright with the CRS committee members if the UB report be simultaneously sent to CRS as well as the CUWLCRS, CUWLTECH, and UB mailing lists to allow people time to read and think about the documents before the UB Roundtable discussion on June 3 so that they can be modified based upon feedback, if need be, before the July CUWL meeting. The committee agreed. Mary noted that several issues have come up in the UB Working Group’s discussions. Several people reported to the group that their Directors did not pass the past UB recommendations on to their staffs. Ewa said that sometimes the Directors don’t realize that information hasn’t gone to their staff, or that people are interpreting recommendations differently. Other issues identified were whether or not UB policies and local policies should be standardized to make things less confusing for patrons, and if there was any enforcement of the recommendations that were being made. Ewa and Kathy agreed that CUWL should discuss these issues.
Richard said that the original RFP working group for the primary book vendor contract, Kim Bartosz, Diane Osborne, Joan Robb, Mary Rieder and himself, will be working this month to come up with criteria for evaluation of Blackwell and to see if System’s targeted spending goal is going to be met.
Revise and/or approve draft charge for ERM Working Group
The draft charge to the Working Group is:
The Working Group will conduct a needs assessment for an electronic resources management (ERM) system and to what extent our needs can be met either by one of the primary vendor-based systems in the marketplace or by a less elaborate, locally developed database. The advantages and disadvantages of a systemwide vs. campus-level ERM solution should also be examined. If the committee concludes that procurement of an existing ERM system is the preferred systemwide solution, they may wish, through will not be expected, to recommend a specific product.
Suggested committee members are Michele McKnelly (River Falls), Chris Kline (Madison), Karen Jander (Milwaukee), Sharon Knight (Whitewater), and Galadriel Chilton (La Crosse).
Richard was informed that Galadriel is, or will be soon, going on an extended maternity leave. Chris Kline is willing to Chair this group. Marlys Brunsting, Chair of LTCC, says that that group is willing to assist with reviewing ERM products. It was suggested that perhaps a LAM should be on the committee and Bill Doering of La Crosse was recommended since he has already developed a local ERM system. John will ask him if he would be interested. The timeline for this group to report back to CRS was discussed. Since this charge is not urgent, an end of the calendar year due date will be set. The charge was approved by CRS and Richard will send it to the working group members.
System funds for document delivery project (excludes Madison and Milwaukee) for FY09: Discuss/clarify how the funds will be distributed under the cost-sharing model
An extended discussion ensued about the use of these funds and how to distribute them. Ron, Chair of the Working Group for this project, said that their assumption had been that if a campus uses the document delivery the System funds would pay for half of the transaction and the library would be billed by someone for the other half. Kathy and Ewa did not like the billing idea as it would add another level of complexity to the process. The group agreed that a clear policy for FY09 is needed. Science Direct and Wiley usage has been lower than expected. Several libraries have asked if the funds can be used for student requests, too. Kathy felt that the funds were intended to build a pot of money for faculty research. She thinks it should also be used for British Library and CISTI requests. It was asked what the guidelines for the British Library and CISTI funds currently supplied by System were. Should Lisa J. be asked for clarification? Ewa said that those funds were supposed to be for faculty, but they’re not really restricted. If the new money is put in with the British Library and CISTI funds, how will Milwaukee and Madison be separated out? Kathy said that the British Library invoices are very detailed so the money could be separated fairly easily. It was asked if the campuses should be surveyed about other vendors to add to the project? Less than $10,000 has been spent so far with Wiley and Science Direct because the project got started so late. Ewa suggested keeping the period for spending the funds without a library match open until the initial $40,000 is spent. The group agrees. Kathy asked if the money can be put into one pot and used for all four vendors in FY09? Ewa didn’t feel that the usage with match was mandated and that the British Library/CISTI project has worked itself out. Kathy said that our recommendations need to go back to CUWL. In System’s view the match is politically important. Richard feels we should extend the $40,000 trial out to the end of the calendar year and survey the Directors and/or the ILL staffs about what other vendors to add. The recommendation should come from Ron’s Working Group to CUWL for their July meeting and that his group should survey before then. If it’s not mandatory that libraries participate in the match, they can opt out. Ron will get his group back together to do this.
Other business, questions, comments, suggestions
Jackie Crinion from Madison has been added to the Serials Bid Working Group.
Next conference call: July 2 or 9. Richard will be in touch.
Meeting adjourned at 10:00 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary du jour, Mary Rieder, UW Colleges