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University
Library Committee Minutes
February 22, 2001, 2:00 PM
The meeting was held in room B21 of the library
and started at 3:30 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Ernst Couch and Arnold Barkman.
Present: Arnie Barkman (Accounting), Pam Marcum (physics), Donnell Payne (Computer Science), Ernest Couch (Biology), June
Koelker (Library), Ashley Edge (Undergraduate-Nursing), Bob Seal (Library), Ellen Page Garrison (Ballet)
Absent: Anderson, Douthey, Gouwens, Jost, Polisetty, Woodworth
Comments by Bob Seal
- Library now has subscriptions to 1200
electronic journals with full text on line, (excluding articles
available in full'text from various data bases).
- School of Engineering obeyed the stopping of 50
paper editions of IEEE journals. In exchange, 106 titles, all online,
will be available from the IEEE. This will save a large amount of shelf
space.
- The library is finding it difficult to deal
w!th the European publisher Elsevier. All the subscriptions are very
expensive. They have a news service called Science Direct, but full
access to all their titles would cost $50,000 a year.
- Seal asked the committee how they feel about the substitution of
electronic journals for paper ones. Generally the committee members were
in favor of it, but some (Barkman) brought up the question related to
archives. He asked, "what would happen if the company went out of
business or if we stopped taking the journal?" Would we be able to keep
the electronic version of the journals for which we had already
paid?
The committee agreed that this presents a potential problem and
hoped that this question could be further investigated.
Comments by June Koelker
(Library)
Koelker alerted the committee of the harm that could result if a senate bill in the state legislature, UCIT A (Uniform
Computer Information Transaction Act), passes. This bill is being strongly supported by publishers and software producers.
According to Koelker this would be extremely hannful to all libraries in the state. It would strongly hamper the copying and
use of printed material by libraries. It is already in force in Maryland and Virginia with disastrous results. Since this is a
rather political issue, the head librarian at the University of Texas has been warned to keep hands off. It is basically up to the
private universities and private industry to attempt to block this bill. Insurance companies, petroleum companies and
companies such as Dell Computer all joining in the effort to defeat the bill. All interested parties need to join together in the
presently changing legal environment. This problem has arisen because of the successful lobbying ofUCITA. For more
information, go to httn://www.4cite.org.
General information:
- The Library Community presently has Texshare, a
group formed for the group purchasing of databases within the entire
state. We presently have this because of successful lobbying by the
library community.
- Off site storage is now moving to a new location off of Camp Bowie
near the EI Fenix restaurant. It especially desirable because it has
very good environmental control. Off site storage space will be
increased by more than 1/3 as compared with the former downtown
facility.
Arnie Barkman:
- Barkman asked if there is any prospect for a
new library building. Seal answered that it is in the long-term plans,
but nothing on the immediate horizon.
- Electronic reserves Asked if it is really necessary to restrict the
electromc reserves to a specIfic class. Why would It not be possible to
open them all up to the TCU community? Bob Seal responded that he
thought that this should be possible, but i I that he would first check
with Kerry Bouchard about any possible copyright or other legal
pitfalls.
Committee opinion:
The
committee was of the opinion that the electronic reserves should be as
open as possible.
New on the horizon:
- Bob Seal: Bob is now considering the creation of an Information
Commons. This new model would combine the human resources of the Library
and financial resources with those of Information Services,
Instructional Services, and other areas of TCU into one powerful unit
where students, faculty, and staff could go to get help with a variety
of "information-related" services at the same time at the same
place.
- This Information Commons would offer help in slide making,
PowerPoint presentation production, computer help, email help
(especially useful to new students), library guides and so forth. At
this Information Commons students, faculty and staff would have one
integrated information smorgasbord. It would be cooperative,
collaborative service center for information technology. A number of
colleges and universities have already adopted such a model. The
University of Arizona has an entire building for this located between
its library and student center with connection tunnels. You might take a
look at :
U. of Arizona - http://diZZY.library.arizona.edu/aboutlib/iif/iif.htm
Emory - http://infocommons.emory.edu
U. of Toronto - http://www.utoronto.ca/welcome.html/
U. of Iowa - http://www.lib.uiowa/commons (take the virtual
tour)
Other ideas about the Information
Commons:
- First develop it as a new type of web page. Construct a page that
would supply much of the information mentioned above including F AQs and
training schedules.
- Could start with a space in the reference room in the 1983 addition
that would have a team of people to handle all types of problems. Could
have group study rooms for students to work in teams on projects. Could
get aid in slide and PowerPoint presentations. Could involve Information
Services, Instructional Service, the Center for Teaching Excellence, and
the Center for Professional Communication.
- The Dean's Council was very enthusiastic about this idea.
- The TCU administration thinks the idea is worth pursuing. Remodeling
the reference room is on the Chancellor's list of capital projects for
the forthcoming capital campaign.
- There will be an ad hoc campus committee to look at the concept and
make recommendations as to what TCU should do.
Ellen Page Garrison:
- Garrison commented that technology is very time consuming and she
thought that such an Information Commons would be very helpful.
Donnell Payne:
- Asked if any department requires technology learning as part of
their requirements. She thought that it should be a part of a
major.
Other:
- The overuse of paper was discussed by several members of the
committee.
Announcement:
- Next meeting will be in about in about a month or perhaps in
mid-April.
- Reminder that the banquet for the Friends of the Library is on
April 10 at the Kelly Center. There will be a "Best Book on Texas
Award" for $5000 going to the guest speaker, Stephen Harrigan, for his
New York Times bestseller The Gates of the Alamo. This will be the first
year for this award. The banquet is open to the
public.
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