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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

TO: Senate ?

FROM: Senate Committee on

Agenda & Rules

SUBJECT: Senate Library Committee - ?

DATE: February 26. 1986

Motions to Revise

The Senate Committee on Agenda and Rules has examined the annual report of the

University Librarian, and the covering correspondence from the Chairman of the Senate

Library Committee, Dr. Charles L. Hamilton (attached). Among the items raised in that

correspondence is the question of the Chairmanship of the Senate Library Committee, and,

based on the recommendations of the Committee, the Library Review Committee and the

President, SCAR supports the proposals that the Vice-President, Research and Information

Systems be an ex-officio member and chairman of the Committee. Such recommendations

require Senate action as follows:

Motion 1: 'That Senate approve that the Vice-

President Research and Information Systems

be added as a member, ex-officio, to the

Senate Library Committee"

Motion 2: 'That Senate approve that the Chairman of

the Senate Library Committee shall be the

Vice-President, Research and Information

Systems"

SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

To ........ 

.Dr. Charles Hamilto.      

....... 

Chairman 

President 

Subject ...................................................... .Date... 

?

..,.. 198. 

Thank you for the copy of your Annual Report for 1984/85 and your? 

accompanying letter in which you outline some of the Committee's concerns. 

May I respond to the two major issues you 

raise 

in your letter? 

You may already have heard that I have responded to the requests from 

the academic community as well as yourself and the Committee to provide 

contingency funding for compact shelving. I understand this will allow 

the Library to discontinue its purging of the collection and sustain 

current levels 

growth for at least four or five years. I hope within 

that period of time that one or both of two developments will further ease 

our situation. These would be, some result to the initiative I have taken 

requesting that the three University Librarians, under the good auspices 

of the U.C.B.C., get together to see if we can put into place a system 

• ? 

whereby our collection can be controlled without any loss of single copy 

titles to the system within British Columbia. Second, of course, is our 

hope that within the next five years we will have sufficient additional 

incremental space on campus to allow us to return some of the library 

space currently used for other purposes, to the Library. 

I should also like to say that I have accepted your advice, and that 

of the Committee, in recommending to Senate that Dr. Calvert, 

Vice-President, Research and Information Services, to whom the Library 

reports, be made an "ex officio" member of the Senate Library Committee 

and that its membership continue to have the balance that you outline in 

your letter. The matter of the election of the Chairman is determined by 

the membership of the Committee as set out by Senate in the Terms of 

Reference of that Committee. 

I trust that you and your Committee, as well as Senate generally, and 

the academic community will be pleased with our ability to take at least 

these steps under the extremely difficult circumstances we face. 

May I thank you for your services as Chairman of the Senate Library 

Committee. May I also say that I agree entirely with your view that the 

Library is doing an excellent job in a difficult period of transition and 

that the GEAC system will provide enormous additional benefits in serving 

its users. 

/mp

cc Dr T. Calvert, V.P. Research and Information Systems 

Mr. R. Heath, Registrar 

b.,-

November 20, 1985 

President William Saywell, 

?

J

Chairman, 

Simon Fraser University Senate 

Dear President Saywell: 

The Senate Library Committee hereby forwards to you the attached report 

of the University Librarian. In accorpanying remarks the Committee has chosen 

to comment on the problems space and financial considerations have created -for 

the Library and its users. 

When the Librarian submitted his proposal for a steady space Library to 

the Committee, the report assumed the creation of a provincial storage depot 

for unused books discarded from SFU, UBC and UVic. In addition the steady 

space plan presupposed that within an accepted period the Library would 

acquire the 7th floor of the Library building. Finally, for its successful 

operation the steady space plan required the installation of compact storage 

. ?

shelves on the 1st floor of the Library for storing seldom used material. 

None of these expectations has been met. Consequently the Library has been 

compelled to discard books more rapidly than anticipated, causing as a result 

considerable misgivings within the academic community at SFU. 

While the University can do very little to secure the construction of 

a provincial storage depot, the Committee urges that a re-examination of space 

allocation at SFU be undertaken with the object of moving some or all of the 

academic and administrative units now occupying the 7th floor of the Library 

Building. Furthermore, the Comittee believes that, if at all possible, funds 

- estimated at $125,000 - be provided the'Library for the replacement of the 

non-compact shelves now being used to provide storage space on the 1st floor. 

If this were done the size of the primary collection could increase by 80,000 

volumes, an amount equal to about two-three years acquisition of monographs. 

Such action would remove the immediate pressure on the Library to discard 

material while allowing it to develop a more acceptable system of identifying 

books for future discarding. The Committee recognizes that retaining space' in 

the Library by replacing shelves removed to the 1st floor would nullify plans 

to increase student seating 

in

the Library, but members of the Committee have 

suggested this be off-set by creating additional student study-space elsewhere 

on the campus. The Library has far too long served as a general study area 

instead of a workplace for library users. 

. . *2 

Page 2. 

Some Committee members also expressed concern about the effect the 

reduction 

in

serials has had on the Library. Although the cancellation of c. 

$60,000 from the serials allocations falls outside the period covered by the 

Librarian's report, the Committee believes this an appropriate time to bring 

to the Senate's attention the fact that a cut in serials has occurred and, 

given the rising cost of renewals, will 

'

occur again even if the Library funds 

for the next budget remain undiminished. 

Finally, as Chairman of the Committee, I should like to call attention 

to the section 

in

the Librarian's report regarding the status of the 

Committee. The Library Review Committee recommended that the Committee be 

chaired by the Academic Vice President or his Associate and that the Committee 

contain a majority of Senators. In view of the fact that the Librarian now 

reports to the Vice President, Research and Information Systems, it might make 

more sense for the Committee to be chaired by him. In any case, representa- 

tives from the faculties should be retained. If either the Academic Vice 

President or the Vice President, Research and Information Systems becomes 

chairman and a majority of the Committee's membership are senators, I believe 

the Committee's ability to function as a link between the Library and the 

University community would be significantly enhanced. 

Yours respectfully, 

Charles Hamilton 

Chairman, 

Senate Library Committee 

CH/dab 

WANG 0131D/2 

November 20, 1985 

0 ?

LIBRARY ANNUAL REPORT: 1984-85 

GENERAL 

Major activities for 1984-85 centered around implementing changes in 

our structure and our technological base, both designed to provide long 

term benefits to Library users: 

(a)

we received significant financial support by the University 

Administration to enable us to purchase, install and use 

the GEAC library system which is the most powerful 

integrated system now available. It should be noted that 

through Library staff and operational economies the cost of 

the system will be paid back over five years. 

(b)

a thorough analysis of our organizational structure 

resulted in the formation of a Reference Division and a 

Collections Management Office in place of our previous 

three Collections Divisions. 

(c)

we have a Space Committee working on the restructuring of 

the physical layout of the Library from which the most 

significant result will be the centralization of most 

reference services on the Third Floor. 

RECENT ACTIVITIES OF NOTE 

A. GE AC 

Over the next two to three years we will be installing this system 

which at the beginning will largely be used for our internal technical 

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procedures, but which will soon make information on the Collection, 

?

plus material on order and in process available to anyone with access 

to a terminal. In 1986 we will have over thirty terminals for public 

use. 

In order that we may use GEAC it 

was

necessary to stop cataloguing all 

but "Reserve" and "On Demand" material for some time. This period came 

to an end in July and we have moved to normal procedures. 

B. Projects 

Library staff were assigned to projects aimed at analyzing possible new 

services and services of.iong standing. 

(a)

Microform: 

The Library has long been concerned over the content, 

availability and usage of this quite substantial and 

growing part of the collection. 

(b)

Downtown site: 

The Library has been providing a limited degree of service 

there for some time and wants to examine possible futures. 

(c)

Research Data Library 

The Library's response to the fact of computer publishing 

of research data was overdue and the intention is to 

establish a reasonable and affordable level of service. 

..

(d) ? 

Database Searches: 

The Library has added supported database searching for 

undergraduates and is analyzing the results. 

C. Library Review Committee Report 

The Library was pleased with the content of the report and its 

acceptance by the President. Its main points were: 

. ?

1)

?

acceptance of the Primary/Secondary collections approach 

with its basic concept that we be a- Library to support' 

community need by means other than development of a major 

research collection, 

2)

acceptance of the Steady Space Library concept and 

recommendation that "appropriate administrative and fiscal 

procedures be developed in order to facilitate 

implementation", 

3)

it supported the need for an integrated computer support 

system, ? 

-

4)

it supported the need to examine the organization of our 

management structure, and 

5)

it concluded that the University has a "healthy Library, 

cost effective, well managed and serving us well". 

or

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0. Space 

The Library is unlikely to receive additional space for some time. The 

latest turnover has been most of the space on the First Floor 

previously occupied by the Instructional Media Centre. This area will 

be largely dedicated to storage of no/low use material. With no 

additional space but the constant receipt of additional material it was 

clear that our Steady Space Policy, adopted in 1982, was not only 

cogent but would have to be acted upon within the means at our 

disposal. To this end we 

uIii

at removing at least 80,000 .     

volumes to 

storage on the First Floor -- as the compact shelving requested could 

not be funded we will use a procedure of moving shelving from the 

collection floors. Creating space on these floors brings some much 

needed, relief, to the critical shortage of student seating. 

Storage alone will not meet Library needs for student space and for 

space to store the volumes that inexorably consume a finite space. 

Therefore, a policy of withdrawing books from the collection has been 

initiated. This, combined with conversion of material to microform and 

storage, is what the Library must do to meet the Steady Space concept 

and thus to survive and serve our community within the space it can 

afford. 

E. Reorganization 

Two forms of reorganization are under consideration: organizational 

and spatial. 

For some time now we have been concerned as to whether the 

organizational structure set up in 1965 was still best suited for 

-5-

today. We conducted an evaluation over a period of four months with 

participation from all Librarians. The consensus supported drastic 

change but the University Librarian felt that too much of a change 

might prove more unsettling to the organization than beneficial. 

Therefore., we created a new Division, the Reference Division, 

comprising the staff from the three Collections Divisions which were 

dis-established. In addition, a Collections Management Office was 

established directly attached to the University Librarian's Office. 

All organizational changes were accomplished within the current 

es tab i ishment. 

Examination of our service functioiis caused us to reconsider the space 

they occupy. A Space Committee had been formed to examine our use of 

space and its relationship to service; 'an important factor here was the 

number of staff available for the various service functions. The most 

significant recommendation of this Committee to date is that there 

should be centralized reference service on the Third Floor (entry 

level). This will entail a transfer of many current service points and 

will require at least one secondary reference area. The Committee is 

currently developing the schedule of changes needed, confident that the 

end result will be improved service to our users. 

The past year has been one heralding great change for the Library. The 

reorganization of public services and collections management, and the 

initiation of the GEAC system both promise great benefits to our users. The 

various projects underway will significantly alter and add to the scope of 

services that can be provided. The near future will not be one without 

problems but these will be insignificant compared to the benefits. 

To conclude with a matter that has long been a concern of the Senate Library 

Committee, and is best expressed by this quotation from the report of the 

-6-

Library Review Committee: 

"Testimony presented to the Review Committee suggests 

that the standing and function of the Senate Library 

Committee be altered. In past years the Senate Library 

Committee has provided the opportunity for useful 

exchanges between the Library and members of the SFU 

community regarding Library policies. Annually the 

Committee then presents a report to the Chairman of the 

Senate. While this Committee has been of value, it has 

not been able to provide the Library with adequate 

mandated input from its users to ensure that policies 

presented to the Committee by the Library receive 

deserved support from the community. One reason for this 

is clearly the anomalous position of the Committee which, 

despite its title, is not a Senate Committee but only one 

that reports to Senate. While some members of the 

Committee (as well as the Librarian) may be Senators, 

Senate membership of the Committee has not been large. 

To enhance the standing of the Commmittee and to add to 

the force of its deliberations, the Committee believes 

that either the Vice-President, Academic or the Associate 

Vice-President, Academic should be chairman ex officio of 

the Committee and that a majority of its membership 

should be chosen from the Senate, with the proviso that 

the distribution of membership through faculties be 

retained. 

Recommendation 12: The President should review the 

composition and chairmanship of the Senate Library 

Committee with a view to enhancing its stdnding and 

enforce deliberations." 

CMD: IS 

?

WANG 01831 

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