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The spring meeting of the Association of Southeast Research Libraries was held in Charleston on June 1-2. I arrived on May 31st in time to hold a Wake Community Event at the Liberty Tap Room in Mt. Pleasant (next to Charleston).  Ten former Deacs and friends got an update on what is happening at Wake and ZSR. Lynn Sutton, who was down for an ASERL alumni event, attended took this great image of me where I look am I pleading for support:

The host for our event, Tricia Leyte-Vidal ’09, turned out to be the granddaughter of two librarians who inspired me when I was an undergraduate at Duke!

The next morning was a session on “FOLIO for Library Executives.” Two representatives from EBSCO, Tony Zander and John Law, gave us an update on EBSCO’s involvement with the development of an open source library services platform. They compared FOLIO to an Android phone/iPhone with downloadable apps to make it function. They also said that now is not the time to migrate to a new ILS; FOLIO represents the future due to its architecture. EBSCO and SirsiDynix will offer hosting and services for FOLIO.

Timeline for FOLIO:

  • Oct. 2017 — 3 beta libraries will be selected
  • FOLIO v1 — July 2018 release with betas going live in Dec. 2018
  • 2019 will likely be when FOLIO is more broadly available; will be mix of free and vendor apps offering services on top of the platform

The next session focused on Shared Print /Scholars Trust. ASERL members are currently not adding content — nothing since 2015. Not many ASERL members are using Scholars Trust to drive weeding and the goals for Scholars Trust are mixed. Some see it as a tool for weeding collections; others see it as a preservation option. The “trust” is missing in Scholars Trust; some think the bar to participate is low; do we need higher standards? There will be a Scholars Trust town hall on June 14 and hopefully a renewed call to action.

In the afternoon I participated in a discussion about digital scholarship programs. Some of my take aways were:

  • Many libraries are using Memos of Understanding (MOUs) for faculty projects to set realistic expectations
  • Where to draw the line for support is an issue for most
  • George Mason has started a Faculty fellows program for digital scholarship ($10,000 stipend)
  • Data management a challenge for most — several schools use the Odum Institute at UNC for storage

The next morning Roger Schonfeld from Ithaka S+R presented on the 2016 National Library Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Survey. About 15 ASERL institutions participated and Roger highlighted those results in the context of the larger results. Again, some highlights:

  • ASERL senior leadership  — 62% female; 58% male
  • Race/ethnicity — 75% white ASERL; 68% white ARL
  • 91% white senior leadership ASERL; 87% in ARL

We talked about how to improve the pipeline of diverse candidates and create opportunities for advancement. Getting diverse candidates to apply is the biggest barrier; location next challenge. Much of our diversity in the paraprofessional staff — will those numbers decline and reduce diversity as the profession continue to change? There is also concern about libraries becoming less diverse as there is more competition in the marketplace. This will be an ongoing discussion topic for ASERL.

We also discussed several legal challenges ASERL members are facing. While LSU cannot discuss the LSU lawsuit, we did get a third party knowledgeable about the case to give us the highlights of the State of Louisiana’s claim of breach of contract with Elsevier over access to licensed content. A good recap of the case can be found here:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/03/louisiana-state-takes-disagreement-elsevier-court

Elsevier is currently dodging the lawsuit while offering LSU a new contract at a higher rate. The state is trying to serve papers through international agreements at present. It appears to be a clear-cut breach of contract — LSU has a good case. What is at stake beyond access? LSU is asking for damages and attorney fees/costs.

Georgia State talked about their ongoing copyright case — it continues to move slowly and has been going on for 10 years; July 27th next court date. GSU has updated their fair use checklist and no longer uses a percentage for fair use:

http://research.library.gsu.edu/c.php?g=115635&p=753559

The fall ASERL meeting will be in Miami next November.