1. Joe Branin, Interim Chair, welcomed the group to the inaugural meeting of the Council on Libraries and Information Technology and called the meeting to order.

2. Selection of Chair--Lewis Ulman was nominated to serve as Chair of the Council for the 2002/2003 academic year, and unanimously elected to that post. Although not present, he had indicated his willingness to serve in that position.

3. Overview and Update on University Libraries--Joe Branin, Director of Libraries, provided an overview of three of the major activities/concerns currently facing University Libraries. Renovation of Main Library--Planning for the renovation of the Main Library building is well underway. The Feasibility Study, which began in 2001 was completed in January 2002; both the complete report and the executive summary are available. The former Library Council was involved in the organization and implementation of the open meetings that were held by the architects responsible for the Study. The process of selecting the Architect of Record for the project is underway; once that selection has been made the project will move forward with the selection of the Design Architect, Construction Manager, etc. Once the Design Architect has been selected, the detailed design phase will begin and is expected to continue into 2005.

The project is progressing with the Option C, as identified in the Feasibility Study report, which is a $99 million project, for which the Libraries is obligated to acquire $30 million in private funds. The project has been given a high priority by the University; there will be two Development Officers working for the Libraries, and The Director of Libraries is spending ca. 25% of his time in development efforts. Thus far $11 million has been acquired, but there is still significant work remaining to acquire the remainder of the Libraries' obligation. There are significant logistical issues that must be faced concerning the housing of the staff and collections and servicing of the Libraries' resources during the construction phase of the building renovation.

Knowledge Bank--The concept of developing a Knowledge Bank for the University was launched during the last academic year. Early in the discussions it was recognized that there would be significant benefits to be gained by taking advantage of the Libraries' expertise in dealing with published materials and extending those capabilities to the unpublished digital assets of the University. A Proposal to Develop an OSU Knowledge Bank was issued in June of this year and was followed by an Action Plan for 2002 the following month. Local partners in the development of the Knowledge Bank are OhioLINK, OCLC, and Chemical Abstracts Service; OSU will also be one of five institutions partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a project to determine the applicability of the MIT DSpace software on their campuses.

Budget--The budget situation for the Libraries is difficult, with a 5% reallocation of funds experienced in the past fiscal year. Attempts were made to make cuts where they would be least harmful, but the Libraries did incur a 3% cut in the funds available to purchase library materials, a 10% cut in the funding available to hire student assistants, and the need to leave 16 positions vacant. Although it has been necessary to leave positions vacant, the Libraries has thus far been able to avoid the need for layoffs. The Libraries' staff and the campus community have been cooperative and supportive throughout the process of identifying where cuts could and should be made. The State economic situation does not look good; the Libraries will remain conservative and work on building a contingency fund of 4% in case budget cuts are mandated following the November election.

4. Overview and Update on Information Technology--Ilee Rhimes, Chief Information Officer, concurred with Joe Branin's assessment of the budget situation; IT experienced a 6% budget reduction during the last fiscal year, and they are also setting aside a 4% contingency fund. Unlike the Libraries, IT has been faced with layoffs and had to cut 47 positions in 2000. He went on to address the following topics: the relation of technology to the Academic Plan; the role and key personnel of the Offices of the CIO; strategic areas of excellence; highlights of the current year; key projects currently in progress; the IT Strategic Plan and the PlanIT Guiding Principles; the key challenges facing IT and the Offices of the CIO. Details of these topics can be seen in the PowerPoint slides used during the presentation. Two additional topics of current concern were also covered--the proposed discontinuance of Homenet service and student printing in the computer labs.

Homenet--A survey was conducted to identify the type and level of dial-in modem Internet service at OSU's peer institutions; the results of the survey were shared with the attendees. A broad range of charging patterns are represented, ranging from institutions providing broadband access at no charge to those that have always charged for dialup access. Dialup modems had formerly been the only means of remote access to OSU campus resources, but according to the OSU Poll there has been a continual decrease in the use of Homenet and a steady increase in the numbers of users--in all categories--who have acquired broadband access. The decrease in use, plus the fact that the technology is obsolete and would cost ca. $500,000 to upgrade, led to an announcement that the service would be discontinued at the end of the current fiscal year. Alternative solutions are being explored.

Printing in Computer Labs--Economic conditions had also led to a proposal to charge for all printing done in the computer labs on campus. Concerns raised by student government led to negotiations which resulted in a compromise which will provide a finite number of free pages per student with charges to be incurred beyond that point.

5. Goals and Agenda for the Year--Among the topics that were suggested for discussion during the coming year are the following:

• The Knowledge Bank and other opportunities for collaboration between the Libraries and IT
• The impact of technology on scholarly communication
• Status reports on the Main Library renovation
• Status reports on IT's Strategic Plan
• Metadata standards and assignment
• Status reports on Homenet replacement
• Course management and learning objects
• Digital Union for the display of new technology and furniture

Suggestions for additional topics should be sent to Betty Sawyers

6. Schedule of Meetings--Those in attendance agreed that 3:30-5:00 p.m. on Mondays was a convenient time to hold meetings for the remainder of the year.

Betty Sawyers for
Joseph Branin & Ilee Rhimes