University Library Committee
Minutes
Monday, January 24, 2000

Present:

Stephen Baehr, Arts and Sciences, Chair
Eileen Hitchingham, Library
Paul Colley, Staff Senate
Tim Copeland, GSA
Richard Helm, National Resources
Raymond Plaut, Engineering
Mark Schneider, Art and Architecture
Ed Lewis, Agriculture and Life Sciences
Linda Richardson, Library (guest)
David Beagle (Library Faculty Association)

Absent: Ansar Ahmed, Veterinary Medicine, George Graham, Human Resources and Education, Deborah Mayo, Faculty Senate, Doug Patterson, Business, Kinsey Row, SGA

S. Baehr opened the meeting with reference to an update on the library budget request as discussed by Provost Meszaros at the last meeting. E. Hitchingham noted that the Governor did not include the library line item request as part of his budget recommendations (announced in December). This request has been chosen, however, to be sent forward by Virginia Tech as a proposed budget amendment in the legislative process this Spring. E. Hitchingham will check into what kind of contact with legislators might be appropriate by individuals in support of this proposal.

E. Hitchingham addressed a list of questions that had been sent to the committee from the Graduate Student Assembly. (see handout, "response GSA")

The first question dealt with the availability of state government documents. Virginia Tech is a selective depository for federal and state documents. "Selective" means that we get a significant portion of those publications, but not all. Receipt of state documents is not as consistent as federal because of the variety of state agencies involved. However, in any case, if someone has specific concern about a document, they should contact Bruce Obenhaus, librarian who oversees government documents. He can probably find a way to obtain the material should we not have it.

Regarding the extended hours pilot program, the Fall data indicates that there is busy patron traffic in the 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. timeframe on Friday/Saturdays rather than later in the evening. After the Spring data is in, a recommendation will be made as to the extent of continued extended hours.

In response to the request by GSA for more private spaces and quiet areas, E. Hitchingham reviewed the locations of group study rooms and noted areas designated as quiet study areas, especially recommending the 5th floor since there is no major public service area there.

One of the questions asked for clarification about graduate student-specific library orientation. It was noted that such a presentation is part of the GTA orientation; there is a self-guided tour of the library available from the lobby desk and a virtual tour available on the web. Tours of Newman are offered at the beginning of each semester and students are encouraged to contact the appropriate college librarian for college-specific orientations. T. Copeland acknowledged that the GSA needs to more widely publicize the services and resources that are currently available.

There was a question about slowness in loading some electronic documents linked from online databases. E. Hitchingham noted that the library does not always have flexibility in determining the format of electronic publications - many of these are licensed from vendors who determine the variety of format which in turn can affect the download time. The library computers may be faster downloading as opposed to modems at work or home.

E. Hitchingham gave an online demonstration of how to access the libraries' 11,000 full-text electronic publications (from library home page, under Research, then Electronic Journals). Of that total, about 1,200 journals are also cataloged in the ADDISON database. These particular publications are the electronic equivalent of their print version and have URLs that take you directly to the journal.

SERVQUAL is a survey instrument that has had widespread use in the business world to obtain customer input. E. Hitchingham introduced information about the University Libraries' upcoming participation in an ARL project using this survey instrument in conjunction with twelve other academic libraries. Measuring the importance of 30 different factors to individuals, this survey aims to provide some qualitative measures of how well the library is meeting the needs of the academic community . Our library is in the process of obtaining a random sample of 1800 faculty/staff and students who will be invited to participate via email sometime in March or April. The survey will be accessed through an online site and sent electronically to Texas. Efforts will be made to publicize and encourage participation in this project because it is a valuable investment in library knowledge here and on a nation-wide level.

Participating institutions include

Michigan State Kansas

Pennsylvania Minnesota

Connecticut California, Santa Barbara

Pittsburgh, York University,

Arizona, Washington

Virginia Tech.

S. Baehr asked about a library policy statement indicating that custom-published anthologies (course paks) were not appropriate for reserve. He wondered if this was a policy based on economic reasons within the town or on national copyright law. E. Hitchingham will look into this and report next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned 4:30 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 22, 4:00 p.m.