Minutes of the December 6, 2007 Meeting

SML 409
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.

Present: Hannah Bennett, Cynthia Crooker, Jo-Anne Giammattei, Haruko Nakamura (Chair), Graziano Krätli, Susanne Roberts, Marcia Romanansky, Andrew Shimp, Dorothy Woodson.

Absent: Gwyneth Crowley, George Miles, Audrey Novak, Ann Okerson, Kimberly Parker, Martha Smalley, Paul Stuehrenberg, David Walls.

Guests: Evviva Weinraub (Electronic Collections), Jennifer Weintraub (Electronic Collections), Tobin Nellhaus (Research Services & Collections), Ann Oechtering (Research Services & Collections).

Recorder: Graziano Krätli.

I. Announcements, questions, future agenda items

Haruko Nakamura (Librarian for Japanese Collection), in her capacity as CDC Chair, mentioned that the meeting schedule for the next semester (January-June 2008) will be available soon.

II. Report on OARE (Evviva Weinraub)

Evviva gave an overview of the Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE) program, with which she has been involved in the past couple of years as OARE Program Support Librarian. OARE is the most recent of three initiatives sponsored by UN agencies and aimed at providing free or low cost access to major journals in the biomedical, agricultural and environmental sciences. The first of these programs was HINARI (Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative), set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001 and now providing over 3750 journal titles to health institutions in 113 countries. This was followed, two years later, by AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture), managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and currently providing a collection of 1136 journals to institutions in 107 countries. Then, in October 2006, OARE was officially launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in partnership with Yale University (Library and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies) and over three hundred leading science and technology publishers. In one year, the program developed a list of 2258 journals made available by 340 publishers and scientific organizations to users in more than one hundred countries around the world. Country eligibility is based on GNI per capita (World Bank figures) and organized in two bands. The 72 countries in Band 1 have a GNI per capita below US$1250, and institutions in these countries are eligible for free access to all OARE resources. The 37 countries in Band 2 have a GNI per capita between US$1250 and US$3500, and institutions in these countries are asked to pay a nominal fee of US$1000 per year per institution. Band 2 was started only a month ago, which explains the difference in number between the two groups. However, due to their better technical equipment, infrastructure, and professional skills (e.g., how to access and download documents using an Internet connection), institutions in Band 2 countries have been downloading many more journal articles per month than those in Band 1.

Evviva took the group on a quick tour of the OARE Web site, which is trilingual (English, French and Spanish) and includes a list of all journals and databases currently offered through the program. These can be viewed / searched by title, subject, language or publisher. (Ten languages are currently listed, although for the most part they refer to the nationality of the publisher rather than the contents of the journals themselves.)

Since most CDC members knew about the program but were not familiar with details and updates, questions focused on specific aspects of its implementation.

Marcia Romanansky (Chief Acquisitions Librarian) asked Evviva (1) to clarify partner responsibilities in the management of the program, and (2) how users hear about the program itself. Evviva explained that Yale is hosting the public Web site, while WHO supports the authentication system and UNEP is responsible for registration and user authentication. Most information about OARE circulates by word of mouth, although conference presentations and training sessions play a significant role in the promotion of the program. Evviva also met with the Area Curators and invited them to promote the initiative in their respective regions. But she acknowledged the need to target more specific conferences, especially in the sciences.

Andrew Shimp (Engineering Librarian), pointing out that most journals are in English, asked if this generates any amount of translation requests from non-Anglophone users. Evviva replied that they receive some requests, but for the most part articles are being translated within user institutions. At the same time, though, the program aims to create a network of scientists willing to exchange information about the scientific literature provided though this program, including translation requests and how to fulfill them.

Hannah Bennett (Arts Library) asked how publisher selection affects the program’s offer of journals. Evviva acknowledged that most titles are currently provided by the largest publishers. However, the program managers are constantly looking for less known publishers, checking their journal offers, and adding or rejecting titles based on the nature and quality of their contents. For example, in the past they turned down organizations that offered primarily internal documents (e.g., minutes, memos and reports), since the program aims to provide access to journals that are both published and peer-reviewed. On this note, Evviva ended her presentation by reminding selectors that publishers of potentially interesting journals should be introduced to the OARE program and invited to participate.

III. Mass Digitizing Project (Jennifer Weintraub and Susanne Roberts)

In mid-September, the Yale University Library signed an agreement with Microsoft Corporation to digitize 100,000 books published in English before 1923 (and therefore in the public domain). The books will be digitized by Kirtas Technologies and made available through Live Search Books, Microsoft’s online search service for books. The time frame for the implementation of the project is 18 months.

Soon after the announcement, Jen Weintraub was appointed project manager and three working groups were convened to: (1) examine the issues and processes for selecting collections and subject areas for mass digitization; (2) review storage requirements and make recommendations for ingestion and maintenance of the digital content received from Kirtas (this is currently a hardware issue, but will eventually develop into a digital preservation one); and (3) develop the workflow and documentation needed to identify, pull, review, process, and safely return books for scanning. The latter group includes representatives from access services, preservation, LSF, the catalog management team, ILTS, and subject selectors.

The "Selection Group" (chaired by Ann Okerson, with members Todd Gilman, Susanne Roberts, Paul Stuehrenberg, and Allen Townsend), in conjunction with subject lists from Microsoft, identified subject areas suitable for digitization, and pick lists were created by running a query against Orbis. Using these lists, staff members have started to locate books on the shelves and to check their condition based on Preservation guidelines and Kirtas' requirements. They systematically omit volumes that are too big, too small, wrapped, or that contain more than ten foldouts, and send the others to the Kirtas facility in Wallingford, Connecticut, where they are scanned and returned to New Haven.

Jen distributed two spreadsheets showing the subjects that will be selected for digitization (including their Old Yale or LC classes), and the total number of volumes sent to Kirtas from Sterling, Mudd and the Library Shelving Facility. So far, the selection focused on Art History, History, Literature, Religion and Travel. In less than one month (November 9-December 7), 3,275 books were sent to Kirtas, and of these, ca. 1,400 have been scanned. The Orbis record for books that are being digitized says literally "Being Digitized." However, patrons can choose to recall these books and those that have not been sent to Kirtas yet will be available to their requesters first.

The project is still in its pilot phase and so far has relied heavily upon part-time volunteers recruited from various Library departments, but interviews are being conducted with the aim of hiring permanent staff in January. These will reduce the amount of time a book spends out of the Library (i.e., chez Kirtas) from eight to six weeks, as well as to include in the pool books that are not barcoded.

IV. Update on Vendor Changeover Process (Tobin Nellhaus)

Tobin Nellhaus (Librarian for Drama, Film, Theater Studies), in his capacity as chair of the US/UK Vendor Review Steering Committee, reported on the progress of the vendor transition. Two factors are temporarily slowing down the process, one being that s electors in Sterling, Bass and Social Science libraries are still working on their profiles; the other that we are now dealing with an account structure that is much more complex than Blackwell's. Tobin further mentioned plans to have another round of GOBI ® training sessions in mid-January. He also mentioned that, most likely, there will not be any virtual approval plans, but we will go live and learn as we go. This will not constitute a problem, since the Library is not moving to shelf-ready services right away.

V. Sign off on controversial books policy (Graziano Krätli)

Graziano (International Program Support Librarian) distributed a copy of the draft proposal to the CDC members who had not attended the November 1 st meeting, then asked the group to make final comments and recommendations before the policy is adopted officially and posted on the CDC Web site.

The need for such a policy was confirmed recently, when an Australian vendor asked the Library to return a book because of a legal action being launched. Citing this episode, and stressing the point that the controversy had occurred in Australia, the country of both publisher and vendor, Marcia recommended to add to the policy a brief statement, specifically aimed at non-U.S. claimants, to the effect that the Library is not liable under foreign laws. Marcia confirmed the importance and usefulness of such a policy to Acquisitions staff, since they are the first recipients of recall notices and similar requests from vendors. (And most vendors don’t keep lists of who bought what, so they will send a blanket notice to all their clients, asking to return books which some may or may not have purchased.) Haruko, on the other hand, reminded the group that vendor relationships are important; consequently, a certain amount of diplomacy should be exercised when enforcing a policy such as the one under discussion.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

Next meeting: TBD.