Resources for Users Committee – Minutes
November 18, 2005 10:00 AM
Byrd Conference Room, Harrison/Small, University of Virginia
Gene Damon, Presiding
Present: Gene Damon, Frank Moran, Pat Van Zandt, Jane Penner, Sylvia Rortvedt, Pam Morgan, Karen Carey, Louveller Luster, Paul Metz, Jim Rettig, John Tombarge, Jim Self, Sharon Kerr, Sharon Gasser (recorder), and Kathy Perry, VIVA Director.
1. Announcements
Gene Damon announced the retirement of Pat Hunter from the Virginia Highlands Community College in Abingdon.
We welcomed Sharon Kerr from George Mason University.
2. Approval of Minutes of August 26th meeting.
Minutes were approved.
3. Changes/Additions to the agenda: made and recorded.
4. Budget – K. Perry
Kathy Perry distributed a new budget spreadsheet, highlighting:
a. The PBS Video contract has been signed, and the list of videos is superb. Ralph Alberico will be chairing a Technical Issues Task Force on Multimedia Collections
b. The Project Muse standard package was approved. Currently, four public institutions have purchased the premium package. UVA will also upgrade to the premium version.
c. The cost of the Duke University Press title package is estimated. The renewal price is expected soon.
d. The budget includes several one-time expenses, and this money will be available next fiscal year.
Kathy explained the progress on VIVA’s budget proposal in the General Assembly. It has been vetted by the Dept. of Budget and Planning. The critical event will be making it in the Governor’s Budget which has a release date of December 20th.
Kathy distributed the spreadsheet showing the PsycARTICLES prices for each public and private institution. Invoices will be sent soon.
5. Renewals
Recommendation for renewal of current VIVA subscriptions is based on the price increase, review of usage statistics, and value of the product to VIVA members.
a. Oxford University Press – P. Morgan
Pam distributed the title list for 2006, including lost titles, new titles, three art titles with no perpetual rights to display images, and two Open Access journals. Title lists will be available on the Vendor Help page. There was discussion about a press release on the Open Access journals. ACTION: Committee voted to recommend renewal.
b. Cambridge University Press – P. Morgan
Five new titles were added in 2005 but five were lost in 2006. Title list will be posted on the Vendor Help page. ACTION: Committee voted to recommend renewal.
c. ABC-CLIO – P. Morgan
Pam is waiting on a price quotation for the private institutions. ACTION: Committee voted to recommend renewal.
d. LexisNexis Statistical Universe – P. Morgan
The price is locked in for two years. Additional offer of the Statistical Research Tables is part of the discussion on STAT-USA. ACTION: Committee voted to recommend renewal.
e. Encyclopedia Britannica – S. Rortvedt
EB pricing will increase over the next 3 years based on weighted user. Usage remains flat. There was much discussion about Britannica and Wikipedia. Gene moved that there should be an evaluation of Britannica compared to free alternatives. Paul approved, and Pat seconded. Sylvia will chair the evaluation committee, and members will be Jane Penner, Paul Metz, and Jim Rettig. Jim Self will assist with a survey instrument if needed. Before the next meeting a charge will be drafted.
f. HighWire Press – F. Moran
The cost per article is less than $0.30. ACTION: Committee voted to recommend renewal of five titles: American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP), Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Cell Biology, and Molecular Biology of the Cell. AJP is also offering VIVA institutions a 20% discount on PsychiatryOnline, which includes online access to DSM-IV-TRÒ. There was enough interest by committee members so Frank will investigate pricing for VIVA.
g. Science – K. Perry
Usage was up 15%. ACTION: Committee voted to recommend renewal.
h. Journal of Advanced Nursing (Blackwell) – S. Gasser
Usage is available only until December 2004 when the title was available from Ovid, and it is at a high level. Getting usage data on one title from Blackwell is a problem. ACTION: Committee voted to recommend renewal.
6. Oxford Reference Online Premium – J. Penner
Jane discussed the final offer from Oxford for this product. The pricing is for public institutions only, and any private institution will receive a 20% discount. There will be credits to current subscribers. ACTION: RUC confirmed its vote at the August meeting to recommend approval.
7. STAT-USA – S. Rortvedt
RUC recommended cancellation in August, and the Steering Committee approved in September. However, STAT-USA has offered a new proposal, a 30% discount over the original flat FTE-based price given previously. There was some discussion on the value of product and the availability of the data at agency sites. Committee moved that Sylvia would negotiate the current price with a price cap to prevent future renewal problems and send the information for an e-mail vote. Gene would carry forward to the Steering Committee. Kathy would send a reminder to Collection Development contacts to wait before purchasing this product locally.
LexisNexis gave pricing for their Research Tables and ASI statistical package. After a short discussion, the committee decided to pass on these offers.
8. Gale PowerSearch and Free Offers – J. Rettig
Jim reported on the link resolver test results from UVA, Virginia Tech, and JMU. The results were mixed. Problems seem to be with the proxy server or with the link resolver. ODU still cannot use PowerSearch due to a long response time. It was recommended that Jim get a definitive statement from Gale and to work with Glenn Bunton, Systems Librarian at Old Dominion University, to identify the problems.
Gale has offered free access to VIVA of 15 electronic reference books. ACTION: Committee voted to recommend acceptance of free offer.
9. Training – P. Van Zandt
There is nothing scheduled for training. Please send Pat ideas.
10. Factiva – J. Tombarge
John explained the option of setting up institutional accounts for Factiva in order to have usage data. There would be a limit on the number of simultaneous users at each institution based on size or type of institution (e.g., 5 for doctoral institutions, 3 for smaller publics, 1 for private institutions with an accredited business program, and a pool for other private institutions). We would gain statistics and more administrative rights for the login screen, logout, and some preferences. Loss of the pool could affect classes not using the training account. After discussion, the committee decided to stay with the current situation and to forego the acquisition of statistics rather than limit our members’ access.
11. Serials Audit – P. Metz
Paul reported that the data loads have been available for some time. He was promised a de-duped list for the evaluation. We need clarification of where we are. Paul will get some answers from Margot Cronin, the USAS product manager.
12. VT’s Collection Analysis Project – P. Metz
Paul distributed collection reports on Virginia Tech from the WorldCAT Collection Analysis service. Universities belonging to ASERL received a discount to participate, and ASERL made a ready-made peer group. Reports provided global comparisons as well as granularity by identifying specific titles to own.
13. Other Business/New Offers
a. ProQuest Historical Newspapers – P. Van Zandt
This offer included both subscription and purchase offers. This was tabled for a later time, but considered a possibility for one-time funds.
b. Wiley – P. Metz
Paul reported that there is a current buying club for Wiley titles. Wiley proposed a VIVA offer, but it had lots of problems.
c. CSA Art/Architecture Package – P. Metz
Paul mentioned that Heather Ball at Virginia Tech worked with CSA on an Art & Design package of four databases. There is discount pricing available.
d. EBSCO – J. Penner
Jane mentioned UVA maintains access to the Ovid interface, and there are differing research results between the Ovid and EBSCO interfaces. Jane will send example to EBSCO.
e. Nursing and Allied Health – S. Rortvedt
Anyone interested in purchasing nursing videos and software, please contact Ruth Stanton at Northern Virginia Community College ().
14. JANUS Conference – J. Penner
Jane reported on the JANUS Conference held at Cornell University, October 9-11, and distributed conference materials. The first conference was held 25 years ago. She and Jim Self attended from UVA along with 60-75 other ARL librarians. A new emphasis was placed on collaboration. There were break-out sessions, and six challenges to collection development were identified. UVA has an interest in full text retrospective conversion, publisher relations, and print archiving. It was noted that the Steering Committee did not consider a remote storing facility a priority for VIVA.
15. Updating RUC documents – S. Gasser
Sharon suggested that the committee update several documents, including the VIVA Collection Development Principles and Selection Criteria dated 1/15/99 and a Guide to VIVA Purchases developed by Carol Pfeiffer. The guide could assist product manager in investigating, recommending, purchasing, and renewing resources. Several librarians from VIVA institutions also requested that there be a placed on the VIVA RUC page listing resources under consideration so they do not purchase the product. Kathy distributed a revision to the RUC web page that the Outreach Committee has developed with Eric Rector’s assistance. Gene suggested that minutes be posted as a Word document for timely posting. Statistics will continue to be posted in Excel.
ACTION: Paul Metz and Karen Cary will review and revise the Principles and Selection Criteria. Pat Van Zandt, Pam Morgan, Kathy, and Sharon will develop at guide to VIVA resources.
16. Suggestions during meeting
Committee members should put RUC in the subject line when sending committee business.
Next meeting: February 3, 2006
Agenda will include cost sharing proposals on Blackwell, IEL, and BIOSIS.