University
Library Committee Minutes
April 6, 2000
Submitted by Arnold Barkman, Dept. of Accounting
Faculty committee members present were Arnold Barkman, Anabella Acevedo-Leal, David Gouwens, and Mary Patton. Corby Miteff represented the graduate students. Bob Seal represented the Library.
Grant
R. Seal mentioned that the TIFB grant of $423,000 from the State of Texas was winding down; that the grant period ends June 30th and that all of the equipment was in including new flat screen monitors in the lobby. Color printers are available to students at $.90 per page on a send home basis. The printers are not yet available to faculty or staff since the printers do not have any mechanism for charging other than on a student send home basis. The Library Staff is currently working on a report to Texas regarding the impact of the grant on TCU.
Carter Papers
R. Seal said that the Special Collections Dept. has received the papers of Amon Carter Sr. and has submitted a grant proposal to the State of Texas for funds to assist in processing and cataloging the papers. A grant proposal is also in process for the National Endowment of the Humanities. He was optimistic that at least one, if not both, grants would be approved.
Friends Banquet
R. Seal reminded the committee that the Friends of the Library Banquet will be held April 25 with guest speaker Daniel Schorr of National Public Radio. Cost of the banquet is $25 per person, and checks may be brought to his library office.
Budget
R. Seal announced that the TCU Trustees approved the requested $150,000 increase in the Library budget for acquisition of books, periodicals, and electronic materials. Of the $15,000 requested for additional money for student employee salaries, $5,000 was approved. Additional funds had been requested in order to give student employees a raise. The lack of competitive compensation has resulted in a loss of valued student employees to other employment opportunities, often off-campus.
Lobby Food
Regarding food services in the lobby, R. Seal mentioned that he was still negotiating with Don Mills and Larry Adams, and possibly there might be refreshments available by the fall.
Circulation Policy
R. Seal asked the committee to deal with an issue regarding the first sentence of paragraph 1 of the memo titled “Changes in Circulation Policies” dated 12-6-95. The sentence states: “All books must be physically returned to the Library at least every two years from the date of checkout.”
R. Seal stated that a faculty member objected to that provision; that he thought it was inconvenient to have to physically return the books, and wished to keep them for an unlimited period without the need for physical return unless the books were recalled. The Library believes it needs to know that the books still exist and have not been lost. It was also mentioned that people browsing through the stacks often look at various books in some particular topic area, and wouldn’t have that opportunity if the books were away from the shelves for a protracted period of time. The committee discussed the issue, and by unanimous vote, reaffirmed the existing policy as written.
R. Seal mentioned that there were two faculty members who had a large number of books that had not been returned in many years; the fact that those faculty members had those books was not known at the time the policy of ’95 was formulated. It is thought that the majority of those books are either duplicates or out-of-date and thus do not create problems by their absence from the stacks. The committee agreed that this situation should not constitute any precedent for having an unlimited check-out period.
E-mail Notices
Also discussed was the matter of dealing with overdue notices. They currently are being e-mailed successfully to students, and R. Seal asked the committee whether it thought faculty would be receptive to e-mail notices. The committee’s reaction was favorable, so he will look into extending that procedure to faculty/staff, with the possibility of bulk renewal also available via e-mail, depending on software capabilities.
Other
In closing, R. Seal reminded the committee to complete the Library surveys.
A. Barkman thanked the committee for its service and a brief discussion was held regarding how to get greater involvement by more members, given conflicting schedules that have limited attendance at this year’s meetings. A possibility for next year might include early morning meetings.
|
