EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

PresidentJane Garrett

Baldwin Middle Magnet School,Montgomery, AL

President-Elect

Bettye ForbusHouston-Love Memorial Library

Past PresidentTim Dodge

Auburn University Libraries

SecretaryTheresa C. Trawick

Lurleen B.Wallace CommunityCollege MacArthur Campus

TreasurerVivian B. White

Montgomery City-County Public LibraryWeb MasterJodi Poe

Jacksonville State University

Member-at-Large:North AlabamaSusan Markham

Huntsville Public Library

Member-at-Large:CentralAlabamaDr. Annabel K. StephensUniversity of Alabama

Member-at-Large:SouthAlabamaMargie Calhoun

Mobile

ALA CouncilorMarcia L. BoosingerAuburn University

SELARepresentativeLinda S. Harris

University of Alabama at BirminghamChildren's& School

Karen L. PruessMontgomery City-County Public Library

College, University & SpecialRon Dial

Air University Library

PublicLibraryBonnie Lee

Orange Beach Public LibraryEditorial Board

Rachel J. ParkerBill Hubbard

Jim BaggettPaula Barnett-Ellis

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THE ALABAMA

ibrarianVOL 55, No.2 2005

Contents

From the Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

From the President. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Copyright at the College Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

An Electronic Gateway to Information:A Five-YearReport Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

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A Miracle for the Millenium:

How the Alabama Virtual Library Governance Succeeds. . . . . 12

The Alabama Librarian, the official organ of the Alabama LibraryAssociation, Inc., carries news of the Association and its members, as wellas general articles. Each volume contains two issues. Opinions expressedin The Alabama Librarianare those of the authors and do not represent theofficial position of ALLAunless otherwise indicated. The editor reservesthe right to edit all material submitted for publication. Subscriptions(Rates: North America $25 per year-U.S., Canada, Mexico; International$55 per year) should be sent to the ALLAoffice. Undelivered issues must beclaimed within 6 months of the date of issue. Address correspondence to:Alabama Library Association, The Bailey Building, 400 S. Union St.,Suite 140, Montgomery, Alabama 36104. Phone: 334-263-1272,Fax 334-265-1281, E-mail: psgllc@bellsouth.net

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AMiraclefortheMillenium:HowtheAlabamaVirtualLibraryGovernanceSucceeds

by Sue O. Medina, Director, Network of Alabama Academic Libraries

to its students and citizens. These principlesremain the foundation of the Alabama Virtual

Library:· Equity: every student, teacher, and citizen

will have online access to core informationneeded for instruction, research, and life-long learning

· Excellence: information will be accurate,scholarly, and current

· Economy: Alabama will realize significantsavings by providing information on astatewide basis

The Alabama Legislature, meeting in its 1999session, created a miracle for the new mil-lennium. Its FY2000 appropriation includ-

ed $3,000,000 for an "Alabama Virtual Library."This simple line item in the education budgetconveyed adoption by the State of Alabama ofthree principles for the provision of information

The effort to obtain funding for the AVLwas initi-ated by the Network of Alabama Academic Librariesand was based on the academic libraries' successful

experience sharing online database licenses. InAugust 1998, its parent organization, the AlabamaCommission on Higher Education (ACHE)invited agroup of educators to meet and discuss the feasibili-ty of seeking state funds for an "Alabama virtuallibrary" in the 1999 legislative session. For thismeeting, ACHE invited directors of the AlabamaDepartment of Education, Alabama Department ofPostsecondary Education, Alabama FinanceDepartment, Alabama Public LibraryService,and theAlabama Supercomputer Authority. They werejoined by others representing the:

-Alabama Classroom TeachersAssociation-Alabama Education Association-Alabama Health LibrariansAssociation-Alabama Instructional Media Association

-Alabama LibraryAssociation-Network of AI~bamaAcademic Libraries-Parent-TeachersOrganization-Public LibraryAdministrators-Two-YearCollege Association

At the initial meeting, participants formed a"Steering Committee for the Alabama VirtualLibrary" charged to develop a strategy that wouldcreate an Alabama Virtual Library. For Alabama, thismeeting was truly historic. These representatives ofeducational communities, so often in competition forlimited State funding, united with a common visionto improve library and information services for allAlabamians. Today, this vision is truly a miracle,delivering the equity, ~xcellence, and economypromised to the Legislaturein 1999.

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The budget bill was passed by the Legislatureon June 9, 1999, and was signed by the Governora few days later. One hallmark achievement ofthe AVLwas that databases were available online

by the time school systems reconvened in lateAugust 1999, two months before the AVLfundswould become available in October. This hap-pened because of the extraordinary cooperationof the people who had worked so hard to advo-cate a virtual library for Alabamians.

The AVL could not have happened without apledge of unity by the state agencies and theentire educational and library community.Reality for Alabama is an ongoing struggle to ade-quately fund a host of services, including theinformation needs of its citizens and students.No one can foresee that Alabama will ever be ablecorrect historical deficiencies in information

resources. The proposal for an AVLwas an idealmerger of the aspirations of the education com-munity to improve information resources sup-porting education, the reality of the State's fund-ing, and the emergence of online informationproducts. It represented an appropriate solutionfor years of underfunding for education andlibraries.

Another hallmark of the AVL is the high levelof trust that was established among the legislatorsand the education communities. The legislatorsindividually and collectively asked many ques-tions about the AVL: who would select the

databases, who would provide technical support,how would it be governed, who would manage it?

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THE ALABAMALIBRARIAN

The Steering Committee carefully considered the.challenges of operating this new statewide entityand thoughtfully responded to the many ques-tions asked about governance and management.

The single most important issue before theSteering Committee was how to govern anAlabama Virtual Library. The choice of a gover-nance structure would determine its long-termsuccess or failure. Alabama's traditional strategyfor successful funding from the legislature hasbeen to advocate funding for your program, with-out regard for any other entity. The state agen-cies representing K-12 schools, community col-leges, four-year colleges and universities, andpublic libraries annually present independentbudgets to the legislature. The legislature has fewopportunities in the budgeting process to fund ashared program without designating it as part ofone of the existing state agencies.

The Steering Committee used the Fall of 1998to evaluate virtual libraries in other states andassess what did or did not work. The Committeemet in December, 1998, and after much discus-sion, agreed that the most successful statewideventures were those with a governance structurethat adequately represented the many "communi-ties of interest" for both libraries and education.

Those governed by a single entity, even if theyprovided access to other sectors, reported moreconflict among the "communities of interest"because those communities often perceived(rightly or wrongly) that their users' informationand service needs were unrecognized, unmet orignored.

The Steering Committee agreed conceptuallyto these principles for governance:

· One state agency could manage the AVLon behalf of all constituents.

· This state agency would receive state fundsfor the AVLand become the fiscal authori-ty for the AVL.

· The fiscal authority would be responsiblefor complying with all legal requirementsfor the expenditure of the state funds.

· An advisory group (which became the AVLCouncil) would be established to governthe AVLand would be broadly representa-tive of the library and education commu-nity.

· The AVLCouncil would advise and guide

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the fiscal authority on all decisions relatedto the AVL, including management,database selection, and technology.

· The fiscal authority would not make deci-sions unilaterally but would work closelywith the AVLCouncil.

· Recommendations of the AVL Council

would be binding on the fiscal authority aslong as they did not conflict with state lawand fiscal policies.

The AVL Council would include voting repre-sentatives of the state-level education agencies(Alabama Commission on Higher Education,Alabama Department of Education, AlabamaDepartment of Postsecondary Education, andAlabama Supercomputer Authority), and theAlabama Public Library Service, as well as votingrepresentatives of the agencies' constituents.

When it became apparent that the 1999Legislature would fund the AVL,Dr. Lamar Veatch(then director of the Alabama Public LibraryService) and Dr. Sue Medina, director of theNetwork of Alabama Academic Libraries, partici-pated in many discussions about AVLgovernanceand management with members of the HouseWays and Means Committee (especially its chair-man Representative Howard Hawks), the SenateFinance and Taxation Committee (especially itschairman Senator Hank Sanders), and representa-tives of the Legislative Budget Office, the StateFinance Office, and the Office of the AttorneyGeneral.

As a result of these discussion and the princi-ples approved by the Steering Committee, Dr.Veatch proposed to the Legislators, the FinanceOffice, the Attorney General, and the library/edu-cation community that:

· The Alabama Public Library Service (APLS)become the fiscal authority for the AVL.

· The APLS Board of Trustees would be

responsible for expending AVL funds inaccordance with state law and fiscal poli-cies.

· The APLSBoard of Trustees would not act

unilaterally to manage the AVLbut wouldmake decisions about the AVLonly withthe advice of the broadly representativegoverning council.

· This council (which became the AVLCouncil) would include representatives

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appointed by the Alabama Commission onHigher Education, Alabama Department ofPostsecondary Education, AlabamaDepartment of Education, Alabama PublicLibrary Service, and the Alabama

An exemplary AVLservice is the AVLHelpDeskmanaged by the Alabama Supercomputer Authority(ASA). The Authority is a critical partner becauseASAoperates the Alabama Research and EducationNetwork, the state-supported telecommunicationsnetwork for education and research. As Alabama'sInternet Service Provider for education, it managesK-12 and higher education Internet authorizations,domain names, and Internet servers.

The state-supported ASAcontracts for technicalsupport of its supercomputer center and thestatewide telecommunication lines. The ASAcontrac-

tor, located in Huntsville (Alabama's high-tech com-munity and home of the U. S. Army RedstoneArsenal and the Marshall Space Flight Center),recruits its employees from people with a high level(world-class)of technical knowledge and skills.

Advantages for contracting with the AVLfor theAVLHelpDesk:

· ASA,the state Internet service provider for edu-cation, operates the Alabama Research andEducation Network for the higher educationcommunity and most local school systems. Inthis capacity, it is already providing the supportneeded for Internet access and the technologyrequired for a successfulAVL.

· ASAsupports the state's research communities,including highly advanced research using theASAsupercomputer. ASAcontractual staff arehighly skilled computer scientists and techni-cians. Their knowledge base for technologyapplications is unequaled in Alabama.

· ASAmaintains a support service that is customer-oriented and extremely responsive. No problemor service disruption is unattended or unresolvedfor more than a matter of minutes.

Folding the AVLHelpDesk into the excellent ser-vices already provided by the ASAfor educationresulted in a bargain. This exceptional service isworth many times the amount that AVLreimbursesthe Authority for its efficiency in keeping the AVLonline 24/7.

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Supercomputer Authority, and these repre-sentatives would represent the agency aswell as its constituents.

· Each state agency would determine itsown representatives and make threeappointments to the AVL Council. Theinitial terms would be staggered, but sub-sequent appointments would be for threeyears.

· Any representative who left the positionoccupied at the time of appointmentwould automatically vacate the appoint-ment to the AVL.

The legislators, the Finance Office, theAttorney General, and the "communities of inter-est" in the Steering Committee all agreed to thisgovernance structure. (1) Further decisions withthe Legislators focused on who would provide themanagement and technical services needed forthe AVL. The state agencies agreed that theywould provide management support using theirexisting staff. The only contracted service was forthe AVLHelpDesk for technology support.

The AVL proposal for governance and man-agement assured legislators that:

· All constituents would be represented inthe governance.

· All students and the public would benefitfrom AVLresources and services.

· AVLfunds would be used for informationcontent and essential technical support bythe Alabama Supercomputer Authority.

· The AVL implementation would upholdthe "equity, excellence, economy" promis-es made during the 1999 legislative session.

The Finance Office and the Office of the

Attorney General reviewed the structure of theNetwork of Alabama Academic Libraries (NAAL)and its relationship to ACHE, and both Officesagreed that this very successful model of a con-stituent-based consortium advising a state agencywould be an appropriate governance structure forthe AVLCouncil and the Alabama Public LibraryService.(2) The Finance Office, concerned primar-ily with meeting legal accounting requirements,was comfortable that a state agency would beresponsible for the state funds and would complywith all legal requirements for expenditures.

THE ALABAMALIBRARIAN

Throughout the legislative session, Dr. Veatchreviewed all of these various meetings with theAVLSteering Committee. Everyone involved inthese discussions agreed to implement the AVLgovernance based on the model used for NAAL.Dr. Veatch pledged on behalf of the APLSBoardof Trustees that APLSwould oversee its responsi-bility for the AVLonly with the guidance of theAVLCouncil.

In June, 1999, as soon as the budget bill waspassed by the Alabama Legislature, Dr. Veatchagain conferred with the Office of the AttorneyGeneral about the governance structure and theresponsibilities of APLSas fiscal manager. He wasadvised that the proposed AVL Council wouldprovide sufficient oversight for the AVL, as longas everyone involved understood that the respon-sibility for the legal expenditure of state fundswould rest with the APLSBoard.

Dr. Veatch contacted the other four depart-ment heads and invited them to appoint theirthree representatives to the first AVLCouncil.(3)At the first AVL Council meeting, Dr. Veatchexplained the governance structure and reviewedthe various promises made to the Legislators,Finance Office, and the Attorney General.(4) Heclearly informed the appointed representativesthat the Council would be advisory to the APLSBoard. He stressed that he had discussed the AVL

governance with the APLS Board and that theBoard confirmed it would not act unilaterally norindependent of the Council's advice, so long asthe Council acted in the best interest of the entire

state. He reiterated the pledge of APLSto workclosely with the Council to implement the AVLfor the benefit of all Alabamians.

Since its first meeting in 1999, the AVLCouncil has sustained the vision of an integratedAVLserving all constituents. Council chairman-ship rotates annually among the representativesby "community of interest." Occasionally, thecouncil elects a chairman to a second term, butthe rotation continues with the next election.

The Council has created several standing commit-tees; and all include representatives from the"communities of interest." The library and edu-cation communities are well served by the exist-ing AVL governance structure. It has beenresponsive to requests for additional content andhas effectively managed with minimal conflict

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the cuts in content mandated by proration. Thedatabases selected by the AVL Council truly pro-vide the broadest possible range of content toserve the information needs of elementary schoolstudents through college, as well as the life-longlearning interests of the public.

Any review of the Alabama Virtual Librarymust credit the 1999 legislators for grasping theconcept of a statewide "virtual library," an infor-mation resource that would belong to everyonebut not be limited by physical location. They sawthe potential that a very small funding requestoffered the citizens of Alabama. Alabama's legis-lators, in every session since 1999, have renewedtheir strong support for the AVL. They see that

The "communities of interest" provide additionalsupport services needed for the AVL,mainly throughcommittees. AllAVLcommittees are staffed by volun-teers. The Training Committee, first chaired by apublic libraryis now is chaired by an academic librari-an. This chairman coordinates AVLtraining in-state,including vendor-provided training. Other librariansthroughout the state serve as trainers; and any libraryor school system can request on-site training for anyor all of the AVLdatabases. One of the hardest work-

ing committees, the Database Review Committee,first chaired by a public librarian and now chaired bya school librarian, continually reviewsonline productsand reports about them to the AVLCouncil. Itsmembers include two public librarians, two K-12school librarians, two community college librarians,and two four-year college/university librarians. Iffunds permit the addition of content, a DatabaseNegotiating Team is activated to negotiate licensingterms and favorable pricing for databases the AVLCouncil would liketo add to the AVL. Its chairman isa school librarian who is also a member of the AVL

Council. The PublicityCommittee has worked espe-cially hard in FY2004-2005 to promote the AVLtoend users. This committee is developing exhibitmaterials to use at conferences such as the Chamber

of Commerce Association of Alabama (an early sup-porter of AVLfunding) and professional groups suchas the Alabama Associationof Teachers of English. ALong-RangePlanning Committee, made up of mem-bers of the AVLCouncil, is working on a plan for thegrowth and further enhancement of the AVLresources and services.

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the visionaries who worked so hard to advocatefunding for an AVLhave delivered on the promis-es of equity, excellence, and economy. Mostimportant, they receive a heartfelt "thank you"from their constituents for their support of thewonderful AVL. It is truly a miracle.

NOTES

1 Once this proposal was accepted by the partic-ipants in these discussions, the AlabamaLegislature funded the Alabama VirtualLibrary as a line item in the APLSappropria-tion.

2 The Network of Alabama Academic Libraries

was created in 1984 as a consortium of publicand privately-supported colleges and universi-ties offering graduate education. NAAL isfunded as a line item in the Alabama

Commission on Higher Education appropria-tion. As NAAL'sfiscal agent, ACHE has effec-tively and efficiently managed both statefunds and several federal grants for NAAL. Inthe years since the first state appropriationand the implementation of this governancestructure for NAAL, there have been no con-flicts between ACHE and the NAAL AdvisoryCouncil over the mission, goals, and programdirection of NAAL or the use of state fundsappropriated to ACHEfor NAAL.NAALexpen-ditures are routinely audited by the Examinersof Public Accounts as part of ACHE's regularstate audit.

3 Three representatives from each agency result-ed in an uneven number of members on the

Council and avoided the possibility of dead-locked votes. In making appointments, thestate agency directors chose to appoint onerepresentative from the agency administrativestaff and two representatives from their con-stituents. For example, APLS appointed itsdirector, a public librarian, and a publiclibrary trustee. The Department ofPostsecondary Education appointed its Datasystems coordinator who had served on theSteering Committee, a librarian from a com-munity college, and a librarian from a techni-cal school. ACHE appointed a staff member,the NAALchairman, and a director of anotheracademic library. The Department ofEducation appointed its school media coordi-

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nator, a school-based school media specialist,and a county library media coordinator. ASAappointed its chief operating officer for thesupercomputer center, a budget analyst, andthe HelpDesk coordinator.

4 These promises were not codified by theLegislature, but the AVLadvocates promisedto uphold them in the absence of specific leg-islation. The promises made to the Legislatureinclude provisions that the AVL would nothire staff other than the AVLHelpDesk sup-port, would not permit any means for minorsto provide personal identification informa-tion, and would not include advertising. TheLegislators sought assurances from the AVLadvocates that K-12 and college studentswould have access to content appropriate fortheir instruction and research and that the K-12 and higher education communities wouldhave a voice in how AVLcontent was selectedand made available.

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