Members
present: Helene Baumann, Karl Fattig, Jeff Garrett, Mary Jackson, Deborah
Jakubs, Tom Kilton, Lou Pitschmann, Michael Seadle (recording), and Sem Sutter.
Members
absent: Roger Brisson, John van Oudenaren
GENERAL
The
Steering Committee (SC) confirmed the previous understanding that the chairs of
the working groups are full members, not just ex-officio.
Jeff
will confirm with Roger that he is willing to continue acting as Webmaster for
the project.
Mike
Olson has resigned as working group chair for personal and work-related reasons.
The SC expressed its thanks for his excellent service and leadership.
STATUS
REPORTS
COLLECTION
DEVELOPMENT. Tom Kilton was
elected the new chair of this group. He and Jeff presented a report on contact
partnerships. It was built using the list of
Sondersammelgebietsbibliotheken and various American sources (including the
North American title count). There
was some discussion about possible other areas to include, and about possible
names for contacts. The SC agreed
that the implication of the contact relationships went beyond collection
development. The SC also agreed
that Duane Webster of ARL would be the appropriate person to write to directors
of German libraries to propose these relationships, and to request that an
individual on the German side be appointed as point person for the purposes of
the contact partnership. A second letter will be prepared by ARL for
transmission to the directors of GRP member libraries requesting their
participation in order to identify GRP Corresponding Libraries and Subject
Liaisons. Jeff Garrett and Tom Kilton will work with the Collection Development
Working Group (CDWG) on a draft of these letters. The CDWG planed to meet
immediately after the SC meeting.
DIGITAL
LIBRARIES. Michael (as chair of
this working group) reported on the new initiative by the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft and the National Science Foundation to enable joint
German-American digital projects. The
working group helped foster one grant proposal last year on the "age of
discovery" between Brown and Göttingen, and another on witchcraft is well
underway between the Bavarian State Library, the Ludwig Maximillian University
in Munich, the University of Trier, Michigan State University, and (hopefully)
Cornell. The University of Iowa is
also looking for a German partner for a project with its Dada collection. Proposals are also being prepared on World War One and on
Colonialism. There appears to be
significant enthusiasm, particularly on the German side, for these digital
library collaborations.
DOCUMENT
DELIVERY. Sem (as chair of this working group) reported that the document
delivery website is up and working at Goettingen. They have set up a listserv
for ILL librarians from GRP libraries, and have had a number of newly
established deposit accounts, bringing the total to 18. The SC will contact the
Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) about the possiblity of
establishing a group of libraries who would be willing to lend or deliver
documents to our German partners. Mary is working to get the right level of
detail for transaction reports for American libraries.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC
CONTROL. Karl (as chair of this
working group) reported that the project to translate AACR2 has reached the
proofreading states. The working
group would like to identify German cataloging expertise in American libraries.
Karl also noted German involvement in CORC.
KONGRESS2000
PARTIC
SC
members raised concerns about the selection process for speakers for
Kongress2000. Lou apologized for
the lack of consultation. A number
of factors contributed, including a much shrunken presentation time, and an
unexpected need for a quick decision. Bottom
line: it will not happen again.
The
speakers will be Lou, giving an overview of the project as a whole; Sem talking
about document delivery developments; and Michael talking about Digital Library
initiatives. The SC suggested that
someone also talk briefly about the collection development partnership efforts,
and Sem volunteered to include that in his time. He will be in regular contact
with the CD WG for input and advice on this part of his presentation.
The
SC requested that our Web site include a link to the Kongress2000 Web site.
A deadline of 15 February was set to carry this out.
COMMUNICATION
& NEEDS ASSESSMENT
The
SC agreed to hold a 2 hour general membership meeting on the Friday of the ALA
Annual Meeting in Chicago. The SC
will meet from 5:30-6:30 in closed session.
The general membership will meet from 7:00 to 9:00.
The
SC also agreed to aim at a meeting with German project members at ALA Midwinter
2001. By then some of the
partnership arrangements should be in place.
SC members felt that attempting to hold a joint meeting earlier simply
did not give enough time to be ready.
There
was also discussion about: 1) communicating with directors so that they
understand the amount of time involved in active participation in a cooperative
project; 2) the possibility of a newsletter, either paper or email; 3) a needs
analysis survey.
The meeting ended at 7:30 because the Collection Development Working Group meeting was about to begin.
Minutes
prepared by Michael Seadle