SENATE ? 

.

REPORT .....?L8 

?

FOR INFORMATION 

MEMORANDUM 

Philip Stigger, 

Chairman, 

Senate Library Committee 

AUgUSt 22, 1978       

.

H. M. Evans 

Secretary of Senate, ? 

.

Registrar's. Office 

Annual Report of the Senate Library 

Committee 1977/78 

I have the pleasure of presenting to Senate for its 

information, the Annual Report of the Senate Library 

Committee. 

Please accept my apologies for the delay. 

/dab 

Attachment 

D ?

ANNUAL REPORT 

of the 

SENATE LIBRARY COMMITTEE 

1977/78 

Donald A. Baird, founder of the SFU Library and its administrative 

head for the past fourteen years, resigned this year to assume the post of 

University Archivist, effective January 1, 1978. He carries with him the 

best wishes of the Committee and of Library staff and will be remembered for 

his dedication to the task of providing high quality service to the 

University community. 

T.C. Dobb, who has been Deputy Librarian for over two years, is 

now Acting University Librarian while a Search Committee evaluates candidates 

for the position of University Librarian. 

Two other long service staff members have also left. Marg Jans, 

head of the 

Loans Division and a staff member from 

1965 has resigned 

while 

Dawna Reid, 

Secretary to the University Librarian 

for ten years, has 

left 

to take a teaching position at Cariboo College. Both will be missed; Dawna 

Reid for her assistance to this Committee and Marg Jans for her patient 

work with the Library Penalties Appeal Committee. 

There were only two theetings of the Senate Library Committee, on 

December 1, 1977 and April 20, 1978, in part because the activity of the 

University Review and Management Review Committees, involving the active 

participation in either or both of these Committees of some members, 

particularly T.C. Dobb, preempted the time available. 

The Committee discussed the implementation of automated cataloguing 

and the consequent closure of the card catalogue on September 1, 1977, 

probably the most significant step taken by the Library this year. This 

.

continued/2 

-2-

work began with the aid of a special grant from the Vice-President, 

Academic, and is supported by funds from the Ministry of Education. Over 

the next five years the Library, like many other libraries in the Province, 

will be converting existing card catalogues to machine readable form and 

collaborating on the production of a Provincial Union Catalogue. This 

activity, which makes use of data lease arrangements with the University of 

Toronto, is being coordinated by the B.C. Union Catalogue Project under the 

directorship of our seconded Head Cataloguer, Paul Baldwin. Considerable 

savings are already being realized over previous methods of card catalogue 

production and maintenance. The growing microfiche catalogue of material 

added to the collection since September is being replicated and distributed 

throughout the Library; as conversion of existing card records progresses, 

it is intended to arrange for distribution to other campus locations as well. 

When the conversion project is completed and the Union catalogue is in full 

production, the catalogued holdings' records of all participating libraries 

will be accessible throughout the province -- thus facilitating efficient 

inter-library loans services and the avoidance of needless duplication. 

The major area of concern to the Committee has been the combined 

effect of fiscal stringencies and rising costs. Concern has been expressed 

over the continuing expansion of programmes, new courses and changed 

emphasis of existing courses since, with a budget for materials that is not 

able to keep abreast of rising costs, every alteration in one area can 

repercuss on other areas to their detriment. 

The most inflationary part of the budget - that for Serials - 

caused the Library some time ago to institute a quid pro quo system for 

continued/3 

-3 - 

entering new subscriptions to Serials plus a programiile of cancelling 

• ? 

subscriptions wherever possible. In spite of these efforts, which have 

evoked some strong criticism, the Serials portion of the materials budget 

is now 63%. This jeopardizes our ability to maintain a monograph collection 

adequate to support a research oriented University. In the present fiscal 

climate, extra funds seem unlikely and the Senate Library Committee has 

been forced to recognize that the Library must soon embark on yet another 

survey intended to lower the number of subscriptions without unduly harming 

teaching or research - should that be possible. 

Discussion of off-campus activities by the University, and 

especially of the Library's role, has taken place but the introduction of 

OLI will undoubtedly change the patterns for exterior service which the 

Committee has considered. 

In the public service area, increased involvement with a rapidly 

developing sector of information transfer - direct linkage with large data 

bases of bibliographical data has caused satisfaction. While this has to 

be a cost recovery operation, it is receiving considerable usage in Science 

and Social Science. In response to the growing pressure on public service 

areas, the Committee notes with further satisfaction that the Library added 

three Librarians to its staff this year - the first additions in five years. 

This year has, in a sense, been a successful and exciting one with 

the change to automated cataloguing and involvement in the use of outside 

data bases. However, the significant concern at the moment is whether 

funding is being received at a level that will allow a superior level of 

Library service to continue to be provided to the University community - 

a problem most simply illustrated by the Serials situation. 

/cmfd 

August 25, 1978 