Faculty Senate

Rita Leahy, chair, July-December 1999
Lawrence A. Landis, chair, December 1999-June 2000

During the 1999/2000 academic year, the Faculty Senate Library Committee fulfilled its responsibilities in 
the three areas outlined in its standing rules: (1) meeting the learning, instruction, and research needs of 
students, faculty and staff; (2) formulating library policies in relation to circulation, budgets, services, and 
development of resources for instruction and research; and (3) interpreting the needs and policies of the 
library to the University.  The committee members discussed and acted upon several issues over the course 
of the year, including Library support for new programs (Category I curriculum proposals); revision of the 
library research study room policy; the library collection conspectus; library budget issues (including journal 
cuts); and ARL status.

Library Support for New Programs
This project, begun during the 1998/1999 academic year, was an effort to document the amount of money 
required for purchase of library materials needed to support new academic programs and departments 
(Category I curriculum proposals) over the past 15-20 years.  There is currently no mechanism in place in 
the curriculum proposal process to ensure that funding for such library materials is forthcoming from either 
the sponsor of the new program or the central administration. Consequently, any new materials purchased 
come out of the library's regular acquisitions budget.

Gary Beach, who headed this project, was able to complete the review of category I proposals back to about 
1990 and determined that no funds (from either academic units or central administration) had ever been 
transferred to the library to support any new programs.  He drafted a resolution for consideration by the Library 
Committee and directed to the Faculty Senate and the Curriculum Council, which would recommend that library 
funding needed for a Category I proposal be moved from the departmental budget to the library for three years.

Gary was unable to complete the refinement of the resolution by the end of the academic year.  The Library
 Committee will complete this project during the 2000/2001 academic year.

Research Study Room Policy
Library Committee member Heidi Brayman Hackel brought up to the committee the library's policy of limiting 
the use of research study rooms to one term, which she felt was too short.  Another issue was the lack of 
use of the study rooms once they were assigned.  The committee discussed various alternatives, such as 
providing a range of choices for length of time, setting aside study rooms exclusively for faculty use, and 
graduate students 
sharing study rooms.

A subcommittee was formed to look at the issues in more detail and make recommendations to the full 
committee on changes to the research study room policy.  By the end of the academic year, the sub-
committee had completed a survey of users of the research study rooms and had recommended setting 
aside a portion of the study rooms for long term use, with faculty and graduate students applying for them.  
A committee consisting of Library Committee members and library faculty would review the applications.  
The remaining study rooms would be allocated term by term on a first-come, first-serve basis.  All study 
rooms would be monitored for use.  This project will be completed early in the 2000/2001 academic year.

Library Collection Conspectus
Beginning in February 1999, the Library conducted a collection conspectus, which is an evaluation of all 
aspects of its print collection.  The primary purpose of the conspectus was to determine the collection's 
strengths and weaknesses through comparison with given bibliographies.  Library staff provided the committee 
with periodic updates on the conspectus.  

At the March committee meeting Bonnie Allen and other library staff within collection development presented 
an overview of the project, as well as discussion of the major subject areas covered in the project: business, 
liberal arts, biological sciences, agricultural sciences, and physical sciences.  Bonnie concluded the presentation 
by explaining how the results from the conspectus would be utilized, such as in helping to determine acquisition 
priorities, analyzing Category I proposals, compiling accreditation reports, and in fund raising efforts.

Library Budget Issues
Several budgetary issues were discussed by the Library Committee over the course of the year, the most 
significant being journal cuts needed to offset the spiraling costs of these materials (10% increases annually 
over the past several years).  One of the primary concerns of the committee was how the cuts would be equitably 
spread across academic departments.  Library staff indicated that equity would be achieved in part through the 
budget allocation formula for departments and whether or not a department has in its departmental collection titles 
slated to be cut.  Other means of lessening the impact would be to look at what other universities in the state have 
and cut those titles found at multiple institutions, dropping the paper version in favor of the electronic version, and 
leveraging of purchases through consortial arrangements.

Gary Beach regularly provided the committee with detailed information on the status of the library's budget, 
particularly in terms of achieving the goal of 4% of the total university budget within six years, as well as the 
likelihood of future budgetary increases.

ARL Status
The library's ARL status has been an ongoing topic of discussion for the committee for several years.  During 
the year, Karyle Butcher met with ARL officials, who determined that OSU was a stronger candidate for admission 
than previously thought.  ARL has also looked at changing some of its criteria.  During the spring, President Risser 
signed a letter supporting OSU's nomination for ARL membership. 

Karyle also briefed the committee on SPARC (Scholarly Publishing Automation Research Consortia), a group of 
publishers, libraries and scholars working to reduce the high costs of journals by encouraging faculty to publish in 
electronic format.  This is seen as competition for ARL and may reduce the prestige associated with ARL membership.

Other Issues
During the winter, library administration decided that in order to recover some of the costs of printing from computers 
in the Information Commons (estimated to be $70,000 annually), it would need to institute a printing charge.  After 
discussing the issue at two meetings, the Library Committee voted to recommend to the library administration a 
.07/page charge.

The committee also discussed whether or not the library should pass on the charges for activating study room data 
ports.  After considerable discussion, it was decided to gather additional data on this issue and write a TRF proposal 
for funds to underwrite these costs.

Karyle Butcher kept the committee updated on other initiatives, such as membership in the Big 12 Plus libraries 
consortium.

The committee chair served on the accreditation team that compiled the self-study report on the Library and Information 
Services.

1999-2000 Committee Members:
Lawrence Landis '00, Chair (December 1999-June 2000)
Rity Leahy, Chair (July-December 1999)
Gary Beach '00 
Heidi Brayman Hackel (v.Wade) '00 
Mark Larson (v. Leahy) '01 
Steve Rubert '01 
Shaio-Ling Yu '01  
David Horne '02  
Darlene Judd '02 
Cynthia Twohy '02 
Ex-Officio: University Librarian (Karyle Butcher)
Student Member -
- Christine Armer (Graduate Student)