Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries

Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries
Pyle Center--Madison

February 2, 2009
MINUTES

Present:  Michael Pickart (UW-Stout), Ed Van Gemert (UW-Madison), Patrick Wilkinson (UW-Oshkosh), Kathy Schneider (WILS), Lisa Jewell (UW System), Marlys Brunsting (UW-Green Bay), Joshua Ranger (UW-Oshkosh), Kirsten Houtman (WILS), Dave Van Buren (UW-Platteville), Peter Gottlieb (Wisconsin Historical Society), Jean Gilbertson (UW-Madison), Paula Huff (UW-Extension), Myrna McCallister (UW-Whitewater), Paul Roberts (UW-Stout), Steve Frye (UW-Madison), Richard Reeb (UW-Madison), Ken Frazier (UW-Madison), Anita Evans (UW-LaCrosse), Mark Rozmarynowski (UW-Barron County), Valerie Malzacher (UW-River Falls), John Pollitz (UW-Eau Claire), Ewa Barczyk (UW-Milwaukee), Kathy Davis (UW-Stevens Point), Deb Nordgren (UW-Superior), April Goodwin (UW System), Ed Meachen (UW System), Cat Smith (UW-Madison SLIS), Kathy Pletcher (UW-Green Bay), Peter Gorman (UW-Madison), Dave Luke (UW-Madison), Bill Gillard (UW-Colleges).

Excused:  Vanaja Menon (UW-Parkside), Tony Gulig (UW-Whitewater)

Barczyk called the meeting to order at 10:15 am.

Jean Gilbertson moved/Valerie Malzacher seconded a motion to approve minutes of November 10-11, 2008 and the agenda. Motion carried.

Barczyk made the following announcements:  Dorothea Salo (UW-Madison) will be chair of  the UW System Library annual conference planning committee.  Other members include: along with representatives from each of the Coordinating Committees, Lisa Jewell, John Pollitz & Ewa Barczyk. Please contact Ewa with suggestions for keynote speakers. The conference will run from 10 am-5 pm on the first day, and from 9 am-4 pm on the second day.

We welcomed Kathy Pletcher, Interim Director at UW-Green Bay and Dave Van Buren, Interim Director at UW-Platteville. Both institutions are currently searching for new directors.

Valerie Malzacher had prepared farewell proclamations for John Krogman, leaving UW-Platteville, and Leanne Hansen, retiring from UW-Green Bay. Members signed cards for them.

WILS Board Vacancy
There is a vacancy on the WILS Board from the comprehensives due to the retirement of Leanne Hansen.  David Van Buren/Myrna McCallister moved/seconded the nomination of Patrick Wilkinson to be the representative. Motion carried.

System Report
Ed Meachen described the Common Systems process as a potential approach for funding large UW library automation projects.  In this process, campuses & System require a 3 page template to be completed for campus IT plans.  Each application requires project managers to propose budgets in December for the next fiscal year and beyond.  System groups review and discuss each budget to make recommendations to the Common Systems Review Group.  The Common Systems Review Group forwards their recommendation to Senior Vice President Tom Anderes, Senior Vice President for Administration & Fiscal Affairs. The Chancellors are part of the review process & approve the Common Systems financial plan.  Since there is a plan for two years out, each campus knows the funding amount they need to allocate.  This process is very transparent with a lot of review.  There are potential risks with this level of review but Ed doesn’t anticipate it will be detrimental to our programs and services.  He doesn’t recommend the inclusion of resource sharing part of the Library budget.  The alternate process is the DIN process. The Common Systems process is quite secure once an application or program is part of the common systems plan and can include adjustments to address inflationary needs. CUWL governance would be project manager to put forward the budget requests.  In the discussion of this process it was noted that it would bring the discussion of library budget for automation to a higher level.  However, on each campus there is also a perception that common systems asks for increases that erode the campus budget.  Adding library programs to this mix could be perceived as competition for funds on campus.  Ed noted that the campus contribution would be benign initially.  The Budget Working Group will continue to consider options.

Lisa Jewell distributed, reviewed and answered questions on the current budget.  She noted there are two areas: resource sharing & operations. The Shared Electronic Collections portion doesn’t include the campuses contribution. There was a discussion on Worldcat & Badgercat.  Kathy Schneider noted that the public libraries value Badgercat more than academic libraries.  If UW System dropped this funding support for Badgercat, it’s not likely the public libraries could afford it.  While we value collaboration with the public libraries, CUWL generally feels that ongoing support for Badgercat should be reviewed along with other items in our UW System budget.  Schneider noted that public libraries could make case for DPI to fund their access.  John favors collaboration with publics.  Continued funding of LibQual and iSkills were also discussed. Our budget proposal will be presented at our April meeting.  John Pollitz will lead a committee including Lisa Jewell, Anita Evans, Kathy Pletcher, Ed Van Gemert, Ewa Barczyk.  Jewell reminded us that we need to organize the budget around our strategic initiatives.

WILS Report
Kathy Schneider gave the WILS report.  The WILS/OCLC agreement is nearly finalized.  WILS will continue billing for OCLC and take will take on responsibility for marketing.  Training for Illiad by WILS will continue, WILS will be reimbursed by OCLC for billing and is still negotiating on payment for Illiad training. OCLC will distribute new prices for services in February, not April, and billing will be to libraries by March.  This will let us do better fiscal planning.  The Newsletter is available.  See Your WILS.  OCLC is setting up a review board on it strategic directions.  It appears they are listening to their users.  The effective date of policy changes has been delayed from February to the 3rd quarter of 2009.

Schneider distributed a handout with the results of the WILS survey.  She noted that less staff will be  committed to OCLC after June and they are being redirected. Changes are being piloted.  WILS key goal is to provide a menu of services.  New fees are proposed & there will be a surcharge change.  The new fee will be variable and based on size of institution and services needed by each library.  If libraries only use OCLC there will be no membership fee. WILS is redoing the membership agreement.  Each library needs to determine which services we will use so WILS can plan their capacity.  The changes will be discussed by the WILS Board.  Schneider expects to get the changes and costs out to us by March. WILS is not filling vacancies due to retirement. Other budget impacts due to the changes in OCLC and WILS services are not clear at this time. 

Coordinating Committee Reports

  • Collections and Resource Sharing
    See report submitted by Richard Reeb.  A sub-committee is negotiating with Emerald on its pricing.  Jewell noted that Proquest may also be willing to negotiate. Reeb described the Library Dynamics project.  Studies to date show the optimum number of copies of a monograph needed in the system to meet demand is 3.  The questions this raises is will we change our collection development policies & focus so that we can purchase more in unique areas and also can provide system wide access to regular materials.  It was noted that some libraries current do not order if they find 3 copies in the System.  The commercial document delivery service balance was discussed.  Pat Wilkinson/John Pollitz moved/seconded that Milwaukee be allowed to participate in the expanded commercial document delivery service.  Motion carried.  Anita Evans/Kathy Pletcher moved/seconded that $10,000 of document delivery funds be moved to support projected overage for British Lending Library access.  Motion carried.  Library directors will tell their ILL staff that articles from Elsevier and Wiley/Blackwell journals should be bought directly from those publishers rather than buying them through higher-priced commercial document delivery suppliers.
  • Digital Initiatives
    See report submitted by Josh Ranger, including the UWDCC/Minds current budget.  Peter Gorman noted use is increasing.  More of their projects are primary resources since Google is doing books.  Madison will continue to have a digital service & repository.  If there is a System cut in their portion of support, then there may be other funding models implemented including some cost recovery from institutions.  The platform for UWDCC & Minds are no longer as distinct but blending into one service. Currently 10 campuses are contributing or actively using Minds. Gorman was asked to provide more details on actual use & contributions. While not the original model, library staff,  not faculty, are populating Minds. It was noted that this is an alternate model of publishing that may be more sustainable than the SEC which is comprised of commercial products with annual price increases.  A question was raised about a revenue stream, should there be a user fee?

LibQual Analysis
Nola Walker presented the LibQual analysis. Some generalizations were shared in the executive report.

Coordinatoring Committee reports continued
The Coordinating Committee reports continued with Maryls Brunsting reporting for the Library Technology CC.  There was no time for discussion.

Steve Frye shared a reports from the User Services CC. A separate report on the metalib quick search assessment was also distributed.  More discussion of these is needed and will be planned for the next CUWL meeting.

Library DIN Update
Ed Van Gemert reported on the UWS DIN.  We will know more next week when the Governor announces his state budget and the status of the DIN may be more clear.  Ed noted the DIN had lots of support; we told the right story; the multimedia worked; and we established some important political alliances outside the library that are crucial & influential.  Assessment of the process is necessary.  Ed thanked everyone for their help.  He also noted that the Wisconsin research fellows pilot with Madison & Oshkosh is going well.  They expect to continue with application process with a finite access time, likely to be 2 years. 

Kathy Pletcher shared thoughts on working with legislators for tomorrow’s WLA Legislative Day.  Ed added that the bottom line message for legislators is to ask for support of the UW System budget.  It’s imperative that we continue to be positive and prepare for the upturn. Directors will provide leadership and work collaboratively.

Taskforce on Assessment of New Committee Structure
Valerie Malzacher gave an update from the CUWL Taskforce working on assessment of the new committee structure.  She distributed draft questions and noted potential groups to receive the survey.  She asked directors to encourage their staff to participate.  The Task Force expects to have a report by our summer meeting.

Strategic plan report for 2007/08
Jean Gilbertson began the discussion. We realized we need to prepare for our meeting with Rebecca Martin, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.  A brief report will be prepared for her.  The report will focus on budget priorities.  The Executive Committee will continue to discuss strategy before the scheduled meeting

Next Meeting
The Spring CUWL meeting will be in Stevens Point in April.  Ewa will work with Kathy Davis to finalize a date.

In addition to further discussion of the Coordinating Committee reports the agenda will include:
Report from Task Force on New Committee Structure (Malzacher)
Budget
Federal depository consolidation and electronic access
Metalib Assessment report
Records management
Slate of candidates for Chair-Elect, Secretary
Appointments of Coordinating Committee members
OCLC Changes (Wilkinson)

The meeting adjourned at 5 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Deb Nordgren, Secretary