Wednesday, 22 October, 2008
3:30pm - 5:00pm
Stauffer Library, Room 121

Present: C. Adamson (Stauffer), S. Andrychuk (Stauffer), R. Ascough (Religious Studies), P. Baxter (Film & Media), D. Burke (Stauffer), C. Chen (Business), D. Chamberlain (Spanish), J. Druery (Stauffer), S. Greaves (Stauffer), A. Chowdhury on behalf of A. Jainchill (History), E. Gibson (Library), S. Greaves (Library), J. Hosek (German), L. Keelmann (Art History, Undergraduate student rep.), E. Kelley (Psychology), S. Larin (Political Studies, Graduate student rep.), B. Law (Kinesiology & Health Studies), F. Lewis (Economics), J. Linton on behalf of N. Scott (Geography), F.P. Lock (English), C. Miners (Business), J. Moon (Stauffer), M.S. Mosco (Italian), S. Murphy (Études françaises, Graduate student rep.), J. Nesbitt (Stauffer), J. Philipps (Library Collections), N. Rewa (Drama), N. Soini (Stauffer), A. Thomson (Library Collections), M.C. Vandenburg (Stauffer), L. Walls (Jordan Library), M. Whitehead (Library Administration)

1. Introductions and Adoption of Agenda

   The agenda was approved.

2. Approval of the Minutes of 27 March, 2008

   The minutes were approved.

3. Business Arising from the Minutes
   
   

   Guidelines for Library Materials Requiring Special Care
   J. Philipps reported that there are Collection Eligibility Guidelines: RODFLEP CAKE that staff in Central Technical Services (CTS) applies to all library materials and that may make some materials eligible for transfer to Special Collections. J. Philipps has spoken to W. Jones, Head, CTS and he confirmed that staff in CTS is following guidelines to the letter.

   Center for Research Libraries
   J. Druery clarified that when requesting material from the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) on interlibrary loan through RACER, you must specify in the note field that you want the material to be borrowed from CRL. Otherwise, the material could come from another location with a shorter loan period. The interlibrary loan staff has a procedure that they follow for all requests and they borrow first from libraries in Ontario. J. Druery advised using the Blank Request Form and not the search procedure after you have logged into RACER. The Blank Request Form is one of the options on the left hand menu under My Account.

   M.C. Vandenburg reported on the September 25th CRL Workshop, part of the Expanding Horizons Workshop series for graduate students. Forty faculty and graduate students attended. Dr. den Otter (History) brought her graduate class to the seminar as they are required to use CRL material for their research assignment. Three representatives from CRL - Virginia Kerr, Digital Coordinator, Mary Wilke, User Services and Bernie Reilly, President - made presentations and described what CRL has to offer researchers. They stressed that important mandates for CRL are digital collections and reference services. They are now digitizing materials that are requested on interlibrary loan and making them available electronically whenever possible. The Digitization on Demand service provides digitization of items in response to patron loan requests if the material can be made available digitally within five business days. These items are linked from the CRL catalog for other researchers to use. CRL will also work with member libraries to digitize parts of their collections that are deemed to be of broad interest and unique. There is the possibility that QUL could take advantage of this service. They will also digitize items at Queen's that they think are unique. CRL offers a reference service for researchers from member libraries to assist them in using their resources and collections. For Research Help contact Mary Wilke (wilke@crl.edu) ensuring that you have also copied your email to the liaison librarian at Queen's for your subject area.

   Stauffer Photocopier
   M. Whitehead reported that photocopiers in Stauffer Library were upgraded this past summer in response to complaints about the previous copiers.

   Revised Document on the Role of Departmental Library Representatives (DLR) In response to discussion at the last meeting, J. Philipps provided a draft of an updated document on the Role of DLRs, which is briefer and more user-friendly than the previous version. J. Hosek remarked that the document is very succint and helpful to her as a new DLR. J. Philipps will post the document to the web site if there are no further comments by the end of October.

4. Update on <odesi>: A Voyage in Data Discovery

   J. Moon demonstrated <odesi> (Ontario Data Documentation, Extraction Service and Infrastructure Initiative), a web-based data extraction system delivered through Scholars Portal. It is an initiative of Ontario Council of University Libraries. The long-term goal is to search in one place for all data. F. Lewis asked if the documentation used during the demo is available online. J. Moon has created guides for using <odesi> - Searching <odesi> (pdf) and Introduction to <odesi> (PPT).

   M. Whitehead mentioned that future plans include connections between ejournals, Scholars Portal, and <odesi>, so that data can be linked at the article level.

   J. Moon also mentioned that researchers with SSHRC grants are required to make their data publicly available. Contact J. Moon for help in the process of depositing data.

5. Discussion: E-books - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

   J. Druery began the discussion by stating that there had been interest at the last meeting in having a discussion about e-books and that although surveys have been done elsewhere we would like to gain the perspective of Queen's users specifically. Those in attendance were divided into six groups and then asked to consider the following questions:

   • What has been good about your experience in using e-books?
   • What has been less than good?
   • What are the benefits for your students?
   • As Queen's University faculty who are engaged in both teaching and research how would you feel if QUL only purchased e-books for works published by major university presses such as Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Yale, etc. (i.e. No paper copies)? Would this affect your teaching/your students? Would it affect your research? NOTE: The Library is not considering doing this at the moment!
   • The Library subscribes to many reference works electronically (handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc). Do you know about them? Do you use them? Do your students use them?
   • Any other comments.

   Discussion followed by the group as a whole:

   • N. Rewa commented that there are mixed results regarding e-books. Some dictionaries and encyclopedias that we don't have in print are now available online or some we do have in print have updated editions online but we do not have. Works in languages other than English are often not available electronically. There can also be copyright issues. There are tactile issues for some materials, having the actual book in hand is part of the reading of the book. There can be copyright issues and sometimes materials are only partly available online.
   • M. C. Vandenburg suggested some advantages of e-books are that you are able to search within the text; they are always available at peak times and convenient; they are durable, ie. popular hardcopy books are susceptible to wear and tear and may not be replaceable but this is not the case with e-books, and they relieve the storage issues around print. She also commented that different disciplines may have different requirements e.g. poetry books lend themselves to print and this is one area where the tactile nature of print is a consideration. It was also mentioned that e-books do not have missing pages or chapters removed.
   • J. Druery commented that e-books are good for large first year classes when many students may be doing the same research because they are available to more than one person at once; this helps to reduce student frustration.
   • P. Baxter commented that he searches the web for reading material for his classes. E-books make things much easier.
   • J. Hosek commented that she would like to hear about the pros and cons of e-books from librarians. J. Druery said there are serious collection and budget issues around e-books and e-book packages and that J. Philipps would be addressing these issues after the discussion.
   • J. Druery asked if faculty would be happy with only e-books from major publishers like university presses. F.P. Lock responded that one must consider the difference between 'read and consult'. Most people would be happy to 'consult' an e-book but if they want to 'read' it the paper is preferable. If books are to be read rather than consulted then there is a strong case for the hard copy. Most monographs fit into this category. Therefore e-books should not be the only access. N. Rewa suggested e-books only would be a bad strategy. Oxford books, for instance, are difficult to read electronically since they are not pdf and you cannot print or are often limited in what you can print. Therefore the print should be purchased as well as the electronic. R. Ascough suggested that the issue is complex. Smaller university presses, such as McGill-Queen's University Press would be disadvantaged if Oxford University Press were to commit to mass publication of e-books. M. Whitehead commented that we may see this change, as we have for example with the Canadian Publishers Collection, where small Canadian university presses have been convinced to participate in providing e-books through a third-party vendor package. R. Ascough also suggested that e-books make it hard to discover information serendipitously since there is no browsing the shelves in print. On the other hand, print items are classified in one category only, whereas a database can be multi-tagged. And e-books can be searched and can be linked from one to another.
   • J. Druery asked if there is use of online reference books. S. Larin said he recommends Oxford Reference Online which is very succinct and useful to his students.
   • S. Andrychuk asked if faculty directs their students to print reference collections. P. Baxter replied that he used to, but now directs students to e-books. But this may vary by discipline.
   • R. Ascough commented that students usually use Google first for all research. He commented that the whole nature of scholarship is changing, noting Wikipedia and wikis in general vs. Encyclopaedia Britannica, for example. Wikis are published and available immediately, whereas Encyclopaedia Britannica could be out-of-date as soon as it is published. He commented that he uses Google himself to find information but that the difference between using it himself and the students using it is that his ability to critically review and evaluate the information he finds is better than the students' ability to do this. Therefore, students need to have the skills to evaluate information.
   • F. Lock suggested that hard copy reference books are still needed, especially in certain subjects and for very important works, e.g. Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford English Dictionary. Some historical information is not yet available online.
   • J. Moon stated that books are becoming the new microfilm. Therefore, if not electronic, they are seen as not worth having. Will this enhance scholarship? J. Linton commented that it will change scholarship. Browsing the stacks in the future will be more focused (browsing e-collections), and less serendipitous.
   • J. Moon pointed out that searching using 'control-find' is useful; however, there is still something to be said for print indexing. E.g. print Hansard pre 1994 is well indexed and cross-indexed. Post 1994 there are problems with the electronic indexing of Hansard.
   • J. Philipps noted that e-book publishing is still in its infancy. Print books provide more of the sense of value and time invested.
   • J. Philipps showed the H&SS Ebook Collections webpage and reminded everyone that most e-books are also catalogued and can be searched through QCAT. Other issues discussed included:
     • Publishers are afraid people won't buy print books if they are available online, other publishers have found that having an e-book increases the sales of print books because it creates greater awareness.
     • Some collections of e-books include books from many publishers, which can result in overlap and duplication of titles. (eg. Canadian Publishers Collection)
     • Some platforms are a problem, not that easy to use, restrictions on what functions can be performed (eg. The printing issue previously mentioned).
     • Copyright and fair use issues. Springer provides unlimited use; the entire e-book can be downloaded. Other publishers limit to one user at a time and/or allow downloading of limited number of pages.
     • The print and/or electronic issue is complicated. Some publishers provide every book electronically when it is published where other publishers only make a selection of books available electronically - this makes it very difficult to make decisions about print since you never know when or if a title will be made available electronically.
     • The Library only purchases packages with perpetual access to e-books. Collecting both print and electronic means purchasing two copies, unless the e-book is part of a collection which dramatically reduces the cost per title. The library has to maintain a balance between print and electronic when considering how to allocate the acquisitions budget.

6. Update on Digital Infrastructure for the Humanities and Social Sciences
   • J. Phillips talked about the content acquired by Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). The money came from CFI, the province and universities. It includes Adam Matthew Digital collections, which are rare, original manuscripts (eg. China: Trade, Politics and Culture 1793-1980; Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice 1490-2007), Cairn journals, Erudit journals, Theatre in Video, Canadian Publishers Collection. E-books packages purchased include 20,000 Oxford, Cambridge, Taylor and Francis-1900 to the present. More JSTOR collections were added. Periodicals Archive Online would have cost $300,000 if we had bought it on our own. CRKN negotiates lower prices for the entire consortia. Some things are included in packages that the Library normally would not choose to purchase, but the financial advantages of purchasing packages often outweigh this issue.
   • M. Whitehead mentioned that CRKN has increased the Library's purchasing power. More headway is being made, including better digital rights management, perpetual access, and local loading on the Scholars Portal server in Toronto to ensure there will be a trusted digital depository. The content that we now have access to is far greater than what we could ever purchase in print.
7. Senate Library Committee (SLC) Agenda for 2008/09
   M. Whitehead reported on the major items that will be on the SLC agenda:
   • Library budget
   • Library support for graduate studies and research
   • The continuing work of the SLC's Advisory sub-committee on Scholarly Communications
   M. Whitehead invited members of the Library Advisory Committee for the Humanities and Social Sciences to let her know if there are matters they would like raised with the SLC.



8. Other Business

   There being no other business, M. Whitehead thanked everyone for attending and for their participation.

Meeting adjourned 5:00pm.