University
Library Committee Minutes
November 30, 2000
The meeting was held in room B21 of the library and started at 3:30 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Ernest Couch and Arnold Barkman.
Present: Anabella Alcevedo-Leal, Sue Anderson, Arnold Barkman,
Ernest Couch, Ashley Edge (Student), Ellen Page Garrison, David Gouwens, June Koelker, Pam Marcum, Bob Seal.
Absent: Douthey, Jost, Payne, Polisetty, Woodworth
Library Cafe Update:
Bob Seal reported that the cafe in the library has been a huge success. It is presently taking in large amounts of money. The donuts are a big success and the library staff loves it.
Arnold Barkman asked Bob Seal if the library obtains a percentage of the money earned in the cafe. Seal replied that TCU gets a percentage of all food sold on campus, but at the present time the library does not benefit from the proceeds generated by the cafe. However, Seal has asked Don Mills that a percentage of the moneys accruing to TCU to be earmarked for the library. Mills seemed to react favorably to the suggestion. This request is still unresolved.
Library Use Statistics:
Bob Seal reported that since August 21 the library has been gathering statistics on library use. The data show that the use of the library has at least doubled since two years ago. Seal passed out a sheet that reported the turnstile entry statistics between August 21, 2000 and October 31, 2000. One interesting fact shown is that the use of the library is evenly divided between the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior students at TCU. They all were about 23 to 25 thousand entries in each class. Also daily counts were made. Monday through Wednesday were the busiest days. This was a bit of a surprise since previously it was felt that Sunday was the most heavily used. The most important statistic was the number of unique individuals that entered the library. This number was found to be 7,434. This number is much higher than in the past and represents a very high percentage of the 7800 or so students, faculty, and staff in spite of the fact that the library collection is easily accessed through the internet.
Weeding Periodicals from Off-site Storage: One continuing problem the library has is the lack of adequate storage space for books and periodicals. Our book stacks are now 88% full, and librarians usually consider 85% to be “functionally” full. In about two years we will be 90% full. It is hoped that in the near future new library space will be built. Presently 95% of the items stored off-site are journals.
To help ease this burden Bob Seal presented the committee with a list of 20 journals presently in off-site storage which are also available to TCU library patrons on line. These 20 journal titles occupy 110 linear feet of shelving. Only four of these journals have only been brought back to the campus during the last three years. Three of the journals were brought back only one time each. All of these 20 journals are available on line via JSTOR.
JSTOR is a service that not only scans in current issues of journals, it scans in all of the back issues as well. Because JSTOR is supported by over 200 university libraries (including 100 of the largest university libraries in the country) and the Mellon Foundation, Bob Seal is not concerned that this service with terminate at any time in the foreseeable future. JSTOR currently has about 130 journals available on line in full text mode. Presently TCU has not only the paper issues of many of these journals, it also has the scanned versions available through JSTOR. Therefore Bob Seal strongly recommended that the hard copies of these 20 journals in off-site storage be discarded since the full text version of all of them are immediately accessible on line. The sentiment of the committee was that the 20 or so rarely used journals on the list presented by Bob Seal should be eliminated. A vote was taken and the motion to eliminate passed unanimously.
Barkman mentioned that Joe Bobich (library committee oversight representative from the TCU committee on committees) has expressed concern about the weeding process. Perhaps we should send out a list of possible items to cut to the faculty.
The committee agreed that if at some point in the future some JSTOR journals which are currently in the campus stacks are candidates for hard copy elimination, that prior to any such action, a list of those journals would be circulated to faculty for their comments.
A question regarding the ability to have interlibrary loan arose. It was explained by Bob Seal that most electronic journal companies do not allow interlibrary loan of their product. This may create a problem in the future.
Pam Marcum (Physics) asked about the feasibility of using the discarded journals in departmental libraries. Bob Seal stated that he was strongly against departmental libraries.
Student Study-space Survey:
Ashley Edge reported on the results of the survey supported by the Student House of Representatives addressed the question of extended hours for group study. She reported that this action resulted in the central lounge in the Student Center being made available 24 hours around the clock between December 6-14. She said that if it is well received and well used an extension of this service might be available in the future.
Other Questions:
The problem of library access to graduate students during the summer was addressed by Ernest Couch. Also, the new policy regarding the cost of printing in the library was questioned. Bob Seal responded satisfactorily to both concerns.
Demonstration of MyLibrary:
A new feature on the library web site was shown by Kerry Bouchard (Librarian for Systems). This was a powerful tool that soon will be available to the faculty to aid in the integrating the library resources into their web sites. This is a powerful and extensive piece of software that Kerry has crafted. It should be of great benefit to all.
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