UC/USC/SU English and American Literature Bibliographers
        Meeting Minutes, May 19, 1997, Berkeley

Present: Michaelyn Burnette (Berkeley, recorder), Raphaela Castro
(Davis), David Farrell (Berkeley, CDC Liaison), Margaret Gordon (Santa
Cruz), Nancy Koller (Riverside), Nancy Kushigian (Davis), Nerea Llamas
(Santa Barbara), Catherine Palmer (Irvine), Reinhart Sonnenburg (San
Diego, convener), Raymond Soto (Los Angeles)

1. Introductions and brief campus updates

2. Modern Language Association International Bibliography (MLAIB)
      The MLAIB is the key tool for literary research and is also
important for those working on film, theater, women's studies, folklore
and linguistics.  Discussion centered on the positive and negative
aspects of access through Melvyl.  Many users cannot get into FirstSearch
or are inexplicably dumped out of the database in mid-search; users
object to limits on saving and mailing results; users want links to
campus holdings; and users are frustrated by long periods of
inaccessibility.  On the other hand, users are pleased at the convenience
of being able to access the database from home, and the interfaces are
relatively easy to learn.  Librarians share many user frustrations and
are also concerned about the lack of functionality and absence of an
online thesaurus.
     The group asked Farrell to relay to CDC its desire for more
FirstSearch ports; because of its availability on Melvyl,  many campuses
have canceled paper and cd-rom versions of the MLAIB and must have a

have canceled paper and cd-rom versions of the MLAIB and must have a
reliable means of accessing this most essential database.  The group
hopes for the establishment of a standard for an acceptable number of
turnaways for Melvyl databases, agreeing that the current 30% turnaway
during peak periods is much too high.  The group also discussed the
possibility of a direct line for OCLA databases and of the possibility of
partnering with other groups to gain better access.  Soto suggested the
need for better statistics on database use and mentioned that OCLC is
trying to work on the Z39.50-MARC mapping problem for future databases.
Fixing the mapping problem on current databases would mean reprogramming
by DLA.    The group agreed that lowering the timeout for FirstSearch
databases might frustrate users because the slow response is often caused
by Internet traffic problems.  The group is interested in the idea of
having a certain number of ports giving preference to reference desks
during peak periods and in the option of decreasing the number of ports
(and thus cost) during the summer.
***ACTION:    Gordon will draft a resolution to CDC, CFC, MLA and OCLC
stating our concerns and will e-mail members of the group for comment.
 ***ACTION:   Farrell asked attendees to think about their priorities for
digital products because there may be funding and we should have a list
of titles ready.

3.  Serials
     Sonnenburg: UCSD is taking a 17% cut, mostly coming from German and
reference titles
     Burnette: UCB is in its fifth cancellation project; this time about
15% is being cut with a similar target next year and 24% the following
year.  Canceling the Eighteen Century microfilm.
     Koller: UCR is not canceling this year because faculty complaints
about the number of titles cut in previous cuts led their chancellor to
give special funding to match inflation.
     Palmer: UCI is just finishing canceling $300,000.  Cuts were
distributed  proportionately.  Cancellations focused on microform
indexes, abstracts, and foreign newspapers.  Also cutting the Eighteenth
Century but keeping the Nineteenth Century and hoping to get analytics so
that more people will use.
    Gordon: UCSC  has already had 3 cancellations so there are no
journals left that aren't defended by a faculty member.  They have to
cancel another $250,000; the campus agreed to a cut based on cost/use,
good news for the humanities which has low cost/use.
     Soto: two years ago, UCLA canceled 40% of their continuing
subscriptions when that budget was dismantled and titles were placed on
selector funds.  He must cancel now only if he wants to order a new title.
     Kushigian and Castro: UCD is assuming a 22% cut, the third in six
years. Selectors are working with departmental representatives to
identify titles for cancellation.  Many indexes, especially little-used
reference titles, will be cut.  A few continuations are being transferred
to approval plans.
      Llamas: UCSB canceled 10-17% last year.
***ACTION: Members agreed to share information about new subscriptions,
cancellations, and titles on their wish lists.

4. Sharing resources
A. Anglophone Belles Lettres Project
     Members agreed to try to reinvigorate the Anglophone Belle Lettres
Project in which each campus agreed to buy, at a research level, literary
materials in English from a given country.  The campuses and their countries:

UCB   East Africa, India, South Africa
UCD   New Zealand, Caribbean
UCI     Australia
UCLA Ireland
UCSB Canada
UCSC Philippines
UCSD Caribbean, West Africa, Pacific Islands

UCLA and UCR both have active Irish approval plans.
 
 B. UCR is collecting science fiction for the Eaton Collection.  Do these
circulate to other Special Collections?  UCSD is building its collection
of contemporary poetry and will lend to other Special Collections.
5. Large research sets
***ACTION: Members will share information on new orders.

6. New electronic resources
     Discussion of the Chadwyck-Healey web products and campus interest
in a joint subscription for a lower price.  There is interest in PCI.
Soto noted that a sampling showed that 90% of the journals covered by PCI
are held by the UC libraries.
***ACTION: Kushigian will draft a recommendation for LPAI to express our
recommendation of  LiOn and PCI as humanities databases.  She will take
this recommendation to the upcoming meeting of UC Women's Studies/History
selectors for their consideration.

7. ALA in San Francisco
     Members agreed to meet on Saturday at 8:30 a.m.

8. Next meeting
     Koller graciously extended an invitation to meet next May in Riverside.