Present: Phyllis Bischof, Nensi Brailo, Michaelyn Burnette, Elizabeth
Byrne (recorder), John Ceballos, Kristine Comito, Carlos Delgado,
Jeanette Garay, Gary Handman, John Roberts (chair), Allan Urbanic
1. Minutes of the 7 October meeting were approved with minor changes.
The date of the November meeting was corrected to November 11.
2. Nensi Brailo and Elizabeth Byrne reported on the activities of the
Public Services Council, and its top two priorities: establishing
excellence in public service, and improving the Library's web pages. A
discussion of the homepage and connecting web pages took place with an
attempt to identify problems and needs. The following ideas were
suggested:
o Create clearer categories on the homepage
o Look at models from other University Libraries, e.g., Univ. Washington,
Univ. Oregon. Staff were urged to send URLs of good examples to the
Public Services Council (psc@library)
o Try to create consistency in design and organization, from homepage to
individual unit pages, without being too rigid
o Create templates that have standards or requirements for certain
categories
o Examine creation of a unit or pool of skilled staff to assist units
with the organizational and technical work of web page creation
o Consider the possibility of outsourcing webdesign to a consultant
o Consider the possibility of running a competition among staff for the
redesign
o Maintain intellectual control at the "mega" level
o Think about portal information, how one enters a MetaSite
3. Discussion on the role of the Arts and Humanities Council continued
from the previous meeting. Several items on the list compiled in the
previous meeting (see minutes of the 7 October meeting) were clarified:
o Tutorials: Create tutorials, training sessions or guides to electronic
resources used by many subjects in the Arts & Humanities, e.g., for Arts
& Humanities Citation Index, or Periodicals Contents Index
o Continuing education, current awareness: Jointly sponsor programs to
invite campus or other groups, individuals and resources to share
information about relevent projects, e.g., Digital Arts Group on campus,
or Museum Informatics. Could also include subject specialist librarians
presenting demonstrations and tips on using new resources.
o Foster partnerships between the Library and campus departments: Invite
faculty representatives of Arts and Humanities departmental library
committees to meet with us, share their concerns, talk about future
directions in scholarship in their disciplines, etc.
o Interaction with California Digital Library: Coordinate our concerns
as a group with existing subject liaisons at CDL and the UCB member(s) of
the CDL users group, e.g., support for CDL access to Grove Dictionary of
Art and Grove Dictionary of Music. Coordinate support for initiatives
related to arts and humanities electronic resources. Invite someone from
CDL to talk to us (include arts and humanities librarians from UCD,
Stanford and UCSC as well as appropriate UCB faculty?) about CDL plans to
improve support for arts and humanities resources. Serve as a channel
for comments about arts and humanities collections issues to the UC
Collection Development Committee.
o Action: John Roberts will contact Beverlee French at CDL to identify
an appropriate CDL person with whom to discuss these issues.
4. Actions and Priorities from the list of activities:
o Library Development staff will make a presentation to us at our
December meeting
o Action: John Roberts will draft a training plan for the new AULs
concerning the Arts and Humanities Council
o Invite Dean of Arts & Humanities, Ralph Hexter to meet with us.
Action: John Roberts will inquire.
o Coordinate requests for one-time special collections funds for major
purchases and Chancellor's new moneys, and perhaps make recommendations
on distribution or allocation of funding. Recommendations so far include
Arts & Humanities Citation Index backfiles and additional parts of the
Eighteenth-century Short Title Catalog, but no call has gone out yet.
o Tours of our units and relevant Affiliated Libraries, perhaps in
January during intersession
o Creation of a formal charge or mission statement for the Arts &
Humanities Council. Action: John Roberts will draft and distribute a
copy for discussion, based on suggestions so far.
o Specific projects, e.g.,
o Drafting a proposal and seeking funds for creation of an Electronic
Text Center for Arts and Humanities, which would bring together
"invisible" resources, e.g., stand-alone CD-ROMs or non-networked digital
books, following the model used at the University of Virginia. Myrtis
may have already drafted something similar for HAS. Such a center might
also include social science material, as well. Could it be appropriate
for mounting on the sunsite? Would require skilled staff to assist
users, and updated hardware. Might be a project with which Library
Development could assist in identifying potential funders. Action: John
Roberts will check with Myrtis to see if a draft already exists.
5. Next meeting will be November 11, and Nensi Brailo will be recorder.
The December meeting will be 2 December in the Krouzian Room, Bancroft
Library.
_____________________________
Elizabeth Douthitt Byrne, Head
Environmental Design Library
University of California
Moffitt Library 5th Floor, mc 6000
Berkeley CA 94720-6000
Phone: 510/643-7323
FAX: 510/642-8266
ebyrne@library.berkeley.edu