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

2. CIO Update--HomeNet--HomeNet will be phased out at the end of this fiscal year. Modified versions of WebNet will be made available: $1.95/month will provide 10 hours of service, plus unlimited use between 3:00 and 7:00 a.m.; unlimited use had been $12.95 and has been reduced substantially. There will be better speed and technology, and Web space will be provided for storing messages.

Printing in Computer Labs--A decision had been made to provide 100 free pages to students at an estimated cost of $120,000; after talking to student government leaders, it was agreed to try a pilot for one quarter to change the allotment to 50 pages/quarter (ca. 200/year) and re-examine the cost issue at the conclusion of the pilot. The pilot did result in better usage. A question was asked as to whether the copies could be rolled over to the next quarter, and the answer was no, that is not currently being done.

Annual Meetings with Deans and Vice Presidents--The annual meetings with Deans and Vice Presidents should be completed within a month. They are provided with a list of services that have been provided during the preceding year, as well as an overview of CIO programs; lists of action items are also developed.

Microsoft Contract--Microsoft will no longer be providing differential contracts to universities. Under the existing contract it has cost ca. $570,000 to cover Microsoft software for all students. Under the revised pricing the charges for the same software would be nearly $2 million; smaller packages will be a necessity. Negotiations with Microsoft allow for phasing in the new charges over a three year period and have also received their agreement that software may be installed on home computers during an individual's affiliation with OSU. Efforts will be continued to provide the largest amount of software at the lowest cost possible.

2. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)--Beginning in Autumn Quarter 2002 graduate students are required to submit dissertations in electronic format; they will be stored on OhioLINK computers and archived to microfilm. Some students have expressed concern about their ability to publish books and/or articles based upon the dissertation if it has already been available electronically. William Clark distributed copies of communications from publishers, some of whom do not consider dissemination of a dissertation on the Internet to be "previous publication" of the work and others belive that it does represent publication. In order to deal with the latter situation, a Policy and Mechanisms for Delaying the Electronic Dissemination of Doctoral Dissertations has been implemented.

Scott Lissner, ADA Coordinator in the Office of Academic Affairs, distributed a draft document titled "Publishing in Digital Formats: Baseline for Access". The mandate to add the tagging to provide accessibility to the electronic data exists, and we need to move forward as rapidly as possible. In order to be fully accessible the PDF document must have appropriate tagging. Do we have the necessary technology and software available? Only the most current version of Adobe Acrobat is capable of providing the required tagging. Inserting the tags may take three to five hours, but there is also an investment in time to learn how to use the software.

What locations have the software, who will pay, and what help is available to the students for its use? The biggest cost involved will be for training, and the time costs will be great. Once the software is obtained there is an obligation to keep it updated. Scott Lissner will provide support for the initial training that is required, and those who have been trained can then provide the training to other staff and students. Computer Labs need to have the most current version of Adobe Acrobat available, and the folks who are working at the Help Desks must be able to provide the necessary assistance to the students.

3. Knowledge Bank--A preliminary proposal was submitted on February 13 to FIPSE (Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education) for a three year grant to support development of the Knowledge Bank in conjunction with OhioLINK. We should know by the end of March whether we should submit a final proposal in May.

4. Main Library Renovation--When undertaking large renovation and construction projects at the University, the practice is to involve both a local Ohio architect and a national design firm. The local firm, George Acock Associates, was selected in December and is assisting the University review committee that will select the design architect. On February 12-14 a team of six individuals (two from FPD, two from the Libraries and two from Acock Associates) visited seven architectural firms--Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbot, Perry Dean Rogers, Einhorm Yaffee Prescott and Graham Gund in Boston; Gwathmey Siegel and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer in New York, and Kieran Timberlake in Philadelphia. The visits allowed for a two to three hour meeting and tour of each of their facilities, and enabled the team to get a better sense of their skills and the "fit" between the two architectural firms and the University's needs; much more than can be realized in a 40-minute interview on campus. As a result of the visits, a short list of four firms was identified, and they will be interviewed by the review committee on March 5 here on campus:

• Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbot
• Graham Gund
• Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer
• Kieran Timberlake

Interviews were held for the Construction Manager firm on February 21, and a recommendation made, which is not yet official. Engineering firms will be interviewed on March 17 and 18, and a selection made on March 18. With that selection, the full team will be assembled and the design phase of the renovation project will begin with wide involvement of the Libraries and the campus community.

The capital funds that have been received thus far are sufficient only to complete the design phase of the project. Construction funds will be sought in the capital requests in 2004 and 2006. Development/fund-raising is continuous, and the Libraries has thus far raised over $12 million of our $30 million goal. The campaign will not go public until we have reached $15 million or more.

Betty Sawyers for
Joseph Branin and Ilee Rhimes