The following minutes were approved as submitted by the University Library Committee on October 9, 1996. UNIVERSITY LIBRARY COMMITTEE MINUTES September 18, 1996 PRESENT: Lance Matheson, Business, Chair Eileen Hitchingham, Library Stephen Donohue, Agriculture & Life Sciences Richard Helm, Forestry & Wildlife Anna Marshall-Baker, Human Resources Raymond Plaut, Engineering Calvin Ribbens, Arts & Sciences Humberto Rodriguez-Camilloni, Architecture and Urban Studies Bradley Klein, Faculty Senate ABSENT: Karen Dyer, Veterinary Medicine Thomas Gatewood, Education Peggy Quensenberry, Staff Senate Marilyn McCollum, GSA Duncan Neesham, SGA GUESTS: Paul Metz, Library, Head of Collection Development Donald Kenney, Library The meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m. in the library boardroom. Following introductions of new chair, Lance Matheson and members, Eileen Hitchingham opened discussion about the prospects of a serials cancellation during 1997. She noted the process by which many University agencies, including the library, prepared needs assessments and benchmarking data for consideration of funding for this particular year. The library has not, in this year, emerged as one of those issues for which selective and differential funding is a likely occurrence. During the last three years the cost of supporting the library material resources has gone from about 4.9 million to 5.1 million to 5.7 million dollars this year. Projected costs for equivalent materials in 97/98 are 6.2 million dollars. This year's operating budget is the same as last year's which was down $500,000 from the year before. One-time rollover monies helped to pay for the serials this year. In the event that we have to do a small, medium or massive cancellation project, it would have to get started this January, to allow for the consultation process with the faculty and the lead time necessary to work with vendors. Paul Metz, Head of Collection Development, expressed the difficulties facing any funding agency in trying to keep up with the costs of science serials inflation while trying to fund new services such as CARL document delivery. He presented an overview of the process by which the 1991 and 1995 cancellations were conducted, cumulatively paring over 2700 titles with costs cumulatively about $750,000. For an upcoming cancellation, P. Metz projected a January/February 1997 timeframe for academic departments to begin looking at initial lists of titles nominated for cancellation within their fund code. It was noted that book purchases would also be affected, as well as videos. He noted also that cancellations have a statistical impact on our standing as a research institution. While the average ARL library has seen its number of serials decline over the last few years, we are declining faster than our peers. E. Hitchingham noted that there is a perception that "everything" is already out there on the Internet. It is true that many serial publications are now on the Internet, but at costs that are equal to or higher than traditional subscriptions. P. Metz commented that in many academic disciplines, the internet is "a mile wide and an inch deep" and that other publishers have no monetary incentive to make their materials accessible on the net. The importance of funding Virginia Tech as a resource to the whole state was made in light of our role as a major supplier through Interlibrary Loan. For the next meeting, L. Matheson asked ULC members to bring with them the feedback from faculty they had gotten over the summer regarding a change in the circulation policy. Discussion about the new Advanced Communication and Information Tecnology Building is planned for next meeting as well. The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m. The next ULC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 9, 4:00 p.m. in the library boardroom.