University Library Committee Minutes November 12, 1997 PRESENT: Stephen Donohue, Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chair Eileen Hitchingham, Library Stephen Baehr, Arts and Sciences Bert Fox, GSA George Graham, Teaching and Learning Raymond Plaut, Engineering Humberto-Camilloni, Art and Architecture Tara Berescik, SGA Milko Maykowskyj, Staff Senate ABSENT: Karen Inzana, Veterinary Medicine Lance Matheson, Business Deborah Mayo, Faculty Senate Thomas Gatewood, Education Richard Helm, forestry & Wildlife S. Donohue called the meeting to begin at 3:00 p.m. The minutes from the 10/22/97 meeting were approved as submitted. Future minutes will be approved electronically, with no response implying approval. Governance structure E. Hitchingham distributed handouts outlining the governance structure of the University Library Committee as it reports to three commissions: Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies, Commission on Undergraduate Studies and Policies, and (less formally) the Commission on Research. She explained that the commissions are the resolution-raising bodies that report to the University Council which ultimately reports to the President and the Board of Trustees. The library committee charge was reviewed, and it was noted that the ULC is the only committee that reports to two commissions. S. Baehr suggested that the committee might want to consider including a representative from the library faculty association on the ULC. E. Hitchingham noted that library faculty members are representatives on the commissions. Circulation (Renewal) policy A question was raised at the 10/22/97 meeting as to whether the ULC would have input into review of the circulation policy that was instituted last February, 1997, requiring physical return of books at 180 days. E. Hitchingham reviewed the history and intent of the policy as an encouragement to have more resources accessible and browsible to other members of the university community. She noted that anecdotally, both positive and negative responses have been received. S. Baehr explained how the policy hinders research methods in the humanities where 70-100 books are often checked out over long periods of time. He had distributed letters from faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences expressing similar complaints. G. Graham asked what kind of process was planned for evaluating the effect of the new policy. E. Hitchingham will be looking at changes in the circulation patterns as well as subjective data including anecdotal remarks from faculty. A review is planned at the end of the policy's first year, February 1998. E. Hitchingham distributed a copy of a response she had written to a faculty member who had expressed dissatisfaction with the renewal policy. One of the suggestions in the letter addressed the difficulty of bringing back large numbers of books. Books can be returned to any of the library branches - Geology, Art & Architecture and Veterinary Medicine. Parking at the Veterinary Medicine library may be easier than at Newman, and assistance bringing in the books may be arranged prior to coming (contact Vicki Kok, head of that library). S. Donohue indicated that further discussion about the renewal policy would be planned as February approaches. Comments from Colleges R. Plaut addressed a problem that he (and others) have had with the copiers in the library. In the past, there were at least two copiers that had variable reduction capacity. The current copiers can only reduce to 65 or 70%, which makes the print too small for comfortable reading. He added that it would be helpful if the copy service could make color copies, even if it meant a substantial charge. Some of the graphic data in publications are color coded, which makes color copy necessary for interpretation. Many of these publications are also not circulated. E. Hitchingham will look into these issues, but noted that the copy service in the library is an auxiliary, budgeted with its own cost recovery system, apart from the library resources budget. B. Fox expressed a concern about electronic resources and the serials review process. He notes that while the electronic resources are wonderful, many of them do not have full text of articles, which means you still need to have the journal sitting in the library or available through ILL. E. Hitchingham indicated that the Library Materials Advisory Committee will be looking at this issue as well as the fact that in many cases electronic versions are not cheaper than paper copies. B. Fox also expressed concern that the next round of serial cuts would affect materials that faculty said (in the last round of cuts) that they really needed. E. Hitchingham commented that a different process for review may be considered, taking into consideration both the current holdings and what may be really wanted. The committee is still working on these issues. Another serials review will be upcoming, however, unless there is more money. The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m. The next meeting of the ULC will be Wednesday, December 17, 3:00 p.m. in the library boardroom.