Minutes of August 25, 2009 Meeting

Present:

Pat Bellanca, Krista Dandurand, Carolyn Foote, Dorothy Grauer, Maria Kostic, Meghan Lord, Rebecca Luo, Eugene McElroy, Holly Muller, Roselyn Riley, Drue Williamson, Paul Young

The bulk of the meeting was spent discussing a topic that arose through an AAL question- "Should we mail books to online users". The purpose of this discussion was to examine the pros and cons of checking out and mailing books directly to users who are taking online classes. A summary of the discussion is below:

Concerns

• We will have less control over books. Recalled items might not be returned in a timely manner, and books could get lost if they are not shipped via traceable courier.
• This could become a "slippery slope". If we mail directly to some patrons, will we have to mail directly to everyone?
• Unless students were to pay for shipping themselves, this might be too much for Rutgers to take on during these tough financial times.

Questions

• How many online students do we have? Does this have the potential to create more work than we can handle?
• Are there many international online students? Would we consider shipping internationally given the cost / turnaround time?
• Is there a way we could coordinate with local ILL offices to help online students get the materials they need?
• If students were to pay for their own shipping, how would we keep track of payments?
• What sort of resources are currently available to online students? Are they eligible for all of the same privileges as traditional students?

Factors in favor

• Other institutions ship to their online students, and Rutgers needs to stay competitive.
• We should make every effort to give online students access to the same resources as traditional students.