PUC Library Advisory Committee Meeting

April 24, 2003 – Anderson 224

In attendance were: Kathryn Carpenter, Miriam Joyce, Catherine Murphy, Bipin Pai, Robert Selig, Rebecca Stankowski, Elaine Waples, Lynn Zimmerman.

The meeting began at 3:02 p.m. with a review of the meeting agenda items: Feedback from faculty; cancellation recommendations; and committee appointments.

The minutes from the April 8, 2003, meeting were approved “by acclaim.”

Miriam Joyce gave a report on her attendance at a recent Senate Academic Support Committee meeting. That committee is made up of four members and their charge addresses calendar and financial/resource issues. The committee requested that a member of the Library Advisory Committee to also attend the Senate Academic Support Committee meetings. There was a link between the two committees at the time that Prof. Joyce served on both. Also, they are both interested in the Library as a “resource.” Other ways to promote communication between the two committees would be to invite a member of the Senate Academic Support Committee to attend the Library Advisory Committee meetings or to forward Library Advisory Committee minutes to them via e-mail or the Library Web site. Library Advisory Committee members should forward other suggestions to Kathryn Carpenter.

The “Proposed Journal Title Cancellations by Suggester” list was discussed. It had been e-mailed to the “Distribution B2” list, and Rebecca Stankowski received only nine replies. Of the nine, two were commentaries and seven were actual cancellation edits to the list. The total dollar amount of the edited cancellations totals only $23,000; the goal is to cancel $35,000 in publications to keep in line with the anticipated increase in the cost of subscriptions and vendor service charge.

Those in attendance discussed the low response rate and noted that two schools had not suggested canceling any journals in their disciplines. More aggressive communication to the faculty is needed, as e-mail and campus mail seem to generate few replies. Library Advisory Committee members will contact certain faculty personally. But broadcasting this list, and referring to student use, can bring more reaction.

Even though the Interim VCAA is generally supportive of a budget increase to keep pace with inflation, a budget process does need to be created for this year as well as for the future as ongoing price increases are inevitable. Use is an important factor in purchase or retention decisions. Use data for circulating materials will be compiled in Voyager beginning in July 2003. A suggestion was also made that faculty be told to not re-shelve books, and to perhaps place them on an empty shelf, so that usage can be tracked. Journals will also be ranked next year as to “student use.” In house use data will also be compiled and reported. The ARL Interlibrary Loan study may also help with turnaround time for tracking individual articles.

Those present reviewed the journal listings in their disciplines as to “student use” or “faculty use.” Some other discipline edits seem to have been made by individual rather than group decisions. Both paper and electronic journals were included on the list, and were for current and full-fledged items only.

Canceling JSTOR was discussed; however, JSTOR is not applicable since their offerings are based upon a retrospective list, offering no current journals. Journal pricing for the revised list will be difficult, as many publications are issued as part of packages. The list will be set up with the highest-priced journals for each discipline listed first. “Packaged” journals and “graced” journals will be excluded from the revised list. “Student use” versus “faculty use” will also be a factor in deciding which journals will be cancelled.

The revised list will be e-mailed to “Distribution B2.” Deans and department heads will also receive personalized e-mails, in which “student success” will be noted as the basis for journal cancellation decisions. This second e-mail will give faculty the opportunity to see what the Library Advisory Committee will cancel if not enough feedback is received. The Committee will choose the final cancellations based upon which cuts will have “the least affect on students’ success.” Rebecca Stankowski said that the list should be completed and e-mailed by the middle of next week (week of April 27, 2003). The deadline for faculty replies will be May 9, 2003.

In order to keep with the Chancellor’s schedule regarding funding for next year, the fully revised journal cancellations list will be sent out in mid-May 2003 for the Library Advisory Committee members’ final endorsements.

The meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cynthia Leighty

Secretary, Library Director’s Office