THESE MINUTES WERE APPROVED AS SUBMITTED AT THE ULC MEETING ON 4/13/95.
 
 
              UNIVERSITY LIBRARY COMMITTEE MINUTES
                          March 2, 1995
 
PRESENT:
Debbie Averhart, Library
Darrell Clowes, Education
Anita Haney,  Comm. on Graduate Studies
Richard Helm, Forestry
Eileen Hitchingham, Library
Donald Kenney, Library
Gerald Luttrell, Chair, Engineering
Anna Marshall-Baker, Human Resources
Julie Petruska, Staff Senate
Peter Wallenstein, Faculty Senate
James Yardley, Business
 
ABSENT:
Provost's Representative
Lori Marsh, Agriculture & Life Sci.
Cal Ribbens, Arts and Sciences
Mark Smith, Veterinary Medicine
Marie Wall, Architecture
Daniela Verthelyi, GSA
SGA Representative
 
The meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m.  The January 19, 1995
minutes were approved as submitted.
 
NEW BUSINESS
 
     LIBRARY REPORT (E. Hitchingham):
 
     E. Hitchingham announced that a vacancy has been created with
     the departure of Stephen Zietz, head of Special Collections.
     This is being pursued through the hiring exemption process.
 
     E. Hitchingham reported that the move to the new remote
     storage facility is going to be an enormous undertaking for
     the library over the next several months.  It will involve a
     great number of staff, with possible changes in the services
     that will be provided in Newman while this is going on.  There
     are a number of questions to be addressed involving what to
     store now and in the future.  She invited the committee to
     visit the facility; there was interest in planning this for
     the second half of next month's meeting.
 
 
 
     LIBRARY OPERATING HOURS (D. Kenney):
 
     As requested by the committee, Donald Kenney brought the
     results of a survey of library hours over major break periods
     represented by Association of Research Libraries, the
     benchmark libraries for Virginia Tech, and the academic
     libraries in Virginia.  He prefaced his presentation of the
     statistics with an explanation of a number of factors which
     had bearing on the comparisons.  These included: a) the
     difficulty in selecting a standard timeframe from which to
     compare, given the variety of academic calendars and
     variability in holiday handling; 2) the ratios of how
     institutions allocate their resources (budgets) in relation to
     materials versus salaries/wages for staffing hours; and the
     question as to whether the services offered during the open
     hours were partial or full (including such things as reference
     service, photocopy, computer labs, etc.)
 
     Of note in these examinations was the fact that in ARL
     statistics, Virginia Tech is ranked 47th of the 108 libraries
     in materials expenditures, but 99th of the 108 libraries in
     terms of salaries expenditures.  D. Kenney pointed out that
     this information helped to explain the tradeoffs that
     libraries are making in terms of their resources.  The library
     hours data showed that Virginia Tech compared strongly
     regarding total operating hours during the regular semester,
     but on the low side for break hours.  Given reluctance to
     reallocate materials budget resources to services, other
     possible approaches to increasing hours during breaks through
     more flexible scheduling may be considered.
 
     Since D. Verthelyi, who had raised this issue on behalf of the
     GSA, was not present,  D. Kenney indicated he would be willing
     to meet with GSA and present this background information.  G.
     Luttrell asked that the committee be apprised of any
     resolutions.
 
     LIBRARY BOOK RETURNS AND FINES POLICIES  (D. Averhart):
 
     In response to the graduate students' concerns about overdue
     notices, the library has made efforts to get the mailers out
     faster - three times a week as opposed to twice a week.
     Additionally, the library is exploring possibilities of
     sending out all circulation mail electronically, for immediate
     notification of overdue status.  Students without e-mail
     addresses would still receive paper notices.  In the interim,
     there are plans to send out letters instead of the mailers.
     The mailers are being replaced with letters as a cost-saving
     measure.
 
     D. Averhart also presented a proposal by Virginia Chapman,
     Head of Media Services, on the circulation of the video
     collection.  This would involve fines set at $5/day regardless
     of patron class, with materials due back the following
     business day.  Questions raised related to whether to fine
     faculty, whether checkout could extend for longer periods of
     time for certain classes of patron and whether the policy
     should be promulgated from the committee members.  G. Luttrell
     asked that this issue be tabled for a future meeting, when V.
     Chapman could be present.  The second agenda item would be
     visit to the storage facility, if time permits.
 
     The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.  The next meeting will be
     on April 13, 1995.