BFA Libraries Committee

"The Libraries Committee shall continually review, evaluate, and make recommendations regarding Boulder Campus libraries practices and policies. The Committee shall consist of 22 members chosen as follows: Nine members from the College of Arts and Sciences for staggered, three-year terms (three to be selected by the Council for Natural Sciences, three to be selected by the Council for the Humanities and the Arts, three to be selected by the Council of the Social and Behavioral Sciences), and two members of the Assembly elected by the Assembly at large for staggered two-year terms not to exceed their tenure in the Assembly. The other schools and colleges shall each have one member on a rotating basis for staggered, three year terms. The UCSU shall name an undergraduate student member, and the UGGS shall name one graduate student member." BFA Standing Rules, Article V, Section 1(j).

Annual Report 2011-2012

During the 2011-12 AY, the BFA Libraries committee addressed two key issues:  the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of the Libraries’ acquisitions budget; and the benefits (and disadvantages, if any) of endorsing the principle of Open Access publishing.  To this end the committee did the following:

1.  Reviewed with Libraries’ staff funding and budget projections, particularly as they affect the acquisitions budget of the Libraries.  It became evident that if the campus continues to increase the Libraries’ acquisitions budget by 3% per year (or less), as has been the pattern in the previous few years, by 2016 almost the entire acquisitions/materials budget will be dedicated to the renewal of journal and ongoing data-base subscriptions. 
2. Reviewed the intellectual and financial advantages of endorsing the principle of Open Access publication of journals.  The chair of the Libraries committee, Prof. Martha Hanna, attended an international conference in Washington D.C., in November 2011, sponsored by the Berlin 9 consortium that is dedicated to advancing the spread of Open Access scholarly publications.  Prof. Hanna provided a summary report of the conference deliberations to the BFA Libraries committee; to the Arts and Sciences Council; and, in conjunction with Dean Jim Williams of the Library, to Provost Russell Moore.  The BFA Libraries committee also requested that the BFA Academic Affairs and Faculty Affairs committee discuss the pros and cons of Open Access.  These committees included this item on their agendas.  The BFA Libraries committee will continue to deliberate on the advantages (and, potentially, disadvantages) of Open Access publication in the 2012-13 AY.
3. The BFA Libraries committee began discussions, which are still ongoing, with other units on campus with the goal of improving the Libraries’ acquisitions/materials budget through gift funds.   

Submitted by Martha Hanna, Chair, BFA Libraries Committee
May 8, 2012

Committee Meeting Schedule