The minutes of the meeting of October 12, 2000 were approved as written.

Director's report:

The secretary has been looking into alternatives for the style of UCL minutes. At a recent conference of the American Management Association, she learned that many organizations are moving to concise "action minutes", which are easy to peruse and provide a clear record of decisions. She will investigate this further and with the concurrence of UCL, begin to move gradually in that direction.

At the last meeting the committee discussed Roger Jacobs' resolution to encourage on-line publication of Notre Dame journals. Jacobs and Younger are continuing to do some background work on this, talking to others on campus. They will report back to the committee on their findings.

Younger reported that the University has approved the Master Plan for Phase 1 of the renovation of the Hesburgh Library. Phase 1 will concentrate on the basement. Bessler reported that there will be issues to consider when deciding what to put into compact shelving. Compact shelving will be open, with the exception of law material and special collections. Facilities Engineering anticipates they will complete selection of the architects early in 2001. Phelan asked about having regular University food service in the basement. Bessler replied that in the Master Plan a café is included on the first floor, which is not in the first phase.

Access to material in Special Collections:

Dannelly explained that recently the Libraries received a request to limit access to a set of papers to one individual faculty member. The Libraries declined the request as these materials do not circulate and are always available. In the unlikely case someone else is using them, we can generally work out a suitable arrangement. She asked the committee's advice on whether a policy is needed and presented a draft of a possible policy to serve as a starting point for discussion. After some discussion it was decided that Dannelly will take the draft policy back for revision. She will then bring it back to this committee for final review. 

UCITA (The Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act):

A teleconference on the subject is scheduled for December 13, and Holy Cross College will serve as a satellite site. This is sponsored by five national library associations. The purpose of this proposed legislation is to create a unified approach across states to the licensing of software and information. Several aspects of UCITA, however, pose real problems for higher education and libraries, including legitimization of a non-negotiable contract-based system of intellectual property and allowing the licensor to electronically disable, remove, or prevent the usage of computer information or software that resides on your system.

Jacobs noted that this is poor, unenforceable consumer law. Half the attorneys general in the United States were against it a year ago. This teleconference might be a way to inform people on campus. Bender asked if it might be possible to tape the teleconference and make it available to those who cannot attend. Jacobs will ask about that; there might already be arrangements in place for taping.

Bid from Reed Elsevier and Thomson publishers to purchase Harcourt:

Younger provided an article from The New York Times that identifies the problem of rising subscription prices for journals, in the context of the publishing industry's growing consolidation, which has raised concern from the research library community. Jacobs noted that there is not much we can do except to keep informed. Dannelly noted that library consortia is one way in which to leverage our buying power. 

Bender asked about the status of Aleph. Younger replied that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has submitted a letter of intent to acquire Aleph. Others are very close. 

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:30 a.m.
 

Respectfully submitted,

Melodie Eiteljorge
Secretary