MINUTES
University of California Libraries
U.S. and British History/Women's Studies Consortia
December 13, 1999
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
UC Irvine Main Library, Room 570
Attending: J. Ariel (co-chair), S. Barnes, E. Broidy, P. Janes (co-chair), E.Kanter, N. Kushigian, N. Koller, J. Marie, R. Medford, C. Shelton, E. Sibley, V.Williamson
PART I
Meeting was called to order at 9:35 a.m.
1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Self-introductions were made and Ariel welcomed new attendees Barnes and Medford.
2. AGENDA REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF JUNE 1999 MEETING MINUTES
Janes made minor adjustments to the agenda. The group fine-tuned the minutes from the June 7-8, 1999 meeting and gave them final approval.
3. ROSTER: REVIEW AND CORRECTION
Kanter distributed the roster for corrections.
A discussion regarding the group reflector ensued. New names will be added to the reflector at the direction of the chairs. Members were reminded to copy themselves on messages sent to <consort@gort.ucsd.edu>. Kushigian asked if the entire group wants to see discussions on women's studies issues. History folks replied they don't mind seeing postings on women's studies and often find issues of interest. It was agreed that all postings, including those that are discipline-based, will go to entire group; members may simply delete as desired.
4. CAMPUS REPORTS: QUESTIONS
UCB (and ALL):What are campuses doing about ejournal agreggators and is anyone taking advantage of OCLC/ECO Print Subscriber Program? It's useful for Women's Studies and the Social Sciences. It gives electronic access to publishers such as Sage. Is it cost effective? UCI only learned of this in December, currently investigating. Other campuses were concerned about late notice given. UCSB is seriously considering it and reported that the deadline for participation was being extended; the decision to participate was left to individual collection managers.
UCSD: What is happening to the former Undergraduate Library? It will be an information commons with many workstations.
UCSD: What are the duties of the new Web Services Librarian? It's not completely decided yet, but she'll be in charge of redeveloping and managing the web presence of the Social Sciences & Humanities Library.
UCLA: Is B. Schottlaender's decision to cancel the 18th Century micro subscription a permanent one? UCB also has a copy of that collection; the standing order was also cancelled several years ago but UCB has since acquired the missing pieces. UCLA will try to acquire in pieces during spring sale.
ALL: Who is subscribing to GenderWatch? UCB, UCSD and UCLA. UCI, UCSC, and UCSB are planning on starting subscriptions. UCD would like to well but can't commit yet.
5. ANNOUNCEMENTS
UCSB: A new hire has been made; Marlayna Gates is the new Head of Access Services.
UCB: Two new, temporary reference librarian positions have been approved in addition to the three permanent positions mentioned in the campus report.
UCD: There are new interests in special collections-Gay/Lesbian History and African American History.
UCI: There are three AUL positions currently open, including Collections/Access, Research & Instructional Services, and Technical Services. Broidy asked for members to send good people their way.
UCB/UCSC: Sibley and Marie will be leading a Global Exchange "Reality Tour" focused on Cuban Libraries: Creating Partnerships, May 19-28, 2000. Informational flyers were distributed.
6. JUNE 2000 MEETING: DATE/PLACE
Marie offered to host the next meeting at UCSC on June 5 and 6; everyone agreed it would be great to meet at Santa Cruz (for first time).
7. CDC & JSCSC REPORTS: Shelton CDC news: Bev French informs CDC about CDL activities. There are currently two trials underway: Declassified Documents and the American Periodicals Series.
STIC is being dissolved and Susan Starr is joining JSC.
CDL is recruiting a full-time Digital Content Manager. When B.Schottlaender was at UCLA, 20% of his time was with CDL. Now that he has become UCSD's UL, CDL will be recruiting for a 100% FTE to do that work.
A task force has been convened by SOPAG to look at JSTOR as an electronic archive for e-journals. Watch for discussions.
Koller noted she would like to see an organizational chart for CDL in order to understand the reporting structure. She also noted that the SOPAG meeting minutes often contain useful information and are available on their web site. Shelton agreed to locate CDL organization chart as it was agreed by all that a better understanding of CDL structure and planning streams is needed.
A partnership between Bell & Howell and Oxford University has formed to digitize early English books; they are seeking institutional partners. $90,000 will purchase to image database and $10,000 will count toward being a partner in the project.
P. Briscoe reported that TriCor, UC's courier service, has been damaging library materials due to improper packaging.
C. Howard reported to that there's no official relationship at the CDL level with Stanford, but all past consortial relationships may beconsidered still in effect. Given previous consortial meeting and email discussions, Ariel recommended to the group that Stanford not be included in our agreements any longer because there's no Stanford representative attending the meetings or communicating with us at all any more. Group strongly agreed and further decided to remove Stanford logo from web page and name of consortia, now UC United States/British History and Women's Studies Consortia. Group also agreed to re-distribute (or, if necessary, remove from agreement) "last copy" journals for which Stanford had previously taken responsibility. Ariel and Broidy will work on this for Women's Studies and History respectively.
Shelton continued with JSC meeting news:
The lag time between surveys is approximately six months. She said an issue was raised regarding the rationale and budgeting for the Social Sciences and Humanities. Firm plans for CDL work need to be made during the next six months.
These databases will be looked at:
API
Witchcraft (Primary Source Media)
Declassified Documents (Primary Source Media)
International Women's Periodicals (Primary Source Media)
Muse
Oxford English Dictionary
Art Index Retro
JSTOR-Phase II
A discussion ensued regarding the issue of Why are only these three Primary Source Media databases being considered when there are others of interest to the group, such as American Journey? Concern about CDL seeming at times to ignore the needs of undergraduates was expressed by several members. Barnes noted the absence of Godey's Lady's Book from the list and said it is now a one-time purchase from Scholarly Resources. UCSB and UCB are starting trials of it.
8. CDL General Discussion/Preparation for 1:00 p.m. meeting with Patricia Cruse
The group brainstormed to identify key questions for Cruse:
What are her job duties at CDL?
What decision-making authority does she have?
Why is there a rush to release Searchlight before it's ready and when the vocabulary is not yet acceptable?
Is she directly involved in Searchlight or only the CDL Directory vocabulary?
The following points/concerns/questions were articulated:
1. Consortium was successful in getting "interdisciplinary studies" included, but now work is needed to somehow incorporate the vocabulary we collectively developed in October.
2. General frustration over the short deadlines requested by CDL; would like to see CDL help us be aware of their project schedule and give librarians multiple deadlines for various stages of a project.
3. Questions re. audience, ie. who CDL believes is their primary audience and if faculty gets an opportunity for input; also, again, the issue of undergraduates' needs.
4. Suggested that CDL should study how users are really using what's been developed thus far and wondered whether CDL undertakes any user testing in advance of introducing major features or services.
5. Questions about the activities of SLASIAC (the faculty/LAUC advisory oard) and wondered how their opinions affect CDL projects.
BREAK FOR LUNCH
PART II: CDL GENERAL DISCUSSION
Guest: Patricia Cruse, CDL
9. Introductions were made and a discussion ensued starting with general CDL information. Janes asked about reporting lines and relationships within CDL, and Cruse's duties specifically. Cruse told the group the basic organizational structure within CDL and that she is currently working 50% time with Laine Farley and Brian Warling on Searchlight, and 50% time with Bev French on Government Information Initiatives.
Questions were raised regarding the vocabulary development for each subject and how the directory structure will work for interdisciplinary fields. Cruse explained why some decisions were made regarding Level 3 and Level 2 vocabulary for History. She also noted that Women's Studies was CDL's first attempt at trying to fit an interdisciplinary field into their directory structure. Cruse pointed out that the CDL directory is not a permanent entity, but it is a necessary component for Searchlight to work, until a better method comes along.
The group expressed frustration that Level 3 headings cannot be repeated if they are a Level 2 heading in another part of the directory. This system makes vocabulary development for Women's Studies very challenging and hard to meet the users' needs. Cruse suggested that a task force be formed to work out the problems for Women's Studies vocabulary.
Kushigian suggested that the Online Archive of California have a separate search mode and not be lumped together with regular bibliographic searching.
A new issue was raised with the mention of communication with and from CDL. Group members feel overwhelmed by all the one-way communication and would like to have more face-to-face, in person sessions like DLA used to provide with the Melvyl Updates.
Suggestions were made to let consortia give feedback about which databases to make available and also to offer an online survey in order to gather feedback from real users.
Group decided to continue discussion of CDL survey and vocabulary development via email. For the survey, Broidy will handle history and Kushigian will do Women's Studies.
ACTION: TRISHA WILL WRITE UP OUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS, SUBMIT THEM TO CDL AND INFORM US OF THE RESPONSES TO EACH OF OUR SPECIFIC QUESTIONS. UNTIL WE HAVE THOSE ANSWERS VERY LITTLE CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR RESPECTIVE VOCABULAIRES.
10. MICROFORMS WISH LISTS
Sibley sent out Women's Studies Microform wish list after last June's meeting. Kanter volunteered to act as a clearinghouse for major microform purchases and wishlists for U.S. and British history. Sibley will resend her earlier message to the group.
ACTION: SEND IN SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONS TO THE LISTS BEFORE JANUARY 31, 2000. COMPILERS WILL SEND OUT REVISED LISTS BY FEBRUARY 7, 2000.
11. CDL LICENSING WORKSHOP (NOVEMBER 9, 1999): REPORT
Sibley gave a brief report on the workshop and expressed concern about larger campuses now having to pay more for the same database after it goes through CDL than they did on a single-campus subscription. CDL should pay the difference.
12. WOMEN'S STUDIES JOURNALS PROJECT
Ariel distributed a new list in Excel format.
ACTION: EXAMINE LIST AND EMAIL ARILE WITH CHANGES BY JANUARY 31, 2000. SHE WILL REMOVE CEASED TITLES. THE STANFORD TITLES WILL BE REDISTRIBUTED.
13. HISTORY JOURNALS PROJECT
Broidy distributed a revised list with Stanford titles redistributed. She asked that history folks review the far right column and decide which titles they are willing to be responsible for.
ACTION: LET BROIDY KNOW WHICH STANFORD "WIDOWS AND ORPHANS" YOU ARE INTERESTED IN AND BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS AT JUNE MEETING.
13A.BRITISH HISTORY LAST COPY JOURNALS:
Deferred until June meeting.
14. CALIFORNIA FEMINIST PRESSES PROJECT
Marie changed the list of presses to reflect "ceased publishing" status. She distributed handout from OAC about guide to the Shameless Hussy Press.
ACTION: WOMEN'S STUDIES SELECTORS NEED TO CHECK THAT ITEMS BEING BOUGHT HAVE FEMINIST PRESSES PROJECT IN CATALOG RECORD. MARIE WILL CLARIFY ABOUT ARCHIVAL COPY WITH UCI AND SEND EMAIL REFLECTOR ABOUT GIRL PRESS WEB SITE.
Broidy wondered if digitizing feminist press archives is something that CDL or OAC might be interested in.
15. GUIDE TO CONTEMPORARY WOMEN'S ISSUES DATABASE
Barnes has developed a guide and will send to reflector for editing, then will coordinate making it available for CDL.
16. DEBRIEFING
Women's Studies Vocabulary for CDL: There's nothing more we can do until we hear otherwise from CDL.
History Vocabulary: Janes will make improvements, send to reflector, and ask for suggestions before forwarding to CDL.
Summary of what we learned from P. Cruse's visit:
~CDL reporting lines were clarified somewhat, although an organization chart would still be extremely helpful.
~CDL vocabulary - the reasons for it and what's driving the structure.
They just need to set up a system for browsing their collection, not recreate LCSH cataloging.
ACTION ITEM: A GROUP (ARIEL, BROIDY, JANES AND MARIE) VOLUNTEERED TO MEET WITH CDL REPS TO CREATE WORKABLE VOCABULARIES FOR BOTH WOMEN'S STUDIES AND HISTORY. THE PROPOSED MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE IN BERKELEY-OAKLAND IN MARCH.
Meeting adjourned 4:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, V. Williamson and E. Kanter, UCSD
CC: Joan Ariel <jariel@sun3.lib.uci.edu>