These minutes were approved as submitted at the ULC Committee meeting on November 10, 1994 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY COMMITTEE MINUTES October 13, 1994 PRESENT: Jim Bishop, Business (for J.Yardley) Mark Smith, Veterinary Medicine Joanne Eustis, Library Peter Wallenstein, Faculty Senate Gerald Luttrell, Chair, Engineering Daniela Verthelyi, GSA Cal Ribbens, Arts and Sciences GUESTS: Paul Metz, Library Dana Sally, Library Marilyn Norstedt, Library ABSENT: Darrell Clowes, Education James Yardley, Business Lori Marsh, Agriculture Steve Zappone, SGA Anna Baker-Marshall, Human Resources Forestry Representative Marie Wall, Architecture Provost's Representative The meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m. The September 21, 1994 minutes were approved with one correction requested. The Library Report section of the minutes stated that the only part of the Government Documents collection displaced by the first floor construction was the Y4s (Government Documents Congressional Hearings). In fact, the move displaced all documents in classes CS, ER, FE, FP, FS, FW, M, N, TC, and W, plus selected groups from other classifications. G. Luttrell distributed the draft of a letter to K. McCleary, chair of ULC for 1993-94, and asked for comments or suggestions before it is sent. NEW BUSINESS LIBRARY REPORT (J. Eustis): Negotiations continue with one of the candidates for the University Librarian position, and there is nothing new to report. J. Eustis received a proposal from Ernest Sullivan, Diggs Professor of English, to locate a center for textual studies in the library. The proposal reads, in part, ". . . Faculty would use the Center location as a meeting place for exchanging information and learning about new hardware and software as well as new methodologies for handling and analyzing paper and electronic text in various academic disciplines. . . . The Center will make the expertise of participating faculty members in the handling and analysis of electronic and other texts available to librarians and library patrons. The center will also publicize (through scholarship) and make available to scholars and other users around the world library holding via the Internet. Further the scholarly activity and expertise of faculty using the center will certainly assist the library in development of its special collections and research materials, including the raising of money to purchase not only primary material necessary for the research at the Center, but also the Library collection generally." It is an interesting proposal, and J. Eustis intends to invite Dr. Sullivan to meet with other library personnel for a specific discussion about what the center would require in library resources and what would be transferred here. Circulating the video collection is being considered. Presently circulation is limited to faculty and staff, and there is sometimes a problem with late returns. The collection is used extensively for instructional purposes. J. Eustis said that if the collection were to be circulated, the library would probably institute a substantial fine ($5-20) for materials not returned on time. This will be discussed with ULC if the library decides to proceed. At the last meeting G. Luttrell asked for statistics about the number of retrievals from storage. In 1993-94, 14,012 moved from storage to the library. This represents a 12% increase over the year before. UPDATE ON THE STORAGE FACILITY (P. Metz): P. Metz distributed a handout on the 1994/95 budget estimates for the new storage facility, including both start-up and operating estimates. A 10-minute video about the Harvard University storage facility was shown. The video described the Harvard operating system, which is very similar to the planned operation of the Virginia Tech facility. It is apparent that compact storage of this type will not allow browsing and that only known items must be stored. About 15% of the collection is currently stored at Cheds; these materials account for the 14,000 retrievals from storage mentioned above, which represent about 1% of the libraries' circulation. The library is near zero growth in terms of adding additional material to existing shelf space. Moreover, the library's study space is approximately 600 seats short according to formulae based on size of the student body. Therefore, preliminary planning suggests that what is moved to storage must not just offset growth, but actually create space. P. Metz is in charge of planning what is to be moved to storage. After the move from Cheds is completed, he would like to store something between 150,000-200,000 volumes from Newman as a project, and after the project is ended, begin storing to offset growth at a rate of about 50,000 volumes a year. The first few years will draw heavily from monographs, since storing periodicals accounts for only about 50% of growth, and periodicals already stored are uncomfortably recent. The University Libraries have not finalized guidelines for selection of material to be stored, but the planning process is underway. Darrell Clowes will represent the ULC on the committee which will plan and set policy for the facility. UNSCHEDULED ITEM (D. Verthelyi): The chair recognized D. Verthelyi, GSA, in order for her to distribute a memoranda listing three minor problems brought to her attention by fellow students. The library will prepare a response for inclusion on the November agenda. REPORT ON THE ALBANIA PROJECT (M. Norstedt): Three librarians have just returned from a trip to Albania; Buddy Litchfield, representing library automation, Linda Richardson representing collection development and user services, and M. Norstedt representing technical services. The Albania Project is under the jurisdiction of USAID, and the Virginia Tech component of the grant chiefly involves the College of Agriculture, the College of Business and the University Libraries. The Tech effort is aimed at the Agricultural University of Tirana, which is the only agricultural university in the country. The object of the project is to improve agricultural education with a specific emphasis on agricultural economics, economics, agri-business, and various aspects of business. For the Virginia Tech librarians this was an assessment visit to the AUT library to meet the staff, learn the processes and procedures, evaluate the collection and its use, and examine automation possibilities. Their report will contain both short-and long-term recommendations for library development. The director of the AUT library and one of her staff members will come to this library, probably in February, for two to three months. They will work in every department of the library and study all of this library's processes. Visits to the National Agricultural Library, and perhaps some others as well, are also planned. The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. The next meeting will be on November 10, 1994.