November 13, 2000
Attendees: Bill Blass (chair), Gayle Baker (Co-Vice-Chair), Andrew Kramer (Co-Vice-Chair), Doug Birdwell (Co-Vice-Chair), Mark Dadmun, Barbara Dewey, Chanaka Edirisinghe, David Fox, Arlene Garrison, Nathan Hammer, Marion Hansen, Thomas Handler, Zoe Hoyle, Nathan Johnson, Faye Muly, Elizabeth Southerland, Bruce Tonn, Karen Welch
Small center proposals are out for technical review and are due after Thanksgiving. Garrison anticipates issuing a request for full proposals from a large number of the 67 submitted proposals before the end of the year, giving investigators time to work on them over the break.
With respect to becoming one of the top 25 public research institutions, Dewey described the UT Library's funding needs for FY 2001 and provided comparative data and benchmarking data from libraries at peer and top 25 institutions. The UT Library ranks 39th of the libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). It will need at least $3.8 million in recurring funding to move up to the funding levels of the top 25 libraries.
Dewey is investigating cooperation for electronic resources with other libraries within the UT system. Garrison responded that there is a need for common access to resources for research collaborators located at the different UT campuses.
In closing, Dewey stated that a strong library is critical to a strong research institution.