Washington, D.C.
October 18-20, 1995

Building Partnerships that Shape the Future

Appendix III: Report on Association Activities

May – September 1995

[Highlights] [Table of Contents]

Highlights of ARL program activities since the May membership meeting include:

Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing in Transition

Federal Relations Notebook Developed

Shared Legal Capability for Intellectual Property Issues Established

Framework Document on Government Information Endorsed

AAU/ARL Action Agenda Implemented

NAILDD Project Encourages Implementation of the ISO ILL Protocol

ARL Sponsors Conference on Economics of Information

Mellon Supports ILL/DD Performance Measures Study

Plan for Improving Access to Global Resources Endorsed

Resources on Minority Recruitment and Retention Program Distributed

SPEC Kits Address: Systems Offices, Strategic Planning, Photocopy Operations

Proceedings of TQM Conference Published by OMS

Demand for On-Site Learning and Workshop Programs Increases

OMS Provides Training for Implementation of Horizon Integrated Library System

Interactive Statistical Analysis Capability for the WWW Available

Program Plan for ARL Statistics and Measurement Proposed

Copyright Awareness Initiative/Workshop Launched

Delmas Foundation Funds ARL Participation in NINCH

ARL Visiting Program Officer Program Revisited

Table of Contents

ARL Capabilities:

1. Scholarly Communication and Information Policies (Objective 1)

ARL Objective 1: To understand, contribute to, and improve the system of scholarly communication and the communication and information policies that affect the availability and usefulness of research resources.

1.1 Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing

1.1.1 Scholarly Communication Committee

1.1.2 Firm Subscription Prices Working Group

1.1.3 Working Group on Electronic Serials: Acquisition, Storage, Dissemination, and Service

1.2 Federal Relations and Information Policy Development

1.2.1 ARL Committee on Information Policies

1.2.2 Ad Hoc Working Group on Copyright Issues

1.2.3 Task Force on Preservation of Copyrighted Materials

1.3 AAU/ARL Action Agenda

1.3.1 AAU/ARL Research Libraries Steering Committee

2. Access and Technology (Objectives 2 and 5)

ARL Objective 2: To make access to research resources more efficient and effective.

ARL Objective 5: To assist member libraries to exploit technology in fulfillment of their mission and assess the impact of educational technologies on scholarly communication and on the role of research libraries.

2.1 Access to Information Resources

2.1.1 Committee on Access to Information Resources

2.1.2 Work Group on Scientific and Technical Information

2.2 Coalition for Networked Information

2.2.1 ARL Steering Committee for the Coalition for Networked Information

2.2.2 Program Overview: July 1, 1995 through June 30, 1996

2.3 HEIRAlliance

3. Collection and Preservation (Objectives 3 and 4)

ARL Objective 3: To support member libraries’ efforts to develop, maintain, and preserve research collections, both individually and in the aggregate.

ARL Objective 4: To support member libraries’ efforts to preserve research collections, both individually and in the aggregate.

3.1 Collection Services

3.1.1 ARL Committee on Research Collections

3.1.2 ARL Committee on Preservation of Research Library Materials

4. Management and Staffing (Objectives 6 and 7)

ARL Objective 6: To identify on an ongoing basis the capabilities and characteristics required for research library personnel to best serve their constituencies, and to assist member libraries and educational programs in the recruitment, development and effective use of staff.

ARL Objective 7: To assist member libraries in augmenting their management capabilities.

4.1 Minority Recruitment and Retention Capability

4.1.1 Committee on Minority Recruitment and Retention

4.2 Office of Management Services

4.2.1 OMS Organizational Development Program

4.2.2 OMS Information Services Program

4.2.3 OMS Training and Staff Development Program

4.2.4 OMS Diversity Program

4.2.5 OMS Operations

4.2.6 ARL Committee on the Management of Research Library Resources

4.2.7 Advisory Committee for the Office of Management Services

5. Performance Measures (Objective 8)

ARL Objective 8: To describe and measure the performance of research libraries and their contributions to teaching, research, scholarship, and community service.

5.1 Statistics and Measurements Program

5.1.1 ARL Committee on Statistics and Measurements

6. Supporting Capabilities

6.1 Governance of the Association

6.2 Communications and External Relations

6.2.1 ARL Publications Program

6.2.2 Electronic Services

6.3 ARL Membership Meetings

6.4 International Relations

6.5 General Administration

7. Research and Development

7.1 Office of Research and Development

7.1.1 Proposals Submitted and Pending

7.1.2 Projects under Development

7.2 Summary of Project Activities, May 1995–October 1995

7.3 ARL Visiting Officer Program

Section 1: Scholarly Communication and Information Policies

1.1 Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing

The objective of the Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing is to maintain and improve scholars’ access to information. OSAP undertakes activities to understand and influence the forces affecting the production, dissemination, and use of scholarly and scientific information. The Office seeks to promote innovative, creative, and alternative ways of sharing scholarly findings, particularly through championing newly evolving electronic techniques for recording and disseminating academic and research scholarship. The Office also maintains a continuing educational outreach to the scholarly community in order to encourage a shared "information conscience" among all participants in the scholarly publishing chain: academics, librarians, and information producers. The activities of this office build on the results of the ARL Serials Prices Project as well as interest and research ongoing in the profession. The capability is advanced and OSAP receives guidance through the work of the ARL Committee on Scholarly Communication. The first five-year phase of the OSAP is reaching a natural reexamination point with the departure of Ann Okerson, Director, at the end of September 1995.

Summary of Activities

Promoting the Scholarly Communication Objectives of ARL Through Outreach.

In seeking to promote innovative, effective scholarly communication and advocating the key role of research libraries within that process, the OSAP director meets and gives papers or presentations to many diverse groups: campus faculty and administration; learned/professional/scientific editors and societies; with publishers; and with library groups.

• Presentation on Intellectual Property and Copyright at the U.S. Naval Academy, May 15, 1995

• Stakeholders in the current NII Copyright discussions, North American Serials Interest Group, June 3, 1995

• Towards an Internet Presence, IFLA, August 23, 1995

• Lecturing in Copyright and Scholarly Communications, University of Michigan School of Information and Library Studies, August 30, 1995 + (fall semester)

Promoting the Scholarly Communications Objectives of ARL Through Analytical, Research, Consumer, and Investigative Activities.

OSAP continues to monitor activities in the publishing and vendor arena that had a potentially high impact on members. Two areas are of particular importance as fall approaches:

• Monitoring subscription price increases for journals, particularly in the sciences

• Monitoring prices of major scholarly journals as they begin to appear in electronic formats

OSAP continues to review copyright policies (for a number of societies); RFPs for a number of agencies and foundations (such as the NSF); and assesses potential electronic innovations. Serving on informal working groups (of several science societies) and on formal boards (e.g., for Encyclopedia Britannica, Academic Press, and several professional journals) continues to bring research library perspectives into play for those organizations. The OSAP Director also provides regular information resources for articles on changing scholarly communications, scholarly publishing, and digital libraries for reporters from: Chronicle of Higher Education, Wired, Scientific American, Lingua Franca, Library Journal, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, and a number of newspaper reporters.

Championing Progress and Innovation Through Publishing and Key Projects.

Several ongoing projects continue to be particularly effective in the ARL goal of championing new ideas in scholarly communication. These include:

• Scholarly Communications Web Site. OSAP Director developed a number of scholarly communications resources on the ARL Web site http://arl.cni.org/scomm/scomm.html including: OSAP Director: position description and collected major articles; Publications of the OSAP Office; OSAP Articles in ARL Newsletter; Copyright/IP Resources; and University IP Resources and Policies, a particularly important prototype section for the work of the AAU/ARL IP Task Force.

• ARL Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Academic Discussion Lists. This project advances electronic/Internet publishing of journals and has become the standard reference book in its area. The fifth annual printed edition was published at the end of May 1995.

Because the Directory is by far the most heavily used resource on the ARL Gopher, OSAP staff updated that resource in June 1995. A version was licensed for print publication by Fawcett in late summer 1995; discussions are being held to develop a prototype license agreement to distribute the electronic database to the vendor and information community as an additional means of outreach and income.

The E-journal/newsletter directory has experienced enormous growth in the 1995. Early in the year, the number of titles added to the database averaged one per day and by late summer, the average for additional new e-titles had jumped to between 5-10 per day. Growth is attributed to several factors including: (1) Netscape offers an exciting and easy way to present non-textual materials such as images and is widely available to producers and readers as well. Thus, more individuals and small organizations have been attracted to the e-medium for serial publications. (2) Print publishers’ prototype projects for e-versions of their current journals, are beginning to come on stream. The entire journals lists of a handful of publishers are now or shortly will be available through the WWW.

• NewJour-L. This Internet conference was created in summer 1993 and is moderated by the OSAP Director. It supplements the Directory between editions and provides a place for creators of new electronic journals to report their plans and announcements to subscribers. This year it added a fully searchable archive and is developing a WWW site with a hypermail archive and access capability.

• AAU/ARL Research Libraries Project. The OSAP director takes an overall coordinating role in the follow-up to the AAU projects, which are designed to collaboratively foster the transformation of the way libraries and universities do their business. The AAU (now AAU/ARL) Research Libraries Project is a special emphasis area for ARL. The second meeting of a reconstituted Task Force on Intellectual Property (IP-TF) was held at the end of May 1995 and generated an ambitious charge and agenda. The third meeting of 1995 (September) developed that agenda further. (See section 1.3 for more information.)

• National Task Force on Digital Preservation. The OSAP Director serves as a member of the Commission on Preservation & Access/RLG National Task Force charged to produce an implementable report tackling the key issues of preserving materials that are digitally created. A draft version appeared in August of 1995, with a request for comments from the wider library/preservation community by October 31, 1995.

• Quick SPEC Survey. In April, 1995, OSAP distributed and compiled a brief survey on sources of university library funding. This survey was requested by Bob Sewell, Rutgers University Libraries. The survey was tabulated in June and a newsletter article will appear in the October issue of the ARL Newsletter.

• Service Within ARL. Recent activities include planning and participation for ARL technologies through the four-member Technology Team and preparing the first draft of the ARL technology plan. Both the OSAP Director and Electronic Services Coordinator serve on the Technology Team. The OSAP Director also serves as a member of the ARL Copyright Team.

• "Subversive" Book. In June 1995, ARL/OSAP published the book Scholarly Journals at the Crossroads: A Subversive Proposal for Electronic Publishing. This 242-page work, edited by Ann Okerson and James O’Donnell, captures an Internet discussion on scientific scholarly journals and their future, with extensive organization, introduction, and conclusion. It is an important snapshot of what different participants in the information chain think of the prospects of e-journals for the future of scholarly communication.

Advancing Electronic Agenda through Electronic Services Coordinator.

The position of Electronic Services Coordinator was established in 1994. This position provides support for OSAP electronic publishing and Internet services and ARL technical support and electronic services. (See section 6.2 for more information.)

1.1.1 Scholarly Communication Committee

This Committee was established in February 1991 by the ARL Board of Directors to help the Association understand, contribute to, and improve the system of scholarly communication. The Committee is charged to monitor developments, determine critical issues requiring ARL attention, inform members, and design strategic responses that can serve to influence the future of scholarly communication. The Committee also advises and guides the ARL staff on matters regarding the plans and strategies of the Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing. In 1995, this Committee will engage the following issues:

• Reviewing directions for OSAP,

• Continuing to contribute to ARL positions on ownership and copyright, and

• Discussing prospects for university comprehensive licenses for certain uses of copyrighted materials.

Scholarly Communication Committee

Joseph A. Boissé (1994-96)
Paula T. Kaufmann (1993-95)
Margot Montgomery (1995-97)
Carole Moore (1995-97)
Carlton Rochell (1995-97)
Sherrie Schmidt (1993-95)
James C. Thompson (1993-95)
Robert Wedgeworth (1993-95)
Paul Wiens (1993-95)
Elaine F. Sloan, Chair (1995)

Staff: Ann Okerson until September 1995; Duane Webster will server as primary staff liaison during the October Membership Meeting.

1.1.2 Firm Subscription Prices Working Group

No specific activities are planned for this year, beyond monitoring firm pricing information as available. The poor performance of the U.S. dollar may impact the firm pricing matter negatively. For example, in September 1995, Elsevier price increases are announced to be 23% on the U.S. dollar.

Working Group on Firm Serials Prices

Tony Angiletta
Robert Holley
Scott Bennett
Paula Kaufman
John Black
Susan Martin
Sheila Creth
Charles Miller
Dale Canelas
Emily Mobley
Lois Ann Colaianni
Jim Neal
Hiram Davis
Beth Shapiro
Fred Friend
Barbara Smith
Paul Gherman
Norman Stevens
Graham Hill
Carla Stoffle
Sharon Hogan
Merrily Taylor
Don Tolliver

1.1.3 Working Group on Electronic Serials: Acquisition, Storage, Dissemination, and Service

At its July meeting, the Board acknowledged the accomplishments of the Group and extended their thanks for the important work done in developing an overall concept for an Internet resource for ARL, for defining the tools and structure for that resource, and for drafting the essay on The Creative Role of Librarians in Scholarly Communication. Since 1992 when the Group was established, the whole concept of electronic communication and the Internet has evolved. The Working Group’s original charge has been successfully completed. The Board dissolved the Working Group with thanks.

1.2 Federal Relations and Information Policy Development

The Federal Relations and Information Policy Program is designed to: monitor activities resulting from legislative, regulatory, or operating practices of international and domestic government agencies and other relevant bodies on matters of concern to research libraries; prepare analysis of and response to federal information policies; influence federal action on issues related to research libraries; examine issues of importance to the development of research libraries; and develop ARL positions on issues that reflect the needs and interests of members. This capability is governed by the ARL Information Policies Committee. The ARL Ad Hoc Working Group on Copyright Issues plays an advisory role with regard to Copyright and Intellectual Property Issues. In addition, a Task Force on Preservation of Copyrighted Materials was established to guide ARL staff as they pursue strategies to shape and influence copyright discussions on preservation of copyrighted materials.

In May, ARL staff prepared and distributed to members a Federal Relations Notebook (ARL/FRN). The ARL/FRN is intended to help ARL members keep abreast of the legislative landscape, as well as the rapidly changing issues, players, legislative vehicles, and priorities within the U.S. and Canadian federal governments. The ARL/FRN also provides a framework for the Federal Relations E-news distributed to the ARL Directors, by the Executive Director, monthly. These monthly Federal Relations E-news are also be posted on the ARL Gopher. Gopher to arl.cni.org/Information Policies/ARL Federal Relations Notebook Updates.

Summary of Activities

Copyright and Intellectual Property

Shared Legal Capability for Intellectual Property. ARL is coordinating the efforts within the library community on copyright and NII issues through the formation of a new shared legal strategy and capability among five library associations (ALA, AALL, ARL, MLA, and SLA). Representatives of the associations conducted an extensive series of interviews to identify legal expertise to represent the associations in the upcoming copyright and intellectual property discussions. Arnie Lutzker of Fish & Richardson has been retained to represent the shared legal capability on intellectual property issues. ARL has established an electronic list to facilitate the work of this group.

This collaboration includes the development of the statement, "Fair Use in the Electronic Age: Serving the Public Interest." This working document sets forth a definition of lawful uses of copyrighted works in the NII and serves as the point of departure for the library community on these issues. It continues to generate discussion and has been endorsed by additional associations.

Intellectual Property and NII. During the last six months, ARL has been extremely active in intellectual property and copyright debates and discussions. The primary focus of activity is the work of the Administration’s Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights. The release of the long awaited White Paper on Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure proposes significant changes to the Copyright Act of 1976 to spur use and growth of the NII.

ARL worked with members of the Working Group in efforts to change the language of the draft report (issued July 1994). The ARL Board of Directors met with PTO Commissioner Lehman (Chair of the Working Group on Intellectual Property) and expressed concerns over the serious shortcomings of the draft Working Group report. In September, Mr. Lutzker, legal counsel for the Shared Legal Capability, prepared an Executive Summary of the White Paper, highlighting the elements of the report that have the greatest impact on libraries. This report was widely distributed throughout the research library community and is available via Gopher and the World Wide Web.

Additionally, the Working Group on Intellectual Property continues to sponsor the Conference on Fair Use (Confu), with the goal of developing guidelines for fair use of copyright materials in universities, libraries, and elementary-secondary settings. The Confu process is developing fair use guidelines for the following topics: distance learning; electronic reserves; interlibrary loan; document delivery/electronic sharing; and image archives. Participants in these meetings include representatives of the library, publishing, multimedia centers, software publishing, and educational and scholarly associations. Prue Adler and Mary Jackson are representing ARL in these monthly discussions. They are also participating in discussions relating to fair use and multimedia sponsored by the Consortium of College and University Media Centers.

Bills before the House and Senate seek to extend the duration of copyright from life of the author plus 50 years to life of the author plus 70 years. Members of the shared legal capability on intellectual property issues submitted a letter to the House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property regarding concerns with this bill. Staff are working with congressional staff and the Copyright Office, Library of Congress on selected provisions in this bill.

Texaco. In October 1994, a federal Appeals court ruled in a fair use case, AGU v Texaco. The court held that Texaco’s photocopying of journal articles was not fair use. ARL and 13 other library and academic organizations had filed an amicus brief in this case in support of the fair use arguments put forward by Texaco. In November of 1994, ARL and 13 other organizations filed a petition for reconsideration of the Court ruling. That petition was denied by the Court. In March 1995, Texaco announced its decision to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. ARL coordinated and disseminated information concerning the case and organized an amicus brief before the Supreme Court. On May 16, 1995, the Texaco Corporation announced with six publishers, a settlement of the case. An analysis of the case and settlement, and recent developments in the case are available via the ARL gopher.

Copyright Team. In February 1995, an ARL Copyright Team was established to coordinate activities and efforts within the several program areas with interests in this area and to share information on the rapidly changing copyright arena. The team is led by the Executive Director, and consists of: the ARL Deputy Executive Director, ARL Assistant Director for Federal Relations and Information Policy, CNI Executive Director, OSAP Director, ARL Access and Delivery Services Consultant, and the ARL Information Services Coordinator. The major initiative of this team was launching a Copyright Awareness Program. For more information see section 6.2.

Appropriations

There are 13 annual appropriations bills before the House and Senate. These bills will be incorporated into one omnibus bill for consideration by the President. As of September 18, only one bill has passed both Houses and a conference report approved (Legislative Branch appropriations) with six others at the conference stage. Several bills await full consideration by the Senate.

LC/GPO. ARL, ALA, and AALL submitted a statement to the Senate Subcommittee on the Legislative, Committee on Appropriations on behalf of the Library of Congress and the Government Printing Office FY 1996 budget request. ARL with other Associations has been very active in working on this appropriations bill as it moved through the House and Senate. A final version of this bill was just passed by the House of Representatives. The Federal Depository Program will be fully funded in FY 1996 with the understanding that a shift to a more electronically-based program will occur within the next fiscal year. The Library of Congress fared well in this extremely difficult budget environment. The Office of Technology Assessment was eliminated and GAO faces significant downsizing.

National Endowment for the Humanities. The Senate and House passed FY 96 Interior Appropriations bills. The Senate bill provides $110 million for NEH and no phase out language for the agency. The House provides for a lower amount, $95 million and a three year phase out. Letters and calls from ARL directors were particularly helpful in the Senate deliberations on H.R. 1977. The House-Senate Conference approved $110 million for NEH, with the question of phase out of the agency bounced to the authorization process.

National Telecommunications Information Administration, Department of Commerce. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved deep cuts to FY 1995 and FY 1996 funding of the Department of Commerce. The Committee approved a 30% reduction in the Department’s FY 1996 budget: from $4.154 billion to $2.899 billion. Key actions include the rescission of FY 1995 funding (funds not yet spent) of the NTIA Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP), a grant program that supports library, education, non-profit, and state and local government information technology projects. The Committee’s action would eliminate FY 1996 funding for the TIIAP with the elimination of NTIA. ARL continues to work to restore TIIAP appropriations.

National Science Foundation. ARL worked with others in the higher education community in support of the NSF FY 1996 budget request and reauthorization of the agency. Action on the VA, HUD, Independent Agencies appropriations bill is not complete.

HEA. ARL worked with a coalition of higher education groups and associations in support of HEA Title VI FY 1996 appropriations. Action on the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations is pending.

Telecommunications, Networking, Digital Libraries and Related Activities

Telecommunications. Promoting the restructuring of the telecommunications infrastructure is a key priority for the House and Senate. ARL’s focus in this area has been: influencing specific legislative proposals, including those regarding restructuring the telecommunications infrastructure and networking; working with agencies to implement NII programs and responding to NII proposals; and collaborating with others in the education, library, and public interest communities to promote common positions.

For over a decade, Congress has attempted to update the Communications Act of 1934 to reflect the evolving technological and economic changes in the communications infrastructure. In June and August, the Senate and House passed telecommunications reform legislation that will radically restructure the current regulatory regime and that promotes a more competitive marketplace for telecommunications services. A House-Senate conference committee should be appointed shortly to resolve differences between the two bills. If the conference is successful, a bill will be sent to the President for his consideration. Key elements to both bills include:

• massive deregulation for differing industries and in particular, cable;

• reduced restriction on concentration of media ownership;

• reliance on marketplace solutions to ensure access to current and future telecommunications services; and

• differing approaches to regulation of the Internet with regards to content.

Of particular interest to the library community are those provisions relating to universal service, content restriction, Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) access, and anti-redlining. ARL worked with others in the library and education communities in support of an amendment to provide discounted rates for schools and libraries. In addition, ARL has participated in two coalitions opposing the Exon-Gorton amendment which seeks to prohibit access to controversial and sexually explicit materials via the Internet and other interactive media and imposes fines and penalties for transmitting obscenity and pornography via advanced telecommunications services. ARL worked to modify an amendment introduced by Reps. Christopher Cox (R-CA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) which seeks to encourage and protect private sector initiatives that improve user control over computer information services.

Networking and Digital Libraries. ARL staff worked with agencies in designing and proposing network applications programs such as the NASA Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications Program, the NSF/ARPA/NASA digital library program, the NTIA TIIAP program, and the Library of Congress National Digital Library Initiative. This included working with staff of Appropriations Committees in support of these programs. Prue Adler participated in the EOSDIS Users Report, an evaluation of user information needs for global change data, and an NSF/ARPA/NASA Project Alexandria Design Review.

ARL with others in the higher education community including CNI and EDUCOM cosponsored Monterey 1995, "Higher Education and the NII - from Vision to Reality." The conference explored the steps required over the next few years to turn the potential of the advanced information infrastructure into reality for higher education. Prue Adler is a member of the steering committee.

Information Policy Legislation and Related Activities

Government Information Dissemination. A number of bills have been introduced that propose significant changes to government information dissemination programs. ARL staff met with congressional and executive branch staff to discuss these proposals. Prue Adler facilitated meetings with staff of library associations on these issues. The session goals included identifying core elements of a federal dissemination program, preparing criteria by which to measure legislation proposals, and building consensus within the library community on these criteria. Access and Dissemination of Federal Government Information: A Framework for Future Discussion was endorsed by the ARL Board and is available via the ARL gopher. In addition, Jim Neal, chair of the Information Policies Committee and ARL staff participated in an ALA sponsored forum on government information.

GPO was directed by the Appropriations Committees to conduct a study to identify measures to ensure a successful transition to a more electronically-based Federal Depository Library Program. Prue Adler is representing ARL in an advisory capacity in reviewing the study. (See section 1.2.1 for more information on ARL’s efforts related to government information.

Influencing Agency Information Programs. ARL collaborated with others in the public interest community and with agencies in implementing the Government Information Locator Service (GILS) proposal. GILS provides a framework and common approach for federal agencies to make their information resources publicly available. ARL staff worked with NTIS on implementing their dissemination program, with a particular focus on depository library issues. ARL wrote in support of NTIS and in opposition to the privatization of NTIS (see ARL Gopher). In lieu of privatization, the House is now considering making NTIS a government corporation.

ARL GIS Literacy Project. Phase III (Canada) of the ARL GIS Literacy Project was initiated in February and the U.S. phase of the project continues to expand to other institutions. The project seeks to educate librarians and users about GIS as well as to develop GIS capabilities in research libraries. The Universities of McGill and Alberta hosted training sessions for participating libraries in June and September. Thirty CARL and ARL institutions are included in this last and final phase of the Project. Background materials related to this project are now available on the ARL Gopher.

ARL participates in discussions and conferences related to the development of a national spatial data standard including those at URISA and the National Geodata Forum. The increasing reliance upon GIS by multiple communities including government agencies and members of the academic and research communities indicate the need for research librarians to be well situated to provide access to the growing array of digital cartographic and spatial information. Prue Adler is a member of the Board of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA), an NSF sponsored consortium.

Non-Profit Advocacy. ARL joined a coalition of over 800 non-profit groups to oppose language in House appropriations bills that would severely restrict the ability of non-profits to work with others in the executive and congressional branches of government. Activities such as filing the amicus brief on the Texaco decision would be prohibited if such provisions were enacted. Action on the appropriations bill is not complete.

1.2.1 ARL Committee on Information Policies

At the Committee’s meeting in October 1994, members discussed FY 1995 priorities. The Committee revised these priorities on February 1. The Committee also requested that staff continue to focus on and respond to a number of ongoing issues in the following order: copyright and intellectual property; government information dissemination programs with the understanding that an investment in maintaining more government information in the public domain will, in the long-term, have an impact on ARL’s needed investment in copyright and intellectual property; telecommunications and networking issues with a particular focus on digital library applications, and cost access issues; support of agency programs that are of direct importance to research libraries, including those that promote digitizing of research library resources.

In March, a Subcommittee on Government Information in electronic format was established by the ARL Executive Committee to address the need for new models of access and dissemination of government information. A survey was conducted in August to determine the level of effort underway in ARL libraries in providing access to government information in electronic formats. In particular, the survey addressed collaborative efforts between ARL libraries and state and federal producers of government information. Results of the survey will be distributed to the membership during the October meeting.

1.2.2 Ad Hoc Working Group on Copyright Issues

At the request of the ARL Board of Directors, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Copyright Issues was asked to continue coordinating ARL activities on intellectual property and copyright issues. The Committee is comprised in part of Members from four standing Committees of the Association (Information Policies, Scholarly Communication, Access to Information Resources, and Preservation of Research Library Resources), the ARL Board, and the AAU/ARL Task Force on Intellectual Property. Members of the Ad Hoc Group serve as liaisons to their respective committees on these issues. Jim Neal chairs the Working Group.

Working Group on Copyright Issues

Scott Bennett (Information Policies, AAU/ARL Task Force)
Betty G. Bengtson (Preservation)
John Black (Board)
Nancy Cline (Board)
Joanne R. Euster (Information Policies)
Kenneth Frazier (Information Policies)
Ernie Ingles (Information Policies)
Paula T. Kaufman (Scholarly Communication)
Peter Lyman (At Large)
James G. Neal (Board, Information Policies), Chair
Susan K. Nutter (At Large)
Martin Runkle (Preservation)
George Shipman (Board, Access)
Elaine Sloan (Scholarly Communication)
Robert Wedgeworth (Scholarly Communication)

Primary Staff Liaison: Duane Webster

Staff Resources: Prue Adler
Patricia Brennan
Mary Jackson

1.2.3 Task Force on Preservation of Copyrighted Materials

The Task Force was established in May 1995 to advise staff on influencing efforts to develop legislative reform or guidelines concerning the uses of digital technology for preservation of copyrighted materials.

George Shipman (Access)
Betty G. Bengtson (Preservation)
Martin Runkle (Preservation)
Paul H. Mosher (Access)
Kenneth Frazier (Information Policies)
Paula T. Kaufman (Scholarly Communication), Chair

Primary Staff Liaison: Jutta Reed-Scott

Staff Resources: Prue Adler
Duane Webster

See also Section 1.3, Part B for the AAU/ARL Intellectual Property Task Force.

1.3 AAU/ARL Action Agenda

In the Spring of 1994, the Association of American Universities (AAU) and ARL adopted a joint research libraries action agenda. Background and regular reports appear in the ARL newsletter. Following is a two part status reported on implementation activities.

A. AAU/ARL Demonstration Projects: Status Report

A key goal of the AAU/ARL common action agenda is to improve access to and delivery of international research resources. Implementation efforts of a network-based, distributed program for coordinated development for foreign acquisitions continue. During the initial phase, three demonstration projects target research materials that originate in Latin America provides overall guidance for these projects. Jutta Reed-Scott is primary staff liaison.

Latin Americanist Research Resources Pilot Project

Overview

The aim of the project is to make available a broader array of resources to Latin American students and scholars, to restructure access to these collections on a comprehensive scale, and to assist research libraries in containing costs. Project funding was received from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and thirty-two participating ARL Libraries. In August 1994, ARL appointed Mark Grover, Latin American Studies Bibliographer at Brigham Young University Library, to the position of Project Coordinator for the Latin Americanist Resources Pilot Project. ARL also appointed an Advisory Committee to oversee the implementation of this project. The Advisory Committee is chaired by Deborah Jakubs, Head, International and Area Studies, Perkins Library, Duke University.

Project Activity

The first phase of the project is a cooperative library effort focusing on three categories of Argentine and Mexican scholarly resources: serials, government documents, and the publications of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Thirty-two participating libraries have accepted subscription responsibilities for about 300 serials from Argentina and Mexico. The table-of-contents database for these project serials is now available on UT-LANIC, the University of Texas at Austin, Latin American Network Information Center. The URL for the file is: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/arl/. The database provides access to table of contents information for serials published since 1995, many of which have not been indexed. We will closely monitor use of the database over the next year.

Digitization of presidential messages from Argentina and Mexico is a second important component of the project. With funding from the Latin American Microform Project (LAMP), a contractor is currently preparing preservation microfilm of these documents. Requests for proposals to scan the film have been sent to five companies. The contract will be awarded in November 1995.

The project will also provide coverage of publications from selected Argentine and Mexican NGOs, focusing on economic transformation, the environment, gender, and indigenous groups. These materials will be fully cataloged on OCLC and RLIN, and will be available via expedited interlibrary loan.

ARL has prepared a brochure describing the general features of the Project and the specific steps to use the table-of-contents and expedited delivery services for the 300 Argentine and Mexican serials. Copies of the brochure were mailed to participating libraries for distribution to Latin Americanist faculty, students, and other users. The brochure was also distributed at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) meeting in late September.

Next Steps

It is evident that the initial pilot year is not long enough to generate sufficient data to allow realistic and accurate evaluation of the model’s performance. The Project Advisory Committee met on July 26, 1995 to develop plans for the next phase of the Project. ARL was invited to submit a second grant proposal to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand and extend the Project through December 1996.

During the second year, we seek both to complete the implementation of the three-part phase now underway as well as to plan strategically for the implementation of large-scale, economically significant coordination of collection activities. Mark Grover, Latin American Studies Bibliographer at Brigham Young University Library, will continue as Project Coordinator on a half-time basis. Five "case study" libraries will address management, staffing, and economic issues engendered by distributed, network-based access to Latin Americanist Research Resources. The ARL institutions that will pursue the needed institutional analyses within a collaborative framework are the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Florida, Stanford University, the University of Texas, and Yale University. Implicit in this second phase is the development of models for subsequent cooperative endeavors within the emerging networked environment.

Participation in the Project

As of September, 32 ARL libraries participate in this project. To join, contact Jutta Reed-Scott (jutta@cni.org).

German Demonstration Project

Overview

The primary goals of the German Demonstration Project are (1) to assure effective and timely access to and delivery of German language research materials through electronic resource sharing and improved interlibrary document delivery services; and (2) to explore and encourage reliance on linking with German libraries to expand access to specialized research resources. The Library of Congress, under the umbrella of ARL and AAU, is providing organizational support for this project. Winston Tabb, Associate Librarian for Library Services, Library of Congress, serves as chair of the Advisory Committee.

The project scope focuses on German politics and public life since 1945. The project will encompass three categories of materials in this arena: monographs; serials; and federal government documents. The Working Group on the German Demonstration Project has developed its initial work plan and is currently laying the groundwork for specific collecting and processing assignments.

Project Activity

Although funding for a project coordinator has not yet been obtained, progress has been made on several fronts. Currently, work is underway to generate a comprehensive list of journals that fall within the project scope. Efforts are also being made to determine the availability of German government documents on the Internet.

The project will also promote currency in processing German materials. A two-pronged strategy is proposed. The Library of Congress is exploring the feasibility of expanding the cooperative cataloging project in German materials. The Library of Congress is also investigating the cost of making available the Deutsche Bibliographie on the LC server to provide access to German cataloging records to libraries participating in the German Project.

Finally, the project is actively investigating the feasibility of building the electronic platform for the sharing of economic, policy related, legal and other information among North American and German research libraries. A small nucleus of research libraries in Germany are interested in pursuing a joint project with ARL. We have reached agreement in principle with the Niedersaechsische Staats-und Universitaetsbibliothek in Goettingen to develop a pilot project to make available state documents via the Internet. Using the soon-to-be established WebDOC server, the Niedersaechsische Staats-und Universitaetsbibliothek would create image files of selected classes of regional government documents and offer electronic access to project participant libraries. Discussions will be held in late November with Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, Director General, Die Deutsche Bibliothek, about the possibility of obtaining digital versions of government documents at the national level.

The project will provide significant benefits through improved bibliographic control of materials, broader coverage, collaborative strategies in making materials available with concomitant avoidance of acquisitions costs. Two critical strategies are partnering with research institutions in Germany and expanding the availability of electronic resources.

Participation in the Project

Letters inviting participation in the initial phase of the project are expected to be sent to directors of all ARL libraries in the fall of 1995. For information contact Jutta Reed-Scott jutta@cni.org.

Japanese Scientific and Techinical Information Demonstration Project

Overview

The goal of the project is to increase access to the scientific and technical (STI) journal literature of Japan published in Japanese. With support from OCLC, ARL named Dorothy Gregor as Consultant for the Japanese STI Project. Initially the project will attempt to expand access to the target materials without expanding on-site collections in U.S. and Canadian libraries. Low use of these materials and the barriers to browsing posed by publication in Japanese have led to an "access" rather than an "acquisition" approach to expanding the availability of these materials. Every effort will be made to design a system of access so there are few or no costs to system users beyond those that may be associated with obtaining a copy of an article.

The scope of the ARL Working Group on Japanese Scientific and Technical Information will be extended to advise on coordinating the project; the Group will now be called the ARL Coordinating Committee on Japanese Scientific and Technical Information. It is chaired by Donald B. Simpson, President, Center for Research Libraries.

Project Activities

Key to the project is the use of the East Asian Libraries Cooperative World-Wide Web created and maintained by Maureen Donovan at Ohio State University Library http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/. ARL and OSU signed an agreement identifying the server at OSU as the focus for identifying, locating, and delivering journal articles of interest. The OSU site was selected because it is well-supported and library-based, it has also already accumulated numerous sources of interest to Japan researchers.

Project activities include:

• Providing network access to table of contents for Japanese STI journal literature from a variety of sources.

• Providing network access to lists of core Japanese STI serial literature. The Working Group has, for example, compiled a "robotics" list from a number of sources, which includes holdings information and A & I coverage. The list is available on the East Asian Libraries Cooperative WWW.

• Providing network access to document suppliers, including the Center for Research Libraries and other libraries, CISTI, OCLC, Interlingua, and a variety of not-for-profit and commercial suppliers in North America and elsewhere.

• Providing network access to the electronic text as it becomes available.

• Working to expand TOC and A & I coverage of the literature.

• Determining the feasibility of regularizing interlibrary lending/document supply arrangements with libraries and other agencies in Japan. The Center for Research Libraries will be a focal point of this effort.

• Retrospective conversion of relevant titles, if needed.

With the help of project participants, a Japanese STI user group will be formed composed of users of the literature, e.g., the faculty and graduate students, engineers, and researchers who utilize the literature for their study and research librarians interested in the area (especially interlibrary loan librarians and bibliographer/public service librarians servicing the users of this literature). A public electronic forum was established at ARL to provide a communication channel for this user group. Individuals may subscribe by sending an email to LISTPROC@cni.org that includes the following message: subscribe arl-japan; e.g. subscribe arl-japan John Doe.

Participation in the Project

Library participation in the project includes:

• Identification of potential users, both on and beyond campus.

• Marketing/advertising the services as they become available through the project’s server.

• Determining if there are Japanese STI journal titles that are unconverted and therefore not available in the national serial databases. Information about titles needing conversion should be directed to the Dorothy Gregor, Project Consultant dgregor@library.berkeley.edu.

As of September, 18 libraries have expressed interest in participating in the project. To join, contact Dorothy Gregor, dgregor@library.berkeley.edu.

Conclusion

The three demonstration projects offer a unique opportunity to create and test the viability of implementing a distributed, networked, cooperative program for international research materials. The AAU/ARL Research Libraries Steering Committee recommended at its April 1995 meeting the development of plans for scaling up the three demonstration projects. The ARL Research Collections Committee is currently preparing a report that will provide an overview of the issues and the options for moving from the separately funded, limited demonstration projects to a more comprehensive, large-scale program.

The experience to date with all three projects bring into sharp focus an array of administrative challenges for inter-institutional programs. For example, remote influence over the management of servers has presented difficulties for timely follow-through, coordination, and in general terms the balancing of local priorities with project demands. In addition, bringing some coherence to the multiple numbers and disparate types of research resources available on the Web is also requiring greater attention than anticipated.

The projects have also underscored the need for significant operational changes on the part of participating institutions. For example, during the next phase of the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project, five "case study" libraries will address management, staffing, and economic issues engendered by distributed, network-based access to Latin Americanist Research Resources. The goals are to test the hypothesis that "sharing leads to savings," to devise a truly collaborative process to re-think cooperative collection development, and to identify and achieve individual institutional economies while ensuring broad access to research resources.

Outreach to the user (or potential user) takes on new prominence as in many cases the existence of network accessible resources is unknown to the relevant user community, and even if known, users frequently lack information about how to access resources on the Internet. A related critical question is how to engage these user communities to participate in the process of selecting resources for digitization. Efforts are underway to engage the academic community in reshaping approaches to acquiring and making available global information resources. ARL is working with the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) to build support in the scholarly community for restructuring foreign collection management in research libraries.

Experiences from the three projects continue to surface and illustrate the challenges inherent in the development of an international access program to enable disparate institutions to fulfill their individual organizational mandates, while operating in a collaborative, networked system to provide effective access to lesser used global resources.

B. AAU/ARL Intellectual Property Task Force

Ann Okerson, OSAP Director, has staffed this Task Force since its creation in early 1993. Upon the announcement of her resignation from ARL, Ms. Okerson was appointed co-chair by AAU and ARL, a role supported by Yale University. The second phase of Task Force work began in February 1995. Current focus for the group includes:

• Preparing a draft document for the HEIRA series, "What University Presidents Need to Know," (about university copyright management);

• Engaging in preliminary exploration of the potential of research universities working with the CCC;

• Drafting a call for proposals for electronic scholarly publishing to present to the Steering Committee;

• Monitoring the NII Copyright developments; and

• Developing educational resources about university copyright and intellectual property resources. (See http://arl.cni.org/scomm/copyright/UniCopy.html )

From June 5-7, members of the IP-TF and the OSAP Director met with Sir Brian Follett and a visiting delegation from the UK Higher Education Funding Council to review scholarly communications and copyright issues, common interests, and possible joint actions. The OSAP Director returned the visit and met with the Follett Implementation group in August 1995 at the University of Warwick.

Task Force Membership

Peter E. Nathan, Acting President, University of Iowa, Chair

Ann Okerson, Yale University, Co-Chair

Scott Bennett, Yale University

Colin Day, University of Michigan Press

Laura Gasaway, University of North Carolina

Jane Ginsburg, Columbia University

Georgia Harper, University of Texas

Kent Hendrickson, University of Nebraska

James O’Donnell, University of Pennsylvania

Bernard Rous, ACM

Pamela Samuelson, University of Pittsburgh

Robert Shirrell, University of Chicago Press

Dieter Soll, Yale University

Hal Varian, University of California

Ex Officio:

John Vaughn, AAU

Duane Webster, ARL

Lynne Brindley, UK HEFCE

Charles Oppenheim, UK HEFCE

1.3.1 AAU/ARL Research Libraries Steering Committee

The two organizations have appointed representatives to an AAU/ARL Research Libraries Steering Committee with which the Executive Director works, and the OSAP Director serves as staff. This Committee promotes implementation of the recommendations and agenda. Five presidents and five ARL directors serve on the Committee. Progress reports and strategic documents were prepared for two meetings of this Steering Committee in April and October 1995.

AAU: Myles Brand, Indiana University, Co-chair

Donald Langenburg, University of Maryland

M. Peter McPherson, Michigan State University

Robert Pritchard, University of Toronto

Harold Shapiro, Princeton University

ARL: Jerry Campbell, Duke University, Co-chair

Betty Bengtson, University of Washington

Susan Nutter, North Carolina State University

Elaine Sloan, Columbia University

Robert Wedgeworth, University of Illinois

Section 2: Access and Technology

2.1 Access to Information Resources

This capability addresses the myriad issues related to the ARL mission of enhancing access to scholarly information resources. The work of three ARL groups contribute to this capability: the Committee on Access to Information Resources, the Work Group on Scientific and Technical Information, and the ARL Steering Committee for the Coalition for Networked Information. The directions taken under this capability are closely connected to other program capabilities, and therefore, some activities or projects are described in other sections. See especially sections 2.2 Coalition for Networked Information and 2.3 HEIRAlliance.

NAILDD Project Activities

The purpose of the North American Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery (NAILDD) Project is to promote developments aimed at maximizing access to research resources while minimizing the costs associated with such activities. The focus of NAILDD activities includes the pursuit of technical priorities and initiatives to encourage the redesign of ILL/DD operations.

Technical Priorities/DIG. The project operates a Developers/Implementors Group (DIG) to formalize contact with a wide variety of private sector vendors and system providers. Through the DIG, ARL promotes private sector implementation of the project’s three technical priorities: internal ILL/DD management software; financial and accounting software for ILL/DD operations; and interconnectivity and linkages among systems. Over 45 vendor representatives, major players in the ILL/DD arena, have joined the DIG.

Following a practice initiated in February of this year, the project sponsored a pre-ALA forum for DIG members to discuss new products and services with directors or senior staff from ARL libraries. The Director’s Forum was followed by a meeting of the DIG to discuss collaborative approaches to the technical priorities. Points discussed at the Director’s Forum held before ALA’s June conference in Chicago are noted below:

• proprietary and non proprietary interfaces for intersystem communication;

• interdependency, rather than cooperation;

• collaboration among vendors to develop an ILL fulfillment system using open architecture;

• the ISO ILL Protocol;

• the availability of the U.S. version of the AVISO management software;

• usage data on OCLC’s recently implemented ILL Fee Management System; and

• the desirability of opening the ARL Forum on Managing ILL/DD to include library representatives beyond the ARL community.

Two documents were distributed for review and comment: "Patron Request Data Elements" and "National Level ILL/DD Statistics." Copies are posted on the ARL Gopher under Access/ILL/NAILDD Project.

At the Developers/Implementors Group meeting approximately 25 members of the DIG discussed the ISO Interlibrary Loan Protocol (ISO 10160 & 10161). Fay Turner of the National Library of Canada summarized the Protocol and describe how it can enhance ILL communication. Julie Nye of the Triangle Research Library Network (TRLN) summarized why and how they are incorporating the ILL Protocol into their Document Delivery System. DIG members discussed the security controls in the ILL Protocol, implementation costs, and variations in choice of encoding methods. A small group was formed to examine how the Protocol can be implemented in the U.S. The following organizations expressed an interest in or have been asked to participate in the Interlibrary Loan Protocol Implementation Group (IPIG): Ameritech; DRA; ISM; Innovative Interfaces; NLC; NLM; OCLC; RLG; SIRSI; TRLN; U Cal- Office of the President; and WLN.

The NAILDD Project will continue to sponsor a Director’s Forum and a DIG meeting on the Friday before ALA conferences. The next meetings will be held on January 19, 1996 in San Antonio, Texas.

The project will also report at the Coalition for Networked Information Fall Task Force Meeting. Shirley Baker, Mary Jackson, and Clifford Lynch will present a synergy session on the system architecture of the NAILDD vision.

Redesigning/Rethinking ILL/DD. In addition to the pursuit of technical priorities, the NAILDD Project collaborates with OMS to offer institutes to assist a library to redesign its ILL/DD operations. The event brings together institutional teams consisting of the library director, the head of public services, the head of collection development, the head of access services, and the ILL librarian to develop a change strategy for their library. In September 1995, the Redesigning ILL/DD Institute was held for 8 institutional teams at the University of Florida.

To complement the institutional team-based event, a forum was designed for individual library staff members. The first Rethinking ILL/DD Institute took place in Calgary in June, in conjunction with the 4th Interlending & Document Supply International Conference.

FedEx. ARL assessed the feasibility and costs of a group contract with a courier service to improve delivery of library materials. Six courier services were contacted. As a result, FedEx has offered all ARL member libraries 2 day delivery of ILL materials at a rate 60% below the published amount. Libraries in the Urban Libraries Council joined ARL in this FedEx agreement; implementation of the agreement began in April. To date, 15 libraries are participating. A briefing on the agreement was held at the conclusion of the May ARL Membership Meeting. Other courier services are encouraged to make proposals for group discounts.

The NAILDD project is operated for ARL by Mary Jackson. Effective January 1, 1995 Ms. Jackson was appointed Access & Delivery Services Consultant to ARL, reflecting the transition from her previous role as Visiting Program Officer from the University of Pennsylvania. The position of consultant is funded by related cost recovery activities and contributions from members of the DIG. Ms. Jackson also consults with ARL’s program for Collection Services on the development of foreign language demonstration projects. It is expected that this consultation will continue and, if funding is available, perhaps expand.

Measuring Access & Delivery Services Performance

In June, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded ARL, in collaboration with the Council on Library Resources, to begin a follow-up investigation to a 1992 ARL/RLG ILL Cost Study. One outcome for the two year ILL Performance Measures Study project is a tool for assessing the performance of ILL/DD services. An advisory committee was appointed and will meet for the first time in October at the ARL Membership Meeting.

Other Access activities in the last six months include:

• Economics of Information Conference. ARL collaborated with the SUNY University Center Libraries, the Council on Library Resources, the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, and the Coalition for Networked Information, to conduct a national conference on issues related to the development of the knowledge infrastructure and the consequent economic impact on higher education.

The conference, "Challenging Marketplace Solutions to Problems in the Economics of Information," took place September 18-19 in Washington DC. Over 200 individuals from a range of positions within universities, societies, and publishing attended the event. Proceedings will be edited by Meredith Butler and Bruce Kingma, both of SUNY-Albany, and will be published by ARL.

• E-Reserves. To gain a better understanding of the nature of reserve readings for implementation of electronic reserve files, ARL asked for assistance from ARL member library staff. As a result, David Taylor, Undergraduate Librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Warner Grande, Assistant Librarian, Glemons Library, University of Virginia, are working with Mary Jackson to prepare an occasional paper on the characteristics of selective reserve reading collections.

2.1.1 Committee on Access to Information Resources

The ARL Committee on Access to Research Information Resources is established to help the Association make access to research information resources more effective. The current committee focuses on an agenda in support of resource sharing in an electronic environment. Issues identified as key to this agenda are reconceptualization of ILL in an electronic environment and articulation of the principles and values that support resource sharing among research libraries.

A working plan was developed around the issues developed in a white paper, Maximizing Access and Minimizing Costs, that critiqued the current ILL and document delivery system and outlined the elements of the "ideal" system. Building on ARL and ALA discussions about the white paper, the Access Committee adopted a three point priority agenda aimed at bringing about short-term improvements to ILL/DD systems and operations.

1995 Agenda of Issues

• Promote and support NAILDD to advance priority developments;

• Contribute to an ARL statement that elaborates the concept of a distributed, multi-institutional research library collection that is linked together and made accessible to users via networked services;

• Advise AAU/ARL follow-up activities on access and delivery issues;

• Monitor the Network Information Resources and Discovery initiative underway within the Coalition for Networked Information; and

• Monitor the Berkeley Findings Aids Project.

Members:

Pam Andre (1995-1997)
Meredith Butler (1994-1996)
C. Lee Jones (1994-1996)
Paul Mosher (1993-1995)
Carolynne Presser (1993-1995)
Marianne Scott (1995-1997)
George Shipman (1995-1997)
Barbara Smith (1993-1995)
Karin Wittenborg (1994-1996)
Shirley Baker, Chair (1995-1996)
Sarah Thomas, Library of Congress Liaison
Mary Jackson, Access & Delivery Services Consultant

Staff: Jaia Barrett

2.1.2 Work Group on Scientific and Technical Information

The Work Group was formed in 1991 to follow up the report of the 1991 ARL Task Force on a National Plan for Science and Technology Information Needs. The Work Group monitors STI developments and functions as an advisor to the Board for shaping ARL activities in this area.

The Group met in May 1995 at the ARL Membership Meeting. There was a review of the work of the AAU/ARL follow-up project to demonstrate enhanced access to Japanese STI. The group also heard reports regarding the National Agricultural Library; Linda Hall; MIT; and other STI innovations.

Work Group meetings are planned in conjunction with the ARL Membership meetings in May and October, supplemented with occasional e-list communications. The group functions as an informal communications and response network.

Members:

Betty G. Bengtson
Joe Boisse
C. Lee Jones
Susan K. Nutter
Margot Montgomery
James Wyatt
Marilyn J. Sharrow, Chair

Staff: Jaia Barrett

2.2 Coalition for Networked Information

2.2.1 ARL Steering Committee for the Coalition for Networked Information

As part of the governance structure of the Coalition for Networked Information, each of the three founding organizations (ARL, CAUSE, EDUCOM) has three seats on the CNI Steering Committee. ARL representatives to the committee have been given staggered terms to achieve eventual consistency with other ARL Committee assignments. The members of the Committee meet with the ARL Board to review communication and advisory processes between ARL and CNI. The ARL Board meets regularly with Paul Peters to discuss the Coalition’s program priorities.

The Coalition Steering Committee meets in conjunction with CNI.

Members:

David Bishop (1995-1998)
Sheila Creth (1994-1997)
Sharon Hogan (1993-1996)

Staff: Duane Webster

2.2.2 Program Overview: July 1, 1995 through June 30, 1996

Background

The Coalition for Networked Information was founded in March 1990 to help realize the promise of high performance networks and computers for the advancement of scholarship and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. The Coalition is a partnership of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), CAUSE, and Educom.

The Coalition accomplishes its objectives by: focusing on key enablers and obstacles, providing assistance to, promoting communication among, and fostering partnerships with Coalition members; synthesizing progress being made on key initiatives; capturing the experience of Coalition members and others in a coherent, actionable manner; and disseminating lessons learned by those initiatives, amplifying the experience of Coalition members by informing the efforts of others.

The Coalition pursues its mission with the assistance of a task force of over two hundred institutions and organizations that provides focus and resources which are crucial to the ability of the Coalition to articulate and explore shared visions of how information management must change in the 1990s to meet the social and economic opportunities and challenges of the 21st century. Members of the Coalition Task Force include higher education institutions; publishers; network service providers; computer hardware, software, and systems companies; library networks and organizations; and public and state libraries.

Initiatives

Economic studies and models.

• Produce a white paper on cost centers and measures in the networked information value chain, and formulate next steps in that area.

• Start up an effort to explore the role of mediation and arbitration as conflict resolution strategies in the marketplace for networked intellectual property.

Navigation and interoperability.

• Produce a white paper on networked information discovery and retrieval, and formulate next steps.

• Support the Z39.50v3 Test Bed, and related Z39.50 development and implementation priorities and activities.

• Assist the start-up of an "image alliance" focusing on image standards in the networked environment.

Institutional networked information readiness, policies, and strategies.

• Expand the "University Presses in the Networked Information Environment" joint initiative with the Association of American University Presses.

• Hold two "Working Together" retreats that help encourage the building of collaborative, networked information projects within institutions.

• Update the information policy compilation.

• Take the first steps in developing a program to assist administrators of navigational systems and services with keeping abreast of relevant issues and tools.

• Start up an effort to explore institutional policies addressing rights and responsibilities in the networked environment, and measures for enforcing them.

Transformation of Research and Education.

• Assist the start-up of the American Arts and Letters Network, facilitating access to existing networked resources and services and communication among developers and users in the networked, international arts, humanities, and culture communities.

• Hold the second "New Learning Communities" workshop, and produce a workbook to guide regional or campus versions of this experience.

• Support the AAU/ARL scientific and technological information management activities.

• Support the Educom National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII).

Public Policies and Agencies.

• Expand the "National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage" (NINCH) joint initiative with the American Council of Learned Societies and the Getty Art History Information Program.

• Promote the development of the Federal Government Information Locator Service (GILS) effort.

• Produce a white paper on service issues and strategies in a networked public information environment, promote collaborative strategies for gaining access to such information, and formulate next steps in these areas.

• Support ARL and Educom intellectual property strategies and activities.

Capabilities

• Hold the Fall 1995 Task Force meeting in conjunction with the Educom Annual Meeting, and the Spring 1995 Task Force meeting in the Washington, D.C. area.

• Hold two or more regional conferences with CAUSE.

• Contribute to ARL, CAUSE, EDUCOM, and other publications, and speak on the Coalition and on networked information resources and services to a wide range of audiences.

• Increase the capabilities of the Coalition’s Internet server in order to make additional resources available and to make non-textual materials available, and improve the security of the server’s resources and services.

For further information, contact Joan K. Lippincott, Assistant Executive Director, joan@cni.org.

2.3 HEIRAlliance

In May 1991, the ARL Board received an invitation from CAUSE and EDUCOM to form an alliance to identify cooperative ventures dealing with information resources management. The Higher Education Information Resources Alliance (HEIRAlliance) was approved in concept by the boards of all three organizations as a device to allow further project-based cooperation.

The Board approved an initial project of The HEIRAlliance Report, covering information technology and information resources targeted at chief executives and academic officers in the 3,000 academic institutions in the U.S. and Canada.

The initial product of this alliance is a series of four page briefing papers called What Presidents Need to Know. Typically, these reports are the result of work by teams that consist of library directors, heads of information technology, and presidents. In July 1995, HEIRAlliance Executive Strategies Report #6 was issued as: What Presidents Need to Know ... About Evaluating Institutional Information Resources. Accompanying the report is a six page brochure Evaluation Guidelines for Institutional Information Resources. The full series of HEIRAlliance reports is available through the CAUSE office in Boulder, Colorado or through the ARL or CAUSE Gopher servers.

The topic for future reports has been discussed but not resolved. Options considered are: transforming higher education, intellectual property, economics of information, cost centers and measures, digital library innovations, and licensing (READI project).

Staff: Duane Webster

Section 3: Collection and Preservation

3.1 Collection Services

This capability addresses the broad issues facing research libraries in the areas of collection management and preservation. The work of two ARL committees is covered by this capability: Research Collections and Preservation of Research Library Materials.

ARL’s collection development efforts are directed toward the program objective of supporting member libraries efforts to develop and maintain research collections, both individually and in the aggregate. Strategies to accomplish the objective include: efforts toward improving the structures and processes needed for effective cooperative collection development programs; promotion of needed government and foundation support for collections of national importance in the United States and Canada; provision of collection management consulting through the Collection Analysis Program; and development and operation of collection management training programs.

ARL’s preservation efforts support the strategic program objective of promoting and coordinating member libraries programs to preserve their collections. Strategies in pursuit of this objective include: advocacy for strengthening and encouraging broad-based participation in national preservation efforts in the U.S. and Canada; support for development of preservation programs within member libraries; support for effective bibliographic control of preservation-related records; strengthening copyright legislation to support preservation activities in the electronic environment; encouragement for development of preservation information resources; and monitoring technological developments that may have an impact on preservation goals.

Summary of Activities

Many of the activities related to this capability are closely connected to other program capabilities or supported by grants, and therefore, several projects are described in other sections. See especially section 1.3: AAU/ARL Action Agenda, and section 7: Research and Development.

3.1.1 ARL Committee on Research Collections

The Committee is providing oversight for the Foreign Acquisitions Project, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Building on the work of the AAU Task Force on Acquisition and Distribution of Foreign Language and Area Studies Materials, ARL’s Research Collections Committee charted the directions of a collaborative program in foreign acquisitions beyond three initial demonstration projects. The result of the Committee deliberations is the Strategic Plan For Improving Access To Global Information Resources In U.S. and Canadian Research Libraries. The Global Resources Plan, as it has come to be known, was presented to the ARL Membership in the fall of 1994. It was endorsed by the ARL Board at its July 25, 1995 meeting.

The goals outlined in the plan aim to restore the range of significant foreign publications to the North American collections of books, serials, and other forms of scholarly information adequate for the support of research, teaching and scholarship. The plan proposes the strategic directions for creating a network-based, distributed program for coordinated collection development of foreign language, area and international studies materials among U.S. and Canadian research libraries. The plan serves to stimulate thinking about how best to guide the transition to a larger program and to suggest actions the ARL community can take to achieve improved access to and delivery of international research resources. As envisioned in this strategic plan, the three demonstration projects will serve as the start-up phase. They will provide experience in planning for the medium-term phase that will focus on enhancing the distributed North American collection of global resources. The long-term goal would be to move toward a world-wide effort. The Committee is also providing oversight for the implementation of the three demonstration projects focused on German language, Latin American, and Japanese science and technology acquisitions. (See section 1.3 AAU/ARL Action Agenda for updates on these projects.)

The Committee has been charged to define options for providing continued management support and to outline funding strategies that will guide the ongoing operation of the collaborative program for foreign acquisitions and support the goal of a distributed North American collection. A progress report was presented at the July Board meeting. The final report will be completed in October 1995.

The AAU/ARL Research Libraries Steering Committee recommended at its April 1995 meeting the development of plans for scaling up the three demonstration projects. The Research Collections Committee members are currently preparing a report on plans and options for scaling up the AAU/ARL demonstration projects. The report will provide an overview of the issues in and the options for moving from the separately funded, limited demonstration projects to a more comprehensive, large-scale program. The initial draft will be discussed at the Committee’s October meeting.

Discussions at the May Committee meeting also highlighted concern about the implications of electronic information resources and the need to develop innovative approaches and structures aimed at facilitating electronic resource sharing. The Committee will further explore the implications of electronic information in developing research collections.

Research Collections Committee

Claude Bonnelly 1995-97)

Joe A. Hewitt (1994-96)

Robert Miller (1995-97)

William G. Potter (1994-96)

Donald E. Riggs (1993-95)

Marilyn J. Sharrow (1993-95)

Donald B. Simpson (1995-97)

Winston Tabb (1993-95)

George Terry (1995-97)

Dale B. Canelas, Chair (1995-96)

William Sittig, Library of Congress Liaison

Staff: Jutta Reed-Scott

3.1.2 ARL Committee on Preservation of Research Library Materials

The ARL Preservation of Research Library Materials Committee, at its last two meetings, has focused on the development of a new five-year preservation action plan. The plan is based on recommendations made by the ARL Preservation Planning Task Force (PPTF). The PPTF was established following a May 1992 Preservation Planning Conference, co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Library and ARL. The PPTF charge was to clarify the preservation needs discussed at the conference and to fashion strategies for addressing those needs.

In considering ARL’s preservation agenda, the Preservation Committee has focused on activities that complement ARL’s capabilities, support the broader mission of member institutions, and acknowledge current trends and issues in North American research libraries. The Committee completed work on the ARL preservation action plan in May 1995, and the ARL Board endorsed the plan at its July 25, 1995 meeting. The plan lists an array of ongoing ARL Preservation Program strategies and identifies six new preservation initiatives. These center on strengthening copyright legislation to support preservation activities in the electronic environment, investigating the feasibility of establishing a national coordinated serials preservation project, developing cost models for preservation decision making, and advancing preservation related digitizing projects, standards, and science research.

Implementation of the first two new preservation initiatives is underway. ARL established a new Task Force on Preservation of Copyrighted Materials with membership from the Access, Information Policies, Preservation, and Scholarly Communication committees to provide guidance as needed to the ARL staff as they pursue strategies to shape and influence copyright discussions on preservation of copyrighted materials. Members of the Task Force are: Betty Bengtson, Kenneth Frazier, Paula Kaufman, Paul Mosher, Martin Runkle, and George Shipman. Ms. Kaufman chairs.

The Library of Congress, in partnership with ARL, has commissioned a white paper to investigate the feasibility of establishing a Coordinated Serials Preservation Program. The paper will outline strategies and options for a more efficient and productive approach to the preservation of retrospective serial literature and will be an additional contribution to the planning process for the national preservation program.

The white paper is being prepared by Carolyn Clark Morrow, a consultant in Library Preservation and Access, with the assistance of LC staff and the members of the ARL Preservation of Research Libraries Committee. It will include a review of the current status of the preservation of serials literature, including the scope, methodology, and technology employed to date. Model projects will be described and summarized, including those that are employing digital technologies. Finally, the white paper will define options for building on the work of national associations, library consortia, and the Library of Congress in order to design a pilot project that could serve as a field test for a coordinated approach to serial preservation.

ARL and the Modern Language Association have established a joint working group. Last fall members of MLA’s Committee on the Future of the Print Record issued a draft Statement on the Significance of Original Materials. In response to concerns raised by ARL directors about the draft, the working group has been appointed to consider the development of categories of material having indisputable artifactual value. Two members of the Preservation Committee, Meredith Butler and Eric Ormsby, as well as Jan Merrill-Oldham, Consultant to the Committee, will serve on the Working Group, which also includes Scott Bennett, Peter Graham, and Merrily Taylor.

Preservation of Research Library Materials Committee

Meredith Butler (1995-97)
H. Joanne Harrar (1994-96)
David Kohl (1995-97)
John Laucus (1993-95)
Eric Ormsby (1993-95)
Margaret A. Otto (1993-95)
Martin Runkle (1994-96)
Alain Seznec (1993-95)
Betty G. Bengtson, Chair (1994-95)
Diane Kresh, Library of Congress Liaison
Jan Merrill-Oldham, University of Connecticut (Consultant)

Staff: Jutta Reed-Scott

Section 4: Management and Staffing

4.1 Minority Recruitment and Retention Capability

The Minority Recruitment and Retention Program is charged with increasing the number of minorities recruited and retained by ARL libraries. To this end, program staff work closely with a broad range of libraries, graduate library education programs, and other library associations to promote minority student awareness of opportunities presented by research library careers to support their academic success. This capability is complemented by the OMS Diversity Program (see section 4.2.4). The two programs are supported by Kriza Jennings, Program Officer for Minority Recruitment and Retention.

Summary of Activities

The capability has four stages in the five-year plan approved by the membership. This past activity period has focused on the second stage as follows:

Promote the ARL Agenda for Minority Recruitment

• A mailing was sent to members of ALA’s University Libraries Section (ULS), a section of the Association of College and Research Libraries Division (ACRL) promoting the services of the diversity and minority recruitment programs. A special emphasis was placed on the seminars offered this fall in the ARL offices.

• With assistance form the ARL Communications team, marketing strategies for the program are being considered. One approach is to develop mailings focused for the ARL and larger academic library community. The use of more electronic resources such as the ARL Gopher and World Wide Web as communications mechanisms are also being explored. Design of a multi-purpose brochure that describes the various services, programs, seminars, etc. is being considered for production in 1996.

Develop Career Planning and Recruitment Materials

• Discussions are underway with ARL library personnel who have experience recruiting for local libraries to assist in the development of materials for distribution to ARL member libraries. Although ARL libraries are interested in recruiting minorities from many different settings, the first materials to be produced will target the recruitment of minorities who already have library degrees and/or who are currently enrolled in library information science programs. These materials will include information on the character and nature of career opportunities in research libraries, and in particular the ARL libraries.

• The collaborative recruitment resource kit being jointly prepared by ARL and ALA’s Office for Library and Personnel Resources (OLPR) is in the final stages of completion. The resource kit will include a variety of materials collected from libraries and tip sheets from the findings of the ARL site visits. The focus of this kit is to provide the larger library community with strategies for recruiting minorities.

Collect and Maintain Resource Materials

• The collection of diversity resources are in a variety of formats with many items obtained from ARL members, site visit participants, and/or participants in the OMS partnerships program. OMS has acquired a bibliographic software package to facilitate the creation of a database and to produce bibliographies to share with ARL members.

• The OMS diversity seminars, held at the ARL office in August, provided participants with the first opportunity to avail of the resources in the diversity collection. This new component of making the materials part of the seminar content was rated highly by participants in the seminars.

• Purchases were made to continue to expand the collection of books and audio tapes available in the ARL offices. A number of videos were identified for purchase consideration, and arrangements are being explored for previewing the titles. The Minority Recruitment and Retention Committee requested that ARL produce an annotated bibliography of recommended videos for use in staff development programs and that the videos be added to the OMS video loan library for local use by ARL members. It is expected that the videos will also be used in future seminars, now that ARL has a VCR and monitor available for use in the ARL offices.

• At the request of the Minority Recruitment and Retention Committee, a file of prospective speakers who address diversity and/or recruitment is being created. The Committee has recommended that a method be established to regularly gain suggestions from ARL library directors and that the completed listing be shared as a resource for ARL institutions in planning local diversity activities.

Services and Programs to ARL Members

• Search committees often find it difficult to recruit minorities or to ensure that minorities are fairly evaluated in the candidates’ review process. The seminar, "Search Committees and Minority Recruitment," was presented in Philadelphia February 3rd. The seminar was developed in response to concerns by library personnel at ARL libraries. This is a major area where resource materials and strategies are needed. The challenge encountered with the search committee hiring process is that individual search committee members are often unaware of their own biases and prejudices that influence how they rank applicants. Several opportunities have been provided for the Program Officer to talk with search committees preparing for a search and/or librarians who will be involved in searches. These discussions have successfully garnered support from library personnel in addressing these issues in hiring practices.

• Gloria DeSole, Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action, SUNY-Albany agreed to advise ARL in 1996 about facilitating the development of resource materials that will assist in a better understanding of the barriers to effectively hiring minorities. Ms. DeSole served as a consultant to ARL in 1992-1993.

• Plans are also underway to develop publications on Minority Recruitment and Diversity, in 1996, with the assistance of the ARL Communications Team. The goal of this effort is to provide resources to libraries as well as additional revenue sources to support program initiatives.

Program Planning

A planning day was held in July to assess the Minority Recruitment Program and to identify priority needs and issues to be addressed for ARL libraries. Discussions included the development of meetings during ALA to bring together interested ARL members to share strategies and experiences, and the need to facilitate more opportunities for ARL personnel to meet and network with a broader library community, including minority librarians.

University and Community Agendas

Discussions and an exchange of information has begun with the National League of Cities, a national association that has implemented a project focusing on diversity and local governance. There appear to be common agendas between the two associations that may have potential for future collaborations. In discussions with ARL institutions about minority retention, it is evident that the community and city racial climate, race relations and the city’s diversity agendas are important factors for consideration by minorities relocating to accept employment with an ARL library.

Additionally, the Program Officer was encouraged by several university provosts and deans at ARL institutions to seek avenues for sharing more widely the findings of the ARL diversity and minority recruitment programs with the higher education community. ARL libraries who bring the Program Officer to their campuses continue to find a very receptive audience of faculty and university administrators who are interested in attending the sessions and presentations.

Partnerships Program

The Minority Recruitment Program collaborates with the OMS Diversity Program in coordinating the partnerships program implemented in 1994. Minority recruitment and retention issues continue to be a valued component of most partnerships. A brochure describing the partnerships program is being prepared with a view to encouraging greater involvement by ARL institutions in on-going recruitment and diversity initiative.

4.1.1 Committee on Minority Recruitment and Retention

A major focus of the 1995 Committee agenda will be to foster relationships with library educators, in particular with the Association for Library and Information Science Educators (ALISE). This ALISE focus was previously identified in a membership survey conducted by the former ARL Task Force on Minority Recruitment.

The goal of the collaborations with ALISE will be to increase minority representation in library and information graduate school programs, and to identify specifically how ARL libraries or the Association may best support or partner with the school’s local efforts. The Committee is seeking to foster discussions with faculty and students from accredited graduate programs about strategies for advancing diversity and minority recruitment, as well as to encourage collaborative initiatives between individual ARL libraries and library schools.

Arrangements are in place for ARL directors to attend the ALISE January 1996 meeting. Time will be allocated for ARL directors to talk with the ALISE Deans and Directors Council, in addition to ARL hosting a one hour early bird session to discuss minority recruitment and retention agendas.

The Committee is exploring a proposal that would enable ARL libraries to voluntarily appoint a liaison from each library to serve as a contact point to receive information and to ensure it is shared widely among ARL library personnel.

Minority Recruitment and Retention Committee

Nancy L. Baker (1994-95)
Ernie Ingles (1994-96)
Charles E. Miller (1994-96)
John Smith (1994-96)
Barbara von Wahlde (1994-95)
James F. Williams (1994-95)
Joan Chambers, Chair (1994-95)

Staff: Kriza Jennings

4.2 Office of Management Services

Established in 1970 to help research and academic libraries develop better ways of managing their human and material resources, the OMS seeks to assist library leaders in finding more efficient and effective ways of meeting user needs. OMS has developed and operates four programs to support the management development needs of academic and research libraries: the OMS Organizational Development Program, the OMS Training and Staff Development Program, the OMS Information Services Program, and the OMS Diversity Program.

4.2.1 OMS Organizational Development Program

The Organizational Development Program includes activities related to the conduct of institutional studies and consultations. To assist libraries in their efforts to make the transition from an archival role to that of an information gateway during this period of limited resources and digital transformation, the OMS Organizational Development Program provides a wide range of consulting services, incorporating new research on service delivery and marketing as well as on organizational effectiveness. Using an assisted self-study approach, the OMS Organizational Development Program provides academic and research libraries with programs to systematically study their internal operations and develop workable plans for improvement in such areas as public and technical services, planning, and organizational review and design. The OMS provides on-site and telephone consultation, staff training, manuals, and other materials to aid participants in gathering information and in situation analysis.

Activities between May and October 1995 continue to focus primarily on support for strategic planning efforts and the facilitation of organizational team building and visioning efforts. Projects designed to assist in rethinking organizational structure and process were also a source of activity.

Summary of Activities

During this period, projects undertaken included:

Strategic Planning. At a time when user demands and expectations are changing, computers and communications technology are redefining library structure and services, and information is being made available in a multiplicity of formats, libraries must consider imaginative and resourceful ways of embracing change without being crushed by it. The Strategic Planning Program is designed to help establish a clearer understanding of the future course a library should take, including priorities, strategies, management philosophy, and ways of meeting new challenges.

Institutions served: University of Connecticut, National Agricultural Library, University of Pittsburgh, Clark Art Institute, University of Missouri (implementation of integrated library system), University of Pennsylvania, University of South Carolina

Organization Review and Design. The Organizational Review and Design Program has two primary goals: to ensure the optimal use of resources and to create a flexible organizational structure capable of renewing and redirecting itself as needed in the future. During the course of the project, members of the library staff examine the fit of the current structure to current programmatic needs. Careful attention is paid to horizontal and vertical design features, so that the structures developed during the project provide appropriate communication and decision making mechanisms. The process includes implementation planning and project evaluation.

Institutions served: University of Saskatchewan

Team Building & Retreat Facilitation. Skilled facilitators are available to work with short- and long-term committees, work groups, and library-wide community efforts to build a strong foundation for group effectiveness. Issues such as group development, conflict management, interpersonal relations, idea generation, and process planning are explored. Action planning that support ongoing efforts is a key component of this program.

Institutions served: State University of New York at Buffalo (refreshing strategic vision); University of Texas at Arlington (creating a leadership vision for the library on campus); Loyola University (rethinking organizational structure); Southeastern University Research Association (unblocking university information); Harvard Law; University of Pennsylvania.

4.2.2 OMS Information Services Program

The OMS Information Services Program gathers, analyzes, and distributes information on contemporary management techniques, conducts surveys and analytical reviews, and answers inquiries on library issues and trends. The overall goals of the program are identifying expertise and encouraging its exchange; promoting experimentation and innovation; and improving performance and facilitating the introduction of change. These are accomplished through an active publication and service program whose principal components are the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC), the OMS Occasional Paper Series, the Quick-SPEC survey services, and the OMS Conferences Program.

Summary of Activities

The OMS Information Services Program maintains an active publications program whose principal components are the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) and the OMS Occasional Paper Series. Through the OMS Collaborative Research Writing Program, librarians work with OMS staff in joint research and writing projects, which are then published by OMS. Participants and staff work together in survey design, writing, editing, and in seeking management perspectives on current academic concerns.

The Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC), 1995. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of OMS, SPEC Kit #210 is the first color printed issue, bringing the series in line with ARL’s graphic identity. Other graphic design features have been made more consistent to make the publication appear more unified and polished.

SPEC Kits organize and collect selected library documents concerning a specific area of library management. Kits are designed to illustrate alternatives and innovations used in dealing with particular issues. Documents describing both the administrative and operational aspects of the concern are included. While this program was established to exchange useful information for strengthening library operations and programs among ARL members, a number of academic, public, and special libraries world-wide are among the more than 470 SPEC subscribers. In fact, more than 7,000 SPEC Kits are distributed annually.

The following SPEC Kits were produced between May 1995 and October 1995:

*208 Effective Library Signage, compiled by Kate Ragsdale, University of Alabama and Don Kenney, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

*209 Library Photocopy Operations, compiled by Robert Almony, University of Missouri-Columbia and Francis O’Brien, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

*210 Strategic Planning in ARL Libraries, compiled by Richard Clement, University of Kansas.

*211 Library Systems Office Organization, compiled by Scott Muir, University of Alabama.

*212 Total Quality Management in ARL Libraries, compiled by Gail Kennedy, University of Kentucky.

SPEC Kits currently in progress

Improving the Reshelving Process

Design of Technical Services Workstations

Reserves Materials

Digitization as a Preservation Method

Non-MLS Professionals

Reorganization

Professional Development

Future SPEC topics under consideration:

Grant Seeking

Microcomputer Support

Reference Desk Training

Retrospective Conversion

Resource Sharing

Electronic Text Centers in ARL Libraries

Remote Storage

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Copyright

Occasional Paper Series. Occasional Paper topics slated for 1995 include Video Collections and Multimedia in ARL Libraries by Kris Brancolini, Indiana University, and Rick Provine, University of Virginia; Reorganization with contributions from a number of sources; and Electronic Information Resources and Collection Development by Gordon Rowley, Iowa State University.

Quick SPEC Surveys. Two Quick SPEC Surveys were conducted by OMS: one for the Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing on cutbacks in library materials purchasing and one for the ARL Subcommittee on Government Information on new models of access to electronic government information.

New from OMS Publications. Total Quality Management in Academic Libraries: Initial Implementation Efforts, Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on TQM and Academic Libraries was published in September and will be packaged with a SPEC Kit on the same topic and an Occasional Paper on benchmarking.

Conferences. OMS showcased its programs and services at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. OMS also contributed by producing several Special Focus Flyers (bibliographies of ARL publications on various programmatic topics), as well as coordinating the purchase and design of ARL's new exhibit display unit.

4.2.3 OMS Training and Staff Development Program

The OMS Training & Staff Development Program designs and delivers unique and dynamic training events which actively assist academic and research libraries to recognize, develop, optimize, and refine staff talents and skills. During the May 1995-October 1995 time frame, the OMS Training & Staff Development Program conducted 22 events.

Increased demand for sponsored Training Institutes and On-Site Learning Workshops & Programs has continued. Organizations, experiencing tightened resources, are finding it more cost-effective and more productive to bring OMS to their site. In some cases, they sponsor and market the events locally. Two examples of On-Site Learning are:

Summary of Activities

• The University of Chicago where OMS customized the Training Skills Training Institute to provide training for the implementation of the Horizon Integrated Library System. Here 25 University of Chicago staff members participated in an intensive program to prepare themselves to design and deliver staff training on the new Horizon Integrated Library System. This included actually preparing scripts for Horizon training. These trainers are now actively engaged in training the remainder of the staff on the Horizon Integrated System.

• The Library of Congress, a diverse and changing workplace, where OMS has been engaged to provide the leadership curriculum for the Library’s high profile Leadership Development Program.

Workshops and Institutes Offered May - October 1995

Library Management Skills Institute I: The Manager

Harvard/MIT, May 2-5, 1995

Focuses on the individual and his/her relationship to the library as a whole.

Creativity & Problem Solving Workshop

Boston Library Consortium, May 15-16, 1995

Focuses on developing new insights into leadership challenges through the development of innovative and creative thinking and practical skills.

Library Management Skills Institute I: The Manager

Denver, CO, June 5-8, 1995

Focuses on the individual and his/her relationship to the library as a whole.

Team Development Workshop

Dewey/Humanities Processing Unit, June 12, 1995

Focuses on the implementation, development, and evolution of teams within the workplace.

Rethinking Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Workshop

Calgary, Canada, June 14, 1995

Facilitates the process of rethinking Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery services in order to increase the user orientation while decreasing the current time- and labor-intensive practices.

Planning the Human Resources Agenda for the Future Workshop

ALA/OLPR, June 23, 1995

Focuses on defining the key critical human resources issues of the future.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Expanded Analysis Report Workshop

American Library Association, June 23, 1995

Focuses on an in-depth analysis of the popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator using the MBTI Expanded Analysis Report to better understand personal and interpersonal behavior.

Training Skills Institute: Implementation of the Horizon Integrated Library System

University of Chicago, July 1995 through August 1995

Focuses on equipping library staff to train other staff and the user community on the new automated library system, Horizon.

Using TQM Tools Workshop

State University of New York at Buffalo, July 13, 1995

Focuses on review and practice of Total Quality Management process tools and their use in the process improvement effort of the library workplace.

Process Improvement Team Training Workshop

University of Arizona, July 17-20, 1995

Focuses on preparing staff to work together in planning and implementing process improvement.

Managing Change Effectively Workshop

Washington University, July 24-26, 1995

Focuses on assisting individuals, groups and teams accomplish meaningful change with positive results.

Managing Change Effectively Workshop for Supervisors

Washington University, July 27, 1995

Focuses on the management side of leading meaningful change efforts.

Reorganization Planning & Leadership Development Workshop

New York Public Library, Rare Books & Manuscripts, Ongoing from August 1995 through October 1995

Focuses on management and leadership issues before, during, and after reorganization within the workplace.

Managing Change Workshop

IFLA in Istanbul, August 24, 1995

Focuses on accomplishing meaningful change in the workplace.

Leadership Development Program

Library of Congress, Ongoing from September 1995 through February 1996

Provides a leadership and management curriculum focusing on issues faced by individuals who are moving into higher levels of responsibility within a diverse and changing workplace.

Working Together: A Workshop for Library & Information Technology Professionals Workshop

Coalition for Networked Information, September 12, 1995

Focuses on bringing together teams of library and information technology professionals in order to explore opportunities to work more closely together.

Facilitation Skills Institute

Arizona State University, September 18-20, 1995

Focuses on skill development as an in-house facilitator who can assume a key role in helping groups and teams produce better quality results.

Assistant/Associate Directors in ARL Libraries Management Institute: Changing Role & Expectations

Baltimore, MD, September 21-23, 1995

Focuses on the changing role and expectations of this senior level position.

Human Resources Institute

Chicago, IL, October 4-6, 1995

Focuses on current issues in human resources administration including staff development, approaches to work redesign and new models for transforming library organizations.

Conflict Management & Negotiation Skills

University of Southern California, October 16, 1995

Focuses on developing and exercising interpersonal skills within the context of conflict management and negotiation.

Values Clarification

Harvard University, October 16, 1995

Focuses on helping staff clarify and understand organizational values.

4.2.4 OMS Diversity Program

The OMS Diversity Program assists ARL libraries in addressing a multitude of diversity-related issues. The major responsibility of the OMS Diversity Program is to generate interest in and a focus on diversity within the library community, and to support the information needs of ARL libraries. Its primary concern is the development of workplace climates in ARL libraries that welcome, develop, foster, and support diversity. The OMS Diversity Program seeks to develop an awareness of human differences and an acknowledgment of the value of and respect for these differences. The program focuses on issues surrounding work relationships in libraries, while considering the impact of diversity on library services, interactions with library users, and the development of collections.

To meet the program’s goals, the Program Officer for Diversity and Minority Recruitment provides staff development seminars, presentations, and on-site, e-mail, and telephone consultation; facilitates staff discussions; conducts research via reviews of the literature and site visits to institutions; prepares articles and publications to share the findings from the program; seeks to identify strategies for adaptation by libraries and library schools; identifies issues and strategies relating to diversity and promotes them within ARL as well as to other national library-affiliated groups; and fosters partnerships on behalf of ARL with natural allies in the profession.

Summary of Activities

Partnerships Program

The Partnerships Program continued to develop. An agreement was implemented with the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) of the American Library Association. At the annual ALA meeting in June, the Program Officer made a presentation to the LAMA Board and several LAMA committees. The activities for this partnership will be implemented at the biannual ALA meetings.

Discussions were held to facilitate the development of seminars and resource materials focused at three specific groups in the ARL membership whose needs are not fully met by the current diversity program offerings:

• the Library of Congress and the National Library of Medicine have expressed an interest in collaborating to explore the needs for government agency libraries whose diversity programs are guided by the government’s affirmative action and equal opportunity guidelines.

• a visiting program officer has been identified to help in the development of diversity initiatives to support Canadian member libraries. Plans include site visits to Canadian libraries and schools of library science.

• eight public libraries have been contacted to participate in a partnerships program that will focus on diversity and recruitment issues. A meeting was held at the Boston Public Library to explore plans for this 1996 initiative.

Publications Program

Plans are underway to implement a publications program in 1996 with the assistance of ARL Executive Office’s Communications Team. This will provide another revenue source for the diversity and minority recruitment programs once developed.

Marketing

A mailing was sent to members of ALA’s University Libraries Section (ULS), a section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, to promote the diversity and minority recruitment programs with a special focus on the seminars offered each fall in the ARL offices.

Planning

A planning day was held in July to assess the progress of the Diversity Program and to identify needs and diversity issues still needing to be addressed for ARL libraries. Discussions included new seminar topics and how to better access ARL library personnel who are interested in volunteering their talents to development of resource materials for ARL libraries.

It was agreed that the Program Officer’s travel schedule will be limited in the fall 1995. This will provide time for focusing on written materials and communications.

Discussions were held within the ARL Executive Offices in regards to the challenges encountered by the diversity program and the program officer in facilitating the program’s activities. Efforts are being made to address these challenges as time permits. One resolution being explored is the combination of the Diversity Program and the Minority Recruitment Program into one consolidated capability with a unified program.

On-site Consultations, Presentations, Facilitated Discussions and/or Seminars

Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) of ALA, Chicago IL

University Libraries Section (ULS) of ALA’s ACRL Division, Chicago, IL

School of Library and Information Science, University of Pittsburgh, PA

University of Pittsburgh Libraries, PA

Rutgers University Library, NJ

Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, OH

Cleveland Area Metropolitan Library System (CAMLS), OH

Fairfax County Regional Library, VA

Pennsylvania State University, PA

Library of Congress, DC

University of Arizona Library, AZ

Arizona State University Library, AZ

Seminars

Search Committees and Minority Recruitment, IL

Developing a Library Diversity Program: The Agenda and Role of Administration, DC

Fostering a Climate in the Workplace for Diversity, DC

4.2.5 OMS Operations

OMS Operations encompasses overall coordination and management of the Office of Management Services, program planning, financial planning and strategy, fiscal control, secretarial support, and office operations.

Summary of Activities

As a follow-up to February’s strategic planning retreat and to better meet the needs of its user community, OMS is rethinking its organizational structure and processes. A variety of alternatives are under consideration. Revenue was low in the first part of the year due to less than anticipated demand for consulting and training. Efforts are underway to increase marketing including a new brochure with a fresh look for the training program that emphasizes the availability of in-house training programs, and a final version of a consulting brochure. A high level of activity in the last quarter of the year and the annual influx of subscription renewals for the SPEC program should lead to a balanced budget.

4.2.6 ARL Committee on the Management of Research Library Resources

Over the past two years, the Management Committee has considered a revision of the ARL statement on library education. It was determined at the May meeting that, given the ongoing turbulence in higher education and academic librarianship and the lack of locus of responsibility for coordinated action in the field of education for librarianship, a statement would not be an effective way of affecting change. An alternative approach may be to leverage the efforts of the ARL Committee on Minority Recruitment and Retention to establish a dialogue with members of the ALISE community.

In discussing ways of supporting the Board priorities, the Management Committee decided to organize an ARL membership meeting that focuses on changes in higher education. As a special feature, the program might include participation of provosts, deans of graduate research, or university presidents.

Management of Research Library Resources Committee

William J. Crowe (ex officio as Chair of Statistics Committee)
John Haak (1993-95)
Graham Hill (1995-97)
Paul Kobulnicky (1993-95)
Rush Miller (1995-97)
Charles Osburn (1995-97)
Ruth Patrick (1995-97)
Frank Polach (1994-96)
Beth Shapiro (1993-95)
Merrily Taylor (1993-95)
Paul A. Willis (1993-95)
Kent Hendrickson, Chair (1995-96)

Staff: Susan Jurow

4.2.7 Advisory Committee for the Office of Management Services

This Committee, established by Board action in 1991, provides fiscal and programmatic oversight for the OMS. The Chair of the ARL Committee on Management of Research Library Resources serves as the Chair of the Advisory Committee. The Committee monitors the development and progress of the OMS budget. Discussion at the October membership meeting focused on the improved financial performance of the OMS and approaches for engaging in short-term operational planning and long-range strategic planning.

Advisory Committee on the Office of Management Services

Arthur Curley (1995-97)
Barbara von Wahlde (1995-97)
Kent Hendrickson, Chair (1995-96)

Staff: Susan Jurow

Section 5: Performance Measures

5.1 Statistics and Measurement Program

The Statistics and Measurement Program describes and measures the performance of research libraries and their contribution to teaching, research, scholarship, and community service. This program includes support for the ARL Statistics and Measurement Committee and collaboration with other national and international library statistics programs.

Strategies to accomplish this objective include:

• Collecting, analyzing, and publishing quantifiable information about library collections, personnel, and expenditures, as well as expenditures and indicators of the nature of a research institution,

• Developing new measures to describe and measure both traditional and networked information resources and services,

• Developing mechanisms to assess the relationship between campus information resources and high quality research, the teaching environment, and, in general, the success of scholars and researchers,

• Providing customized, confidential analysis for peer comparisons,

• Developing a leadership role in the testing and application of academic research library statistics for North American institutions of higher education, and

• Collaborating with other national and international library statistics programs and accreditation agencies.

Summary of Activities

Statistics program development. The ARL Statistics and Measurement Program provided custom analysis of data for ARL members on a cost recovery basis. Custom products prepared and produced during the last year include special analysis for salaries, ratio reports for peer comparisons, and custom production of graphs. This capability is possible because of recent hardware and software investments supported by a Mellon grant.

Management of Annual Statistical Surveys. Data are being collected on diskettes for the Annual Salary Survey, the Statistics 1994-95, the ARL Supplementary Statistics 1994-95, and the ARL Preservation Statistics 1994-95. The program is still in need of developing a client server data collection application over the Internet.

Communication with the ARL survey coordinators is facilitated with the use of three electronic lists (arl-statsurvey, arl-statsalary, and arl-statpresv), one for the staff who work on each of the three surveys: Statistics, Salary, and Preservation. A second meeting of the ARL survey coordinators was held during the ALA annual meeting in Chicago. Gordon Fretwell (University of Massachusetts) discussed the existing job titles used in the annual salary survey, and Stanley Wilder (Louisiana State University) presented preliminary results from the study on the demographics of ARL professionals. There was also discussion on the new initiative the Statistics and Measurement Program is undertaking in the area of service evaluation, user surveys and measurement of user needs and satisfaction. The event was attended by more than 80 ARL representatives and plans call for continuing these meeting in conjunction with ALA meetings.

Salary Survey. The 1994 ARL Annual Salary Survey was published in January 1995. The 1995 survey was distributed in July 1995. The 1995 packet includes two one-time surveys, the Survey of Professional Job Titles and the Survey of Endowed Positions. Also, Stanley Wilder, Assistant Dean for Technical and Financial Services at Louisiana State University, is nearing completion of his project on the demographics of ARL professionals; Stanley will present preliminary results to the ARL Membership Meeting in October and a publication will also be available shortly.

Gordon Fretwell, University of Massachusetts, has served as consultant to ARL and compiler of the annual salary survey for sixteen years and he expressed his wish to retire from this role. ARL honored Gordon Fretwell during the May ARL Membership Meeting in Boston for dedicated service to ARL. In the sixteen years of Gordon’s work with the Salary Survey, it has grown from a few photocopied pages to one of the Association’s most important publications and one of the most valuable tools for the profession in determining compensation levels. The ARL Statistics and Measurement Program is equipped to undertake the compilation of the 1995 Annual Salary Survey and we expect this year to be a transition period during which we define a new operational plan for this project. Gordon Fretwell is documenting the historical data files for the salary survey and we will shortly transfer them to the ARL office.

ARL Statistics. The 1993-94 ARL Statistics was published in March 1995, and the 1994-95 survey was distributed to the members in August. The 1994-95 survey includes six new questions regarding public services (circulation, reference and group presentations) which have been transferred to the main statistics from the supplementary survey. It also includes separate survey for law and medical libraries.

In October, Developing Indicators for Academic Library Performance: Ratios from the ARL Statistics 1992-93 and 1993-94 will be published by the Statistics program. Compiled by Martha Kyrillidou, it includes 90 tables of thirty ratios for all the ARL university libraries. A preliminary draft was reviewed by a group of ARL directors during the May Membership Meeting in Boston, and reviewers comments have been incorporated. This publication will be available both in print and electronic forms, via the ARL Gopher.

Supplementary statistics. The report on the 1993-94 Supplementary Statistics was distributed in August 1995. Preliminary findings seem to indicate that ARL university libraries are spending 43% more on computer hardware and software in 1993-94 compared to the previous year. The 1994-95 Supplementary Statistics survey include a new question on expenditures for electronic serials; questions on interlibrary loan returnables and nonreturnables for items received and for items provided have been withdrawn as well as questions on storage facilities. The ARL Statistics and Measurement Program has reached an agreement with OCLC to receive annual ILL/DD OCLC report for ARL libraries.

Library/E&G Expenditures Report. The 1993-94 supplemental survey on "Library Expenditures as a Percentage of University Education and General Expenditures" was compiled and distributed to the members in June 1995.

Electronic Publication of the ARL Statistics. The 1993-94 ARL Statistics are available electronically over the Internet. The first electronic publication of the ARL Statistics on the World Wide Web (WWW) was prepared by Paul Bergen, John Price-Wilkin, and Kendon Stubbs at the University of Virginia’s Alderman Library. These data files are also available through both Gopher and FTP services. The electronic publication is accompanied by fully-documented descriptions of the 1992-93 and 1993-94 data files. These datafiles are also available through both Gopher and FTP services.

The electronic publication of the ARL Statistics includes an interactive data analysis component that currently performs two functions — sorting and calculating ratios. Work is underway at the University of Virginia for further development of the interactive data analysis component. External funding is being sought for additional support. Kendon Stubbs and Martha Kyrillidou presented a session at the NCES conference in July entitled "Interactive Statistical Analysis on the WWW using the ARL Statistics: A Model Electronic Serial Publication on the Internet."

ARL University Law and Medical Library Statistics. The machine-readable versions of historical data for law and medical libraries from 1978/79-1991/92 is being compiled by Kendon Stubbs, University of Virginia. Annual surveys on law and medical libraries were included with the annual ARL Statistics asking for data retrospectively since 1992-93. A separate publication with data law and medical libraries from 1992-93 to 1994-95 is also planned.

Preservation Statistics. The 1993-94 ARL Preservation Statistics was published in May 1995. Kaylyn Hipps, ARL Research Assistant, prepared an electronic version of this publication which is available on the ARL Gopher. The ARL Preservation Statistics survey was mailed to institutions in August 1995.

User Surveys. The ARL Statistics and Measurement Committee advised the program to direct attention and energy to defining and measuring the quality to library services. Discussions at the ARL survey coordinators meeting in Chicago provided a forum for further development of this agenda. At that meeting Jinnie Davis (North Carolina State University) outlined four strategic directions for the program: (a) "generalizability," (b) expertise and advice for content and mechanics, (c) clearinghouse of information on user surveys, and (d) staff training opportunities. Also, David Ferriero described the MIT effort to understand the needs of users in their community. Kendon Stubbs (University of Virginia) was appointed ARL Visiting Program Officer to develop a practical guide on how libraries could measure user satisfaction and quality service. The Statistics and Measurement Program Officer has held discussions, with OMS staff, about incorporating or establishing training components on survey research as part of the ARL/OMS training program.

Access Issues. The need to characterize and describe the growing role of electronic resources and access to information in ARL member libraries continues to be a particular focus of the Statistics and Measurement Committee. The Committee is revising the Access Inventory that was distributed in 1991 and will consider surveying the members using the revised instrument.

Coordination with related ARL programs. Statistics and Measurement is working with other related ARL programs, including Access to Information Resources, Minority Recruitment and Retention, Office of Management Services, Preservation, and Research Collections.

Members of the ARL Statistics and Measurement Committee serve as advisors to the ILL Performance Measures Study funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Program Officer provides data processing services to the project.

At the operational level recent activities include planning and participation for ARL technologies through the four-member Technology Team. The hardware and software investments made through a grant from The Mellon Foundation have enabled purchases of equipment and software that enhances statistical capabilities as well as benefiting other programs (HP 4mplus/600 dpi networked printer available for use throughout the office; Pentium 90MHz used to run Archview — GIS software; PowerMac 8100 will enhance the electronic and print publications capabilities of the office).

Liaison with external statistical programs/projects. For some time, ARL has actively sought to cooperate with other library and higher education data-gathering efforts, extending the influence of ARL perspectives and seeking experience to assist ARL in refining its data gathering and measurement approaches. Agencies and organizations with which this program continues to work include the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Research Council, NISO, NCLIS, the ALA Office for Research, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries.

The Chair of the Statistics and Measurement Committee, William Crowe (University of Kansas), and Martha Kyrillidou, ARL Program Officer, also participate in the ALA IPEDS Advisory Committee, which is responsible for advising NCES on the IPEDS Academic Libraries survey. Jennifer Cargill (Louisiana State University), member of the ARL Statistics and Measurement Committee participates at the Advisory Committee for the ALA/Ameritech survey on electronic services to academic libraries. Martha Kyrillidou, ARL Program Officer, serves as a consultant and coordinator for the AALL Salary Survey from May to December 1995.

5.1.1 ARL Committee on Statistics and Measurement

In 1995, the Committee held discussions on the future directions for the program, specifically, how best to proceed in developing measures for "emerging library models" as well as measures of library performance. A revolutionary transformation of library services is underway. The Committee emphasized the need to continue collecting traditional measures while also exploring measures for non-traditional formats and services.

The Committee has drafted a planning document for the Statistics and Measurement Program and is having an Early Bird Session during the October 1995 ARL Membership Meeting to encourage feedback on the plan.

Other areas of focus for the Committee in 1995 included:

• describing and measuring "emerging library models," costs and quality of services;

• demographic aspects of library professionals and human resources issues;

• exploring the existing data to develop indicators that describe the condition of research libraries; and

• examining the effectiveness of current data gathering processes and user surveys.

The need to monitor more closely the costs related to the provision of information was emphasized. The Committee encourages each library to develop a database for information about characteristics of staff positions with the long term goal of establishing a database that will reflect budgeting responsibility for cost-centers across libraries.

Statistics and Measurement Committee

Jennifer Cargill (1995-97)
William C. Highfill (1993-95)
Ellen Hoffmann (1993-95)
Edward R. Johnson (1993-95)
Frank Rodgers (1993-95)
Carla Stoffle (1994-96)
William J. Studer (1993-95)
Don Tolliver (1995-97)
William J. Crowe, Chair (1995-96)

Kendon L. Stubbs, University of Virginia (Consultant)

Staff: Martha Kyrillidou

Section 6: Supporting Capabilities

6.1 Governance of the Association

The capability for governance of the Association is intended to represent prudently the interests of ARL members in directing the business of the Association.

The governing body is the ARL Board of Directors. The functions of the Board include: to establish operating policies, budgets, and fiscal controls; to approve long-range plans; to modify or clarify the ARL mission and continuing objectives; to monitor performance and the succession of the Executive Director; and to represent ARL to the community. The staff role in this capability is to provide information to the Board adequate to fulfill its responsibilities in a knowledgeable and expeditious manner. The Board establishes several committees to help achieve effective governance of the Association.

ARL’s Planning Process and Development Priorities

In addition to reviewing the substance of ARL’s agenda, the Board reviewed the process for ensuring an effective ongoing review of that agenda. Board and membership discussions in October 1994 underscored the importance of a consultative planning process with the full membership on ARL program choices that have an impact on dues. In fact, a compelling impetus for the Board’s review was to provide it with a foundation from which to make decisions required of it each year: e.g., each July, a recommendation for association dues for the following year, and each January/February, adoption of a program budget and accompanying program plan.

ARL’s Planning Process and Development Priorities

The strategic planning discussions started two years ago were completed by the Board in January 1995. This process confirmed the continuing importance and viability of the current objectives and programs of the Association. In 1994 the membership adopted a new statement of mission and strategic objectives. Also in 1994, the Board identified "horizon" issues for research libraries, associated these issues with ARL programmatic activities, and produced a list of five priorities for fund development. The Board also ranked these developmental program activities in priority order to guide their decisions-making for ARL for the next several years.

The Board focused ARL capabilities in 1995 on three broad areas of copyright, government information in electronic formats, and digital libraries applications. These 1995 priority activities work within the framework for ARL Developmental Priorities. Also in the fall of 1994, the Board reviewed the horizon issues facing research libraries and, as a result, produced the following list of developmental priorities for ARL. The Board proposed this list to help guide the Board’s decision-making for the next several years.

• Federal Relations. Specifically, positioning the capability to undertake an accelerated legislative agenda (re: digitizing research resources, copyright, telecommunications).

• Legal Counsel. Specifically, positioning ARL to secure legal counsel on matters affecting rights and responsibilities associated with intellectual property.

• Minority Recruitment. Specifically, to develop ARL’s newest program capability to build a pool of talented and culturally diverse research librarians.

• Refreshing Management Programs. Specifically, to position ARL and OMS to provide leadership training, performance measurement, and organizational improvement programs that will assist libraries to make a successful transition to the electronic environment.

• Access to Research Resources. Specifically, accelerate collaboration between libraries and a broad constituency of private sector players to extend access, contain costs, and strengthen the delivery of remotely-held resources and materials.

An ongoing priority is the development of the ARL’s Reserve Fund. Specifically, the Board affirmed its commitment to build ARL’s reserve funds to approximately $1 million which could then provide funds to support future developmental activities.

Emerging from the planning discussions is a clear sense of association identity, purpose, scope, and direction. Another outcome is a framework of horizon issues — priorities for ARL program development — that the Board proposes to use to guide their stewardship of ARL resources during the current year and in the near term.

Program Plan for 1995. At its February 1995 meeting, the Board reviewed the 1995 Program Plan and the proposed priorities for 1995 resource allocation. The 1995 Program Plan presents the framework of program capabilities as developed by the Executive Director and staff to implement the program objectives and financial strategies. The February discussions also included a strategic planning retreat with the Board reviewing key short term areas for ARL programs. The outcome was identification of three priority activities for 1995: intellectual property, access to and dissemination of government information, and other topics that help to realize digital libraries.

These priority 1995 activities work within the framework for ARL development priorities.

Summer Board Meeting. The ARL Board of Directors met on July 24 and 25, 1995 in Washington, DC. The ARL meeting included discussions with Bruce Lehman, U.S. Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks; Elaine Sloan, Chair of the ARL Scholarly Communication Committee; Peter Grenquist, the Executive Director of the Association of American University Presses; John Hammer, Executive Director, the National Humanities Alliance; and Arnie Lutzker, with the firm of Fish and Richardson, representing the ARL, ALA, AALL, SLA, and MLA Shared Legal Capability.

Actions taken by the Board during their two-day meeting included:

a. Developed a proposal for increasing membership dues by $500 from $13,350 to $13,850.

b. Agreed with the Scholarly Communications Committee that recruitment for the position of Director of the Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing should begin immediately. Committee Chair Elaine Sloan has met with ARL staff and has suggested there is value in having fuller membership involvement in discussing future directions for the Office at the Fall ARL Membership Meeting.

c. Endorsed The Strategic Plan for Improving Access to Global Information Resources in U.S. and Canadian Research Libraries prepared by Research Collections Committee and discussed by the full membership in October 1994. The plan charts the directions of a collaborative program in foreign acquisitions beyond the initial three demonstration projects.

d. Endorsed the ARL Preservation Action Plan developed by the Preservation Committee which includes a multi-year action plan for guiding ARL’s preservation activities. The implementation strategies require no additional ARL resources, instead external funding will be or has already been obtained for undertaking the proposed new initiatives.

e. Endorsed ARL participation in the National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH) subject to development of a creative funding strategy to support the first year of this participation. ARL was invited by the American Council of Learned Societies, the Getty Art History Information Program, and the Coalition for Networked Information to join them and a number of other organizations that serve the arts, humanities, social sciences, and other disciplines that create and interpret human culture in an initiative that seeks to assure the widest possible participation of organizations concerned with our cultural heritage in the evolution of the global information highway.

[Note: Subsequent to the Board decision, funding for ARL’s initial year in NINCH was provided by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.]

f. Reviewed and commented on the work of the AAU/ARL Task Force on Intellectual Property including: 1) a Call for Proposals for Electronic Scholarly Publishing that will go to the full AAU/ARL Research Libraries Project Steering Committee at their October 15 meeting and 2) a plan to pursue dialogue with the Copyright Clearance Center on elements of licenses for the academic community. The ARL Research Collections Committee also is currently preparing a report that will outline issues in and options for scaling-up the three demonstration projects into a comprehensive foreign collections management plan.

g. Endorsed an invitation by U.S. Associations to host an IFLA Conference in Boston in 2001.

Board Nominations. The 1995 Nomination Committee was chaired by Nancy Cline, ARL President-elect and included Marianne Scott (NLC) and Carolyn Snyder (Southern Illinois). An electronic inquiry to members requesting suggestions of member leaders to be considered by the Committee resulted in 33 responses which provided the basis for Committee discussion early in September. The Nominating Committee brought forth the nominations of Betty Bengtson (University of Washington), William Crowe (University of Kansas), and Carole Moore (University of Toronto) to stand for election to three year terms on the ARL Board of Directors.

New Membership Groups. The ARL Board of Directors established a new Task Force on Preservation of Copyrighted Materials with membership drawn from four standing committees: Access, Information Policies, Preservation, and Scholarly Communication. The Task Force is charged with advising on efforts to shape and influence various national discussions on legislative changes needed in the copyright law affecting preservation of copyrighted materials. Members of the Task Force are: Betty Bengtson, Kenneth Frazier, Paul Mosher, Martin Runkle, and George Shipman. It is chaired by Paula Kaufman.

A Membership Committee was established to consider Ohio University at Athens, Ohio for membership in the Association. Gloria Werner (UCLA) agreed to chair the Committee. Members include: Nancy Cline (Penn State) and Sheila Creth (Iowa). Martha Kyrillidou will provide staff support.

An Advisory Committee for the Interlibrary Loan Performance Measures Study, funded by The Mellon Foundation, was established. Shirley Baker (Washington University) will chair and the other ARL members are Bill Crowe (University of Kansas), Kent Hendrickson (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), and Bill Studer (Ohio State University). Mary Jackson is the principle investigator for the study.

An ARL working group was established to meet with representatives of the Modern Language Association’s Committee on the Future of the Print Record to consider the development of "categories of material having indisputable artifactual value." The ARL members are: Scott Bennett (Yale), Meredith Butler (SUNY Albany), Peter Graham (Rutgers), Eric Ormsby (McGill), and Jan Merrill-Oldham (Harvard). Jutta Reed-Scott will provide ARL staff support. A meeting of the joint working group is scheduled for December 15, 1995.

Assignments Completed. The special committee on the eligibility of the Ohio University Library System for membership consideration, chaired by Kent Hendrickson, completed its assignment and submitted it recommendation to the Board of Directors.

The Program Committee for the May 1995 Membership Meeting, chaired by Jerry Campbell, completed its work in planning the Boston, Massachusetts meeting with the theme of "Realizing Digital Libraries."

The Working Group on Networked Resources, chaired by Sharon Hogan, completed its assignment and submitted its report to the Board of Directors.

ARL Board of Directors

Jerry D. Campbell President (Oct. 1990 - Oct. 1996)

Nancy Cline Vice President/President-Elect (Oct. 1991 - Oct. 1997)

John Black Past President (Oct. 1991 - Oct. 1995)

Dale B. Canelas (Oct. 1992 - Oct. 1995)

Nancy Eaton (Oct. 1994 - Oct. 1997)

Kent Hendrickson (Oct. 1993 - Oct. 1996)

James G. Neal (Oct. 1994 - Oct. 1997)

George W. Shipman (Oct. 1992 - Oct. 1995)

David H. Stam (Oct. 1992 - Oct. 1995)

Barbara von Wahlde (Oct. 1994 - Oct. 1997)

Gloria Werner (Oct. 1993 - Oct. 1996)

James F. Williams (Oct. 1993 - Oct. 1996)

6.2 Communications and External Relations

The capability for Communications and External Relations is designed to: acquaint ARL members with current, important developments to research libraries; inform the library profession of ARL’s position on issues of importance to research libraries; influence policy and decision makers within higher education and other areas related to research and scholarship; and educate academic communities about issues related to research libraries.

Through print and electronic publications, as well as direct outreach, members of the library, higher education, and scholarly communication communities are apprised of important developments and are informed of ARL positions on issues that affect the research library community. External relations with relevant constituencies are also carried on through all ARL programs.

Summary of Activities

ARL Communications Team. In the spring of 1995, ARL formed a Communications Team with the mission "to ensure a uniform, time efficient approach to bulk external communications." Included in external communications are all ARL/OMS publications, promotional activities, and electronic services. The team consists of the Information Services Coordinator, the OMS Program Officer for Information Services, the Electronic Services Coordinator, the Office Manager, the Communications Specialist, and the Publications Clerk. Activities of the team to date include:

• Developing guidelines for press releases, flyers, brochures and program pages on the ARL Web server to ensure adherence to the ARL graphic identity,

• Developing a copyright statement for ARL publications that is consistent with the ARL position on copyright, and

• Coordinating ARL’s representation at the ALA Exhibits during the Annual Meeting in Chicago.

A high priority for the team is the creation of a central database for mailing lists that can be accessed by all ARL staff, regardless of computer platform, and which will produce customized lists based on need. With recent installation of a network version of File Maker Pro, both Windows and Macintosh users will be able to access the same database.

Publications Program. Even as ARL promotes electronic publishing within the scholarly community we are not yet sure how our publications program will make this transition. Simultaneously, ARL aims to encompass and optimize new computer and telecommunications technologies, while continuing an appropriate print publications program. Until a secure and dependable mechanism is in place for a cost recovery of electronic publishing, the Association must absorb the costs of what it publishes on the Net. In the meantime, the Internet offers the ability to provide for-free services to members and other Internet users. Because the marginal cost of distributing works on the Internet is so low (most of the costs are expended on the first copy), ARL is able to give away far more information than in a print only world, where extra copies must be printed and mailed to readers.

Development of a plan to enhance ARL’s communications capability and maximize use of both print and electronic formats is in progress. An initial step toward this goal is to make more ARL publications available on the ARL server.

Print publications in progress include: a study of the demographics of academic librarians, the report of an ARL study of foreign acquisitions, a snapshot of efforts in electronic reserves, and proceedings of recent ARL meetings and conferences.

Newsletter. Issues 181 and 182 of ARL: A Bimonthly Newsletter of Research Library Issues and Actions were published between May and September 1995. Jaia Barrett, Deputy Executive Director, and Michael Matthews, Communications Specialist, serve as editor and copy manager, respectively. Topics covered in these issues included copyright, affirmative action, updates on the progress of the AAU/ARL action agenda, as well as reports from individual programs and capabilities. Beginning in the Spring of 1995 the ARL newsletter is now also issued via the ARL gopher. Plans for making back-issues available in this manner are underway.

ARL-Announce. Guidelines were developed for a new electronic information service that targeted staff in academic and research libraries. The service was established in January 1995. To date there are over 400 subscribers and feedback regarding the service is positive.

Information Packets. ARL regularly receives information requests on a vast array of topics from a variety of sources including students, educators, the press (scholarly and popular), and representatives of the information industry. In recent months inquiries addressed the library communities response to the Administrations’ White Paper on Intellectual Property, ARL initiatives in the area of interlibrary loan and document delivery, and electronic publishing efforts within the scholarly community. To facilitate these requests ARL Publications has developed Focus Fliers on particular topics and a standard ARL Information Packet that includes key resource documents about ARL programs and services including: fact sheets, recent press releases, publications catalog and OMS training schedule, as well as pertinent resources available on the ARL server.

Relations with the Scholarly Community and External Groups. Collaboration on both technical and policy levels is documented under all individual capabilities. Activities at the executive level in the past six months included collaborations with, among others, the Association of University Presses, the National Humanities Alliance, the Modern Language Association, the Association of American Universities, and the American Council of Learned Societies, and CAUSE. Excerpts from two recent ARL publications are to be published in the CAUSE journal in 1996.

Copyright Awareness. This summer ARL launched an initiative to promote copyright awareness within North American higher education and research communities. Joining ARL in the initial step of this initiative is the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), an organization of 53 scholarly societies. In an open letter, the leadership of ARL and ACLS called on colleagues throughout the scholarly community to come together to revisit the goals and purposes of copyright and "contribute to efforts that seek an understanding of copyright in an electronic environment." The letter was widely distributed within the 53 learned societies that belong to ACLS (representing more than 300,000 scholars) and was sent to all ARL member libraries for redistribution within their research institutions. It was also published in the ARL newsletter #181 (August 1995).

A central element of ARL’s copyright awareness strategy is to raise the visibility of the issue within the library and academic communities, and to encourage discussion of the purpose of copyright, and the policies and practices that support responsible compliance with the law. Toward this end, in July, ARL published a slim and inexpensive reader titled Copyright, Public Policy, and the Scholarly Community. The booklet presents five perspectives about the viability of the copyright law in an electronic, networked environment. It is a sampler of the range of views that have emerged even within the library and academic community. ARL has promoted its use to stimulate discussions within libraries and societies by making multiple copies available at cost. To date, over 1,400 copies have been distributed.

In addition, with seed money from the H.W. Wilson Foundation, ARL sponsored Copyright Awareness: A Leadership Workshop. Held September 28-29 in Crystal City, Virginia, over 70 individuals from academic and research libraries attended an intensive two day workshop putting them in contact with three attorneys who are known for their expertise in copyright law, especially as it applies to libraries and higher educational settings: Kenneth Crews (Indiana University), Lolly Gasaway (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), and Karen Hersey (MIT). ARL/OMS’s George Soete facilitated portions of the workshop and ARL’s Mary Jackson convened and moderated the event. The experience and evaluations from this initial workshop will be evaluated with the expectation of adapting the event for local or consortia presentations, as well as to determine its suitability for the Canadian environment.

For further information about ARL’s Copyright Awareness initiative, contact Patricia Brennan, ARL Information Services Coordinator.

6.2.2 Electronic Services

Development of the ARL Server on the Internet. With contributions from all programmatic areas, the gopher and web servers offer the research library community a diverse collection of information. Over 100 documents have been added this year with particular emphasis on scholarly communications and government information. The proceedings from OSAP’s second and third scholarly publishing symposia as well as the ARL publications catalog were published on the Web in recent months. On the gopher, monthly updates to the Federal Relations Notebook keep librarians current on information policy issues. The ARL newsletter is now published bi-monthly concurrently on the gopher and in print. Following is a sampling of additions to the ARL server in recent months.

Additions to ARL Server May - September 1995

ARL, ACLS Promote Copyright Awareness in Scholarly Community gopher://arl.cni.org/00/scomm/copyright/arl.acls

Settlement of Texaco Case - May 1995 gopher://arl.cni.org/00/scomm/copyright/texaco/settlement

ARL-GIS Literacy Project gopher://arl.cni.org/11/info/gis

ARL Electronic Atlas http://www-map.lib.umn.edu/arl.html

ARL Federal Relations Notebook (FRN) Updates gopher://arl.cni.org/11/info/frn

ARL Newsletter gopher://arl.cni.org/11/arl/pubs/newsltr

Latin Americanist Research Resources Pilot Project http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/arl/ gopher://arl.cni.org/11/collect/latin

ARL/OMS Training and Organizational Development http://arl.cni.org/training/basicOMS.html

Visions and Opportunities in Electronic Publishing: Proceedings from the Second Symposium (1992) http://arl.cni.org/scomm/symp2/1992.frontmatter.html

Librarians and Publishers in the Scholarly Information Process: Transition in the Electronic Age http://arl.cni.org/symp3/1993.frontmatter.html

1995 ARL Directory of E-Journals, Newsletters & Academic Lists gopher://arl.cni.org/11/scomm/edir

ARL Publications Catalog gopher://arl.cni.org/00/arl/pubs/publist http://arl.cni.org/pubscat/pubs.html

ILL Performance Measures Study, 1995-1997 gopher://arl.cni.org/11/access/ill/perform

NAILDD Project gopher://arl.cni.org/11/access/ill/naildd

ARL Preservation Action Plan gopher://arl.cni.org/00/preserv/action.plan

Preservation Statistics gopher://arl.cni.org/11/stat/presvstat

ARL Membership Criteria gopher://arl.cni.org/11/stat/criteria

Ratio Analysis gopher://arl.cni.org/11/stat/ratio

ARL Statistics 1993-94 (machine-readable data) gopher://arl.cni.org/11/stat/machine/93-94

Management of ARL Electronic Discussion Groups. Through CNI’s systems operator, Craig Summerhill, ARL is now running the majority of its lists with the 7.2 release of the CREN ListProcessor software. The goal is to migrate remaining mailing lists ("mail reflectors") to the listproc software by the end of 1995. This new version offers flexibility in list administration which was unavailable in earlier versions. Program Officers who wish to take a stronger role in list management are now able to add and delete users and make other changes themselves. ARL has added nine new lists in 1995, including ARL-JAPAN (send email to listproc@cni.org with the message: subscribe arl-japan ), a public forum to encourage user feedback about network access to the scientific and technical journal literature of Japan published in Japanese.

6.3 ARL Membership Meetings

The ARL membership meeting capability is designed to develop programs on topics of interest to the ARL membership, schedule and manage meetings and activities, coordinate local arrangements, and evaluate the success of these meetings. The May meeting emphasized a topical program, coordinated by the ARL President-elect; the October meeting focuses on internal finances, elections, and strategic planning.

May 1995 Membership Meeting. ARL convened the 126th meeting of its membership May 17–19 in Boston, Massachusetts. The program, hosted by the Boston Public Library, centered on the theme "Realizing Digital Libraries." One hundred nine member libraries were represented.

October 1995 Membership Meeting. The fall membership meeting will be held October 17–20, 1995 at the Washington Vista Hotel, in Washington, DC, and at the National Archives facility in College Park, Maryland. The theme for the program is "Building Partnerships that Shape the Future."

Future Meetings. May 15-17, 1996 — Vacouver, British Columbia October 15-18, 1996 — Washington, DC

6.4 International Relations

The International Relations capability is designed to monitor activities, maintain selected contacts, identify developments on issues of importance to North American research libraries, and share experiences of North American research libraries that may contribute to the development of research libraries internationally. As with scholarly relations, international relations represents a capability that is manifested by activities in several separate program areas rather than through a consolidated office.

Jutta Reed-Scott represents ARL to the National Coordinating Committee on Japanese Library Resources. The Committee’s mission is "to mobilize the resources of information providers, information users, and funding organizations toward the long-range goal of creating a comprehensive national system of cooperative collection, development, and ready access to Japanese information in as wide a range of fields as possible for all current and potential users in North America."

The ARL Office of Research and Development is involved with international analyses and collaborations, including projects on foreign publications and Latin American Studies and the German and Japanese Research Resources projects that are in the planning stage. Also in the planning stage is a symposium that will partner with ACLS to examine the issues related to the adequacy of library and information resources to support internationally-connected scholarship in the United States and abroad.

A strong ARL delegation participated in the 61st International Federation of Library Associations Conference Council and General Conference in Istanbul, Turkey from August 20-26, 1995. More than 150 papers were presented within the theme of "Libraries of the Future." Robert Wedgeworth, University Librarian, University of Illinois Library at Urbana, was elected to a second and final two year term as IFLA President. Susan Martin, Director of Libraries, Georgetown University, accepted appointment as ARL’s representative to the newly formed IFLA ad hoc Council Committee on Access to Information and Freedom of Expression. This committee will gather opinion, review expert advice and advise IFLA as to how it should implement its commitment to access to information and freedom of expression.

The 62nd IFLA General Conference is scheduled for August 25-31, 1996 in Beijing, China. The theme is "Challenge of Change: Libraries and Economic Development." An invitation was extended by the U.S. Associations to IFLA to hold the General Conference in the U.S. in 2001. Currently, 57 ARL member libraries have representatives participating in IFLA committees.

6.5 General Administration

General Administration encompasses overall coordination and management of the Association, staffing, financial planning and strategy, space planning, fiscal control, and secretarial support and office operations.

Financial Status as of August 1995. The 1995 ARL Budget approved by the Board projects a balanced fiscal plan for all funds combined that included revenue of $3,403,000 and expenditures of $3,398,400. The Executive Office was fully staffed (11 FTE professionals and 10 FTE support staff) at the end of August, and the eight-month financial report indicates expenditures are 1 percent lower than budgeted. Revenues are well ahead of goals due to early receipt of member dues, successful cost recovery from various initiatives, and the administrative fees paid by the Coalition for Networked Information. Revenues for 1995 are expected to match Executive Office expenditures by year-end. The Office of Research and Development has a $7,000 surplus as of August 31 and is expected to finish the year with a balanced budget. The Office of Management Services has a $63,000 deficit as of the end of August but is expected to finish the year with a balanced budget. Overall, the goal of a balanced budget with an allocation to the permanent reserve is achievable.

ARL 1996 Financial Strategy. A steady ARL budget for 1996 and a minimal membership dues increase is the course of direction adopted by the ARL Board of Directors at its meeting in July 1995. The Board identified the following elements of the 1996 budget that warrant an incremental dues increase: salaries, costs of office operation, and participation in the recently established shared legal capability. Thus, the ARL Board of Directors recommends a dues increase for 1996 of $500 to a level of $13,850, providing additional revenue of $59,500.

Personnel Resources. Important changes are taking place with the ARL staff. OMS is fully staffed for first time in five years with Laura Rounds joining the OMS as the Program Officer for Information Services and Kathryn Deiss joining OMS as a Training Program Officer. Supporting positions for ARL and OMS are filled after six months of transition. Mary Jane Brooks completed a three-month family medical leave. Ann Okerson announced her intention to leave the OSAP in September and recruitment efforts have started.

Organizational Changes. With the resignation of Ann Okerson as Director of the OSAP, discussions about the future of the Office began. The ARL Board of Directors at its meeting on July 24, 1995, agreed with the Scholarly Communications Committee that recruitment for the position of Director of the Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing should begin immediately and that fuller membership discussion about OSAP’s future take place at the Fall 1995 ARL Membership Meeting. In an effort to clarify the distribution of membership dues within the Office of Management Services, OMS program budgets and programmatic teams are being developed similar to those currently in use in the Executive Office.

Technology

Installation and Configuration of New Software and Upgrades. By working toward standardization of operating systems and software versions, ARL is achieving the strategic technology goal of building a bridge between Macintosh and Windows users. Software installations in spring 1995 included WordPerfect 6.0/6.1, NetScape and Winsock upgrades, PowerPoint 6.0 , OS2 Warp (for Windows); Word 5.1, PowerPoint 4.0, File Maker Pro 2.1, NetScape 1.1, PageMaker 6.0, html utility software; system upgrades and maintenance (for Mac); http server upgrade, getstat, OmniWeb upgrade (for NeXT).

Technology Support for ARL Staff. Because some new computers were purchased and others reallocated, almost all staff at ARL are working with a new system in 1995. As staff become familiar with their workstations and are able to use them more efficiently, new levels of training and support are necessary. ARL is making advances on a developmental goal for 1995 by more fully utilizing the server and building community within the office. Through individual support and training, ARL staff have enhanced their individual Internet skill competencies. All ARL staff, including support staff, are accessible by email and, through the use of electronic lists, are able to communicate with each other and members in a variety of group combinations.

ARL Technology Team. Responding to issues outlined in the ARL Technology Strategic Plan, the Electronic Services Coordinator has been a key participant in implementing the plan. A profile of all current ARL electronic lists was compiled and distributed to staff. Production was begun for mounting the ARL policy manual online and making it available locally to staff. Another priority for the Technology Team is the creation of shared calendars via the network and with recent installation of new software, this capability should be functional in the near future.

EURAM Building. The ARL offices at 21 Dupont Circle continue to work well for the Association. The conference room attracts higher education groups to come to ARL for important discussions. ARL is now in a position to provide member directors with the use of an office when in Washington, DC. With advance notice, the conference room is also available to ARL directors.

Section 7: Research and Development

The ARL Office of Research and Development consolidates the administration of grants and grant-supported projects administered by ARL. The major goal within this capability is to identify and match ARL projects that support the research library community’s mission with sources of external funding. The ARL Visiting Program Officer project is also a part of this capability.

7.1 Office of Research and Development

All ARL program officers play roles in the development of project concepts and funding contacts. The Office of Research and Development was established to provide the Association with a point of coordination for grant-seeking activity and idea management. The ORD also provides a consolidated picture of ARL activities that are operated with "soft" funds.

7.1.1 Proposals Submitted and Pending

National Register of Microform Masters (NRMM) RECON Project: Non-Roman Reports. In cooperation with the Library of Congress and New York Public Library, a project was developed to create machine-readable records for 23,569 not yet processed reports in the NRMM Master File, including non-Roman reports, musical scores, and other remaining problem reports. In June 1995, ARL submitted a proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Preservation and Access. (Contact: Jutta Reed-Scott)

German Demonstration Project. A Working Group has developed a workplan and implementation strategy for a project to demonstrate a network-based program of coordinated collections and delivery services for German social science library resources. The Library of Congress has agreed to provide operational support for the project. A proposal for funding initial project planning and start-up has been submitted. (Contact: Jutta Reed-Scott)

Latin Americanist Research Resources Project. ARL has submitted a grant proposal to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand and extend the Project through December 1996. The proposed project is a critical next step in building the distributed network of Latin Americanist resources. This proposal aims both to complete the implementation of the three-part phase now underway as well as to plan strategically for the implementation of large-scale, economically significant coordination of collection activities. During the next stage of the Project, five "case study" libraries will address management, staffing, and economic issues engendered by distributed, network-based access to Latin Americanist Research Resources. (Contact: Jutta Reed-Scott)

7.1.2 Projects under Development

Interactive Statistical Analysis on the WWW Using ARL Statistics. A cooperative project developed with the University of Virginia Library presents a model electronic serial publication on the Internet. The project will use ARL Statistics, a relatively small dataset, to develop an interface that permits network users to retrieve, analyze, and display statistical data. A key focus of the project is to develop methods that can be extended to other datasets, such as government data. A component of the proposal is the design of training or instructional methods to prepare librarians to use the WWW to select data variables and design data displays. (Contact: Martha Kyrillidou)

Cost Models for Preservation Decision Making. ARL’s Preservation agenda calls for a cost model to compare the cost effectiveness of various strategies for preserving collections. Strategies to be embraced include all options, on a continuum from conservation of the artifact to reformatting (including digitization) within the context of collection use, condition, and value. A proposal will be developed to engage a consultant to develop a feasible methodology. (Contact: Jutta Reed-Scott)

7.2 Summary of Project Activities, May 1995-October 1995

National Register of Microform Masters (NRMM) RECON Project: Serials. In December 1993, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Preservation and Access, awarded ARL a new grant for the first phase of the NRMM RECON Project for Serials. ARL, in partnership with Harvard University Library, the Library of Congress, and New York Public Library, is coordinating this institution-based, distributed project. The goal of the project is to convert the 29,522 NRMM serials records that are held by the three participating institutions and are not yet available in the OCLC or RLIN databases, creating both bibliographic and holdings records in machine-readable form. Together, the three institutions hold close to 50% of the estimated 60,000 serials in the NRMM Master File.

This 18-month project is being carried out under the overall management of ARL. The three participating institutions are responsible for preparing their reports and for validating their holdings to allow inclusion of exact holdings information. The Library of Congress is also responsible for the quality assurance program. Under contract with the OCLC RETROCON services, the serials records will be input in the CONSER database. Records created under the auspices of this project will meet the requirements of the ARL Guidelines for Bibliographic Records for Preservation Microform Masters as well as the CONSER guidelines. The project is scheduled to be completed by February 1996. (Contact: Jutta Reed-Scott)

Scholarship, Research Libraries, and Foreign Publishing in the 1990’s. At the end of this year, ARL is concluding a four-year study of trends in foreign acquisitions in member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Support for the project is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The ARL Committee on Research Collections is serving as Project Advisory Committee.

This ARL project is directed toward developing a clearer understanding of the forces influencing North American research libraries’ ability to build and maintain collections of publications produced outside of the United States and Canada. The array of detailed studies undertaken over the course of this project provides persuasive evidence of the growing gap between the level of acquisitions of overseas materials and the explosion of global knowledge. Jutta Reed-Scott is currently preparing the final project report. The report builds on the detailed analysis of area-specific needs that was undertaken by major foreign area library committees. It describes the current landscape of foreign area collections. It also details initiatives being pursued by ARL and many other organizations to develop effective strategies and financial resources to maintain foreign acquisitions at a level adequate to North American needs. The report will be published by ARL in December 1995. (Contact: Jutta Reed-Scott)

Preparation of Second Edition of Preservation Microfilming Guide. In late November 1993, OCLC awarded ARL an $8,000 grant in partial support for the preparation of the second edition of Preservation Microfilming: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists. Working with ALA Publishing, ARL is coordinating the revision of the Guide, which will be published in December 1995. (Contact: Jutta Reed-Scott)

Latin Americanist Research Resources Pilot Project. The overarching goal of the project is to create a prototype for fully connected collections for Latin American studies. (See section 1.3 of this report for project activities update.) Project funding was received from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and more than thirty ARL Libraries that agreed to participate formally in the project. In August 1994, ARL appointed Mark Grover, Latin American Studies Bibliographer at Brigham Young University Library, to the position of Project Coordinator for the Latin Americanist Research Resources Pilot Project. A proposal was submitted to extend the project to December 1996. (Contact: Jutta Reed-Scott)

Japanese STI Demonstration Project. The goal is to demonstrate a network-based program that improves North American access to Japanese scientific and technical information. The Center for Research Libraries will provide operational support for the project. In April 1995, OCLC agreed to provide support for Dorothy Gregor who has accepted an appointment from ARL as Consultant to the project. Ohio State University Library agreed to maintain project files as part of the East Asian Libraries Cooperative WWW site. The Japan Technology Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce has also been asked to support this effort. (Contact: Jutta Reed-Scott, Jaia Barrett)

ARL Statistical Analysis Capability. In 1994, the Mellon Foundation awarded ARL $19,000 to develop an in-house data analysis and statistical consulting capability. The award was used to purchase and lease statistical software (SPSS and SAS) and buy hardware (a PC and printer) to be deployed in support of the Statistics and Measurements Program. (Contact: Martha Kyrillidou)

Copyright Compliance. In April, the H.W. Wilson Foundation awarded ARL $10,000 toward development of an educational initiative on copyright compliance. The request allowed ARL to sponsor a workshop on copyright awareness for librarians (September 28-29, 1995) and to develop educational materials that assist a library manager to design operations and train staff in procedures that comply with copyright law and related guidelines. (Contact: Jaia Barrett)

ILL/DD Performance Measures. In June 1955, the Mellon Foundation awarded ARL $160,000 to undertake a two-year project with the Council on Library Resources to study the cost and other performance measures of interlibrary loan and document delivery services. Phase 1 is designed as a follow-up to the 1992-93 ARL/RLG ILL Cost study and an expansion of the survey instrument used in that study. Phase 2 will offer the expanded instrument to ARL members and other academic libraries. (Contact: Mary Jackson)

NINCH: In August, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation awarded ARL $10,000 to join the National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH). The initiative seeks to encourage the development of the NII as a means to preserve, access, and creatively build on our cultural legacy. It is the outcome of discussions among the leadership of ACLS, the Coalition of Networked Information, and the Getty Art History Information Project. The Delmas grant will support ARL’s initial year of involvement in NINCH. (Contact: Duane Webster)

7.3 ARL Visiting Program Officer Program

The ARL Visiting Program Officer (VPO) program provides an opportunity for a staff member in a member library to assume responsibility for carrying out part or all of a project for ARL. It provides a very visible staff development opportunity for an outstanding staff member and serves the membership as a whole by extending the capacity of ARL to undertake additional activities.

The following roster of ARL Visiting Program Officers demonstrates the range of projects pursued over the eight years of this program.

Name & Sponsoring Library Year Project Undertaken

Samuel Streit 1988 HEA II-C Program: A Ten
Brown University Year Assessment

Diane Smith 1988 Government Information
Pennsylvania State University Access & Info Policy Issues

Rhonda MacInnes 1988 OMS Training Program
National Library of Canada

Karen Turko 1988 Mass Deacidification
University of Toronto Technologies

Sandra Peterson 1989 OMB’s Circular A-130,
Yale University Paperwork Reduction Act

Crystal Graham 1989 Guidelines for Bibliographic Records for
UC-San Diego Preservation Microform Masters

Beth Shapiro 1989 Access & Performance
Michigan State University Measures for Research Libraries

Jean Loup 1989 Statistical Projects,
University of Michigan University E&G Expenditures

Susan Barnard
Kent State University 1991 Total Quality Management

Assunti Pisiani 1992 ARL Foreign Acquisitions Project
Harvard University

Gayle Garlock 1992 ARL Foreign Acquisitions Project
University of Toronto

Patrick McGlamery 1992 ARL GIS Literacy Project
University of Connecticut

Donna Koepp 1992 ARL GIS Literacy Project
University of Kansas

Dan Hazen 1992 Latin American Studies
Harvard College Library Assessment Project

Mary Jackson 1993 ILL & Document Delivery
University of Pennsylvania

Gail Kennedy 1994 Quality Management
University of Kentucky

Jim Gillispie 1994 U.S. Government Depository Library Johns Hopkins University Program

Pierre Guilmette 1994 ARL Foreign Acquisitions Project
Laval University (French language)

Stanley Wilder 1994 Age Demographics of Professional in ARL Louisiana State University Libraries

Mark Grover 1994 Latin Americanist Research
Brigham Young University Resources Project

Kendon Stubbs 1995 User Surveys
University of Virginia

Typically, the member library supports the salary of the staff person, and ARL supports or seeks grant funding to cover travel or other project-related expenses. Depending on the nature of the project and the circumstances of the individual, a VPO may spend extended periods of time in Washington, DC, or may conduct most of their project from their home library. In either case, contact with ARL staff and a presence in the ARL offices is encouraged, as this has proved to be mutually beneficial for the VPO and for ARL.

Since May 1995, four ARL member libraries have supported or have agreed to support a VPO.

Brigham Young University: Mark Grover, to continues to serve as Project Coordinator for the ARL/AAU Latin American Demonstration Project, with Jutta Reed-Scott.

Louisiana State University: Stanley Wilder, to conclude his study of the age characteristics of library professionals by comparing 1990 to 1994 demographic data, with Martha Kyrillidou.

University of Virginia: Kendon Stubbs, to develop a practical guide on how libraries could measure user satisfaction and quality service, with Martha Kyrillidou.

York University: Beginning in November 1995, Toni Olshen will develop organizational and programmatic responses to diversity in Canadian libraries and universities, with Kriza Jennings.

VPO Opportunities for 1995+

Issues where VPO contributions would be particularly welcome in 1995-96 include: preservation of copyrighted materials (see Jutta Reed-Scott or Jaia Barrett); assessments of the costs of providing information services and resources via a network (see Prue Adler); a definition of the characteristics of electronic access, development of user surveys and measures of user satisfaction, a survey of library facilities, and development of a client/server application for data collection over the Internet (see Martha Kyrillidou). Directors who wish to propose staff as Visiting Program Officers or discuss other topics for VPO projects may contact Jaia Barrett.