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TexShare Advisory Board Meeting
July 12, 1999
Meeting Minutes
Meeting Location: Texas State Library and Archives Commission,
Austin, Texas
Robert Seal, TexShare Advisory Board Chair, convened the meeting.
TexShare Advisory Board welcomes new members
On 8 July, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission re-appointed
Paul Dumont and Joe McCord to the TexShare Advisory Board. To
replace Nelda Laney, who is not seeking re-appointment as a public
representative, the Commission appointed Darryl Tocker. Mr. Tocker
heads the Tocker Foundation , which awards grants
to rural public libraries. These appointees will serve three-year
terms.
With the passage of HB 1433, the TexShare Advisory Board will
add two new representatives from public libraries on 1 September
1999. For these slots, the Commission appointed Rhoda Goldberg,
Deputy Director of the Harris County Library System, and Eva Poole,
Director of the Denton Public Library. Ms. Goldberg will serve
a two-year term, while Ms. Poole's term will be three years.
Ms. Goldberg and Ms. Poole attended this meeting as observers.
Robert Seal, TexShare Advisory Board Chair, opened the meeting
by welcoming Ms. Goldberg and Ms. Poole to the Board, and inviting
their participation in the Board's deliberations.
Advisory Board considers TexShare tier assignment
issues
In July 1998, the Advisory Board began a review of the TexShare
tier assignment process. This process assigns TexShare members
in three tiers, based on each institution's library collection
size and enrollment. These tier assignments are the basis for
the information access fees paid by TexShare members for their
database subscriptions.
Following review and approval of the revised tier assignments,
the Board asked staff to notify TexShare members of their FY 2000
tier assignments and information access fee amounts. At the March
meeting, the Board also approved an appeals process, in case libraries
might wish to contest their tier assignments.
After the revised tier assignments were distributed, Stephen
F. Austin University appealed its proposed shift to Tier 1 from
Tier 2. The Coordinating Council reviewed this appeal, determined
that the proposed Tier 1 assignment for Stephen F. Austin is accurate,
and recommended no change in the tier placement. Upon being notified
of this recommendation, Al Cage, Director of Stephen F. Austin's
Steen Library, announced his decision not to pursue the appeal
any further.
In January, the TexShare Advisory Board asked staff to review
tier assignments every other year. With the impending integration
of public libraries into TexShare, the entire issue of tiers and
information access fees will need to be revisited. Any changes
in the TexShare tier structure will be carefully planned and implemented
gradually.
Board discusses TexShare governance roles and
responsibilities
In March, the Advisory Board agreed that clarification is needed
on roles and responsibilities for the Board, TexShare contractors,
and the State Library. Working from a draft written by Robert
Seal, TexShare Advisory Board Chair, State Librarian Robert Martin
circulated a document outlining which parties are responsible
for various aspects of TexShare governance and operations.
After discussing the document and recommending revisions, the
Board endorsed the roles and responsibilities statement. Staff
will distribute the document to TexShare working groups, along
with an explanatory cover letter. Staff will also post the statement
of roles and responsibilities on the TexShare Web site, and publicize
its availability in library media outlets such as the Texas Library
Association's newsletter. The Board intends to review and revise
the roles and responsibilities statement annually.
Under the new arrangement, the TexShare Coordinating Council
(formerly known as the Management Team) will cease. Coordinating
Council members will be appointed to the working groups they've
represented on the Council. Working groups will be invited to
ask these former Council members to represent the groups at Advisory
Board meetings.
Legislative update
State Librarian Robert Martin reported on the recently-completed
legislative session:
* House Bill 1433, which was passed by the Legislature and
signed by Governor Bush, authorizes public library participation
in TexShare. It also expands the TexShare Advisory Board to
include two members from public libraries.
* The State Library's appropriation for the upcoming biennium
includes an additional one million dollars per year for TexShare.
It also directs the State Library to establish TexShare as a
separate line item and strategy, and requires the State Library
to phase in this expansion in a manner that will not reduce
services to academic libraries.
Establishing TexShare as a separate strategy increases administrative
overhead, since it forces the State Library to compile two sets
of statistics, one for TexShare and a second set for other resource
sharing services. In terms of measurements for materials delivered
and persons served, TexShare performance costs are higher than
those for other resource sharing programs. While this is largely
due to the smaller population served, creating a separate strategy
also makes it appear that TexShare is more expensive than the
State Library's other resource sharing services.
In future budget cycles, the Advisory Board would prefer a combined
strategy for the State Library's resource sharing services. To
accomplish this, Board members pledged to work cooperatively with
each other and with TLA (the Texas Library Association) to address
the situation in the legislative agenda for the next biennium.
Planning for the integration of public libraries
into TexShare
Integrating public libraries into TexShare will be an evolutionary
process. During the upcoming fiscal year, the State Library will
work closely with TexShare working groups to plan this integration.
Although some integration of services will happen quickly, much
of the actual program integration will occur in the second year
of the upcoming biennium.
To start the process of integrating public libraries into TexShare,
the Advisory Board agreed on these steps:
* Public libraries that belong to regional library systems
will automatically become TexShare members by virtue of their
system membership, effective 1 September 1999. Like TexShare's
academic library members, public libraries will sign agreements
to participate in TexShare programs such as the courier delivery
service.
* The State Library will appoint public library representatives
to the TexShare working groups. These groups will develop written
charges, and then begin addressing the issue of public library
participation in TexShare programs. For the November meeting,
the Board requests a preliminary report from each of the working
groups. This report should outline issues that need to be addressed
in order to integrate public libraries into TexShare's programs
and services.
* Two groups advise the State Library about electronic databases:
TexShare's Electronic Information Working Group makes recommendations
about TexShare databases, while another group offers suggestions
about databases on the Texas State Electronic Library. These
groups will coordinate their activities, and work toward eventual
consolidation into one group.
* The State Library will inform public librarians about the
timetable for integrating public libraries into TexShare programs.
TexShare will continue to sponsor programs at the TLA Annual
Conference as well.
Working group reports
TexShare Card
Jay Clark, TexShare Card Working Group liaison, reported on these
issues:
- To make it easier to follow-up on questions that might arise
about TexShare Card statistical reports from community college
districts with multiple campuses, the committee recommends that
campus libraries be responsible for reporting TexShare Card
use statistics.
- The working group is evaluating the TexShare Card and brochure
so the State Library can reprint these items in time for fall
classes.
TExpress Courier Service
Jo Anne Hawkins, Courier Working Group liaison, said there are
now 97 TExpress sites. Though the number of sites has increased,
the incidence of reported problems with the courier service has
remained low. Updated courier use statistics show that TExpress
sites have realized considerable cost savings over what they would
have paid to send their shipments through the mail.
Bonnie Juergens reported about courier administrative issues
for Amigos, the TExpress courier service agent. In fiscal year
1999, the State Library has contracted with Amigos for management
of the courier service, and provided a subsidy to enable TexShare
libraries to pay a lower rate for the courier service. In FY 2000,
the State Library will drop the TExpress management contract in
favor of an increased subsidy. This means courier sites will pay
even less than they are now paying.
The TExpress management contract expires on 31 August 1999, while
the new courier subsidy will begin on 1 January 2000. The AMIGOS
price of $2,500 per site for a 12 month subscription for TExpress
service has been only partially subsidized by TexShare through
December and more fully subsidized only through the end of August,
1999. The current TExpress participants have been invoiced through
the end of December, 1999. Because of the difference in timing
cycles, the subsidy falls $10,453 short of the cost of the program.
Rather than charging participating libraries an additional fee,
Juergens recommended that TexShare cover this gap in funding.
Juergens states that Michael Piper proposed to have this paid
from pre-1999 TexShare funding currently being managed by AMIGOS.
The advisory board supported this recommendation.
Ms. Juergens also reported that AMIGOS has launched the "TransAMIGOS"
Express, a courier service for Amigos members in Texas and Oklahoma.
This courier service will expand to Amigos members in New Mexico,
Arkansas, and Arizona. TExpress sites will be able to make shipments
on this expanded multi-state courier network at no additional
charge.
Education
The Advisory Board accepted the Education Working Group's recommendation
that TexShare fund the Third ILL Workshop being planned by ILL
Working Group. TSLAC will fund the event, with the exception of
food and travel costs for working group members. AMIGOS will use
approximately $7,500 from pre-1999 TexShare funding currently
being managed by AMIGOS to cover these costs.
Upcoming TexShare workshops are planned on these topics: Copyright
& the Web, Using OVID, Using Ariel, and OCLC ILL. The Education
Working Group will develop guidelines on the types of training
appropriate for TexShare subsidies.
Electronic Information
Sue Phillips said the State Library has funded fully-subsidized
access to Electric Library and Ethnic News Watch for TexShare
members. Both of these services are available to public libraries
via the Texas State Electronic Library. In negotiating these public
library database contracts, the State Library was able to add
academic libraries at an attractive rate, an illustration of the
positive effects of integrating the State Library's resource sharing
programs. These new databases will soon be available to academic
and public libraries across Texas.
Recent TexSelect database offerings include the MLA Bibliography
from the Modern Language Association, Books in Print, CINAHL (the
Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) and
two full text nursing journals collections. Seventy-two TexShare
libraries signed up for a total of 159 subscriptions. Renewals
are in process for previous TexSelect offerings -- Britannica
Online and Gale products. Gale is also making its products available
to the Public Libraries under this TexSelect offer. Britannica
Online is already available to public libraries via the Texas
State Electronic Library.
Recently the Electronic Information Working Group's has conducted
an initial survey of TexShare members to determine their preferences
for new databases. Top choices identified in this survey will
provide a basis for another follow-up survey to be issued soon.
At the March Board meeting, Sue Phillips referred to a message
on the TexShare discussion list about problems with the latest
release of the Ovid database software. Updating the Board on this
issue, Phillips said these problems will be addressed soon.
Interlibrary Loan
Sara Lowman said plans are underway for TexShare's Third Annual
ILL Workshop, which is set for November 19 in Dallas. Public librarians
will be invited to this session. Statistics and a report on the
Cost Effectiveness of Using Ariel are available on the TexShare
Web site at http://www.texshare.edu/About/groups/LibLoan/LibLoan.html.
Texas Collections
Michael Piper reported for Kathy Hoffman. In the FY 2000 TexTreasures
grant cycle, there were nine proposals totaling $135,366. The
Texas Collections Working Group reviewed these proposals, and
recommended funding for seven of them.
On 8 July, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission approved
the group's recommendations with this reservation: the Commission
requested clarification on one proposal. This clarification will
be presented at the Commission's August meeting, when the Commission
will take final action concerning that proposal.
This fall, the State Library will announce the FY 2001 TexTreasures
grant cycle. Board members agreed the emphasis in TexTreasures
needs to be on improved access to unique resources, wherever they
are located. So the Advisory Board endorsed the State Library's
recommendation to open future TexTreasures grant cycles to public
libraries.
Since the working group's funding recommendations for the FY
2000 grant cycle were less than the full $100,000 budget, the
Board saw no reason to increase the budget for TexTreasures in
FY 2001. This issue can be revisited, once the Working Group has
reviewed the FY 2001 grant proposals. To improve the quality of
TexTreasures grant proposals, the Advisory Board endorsed the
Working Group's recommendation to offer grant writing workshops.
FY 2000 technical support contract with UT is
in process
Michael Piper reported that negotiations for the TexShare technical
support contract are underway. For FY 2000, the Board endorsed
including a remote access demonstration project in the technical
support contract with the University of Texas.
Plans call for UT to implement remote database access gradually,
with a few volunteer sites at first. After gaining experience
and compiling cost data during the demo project, remote access
will be offered as a TexSelect service on a cost-recovery
basis in subsequent years. For more on remote access, see
http://proxy.texshare.edu
Board endorses FY 2000 courier contract provisions
With regard to the TExpress courier, the TexShare Advisory Board
agreed to:
* Set the target price for TExpress at $1,000 per site in FY
2000. Since the full cost is $2,500 per site, TexShare will
subsidize TExpress at $1,500 per library next year. [Note: the
subsidy may be "per member"]
* Subsidize 200 academic and public library sites statewide,
for a total subsidy of $300,000. Adding public libraries to
TExpress will increase service to all courier sites, in the
Advisory Board's view.
* Establish a $50,000 contingency in the TexShare budget, in
case more than 200 libraries sign on for TExpress service.
* Keep the current calendar year courier service subscription
period, to give the courier provider and the State Library plenty
of time for start-up.
Advisory Board accepts preliminary budget
Michael Piper presented the proposed FY 2000 budget for TexShare.
Although the Legislature approved a one million-dollar increase
for TexShare in FY 2000, the actual total budget increase is $921,897.
That's because the 1999 budget includes a one-time carry- over
of $102,703 in capital funds from TIF, the Telecommunications
Infrastructure Fund.
The proposed FY 2000 TexShare budget totals $2,251,300. It includes
$1.4 million for database services, double the amount in the FY
1999 TexShare budget. After reviewing the numbers, the Advisory
Board asked staff to proceed with implementing the proposed FY
2000 TexShare budget.
Board expresses appreciation to Robert Martin
for his service as State Librarian
Board members gave thanks to State Librarian Robert Martin, who
is leaving the State Library to accept a teaching post at Texas
Woman's University. He will be missed.
Upcoming TexShare Advisory Board meetings
* Fall meeting: September 22, 1999 at the State Library in Austin
* Late Fall meeting: December date to be determined, at the UT
Southwestern Medical Center conference Room, Dallas (contingent
upon decision of September meeting)
Present:
Advisory Board members present: Marty Adamson (University of
Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas); Paul Dumont (Dallas
Community College District); Marsha Harper (Abilene Christian
University); George Huffman (Amarillo College); J.Grant Jones
(public representative, Abilene); S. Joe McCord (University of
Houston - Clear Lake); Robert Seal (Texas Christian University)
and Darryl Tocker (public representative, Austin)
Working Group liaisons: Bonnie Juergens (Amigos); Jay Clark (San
Jacinto Community College); JoAnne Hawkins (University of Texas
at Austin); Sara Lowman (Rice University) and Sue Phillips (University
of Texas at Austin)
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Robert Martin and
Michael Piper
Visitors: David Gill (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board);
Rhoda Goldberg (Harris County Public Library); Norman Hood (Independent
Colleges & Universities of Texas); Mark McFarland (University
of Texas at Austin) and Eva Poole (Denton Public Library)
Recorder: Beverley Shirley, Texas State Library and Archives
Commission
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