Document Delivery Working Group
ALA Annual Meeting
16 June 2002
Atlanta, GA

Goal:

Improve document delivery and interlibrary loan for German-language materials, both among ARL libraries and between German and North American research libraries.

Attending:

Lynn Wiley, Univ. Illinois-Urbana; Mary Jackson, ARL; Gordon Anderson, U Kansas; Judy Tuohy UWisconsin Madison; Laura Dale Bischof, Univ. MN; Thea Linquist, Univ Colorado; Reimer Eck, Univ Goettingen; Roger Brisson, ex officio Harvard University. Jim Toplon, Vanderbilt; Tim Zou, GSU; Kimberly Burke, NYU; Obinnaya Oji, Univ MN; Sem Sutter, U Chicago.

Member and participants introduced themselves. The agenda was approved along with the brief summary of meeting minutes from the meeting at Annual.

Report from Steering Committee (see minutes posted on GRP project website) Tom thanked Lou for his service as co-chair, Deborah for her service as Project Director for the Global Resources Program, Michael for his work as Webmaster, and all working group coordinators. He also announced that Jeff Garrett is the chair-elect. A special welcome was extended to our German guests Klaus and Eckhard.

GLOBAL RESOURCES PROGRAM

Deborah reported on the Global Resources program. It has existed for over 5 years and has 7 active projects. The Mellon grant has been expended, so how the project may be funded had to be addressed and a proposal was brought to ARL. Seven ARL library directors have pledged $65,000 total as bridge money to continue the projects and to look for foundation funds or matching arrangements to continue. One goal is to look for a (part-time) replacement for Deborah. The ARL directors are interested in international partnerships, and there is some sense that there needs to be a commitment of dues money from ARL. … What about dues for the GRP? That may be possible, but it should not undermine the Global Resources projects as a whole. … Money is important in carrying the GRP forward. Although we want a strong central office for support, we also want some budget that the steering committee could use as it chooses.

REPORTS FROM THE WORKING GROUP COORDINATORS

Bibliographic Control

Roger reported that the German translation of AACR2 is about to go to press, and the published version may come out for IFLA. Efforts of the GRP made this possible. While there is some resistance to AACR2 in Germany, this will allow people at least to read the rules.

Collection Development

Barbara reported that new partners have been added to the contact partners list, including anthropology and engineering. Die Bibliothek der Deutschen Literatur cataloging project is moving forward (5 checks remain outstanding, however, and need to be paid). The project is 2 weeks from being finished. The Xipolis and Erfurt projects are moving along. The German Digizeit serials digitization project is of interest to members.

Digital Libraries

Michael reported on the Digital Library meeting at the Bibliothekartag, and repeated the request of many German colleagues there that other working groups also hold meetings in Germany. Ewald described the new DFG-NSF initiative, which is looking for collaboration between equal partners in two key areas, collections and services. One goal is to find digital collections that are distributed and improve availability. Another is to foster cooperation to learn how to collaborate. Jeff suggests a GRP project working with a group from Stuttgart has contacted Jeff about a digital project to enhance cataloging records in US libraries. … Suggestions were also made about how the website should promote resources in Germany.

Document Delivery

Lynn reported on the suspension of the document delivery service via ARL. We need to make sure that older bills have been paid, so that we can work out the financial mechanism for next phase. UB-Göttingen will handle the billing and forward them to ARL to disburse from the deposit account. The billing and accounting pieces are variable and difficult. Not everyone can do credit cards or pay individually. Some places are ordering through GBV Direct. There seems to have been a communication problem that needs resolution face-to-face. The request to stop ordering in January did not stop libraries from ordering, and ultimately the accounts had to be closed on 1 May. The goal is to settle these problems within two months. … Phase II will be using RLG software for ordering documents from US libraries. It will get a new timeline and move forward. Testing should begin in 2 months.

 

SUBITO Document Delivery

SUBITO services were reviewed. Full information about their services is available at the web site: http://www.subito-doc.com/ The service is an umbrella organization to the GBV. Users must register and must do so as a library. Payment options are still limited though representatives have said that credit card and a deposit option be available soon. The service is as reliable and fast as GBV.

Update on Phase II

Participants reported on the use of the RLG software. NYU will be using it in September 2002. Some discussion on how North American libraries might use this for borrowing ensued. Reimer Eck talked about using the service to order from North American libraries on the behalf of other German libraries, where in effect the Univ Goettingen would act as a broker. One problem discussed at length was that of loan delivery. Couriers are prohibitively expensive but using the post is slow and offers no tracking. Packages can be delayed in customs as well or subject to tariffs. There is no obvious solution to this issue at present.

Fee approval

After some discussion, all participants present agreed that $10.00 per article request and $35.00 per loan would be applied to filled orders in Phase II. Call for new members: Lynn Wiley asked members to confirm their interest in continuing to serve and noted that new members would be added.

Mtg was adjourned.