The minutes were approved with corrections to the attendance record at the ULC meeting on January 12. Please note corrections as follows: Present: Mark Smith, Veterinary Medicine; Absent: James Smith, Forestry & Wildlife. Also M. Norstedt was not present. UNIVERSITY LIBRARY COMMITTEE MINUTES December 8, 1993 PRESENT: Darrell Clowes, Education Ken McCleary, Chair, Human Resources Joanne Eustis, Library Pamela Percha, GSA Ed Fox, Arts & Sciences James Smith, Forestry & Wildlife Diane Kaufman, Staff Senate J. D. Stahl, Faculty Senate Gerald Luttrell, Engineering James Yardley, Business GUESTS: Don Kenney, Library P. Metz, Library Buddy Litchfield, Library M. Norstedt, Library Gail McMillan, Library Bob Pillow, Library ABSENT: S. Brooker-Gross, Provost's Off. Melissa Spengler, SGA Lori Marsh, Agriculture & Life Sc. Marie Wall, Architecture James Smith, The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m. The minutes of the October 27, 1993 meeting were approved as submitted. (There was no meeting in November.) Committee members agreed to meet on the second Wednesday of the month during second semester, with the exception of March. (January 12, February 9, April 13) In March the meeting will be on the third Wednesday (16) in order to avoid conflict with spring break. NEW BUSINESS: LIBRARY REPORT (J. Eustis): J. Eustis announced that a new head of the Science Reference Department has been hired. Dr. Dana Sally will begin on January 3, 1994. J. Eustis distributed materials about InfoShare, which is a NOTIS product. Michael Williams and J. Eustis have been negotiating with NOTIS for about four months. NOTIS uses the client/server architecture, and their InfoShare UNIX-based database server communicates via Z39.50, offering a flexible access system. Purchase of the software will allow the library to offer information in a networked environment. It will allow local database capabilities to mount citation of local databases on the campus, and can be a centralized database server for Virginia Tech. InfoShare will not be immediately available on campus at the time of purchase. There is testing ongoing, particularly with the MAC version, and there will be much to learn before it can be distributed around the campus. Current Contents will be the first database distributed, since we have already acquired distribution rights, followed by several H.W. Wilson databases: General Science Index, Humanities Index, Reader's Guide, Social Science Index, Biology & Agriculture Index, Applied Science/Tech Index, and Business Abstracts, which are relatively inexpensive, popular with undergraduates, and do not have any vendor costs in the first year. Expanding to a wider set of databases will not occur until we have experienced success with the InfoShare gateway and search engine. Third phase expansion will be to distribute ERIC and Compendex. With the exception of ODU, all of the other doctoral granting institutions in the state have bought InfoShare, and our purchase will facilitate sharing of materials and information with these institutions. There was broad discussion about the selection process for acquisition of databases. The decision about the initial databases was based on the bibliographers experience with these products and on cost. No further databases have been identified. Any such decisions would require full participation by the bibliographers with input from the university community. A request to put Lexis/Nexis on the agenda resulted in a general discussion of the topic and a summary of the events which led to cancellation. UPDATE ON THE LIBRARY STORAGE FACILITY (B. Pillow): The first set of specifications had a number of problems requiring revision. If the revised specs are accepted and the process goes smoothly, there could be ground-breaking by early March. If the entire building cannot be bid within cost guidelines, there is a possible budget alternative which would reduce the amount of shelving initially installed, with more added later as required. The project to barcode each piece in Cheds is progressing well in preparation for the eventual move. Currently the library has no resident staff at Cheds, and requests are taken either online or in paper form for retrieval from Cheds. These requests are batch processed and staff go to Cheds twice a day to retrieve or reshelve materials. The library plans to have resident staff in the new facility who will fax requested materials when possible to reduce handling and speed delivery. When the actual item is needed, it will be delivered to Newman or a branch as it is now. There are still some software modifications which need to be done by VTLS, and further processing needed, in order to move smoothly into the new building. A committee from various library departments will deal with policy and procedure issues associated with the move to a new facility. Darrell Clowes (ULC member) will represent the academic faculty on the committee. Browsing will not be possible, since the building is a warehouse with shelving to a height of 35 ft. and the books are stored in bins. VTLS does allow browsing by call number. THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN SEARCH (D. Clowes): The position description has been written and the announcement appeared in this week's Chronicle. The search committee will meet once in January, twice in February (to go over the applications) and in March a short list will be agreed on with candidates invited to interview in late March and early April. To date there is one application and six or seven nominees. It seems probable that June would be the earliest beginning date for a new University Librarian. The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m. The next meeting will be on September 15, 1993