New Brunswick Collection Group
August 14, 1999 Minutes

Present: Ben Beede, Ilona Caparros, Joe Consoli, Howard Dess, Mary Fetzer,
Rebecca Gardner, Helen Hoffman, Jackie Mardikian, Pat Piermatti, Bob Sewell,
Addie Tallau, Lourdes Vazquez, Connie Wu

1.      Prior Minutes Correction:  Lourdes Vazquez areas of subject
specialization are Latin America, Africa, and Anthropology.

2.      Collections budget planning--Bob Sewell was the presenter.  A
subcommittee of SACCDM consisting of Bob Sewell, Howard Dess, Veronica
Calderhead and Jim Nettleman met and laid out a basic plan for reducing our
1999 collections budget.  Bob distributed the handout entitled "1999
Cancellation strategies overview" which he then discussed in detail.  The RUL
collections budget anticipates no increase this year.  It is expected that we
will have about $500,000 in serials inflation costs in a $4.5 million total RUL
serials budget.

Joe Consoli asked about SIRSI reports  no encumbered figures are displaying.
Bob Sewell said that Nancy Hendrickson and systems staff are working on the
SIRSI reports problems.  Bob has internal expenditure figures for those who
ask.

Helen Hoffman asked about funding for the surcharges to continue our
subscription to e-journals which have been free.  A large number of these
"freebies" will have surcharges imposed as of January 1999.  Bob said that
there is no extra funding to cover these costs.  Helen spoke of biological
sciences faculty who would be willing to contribute dollars to continue these
e-journals.  Helen will prepare a proposal for Bob to review.  Bob then said
that a major problem is the central RU administration perception that
electronic is not only better but also CHEAPER!

Addie Tallau and Jackie Mardikian then inquired about the CINAHL file as a
networked database (referring to page 2 of the handout).  Addie will check LSM
and DANA paper subscription costs and availability.  CINAHL should be a VALE
item.

Continuing with page two of the handout   Howard has discovered at least
$25,000 in duplication in abstracts and indexes.  Also, it is no longer
possible for RUL to maintain archival paper copies for networked databases.
Therefore, as a result of the recent addition of the INSPEC database, we will
be cancelling our paper subscriptions to Physics Abstracts, Electrical and
Electronics Abstracts and Computer and Control Abstracts.  He then mentioned a
few A/I titles from the list he has compiled.  CINAHL will be added.  Howard
will also check the duplication of New York Times microfilm.  Additionally,
Howard will check Women's Studies Abstracts.  Bob, Lourdes and Joe then
discussed Hispanic American Periodicals Index, Handbook of Latin American
Studies, certain art indexes, etc.  They will email Howard after investigating
further.  Lourdes also spoke about the need for Lexis/Nexis.  Much discussion
followed.  Bob said that in  his discussions with the publisher, FTE pricing is
what they consider for their academic accounts at the moment.

Going on to page three of the handout, Howard will be distributing a list of
serials costing more than $4,000.  This list will cover everything.  Just for
information, the RUL Elsevier subscriptions cost over $999,334 (1997/98
subscription rates).  Howard met recently with the Elsevier sales rep.  The rep
was very surprised by Howard's proposal of a discount to RUL for multiple
Elsevier subscriptions.  Howard has use data for these expensive and heavily
used titles.  Howard mentioned that his faculty have told him that they don't
have the money to pay for articles costing $20-$50 each.

Bob then distributed a one page handout listing expensive journal cost per use
data compiled by the University of Wisconsin.  Bob is compiling a similar list
for RU folk.

Continuing with page three and the topic duplication of paper subscriptions
with full-text electronic packages.  Veronica is investigating the overlap of
UMI PD with our current paper subscriptions.  Howard then gave a few examples
a listing is being compiled and will be distributed soon.  The next item
discussed on page three was expensive and unique serials.  LSM has use data to
help with these.  More discussion.  Remember that September 15 is the deadline
for getting our cancellation lists to the vendors/publishers.  So September 1st
for selectors.
 

3.            Discussion of NERL initiative--Bob Sewell presented.  So far
there  have been
two ways to sell e-journals; a) purchase all titles or b) establish a deposit
account for per article purchase (very expensive).   NERL has an alternative
approach--select the top 50 or so serial titles wanted in electronic format and
negotiate a pricing scheme.  NERL libraries are compiling a list--Howard has
already sent us an email asking for our comments.  Howard said that if this
proposal goes through, the pricing would be independent of paper subscriptions.
Jackie Mardikian mentioned ADONIS (electronic format for 1991+; Elsevier titles
and others)  she is trying to schedule a demo for RUL.  Rebecca asked about how
to insure that everyone is involved in our cancellation decisions, not just
NBCG.  Addie suggested distributing paper lists to NB faculty selectors.
Howard will schedule a special meeting prior to the next NBCG meeting.  He will
email us next week with dates.  After further discussion, Howard recommended
including Newark and Camden.  The group then discussed coordination of this
year's cancellation process.  Howard will send an email to NBCG subject
subgroup chairs to meet as soon as possible.  Joe volunteered to cover for
Jeris and Kevin Mulcahy is acting Social Sciences chair.  Mary Fetzer asked Bob
to update the collection development guide on the library web site.

4.      The Collections Budget: Making the Case--Bob Sewell.  Bob then
distributed
        a handout entitled "The Collections Budget: Making the Case."  Bob is
compiling RUL cost data.  Please send any articles you find on this topic to
Bob.  Joe Consoli recommended using exemplar departments in our data.  Much
discussion ensued.  Bob agreed that focussing on selective subjects is best.
Global and Area Studies, Physics, Neurobiology, History, etc are good
candidates.

5.       Subcommittee Reports--Addie reported that she, Mary Page and Connie Wu
are members of a committee discussing SIRSI reports.  They are recommending
types of reports needed and frequency.  Send your recommendations for report
contents and frequency via email to Addie, Mary or Connie.  Addie then
requested that NBCG members review InfoView.  She asked us to use the reporting
feature; familiarize ourselves.  If training is desired, inform Addie et al.
Mary Fetzer raised the issue of knowing the status of ordering in TAS.  SIRSI
report features need much work.  RUL staff working hard to understand and
implement local fixes.  More discussion.  Regarding ordering and acquisitions,
Joe expressed his opinion that the Acquisitions job should be a 100%
responsibility.   This needs to be discussed more.  Addie said that we also
need to prepare a procedure for the formal transfer of selection duties from
one selector to another.

Addie then reported on the Budget Allocation Subcommittee.  She has received
most of the data for programs and students.  She is now compiling faculty data.
A decision Addie has made is to equate a part-timer as a 50% line.  Her numbers
will not be perfect.  Addie hopes to distribute her tables soon.  One question
that Addie needs a response via email -- is a minor 50% of a major???

Ben Beede then distributed copies of a proposal for weeding the Kilmer Area
Library collection.  Addie recommended that we meet in October or November
after the cancellation deadline to discuss this further.

At the next NBCG meeting, Jackie Mardikian will distribute copies of the newly
revised missing books procedures.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Piermatti
Secretary du Jour
 

--
Howard M. Dess
Chemistry and Physics Librarian
Library of Science and Medicine
Rutgers University
Piscataway, NJ  08855-1029

dess@rci.rutgers.edu
tel.: 732-445-3526    fax: 732-445-5703