Minutes of October 20, 2011 Meeting

Present:

Karen Hartman (co-Chair), Laura Mullen (co-Chair), Tom Izbicki, Michael Joseph, Barry Lipinski (recorder), Jackie Mardikian (guest), Kevin Mulcahy, Janice Pilch, Bob Sewell, Gracemary Smulewitz, Gene Springs, Julie Still (videoconferenced), Ann Watkins (videoconferenced), Mary Beth Weber, Tao Yang

Excused:

Grace Agnew, Vincent Pelote

Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved with one change: "AUL Report - G. Agnew" was struck from the agenda since G. Agnew was excused from the meeting.

2. Approval of September Minutes

The September minutes were approved with one change in spelling to correct the spelling of Geoffrey Wood's name.

3. AUL Report - T. Izbicki

• T. Izbicki reported that the Non State funds have been distributed. It looks like State funds will be reasonably flat.
• If there is the likelihood that we can add additional resources, T. Izbicki has one or two items from last year ready to go.
• Collection Development Task Force is discussing patron-driven acquisition.
• The collection development road-show is going to Camden on October 21st, and to Newark the following week.
• T. Izbicki will work with G. Smulewitz on serials and subscriptions training needs.
• Looking at policies on the web, T. Izbicki discovered policies that refer to other policies that are not on the web.
• T. Izbicki is examining gift policies (Deed of Gift). K. Mulcahy said that patrons have to realize that the libraries are under no obligation when they drop things off at the libraries.
• On October 31st and November 1st, a candidate for the AUL RIS position will visit the libraries, according to T. Izbicki.
• K. Mulcahy reported that candidates for the Art Library position are coming over the next few weeks.

4. Background and Discussion, Potential Merger with the Medical School - Jackie Mardikian (guest)

• J. Mardikian provided a history of the relationship between the Library of Science and Medicine and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). She cited a paper written by Bobbie Tipton in 1977 that detailed the relationship up to that time. In 1966 the Rutgers Medical School opened in Piscataway. Between 1966 and 1970, medical school students needed to go to Alexander Library's 3rd floor for their materials. In 1970 LSM opened. One year later, the medical school separated from Rutgers University.
• J. Mardikian and L. Mullen led a discussion of how students in the medical school are currently verified for RUL borrowing privileges through lists maintained at LSM and Alexander and that LSM has one staff line that currently serves as a liaison to UMDNJ. Medical school users are primary users but do not have remote access. Students in joint programs with Rutgers do have remote access. L. Mullen pointed out that special UMDNJ computers have been designated for use at LSM. She said UMDNJ students are not able to use wireless in the library.
• J. Mardikian emphasized that the potential merger would involve the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the School of Public Health and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
• Issues to be resolved include staffing, cataloging, holdings, and patron records.
• B. Lipinski asked if collections from RWJ would be coming to LSM. J. Mardikian said that she expected that the collections would remain where they currently are for the convenience of the users.
• A. Watkins questioned if we knew what would be the implications of the merger for Newark and Camden. J. Still said that a Nursing school is being created at Camden.
• K.Mulcahy asked what will be the realistic time frame for the merger. B. Sewell said he expected it would take years and a lot of money. G. Smulewitz remarked that because the merger was being pushed by the Governor and the University President they both may wish to see it happen quickly. L. Mullen asked how we would be informed of developments. T. Izbicki said Cabinet would discuss this. J.Mardikian said it would help if we would be able to talk with the RWJ librarians and asked T. Izbicki to bring this request to Cabinet.

5. E-Books on Reserve - L. Mullen

• Math instructors have requested that e-books, required for their courses, be put on reserve, reported L. Mullen. G. Springs said that Business students have been asking for this, too.
• A new group has been formed to examine the possibility of making e-books available on reserve. The group is comprised of Judy Gardner, Jill Locascio, Mei Ling Lo, and M. B. Weber. M. B. Weber reported that the libraries also get requests for E-books that are not available through MyiLibrary.

6. Update on Weeding and Consolidation Group - L. Mullen

• The Weeding and Consolidation Group (J. Gardner, K. Hartman, T. Izbicki, B. Lipinski, J. Maguire, K. Mulcahy, L. Mullen, G, Smulewitz, J. Still, A. Watkins) met on October 11th and talked about our policies and created a plan for dealing with print serials throughout RUL.
• RUL will keep one copy of a print serial, hopefully, in one contiguous area, reported L. Mullen. The group will move rapidly to figure out how to consolidate journals. From now on, when we weed, we will consolidate.
• The Annex has available space for last copies of serials.
• All decisions will be verified.
• Kevin M. said that because of the volatility of resources it may be best to be conservative and hold onto some duplicates. L. Mullen responded that we really have already made the move to online. G. Smulewitz discussed how OCLC and the Greater Western Library Consortium are working on a national library holding for print copies of journals.
• G. Smulewitz commented on how the Technical Services Core Working Group (TSCWG) is attending to weeding and consolidation concerns. A project management committee co-chaired by Jamie Maguire and Eddie Suarez will monitor weeding projects. The Douglass Library consolidation is the first project. G. Smulewitz emphasized that validation is important and that the appropriate selectors will be asked for decisions. She said that DTS can do multiple weeding projects.
• G. Springs said that it is confusing to understand how approval is granted to do projects. He cited the quick shift of all periodicals and the reference collection from the first floor at Kilmer to accommodate a new student computing lab. He pointed out the longer term process of the transfer of approximately 9,000 business and economics titles from Alexander to Kilmer, and the possibility of SMLR's circulating collection being transferred to Kilmer.
• B. Lipinski said that an aggressive weeding project at Kilmer could free up considerable space and allow for what is currently stack space to be converted into more study space.

7. Update Distributed Technical Services - G. Smulewitz

• DTS is working on data models to develop a database for licenses. It will not be an open database. J. Pilch is looking to digitize RUL's licenses.
• DTS is continuing to clean and update the A to Z list. OLE has asked that databases be cleaned up prior to moving to open source software.

8. Update Central Technical Services - M. B. Weber

• M. B. Weber announced that on November 11th she and G. Smulewitz will be traveling to the Charleston Conference to deliver their presentation "Triage in the Digital Age" about collaboration and teamwork.
• Central Technical Services is examining claiming and cancelation cycles to see if they can be tightened up. This will help us to monitor outstanding orders more closely and to resolve problems sooner.

9. Announcements

• G. Springs-Kilmer now has a Bloomberg terminal which it received from the Business School. The Levin Building's room has limited access. The Kilmer Bloomberg terminal is located on the first floor in the glassed in Career Reading Room. The Business School supplied the flat screen display and keyboard; the libraries supplied the CPU. Access issues still need to be ironed out; users require a special login. G. Springs will announce when it is up and running.
• L. Mullen-The panel from Wikipedia NYC is coming October 25th from 4 p.m. to 6 pm. in the Alex SCC TLH for the program "Crowdsourcing Information Worldwide: The Wikipedia Phenomenon." Announcement also that the Alexander test collection formerly located in the librarian office suite has been donated to the American Psychological Association, and has been shipped.
• K. Mulcahy-More state funds will be available. The budget team in NB will meet next week.
• M. Joseph-The 17th Annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium-"Money: Currency, Value and Exchange" will be held on November 4th at the Paul Robeson Galleries on the Newark Campus.
• T. Izbicki-Attended the ARL meeting in Washington, DC. Looking at criteria for evaluating the value of individual journals.