MEMBERS:
Katie Fhromberg, UCB
Scott Miller, UCB
Carol La Russa, UCD
Eric McDonald, UCI
Barbara Schader, UCLA
Sheryl Davis UCR (Chair)
Catherine Nelson, UCSB
Cecily Johns, UCSB, SOPAG Liaison

CHARGE:

The University of California Libraries have a long history of successful innovation in managing their collections so as to achieve the archival mission of the libraries in the face of constraints on funding and space, changing technology, and increasingly diverse formats.  The Regional Library Facilities program, which has sustained the archival role of the libraries in a cost- and space-efficient manner while adapting continually to both changing technology and the changing collection management needs of the campuses, and the UC Preservation Program are perhaps the most noteworthy examples.  The emergence of networked technology, digital publishing, and scholarly communication in electronic form challenge existing strategies for archival collection management, both by presenting new and untested techniques for preserving and enhancing access to existing material now available in other formats, and by raising pressing issues related to the archiving of materials collected originally in digital format or in both digital and print formats.

While the issues presented by this situation will not be resolved quickly, it is important that the University take initiative in this area to set a strategic direction, gain experience, and lay a foundation for the more dramatic changes that will emerge over the next several years.  In the short run, the strategic problem might be characterized as follows:

Given the present characteristics of the collections and anticipated patterns of acquisitions in both print and digital formats, how should our strategies for archiving print material change in order to sustain the archival function of the UC Libraries in the most cost-effective fashion?

The charge to the Task Force is to address this question by:

Identifying and analyzing a limited number of alternative strategies for archiving print material;

Recommending a range of specific actions that the University Libraries could consider and adopt over the next year or two to assess the viability of the preferred alternatives identified by the group.

In preparing recommendations for action, the Task Force should consider, as appropriate:

cost issues
logistical issues
material ownership issues
staffing issues

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