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Minutes of the Meeting

May 10, 1998
DePaul University

Present: Barbara Alexander, John Berry (representing NILRC), Doris Brown (Chair-Elect), Ann Copeland (Interim Coordinator), Marlene Deuel, Adrian Jones, Clifton Jones (Program Director), Allen Lanham, Bob Malinowsky (Chair), Gary Newhouse, Alan Nourie, Tom Peters, Mary Schellhorn, Bernie Sloan (representing ILCSO)

Absent: Jim Fox, Bernie Fradkin, Karen Schmidt, Jill Wold

A meeting of the Cooperative Collection Management Coordinating Committee (CCMCC), the governing body of the Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program (CCMP), was held at 10:30 a.m. on May 10, 1998 at DePaul University.

Consortial ventures - electronic resources - CCMP, NILRC, ILCSO

Doris Brown began by introducing John Berry (NILRC) and Bernie Sloan (ILCSO). Opening a discussion on consortial electronic resource activity in Illinois, she noted that we have a problem of "dueling consortia" in which one group doesn't know what the others (eg., Systems, State Library, Academics) are working on, resulting in a lack of coordination.

John gave a capsule of NILRC, which began in the early 1970's as the Northern Illinois Learning Resources Cooperative funded by a HECA grant. After 2 years NILRC became a 501-C3 non-profit group. Now NILRC is very involved in distance learning via telecourses, and has 60 members. The Consortium covers operating expenses by charging members a yearly fee, as well as adding a surcharge to electronic resource subscriptions. Full text e-resources are the meat and potatoes of consortial activity. Recently NILRC sponsored vendor fairs with 10 or so vendors (OCLC, IAC, Brittanica, etc.).

One approach that states have used is the funding of a statewide "core" of databases - an array from which libraries and citizens could eventually choose to provide such services. North Carolina, Massachusetts, Idaho and New York have licensed databases for ALL libraries in their state. Questions were raised about the way we have in Illinois of floating out trials for libraries to decide on; there can be local consternation over this procedure. Further problems could arise if the state subsidizes one particular vendor - would this lock out other resources that do similar things? Does changing products and interfaces effect users? There is a prestige issue with some products. With multi-consortial contracts (ie. SOLINET's CIS proposal), are we getting into a new era where the notion of consortia becomes meaningless and negotiated price just becomes a new uniform price? How can we make sure we don't miss opportunities, such as Project Muse, which was really furthered by CCMP's money at the start. How does the State Library relate? Illinois is woefully behind in its funding and organization above the institutional level (compare to OhioLink). Specialized consortia will serve various types of libraries.

Barbara Alexander is assembling a group that will represent 11 different consortial groups throughout the State to be advisory to Bridget Lamont. The advisory group would not diminish individual consortia. The group will also include elected representatives from the field. The State Library has a partnership with OCLC and will be offering trials (such as the 6 month trial of Dissertation Abstracts) through First Search, but plans year long trials. The State Library is trying to negotiate "group" pricing for individualized consortia, and is also open to centralized billing. The State Library will NOT negotiate everything, however. (Question for the Committee to consider: who would negotiate databases that are solely the interest of the academics?) The State Library should be considered a team member and colleague.

Report from the State Library

New procurement rules (Illinois Procurement Act HB 1633) are in effect from July 1 onward. Anything over $10,000 has to be sent out for RFP. Sole source is not so easy to prove anymore. If at all possible, obtain a renewing option for next year.

The State library is discontinuing Dissertation Abstracts, Contemporary Women's Issues, Economic Literature and Newspaper Abstracts. Included in the basic package which WILL be funded are: WorldCat, ArticleFirst, NetFirst, ContentsFirst, PaperFirst and ProceedingsFirst. The grant databases are Wilson Select/Full Text; ABI Inform/Full Text; Medline, Periodical Abstracts/Full Text; Eric, and GPO Monthly Catalog. In addition, the IAC Health Reference Academic will be carried for 6 months.

Barbara is investigating the cost of a specialized Illinois newspaper subscription (through UMI). She will pursue with Brent Crossland the viability of a tailored product if money becomes available. Watch web for "hot news". The State Library did a wish list and Books in Print came up first. Barbara distributed a questionnaire to help in future development at the State Library. The survey is going to academic libraries in regards to consortial activity and cooperative collection management. The State will review for the new electronic resources committee.

Budget Report

Ann distributed the latest figures for the two CCMP accounts - the HECA fund, and the Administrative Support Fund. The HECA fund has $54,368.75 remaining (plus $594.93 in a fund at DePaul). Even after the Bibliographer's Meeting we will have a significant portion of this left for dispersal. Ideas for spending the remaining HECA money include: covering new titles for IDEAL subscribers, trying to do something for the newer members who are coming in, specifically community colleges. Perhaps do a MUSE sweetener, or get more info on STAT-USA, or consider ABC-CLIO for history sources, or contribute to a newspaper database along with the State Library.

Bibliographer's Meeting - Licensing Workshop

Nov. 11, 12, and 13 are the dates for the Bibliographer's Meetings. We have booked Trisha Davis and Ken Crews (nationally known presenters) for Nov. 12 to give an all day presentation on licensing. Two bibliographer's meetings will occur on Weds, Nov. 11, and two on Friday, Nov. 13. The event will be at the Radisson in Champaign. Attendees will stay over one night, attending either the Weds./Thurs programs or the Thurs/Friday sessions. Hotel and meals will be paid for by CCMP out of the money ($4000.00) already distributed to:

  • College of DuPage -- Seminar in the Humanities (Maria Otero-Boisvert)
  • Eastern Illinois University -- Seminar in the Sciences (Ginny Baldwin)
  • Southern Illinois University at Carbondale -- Seminar in the Social Sciences (Darrell Jenkins)
  • University of Illinois at Chicago -- Seminar in Business (Joan Fiscella)

  • Ann will send a letter asking chairs to develop content for meetings, and encourage them to have conference calls so there will be some uniformity to the meetings, etc.

    HECA Grant

    Tom is writing the grant for FY1999 and voiced some questions about whether to use the same format or to start fresh. The Committee agreed that we should stick with the format used in the past. The issue of contingency needs to be addressed - we are in fact looking into how to fund our operating expenses with a membership fee or with surcharges. The Committee feels that the goal is to be self funded, as far as administrative costs go, by FY2000. The suggestion was made that if we do charge members, that we throw in Britannica with the membership. We will also ask for funds for website development as our site is in dire need of revamping. The grant needs to have original signatures of the presidents of all 68 member institutions as part of the application process. Ann will send out signature letters and ask library directors to facilitate this immediately. Ann distributed an Interim Report which is in a DRAFT stage - comments were solicited. The Interim Report needs to be sent in with the grant proposal.

    Brittanica Update

    Tom distributed a fact sheet on FY99 pricing for Britannica. The price will be $.51/FTE based on Fall 97 FTE counts. Renewal is for July 1, 1998; current and new subscribers should contact Tom Peters by Friday, June 19, 1998.

    Elections

    Ann will send out a request for nominations for next years Committee. We need to elect 3 collections people (one of these for Alan Barney's remaining year) and 2 directors. We need to find out if Bernie Fradkin is interested in running for another term. Jim, Alan and Adrian all declined to run again.

    Collections Partnership Document

    Cecile Jagodzinski and Ginny Baldwin have finished the document, Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program - Principles for Collections Partnerships. They are readying it for an ALA presentation. While the Committee had some small changes on the final section, "Calendar for funding of Collection Partnerships" (leave open so that partnerships would reflect membership at any given time), the Committee voted to pass the document with corrections as an official CCMP policy document. They are to be commended for all the work that went into this and they are encouraged to publish this in ACRL or Illinois Libraries.

    Membership

    The Committee has before it two requests for membership: The Illinois State Historical Library and a hospital library. The Committee restated its focus as a consortium that serves academic libraries and turned down the hospital library's application. We accepted the ISHL request for membership.

    The by-laws, which were tabled at the last meeting pending a discussion with Bridget Lamont, have now been amended to read under Article 3, number 1: "Classes and Eligibility. CCMP is open to academic libraries in Illinois who are members of the ILLINET network. Other libraries with research and scholarship goals complementary to those of academic libraries, may be affiliated with us. Affiliate member participation in particular projects may be contingent upon the source of funding or vendor licensing agreements." The suggestion was made that we vote on the by-laws even if we are not incorporating.

    NEXT MEETING:

    July 10, Illinois State Library, Springfield, 10:30am.

    Meeting adjourned at 3:00pm.