USMAI Council of Library Directors, Executive Council
January 17, 2008
Minutes

Attending: Celia Rabinowitz, Charles Lowry, Deborah Nolan, Alice Bahr, David Gillespie, MJ Tooey, Carlen Ruschoff; Guest: Stephen Miller

Rabinowitz called the meeting to order. Topics for the Spring meeting of the campus provosts was added to the agenda. The December meeting minutes were accepted, as corrected.

TOPIC: ITD Staffing

Ruschoff reported on the plans for managing the work of the ILS Applications Team over the next few months, due to the departure of Jamie Bush. The Team Manager position will be opened as soon as possible and plans for filling the Systems Librarian position are being discussed. A staff reassignment to fill the ILS Programmer Analyst position is being evaluated by campus HR and it is hoped that the arrangements for the reassignment will be finalized in the next few weeks. The Systems Administration Team Manager Search was completed last week and a recommendation sent forward and the offer should go out this week. With any luck, the new team manager could be in place by mid February.

As the searches and personnel shifts proceed, the ILS Applications Team is meeting with Ruschoff to discuss work priorities and work assignments. Approximately 14 tasks were identified as being high priority and some represent a considerable amount of work. The staff is reviewing these priorities and will discuss integration plans at its meeting next week. The staff believes strongly that the combination of a well defined work plan and serious coordination with the Task Groups will help the Team be successful.

Many Exec Committee members commented on the many contributions that Jamie has made to the development of the USMAI systems over the years. USMAI Library staff have always appreciated his timely response to questions and requests. It was noted that he has a knack for explaining complex issues in a clear and understandable way. Everyone enjoys working with Jamie and will miss him very much!

Outcome: Rabinowitz will write a letter to Jamie Bush thanking him for his many contributions to the consortium.

TOPIC : Retreat Plans

The Executive Committee discussed general plans for the March 9-10 CLD retreat. Suggested topics for discussion at the retreat include: strategic directions, consortial work vs. institutional partnerships, and hosted services. One or two outside speakers should be invited to discuss current topics of interest to kick off the retreat on Sunday afternoon. The topics suggested included scholarly communication issues and the impact of the recent NIH legislation.

Outcomes:

• Lowry and Tooey will identify and invite key note speakers;
• The planning group will include Rabinowitz, Tooey, Ruschoff and Baughman. The group's first meeting will be February 11th;
• Rabinowitz will send out reminder of the retreat dates to CLD.
  
  

TOPIC: DSpace Survey

The goal of the survey is to find out what campuses are planning or doing in terms of storing and presenting digital content. The following questions were suggested:

1. What types of digital activities is your library or campus pursuing?
   ETDs, archival content, other?
2. Is your library using an external service?
3. Is your library or campus hosting the content, or is it hosted remotely by a third party?
4. Where does the responsibility for managing the site reside? (including PR and technical)
5. If your library or campus is doing something to archive digital content, how or who is funding it?
   
   

It was pointed out that CALD is planning to survey its members regarding digital projects. It was also reported that the Health Sciences community has conducted a survey.

Outcomes:

• A survey instrument will be distributed to the CLD Directors and a discussion will be scheduled at the March retreat.
• Bahr will forward the draft CALD survey to CLD Exec as a possible template for the USMAI survey
• Tooey will send the results of the Health Sciences Survey to the CLD Exec Committee.
  
  

TOPIC: Provosts' Meeting

This topic has been discussed a great deal over e-mail. Don Spicer has relayed that the Provosts do not want this topic to become a forum for lobbying. Spicer also recommended that MDL issues not be mixed in with the USMAI message.

The CLD agreed that the following topics should be covered in a meeting with the Provosts:

• Overview of consortium,
• The value the consortium on individual campuses,
• Scholarly communication and the library's obligation to make faculty aware of developments, (include potential impact of the NIH legislation),
• Escalating costs of journals and the instability of the pricing models,
• The joint shelving facility with Hopkins and the potential for joint collection development

It was noted that the Libraries may not get much time on the agenda. If time is tight, CLD might want to share the list of potential topics with the Provosts and ask which of the topics they would most like to hear about.

Outcomes:

• Lowry and Tooey will discuss these topics and prepare an agenda for CLD review.
• Rabinowitz will send a call for topics to CLD members.
• Once an agenda is in place, Gillespie suggested that each Library Director meet with their Provost to review the topics prior to the Provosts' meeting.
  
  

TOPIC: Announcements, New Business

Chair's update:

• Seats on the CPC and ERIC are being filled;
• The ERIC annual report has been received;
• Responses to the Blog survey are coming in. The responses vary widely. Whatever CLD does next will be a pilot.

Nolan brought a request for partners in presenting a Web 2.0 workshop. The cost for the speaker is $2700. It was decided that Rabinowitz will send a note to the Campus Contacts asking about the level of interest in this topic. If there is a majority, the speaker will be funded by USMAI. Both HHSL and Towson have already expressed interest. The proposed date for the presentation is February 13 and the location will be in Baltimore.

Next meeting topics will include the retreat agenda and the topics for the Provosts' meeting.

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