There was no meeting in Nov. - - - - - - University Library Committee Wednesday, December 16, 1998 Minutes Present: Ansar Ahmed, Veterinary Medicine Eileen Hitchingham, Library George Graham, Teaching and Learning Richard Helm, Forestry and Wildlife Milko Maykowskyj, Staff Senate Raymond Plaut, Engineering Humberto Rodriguez-Camilloni, Art and Architecture Stephen Baehr, Arts and Sciences Tim Copeland, GSA Absent: Angela Barger, SGA Stephen Donohue, Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chair Thomas Gatewood, Education Deborah Mayo, Faculty Senate Doug Patterson, Business R. Plaut presided over the meeting for S. Donohue, who was unable to attend. E. Hitchingham distributed updated maps of the three book return drop boxes on campus: next to the War Memorial Chapel, behind Litton-Reeves, near the campus map on West Campus Drive. E. Hitchingham offered follow-up information on a concern expressed at the last meeting regarding the difficulty of returning large numbers of books (50+) for renewal. Statistics were collected on November 18th, as a "snapshot" to assess the magnitude of the problem. These revealed that 81% of the faculty had ten or fewer items checked out, and that only a very small proportion of faculty had 50 or more books checked out. To help resolve any potential difficulty these faculty may have in returning their books, it was recommended that they seek special arrangements in advance with Debbie Averhart, Circulation, 231-3068. A question had been raised previously about the possibility of getting a reduction copier in Newman Library. E. Hitchingham noted that photocopy, as an auxiliary service was not doing well financially because of lower copier use, thus making additional machine purchase unlikely. She acknowledged that it would be useful to have reduction capacity in Newman, and that a transfer from one of the branches or a leasing arrangement may be possible in the future. E. Hitchingham addressed the concern about copiers in the library that are only accessed with Hokie passports and the expressed preference by several faculty for the old library card. For near future, there will be at least one machine on each floor that takes the old library card, and one that utilizes the Hokie card. The trend toward access through Hokie card is externally driven by student demand and has actually cost the library to provide. Several ULC members noted that use of the old library card makes it possible to account for grant money used by graduate students for photocopying in the library. It was also noted that the non-campus community would not have a Hokie card to use. E. Hitchingham checked into the circulation policies regarding audio materials, in response to a question by T. Copeland about restrictions for students. Nan Seamans, new director of the Center for Alternative Media, was asked to review the policy, which is a holdover from the past. She has changed the procedures so that students can now check out audio tapes. E. Hitchingham thanked committee members for their assistance in encouraging their faculty to participate in the serials assessment project initiated by Paul Metz. After a slow start, about 6,000 titles have been submitted. A final memo giving a deadline for response (in January) will be sent to the deans of the colleges, with the hope that underrepresented departments will take advantage of this final opportunity to be included in the survey. S. Baehr brought up a question about the computer generated e-mail overdue notices. He and other colleagues had not always received a first or second overdue notice before receiving a notice that they were blocked. E. Hitchingham noted that overdue notices were considered a courtesy, but that she would look into why the system appears to have a "glitch." E. Hitchingham asked the committee to consider a request. Two library faculty who serve on other commissions, would like to attend ULC meetings as non-voting members in order to hear discussions first-hand. R. Plaut proposed a motion that representatives on the Commission for Research and the Commission on Undergraduate Studies and Policies be allowed to attend the ULC meetings as non-voting members. The motion was seconded, and passed by all attendant members. A. Ahmed brought up a concern regarding Interlibrary Loan. His colleagues were asking why ILL requests were not being forwarded on to document delivery, and that faculty are asked to re-enter the ILL request information to request document delivery. E. Hitchingham explained that the two systems were developed independently, are highly automated, and at present do not "talk" to one another. Future refinements of ILLiad may solve this problem, but for the present, "copy and paste" seems to be the solution. The meeting was adjourned at 12 noon. The date and time for future meetings will be reviewed at the beginning of the next semester.