University Library Committee Minutes
January 22, 2003

Present: S.E. Bell, H. Canon, J. Langlois, R. Mattingly, A. Goodman, Chair
B. Lessin, L. Sutton, S. Yee

The meeting was called to order by Chair, A. Goodman. Minutes of the December 4, 2002 meeting were approved on a motion by R. Mattingly and seconded by S. E. Bell.

Scholarly Communication Issues: A. Goodman will take the alternative copyright form to the AAUP and Academic Senate and committee members will also share it with departments. He distributed an analysis from the Journal of Housing Economics on full-text usage in IDEAL and Science Direct. H. Canon is interested in hearing more about the Libraries’ idea for an institutional repository and possibly collaborating on a paper discussing distribution of pre-publication materials. B. Lessin will attend sessions on scholarly communications topics at the upcoming Midwinter Conference of the American Library Association and report back to the committee.

Dean Yee distributed the University Libraries Strategic Directions for committee feedback. Members expressed appreciation for customer service being the top priority. B. Lessin pointed out that the LibQUAL study helped to identify customer service priorities for performance. H. Canon inquired on the place of outreach in the broader community. Dean Yee emphasized that resource sharing continues to be a priority. J. Langlois observed that the English Department’s emphasis on digital literacy fit in well with the priority on digital library resources and services.
Dean Yee reported on the positions lost in the university budget reductions this fall. The acquisitions budget has not yet been reduced and, in fact, received a modest increase in this fiscal year.

Computer/technology issues: Dean Yee reported that the Libraries have a policy and plan to replace public and staff computers on a three year cycle, but do not have stable funding to implement the plan every year. Supplemental funds have come from the Omnibus fund and proposals are due soon for this year’s Omnibus cycle. H. Canon expressed interest in a proposal for wireless and PDA technology. Recent abuses in peer-to-peer file sharing have prompted C&IT to form a group to look at these issues, in which the Libraries will participate.

The next meeting of the University Library Committee will take place onWednesday, February 26 from 10:30 am -12:00 pm.

Notes by
L. Sutton