Collection Management Committee Meeting: December 15, 2021

Zoom / Conference Call

Members attending: Dan Blewett, co-chair (College of DuPage), Chad Buckley (Illinois State University), Janice Derr (Eastern Illinois University), Keith Eiten, co-chair (Wheaton College), Lorene Kennard, (University of St. Francis), Jayna Leipart Guttilla (Illinois Valley Community College), Kris Veldheer (Catholic Theological Union)

Member absent: Scott Thomson (Rush University)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Jen Masciadrelli, Nicole Ream-Sotomayor, Jenny Taylor

E-Resources Management Task Force Liaison: Andrea Imre (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)

Decisions

  • November meeting minutes were approved.

Tasks Assigned

  • Minutes taken by Jayna Leipart Guttilla.

Announcements

  • Member Announcements:
    • Keith Eiten (Wheaton College): Wheaton is currently reviewing acquisitions year dates and has discussed when the last day should be for ordering prior to the end of fiscal year. The goal is to decide, with data review, if they should push up the date, especially if FY rollover is too long of a period, with the outcome being improved data handling. Dan stated that College of DuPage try to end ordering by April 15. Chad stated March 1 as ISU’s date. Alma helps with this process.
    • Dan Blewett (College of DuPage): Library is looking at reallocating budget for databases, i.e. direct access to newspapers’ sites vs. database aggregators, which do not always have all the content the newspaper sites contain. Chad stated ISU got NYTimes site license, but most other newspapers are via aggregators.
    • Dan Blewett shared Niamh McGuigan’s message that she is leaving Loyola for Brown University.
  • CARLI Announcements:

Discussion

  • DEI Subcommittee:
    • Lorene, Jayna, Dan, & Elizabeth met last week. Actionable items: Create a CARLI DEI page for collections, work on suggested DEI language that other institutions might adapt or add to their collection development policies. Reviewing other institutions language and will make recommendations. Will continue to focus on this work in the spring.
    • Drafted email for collection management listserv for DEI statement. Looking for language to offer to the community to add. Intentional language. January 14 is when response is due back to CARLI.
  • Weeding – no report
  • Open Access eBooks Subcommittee: Did not meet this month. Reviewing list of resources to see if it met the inclusion criteria. Meet again in the Spring semester.
  • Alma Analytics Subcommittee:
    • Dan, Elizabeth, Jen, & Kris met December 14. Currently investigating how to run Analytics reports. Reviewing different pages on CARLI webpage that discussed Alma Analytics. Noticed that there is not a lot of “how-to” information. Divided up work on the currently created CMC Collections Analytics page to review to ask: is there more current information; do we need to update; does the information help people run the report; and how to streamline so that people can get to the reports. Streamline and make accessible, especially for people who work in small institutions. Elizabeth stated that CARLI page was developed prior to Alma go-live date. Looking to see what was useful but not info to report. Now looking at what will be most useful for this site: https://www.carli.illinois.edu/products-services/collections-management/Alma_Analytics_Collection_Development
    • Subcommittee asks for page review and comments on page that would be helpful for readers. Keith asks is there still a page where you can share analytics: general page on CARLI but not a “how-to.” Make the page have reports on it or https://www.carli.illinois.edu/products-services/i-share/alma-analytics. Jen stated that instead of providing the SQL, we provide the path to the report. Draw attention to what the best reports are and here is the path to that report.
    • Andrea asks will we have screen shots like this page and states that people may prefer visuals, like the Cal State page:
  • What is the purpose of a print journal collection, with all the online use; how much print stuff do you actually need? No print journal collection circulation since pandemic. ISU downsizing journal print collections, with some print only journals, looking at newspapers to see what they can do.
  • Other:
    • Keith Eiten: Future opportunity might be to provide strategies that show people how much materials we [that is, CARLI libraries] have with DEI  materials already in the collection. Seems to him that this is an opportunity for analytics to analyze the collections with topical sub-collections. Lorene: DEI subcommittee has already discussed which sections or collections to start this analysis with. We can show/demonstrate with analytics that we already do this work within our collections.
    • Question: How many people can use analytics reports? Once a report is setup, can they be shared by users. An existing issue with Ex Libris is the number of named user and logins to Alma. CARLI has a contractual number. Not having to ask another user to run report because of contractual agreement. It might be suggested that a best practice is that an institutional Alma “guru” sets up dashboard for others to use reports. Each institution has one shared account to access complex reports (internal user). Waiting for  the official word from Ex Libris.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Collection Management Committee will meet next on January 19 at 9 a.m.

Committee Meetings:
January 19, 2022
February 16, 2022
March 16, 2022
April 20, 2022
May 18, 2022
June 15, 2022

Deadlines: none