The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m.Café DeGrasta by Chairman Harvey Bender. Also in attendance were John Adams, Gail Bederman, Maureen Boulton, Roger Jacobs, David Mengel, Mark Pilkinton, Margaret Porter, Walter Pratt, Larry Rapagnani, Laurence Taylor, John Weber, Jennifer Younger, and secretary Melodie Eiteljorge.
 

1. Welcome and agenda review.
 

2. The minutes of the December 13, 2001 meeting were approved as written.
 

3. Status report on the Library Response to the Report of the External Review Committee on the Self Study: the updated report is available to committee members online.
 

4. College of Arts and Letters Library Committee:
 

Maureen Boulton reported that the committee held an initial meeting and discussed issues of concern, including: 
 

* There was concern about the library budget for new acquisitions, filling gaps, and adding staff, particularly subject librarians.
 

Younger confirmed that there is no increase for the next fiscal year in the University's non salary budget. There will be an increase in the endowment income, which represents about 39% of the total acquisitions budget. 
 

* The unacceptability of the off-site storage of history of science journals was noted. 
 

Younger responded that this is a known problem that will be resolved. The installation of the moveable shelving in the Hesburgh Library basement will expand shelving capacity and those materials will be returned to on-site shelving. The moveable shelving and relocation of materials is expected to be complete, or nearly so, by the end of 2003. 
 

* The transfer of bibliographic information into interlibrary loan requests does not have as good a system as those used at some other institutions.
 

Younger will look into this.
 

* Once again the issue of having the ability to charge photocopies to pro cards was raised.
 

Younger noted that procards can be used to charge photocopies made in the staffed Copy Center in Hesburgh Library but not at individual copy machines. The copy cards currently used at copy machines function as debit cards; however procards function as credit cards and their use at individual copy machines would require the purchase of additional software supporting credit cards functionality. The current copy vendor was not willing under the current contract to purchase such software. The University Libraries are currently renegotiating the copy contract and exploring the feasibility of acquiring this software as well as the additional card readers needed for each copy machine. 
 

Boulton reported that the committee plans to have a Web site. Their second meeting is scheduled for the week of February 18. She serves on the committee as the liaison for the University Committee on Libraries. There are seven additional members, three appointed, three elected, an ex officio dean. Also, there are two appointed library faculty members: Dan Marmion, Associate Director for Information Systems and Access, and Doug Archer, Reference Librarian. 
 

Elected:

Thomas Marullo, German and Russian Languages and Literatures

Catherine Perry, Languages and Literatures

Phillip Sloan, Program of Liberal Studies
 

Appointed:

Wendy Arons, Film, Television, and Theater 

Semion Lyandres, History

David Smith, Psychology
 

Ex Officion:

Cindy Bergeman, Associate Dean

Maureen Boulton, University Committee on Libraries
 

Further discussion: 
 

In regard to photocopies, Jacobs asked if there was a decline in use in the library. Younger confirmed that use has declined dramatically in the last four years. The result is that what had been a self-supporting service now requires a library subsidy for continuing operation. As the copy contract and plans for future operation are finalized, we are making some minor adjustments, including reducing the number of copy machines in the Hesburgh Library and increasing the cost of copies, to keep the library subsidy as low as possible. 
 

Jacobs asked if we are driving patrons to use online printers. Younger agreed that information in electronic formats is driving patrons to use online printers. We do not charge for printing though we will explore options for the future. We have implemented a print management system that has two steps: a request to print that sends the print job to the printer, and a second step that initializes printing. At other installations, this two step process has eliminated the printing of copies that are not picked up. We would like also like to explore options for inclusion in the OIT-run printing quota system in operation in the OIT computer clusters. 
 

In regard to budget concerns, Jacobs asked if some segments of the University are being hit harder than others with inflation. Younger replied that science journals tend to cost more than do journals in the humanities, though the scientists are also active in looking at alternative modes of publishing with lower costs. Another divide in the rate of inflation occurs between scholarly and commercial publishers, with journals from commercial publishers having higher rates of inflation. As an aside, Younger noted that just as inflation may vary across disciplines, other costs such as cataloging may vary by type of material, language or discipline. For example, processing materials in Chinese or Japanese requires a different language expertise and can be more expensive to process than materials in English. Over time, the library intends to review the collections budget by subject to know how inflation and other factors affect the collection budget, but our mission is to meet the information needs of all segments of the University. 
 

Taylor asked if commercial publishers like Elsevier have journals in areas beyond the sciences. Younger replied that they do, but in general, the national data on journal inflation rates by discipline reveals greater inflation rates in the sciences. She also reported that some institutions are paying "per page" costs for faculty who publish in scholarly as opposed to commercial journals for the purpose of encouraging faculty publication in the scholarly publishing sector. Bederman suggested that we might look at outside grants for the sciences.
 

5. Memo to UCL on library funding for books and journals:
 

Prior to the meeting Younger sent a memorandum to UCL and to the Graduate Studies Committee of the Academic Council pointing out that the collections budget has grown at a lower rate than has inflationary increases for books and journals. Between 1994/95 and 2000/01, the collections budget increased by +77%. However, the serial unit cost increased by +226% and the book unit cost by +66%. The library was able to absorb the inflationary increases in the immediate past, but is not able to continue this into the future. The library needs to reduce its level of commitments for books and journals in 02/03. We will pursue two strategies: 1) where we subscribe to serials in both paper and electronic, and where permissible by the licensing contract with the publisher, cut the paper version, and 2) within subject and disciplinary areas, review expenditures for serials, books data files and other formats to determine the most appropriate way to reduce commitments. 
 

There was further discussion. Pratt noted that one issue in going to an all electronic format is other costs, e.g. printing. Boulton added that preservation and archiving are issues.
 

Younger stated that in regard to the long term preservation of journal back files, some plans are in place. JSTOR's goals start with its commitment to building a reliable and comprehensive archive of important scholarly journal literature and its archive currently includes 169 (in late 2001) journal titles. While this is a small fraction of the total number of e-journals requiring long-term preservation, it is a start. At Notre Dame, we will also pursue collaborative preservation and archiving of print and e-journals through state and national consortia (NERL). As we explore the feasibility of cancelling our subscriptions to print versions of journals in favor of access to the electronic 

versions of journals, we will ensure that our contracts specify "access in perpetuity" and also put increased emphasis on collaborative long-term preservation efforts. 
 

Mengel expressed concern about universities giving up archiving and turning it over to commercial firms, which sometimes fail. There is also the risk of monopolies. While agreeing with his observation, Younger also noted that in the particular case of UMI, which has an archive of university dissertations, individual institutions are also archiving their own dissertations.
 

Adams stated that working through consortiums seems to be the best strategy. 
 

Weber pointed out the continuing proliferation of information and changing technology to access that information. Desktop technology can and will be modified. He finds that course material is moving increasingly to digital format. 
 

Bederman responded that a digital format changes the nature of scholarship. She finds reading online difficult, without the ability to browse or underline. At the same time, it is not cheaper. Weber suggested that this can change with e-books and other technology and that browsing, underlining, etc. are possible. He agrees that this technology is not cheaper.
 

Bederman stated that she would like to address the subject of funding for books and noted that the external reviewers (for the Self Study 2001) recommended increasing commitments in book funding for retrospective acquisitions. Younger replied that this recommendation would call for additional funds. For 02/03, Younger replied that the library plans to use a "by subject" means of reviewing commitments for books and journals so that appropriate decisions are made about purchasing books or journals from current funds. 
 

6. Annual report from the University Committee on Libraries to the Academic Council: Part 1, Resources and the University Investment; Part 2, Future Challenges.
 

Younger received a request for an annual report on current resources and future challenges. Bederman's concern about funding for books could fall under Part 2 of the proposed report, Future Challenges. Boulton recalled the Colloquy for the Year 2000's recommendation for more funding for books, a goal set forward but never reached. She is concerned that we are now at level funding for the next fiscal year. In looking at percentage increases over the years since the Colloquy, the figures show significant increases. However, the increases in volumes held are not as significant. 
 

Younger suggested that "Future Challenges" could be changed to "Major Challenges" to cover past, present and future concerns.
 

There was some discussion of the type of funding needed to meet these challenges. Boulton suggested that a massive infusion of funding rather than small amounts might be needed to resolve problems, as was done in the 1980's for information technology. Bederman added that continuing funds and commitments are need rather than "one shot" fixes.
 

There was general agreement that the committee should write an annual report, incorporating these concerns. 
 

7. LIBQUAL+, the user survey to be conducted the week of March 25, 2002.An announcement was distributed explaining the purpose and how the survey would be conducted. 
 

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:45 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled for March 21 with guest Bernie Riley, who will discuss the Center for Research Libraries (CRL).
 

Respectfully submitted,
 

Melodie Eiteljorge

Secretary