LEC Meeting Notes
January 29, 2002

Present:  Gay Dannelly, Dan Marmion, Marsha Stevenson, Jennifer Younger

1. Jennifer reported on a meeting she held recently with the office staff from 221.  She clarified that Administrative Services is not a separate division, but is part of the Director's Office.  The new Manager of Financial and Administrative Services will have a position similar to those of department heads.  S/he will generally attend LEC, however, because many of the topics discussed there have financial implications. 
A system of backups for absent 221 staff is being devised.

2. Gay raised an issue about the number of print subscriptions reported to NERL when the pricing for electronic publisher packages is being determined.  In some packages, the price is partially dependent on the number of subscriptions that are duplicated in print, and there are some variables in how that number can be counted.  A related issue is determining the correct number of FTE's of potential users to report when that factor influences pricing.

3. Gay shared spreadsheets on which she has been collecting data regarding funding for materials acquisitions.  The spreadsheets introduce a new concept of making each subject area responsible for its subscriptions as well as its one-time (normally monographic) purchases.  In some instances, there are negative balances available for book purchases once the serials costs are covered.  All areas should anticipate having to deal with the effects of inflation of books and journals.  Though we do not have the budget yet, it does not appear there will be additional money for acquisitions from the University.
The focus will be on cancelling print subscriptions where we have electronic equivalents.  Two significant barriers to the ready acceptance of this approach were identified: technological barriers and the issue of reliable archiving.  Dan will try to identify, and explore strategies to address, the technical factors that impede use of electronic journals.  Regarding archiving, all recent contracts for electronic journals assure permanent archival access.  Earlier contracts did not do this consistently, but the print is still available in these cases;  and as contracts are renewed, this permanent archival access will be required.

4. The many demands on the Library Systems Department were discussed.  Maintaining four separate catalogs (one for each of the MALC libraries) is labor-intensive, and for that reason, Dan and Marc are setting up a task force to assess the feasibility of establishing a single union catalog.

5. DAIAD is planning focus groups in February to gather information about patrons' use of, and opinions about, the library's electronic resources.  In particular, they are interested in identifying obstacles to the identification and use of these resources.  DAIAD sees their role as a service provider for other library units who provide the content that DAIAD then makes available.  Their focus is on the navigability and structure of the website. 

6. The Libraries' contract with IKON expires soon, and a group has been meeting to evaluate offers from outside vendors who wish to provide copy service within the Libraries.  Copying volume has decreased to the point that the library will have to subsidize service if it is continued in this fashion.  Mechanisms are being studied to reduce copy service costs to a break-even point so that the library does not have to subsidize it.

Marsha Stevenson, Recorder