Minutes of the Library Deans and Directors of the State University and Community College System of the Tennessee Board of Regents

MINUTES TBR LIBRARY DEANS AND DIRECTORS MEETING
OCTOBER 20, 1999

The meeting was held in the Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee.

Attending were Dr.Winston Walden (Tennessee Technological University), Chair, Lynn Bayless (Columbia State Community College), Yildiz Binkley (Tennessee State University), Becky Brunton (Roane State Community College), Rosa Burnett (State Technical Institute in Memphis), Scott Cohen (Jackson State Community College), Dr. Peter Consacro (TBR), Don Craig (Middle Tennessee State University), Jim Damewood (Walters State Community College), Penny Frere (TENNSHARE), John Hitchcock (Motlow State Community College), Annelle Huggins (University of Memphis), Dr. Donald Joyce (Austin Peay State University), Vicky Leather (Chattanooga State Technical Community College), Mary Evelyn Lynn (Cleveland State Community College), Duncan Parsons (Northeast State Technical Community College), Biddanda Ponappa (East Tennessee State University Medical School), Mike Rothacker (Volunteer State Community College), Rita Scher (East Tennessee State University), Jim Winters (TBR)

Robbie Kendall-Melton, Assistant Vice-Chancellor at TBR, discussed the goals of the Renaissance Center and led a tour of the facility. After the tour, the group had lunch.

The meeting began with an election of officers. John Hitchcock was voted in as Chair and Dr. Donald Joyce was elected Chair-Elect.

The group then voted for Becky Brunton to replace Sue Loper on the TALC Board.

There was discussion of where to have the Spring, 2000 meeting. Some wanted it to be in Kingsport at the TLA annual convention. Others felt that the dates of May 2,3,4 were too close to graduation and that the distance was too far. The group finally decided to have the next meeting in Nashville at the Board office in April. John Hitchcock will send out a list of dates for people to choose from during the month.

Dr. Peter Consacro then talked about various issues. He mentioned that the TAF funds resolution, passed by the Deans and Directors group at the last meeting, did not go to the Academic Sub-Council in the Spring, but would be brought up at the Sub-Council meeting tomorrow.

He then talked about TBR institutions which had recently undergone a SACS visitation. He said that SACS accreditation had changed. TBR Deans and Directors need to realize that SACS is positioning itselft to become stricter.

Dr. Consacro gave his opinion that when recommendations are made in the future that the institution would be in deep trouble. He felt that the school would be on warning and that there would be no follow up visit.

According to Dr. Consacro, SACS is not just an academic issue but an issue for the whole institution. He said that library services to distance learners is a very important consideration in a SACS visitation. He stated that off-campus services as a whole are not provided very well.

Dr. Joyce talked about a new set of standards that are not quantitative. Instead, they will say "What is the effectiveness of your institution?"

Dr. Binkley asked how libraries get their appropriations. Dr. Consacro stated that no specific percentage is designated and that it is put in a lump sum and the President of the college makes the allotment.

Dr. Consacro then said that SACS is looking at the percentage of money alloted to the library. He then brought up the issue that many administrators feel that the library is no longer needed (that electronic libraries and the Internet will supplant the library.) Dr. Consacro then said that librarians need to collectively try to reassert the importance of the Academic Library. Dr. Joyce added that librarians should be on committees and be highly visible.

Dr. Consacro continued by recommending that librarians be on SACS visitation committees or serve as "observers", or even go to the SACS meetings. He stated that applications to serve on visitation teams are available at the SACS web site. The President of the institution can send a note to SACS recommending someone.

He concluded by saying that written records of all surveys and subsequent discussions of actions to be taken as a result of the survey be placed in a portfolio or notebook so the visiting team can look at it. It is up to the librarian to explain why they did or did not address the points made in the survey. Everything revolves today around student learning and surveys need to reflect student learning questions.

Someone brought up an alternative mode of accreditation. Becky Brunton said that Roane State had chosen that method. The institution looks at all the "must" statements and says that it is in compliance. Then, the institution addresses a single item to focus on during the SACS visit.

It was also suggested that a librarian should serve on the SACS steering committee at the college or university.

Jim Winters then talked about TEL. Jim had talked with the State Library personnel about how TBR could help with TEL. Jim got IP addresses for all the TBR institutions and sent them to Gale. However, Gale didn't agree to do what they had said they would do. They began issuing user names and passwords to some libraries instead of IP addresses.

Jim also mentioned that the password for remote users of TEL will change every six months.

Jim then talked about the TNII network. The state has entered into a contract with BellSouth for a new high speed network for data, video and voice. It will combine the TECNET, the state network and the UT network. Next summer, the new network will be implemented. There will be some changes in the way things work.

Next Penny Frere discussed TEL. She mentioned that 20 training sessions will be provided by Gale. People going to these sessions agree to train others in the area, not just their own schools. The sessions will last three hours.

Penny then talked about TLA Legislative day and encouraged academic librarians to participate. She said TBR librarians should lobby the legislators about TEL. She asked that the TBR group contact 3 non-librarians about going to the TLA legislative day on February 2, 2000.

Priority needs for libraries throughout the state have to be formulated according to Penny. TEL should be at the top of the list for state funding. Rosa Burnett felt that the TBR group should come up with priorities and vote on it by e-mail.

Next, Don Craig talked about the memo from Raymond Pipkin of the University of Memphis which stated that librarians don't report their valuation of materials correctly according to the General Accepted Accounting Principles. He passed out minutes of the State Finance Committee.

Annelle Huggins talked about a new form of audit in 2001-2002. She said we need to come up with a new method of valuation which would show the "fair value of items" and do this on an ongoing basis. A need exists for capitalized value.

According to Annelle, Raymond Pipkin wanted to have every item given a correct cost. Librarians would have to determine the cost of a periodical subscription for a bound volume, for example and the cost of every item that is received. There might be a need to go back historically and do this.

Electronic databases are not considered capitalized assets since if they were dropped tomorrow, a library would not have it on hand.

The next item of business was the Bylaws revision vote. Everything was accepted unanimously. The Values Statement of the group which had been formulated over a several year period was then formally adopted.

The discussion of the Mutual Borrower's Agreement was tabled to the next meeting. Winston Walden mentioned that the TALC policy is more restrictive than the current TBR policy since a library user has to get a TALC card before borrowing. He said that Pellissippi State has a TALC card on its web page which makes getting a card easier.

Scott Cohen, interim Secretary