May 12, 2008

Members in Attendance: Sara Blaszczak (University of Illinois at Chicago), Jeff Matlak (Western Illinois University), Sarah Wessel (Illinois Wesleyan University), Elizabeth Clarage (CARLI), Cindy Clennon (CARLI), David Hamilton (CARLI)

1.    Announcements

Spring selection system update – David reported.  Selection ended on Friday, May 9.  112 libraries participated out of 140 eligible; an additional two libraries are expected to be added late.  1450 unique database selections (cf. about 1100 selections last year).  Additional resources this year include Bowker Syndetics, Credo Reference, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.  Selections total about $4.6 million (cf. $3.8 million last year). 

2.    Old business

• Blackwell meeting at ALA – Cindy has requested a meeting with Wiley/Blackwell at ALA.  While attending ICOLC, at Wiley representative stated that as a result of the Wiley-Blackwell merger, they will no longer entertain subscriptions to just one portion of their content. The meeting will occur Saturday or Sunday at ALA, and Cindy will notify this group in case other members can attend.
• Licensing Training – The program proposal has been approved by the CARLI Program Planning Committee for full funding so we will not have to charge a fee to the participants.  The workshop is tentatively planned for November 17th in Champaign at the Hilton Garden Inn.  Tricia Davis is expected to be the speaker.  ERWG will help shape the curriculum in conjunction with Tricia.
• One time purchases – Cindy and David are working on making the pricing available through the selection system now that the annual spring database selection has closed.  It should be available shortly, possibly even by the end of the week.  A number of libraries want to pay for this immediately.  Contracts with the vendors have not yet been signed by CARLI.  Access will hopefully be made available to libraries before July 1.  The selection system will be available throughout the summer.  Currently payment options are “Before July 1” and “After July 1”.  Pricing for the Sage backfiles will also be available.
• E-Book Symposium – Jeff, Elizabeth, and Cindy were part of a conference call to discuss this symposium with the Collections Working Group.  Discussion covered the purposes of the symposium from the perspectives of collection management and acquisitions.  The anticipated date is early spring 2009.  The group is meeting by conference call again next week to discuss purpose, location, and logistics.  Cindy mentioned that UIUC will have a large set of data regarding e-book usage and attitudes from a survey that Springer completed and that analyses from this data may be interesting to include in the symposium.  Additional program ideas include an overview of the e-book industry, best cases (and worst cases) for library management of e-books, choices in how to manage them (e.g., as e-resource, as a book).  Vendor demos will also be included in the day’s activities.

3. Review of new and current proposals

New proposals

• RMIT infoRMIT – Australian and Asian Pacific journals.  There was general consensus that this product falls outside the interest of represented libraries and is also too expensive for such an ancillary product.
• Vault Online Career Library – 35 CARLI institutions already subscribe.  When Cindy inquired, Vault could not say whether these institutions’ library subscribes or if another department currently subscribes.  Committee comments included: Information could be found in other sources.  Information also seems dated.  Community college libraries may be interested.  The decision was made to hold until next month for additional input from community college librarians.

Continuing proposals:

• BEPress Update – Included in spring selection system.  Cindy also sent a special message to membership.  No one signed up.
• Lib Guides – The Collections Working Group is interested in pursuing this.  We will leave it open in the proposals system.
• Oxford DRS – Declined last month.
• Oxford Scholarship Online – This is a one-time purchase model, not a subscription.  One question was to offer to membership now or hold for next year’s subsidized purchases?  This type of offer falls outside of CARLI’s past practice for brokering products – database subscriptions or one-time purchases.  Cindy and David noted that CARLI has been receiving an increased number of proposals like these.  The committee agreed to leave this product on the agenda as a reminder that ERWG needs to formulate a stance on these kinds of offers. 
• SimplyMap – We agreed on the April call to revisit this.  The committee agreed to hold until next month when more committee members are available.  In the meantime, David will request pricing and trial access.

4.    New business

• Cindy raised the idea that ERWG needs to have another discussion about how we see the program working now that things are more mature.  For example, the committee’s initial recommendation was to limit database offerings to things that a minimum of five libraries subscribe to.  It’s also clear that libraries want as much as possible via CARLI.  So which piece is more compelling?  How do we see the e-resource program doing and growing?  These and similar questions are things to think about to give CARLI staff some direction so that we head in the direction for the greatest good of the membership.

Next conference call:
June 9, 2008
1:30 – 3:00

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