1. The meeting was called to order by Lewis Ulman, Chair, and introductions made.

2. Central E-mail Status--Chuck Morrow-Jones reported that central e-mail has been handling 500-550K messages per day; a rate that is 50% higher than one year ago and 150% higher than two years ago. On December 19, the university was subject to an attack which deluged the system with more than two million messages in two days; delivery times were increased and recovery measures introduced a bug that resulted in a loss of ca. .8% of the mail received during the problem period that stretched into mid-January. As a result of this problem OIT has stepped up their ability to identify potential problems earlier, and they have improved the monitoring of e-mail both inside and outside OIT. There was a separate, and worldwide, problem with e-mail this past weekend.

The new e-mail system that is being implemented is partially in production; they must still move ca. 100,000 accounts to the new storage devices. The new system will allow users to leave messages on the server, rather than being required to download all messages to their PCs. Quotas on the new server will be set at 15 megabytes for undergraduate students and 30 megabytes for faculty, staff, and graduate students. Warnings will be sent when users have reached 80% of their allotted space; if the quota is reached, no new mail will be accepted, but it will be kept for four days before being returned to the sender. The option does exist to download the messages and store them on a PC. Messages left on the server will be subject to public records laws. There will be central elimination of spam and viruses.

3. HomeNet and Broadband Access--Bob Corbin reported on the current status of implementing a replacement for the HomeNet service, which will be discontinued at the end of the current fiscal year. Meetings are being held with various constituency groups; they have had good discussions with the Graduate Student Association, which has no real concerns other than an interest in good rates for broadband access. Talks are progressing with WideOpenWest (WOW), which is proposing discounted rates for OSU affiliates, plus a 5% return to OSU for those who signup using the OSU Promotion Code. Additional information about rates, etc. is available at the WOW Web site. A question was raised concerning the acceptability of home networks to WOW; Bob will followup to find the answer. Additional commercial providers are being explored, as well.

Adjustments are also being made to WebNet rates to accommodate folks who need access as cheaply as possible. Beginning April 1 of this year, the rate for unlimited access will be $8.95/month; 10 hours of access anytime, plus free access from 3:00-7:00 a.m. will be $1.95/month; and 100 hours of access anytime, plus free access from 3:00-7:00 a.m. will be $6.95/month.

The policy on reimbursement for Internet usage was being held up while waiting on the establishment of a payroll code, which has now been implemented. The draft policy will be available for comment for the next couple of months.

4. PlanIT--Cathy Bindewald reported that the PlanIT process has now moved into the phase of developing initiatives and an implementation plan. A number of initiatives have been identified under the broad headings of Collaborative Environment, Engaged leadership, Enabling Infrastructure, Seamless and Secure Access, and Empowered Campus Community. A document is being developed which will identify the pros and cons of each of the initiatives which will serve as discussion points for a series of meetings that will be held. A number of the initiatives do not require additional funding, but rather a time commitment.

5. Overall IT Status--Ohio State is the owner of one of five technical projects nominated for honors by Microsoft. The annual round of meetings with Deans has begun. The MicroSoft contract is up in October, and MicroSoft has declined to provide the same deal that is currently in force. They will require the university to move up to the standard educational rates, but may allow gradual increases by year.

6. Main Library Renovation--Wes Boomgaarden reported that the Main Library Renovation Project began to move forward in 2002 with the hiring of the local Architect of Record, George Acock Associates Architects. Acock has begun the documentation phase, taking measurements and photographing the existing structure. The next steps involve selection of the National (Design) Architect, Engineer, and Project Manager. Twenty-four design architects have submitted proposals; seven of them will be visited and a final four or five will be invited to make presentations, from which a final selection will be made. Once the National Architect is selected, the design process will begin from scratch, identifying the program requirements--how much space is needed for each activity/service and where it should be located.

The Council needs to be involved in the design process, helping with focus groups, open meetings, and identifying faculty and others who will introduce the subject at faculty meetings and other gatherings on campus. It is imperative that we obtain input from the broadest possible array of library users to insure that the renovated building will meet the needs of the campus community.

7. Knowledge Bank--Joe Branin provided a status report on the OSU Knowledge Bank. The current concept of a Knowledge Bank grew out of a need identified by the Distance Learning Task Force, which came to the Libraries with a request to apply the expertise that had been gained in dealing with published materials to unpublished material. The Task Force issued a Report in June 2002, and was asked to develop an action plan. An Action Plan for the remainder of 2002 was issued in July, and a Knowledge Bank Implementation Plan and Budget Request was submitted to the Provost in December 2002. It had been hoped that at least partial, one-time funding would be made available, but word has been received that no additional funds will be provided at this time. The project will be pursued with existing resources, although progress will not be as rapid as had been hoped. Talks will continue with Faculty to identify their needs, and presentations will be made at EDUCAUSE and other venues. The purpose of the project is provide a central resource to allow sharing and preservation of information and data that now exist only on individual PCs and servers.

It is hoped that in the next year a technical infrastructure can be developed by existing personnel working parttime on the project. OIT is partnering with the Libraries, and OCLC and OhioLINK are also players in the project. Policies and standards must be adopted, and training provided to supply the necessary tools for implementation. Additional sources of funding will continue to be sought.

As part of the Knowledge Bank implementation, the Libraries and OIT will be participating in a year-long DSpace Federation Project. Three technical staff are being sent to MIT for training; and DSpace will be installed on the new OIT mainframe.

8. Lecture on Scholarly Communication--The third lecture in a series on Scholarly Communication, co-sponsored by the Libraries, the Council, and BETHA was presented on January 15. There were two keynote speakers--Rick Johnson from SPARC (Association of Research LIbraries, Scholarly Publishing Academic Resources Coalition) and Kevin Guthrie from JSTOR (Journal Storage, the Scholarly Journal Archive)--followed by a reactor panel of editors and publishers. The lecture was well attended and well received.

9. Intellectual Property Issues--There are privacy, ownership, usage and other rights management issues relating to intellectual properties developed by university personnel that need to be resolved. Guidelines and FAQs dealing with the issues are needed to provide adequate guidance and support for university personnel. The university committee charged with dealing with these issues has been dormant awaiting the appointment of an Associate Vice President for Research, who is now on board.

10. Electronic Theses and Dissertations--Graduate students need support and assistance in meeting the ADA requirements for the theses and dissertations they are required to produce in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). It was suggested that Sean O'Briant and Scott Lissner be invited to the next Council meeting to discuss the technical and legal issues associated with the process.

Action Items

• Find out if WOW allows home networks
• Provide input on the draft policy for reimbursement of Internet charges

Betty Sawyers for
Joseph Branin & Ilee Rhimes