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August 26, 1997
Present: R. Atkinson, L. Cartmill, D. Corson, J. Olsen, S. Thomas; Not Attending: T. Hickerson, E. Weissman
Notes
I. Planning Subsequent Phases of the Reorganization
Sarah noted that the reorganization will be a topic for discussion at the Academic Assembly on September 4. Jan and David discussed their initiatives in following through on the reorganization within the Humanities and Social Sciences and Sciences organizations. Jan will be meeting this week with unit heads from the science libraries. David has begun meeting individually with unit heads. Jan, David, and Ross will meet to review issues of common interest. Staff and faculty have asked about the impact of the reorganization and the changes it will bring. The most immediate change is in the reporting relationships. The Executive Team affirmed the importance of retaining the unique qualities of the various libraries and their relationships with users. Over the next 3 to 4 months we'll be looking at the areas for fruitful collaboration. Sarah emphasized the importance of ET members discussing agendas and the policy issues covered in the meetings with others in their organizations so that the viewpoints of various libraries are represented and ET decisions are reviewed and interpreted.
One of the issues David, Jan, and Ross will be discussing is e-reserves. Nousoft representatives will soon be visiting, and Jan has proposed offering them the benefit of the Mann Library e-reserve development. Cornell's partnership with Nousoft would improve their product. Cornell would expect suitable compensation for its investment. The Library has collected preliminary information on the cost of extending electronic reserves to all appropriate units and will continue to move towards achieving this objective.
Another cross-cutting matter is Colorado State. When CSU put out a call for assistance following its July flood, Sarah responded with an offer to help. CSU has asked Cornell to serve as one of six sites that would provide document delivery during the year or more they are rebuilding and restoring their collection. CSU will place an Ariel workstation at Mann and fund student workers to retrieve requested materials. Howard Raskin is coordinating the many details that still require resolution. CSU's goal is to minimize disruption for Mann and Cornell. Sarah thanked Jan and her staff for being so willing to take on this additional responsibility and help a sister library.
II. Library Activities: Updates and Discussion
Sarah and Lee are meeting with Provost Randel and Carolyn Ainslie this afternoon to review the Library's priorities for funding. Identified priorities are the Library Management System ($2-3 million), Collection Development (8-10% annual increase), Preservation ($450,000 increase in base), the Digital Library ($4 million increase in base), and Capital Equipment ($275,000 increase in base). The Library has identified over $1.1 million dollars of high priority needs for which it is seeking to reallocate existing funds. Other sources beyond internal reallocation and general purpose funds would be gifts and grants. In identifying these needs and priorities, the Library does not anticipate full funding of them, but rather seeks to make the case for continuing and expanding Library funding in a period when budgets are generally flat or declining.
Discussion of the agenda items on electronic publishing, digital futures, and distance learning was deferred for lack of time. Sarah briefly reminded the ET that it will meet on August 27 to continue tactical planning discussions with the aim of producing a short document for the staff on the Library's top priorities for the coming year or two. On September 11 the ET plus others with a strong track record in obtaining outside funding will meet to link funding sources with the Library priorities and to assign responsibility for developing proposals to seek funding to support priority initiatives to appropriate staff.
Sarah E. Thomas
University Librarian
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rev. 9/8/97 dih