The Committee on Libraries and ACIS
met regularly throughout the Fall and Spring semesters. Early in the Fall
semester, Jeremy Waldron (ten., Law) took over as chair from last year’s chair,
Fran Pritchett (tenured, A&S), who had been acting as Chair pro tem. Regular attenders at our
meetings were Ilona Bicsak (library staff), Eleanor Dickey (non-ten.,
Classics), Curtis Kendrick (administration, Libraries), Vace Kundakci
(administration, AcIS), Carol Lin (non-ten., Biological Sciences), Jim Neal
(University librarian), Fran Pritchett (tenured, A&S), Pat Renfro (Dep.
University Librarian), Nancy Ronning (alum.), Christopher Small (Res.,
Lamont-Doherty), Jeremy Waldron (ten., Law), Nathan Walker (Stu., TC). A number
of other members of the committee attended sporadically or not at all – due in
large measure to the fact that we had to change the scheduled meeting time
halfway through the Fall semester.
1. Reports and Discussion
A lot of the Committee’s business
consisted in hearing and discussing reports on various developments and studies
within the library and ACIS systems. These reports and discussions
characteristically do not involve action or resolution on the Committee’s part
but are an invaluable basis for Committee members’ understanding of the systems
and their problems. During the year, reports in this category heard and
discussed by the Committee included:
·
Course
Works system, the options for its eventual replacement
·
the
Open Knowledge Initiative
·
Budget
issues
·
results
of The Libraries surveys
·
RECAP
Offsite Storage facility at Princeton, and planning for the 4th
module
·
the
setting up of Libraries development team, with sections on Major gifts, Annual
Giving/Events and Grants
·
addition
of records and links for open access journals on CLIO
2. Lawsuits Relating to Illegal
File-Sharing
In November, the Committee devoted
a meeting to the discussion of issues concerning the University's participation
in a lawsuit against a student’s illegal file-sharing of music from the
internet. The University provided internet records, in response to subpoena.
The Committee heard from two guests, Professor Eben Moglen (from the Law
School, who had represented one of
the students) and Beryl Abrams (of the Office of University Counsel). There was
discussion of the basis on which the University retains records of the use that
has been made of University-provided internet access. There was agreement on
the Committee on two things:
·
efforts
should be made to ensure that students are aware of rules about internet use
and of the existence of University records, that might be passed on under
subpoena by potential plaintiffs
·
the Committee should consider developing a resolution for
the full Senate, concerning the normative length of time that records of
internet use are retained. It was acknowledged that this involved also some
consideration of security and law-enforcement issues as well as student privacy
concerns: records need to be retained for a certain period in case there has
been abuse or harassment involving internet use. A two-week period was
suggested. Pressure of other work in Spring 2004
prevented this resolution from being further discussed and developed; so the
issue remains alive for the Committee to address in Fall 2004.
3. Scholarly publishing
Throughout the year, the Committee
devoted a lot of attention to issues about scholarly publishing, and the
growing crisis in serial pricing, particularly at the hands of one or two
publishers. Early in the Fall, the Committee allowed a member of a group of
scientists from the University of California
to talk to us about the issue. And throughout the year, we heard a number of
reports on this issue from Jim Neal, and considered a number of the initiatives
that he is developing to address this issue including:
·
membership of Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources
Coalition (SPARC), a group whose mission is to “ignite major changes in the
global system of scholarly communication.”
·
the
scheduling of a number of meetings with faculty in the departments of Arts and
Sciences and Engineering over the course of the spring and next fall semesters
to discuss current and future developments in scholarly publishing/communication
in those disciplines.
·
Columbia’s
hosting in November 2004 of an international conference on fair use in
libraries, focusing the need to restore balance in copyright between the
interests of information creators and consumers.
·
maintaining contact with other Universities, other
University Libraries, and groups of concerned faculty at other Universities, so
that we share in the growing awareness of various initiatives that are being
undertaken around the country to deal with this issue.
In discussing problems of scholarly
publishing and pricing, the Committee considered a number of issues, including
·
the
academic exception to the ordinary “work-for-hire” rule concerning intellectual
property developed by an employee as part of his or her employment
·
editorial
practices at various serials, concerning assignment of copyright
·
relation
between scholarly publishing issues and issue of tenure and promotion
·
text-book
publishing practices
·
anti-trust
issues in the organization of boycotts against offending publishers
Out of this discussion, we
developed the idea of a broad resolution, to be put before the University
Senate, setting out a number of principles with which this problem might be
approached. The aim of such a resolution was to raise consciousness of the
issue, foster discussion, and move to encourage the growth of a common ethos
among members of our scholarly community about the ways in which their own copyright
(and the assignment of their individual copyright in their works) might afford
a basis for predatory pricing by publishers. The resolution aims to encourage
members of our scholarly community to think about the broader consequences for
scholarly publishing when they make decisions about the assignment of
copyright. The resolution – a copy of which is attached to this report -- was
circulated in draft at the February meeting of the full Senate, and put forward
for adoption at the March meeting. There was discussion at both meetings. At
the latter meeting, some was opposition expressed concerning the breadth of the
resolution, and its implications for faculty members who rely on their
individual earnings from text-book publishing. The resolution was tabled at the
March meeting, and the Committee’s present disposition is to discuss it again
in the Fall, in the light of presentations solicited from its opponents, with a
view to resuming full Senate discussion in November 2004.
4. The “Agora” Project
The Committee heard presentations
on the initiative to set up a project enabling members of the Columbia
community (students and faulty and researchers) to indicate their research
interests and network with others who shared those interests. (This project was
also the subject of a presentation at the full Senate meeting in March.) The
Committee’s support for this initiative was sought by its sponsors. Committee
members asked a number of questions about the value and implications of this
project, and resolved to discuss the matter, without the need for any further
presentation, at an early meeting in Fall 2004.
5. Other Issues
Other issues raised by Committee
members, discussed by the Committee, and referred to the Libraries for further
consideration included:
·
libraries’ opening hours, especially access for graduate
students during breaks.
·
the
use of study space in the libraries, particularly competing concerns of
graduate students and undergraduates