UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON LIBRARIES
May 11, 1999

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. the Morris Inn by Chairman Harvey Bender. Also in attendance were John Adams, Robert Coleman, Kelly Gritten, Roger Jacobs, Alan Krieger, Laurence Taylor, Jennifer Younger, guests Joanne Bessler, Ted Cachey, Maureen Gleason and Greg Sterling, and secretary Melodie Eiteljorge.

The minutes of the meeting of April 8, 1999 were approved as written.

Younger welcomed Professor Cachey and Sterling, who attended on behalf of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate.

Younger distributed a brief description of the Northeast Research Libraries Consortium (NERL), and this will be appended to the minutes,

Jacobs asked for input from Younger on her perception of what a consortium should be. She replied that it usually involves a membership fee and the group is together for some particular purpose. This usually results in collective action that facilitates work of the library members. NERL focuses on the licensing of electronic databases.

Gleason added that she was pleasantly surprised about other advantages of membership in NERL, including the exchange of information on different licensing and pricing practices within a range of schools. This is all very useful and enlightening.

Sterling suggested that Younger's whitepaper could also be published in Access newsletter.

Younger recalled that at the last meeting Bender inquired about assigned square footage in the Hesburgh Library building. There were some conflicting figures on this, and she will thus need to clarify.

Bessler next gave a status report on the issue of confidentiality of library circulation records in the Notre Dame community. She polled the Big 10 schools, and 7 responded. She also polled our head of circulation and branch librarians and asked how often the issue comes up. In Hesburgh, there are approximately 200 requests for names each month with two to three complaints a year. In the branches there are no complaints. She is looking now at the possibility of changing the default as Taylor suggested at the last meeting. This would mean that records are automatically kept confidential unless a patron submits permission to have the record shared upon the request of someone from within the Notre Dame community.

Younger next reported on Aleph, which remains a challenge to all of us. In the Libraries, we are still dealing with operational problems. Users as well as library employees are dealing with whether they like what the system is doing. We have given the vendor a list of 112 issues for further development.

Bender asked about the status of other institutions selecting Aleph. Younger replied that the University of Iowa and McGill University have chosen Aleph. The University of Iowa has identified further development of the serials application as a priority. Cornell University made a site visit but decided against Ex Libris. Pennsylvania State is considering Aleph.

Younger distributed a handout on "Library Reconfiguration: Programmatic Objectives and Priorities." This is also available on the Web at:

http://www.nd.edu/~renovate/documents/objectives.htm

Younger explained that the Renovation Committee has been putting together input from focus groups. They also met with Professors Bender, Gritten, Cachey and Sterling and students Gritten and Micek, faculty from UCL and the Academic Affairs Committee and Student Government. This document represents what they have identified as objectives, with additions and revisions welcome.

Krieger asked if the architects will provide a figure for what it would take to do everything, beyond the $8 million that is earmarked. Younger replied that the architects will put together a master plan to provide direction for the next 15 years with an indication as well of alternatives and costs for the renovation project.

Jacobs asked about the inclusion of a snack shop. Younger replied that the students want that. The question is whether it should be in the basement, the concourse, or elsewhere. Some students report that it is part of their learning experience. Gritten noted that many of the people in the Pit are there to use the microwave ovens. Jacobs added that none of the bookstores have coffee shops in their entries. They are always off to the side. Coleman agreed that he thinks it would be awkward to have it in the entry. Younger agreed to pass these observations to the library.

Bender noted that this is a good document and that it belies the hundreds of hours of work that went into it. He suggested adding an icon for a suggestion box at the end in the Web version. Younger noted that this document will be considered finished when the master plan is completed, probably in June.

Younger next provided a handout from the compact shelving committee which lists the factors they will consider in recommending materials to be placed in open compact shelving.

Jacobs asked if having fewer locked carrels would be a factor in attracting graduate students. Younger replied that open carrels with lockers are designed for graduate students. There are advantages in that there can be more assignable book lockers than there are locked carrels, but the disadvantage is that graduate students may not perceive the combination of open carrels and assignable book lockers to be as desirable as are the locked carrels.

Sterling stated that he has 100 students in theology and that office space is what is needed for them. Shared office for three to four graduate students should be located not in the library but rather in the buildings where faculty offices are located.

Bender stated that he feels the quality of our collection itself is the determining factor in attracting students. Taylor suggested that it might be useful to compare carrel numbers with peer institutions.

It was agreed that we will hold the June 10 meeting at 8:30 a.m.

Bender proposed the following resolution in honor of Maureen Gleason's retirement:

"WHEREAS Maureen Gleason has contributed significantly to the development of library services, with particular attention to the collections, we thank her for all she has done."

This was approved.

Other: Sterling brought up the issue of inflation in regard to serials. It was agreed that when Colloquy funds are no longer available, this will be a problem. We have not canceled serials in several years. Endowment income has been increasing. It is a part of the mix available to us but comes in restricted funds. Sterling suggested that the Libraries should have representation on college councils. Cachey agreed that this would be useful for Arts and Letters.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Melodie Eiteljorge
Secretary


Appendix:

Appendix 1. Consortial Relations and the University of Notre Dame University Libraries
May 10, 1999

Membership in consortia is increasingly important to the University Libraries. Our long standing participation in the Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority (INCOLSA) as well as in the Michiana Academic Libraries Consortium (MALC), which was created for the purpose of acquiring the NOTIS integrated on-line system, provided significant programmatic and economic benefits, particularly in automating library functions. Increasingly, the importance of consortia is seen nationally in new consortiums as well as in the expansion of activities in established consortiums.

Consortial arrangements provide opportunities for discussions, exchanges, and cooperative endeavors on administrative and program activities. There are many possibilities for library cooperative arrangements, including the preservation of physical and electronic collections; digital library initiatives; coordinated collection development, disciplinary, interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary in nature; expedited access for interlibrary borrowing and lending of books and journals; creation of scholarly exhibits, conferences and events; and cooperative grantsmanship for projects with impact beyond that of a single institution. These administrative and support activities leverage purchasing power, enable the sharing of physical resources and human expertise. The result is the development of programs within the institution that are not possible with the local resources.

Consortial partners could be geographically proximate partners, such as the university libraries of Chicago, Northwestern, Purdue, and Indiana, or select private university libraries across the United States, including Duke, Emory, and Vanderbilt. Nationally and internationally, Notre Dame could seek alliances with other Catholic institutions having both a teaching and research mission.

Notre Dame has many resources to offer. The library faculty and staff have unique, specialized expertise in a range of subjects and library functions, and research collections in selected subjects that support very intensive scholarly study. We currently participate in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Global Resources Project for Latin American resources where the goal is to ensure the broadest possible range and numbers of Latin American books, newspapers, and journals are purchased and made accessible to North American scholars. Likewise, we have participated in projects to microfilm some of our collections, Brazilian serials, Medieval manuscripts, and books in Medieval studies, to ensure the presence of those resources into the next century. Even in those areas where we are committed to building premier research collections, collaboration is important in acquiring, preserving and making accessible the widest possible range of books and journals for international use. Collaborative projects would build on our resources and expand our ability to conduct programs of institutional, and international, importance, with one example seen in a proposal to acquire the technology for deacidifying books to ensure their useful lives well into the next century. Notre Dame offers the opportunity to enhance the mission of Catholic universities in diverse ways, such as building and preserving the Catholic heritage, in which we and they can be expected to have a particular interest. We have major collections of materials in these areas, but not completely comprehensive, as do other libraries, making cooperative ventures attractive to all parties. Last, Notre Dame would add to the numerical base used to generate discounted pricing for purchasing of electronic resources.

In February 1999, the University Libraries was invited to join the Northeast Research Libraries Consortium (NERL) in a letter from Scott Bennett, University Librarian, Yale University, and we are pleased to inform you we have accepted. NERL is a consortium focused on electronic collections development. It negotiates and acquires licenses for electronic databases and resources, such as the Web of Science which we recently gained access to as part of this consortium.

Members are university libraries only, not the universities nor any other unit. Membership stands at 18 with Notre Dame and includes a number of university libraries identified in the Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on University Libraries, May 1994 as library peers. The members are as follows.

Boston University Library, Boston, MA
Brown University Library, Providence, RI
Columbia University Library, New York, NY
Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY
Dartmouth College Library, Hanover, NH
Harvard University Library, Cambridge, MA
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries, Cambridge, MA
New York University Libraries, New York, NY
Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ
Rutgers University Libraries, New Brunswick, NJ
Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, NY
Temple University Library, Philadelphia, PA
University of Connecticut Library, Storrs, CT
University of Massachusetts Library, Amherst, MA
University of Notre Dame Libraries, Notre Dame, IN
University of Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia, PA
University of Rochester Library, Rochester, NY
Yale University Library, New Haven, CT

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Younger Director of Libraries

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