THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
(LAWLAC)
Minutes of the LAWLAC meeting held on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 2pm in the Library Meeting Room, R.G. Menzies Building
Present: Prof S Bottomley (Chair), Mr V Elliott, Dr Matthew Rimmer (Law Library Liaison Committee), Mr T Cibiras, Ms S Walpola, Ms K Collier, Ms S Kosse, Ms J Longley (minutes), Mr S Thompson (Law Students’ Society), Ms C Yasukawa (Law Students’ Society).
1. Apologies: Professor Peter Cane
Mr Thompson and Ms Yasukawa attended as Law Students’ Society representatives.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising
The minutes of the 14 November 2008 meeting were accepted.
Matters arising from the minutes:
3.1 2009 Budget
Mr Elliott reported on the impact of the 2009 Division of Information budget. The budget is very tight, particularly with regard to staffing. There is also little money available for equipment within the Division in 2009, but funding from the Better Universities Renewal Fund (BURF) will provide an upgrade to the Information Commons printing system in the second half of 2009.
Mr Elliott reported that the Access and Collections budget for 2009 is the same as in 2008 ($8.23m), with an additional $300,000 as an allowance for foreign currency fluctuation. The funding, along with the decline in the value of the Australian dollar, will mean that the Library will only order monographs that are urgently needed for teaching or research in 2009.
Mr Elliott informed the Committee that the Library had been able to carry forward $470,000 from the 2008 Access and Collections budget. This amount, together with the foreign exchange allowance of $300,000, would be held centrally as a reserve. Any unspent funds from 2009 would be carried forward to 2010 as a contingency fund. He indicated that he would be making a concerted effort to increase the Access and Collections budget.
Mr Elliott reported on a meeting that the GO8 Librarians had with representatives from the four major publishing companies, Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis and Wiley-Blackwell, in early May. The meeting had been arranged to look at how the libraries could continue to manage access to journals through the Global Economic Crisis. Issues looked at included: price roll-backs; business and pricing models for serial packages; usage statistics; provisions for open access; and alumni access.
3.2 Review of Information Infrastructure and Services
Mr Elliott reported on developments following on from the Review of Information Infrastructure and Services that had been undertaken in February 2008. The Review was intended to broadly ensure that the organization of information infrastructure provided value for money for the University’s investment. Mr Elliott noted that the Review had initially been intended to cover the University’s information infrastructure but that it had subsequently been limited to the Division of Information. The review process had, in line with the original intentions and the recommendations of the DOI Review, been extended to the Colleges in 2009.
This second phase of the Review was complete and the report would be released shortly. It dealt largely with the administrative arrangements for information infrastructure and it was not expected that the Library would be a focus.
3.3 Scholarly Information Services Planning Objectives 2009
Mr Elliott spoke to the Scholarly Information Services Planning Objectives document. He highlighted the ‘Value Framework’ which will be developed to assess the return on investment of the information resources provided by libraries. Seven of the Go8 libraries would be involved in the project, with three of the libraries being the focus of the project later in the year.
Professor Bottomley raised the issue of whether the physical facilities would be considered in the project, but Mr Elliott indicated that it was too early in the planning to know this information.
Dr Rimmer asked about the ANU E Press. Mr Elliott reported that it currently fills a niche for high quality scholarship. The E Press publishes about 50 titles per year.
Dr Rimmer also asked about the ANU’s institutional repository, Scholars Keep and Scholars Gate. Mr Elliott responded that the project involved three areas of the Division of Information. It had been developed in ICT Environments, and will probably be the responsibility of Corporate Information Services. There is currently a policy in preparation.
4. Access and Collection budget
The financial statement for period 13, 2008 was tabled at the meeting along with the 2009 budget.
An updated list of the titles proposed for cancellation at the November 2008 LawLAC meeting was also tabled along with a new list of titles proposed for cancellation. It was agreed that the print subscription of the reports of the Law Commission of England and Wales would be cancelled. The other titles could be cancelled if relevant academic staff approval was gained.
A list of the new serials proposed for purchase was tabled and it was agreed that the Law Library would purchase the Journal of Corporate Law Studies, the LawNow legislation package and the Max Planck Encylopedia of International Law.
5. Library Client Survey
Ms Collier reported on the Library Client Survey and distributed copies of the results applicable to the Law Library. She noted that many of the areas identified for improvement in the survey had already been resolved. The improvements had been made as part of the Collection Relocation Project and included the installation of new power points, furniture and increased wireless access.
6. Collection Relocation Project
Ms Kosse spoke to the Collection Relocation Project Final Report, which was tabled. The project had commenced in 2007 and completed in 2009. Mr Elliott thanked Library staff for their work in completing the project. He thanked Ms Kosse for her leadership of what had been a complex and demanding project. The success of the project was in part recognised by the universal acceptance of very significant changes.
7. Law Library Liaison Committee
It was noted that the Law Library Liaison Committee had been established by the College of Law and continued in 2009. It meets monthly to discuss collection and other library related issues.
8. Next meeting
Mr Elliott suggested that the Committee meet again in October 2009.
The meeting closed at 3.55pm.