Present: Suzanne Calpestri, Jan Carter, Rebecca Green, Jim Gordon, Mary Ann
Mahoney, Margaret Phillips (recorder), Alan Ritch (chair), Allan Urbanic,
Beth Weil
Guests: Amy Kautzman, Mike Rancer
1. Announcements
A. S. Calpestri announced that Orin Starn, professor of anthropology at
Duke University will be speaking in the Morrison Library on 12/4/01. His
speech is entitled "Ghosts of Kroeber Hall."
B. The selector early bird previously scheduled for December 11 has been
postponed until some time in January. Undergraduate Services Librarian
interviews will be taking place on December 10, 11 and 14. Interviews for
the Head of Library Human Resources will be held on December 13 and 18.
There is also an all staff early bird scheduled for December 7 in which T.
Leonard will discuss the campus hiring freeze.
C. After wide consultation B. Sibley has cancelled our subscription to
History Universe (Women's Studies and African American Studies
collections). This is one of the first cases in which we have cancelled an
electronic subscription. This cancellation represents a savings of more
than $6000 for the digital library budget.
D. A topic of discussion of an upcoming Science Council meeting will be
results of a study done by Gail Ford on the way Science selectors currently
use ACBC vendor services, and the increased use they may make of this
vendor in the future. Preliminary recommendations include increased use
of the ACBC approval plan and direct electronic ordering by selectors.
E. A reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle met with T. Leonard, A.
Ritch and P. Iannuzzi on 11/30/01. She is writing a piece about the library
in the 21st century and was particularly interested in the Library's use of
electronic resources. A. Ritch estimated that the Library spends more than
$1 million on digital resources.
F. A. Urbanic has observed that there is a cataloging backlog of
monographic series in the humanities. Some titles, received up to one and a
half years ago, are still not on the shelves. These are English-language
titles for which copy exists and, in many cases, there are as many as six
records in the Melvyl Catalog. He recognizes that the backlog in technical
services is often due to a lack of language expertise or an absence of OCLC
copy. However these particular titles do not fall into that category. A.
Urbanic suggests that Collections Council may want to recommend new
priorities or a restructuring of priorities in order to solve this problem.
On the other hand, he recognizes that if the problem is simply a case of
understaffing, there is probably not much that can be done.
2. Collections Budget Subcommittee (CBS) Report and Recommendations
A.Ritch distributed (via email prior to the meeting) a spreadsheet of CBS
proposals and funding recommendations which the Council confirmed. A. Ritch
will respond individually to selectors notifying them of the outcome of
their requests. He will also send out an overview report to all selectors.
In view of the increasingly uncertain budget future, the committee was
cautious in their distribution of funds and attempted to distribute equally
among three funding sources (AUL state funds; AUL endowments; and selector
contributions). By tapping small, unrestricted endowments the library can
report back to donors while at the same time protecting for more flexible
future uses the larger AUL funds. A healthy reserve will continue to allow
Berkeley to participate in CDL coinvestment opportunities.
CBS favored requests for large known-items that would have the least impact
on the ordering process. Conversely, lower priority was given to open-ended
budget increases that the committee felt would only overburden the ordering
staff. There were no permanent increases to selector funds. Three selectors
had asked for funds to be placed in the Romance language selector's funds
to allow her to purchase books in their fields. A substantial one-time sum
was used by CBS to create a new fund to facilitate support for this kind of
collaboration and not simply for the selectors who had requested the
funding increases.
Only one request was rceived for a replacement fund supplement, but Jim
Gordon noted that several were in or approaching deficit. Since there
remains a comfortable reserve in the central AUL x fund, these balances
will be adjusted. B. Weil suggested that B. Ogden be asked to address the
group about the use of replacement funds by Preservation.
All of the requests for faculty start-up funds were supported.
Earlier in the year Council had provisionally endorsed the concept of a
blanket order for UC Press publications to ensure that at least one copy of
these titles was acquired by Berkeley. Now that the discretionary balances
are clearer, following the CBS process, this decision was
confirmed. Subject librarians may continue to buy second copies of UC
Press titles from their own funds, but they may choose to rely on the
blanket order. Recognizing the quality of the Press and its editorial
success in making its publications accessible to the non-specialist reader,
copies received on the new plan were tentatively assigned to be part of a
restored Moffitt Library collection. A. Ritch and R. Green will approach
the Press to implement this decision.
3. Collections Budget Update
M. Rancer presented a graph of unexpended collections balances over the
past few years. The information in the graph is not an entirely accurate
representation because there is a lag between what is in INNOPAC and what
gets recorded in the campus ledger which means that the library, in fact,
has far less money than is represented in the graph. J. Gordon will provide
M. Rancer with parallel figures drawn from the year end fund balances in
INNOPAC for the last six fiscal years. What the graph does illustrate,
however, is a trend in which both the non-19900 and 19900 balance is
growing. Bottom line: there are not enough selectors and staff in technical
services to spend the funds. Campus administrators will be given the
argument that we need to fill positions (in order to process materials)
rather than cut our collections budget.
4. Collections-related reports from other groups
Urbanic observed that selectors were concerned about the potential loss of
some of their carried forward funds at the end of the fiscal year. This
was to have been clarified as part of the budget presentation at the
December Early Bird which now has to be postponed. A. Ritch will continue
to consult with CBS on this and other budget issues and will include
preliminary recommendations in an email report to the selectors.