ULAC Meeting Minutes

October 20, 2008

1:00-3:00 pm in Steely Library - Room 510

Present:
Arne Almquist, Lois Schultz, Greg Martin, Tom Heard, Lane Clark, and K.C. Russell – Note: Allen Ellis, Research & Instructional Services – Guest Presenter
Unable to Attend:
Katherine Kurk, Yasue Kuwahara, Vicki Culbreth

Arne opened the meeting by welcoming all the participants. He announced that it was his hope to have this committee be much more active (and interactive) and would like to maintain a minimum of quarterly meetings. This committee serves as a forum by which Steely Library can periodically send out beneficial information to them and they can bring their concerns and ideas to us. He also informed them that the agenda, minutes and related presentation will be made available to them via the website and an email would be generated directing them to the location. Lastly, he indicated that today there would be a call for volunteers to assist in reviewing the allocation formula by which funds are directed to their academic units.

Introductions were then made around the table.

Next, Arne showed a PowerPoint presentation regarding the challenges that faced Steely Library over the last year, some of the accomplishments and general announcements. There was conversation, questions and answers as each was presented.

  • Budget – we’ve remained stable but not increased.
  • He explained the cuts in KYVL (Kentucky Virtual Library) services, which are available to all citizens through the Library; showed the list of 16 databases lost and explained the collaborative efforts to keep as many databases as possible as a “group” vs. individual libraries.
  • Accomplishments include the serials collection which has become a demand driven model. Some funds have been redirected to purchase journal collections which will provide many more titles for the same expenditure. Steely’s journal collection has also gone from 41% to 83% electronic vs. hard copy.
  • Arne also explained JSTOR-- an archive of back issues of academic journals. To our knowledge, Steely is the only university in the state to be a full subscriber to all JSTOR collections.
  • With the move of the Welcome Center to its own facility, the area on the first floor, which was originally renovated in conjunction with Admissions, will now be managed by Steely. The circulation desk has been moved out to the front desk area and the security gates will be moving shortly. Responsibility for the conference room (SL102 formerly WC102) is now moved to the APLS office.
  • Arne also mentioned the newly renovated 2nd floor Eva G. Farris Reading Room/Art Gallery which has become a beautiful, quiet area for students, faculty and staff. He indicated that additional furniture is forthcoming.
  • He also explained the recently formed Marketing and Assessment Teams that have been created to address the need to better market our services, such as RefWorks, and to better assess the effect of library products and services. He anticipates using feedback from these teams to help make base new products and services on user needs. This feedback will be combined with other information, such as comments and suggestions from ULAC meetings.
  • The RFID project--tagging all books with small radio transceivers--has been going well and we currently have between one third and one half of the collection tagged. With the old, manual system, it took approximately a year and a half to inventory the complete collection. With the new scanning system, we have the ability to inventory three times per year. Steely is the first Kentucky public academic library to implement this system.

Allen Ellis from Research & Instructional Services at Steely did a presentation covering Research Resources, Tutorials, Blackboard Librarian, and Subject Portals via the Internet.

Arne showed photos of the art deco sculpture donated to NKU and soon to be housed on the third floor of Steely – STEGO; a full-size VW bug which has been converted into a stegosaurus. He explained that this was one of a few large pieces done by a Cincinnati artist, Pat Renick, who recently passed away. One of her other pieces was a full-size Army helicopter, also converted into a dinosaur. Stegosaurus is approximately 20’ x 12’ x 7’ and has been on display in Chicago and other places. It is currently being restored at a body shop located in Fairfield and is being loaned to NKU by artist Laura Chapman. Arne said he anticipates lots of publicity for this and it will put NKU on the “art world” map. STEGO will be delivered in November and will remain under a draped sheet until it is officially unveiled in January.

Arne mentioned that we are currently conducting a trial of two major database products, Scopus, by Elsevier, and Web of Science, published by Thomson. Both products provide access to an extensive selection of journal articles, patents, and other materials, and also provide citation analysis tools. A decision regarding purchase will be made in November. We are currently urging faculty to try the two products and to give us feedback.

Lois Schultz presented information on library collections and content. Steely Library is using a cost per use model for journal purchases. Print journals are being transferred from print to electronic. All current journals that are available electronically will be transferred by early in 2009, except for five which are the most expensive to transfer. The number of journal subscriptions is being increased through packages such as Elsevier College Collections, PsycArticles, and Project Muse premium packages. We have also ramped up our ILL and document delivery services. Our patron-driven acquisitions service is doing well. Through this service, books, videos, and other items that are requested through ILL are automatically purchased. The service has been popular and items purchased through it have seen much greater circulation than items that have been added to the collection through traditional means.

Departmental Allocations Formula

Lois Schultz explained that in 2002 a committee was created to define a formula for calculating departmental allocations. Now, after 5+ years, it’s time to review the formula. Another issue is that interdisciplinary academic programs have been added over the past few years and we need to figure out a method for allocating funds to them. Arne indicated that there was a need for three volunteers to work with Lois in reviewing and revising the formula. A formal call for volunteers will go out shortly.

Arne made closing comments and reminded everyone that we will send out future dates as well as make the agenda, minutes and presentations of this meeting available via the webpage.

Potential meeting dates:

December 12, 2008 – February 27, 2009 – April 24, 2009