ARKLink Meeting Minutes

Friday, February 2, 2001, 12:00 p.m.
University of Arkansas - Little Rock

People in attendance were:

Election Results: 

The results of the election were read by Janet Parsch.  Peggy Morrison is the Chair-elect and Mark Shores is the secretary.

E-mail has been sent out regarding implementation of the by-laws.  So far 25 institutions have responded.  The list of delegates and alternates from each institution will soon appear on the ARKLink website.

The volunteers were listed off for the task forces.  There were several additions to the current lists.  These task forces will also be added to the ARKLink website.

Janet stressed that the by-laws stipulate that representation from all types of libraries on the ARKLink Board of Directors is required.  If this is not achieved by the election of officers or task force chairs, then librarians from those under-represented library types will likely be appointed to the board.

Database Purchasing Task Force (Amanda Moore, UCA)

CINAHL: One institution pulled out of the CINAHL agreement, but even so the final price quote was less than the original quote.

PsycINFO: All of the FTE counts for PsycINFO have been submitted to Amigos.  A quote from SilverPlatter will be forthcoming.  Amanda reported that ARKLink is urged to move quickly on purchasing.
American Chemical Society:  At the last general ARKLink meeting, it was determined that the pricing structure for ACS was not advantageous.  Amanda reported that ACS is showing willingness to consider other proposals.  What would perhaps would be most advantageous for ARKLink would be a price based on FTE counts, all journal titles (not selected ones), unlimited simultaneous users, and print OR electronic access (not both)

Amanda urged anyone with models for how to figure out pricing for online databases to send them to her.

Amanda has been in touch with the new Gale Group representative.  There will be a free trial through the end of February to some of the Gale databases.  Amanda will send out the userID and password to the ARCULI-L listserv.  Amanda said the Gale representative would get us a quote for History Resource Center.  Bob Yehl (Henderson) suggested that it might be better for small campuses to have only 1 simultaneous user at a time, if that would help keep overall database prices more reasonable.

Janet passed out a copy of the ARKlink Gateway Collection, which lists the 7 top online databases that ARKLink is interested in.  In trying to keep current with the group's needs, it was suggested that each institution submit their "Top 3" most-wanted databases directly to Janet.

Collection Development Task Force (Amanda Moore)

Amanda reported no significant action by the Collection Development Task Force.  Amanda did report that from her research, FirstSearch's ECO (Electronic Collections Online) is not financially advantageous for ARKLink.  Amanda would appreciate any feedback on the Collection Development statement, which will soon be posted to the website.

Governance (Susan Goldner - UALR Law; Henry Terrill, Harding)

Susan reported that ARKLink needs to figure its "structure" if we are to apply for grants.  Henry reported that the committee is still investigating 501 (3)(c)  status for ARKlink.

Resource Sharing (Peggy Morrison)

Bits of information are coming in regarding the courier service.  Amigos' courier service is limited to Amigos customers only, while Missouri-based Lanter would handle deliveries/pickups from all non-Amigos members.  Amigos courier fees are approximately $2600 per delivery node, which is likely too expensive for smaller institutions.  Peggy reported that a way could be found to make it possible for smaller sites to participate.  The committee is leaning towards Amigos because of familiarity.  One concern is what happens with deliveries to non-Amigos sites.  It is important to make the price fair for all institutions.  Bob Yehl suggested that it might be good to contact the larger public libraries that are also Amigos members.  Partnering with public libraries might lower costs.  Peggy has spoken with Jack Mulkey, Director of the Arkansas State Library.  Her goal is to have a report distributed before the next ARKLink meeting.

Network Advisory Committee report (Kathy Sanders, UALR)

Kathy Sanders, who is the new chair of the Network Advisory Committee, reported that Arkansas' focus for the LSTA funding is leaning more and more towards full-text databases and that OCLC FirstSearch might be in jeopardy for future funding.  Approximately $500,000 will be available in LSTA monies.  After discussion, it was decided that ARKLink will write a letter of support for continuation of the OCLC FirstSearch & ProQuest Direct service as part of the LSTA databases provided by the Arkansas State Library.   It was felt that FirstSearch is very important to academic libraries.  ProQuest Direct has been funded for two+ years and for the sake of continuity, it would be advantageous to continue funding that database as well.   Janet and Mark will draft this letter of support for FirstSearch & ProQuest Direct before the Network Advisory Committee's May meeting.  The letter will also state ARKLink's interest in re-evaluating full-text databases every three years.  Kathy and other members of the Network Advisory Committee who were present (Virginia Perschbacher and Susan Goldner) stressed the need for feedback on the databases to them or to any of the committee members.  Bob Frizzell (Hendrix) also represents academic libraries on the Network Advisory Committee.

Legislative Update (Janet Parsch)

Janet reported that state legislators are aware of ARKLink core curriculum database initiatives.

The ARKLink co-chairs received a letter from UALR Chancellor Charles
Hathaway expressing his support for the ARKLink initiatives and activities

Resolutions honoring the contributions of Myron Flugstad (co-chair) and Robert Frizzell (ex-Chair, Database Purchasing) were read and approved by all present.

Jerrie Townsend of Phillips Community College was asked to represent two-year colleges on the ARKLink Board of Directors, in the event that there aren't any ARKLink Task Force Chairs from two-year institutions.

The date for the next ARKLink meeting will be either April 20^th  in Little Rock or April 27^th at ASU at Beebe.  The exact date and location will be pinned down as soon as the schedule for Arkansas Library Association's College & University division meeting is finalized. Updates will be posted to the ARCULI-L listserv as required. 

Minutes submitted by Mark Shores

Page created 2/20/01
By Mark Shores