VIVA Steering Committee
Thursday, December 1, 2016
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA
MINUTES
Attendance:
Present: Carrie Cooper, George Fowler, Sharon Gasser, Steve Helm, Carla Lee (for John Unsworth), Anne Osterman, Diane Smith, John Tombarge, John Ulmschneider, Luke Vilelle, Tyler Walters, and John Zenelis.
Guest: Genya O’Gara
I. MINUTES
The minutes from the September 29, 2016 Steering Committee meeting were reviewed.
ACTION: The minutes from the September 29, 2016 Steering Committee meeting were approved.
II. PROJECT UPDATE
A. CHAIR’S REPORT (Carrie Cooper)
1. Proposed Budget Cuts for VIVA: There is a possible FY17 reversion of 5% of VIVA’s state funds and a possible 7.5% cut to VIVA’s FY18 state funding.
2. Nominating Committee for Steering Committee Chair: Rosemary Arneson (UMW) will chair the Nominating Committee, and Sue Erickson (VWC), George Fowler (ODU), and Steve Litherland (TCC) will serve as members. They will provide a recommendation at the March 2017 meeting.
B. DIRECTOR’S REPORT (Anne Osterman)
1. Open Textbook Network: There have been five OTN workshops completed to date, and there are four more scheduled. Notably, Anita Walz of Virginia Tech is conducting a workshop for Ferrum College, which does not have its own Campus Leader. No faculty review funds have been expended yet, although approximately $6,000 of the budgeted $20,000 has been allocated.
2. Zepheira/Atlas Linked Data Pilot: Ten institutions (LVA, CWM, GMU, JMU, ODU, UVA, VCU, VSU, VT, and W&L) have been identified for the pilot. The first phase will involve all special collection MARC records, excluding books, from the participating institutions. Approximately 1,000 of these MARC records have a subject focus on African American History, and preliminary linking will focus on these collections. The second phase will involve mapping finding aids to Linked Data, likely again focusing on collections that have materials related to African American History.
3. Plane for Richmond to Wise in September 2017: The request for the state plane is currently going through the George Mason University approval process.
4. RedLink Network Advisory Council: Anne is now a member of the RedLink Network Advisory Council. This is a network that allows libraries a central place to communicateIP address changes, link resolver updates, and library branding to participating publishers. It is free to libraries and publishers.
III. COMMITTEES
A. COLLECTIONS (Sharon Gasser)
Sharon reported that the Collections Committee met via videoconference on November 11th.
1. Renewals
a. Oxford University Press Journals
ACTION: The Steering Committee approved renewal of the recommended resource. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (transfer from Wiley), Biology of Reproduction (transfer from BioOne), and International Affairs (transfer from Wiley) will be added to the shared package.
2. RFP Committee for Multidisciplinary Databases: The RFP Committee for Multidisciplinary Databases will begin its work in early 2017. Members of the Committee are: Beth Blanton-Kent (Chair, UVA), Georgie Donovan (CWM), Accacia Mullen (VMI), Crystal Newell (PVCC), Shaunna Hunter (Hampden-Sydney College), Anne (VIVA), Genya (VIVA), and LeeAnne Beatty Smith (JMU Procurement). The contract for the current product in this role, the EBSCOhost Collection, expires June 30, 2018. The goal is to have the new contract in place by the end of 2017.
3. RFP for Ebook Collections: The awards for the RFP for the Ebook Collections to Brill, Oxford University Press, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley were announced on the VIVA listserv in mid-November. VIVA has received accolades from other consortia on negotiation of lending rights for whole ebooks for each of the awarded contracts. Members of the RFP Committee are Madeline Kelly (Chair, GMU), Mike Cobb (Liberty), Amanda Echterling (VCU), Maria Fesz (NVCC), Carolyn Schubert (JMU), Anne (VIVA), Genya (VIVA), and LeeAnne Beatty Smith (JMU Procurement).
4. Kanopy: The Kanopy streaming media pilot is expected to run January-June 2017 or until the allocated deposit for a member is expended. Kanopy is offering a webinar to members on December 6.
5. Collections Forum: The Committee approved the draft agenda for the second Collections Forum to be held at VCU on Friday, May 19, 2017. Potential presenters have been contacted and a draft agenda has been sent to the Collections Committee for review. Members of the Planning Committee are: Summer Durrant (Chair, UMW), Emily Altman (VCS), Alison Armstrong (RU), Lisa Broughman (Randolph College), Ed Lener (VT), Rob Tench (ODU), and Anne Osterman (VIVA).
6. American Chemical Society Journals: A subscription adjustment might be appropriate for this product. The Collections Committee will be evaluating it in the spring.
7. Value Metric Task Force Report: The Task Force has completed the working drafts of the grids to be used for evaluating VIVA resources. Grids were established for each type of resource, including databases, ebooks, journals, and streaming media. A presentation on the work of this group was given at the Charleston Conference this November, and further information will be shared this spring at the ACRL Conference. Members of the Task Force include Genya O’Gara (Chair, VIVA), Beth Blanton-Kent (UVA), Cheri Duncan (JMU), Julie Kane (W&L), Madeline Kelly (GMU), and Crystal Newell (PVCC). Genya gave a presentation about this project to the Steering Committee.
B. RESOURCE SHARING (Diane Smith)
1. OCLC Move of ILLiad to WorldShare: As reported at the last Steering Committee there is considerable concern within the academic ILL community about OCLC’s plans to develop a new ILL platform. The Resource Sharing Committee met with the Product Manager, Jennifer Corsi, who provided an in-depth demo of the first phase of the product development. At the end of the discussion Jennifer reiterated her desire to talk further with larger academics to understand their needs. Committee members continue to have concerns that the new product will not be able to meet the level of functionality and customization that ILLiad currently provides.
2. Resource Sharing-Collections Committee Collaboration: Discussion centered on whether the Collections Committee recommendation of four print copies of monographic titles could be supported by the current ILL infrastructure within VIVA. Based on OCLC data it would appear that the infrastructure can support response and delivery within 48 hours, which was deemed reasonable by the RSC. The committee is putting together a brief report for the Collections Committee to review staffing and technical infrastructure. Working group members include: Jessica Bowdoin (GMU), Ashley Brewer (ODU), Shirley Thomas (VCU), Alison Armstrong (Radford), and Madeline Kelly (GMU), with support from VIVA Central.
3. Shared Print Journal Discussion: With the move of most libraries to e-versions of journals, a problem is developing with acquiring “not yet in print/too new” or “embargoed” journal articles for users. Libraries are turning to commercial vendors (e.g. Get It Now, Reprints) to acquire these articles for individual users, and the costs can be high for institutions when acquired on an article level. The committee is investigating whether there are journal titles that it would be economically reasonable for an individual VIVA library to subscribe to and provide ILLs to member libraries instead of having all VIVA libraries pay for each article requested. Genya is starting to collect the data that the committee will need to do such an analysis.
C. OUTREACH (Luke Vilelle)
1. VIVA Users’ Group Meeting: The Committee hosted the VIVA Users’ Group Meeting at the Virginia Library Association Annual Conference on October 27, 2016 at the Homestead in Hot Springs. The meeting included “Visions for an Evolving Consortium: Voices from the Member Libraries,” which were seven lightning talks from VIVA librarians on a variety of timely topics; vendor presentations; and the VIVA update. Attendance was between 50 and 75. Looking forward, the committee will continue to have multiple voices as part of the program, whether in similar lightning talk fashion, as part of a panel, etc.; they will consider a new, more engaging approach to vendor presentations; and they will design a brief feedback survey for attendees.
2. New Member Onboarding: The Committee developed a brief video (under eight minutes) that introduces new librarians and library staff in the state to VIVA. They also developed an accompanying top ten list of ways to learn more about VIVA and get involved.
3. VIVA Website: VIVA member libraries will be highlighted in a new way on the VIVA website. Library Directors will be asked three questions: What are your top three points of pride in your library?; What's the most popular spot in your library for students and patrons?; and Which VIVA resource or resources, does your school value the most, and why? There will also be a request for photographs. The Committee is discussing a potential refresh of the VIVA website.
4. Press Release: Outreach Committee members Laura Martof Miller and Anaya Jones are working on a draft of a press release about the four new ebook collections. The goal is to have a final version ready by January for distribution to legislators.
IV. OTHER BUSINESS
1. Next Meeting: September 29, 2017 at UVA-Wise
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