Minutes of the Meeting of the University of Texas Libraries Committee, January 30, 2006
Attending: Katherine Arens, John Kolsti, Julia Mickenburg, Ken Ralls, Michael Winship; Linda Brown, Molly Green, Noah Mass, Kim Skrobarcedk; Janine Henri, Peggy Mueller, Meghan Sitar: Jo Anne Hawkins, Fred Heath, Dennis Dillon, Damon Jaggars, Sue Phillips; Jocelyn Duffy (recording)
The next meeting of the committee will be on February 14 in the Architecture and Planning Library, Battle Hall 101, at 8 A.M.
The agenda for the meeting was distributed, and Professor Ralls convened the meeting.
Dennis Dillon, associate director for Research Services, gave an illustrative, informative and wide-ranging review of the internet information access utility Google and its present and possible impacts on libraries and information services. He reviewed two of Google's current products - Google Book Search and Google Scholar - and discussed Google's one-stop shopping appeal to students and researchers. Dennis' presentation was followed by a lengthy question-and-answer period and he answered questions from committee members about such related areas as copyright and the federated search tool MetaLib (currently listed under Research Tools on the Libraries web site).
Afterwards, Dr. Fred Heath gave an update of the advancement efforts of the UT Libraries. Tom Galyean and Linda Abbey are setting many of the elements of the newly articulated program in place, including the formation of an advisory council and the beginnings of an annual fund campaign. They are using the library advancement programs at Berkeley and Michigan as benchmarks for a local comprehensive advancement strategy, including marketing and branding. Tom and Linda are working closely with branch librarians and locating people interested in supporting the UT Libraries.
Professor Ralls reminded committee members that at the next meeting, members must select the chairperson for the next fiscal year (2006-07). Any faculty committee member who has an interest in working as committee chairperson should email Professor Ralls.
