Collection Development Working Group
ALA Midwinter Meeting
10 January 2004
San Diego, CA

Present

Jim Niessen (Rutgers), Chair; Nancy Boerner (Indiana University-Bloomington), Sam Dunlap (UCSD), Dick Hacken (Brigham Young), David Hirsch (UCLA), Mary George (Princeton) for Rebecca Lindau, Tom Kilton (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Elmar Mittler (UniversitŠt Gšttingen), Kati Radics (UCLA), Hildegard SchŠffler (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MŸnchen), Michael Seadle (Michigan State)

The group approved the agenda as presented by the Chair, Jim Niessen.

The minutes from the Summer 2003 meeting in Toronto were approved, as well.

As Jeff Garrett was unable to be present, Jim Niessen gave a brief summary of the GRP Steering Committee meeting held January 9, 2004: The GRP will now be working mainly with the Center for Research Libraries, and less with the Association of Research Libraries, with ARL providing only communications contacts. Eudora Loh of UCLA will be the new ARL program officer for the Global Resources Network. It was suggested that the German Resources Project be given a new name that would better reflect its aim of fostering projects that will be of mutual benefit to both German and North American research libraries. Working group chairs reported on their groups' activities and future plans to further this goal. Among these are a pilot project at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to facilitate interlibrary loan of returnables. As well, it may be possible to resume electronic delivery of journals articles if they don't include STM materials.

Jim Niessen gave an update on the status of the Opfermann Collection, a large gift made to a university library in New Zealand that is unable to absorb it into its collection. It contains many 19th- and 20th-century monographs, including popular materials, as well as some long runs of newspapers. The New Zealand institution would prefer to send the collection as a whole, but it could perhaps be separated into thematic sections; however the seven large files Jim has received listing the holdings in the collection do not seem to be conducive to a thematic breakout. Jim will distribute a list of the files to CDWG members with the request that they check them to see if they have an interest in parts or all of the collection. Tom Kilton noted that the CDWG serves a useful function by publicizing the availability of such collections, even if there are no takers for them. Kati Radics suggested that perhaps the CDWG could help find a library somewhere (e.g., Eastern Europe) that would be interested in receiving the collection. Jim will ask the New Zealand institution if the GRP/CDWG may post information on the availability of the collection on the group's web site.

Jim recapped the CDWG meeting held in Munich in July 2003: It focused on German access to relevant North American databases and on a quest by all participants for reciprocity and mutual benefit. The CDWG is interested in establishing pricing schemes for German electronic products that reflect the lower usage they receive in North America, and German libraries are similarly interested in lower pricing structures for North American databases, especially those from ProQuest. Following up on this discussion, Jim, Tom Kilton, Jeff Garrett, Hildegard SchŠffler, and Elmar Mittler met with Mary Sauer-Games and Steve Hall of ProQuest in San Diego Saturday morning to discuss licensing and pricing issues. It was a wide-ranging discussion that offers promise of followup in several areas.

Elmar Mittler reported on the continuing development of the DigiZeitschriften database of full-text journals, modeled on JSTOR and launched with a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Most of the journals are in the areas of the humanities and the social sciences, but some may be added for biology, chemistry, and physics. The aim is to cover the most important German journals in a wide range of fields. Currently 60 journals are included, with a goal of 120 by 2005. Digitization begins with the first issue of each; there is a moving wall, but no current issues are included. About 70,000 pages are being digitized per month, so that about 1.5 million pages should be mounted by the end of the year.

At present it is possible to access only one issue of each journal, but when a license is developed for the database in 2004, users will have full access to all digitized issues. In 2004, the license will be free, to allow time for a test period. After that, the tentative pricing structure for German libraries calls for a one-time fee for the collection, and an annual subscription fee based on FTE (0-5,000 FTE@Û600; 5,001-15,000 FTE@Û1,500; 15,001-25,000 FTE@Û2,5000; > 25,000 FTE@Û4,000). The purchase price will amount to three times the annual fee, but for those who subscribe in 2004 it will be only twice the annual fee (first payable in 2005). The project is open to proposals for a discounted fee to GRP libraries, possibly a global fee that would be distributed among members based on use statistics gathered during the 2004 trial year.

A total of about Û240,000 per year is needed to continue operating after DFG support ends. If, as is anticipated, there are many subscribers, it will be possible to keep the fees relatively low. The intention is not to make a profit, but to maintain operations for the benefit of libraries. Elmar Mittler will let the CDWG know when the free trial period begins, so that the group can promote it.

Michael Seadle noted it will be necessary to develop a standardized procedure for determining what a reasonable FTE number of potential users would be at GRP member institutions (as by far not everyone will be able to make use of German-language journals). Sam Dunlap suggested it would also be useful to track how many of these are faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate students. As a start, Jim Niessen will ask CDWG members to produce figures for the numbers of faculty and students in German program classes at their institutions. He will indicate what categories of information are needed and will request that the data be sent by March 1, 2004, to Michael Seadle, who will have his office compile them. Michael suggested that data should be obtained for all GRP institutions.

Tom Kilton stressed the need for publicity and encouraging the use of DigiZeitschriften journals during the trial period. Participating in the trial will not commit a library to continue on a paid subscription basis.

Dick Hacken reported that after evaluation by a sub-group of the CDWG, several additional databases have been included in the Xipolis suite of products available to subscribing GRP libraries. He noted that information on the number of uses by an institution appears no longer to be available on the web page. Tom Kilton reported that he has found the Fischer Weltalmanach to be unworkable, and suggested perhaps it should be removed; he asked CDWG members to try to use it and to report their findings to the group.

Enough libraries have agreed to participate in a trial of the online version of the Bibliographie der deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft so that it will begin in the near future. The work covers monograph and periodical literature on German literature and language, and includes publications in languages other than German. Tom Kilton noted that the same publisher, Klostermann, also brings out the major bibliography for French language and literature, and this may eventually become available online, as well.

Nancy Boerner, Recording Secretary

nboerner@indiana.edu