Meeting Date: 
March 20, 2018
Date: 
03/20/2018 11:45 am to 1:00 pm
Location: 
109 Gilkey Hall
Event Description: 

A PDF of the minutes can be found here.

Minutes: 

Voting members present: Timothy Alcon, Colleen Boardman, Emily Shroyer, Justin St. Germain, Enrique Thomann, Sean Yang
Voting members absent: Richmond Barbour, Mary Beuthin, Dianna Fisher, Melissa Santala
Ex-officio member present: University Libraries – Faye Chadwell
Guests: Anne-Marie Deitering, Kerri Goergen-Doll

Review of January16, 2018 Minutes  

Announcements/Updates

a. Welcome New Student Member – Colleen Boardman

  • Committee welcomed student member Colleen Boardman back for a second term.

b. Update on Strategic and Financial Planning

  • The Oregon State University Library (OSUL) is undergoing an evaluation of its Strategic and Financial Planning under the new OSU budget model, as requested by University administration. Currently the Library is expecting for the budget to remain flat in the next fiscal year. Overage from this year can cover the collections gap in FY19. If no steps are taken to address inflation in the base budget, the Library is anticipating a collections gap in FY20. OSUL emphasized its commitment to engaging with the Library Committee on the Library’s strategic planning process.

Action: The Committee will follow up on this at the next meeting.

c.   Selection Process on Managing Print Collections

  • The Library updated the Committee on the recent effort to ‘clean-up’ collections. They have completed the process for deduplicating titles in the collection, and are starting the process for print journals by focusing on titles that are currently available online or through Interlibrary Loan. If a journal title is identified for removal from the on-site collection, a notice with contact information will be given through the online catalog. Depending on response to that notice, the title will either be removed or maintained (in the Library or in off-site storage). The Guin and Valley collections will be reviewed.

d. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Status

  • Kerri summarized the process by which the Library evaluates titles when they come up for renewal. Each title is considered on an individual basis, if the data suggest re-evaluating whether or not a title should be terminated, the second stage is to seek faculty/user input. In the case of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), faculty input suggested that the title be kept, and the Library did so. Kerri commented that the Library is hesitant to remove any additional titles, and this type of issue rarely comes up (once every six months or so). The Library has a low bar in terms of following faculty input, i.e., as soon as ODNB was indicated as an important source by a few faculty (in this case two), the Library placed it on the renewal list. The Committee decided that the Library would also notify the Library Committee in addition to reaching out to users of titles when considering removal of a title.

e. Update on Request to Reinstate Faculty Travel Grant Program

  • A follow-up email was sent, and Cindy Sagers, Vice President for Research, responded that she would discuss the request with Provost Feser and Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Capalbo and get back to the Committee. The email also indicated that the Committee would be interested in pursuing alternative funding streams if options existed.

Action: Emily will send another follow-up in April, if needed.

f.   Report to the Faculty Senate (schedule and tasks)

  • Justin will summarize the comparison to peer institutions.
  • Melissa is working on the Summary of Accomplishments and should have a draft ready later this week
  • Emily has a draft version summarizing comments from Committee members. She asked that those who have not filled out the survey to please do so.

New Business

a. Scheduling of Meetings! (Second Week of April)

  • The Committee decided to try a Doodle poll to find the time for the meeting; Emily will initiate the poll.

b. Formalize Offline Process to Wrap-Up Report

  • Emily will work with Justin and Melissa to finalize a first draft. The draft will be shared with the full Committee for comments and revisions.

c.   Other

  • Anne-Marie updated the Committee on current conversations with ASOSU regarding a recent reduction in weekend hours that the Library initiated based on a need to reduce staffing hours. When selecting the times to reduce hours, the Library considered visitor numbers as well as availability of alternative spaces elsewhere on campus. Library faculty are now in the process of meeting with a group of students recruited by ASOSU to look holistically at The Valley Library’s open hours and current staffing models to develop recommendations for FY19 and beyond. These will be presented to ASOSU, the University Librarian and the Provost’s Office before the end of spring term.