Minutes, UC/Stanford U. S. and British History/Women's
Studies Consortia for December 7, 1998 --
Young Research Library, UCLA

Meeting was called to order by Chair, Beth Sibley of UC Berkeley at 9:50 a.m.

Members present: Joan Ariel (UCI); Ellen Broidy (UCI); Ronnie Coates
(UCSD); Phoebe Janes (UCB); Elliot Kanter (UCSD); Jane Kimball (UCD); Nancy
Koller (UCR); Nancy Kushigian (UCD); Jacquelyn Marie (UCSC); Cindy Shelton
(UCLA); Beth Sibley (UCB); Ruth Wallach (USC); Vicki Williamson (UCSD)

First order of business was the introduction of the consortia's newest
member, Ronnie Coates of UC San Diego. She is the bibliographer for
British history.

AGENDA/MINUTES -- There was a brief discussion of the agenda and approval
of the minutes of Spring 1998 meeting as amended.

WEB PAGE -- In a discussion of the consortia web page, it was decided the
CDL surveys would be mounted. It was decided discussion of specific
databases under negotiation would be eliminated. Elliot will change the
name, as decided by the consortia, to reflect the addition of British
history. Nancy Koller will write an Annual Report for last year's
activities which will be added to the web page.

Everyone thought it useful to notify the listserv whenever any member
creates a website. Elliot (webmeister) will create links from consortia
webpage. He also agreed to make links from sites mentioned in the CDL
surveys.

LISTSERV -- Davis has been the home of the listserv for many years under
the auspices of Jane Kimball. Elliot agreed to accept responsibility for
it, and in the process change the name from "uswm," to "consort" because of
addition of British history to the consortia. At the same time, Elliot
will update the list with removal of some names and additions of new
members.

CDL DISCUSSION -- In discussion of the CDL and the consortia's involvement
in CDL projects, there was a question as to what part the bibliographers
would have in prioritization and response after all surveys had been
assessed. Consortia members expressed concern about the lack of knowledge
we all had about the decision making process within the Joint Steering
Committee and CDL. There was concern about the philosophy of spending most
of the money on big ticket items and on more interdisciplinary databases and
none on smaller and /or more narrowly focussed, but equally valuable
resources. Much of the discussion was on the concepts and philosophy of the
decision-making process.

The consortia expressed the desire for multi-touchpoints of communication
from the newly established organizational structures back to the campus
bibliographers.

Cindy Shelton, member of the Joint Steering Committee, discussed the JSC
agenda for the Dec. 8th meeting. She described and answered questions about
JSC's role within CDL and the new reporting structures.

Discussion about the selection and organization of freely available web
sites and their appearance and function on the CDL web page was lively.
Again, the questions centered around the decision-making process and the
philosophy for such decisions.

The section on the CDL surveys about digitization projects was similar to
the commercial and freely available electronic resources with the added
element of just what criteria would be used in selecting collections for
digitization. Members wanted to know what CDL's major goal was -- to make
UC materials available online, or to "get on the map" in this area. There
were also questions about what percentage of the budget would be devoted to
this area.

The Women's Studies CDL Survey was discussed at length, particularly the
freely available web sites, and especially the digitization projects. Nancy
Kushigian said she would create a section for women's studies resources in
UC which should be considered for digitization projects. She will send to
members for review before forwarding to CDL as an addendum to the original
report.

CDL public page for web sites and CDL vocabulary lists generated many
negative comments. It appeared obvious to members that only the science
segments seemed either logical or fairly complete. Social sciences and
humanites sections were woefully inadequate, lacked logic, and were far
from comprehensive. Beth agreed to write Brian Warling of CDL to express
the concerns of the consortia on these issues.

NAME CHANGE -- In light of the addition of British history to the
consortia, there was a discussion of the official name. The official name
is now U.S. and British History/Women's Studies Consortia.

BRITISH HISTORY -- Members decided journal union lists and microform lists
need to be generated for British history. Phoebe and Ronnie agreed to work
on the former. Spring is the time the consortia decided to begin work on
these new projects. Joan indicated she would have some suggestions for
creation and maintenance of journal lists based upon her experiences with
the women's studies list.

Discussion on all journal lists and their dynamic nature caused members to
decide an established schedule was the most effective way to approach all
lists.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MICROFORMS -- Cindy pointed out that UCLA has to set
aside $60,000 per year to pay for what was once a shared purchase. While
the set is deemed valuable, the price falling to one campus is becoming
prohibitive. They are cancelling their standing order and picking up the
titles individually beginning in the year 2000 at a great savings.
Berkeley is purchasing titles in this way too. The latter is handling
NAACP titles in the same manner.

MICROFORMS -- Discussion on other microfoms centered on the need for a
standardized procedure for announcing new sets purchased or intention to
buy by any campus. This would enable other campuses to concentrate on
other titles. Phoebe agreed to create a FYI list to be updated twice a
year.

There was discussion at to what large microform sets were still needed in
the UC system and how they should be funded. More specific titles will be
discussed at the Spring meeting.

CALIFORNIA FEMINIST PRESS PROJECT -- Jacquelyn passed around a copy of her
article about the UC California Feminist Press Project in the Feminist
Bookstore News -- Summer "98, vol. #2.

There was a discussion of what should be included in any feminist press
archive. It was determined that there should not be any restrictions on
collecting archival material from a press still in active business.

It was decided that all questions/problems in obtaining material/change in
operation of a press connected with the Cal. Fem. Press Project should be
coordinated with the project coordinator, Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn will write a
letter to all presses in the project to suggest archiving their materials,
and not waiting to consider such action until such time as they might
change location or close down operations. She will refer any specific
press who shows interest to the relevent Special Collections personnel.
Jacquelyn mentioned Papier Mache Press in Santa Cruz has already approached
her about archiving their materal.

IIAV ARCHIVES CONFERENCE -- Jacquelyn reported on the conference held in
Amsterdam -- its mapping the world project, its web site and its links and
the usefulness for women's studies programs.

UC BIBLIOGRAPHERS INSTITUTE -- A brief discussion included concern that a
Collection Development Committee person be the major organizer with
participation in the planning drawn from interested bibliographers.

CDC Liaison -- Discussion centered around the value of communication and
recognition between the Collection Development Committee and the U.S. and
British History/Women's Studies Consortia. Beth will write a communication
to Judith Paquette on the issue.

NEXT MEETING -- The tentative dates for the Spring meeting are June 7 & 8
at UCB.

Meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Submitted by Nancy Koller

December 14, 1998

Corrected: December 17, 1998