§ SAALCK Directors' Council Meeting
11:30 a.m., October 11, 2002
Louisville, KY
- Present:
- Lee Van Orsdel, EKU (Chair), Arne Almquist, NKU; Larry Besant, Morehead; Mike Binder, WKU; Janet Brewer, Murray; Mary Molinaro, UK; Hannelore Rader, U of L
- Absent:
- K. McDaniel, KSU, Larry Rees, KCTCS
- Minutes of September 5th Meeting: Accepted as presented.
- HarpWeek Update:
- The Brown Foundation has rejected our grant application. The reason given was that the grant didn't fit Brown's current priorities. A discussion with a Brown board member indicated that Brown concentrates its efforts on private institutions. Almquist has contacted HarpWeek to give them a status report. HarpWeek initially indicated that it had identified three foundations that might be approached. [Update: HarpWeek has forwarded the names of the additional two foundations to Almquist. They are mailing customized promotional materials. Once we have these, we can make our next ask-A.A.] SAALCK will also look for additional potential foundations.
- Almquist suggested that AIKCU's reticence to participate in the HarpWeek grant application may have been related to the particular foundation that was approached (AIKCU institutions may have looked at the application as a means for public institutions to tap a funding source that had, up to the present, limited its giving to privates). He suggested that adding the privates, as HarpWeek proposed, would make the case for the grant more compelling and that AIKCU may be more willing to participate in approaches to other funding agencies.
- CPE Fiscal Agency Update:
- Van Orsdel has received an email from Rabuzzi (KYVU) providing some clarification of KYVL's potential role as SAALCK's fiscal agent. Van Orsdel pointed out that Rabuzzi appears interested in working with us and that we should make every effort to build a good working relationship with him.
- Rabuzzi has asked Van Orsdel to serve on the search committee for the Director of KYVL. A number of concerns about the search and position were raised: Is the salary sufficient to attract a suitable candidate? Will we attract someone with a wide enough vision to increase the potential value of KYVL to the state? If the candidate pool is not sufficient, can the search be re-run?
- This led to a wider discussion of KYVL and KYVU. Concerns were expressed that the KYVL vision is too narrowly focused. Its most visible services are either being cut back (virtual reference, courier), or may be considered for future cuts (databases). Other points: Is KYVU truly a "university" and is KYVL the "university library"? It was suggested that KYVL's mandate to work with all libraries: public, school, and higher ed, may make its placement as a part of KYVU problematic.
- It was suggested, to general agreement, that Van Orsdel meet with Rabuzzi, on a one-to-one basis, over lunch, for a casual discussion of our concerns. Van Orsdel will attempt to set up a lunch meeting with Rabuzzi before the next VLAC meeting on November 21st.
- The spirited discussion led to a suggestion that a facilitator be invited to a future SAALCK meeting to enable us to better articulate our shared concerns. Accordingly, a facilitator will be invited to a meeting in early 2003.
- Appointment of a statewide NCES/ALS Survey Coordinator: Besant has volunteered to serve as Coordinator for the upcoming year. Besant indicated that, at this point, the job has few, if any, duties. However, he suggested that there is much more that could be done with the statistics. This could be a future discussion item.
- SAALCK Webmaster:
- The current state of the SAALCK web site was described. The site was last updated on August 11, 2000. According to the site, all questions concerning content are to be addressed to Miko Pattie.
- It was agreed that the web site needed to be updated and that it should be moved back under the control of SAALCK itself. Van Orsdel proposed creating a Web task force to re-do the home page and mount current meeting minutes. The web page would also be moved to a SAALCK member institution's server. Van Orsdel and Brewer each volunteered a person to serve on the group. Almquist volunteered a librarian to serve as Chair. Van Orsdel is creating a charge.
- Quick follow-up to vendor visits (because they keep contacting Lee):
- EBSCO: Any interest in e-journal publisher deals (Emerald, Taylor & Francis)? Not at this time.
- Gale: Any interest in the databases? Not at this time.
- Future Meetings and Agendas:
- Upcoming meeting dates:
- November 1, 2002 - U of L University Club (12 noon)
- December 17, 2002 - NKU (12 noon, details forthcoming)
- January 2003 - No meeting
- February 7, 2003 - U of L University Club (12 noon)
- Barbara Brazis from Proquest will be invited to the November meeting.
- Upcoming meeting dates:
- Discussion Items:
- Last Copy Collecting Agreement: Rader asked about the possibility of working out a statewide agreement to deal with last remaining copy issues for monographs. Besant and Almquist discussed a similar program for serials. Besant suggested that serials present more difficulties than monographs and that there were fewer concerns about access since issues are held in other states. Almquist suggested that serials may be more critical since many institutions are canceling print in favor of electronic access. Having a last copy repository would allow libraries to free space of back issues while guaranteeing that a physical copy still resides within the state system. This discussion led directly to the subject of remote storage.
Remote Storage: UK is interested in building a remote storage facility that would serve other state institutions. A number of the SAALCK institutions are having space problems. It was suggested that a shared facility would be a cost-effective way of solving the space issue for the state. In addition, the repository could house a 'CRL-style' shared collection of last physical copies, including monographs and serials back files. Molinaro suggested that such a collection would be stored in inventory order with items retrieved and shipped quickly. Articles could be sent using Ariel. Such a facility could be constructed by UK with other institutions paying use fees.
Group members agreed to research practice in other states, and then to create a position paper. Molinaro will then submit the position paper to her administration.
- Future Discussion Items:
- The group was asked to create a list of discussion items for future meetings.
- Copyright (Teach Act)
- Virtual Reference Collaboration: Active discussion took place on this item. It was pointed out that a collaborative virtual reference project would benefit all SAALCK libraries. While there potentially could be a cost savings based on a group purchase of software, our reference staffs could work together to increase the hours of availability and we could share subject specialists. Since UK and U of L are currently considering adoption of reference software packages with plans for quick implementation, it was decided to create a task force of reference people to look at available software packages for group adoption. The Chair of the task force will be from UK since they are farthest along the road toward adoption. A report will be due from the task force at the December 17th meeting.
- The group was asked to create a list of discussion items for future meetings.
- The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted, A. Almquist