A PDF of the minutes can be found here.
Voting Members Present: Tim Alcon, Richmond Barbour, Melissa Santala, Emily Shroyer, Justin St. Germain, Enrique Thomann, Sean Yang
Ex-Officio Member Present: University Libraries – Faye Chadwell
Guests: Don Frier, Kerri Goergen-Doll, Cheryl Middleton
Welcome and introductions
Review of Last Year’s Notes
Emily Shroyer opened the meeting by introducing herself, then gave an update on where the Committee stood last year. Faye then provided an update on the Library, followed by some things the Committee would like to see done this year.
There were a lot of open discussions on the Open Access (OA) policies. This issue has risen to a higher level across the university, and this has been on the mind of the Oregon State Board of Trustees related to affordability.
The Committee briefly talked about student membership on the Committee. Emily stated she would like to create an action item to get students on the committee. Richmond suggested Vickie Nunnemaker as a point of contact for interested students. Faye offered to send out a call for filling these positions. Last year there was one undergraduate and one graduate student.
Richmond heard back from Provost Ed Feser that administration would talk about the Library Research Travel Grant; but he hasn’t received any follow up. Richmond recommended that the Committee might pursue seeking a gift instead of soliciting from central administration again.
University Librarian Update
The library has had to make a 1% cut as part of the budget reductions, which resulted in the cut of a position in the library. The library has also received $400,000 for collections, which about matches the inflation seen on an annual basis. There is currently a multi-year contract with a vendor which would cost the library more to void the contract than to allow the contract to expire.
Action: Faye will bring this topic back to the Committee for feedback.
The library is undergoing a strategic planning process, and they’ll be sharing the results of that planning as it continues.
The University intends to tear down the library’s current off-site storage location in 2019; the library needs to identify an alternate location for the contents. The UO libraries renovated their science library, and got back-files of some of their journals as part of that renovation. As part of the relocation of the off-site storage, the library may also wish to consider looking at back-files of journals. It would be preferable if something could be achieved collaboratively with other universities or campuses in Oregon. Kerri offered that next-day service would still expected as part of this move. Tied to this is repurposing space in the library – both public space, and office space that is shared with Extended Campus.
The Press has partnered with the Open Oregon initiative to support the creation of course material. The library has a lot of materials that faculty might not realize is accessible, which could be provided through a license instead of requiring students to buy these textbooks. Emily asked if there was a list somewhere, and Faye offered that the 1search function could be utilized to access information.
Open Oregon has been pushing the open textbook initiative and, down the road, there’s an option to work with publishers to license textbooks; however, that would still require the bookstore to receive a cut of those proceeds due to their agreement with the University. The bookstore no longer sells OSU Press titles or books published by OSU Faculty.
There have been discussions and changes to reporting within the university, including realignments of many units under Academic Affairs. There was talk of moving the library underneath Information Technology, but it will stay under Academic Affairs. Faye will keep the Committee informed of any changes or developments in this area. The library reported to Information Technology in the 1990’s, and was moved away from them.
Committee Business