Steering Committee Meeting
14 January 2000
San Antonio, TX

Members present

Helene Baumann, Karl Fattig, Jeff Garrett, Mary Jackson, Deborah Jakubs, Tom Kilton, Lou Pitschmann, Michael Seadle (recording), and Sem Sutter.

Members absent

Roger Brisson, John van Oudenaren

GENERAL

The Steering Committee (SC) confirmed the previous understanding that the chairs of the working groups are full members, not just ex-officio.

Jeff will confirm with Roger that he is willing to continue acting as Webmaster for the project.

Mike Olson has resigned as working group chair for personal and work-related reasons. The SC expressed its thanks for his excellent service and leadership.

STATUS REPORTS

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT

Tom Kilton was elected the new chair of this group. He and Jeff presented a report on contact partnerships. It was built using the list of Sondersammelgebietsbibliotheken and various American sources (including the North American title count). There was some discussion about possible other areas to include, and about possible names for contacts. The SC agreed that the implication of the contact relationships went beyond collection development. The SC also agreed that Duane Webster of ARL would be the appropriate person to write to directors of German libraries to propose these relationships, and to request that an individual on the German side be appointed as point person for the purposes of the contact partnership. A second letter will be prepared by ARL for transmission to the directors of GRP member libraries requesting their participation in order to identify GRP Corresponding Libraries and Subject Liaisons. Jeff Garrett and Tom Kilton will work with the Collection Development Working Group (CDWG) on a draft of these letters. The CDWG planed to meet immediately after the SC meeting.

DIGITAL LIBRARIES

Michael (as chair of this working group) reported on the new initiative by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the National Science Foundation to enable joint German-American digital projects. The working group helped foster one grant proposal last year on the "age of discovery" between Brown and Göttingen, and another on witchcraft is well underway between the Bavarian State Library, the Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, the University of Trier, Michigan State University, and (hopefully) Cornell. The University of Iowa is also looking for a German partner for a project with its Dada collection. Proposals are also being prepared on World War One and on Colonialism. There appears to be significant enthusiasm, particularly on the German side, for these digital library collaborations.

DOCUMENT DELIVERY

Sem (as chair of this working group) reported that the document delivery website is up and working at Goettingen. They have set up a listserv for ILL librarians from GRP libraries, and have had a number of newly established deposit accounts, bringing the total to 18. The SC will contact the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) about the possiblity of establishing a group of libraries who would be willing to lend or deliver documents to our German partners. Mary is working to get the right level of detail for transaction reports for American libraries.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC CONTROL

Karl (as chair of this working group) reported that the project to translate AACR2 has reached the proofreading states. The working group would like to identify German cataloging expertise in American libraries. Karl also noted German involvement in CORC.

KONGRESS2000 PARTICIPATION

SC members raised concerns about the selection process for speakers for Kongress2000. Lou apologized for the lack of consultation. A number of factors contributed, including a much shrunken presentation time, and an unexpected need for a quick decision. Bottom line: it will not happen again.

The speakers will be Lou, giving an overview of the project as a whole; Sem talking about document delivery developments; and Michael talking about Digital Library initiatives. The SC suggested that someone also talk briefly about the collection development partnership efforts, and Sem volunteered to include that in his time. He will be in regular contact with the CD WG for input and advice on this part of his presentation.

The SC requested that our Web site include a link to the Kongress2000 Web site. A deadline of 15 February was set to carry this out.

COMMUNICATION & NEEDS ASSESSMENT

The SC agreed to hold a 2 hour general membership meeting on the Friday of the ALA Annual Meeting in Chicago. The SC will meet from 5:30-6:30 in closed session. The general membership will meet from 7:00 to 9:00.

The SC also agreed to aim at a meeting with German project members at ALA Midwinter 2001. By then some of the partnership arrangements should be in place. SC members felt that attempting to hold a joint meeting earlier simply did not give enough time to be ready.

There was also discussion about: 1) communicating with directors so that they understand the amount of time involved in active participation in a cooperative project; 2) the possibility of a newsletter, either paper or email; 3) a needs analysis survey.

The meeting ended at 7:30 because the Collection Development Working Group meeting was about to begin.

Minutes prepared by Michael Seadle