December 18, 2001 Steering Committee Phone Conference Minutes

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On the Line: Brian Schottlaender, Ted Bergstrom, Charles Altieri, Ling-Lie Chau Christopher Cullander, Sarah Pritchard. Gary Lawrence, Cecily Johns (Staff)

1. Update on CMI Implementation

Johns reported that the project is on schedule, with the first quarterly interim reports of usage of print volumes due from the campuses on January 18. Johns also reported that very few comments had been received to date from campus constituencies. This observation led immediately to a discussion of agenda item 3.

1. Review of Project time line
   Lawrence reviewed the timeline document distributed with the agenda, noting that this was an initial attempt to set out key dates for the Committee's information. He highlighted the several data sources set out in the schedule (e.g., campus use data, journal characteristics, operational costs) and noted that the research plan will attempt to pull together the key characteristics of the numerous data sources for this project. He directed the Committee's particular attention to the formative interviews and large-scale user surveys scheduled for Winter and Spring, respectively.
   
   
2. Subject distribution of study titles
   Schottlaender noted that titles with the subject of "Chemistry" are classed under both the Life Sciences and Physical Sciences. Chau observed that it would be desirable to provide a user-sortable list, or to prepare separate lists sorted by broad subject classification and detailed subject. It was agreed that the project team would make the complete Excel workbook of study titles and characteristics available on the public page as an optional download for interested parties.

2. Update on Research Plan

1. Research Plan update
   A comprehensive research plan should be ready for review in draft in early January. The CMI Research Advisory Committee will be meeting to review the plan. (The date of the review is now scheduled for February 19, 2002)
   
   
2. Recruitment of faculty for interviews
   The Committee suggested a combination of delivery methods for the survey instrument (e.g., online would be effective for Physics, but not necessarily for other disciplines), recommended local campus sponsorship of the survey (e.g., Committee on Library, campus research groups with relevant interests) and employment of campus news outlets to raise awareness, and advocated simplicity. With regard to recruitment for formative interviews, suggestions included:
   
   
   1. Write to target departments indicating that relevant high-use journals are candidates for relocation to storage, and offering to talk with interested faculty
   2. Choose a subset of medium-use journals and approach users in the stacks at those locations
   3. Send email to a broad group of potentially interested faculty
   4. Identify library committee members and departmental library liaisons
   5. Approach editors and authors of scholarly journals
   6. In all cases, use departmental contacts to solicit nominations of other interested faculty
      
      
3. Timing of survey distribution
   The Committee provided advice on the timing of surveys:
   1. Avoid the first and last three weeks of the term
   2. The 3rd-4th weeks of the term are best
   3. Preferably deliver the survey before mid-terms

3. General

1. Campus responses to the CMI study (Round Robin)
   
   
   1. At UCSC, a faculty member had assigned a student research project that involved inspecting the non-editorial content of a stored journal over an extended period; the journal run was recalled from storage for this purpose.
      
      
   2. At UCSC, the editor of a stored journal expressed the view that the journal should be retained locally in print; the title has been recalled, and Johns is consulting with the "control" campus for this journal to see if it is willing to assume the "experimental" role.
      
      
   3. At UCSB, a biology faculty member wished to make high-quality photocopies from the print journal for distribution to a class, distrusting the print quality of the digital. Chau observed that the quality of print from digital often exceeds that which can be obtained from bound journals, given the variable condition of the journals and quality of campus photocopiers.
      
      
   4. At UCSF, a faculty member in cell biology observed to a Steering Committee member that it was important to have access to color plates; for the digital version of the journal, this requires both access to a color printer and some provision to ensure true color rendering both on screen and in print.
      
      
   5. One campus commentator has observed that access to Tetrahedron Letters is unreliable, highlighting the importance and complexity of network and system reliability issues.
      
      
   6. Digital versions of journals offer some important advantages in terms of access for the disabled, as long as UC and publisher systems are ADA-compliant.
      
      
   7. Chau reported that concerns about the persistence of digital continued to be raised in her conversations with colleagues.
      
      
   8. Schottlaender noted the increasingly evident convergence of several systemwide library planning activities -- CMI, the Collection Management Planning Group, and the SLASIAC Scholarly Information Program Task Force. It is increasingly evident that actualization of the findings from CMI will depend critically on resolving the issues of print and digital archiving, including policies on retention of last copies, need for redundancy, and physical location of materials.