DRAFT

 

Minutes

Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries

February 3, 2003

Pyle Center, UW-Madison

 

Present:  Robert Rose (Chair), Arne Arneson, Christina Baum, Jim Bredeson, Lorie Docken, Anita Evans, Ken Frazier, Chris Goss, Peter Gottlieb, Kenneth Grant, Anthony Gulig, Leanne Hansen, Joyce Huang, John Krogman, Ed Meachen, Paul Moriarty, Tom Murray, Kathy Schneider, Peter Watson-Boone.  Guests:  Janice Bogstad, Nolan Pope, Tom Stafford, Tyler Steben, Ed Van Gemert

 

Chair Rose called the meeting to order at 10:00am.  Announcements and adjustment to the agenda were made.  An updated roster was distributed.  Hearing no corrections to the previous minutes of November 11^th, November 12^th, and December 18^th as distributed, they were declared approved.

 

UW System/OLIT Update

Meachen discussed an update on the RFP process for course management software.  Campus demonstrations were arranged for Blackboard,

Web CT

, Desire to Learn, and Granada.  Flexibility and adherence to emerging standards are being considered in evaluating these products.  Library resources should be included as part of the content to be managed.  An RFP for the utility to run this software is also out.  The hope is to have the new software in place for fall semester 2003.  The level of participation for librarians in transitioning to a different content/course management platform has yet to be determined; it may vary depending on which product is selected.  Developing a learning module for faculty, with help from the Academic Co-Lab, might be one means for involvement.  A decision on the course management software should be made by the end of February.

 

CDC Report/Faxon

Stafford, UW System legal counsel, reviewed the Faxon situation describing it as “murky” with the bankruptcy proceedings and the pending EBSCO intent to purchase.   Those libraries involved will receive a proof of claim that should be forwarded to Docken or Stafford.  Docken, Lori Voss of UWS Procurement, and Stafford planned to meet with a representative of the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office the following day and said a report from that session would be made to CUWL and CDC.   The libraries involved have stopped payments to Faxon and are experiencing approaches from other vendors and/or publishers.  Some publishers are gracing their titles for a limited time.  Stafford said that having vendor contracts in the future would make responsibilities for each party more clear.  Docken said the CDC would work with Voss on that.

 

CIC Report

Bogstad reported for the CDC.  Recommendations for renewals or cancellations will be brought to the spring CUWL meeting to consider. Docken stated that there would likely be no carry over of funds as there have been in past years.  Between $100,000 and $115,000 in unallocated UW System automation funding remains, which the CDC would like to use for a one-time purchase of an electronic resource.  A list of suggestions was developed to which CUWL members can add.  They asked that a CDC task force be appointed to look at procurement options in light of the Faxon situation.  Two studies are ongoing, one on journal title overlap and another on the benefits of Universal Borrowing.    Murray asked whether cutting the American Chemical Society collection was considered now.  Docken suggested the CDC begin that investigation, considering the accreditation need for that source on some campuses.  A discussion on collaborative collection decisions made for the good of the system or the good of the local campus ensued.  Watson-Boone inquired about the CDC stance within the larger state e-book consortium.  Docken replied that there is some discrepancy since the CDC would like to decrease their funding amount for e-books.  In summary, the CUWL Executive Committee will appoint a task force to work with Voss on serial procurements; decisions on recommendations for the use of the unallocated system automation dollars will be made at the next meeting; and the CDC should continue to work on the journal overlap and UB studies.

 

Budget Updates

Goss reported that budget information was pending until Governor Doyle’s speech on February 18^th.  The library request for cost-to-continue increases was not expected to be included.  Meachen stated that the cuts already made this year were recisions, but next year’s cuts would be base budget.  While it was not known what percentages the cuts might be, Goss said UW System was planning for 5%.  Meachen said it would depend on how much tuition could increase.

 

WiLS Report

Schneider said the Virtual Reference Consortium planned to go live on February 10^th with all but four of the UW System libraries participating.  The hours of 1pm to 9pm weekdays will be covered with one academic and one public library for each hour of coverage.  The Consortium was developing a list of common electronic resources to be used with respect to licensing restrictions.  Schneider mentioned that the problem with BookWhere was now resolved.  In response to requests, they removed UW System libraries from their list of databases available for harvesting MARC records.  Endeavor said the Voyager system cannot currently prevent this activity, but they are working on it.  The OCLC Member Council plans to approach each library system vendor about this problem.  WiLS was ready with ILLiad as of February 1^st.  Two digitization workshops by OCLC were already held and two more are planned for this year.

 

CUWL Operating Procedures Change

The motion was to change operating procedures to allow a three-year term rather than a four-year term for faculty representatives.  After discussion of the merits of each term, the motion was defeated.  The faculty terms will remain at four years.  During the discussion, it was recommended that new faculty members could be assisted by talking to other faculty representatives or by having an orientation.

 

Break for lunch  12:20pm – 1:20pm

XanEdu

Tyler Steben, the Vice President/Publisher of XanEdu, gave a presentation of his product and answered questions from the group.  They publish custom collections of material that can be delivered in various formats.  For instance, they provide coursepacks to bookstores.  Steben identified possible areas of support to libraries as e-reserves, copyright clearance, document delivery, and distance learning.  CUWL members continued the discussion after Steben left.  The consensus was that XanEdu duplicates what libraries already do with materials we may have already purchased.

 

Historical Society’s Library-Archives Study

Gottlieb discussed the study that was done for the state historical society’s library and archives.  Their Board meets on February 15^th to discuss and vote on the recommendations.  Copies of the study will be sent to each UW System library.  One of the recommendations is to strengthen the partnership between the historical society and the UW Madison libraries.  Details would be developed if the concept would be approved.  Storage and staffing were also cited as concerns in the study.  There would be no changes with the AreaResearchCenter partnerships.  Several directors cited the need for off-site storage.  Docken said we have the tools (ILLiad, Universal Borrowing, van delivery service) in place to make an off-site storage facility feasible.

 

Break 2:55pm / Resumed 3:10pm

 

ILLiad Implementation Status Report

Moriarty reviewed ILLiad implementation schedules.  On January 13^th UW Milwaukee was the first library to go live.  All libraries plan to go live, at least partially, by the end of February.  There were some patron database problems that delayed some campuses.  The document delivery portion of the software should be available soon.  Procedures and cost recovery charges need to be determined.

 

Digital Library Advisory Committee/UWDC

Pope, reporting for Wilkinson, distributed handouts for the Committee.  They need guidance on the types of projects to fund.  Directors were encouraged to work with their faculty and staff to develop projects.  Grouping some digital collections would create a combined value.  Institutional history for each campus would be one possibility and would allow each campus to participate.  CUWL informally agreed that this would be a good project to do.  Gottlieb raised the issue of “fee vs. free.”  The Wisconsin Historical Society charges for digital objects while this Committee opts for free access.  Pope responded that to date the Committee preferred free, open access because the quality of image reproduction through this site isn’t good.  High quality images are available from the owning library for a possible fee.  The Committee was not looking at software that would allow passwords or charges.  Frazier commented that the purpose of this project was to use public money on public documents for public access.  An e-commerce model would be needed to create a revenue stream.  Docken said that funding for these projects would be at risk, even though UW Madison has helped to support it with personnel and dollars.  She encouraged the continued focus on teaching and learning.  These projects create a good public relations tool, verified by Pope’s statement that usage of the site is high.  CUWL agreed with the report and the addition of institutional history as a project.

 

Digital Objects Repository

Docken and Rose started writing a charge for a task force to explore a digital objects repository that was not yet completed.  UW Madison is experimenting with D-Space as a means to learn this type of software.  Other campuses are welcomed to bring in objects as well.  Pope offered to answer questions about the software as they get a better handle on it.  Gulig said that a model would be needed to get faculty to contribute since they are protective of their teaching materials.  Pope suggested some definition of appropriate materials would help.  Gulig wondered whether or not objects would be peer reviewed.  Rose suggested and the group agreed that formation of the task force would be delayed until a better understanding of the process and the software can be achieved.

 

One Search Software

Docken proposed a task force be developed and charged to look at products for federated searching.  UW Madison had demonstrations this past fall and remains interested.  Voss suggested we investigate the software and develop a procurement process.  Docken said the other component is linking software.  She suggested having a system-wide general demonstration day on March 4th to look at the products.  Van Gemert encouraged CUWL to support this since these capabilities will help students find information in a more direct and complete way.  CUWL agreed to form the task force with the composition Docken suggested.

 

USA Patriot Act

Rose reminded members that we agreed to share local policies regarding the USA Patriot Act on the CUWL listserv.  Hansen reported that at the recent Midwinter meeting, ALA Council passed a resolution, that among other things, asks the US Congress to amend the sections of the act pertaining to libraries.  She circulated a copy of the resolution for members to read.

 

Miscellaneous Items

• The group discussed an appropriate message for Library Legislative Day.
• At the GreenLake meeting it was suggested that CUWL have some sharing sessions at meetings.  After discussing whether sharing should be thematic or open, the group agreed that there needed to be some structure using time limits.
• Richard Grobschmidt is the new assistant state superintendent.  CUWL agreed that Rose will write a letter of welcome and invite him to our next meeting.
• The next meeting will be at UW Milwaukee on April 1, 2003.

 

The meeting adjourned at 4:55pm.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Leanne Hansen

CUWL Secretary