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Minutes, Meeting of January 28, 1998
The meeting was called to order by Sarah Thomas. She introduced the meeting agenda which was a preliminary version of a presentation to be made to the University Faculty Library Board by Ross Atkinson in February. The Council was called on to listen to the presentation and give feedback both from the expert perspective on this issues and based on their knowledge of what would work well with the faculty.
Ross's presentation was on the topic of scholarly communication and collection development at a strategic rather than a tactical level and he explained that the topic was selected after several iterations in an attempt to determine what would be an appropriate topic for the Library Board. The Library Board had expressed a desire to be helpful to the Library, and members have also discussed their concern about journal cancellations and Cornell's ability to acquire the information resources to support a world class university. Audience questions and discussion clarified the purpose and make up of the Library Board. Sarah indicated that she was interested in seeing a more representative membership on the Library Board (with more humanists a priority) and was taking steps to identify potential new recruits. She would also welcome suggestions from the Council of candidates for the Library Board.
In the presentation Ross highlighted the challenges we are facing where purchasing power is declining (especially for science serials) and there is a technical/cultural change with the growth of digital information. The problems are distinct yet connected. The hope is that there will be some algorithm where digital resources can supplant some of the print resources and thus afford cost savings. We can not ignore the advent of digital resources and at the same time we have data to show that the use of print resources continues to increase. The challenge we face now is a period where we both have to continue to acquire print resources and also acquire digital resources that are in many cases duplicate in nature. We are at present stuck with suppliers packaging the digital as an add on, a distrust of the permanency of digital and different functionality of the formats. Ross closed with a call to action on the materials budget front, improving the flow of information between the library and it users, and redesign of the scholarly publication process.
There was a very stimulating discussion of the presentation that included recommendations on the presentation style and suggestion and comments about the content.
The style recommendations included reducing the jargon and data presented, moving the presentation to Powerpoint, adopting a more positive tone and closing with a very specific action agenda.
The content suggestions and comments included reducing the emphasis on science journals, that digital may not supplant the print, thus hybridity will continue, the dichotomy of ownership versus access to information, the necessity of serving resources not just acquiring them, questions about what sort of use data we will have for electronic resources, and reservations about the stated assumptions on the future of the scholarly publication process.
Sarah closed the meeting with thanks to Ross for his stimulating presentation and the council for it active and constructive discussion. She also issues a call to the Council for topics for future meetings.
Recorder: Steve Rockey
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rev. 2/10/98 dih