§ SAALCK Directors' Council Meeting
12:00 noon, September 12, 2003
University Club
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY
- Present:
- Arne Almquist (NKU), Larry Besant (Morehead), Michael Binder (WKU), Carol Diedrichs, (UK), John Griffin (Murray), Hannelore Rader (U of L), Lee Van Orsdel (EKU), Larry Rees (KCTCS)
- Guests:
- James Burgett (UK), Weiling Liu (U of L), Michael McCoy (GCLC)
- Absent:
- Karen McDaniel (KSU)
- Host:
- Eastern Kentucky University
- Introductions
- Good of the Order and Lunch
- Minutes of the July 11th Meeting (distributed earlier): Accepted.
- Status of GCLC Contract Proposal:
To date, the eight university libraries have signed on. Van Orsdel will attend a KCTCS Library Directors’ meeting on September 25th to ask for their participation. Rees mentioned that commitment by KCTCS is not a foregone conclusion but is certainly within the realm of possibility. Besant suggested that we speak with individual KCTCS librarians ahead of the meeting.
There followed a discussion of the process of implementing the agreement. McCoy suggested that the Chair of SAALCK be officially delegated to sign the agreement. Diedrichs presented a motion to that effect, seconded by Rader. The motion passed unanimously.
The agreement will be signed on Monday, September 15, 2003 and forwarded to GCLC headquarters. The next step will be invoicing. McCoy will wait until the KCTCS decision is made before invoicing. The invoice will come in the name of SAALCK. Once payments are received, a checking account will be established at a branch of Fifth Third Bank of Northern Kentucky. All funds will be deposited. On a monthly basis, GCLC’s fee will be paid from that account.
Questions arose concerning the way that incidental expenses will be handled. McCoy indicated that the agreement was written to take account of incidental expenses. The agreement will be checked and clarified if necessary before it is signed.
McCoy indicated that two signatures would appear on any and all checks: that of an elected SAALCK representative and that of McCoy. Next, phone options were discussed. Options were to install a new line or to make use of an existing line to be converted to 800 operation. The group felt that it would be far more efficient, at least at first, to take the 800 number option. The phone number will appear on stationery but will not otherwise be widely circulated.
GCLC will immediately work to create SAALCK stationery. Designs will be circulated to the Directors’ Council for approval. We also need to send the bylaws to McCoy so that he can become familiar with them. McCoy’s official title re SAALCK will be Executive Director.
McCoy would like to see SAALCK become registered as some form of legal entity within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Can we register as a state-sanctioned non-profit?
- RFID Technologies—discussion led by Almquist and Weiling Liu (U of L):
Almquist gave an overview of the technology. Liu provided a discussion of the technology’s pros and cons. Almquist pointed out that adoption of a product on a statewide basis would provide us with cost savings (volume) and would potentially aid us in resource sharing, particularly in relation to the UK’s proposed storage facility. Almquist was charged to further research the issue and report back to the Directors’ Council.
- Collection Development/Vendor Issues
- CSA—Sociological Abstracts:
McCoy will negotiate further for a (hopefully) lower price.
- Elsevier:
Besant and Van Orsdel reported on Elsevier’s recent disavowal of the contract between them and four libraries in Kentucky (UK, U of L, EKU, and Morehead). Elsevier did not recognize SAALCK as a “true” consortium and declared its contract null and void. It was suggested that we are now an official consortium and that McCoy contact Elsevier to attempt to negotiate a deal. McCoy suggested inviting an Elsevier rep to one of our meetings to discuss our concerns.
- Gale—18th Century Database and Others:
The group was asked if anyone is interested in Gale’s 18th Century Literature database. It was asked if there is overlap between this product and the microfiche product of the same name. The answer is that content is the same.
Gale is apparently willing to deal very aggressively. Many are behind on the microfiche collections. To catch up would be very expensive. Also, usage would be higher for the electronic version. This makes the electronic version much more attractive.
- Wilson Databases:
We will no longer be able to access Wilson databases via FirstSearch. Access will end on September 30th. Wilson is not interested in a pay-per-search option, so we will need to try to negotiate new database pricing. The databases that appear to be of greatest interest are Education Index, ASTA, Library Literature and Art Index.
Pricing could come from SAALCK with voluntary participation. Since there is much overlap with EBSCO, it was asked if this is a deal worth pursuing. The final recommendation was to explore Art Index, Library Literature, and Education Index.
- CSA—Sociological Abstracts:
- SPARC membership for SAALCK:
This was discussed in relation to our issues with Elsevier. SPARC is now established and produces high quality journals at very competitive pricing. Almquist was assigned to talk to SPARC regarding consortial membership. He will bring information to a future meeting.
- Last Copy Collecting Agreement:
Besant suggested that we do further research, then talk about the practical issues. The group was in agreement that we should start with the presumption that we would be dealing with monographs. Once we have a chance to understand the issues, we can create a task force to move the plan forward.
- FUTURE DISCUSSION ITEMS:
- Storage (schedule for October meeting with Mary McLaren, UK, as guest)
- Electronic Theses and Dissertations (schedule for October meeting with Beth Kraemer, UK)