University Libraries Committee

Minutes for 17 March 2010

 

Present: Larry Boyer, Cheryl McFadden, Hunt McKinnon, Margit Schmidt, Marilyn Sheerer (provost), Dorothy Spencer, Chris Riley-Tillman, Patrick Valentine, James Wirth, David Wilson-Okamura

 

 

The committee met at 4:00 to accommodate a request from the provost.

 

A subcommittee, chaired by McKinnon, met during spring break to set the agenda for next week’s faculty forum (Mar. 17 at noon). Boyer and Spencer will begin with a fifteen-minute presentation on four upcoming issues or challenges: mission, budget, technology, and space. Power Point slides will be distributed to the committee ahead of time for comments and suggestions.

 

Provost Sheerer came at Valentine’s invitation to advocate for moving Project STEPP into Joyner. The university has a space crisis. The administration is trying to move activities that don’t directly involve faculty and students off-campus. Joyner would receive money for the new system if it used some of the space to house Project STEPP, which provides additional assistance to ECU students with learning disabilities. Since Joyner already houses the University Writing Center and the Pirate Tutoring Center, this would be a good environment for the Project STEPP students.

 

Valentine asked about an automatic retrieval system that Boyer has spoken about in the past.  Boyer wants one near the present library for quick retrieval of lesser used books.  By moving some of the stacks off-site, it would free up even more space for students. How should this be paid for, and how should the resulting space be used? Sheerer pointed out that it would be very expensive and not a likely item in the upcoming budget.

 

Wilson-Okamura: what would be replaced, and how would it be accessed? Boyer: journal backfiles that are available online could replace the paper copies now taking space in the library; these backfiles would be purchased, not rented. Wirth: what’s the longevity of electronic storage? Boyer: the paper originals are archived in “dark storage” in case of emergency. Wilson-Okamura: what role does ECU’s library have in preserving redundant copies? Boyer: we do archive unique materials, mainly materials from eastern NC but we are not a library of record, like UNC and NC State.

 

Boyer gave an update on the library first floor re-configuration project scheduled for this summer.

 

 

 

 

--Submitted by David Wilson-Okamura