CONTENTS

1. "Balanced Scorecard" is Focus for Next ARL/OCLC Forum
2. New Directory of Electronic Journals Published
3. Create Change Campaign Contacts Editorial Boards
4. ARL Argues Concerns Regarding the Sale of Harcourt General
5. Forty-two Libraries to Participate in LibQUAL+ Project
6. ARL E-metrics Phase One Report Issued
7. UCITA Teleconference a Success
8. Forum on Managing ILL/DD to Review Policy Directory
9. African Newspaper Project Focuses on Union List
10. ARL Statistics and Measurement Program Update
11. CNI Task Force Meeting in San Antonio a Success
12. SPARC Announces New Partnerships
13. Open Archives Initiatives Hosts Open Meeting in January
14. ASERL Issues Competency Guidelines for Research Librarians
15. ARL Publications
16. ARL Transitions
17. Honors

1. "Balanced Scorecard" is Focus for Next ARL/OCLC Forum

The 2nd ARL/OCLC Strategic Issues Forum is scheduled for16-18 February 2001 in Tempe, AZ. The Forum, entitled: "Toward Rethinking Academic Library Performance in the Digital Age" was first established by ARL and OCLC in 1999, This leadership development event is especially designed for senior managers in academic libraries to engage critical issues facing these institutions.

The 2001 Forum will examine a framework for developing a comprehensive performance management system for libraries based in educational institutions. The "Balanced Scorecard" is a contemporary management model that is widely used in business and has recently been adopted with success in higher education. Using the "Balanced Scorecard" as a model, the forum will lead participants through a series of exercises and activities designed to help them understand and evaluate the functions and outcomes of an academic library. Peggy Sundstrom, of Sundstrom & Associates, is working with Forum planners to design and facilitate the event. Dr. Sudstrom was formerly Director of Planning and Strategic Performance Management at UCLA. She has a proven track record leading strategic planning activities, facilitating change initiatives, and implementing professional development programs. Her expertise in using the "Balanced Scorecard" model will allow senior library leaders to understand the technique, as well as to explore possibilities for application in their own library.

Use of the "Balanced Scorecard" in libraries was the focus of a presentation by Roswitha Poll, Chief Librarian of University and Regional Library Muenster, Germany, at the Measuring Service Quality Symposium ARL sponsored in October. Her presentation can be found at: www.arl.org/libqual/events/oct2000msq/slides/poll.

The 2001 Forum will be held at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel. Participation will cost $450 per person and this covers registration, learning resources, breakfasts, lunches, and a Friday evening reception. Hotel cost is $185. per night. The Forum starts at 3:00 pm on 16 February and ends at 3:00 pm on 18 February. Additional information as well as registration forms are available at: www.oclc.org/institute/strat_forum_acad.htm.

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2. New Directory of Electronic Journals Published

The new "Directory of Scholarly Electronic Journals and Academic Discussion Lists" was published in November. It contains over 3,800 entries and is over 1,000 pages long. This title supersedes the "Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists," of which the seventh and last edition was published in 1997. The new Directory differs from the previous one in scope; it contains only peer-reviewed electronic journals due to the phenomenal growth in web publishing by scholarly publishers. Like its predecessor, the Directory should become a standard reference tool for locating scholarly, academic, or professional journals and discussion lists on the Internet. See note 15 below for the full citation.

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3. Create Change Campaign Contacts Editorial Boards

The Create Change organizers distributed a letter and Create Change brochure to approximately 1,250 North American researchers serving on editorial boards of the 100 most expensive journals. This database of high-priced journal editors has been part of the Create Change site since its launch and is freely accessible to all at: db.arl.org/journals/. The letter outlines for researchers the history of the journals crisis and familiarizes them with actions their colleagues have taken to break away from restrictive publishing agreements.

With this latest mailing we are attempting to reach editorial boards directly and back up your excellent efforts on campus. Researchers who receive this letter may approach you, and if so, we hope you feel comfortable discussing the issue further with them. We continue to update the Create Change web site, www.createchange.org and hope this serves as a useful resource for you.

The Create Change web-site features a section on upcoming scholarly communication related conferences and symposia. If you are sponsoring such an event on your campus (whether open to others or not), we would like to create a link to any web information you might have. This information can be a way of advertising your effort, as well as helping others who are in the planning stages review topics and possible speakers. Please send information and your URL to Mark Young at ARL.

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4. ARL Argues Concerns Regarding the Sale of Harcourt General

As reported last month, Harcourt General has announced its intention to sell itself to Reed Elsevier and Thomson. Reed would buy Harcourt outright for $4.5 billion in cash plus assume Harcourt's debt of $1.2 billion. Reed would then sell the assets in higher education and corporate and professional services to Thomson for $2.06 billion. ARL sent a letter to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in mid-September expressing its concerns about the impending transaction and seeking a meeting with the DOJ staff to talk about the impact of this proposed merger on libraries throughout the country. That conversation was held November 6, when ARL reiterated our belief that the acquisition of Harcourt by Reed would result in a further concentration in STM publishers and a significant increase in the price of Harcourt journal titles. Directors of ARL Libraries were sent via e-mail a set of talking points that can be used to present issues to DOJ representatives.

The Department of Justice also advanced its investigation by initiating a "second request" (a request for additional information from the companies) on November 17. Once the companies fully comply with this second request (which may take a while depending on the extent of information requested), the DOJ will have 10 days to decide whether they will seek to block the transaction. Members are urged to contact the Antitrust Division as soon as possible and express your concerns with this merger. For more information, contact Mary Case.

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5. Forty-two Libraries to Participate in LibQUAL+ Project

Forty-two research and university libraries are scheduled to participate in spring 2001 LibQUAL+ project activities. A meeting of those participants will be held in January during the ALA midwinter conference. Spring 2001 participating libraries have completed a demographic profile form and have initiated a process to obtain clearance for human subjects research. Fred Heath and Colleen Cook (Texas A & M) are scheduling additional interviews with faculty and students at select participating libraries for further refinement of the LibQUAL+ instrument. Additional institutions interested in participating in the project in future years should contact Kaylyn Hipps, ARL Web Developer and Analyst, .

LibQUAL+ Project Directors Fred Heath (Texas A & M) and Duane Webster (ARL) attended the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Project Directors Meeting in San Diego on 16-17 November as a FIPSE requirement for LibQUAL+, a three-year FIPSE-funded project. Over 200 higher education institutions participated in the conference.

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6. ARL E-metrics Phase One Report Issued

The ARL E-Metrics Phase One Project report is now available on the ARL website at: www.arl.org/stats/newmeas/emetrics/. It reports on analysis done of vendor statistics reports, and on findings from surveys and site visits in participating libraries. A project briefing on ARL E-Metrics was presented on 7 December at the Fall CNI Task Force meeting by Sherrie Schmidt (Arizona State), Rush Miller (Pittsburgh), Wonsik "Jeff" Shim (Florida State), and Joe Zucca (Pennsylvania).

An ARL E-Metrics Project Update meeting will be held at the ALA midwinter conference in January for project participants. The ARL Working Group on Database Vendor Statistics will also meet during the ARL midwinter conference to identify best practices for reporting vendor statistics to libraries analyzed in Phase One.

Please send your feedback about this report as well as future steps ARL might take in relation to the report to Martha Kyrillidou.

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7. UCITA Teleconference a Success

The UCITA satellite teleconference was held on Wednesday, 13 December with over 200 downlink sites from 42 states and the University of New Brunswick participating. Panelists included Jim Neal (Johns Hopkins), Rodney Petersen (University of Maryland), Sally Wiant (Washington and Lee University), and Cathy Wojewodzki (University of Delaware). The panelists described UCITA and the concerns that the library and educational communities have with it, as well as shared their experiences with addressing this legislation at the state level. Early evaluations are very positive. If you participated in the teleconference and have not filled out an evaluation, we encourage you to do so at www.arl.org/ucita/eval.html. Videotapes of the broadcast will be available in 4-6 weeks for $50. Ordering information can be found on the teleconference web page at www.arl.org/ucita.html. The teleconference was sponsored by AALL, ALA, ARL, MLA, and SLA. For more information, contact Mary Case.

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8. Forum on Managing ILL/DD to Review Policy Directory

The ARL Directors Forum on Managing ILL/DD Operations is scheduled for Friday, January 12, 2001 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the Renaissance Washington Hotel, Room 14. The focus of this Forum is on the web-based ILL Policy Directory being developed by the ILL Protocol Implementors Group (IPIG). Following a brief presentation on the background and technical aspects of the ILL Policy Directory, participants will break into small groups to review the content of the directory, identify elements that should be made mandatory, and comment on how an online ILL Directory could improve their ILL/DD operations.
Directors and senior staff in research libraries are encouraged to attend the Directors Forum and should RSVP to Mary Jackson by 8 January 2001. For additional questions on the Directors Forum, please contact Mary Jackson.

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9. African Newspaper Project Focuses on Union List One of the newer efforts in the AAU/ARL Global Resources Program is the African Newspaper Project. A project meeting for the African Newspapers Union List (AFRINUL) was held on 15 November 2000 in Nashville during the annual meeting of the African Studies Association. Project members discussed the most recent developments in the creation of the online union list, which became live and interactive in the late summer with CRL holdings only listed. In the early fall, data from the most recent issue of the print compilation "African Newspapers Currently Received by American Libraries" was added. The major topics of discussion at the Nashville meeting were analysis of the existing interface, accuracy of the data and search process, and planning for member input of all holdings current and retrospective. The URL is: wwwcrl.uchicago.edu/info/camp/afrinul.htm.

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10. ARL Statistics and Measurement Program Update

(a) We are currently collecting data for the following surveys:
+ ARL Statistics 1999-2000 (received 88)
+ ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 1999-2000 (received 45)
+ ARL Medical Library Statistics 1999-2000 (received 36)
+ ARL Supplementary Statistics 1999-2000 (received 74)
+ ARL Preservation Statistics 1999-2000 (received 49)

(b) We are editing the data from "Library Expenditures as a Percent of University Expenditures, 1997-98 and 1998-99."

(c) ARL Annual Salary Survey 2000-2001 preliminary tables for main, law, and medical libraries have been posted in the arl-directors and the arl-statsalary lists.

(d) ARL Supplementary Statistics 1998-99 has just been published and is being mailed to member libraries.

(e) In production are the following surveys from data collected in prior years:
+ ARL Academic Law and Medical Library Statistics 1998-99;
+ ARL Preservation Statistics 1998-99; and
+ ARL Preservation Statistics 1997-98.

If you need data and files that are not yet publicly available, please contact Martha Kyrillidou

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11. CNI Meeting in San Antonio a Success

CNI had a very successful Task Force meeting in San Antonio on 7-8 December attracting over 250 participants. Clifford Lynch opened the meeting with a high level overview of issues CNI has addressed over the past three years and the directions CNI is currently pursuing. CNI's initiatives are described in its newly issued Program Plan for 2000-2001, which will soon be available on CNI's server. Don Waters described current Mellon Foundation activities in support of scholarly communication. Herbert van de Sompel was the closing plenary speaker and provided a vision for electronic scholarly communication in the near future. The slides from his presentation along with materials from over 35 project briefing sessions are available on CNI's website at www.cni.org. Staff at ARL libraries may be interested in browsing the information on the project briefing sessions, which ranged from e-books to portals to the Open Archive Initiative to humanities initiatives.

CNI is a sponsor of the Open Archives Initiative and encourages ARL libraries to participate in the Protocol meeting in Washington, DC on 23 January 2001 (see note 12 below). Information on the meeting is available at www.openarchives.org.

CNI will be scheduling another Working Together workshop for electronic records managers, archivists, and information technologists in April. For further information, contact Joan Lippincott.

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12. SPARC Announces New Partnerships

SPARC has announced new partnerships with Project Euclid, a groundbreaking initiative led by the Cornell University Library and Duke University Press to advance effective and affordable scholarly communication in mathematics and statistics, and with the Royal Society of Chemistry's "Geochemical Transactions." Project Euclid, which is being developed with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, provides an infrastructure for independent journals in theoretical and applied mathematics and statistics to publish on the Web using a shared infrastructure. The Euclid site will support the entire span of scholarly publishing from preprints to the distribution of published journals. It will also provide journal editors with a toolkit to streamline their editorial and peer review processes and publish in a timely and cost-effective manner.

SPARC will aid Project Euclid by introducing journals and editorial boards to Euclid's capabilities and providing library marketing support. Euclid will be interoperable as part of the Open Archives Initiative, allowing articles in the preprint server to be accessed through searches that reach across widely dispersed digital repositories.

SPARC also announced its second collaboration with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) to support "Geochemical Transactions," an electronic-only, peer-reviewed journal devoted to research in the earth science disciplines. A publishing partnership between the RSC and the Division of Geochemistry of the American Chemical Society (ACS), "Geochemical Transactions" is a low-cost, high-quality alternative to "Organic Geochemistry" (Pergamon/Elsevier). "Geochemical Transactions," which makes articles available as soon as they have been approved for publication by the authors, was launched this spring. From January 2001, any article published in "Geochemical Transactions" will also be available free to all, for a period of four months following its publication. This free access offer will last until December 2002.

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13. Open Archives Initiatives Hosts Open Meeting in January

The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) develops and promotes interoperability standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content. An Open Meeting to make public the release of the OAI specifications for metadata harvesting will be held on January 23rd 2001 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington DC. The goal of these OAI specifications is to provide an easy way for data providers to expose their metadata and for service providers to access that metadata and use it as input to value-added services. Complete information on the meeting and a registration form (registration is required) is available at www.openarchives.org/DC2001/OpenMeeting.html. Any further questions can be directed to: openarchives@openarchives.org.

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14. ASERL Issues Competency Guidelines for Research Librarians

The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) has released a working draft of guidelines for the basic skills needed by today's research librarians. To aid in implementation of the guidelines, ASERL will sponsor a summit meeting of ASERL library directors and leaders from Southeastern schools of library and information science on 5 May 2001 in Atlanta. The working draft of the guidelines appears on the ASERL web site at: www.aserl.org/statements/competencies/competencies.htm.

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15. ARL Publications

+ ARL Bimonthly Report #213 (December 2000)-
This issue features articles on Learning Outcomes, E-Metrics, Raising the Preservation Awareness of Faculty, and more

+ Jenda, Claudine, comp."Fee-based Services." SPEC Kit 259. August 2000. 115 pp.

+ Mogge, Dru and Peter Budka, editors. Directory of Scholarly Electronic Journals and Academic Discussion Lists, First Edition. 2000. 1,102 pp. ISSN 1524-2439 (print) / 1524-2447 (online).
This title supersedes the "Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists," of which the seventh and last edition was published in 1997.

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16. ARL Transitions

+ Georgetown: Sue Martin announced her intention to leave effective 31 August 2001.

+ Hawaii: Jean Ehrhorn was named Interim University Librarian effective June 2000. She was previously Associate University Librarian.

+ Kent State: Mark Weber has been appointed Dean of Libraries effective January 1, 2001.

+ OCLC: Betty Bengtson, retiring director of University Libraries at the University of Washington, was named Special Advisor to the OCLC President for Academic Library Services.

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17. Honors

+ University of Virginia: The UVa Library's Electronic Text Center Japanese Text Initiative was named the winner of the second annual Digital Archives Award by the Digital Frontier of Kyoto. The prestigious award, presented to a digital project that exemplifies cutting edge technology and rich content in preserving world culture, went to the Library of Congress American Memory project last year.

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