SENATE LIBRARY COMMITTEE 

ANNUAL REPORT 

1987/88 

PREAMBLE 

This report covers the meetings of December 10, 1987 and April 15, 1988. 

In addition to the business conducted during the meetings there was 

considerable activity through Faculty library committees whose chairmen 

sit on and report to the Senate Library Committee. 

The major concerns of the Committee this last year have centered around 

defining the Library role at the Harbour Centre site and budgetary 

problems largely associated with disproportionate price increases to the 

cost of library material in a period of restraint. 

SUMMARY OF THE DECEMBER 10/87 AND APRIL 15/88 MEETINGS 

Harbour Centre Site 

The Library has been involved with planning for this site from the 

beginning. With a space allocation of around 

10,000 

square feet it 

was

different 

necessary 

from 

to

the

conceive 

standard 

of

university 

an information 

library. 

service 

The

centre 

plan developed 

far

?

is

was for a state of the art high-tech installation that would have a 

small program-oriented "reserve" type collection, but would, with the 

Burnaby collection as its main back-up, fulfill the needs of users. 

Further, as the Library is at the entrance to SFU/Harbour Centre the 

space and its furnishings are to be visually appealing. 

Planning is continuing into the specific kinds of service that the 

various programs may require. The University Librarian is a "Special 

Advisor" to the Harbour Centre committee of S.C.A.P., assuring a 

mutual awareness of the needs and solutions to the establishment of 

this facility. 

A major concern of the Committee has been to assure that in funding 

the Harbour Centre library there be no financial drain or diminuatiOn 

of service at the Burnaby site. The generous donation of $1,000,000 

by Mr. Samuel Belzberg should do much to allay any such fears. 

"Hot Spots" 

The Library has been examining areas where on-going restraint may have 

harmed or endangered services to users:. Some of these are: 

...2 

&

Page 2. 

(a)

Equipment maintenance -- there has been a great expansion of 

technological devices over the recent past. Ability to 

maintain these hundreds of pieces of equipment is inadequate. 

One half-time staff member cannot provide first line 

maintenance for over 400 pieces of equipment; maintenance 

contracts for our system are eating up a disproportionate 

amount of the Operating Budget. 

(b)

The basic computer system (GEAC) is stretched to its limit. 

Natural growth of the student body and collection, aside from 

essential improvements, will degrade response time and the 

general adequacy of the system. A system upgrade, though 

costly, will be required in the near future. 

(c)

Centralization of reference service has long been a Library 

priority. This will require expensive space moves, but without 

either some form of centralization or extra staff, service is 

bound to suffer. 

Collections 

The maintenance of Library collections is the hottest of "hot spots", 

affecting as it does the.main function of the Library. While in 

• ? 

recent years the percentage budget increase for collections develop- 

ment has always exceeded the percentage increase in the government 

grant to the University, it has not been able to equal the avari- 

ciousness of publishers. 

This problem is not a local one, but hurts all research libraries, 

particularly in North America where European publishers have piled on 

extra charges. While almost all research level material has been 

affected, the gouging has been most severe in the field of serials, 

especially scientific and technical journals. Efforts are being made 

by libraries in Canada and the United States to counter these high 

prices, but so far without success. We have handled the budget 

problem in the same way most research libraries across the continent 

have; we have protected serials at the expense of monographs. 

Two factors have emerged from this practice. First, our purchases of 

monographs have fallen to. a level where many faculty are concerned 

that several areas of the collection are inadequate, especially 

through failure to replace missing material and to duplicate important 

titles. Second, the inexorable thrust of serials price increases is 

endangering not only the purchase of monographs but of serials also. 

During the last fiscal year the President decreed that there be no 

further degradation of collection development. One hundred thousand 

dollars were added to the materials budget -- which was still 

over-spent by $45,000. This year we are assured of collections 

maintenance, but only with the aid of one-time funds. A cut-back in 

i s ? 

our serial purchases is inevitable. 

. . . 3 

Page 3. 

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The Faculty of Arts Library Users' Committee (which includes 

Communications) and the Science Library Users' Committee (which 

includes Applied Science) have been examining the question of where 

savings could be made, with the. Collections Management Officer taking 

part in the deliberations. Currently, throughout the Faculties, there 

is an evaluation of serials under way which will establish priority 

levels which could be used both to cut back the list and to allow 

subscriptions for new serials. 

When cut-backs in serials do become necessary the Library will assure 

that the broadest input is obtained, from Faculty regarding specific 

titles. Currently the Library is purchasing state-of-the-art FAX 

equipment to ensure quick access to material in journals that must be 

cancelled. 

In considering the Annual Report to Senate, the Senate Library 

Committee unanimously adopted the following suggestions: 

1)

That the Collections budget of the Library be maintained at 

a level to prevent further degradation of the primary collection 

and that every effort be made to provide funds for replacements. 

2)

That the upgrade to the GEAC system be given a high University 

priority. 

3)

That sufficient funds and staff be available to assure maintenance 

and servicing of technical equipment in the Library. 

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1S0346(CHAS 

Nov. 7, 1988 