Joint Steering Committee on Shared Collections Plans (by Alan Ritch)

Having laid the foundations of the Science, Technology and Industry Collection (STIC), the California Digital Library (CDL) is entering a new phase of collection building, anticipating the development of collections in other disciplines.  Earlier this year, the CDL Operations and Planning Advisory Group (OPAG) coordinated the preparation of a series of case studies, which analyzed the digital collection potential of the major academic areas.  This quick exercise served to identify the range of digital information already available and the variety of challenges and opportunities that confront different disciplines.  It also stimulated keen interest among bibliographers in many fields.  The new CDL advisory group, the Joint Steering Committee for Shared Collections (JSC) will cultivate this widespread interest, by gathering information on potential collection content from formally charged UC selector groups and others with common collection interests.

OPAG’s successor, the Systemwide Operations and Planning Group (SOPAG), has recommended collection-building in all areas.  The JSC will distribute surveys to selected librarians in the groups mentioned above and to those who can comment on other significant areas, asking them to identify three kinds of digital information from their fields: commercial or other external content, available for purchase or licensing; content in the public domain, usually via the Web; UC textual or visual resources, particularly unique resources, that are already in digital form or whose scholarly value would be greatly enhanced by digitization.  The survey will be the first phase in the JSC’s ongoing consultation with librarians and faculty.  Responses will be returned by November 15, allowing enough time for the respondents to consult with faculty and librarians at both general and non-general campus libraries.

Several selector groups, especially those formally charged by the Collection Development Committee (CDC) and those with an established record of cooperative collection development, already have structures in place for efficient consultation and consensus building.  The CDL promises to stimulate similar cooperation for selectors in fields not yet formally represented.  The JSC welcomes advice from librarians in all subject fields and with diverse responsibilities, but encourages individuals to consolidate their contributions with those of colleagues who share their interests.

Within the JSC, coordination of the surveys will be shared as follows: Cindy Shelton (UCLA) will handle the Humanities, including Literature, History, Linguistics, Women’s Studies, Classics, Philosophy and Religion; Barbara Kornstein (UCB), the Social Sciences, including Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Education, Economics, Business, Political Science, Geography, and Ethnic Studies; Alan Ritch (UCSC), the Arts, including Art, Music, and Performing Arts; Clinton Howard (UCD), Area Studies; and Beverlee French (CDL) will continue to work with the STIC liaisons in building collections in the sciences, including Environmental Studies.  The JSC is drafting a document, which will build on the earlier Collection Framework, Matrix, and Principles documents, and will be used to assess and prioritize content described in the survey responses.