From the University Librarian:Recent travels in library landIt's been a very event-laden spring for academic librarians, especially for directors. There are numerous short meetings of state and national organizations, seminars on special subjects, and opportunities for collaboration and professional development. I have been out and about, if perhaps spending a bit too much time in airport hassles. Each of the organizations listed below is one in which we have a formal membership which brings benefits and sometimes obligations. The meetings address projects and ideas that could be applied to our library, whether for enhancing internal operations, campus services, or long-range planning. In several of the national meetings I was also able to confer with our vendors (Yankee, Ex Libris, etc.). I've just given a quick summary of themes and topics, and then cited the URL for further checking. In many cases there are papers and presentations on the Web.
OCLC International Conference of Research Library
Directors This brought together about 200 library directors from all over the world, and there were some very interesting insights about academic library services in different countries. The overall theme was Weaving Libraries into the Web and the Web into Libraries. Sessions focused on new OCLC tools and services for reference and cataloging of electronic resources, digital preservation and collection management, and the emerging variety of portals for providing single points of access to scholarly information. There was also discussion of the new OCLC strategic document called Extending the Cooperative. See more about OCLC's plans at http://www.oclc.org/strategy/. There will be an opportunity to explore plans and tools in our immediate context on May 3, when representatives visit UCSB from OCLC's Western Service Center.
ACRL National Conference
This was a biggie, over 3,000 registrants. Marilyn
Moody and Sally Willson Weimer also attended. There were
presentations on information literacy, diversity, learning outcomes, digital
initiatives, preservation, copyright and information policy, scholarly
communication, organizational development, building planning, Web-based
services and more. Tons more. The conference Web site has the
complete schedule with, if you keep digging, a subject index and links
to abstracts of all the papers. Printed proceedings are now available
though that does not include the poster sessions and keynote speeches.
Dig away at http://www.ala.org/acrl/denver/program.html.
Coalition for Networked Information This meeting is a little different every time, depending on the mix of special project briefings. Topics this spring included new approaches to digital preservation; middleware and authentication; electronic reserves and course management systems; electronic theses and dissertations; measurement and evaluation in the electronic environment; the economics of digital publishing; the open archives protocol for access to networked information; art and image projects; issues related to technical network architecture; digital library projects in other countries; Internet 2; and way more than one can absorb in only 24 hours. There were several useful sessions from grant funding agencies: NEH, IMLS, and NSF. The Web site is a little convoluted; you have to go through the briefing lists in clusters by time frame, which link to abstracts. However, a great many of the abstracts then link to full text documents and further information. See http://www.cni.org/tfms/2001a.spring/agenda2001Stf.html.
Gold Coast Library Network This is our newly emerged multi-type cooperative library network for the tri-county area, the official version of what used to be the informal TIE group. After six months of state funding, plans are well underway related to ILL, delivery, shared database purchases (this is how we get the Gale Biography Resource Center), training for library staff, and other potential projects. A plan of service submitted to the state Library of California Board (about which more below) outlines these as well as ongoing grants that are supporting electronic readiness work in member libraries, a union catalog for the region (Cat-a-Link Gold), and cross-county videoconferencing equipment for workshops. Regional committees have been established and UCSB has representatives on those relating to ILL and to cooperative reference/databases. What was once just a public library network (and in fact that part still exists as the Black-Gold online system), is now extended to school, law and medical, and academic libraries. There are some complex issues related to eligibility and definitions of resource sharing; and it is not yet clear what level of state funding will be provided for the upcoming fiscal year. Most information about the network is on their Web site at http://goldcoastlibraries.org/ including the agenda for this meeting, the plan of service, grant projects and member directory.
Center for Research Libraries
The CRL's membership meetings are brief, with an
update on the business of the Center and some highlights of current special
projects. The center is emerging from some difficult financial times,
and is still in the midst of a search for a new president. All of
the UC campus libraries are members. The basic meeting agenda is
at http://wwwcrl.uchicago.edu/info/2000CVM.htm.
Of more interest might be summaries of the special projects, which are
linked from http://wwwcrl.uchicago.edu/info/projects.htm.
At this meeting special attention was devoted to the JSTOR Archiving project
(which related in some ways to our own UC CMI project, more below), to
the ICON newspaper project, and a new systematic collection assessment
project that is hoped to yield a strategic initiative to increase significantly
the access mechanisms to items in the Center's vast holdings. The
CRL Digital South Asia project was also featured at the CNI (above).
Library of California Board This is the state governing body for the system of multitype networks authorized and funded within the last couple of years. Their Web site is part of the California State Library Web, at http://www.library.ca.gov. The Board is dealing with an immense array of issues, and is still overseeing the pre-existing CLSA networks and service transitions to LoC. The Board agenda at http://www.library.ca.gov/loc/board/agendas/agenda_apr01.html includes links to numerous detailed documents about policy, budget, and service options. Issues that affect us and our region include reimbursement for ILL; telecommunications and linked systems; statewide licensing of databases; and funding models for regional networks (should it be by geographical area size, population size, number of member libraries, evenly allocated, or some combination?). The Board is also the oversight for LSTA grants, of which we have one pending in the current cycle (to digitize local government environmental reports).
UC University Librarians Our family! And the UL agendas are not (yet) permanently maintained on the Web. This was one of the twice-yearly joint meetings with SOPAG, so eventually there will be some minutes at their Web site, http://www.slp.ucop.edu/sopag/. The ULs met in three phases: sitting as the Collection Management Planning Group (CMPG), technically a subcommittee of SLASIAC; as the ULs alone; and then together with SOPAG. Many of the same issues were discussed across the three segments, especially the Mellon-funded Collection Management Initiative for which Cecily Johns is the project manager. Basic background on CMI is at http://www.slp.ucop.edu/initiatives/cmi.html. The ULs concluded, with input from SOPAG and LAUC, a review of the committee/advisory structure; most feedback was very positive and no major changes are planned. Other current issues include future strategies for the growth and role of the regional library facilities; planning for the desktop delivery and consortial borrowing systems; eScholarship and related CDL projects; shared cataloging and collection projects; and the various transitions for new Melvyl and the licensed A&I databases (helpful updates on this are at http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/.) Many of these have significant budget implications, and we are waiting for later in May to see how much funding for UC (including CDL and campus libraries) will remain in the Governor's budget after the electric bills are paid. We are also strategizing for the budget future, once the four-year "compact" with UC ends in FY2003. This compact is in large part why our library budget has been so stable the last two years. We will hope to make a case for continued special increases but of course are competing with every other part of the university system. And coming up - -
Association of Research Libraries Creating the Digital Future. Along with ongoing projects monitored by a variety of committees, the ARL meeting will include panels and presentations related to electronic publishing and library collaborations; information policy and legislative advocacy (UCITA); born digital resources creation and preservation, and transformations of scholarly communication in the sciences and humanities. Special initiatives of committees include statistics (new measures such as library quality and electronic resource impact), and the possible development of custom software for an ARL "scholar's portal" that research libraries could deploy on their Web sites, with powerful search and customization tools. Stay tuned; the basics are on the ARL site at http://www.arl.org/arl/may01.html (no full text). On the local front, library advocacy and outreach have been pursued at:
Friends of the UCSB Libraries New Web pages! Linked from the Support the Libraries oval on our own main Web page, or go direct to http://www.library.ucsb.edu/administration/development/support.html. Thanks to Dave Seubert for working on these. Issues before the FOL: outreach, bylaws, Corle dinner, booksale improvements, possible future activities such as a presentation from a book dealer on how to assess the value of an old book.
Graduate Students' Association A general update on new services with special focus on issues of interest to graduate students such as the proxy server, changes in the policy on assigning study carrels, and in the procedures for filing dissertations. My summary will be available soon on the GSA Website, http://www.gsa.ucsb.edu/.
Chancellor's Council A presentation by Susan Moon about treasures of the Arts Library. Held at the home of Toni Schultheis, a member of the Friends' Board. We started last year proposing topics for this ongoing series (last time we featured the Wyles Collection), and hope to be included in the schedule every year with a different focus each time. The Chancellor's Council is open to donors who give at least $1,000 annually to UCSB. Let me add that librarians and library staff are also busy attending conferences on electronic theses, rare books, serials, ethnic and area studies, digital resource development, bibliographic instruction, and library management, not to mention a plethora of UC committees and the upcoming ALA in San Francisco. We are sending 8 employees to the ALEPH North American user's group meeting in Montreal. The international user's group meets next October in Greece, hmmm . . . . . . |