Committee on South Asian Libraries and Documentation
Minutes of the Meeting Fall 2001
University of Wisconsin at Madison
Memorial Library
October 18, 2001
Respectfully submitted by Tim Bryson

I. Announcements (Alan Grosenheider) II. Treasurer's Report (Merry Burlingham) III. SACAP Pakistan (Jim Armstrong) IV. SACAP New Delhi (Carol Mitchell) V. Fiscal Report (James Gentner) VI. Acceptance of Previous Meeting Minutes (as Revised) VII. DSAL/SAMP (Mary Rader) VIII. DSAL/DDSA (Rebecca Moore) IX. Round Robin X. Online Technologies Workshop URL's XI. Attendees
  1. Announcements (Alan Grosenheider)
    • Gift books in honor of retirees Krishan Khera and Lynette Wagemann are being prepared.
  2. Treasurer's Report(Merry Burlingham)
    • Current balance is $845.63
  3. SACAP Pakistan (Jim Armstrong)
    • Evacuation. Armstrong return for several months. Meanwhile, Rukhsana Saood, the Acting In Charge of the office, will continue to monitor emails and faxes on a daily basis. Any special requests can be emailed direct to Rukhsana at rsao@loc.gov
    • Shipments. There were no shipments from Islamabad for a couple of weeks following Sept. 11. This was due to interruptions in the scheduled PIA flights which carry the APO mail, and secondarily to the lack of suitable mail bags caused by the absence of incoming flights. Shipments resumed after about 3 weeks.
    • Staff. Current staff has 22 members, mostly from Karachi and the province of Sindh. Eight people retired last year which means we have many new staff members, brining with them more energy and stability. All of them were Punjabis, bringing more diversity. Hiring a new agent for Karachi has been problematic but it has resulted in renewed contacts with local dealers.
    • Titles. There was a large increase in the number of titles received, in part due to the education of authors into the advantages of copyright protection.
    • Cataloging. This was the best year for cataloging.
    • OUP. OUP contacts improved, which should expedite processing and delivery of their titles.
    • Afghani materials. There were significant purchases of older titles, most of which were sent to New Delhi for micofilming.
    • Radical Islamic materials. One staff member, a woman, has been courageous and resourceful in acquiring radical Islamic materials, including Taliban publications from Quetta and cassette recordings of speeches.
    • Third Quarter Financial Reports are coming.
    • Questions/Comments
      • Q:Has quality improved as well as quantity? A: No
      • Q: Are you selecting out materials that address general Islamic issues without any local relevance? A: Yes. It is a judgement call and we keep titles that have any local material in them.
      • Q: What is the proportion of Urdu to English? A: About 900::500.
      • C: Some books on the slips are not arriving. A: Send info to the office for follow-up.
      • C: OUP/Karachi books on the Taliban and bin Laden are popular now.
      • C: There is a project to digitize Taliban materials; we could use more.
      • Q: Are you collecting ephemera like posters? A: Yes; they are sent to LC.
      • Q: What is LC's plan for distributing these? A: It's under discussion.
      • Q: How can we access microfilmed items? A: We send them to New Delhi but after that, they become difficult to track.
  4. SACAP New Delhi (Carol Mitchell) to the top
    • Security concerns. Generally, India is calm but we are looking at alternative locations in case of emergency.
    • Acquisitions.
      • Another boom year.
      • About 17,000 titles were acquired.
      • More were reviewed and rejected, esp. in the subject areas of human rights, women's studies, encyclopedias, world development--because many of these are mere cut-and-paste copies of earlier works. [Comment: the emails with explanations of the reasons for rejecting items are very helpful.]
      • We have been pro-active in acquiring elusive items, e.g., publications of a banned student Islamic group and controversial textbooks. These are assembled into microfiche sets. Originals are sent to CRS and FRD (Federal Research Division of LC [they publish the country studies])
      • Publications from OUP, Viking, Penguin, Sage take priority.
    • Staff
      • There have been new hires in Burma and accounting.
      • Mr. Butani will be retiring next year.
    • Fulbright Program is interested in library projects.
    • South Asia Literary Recordings Project.
      •
    • September 11 Archive (http://september11.archive.org)
    • New Website (http://www.locdelhi.org/test/)
      • Working on firewall protection so that participant reports can be posted
      • Content will include lists of acquisitions trips and title search feature for microfilmed serials, pamphlets, etc.
      • Which is more important to post on a monthly basis-- list of titles on order or titles shipped? Comments:
        • Include info from Islamabad office.
        • Titles shipped will be in OCLC; add 4-5 months to date of record to estimate date of arrival at participant libraries.
        • Shipment times vary depending on whether ships take Pacific route or Atlantic route.
        • Profile info can be searched in OCLC.
        • If item on order comes with insufficient copies for participants, it is fiched.
        • Would it be more efficient to address such issues by individual inquiry? Some people report inadequate responsiveness. CM: Response should be within 24 hours.
    • Comments/Questions
      • Q: Can we have thank you notes for our visits? A: Yes.
      • Q: Digital products? A: Most are not good; we ask for demos of each. DVD's more common format than VCD's. Perhaps digital map products could be networked among CONSALD members.
      • C: LC will look at the Rubi Enterprise catalog.
      • Q: Subtitled videos? A: Most come to LC without subtitles but we will circularize notice of those that do have subtitles.
      • Q: Move from sewn to adhesive binding so as to avoid inconvenient reductions of margins? A: CM will look into it.
  5. Fiscal Report (James Gentner) to the top
    • World Treasures of the LC: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/
    • Asian Division Staff: New reference librarian/bibliographer was hired for Pakistan, Bangladesh and Islam in South Asia.
    • Subject Cataloging in New Delhi will be expanded to cover Social Sciences (H) in addition to classes B, D, and P. Training begins in January.
    • IT Training is being offered in DC for staff using IFOS (Integrated Field Office System). That should make support and use more sophisticated. The system combines features like those of GOBI (Yankee) with those of Voyager.
    • Annual Audit. The auditors will send letters randomly to members of LCCAP and ask them to verify their confidence in LCCAP's financial bookkeeping.
    • Indirect and Overhead costs.
      • These are high but they could be a lot worse. Congress is no longer in the PL480 mindset.
      • The I&O costs pay for the audit and the Administrative Working Fund (accounting services) as well as for services for LCCAP participants in the field offices that extend beyond the requirements of LC, e.g., staff time, shipping preparation. LC covers most of these costs, including salaries and serials check-in.
      • Proposal. It would make it a lot easier on staff if one rate were set for all six field offices. That rate would be 42%. This is higher than the current 39% rate for LCCAP New Delhi.
      • Q: What congressional entity oversees LC? A: The Joint Committee on the Library.
      • Q: Why the fluctuations? A: Changes in currency exchange rates, staffing, rent, equipment as well as in the accuracy of annual estimates of costs that serves as the basis of LCCAP billing.
    • Shipping Security. In light of recent events, people may be concerned about the security of shipments from South Asia. LC shipments are very secure. They are sealed under LC staff supervision in New Delhi and opened under LC staff supervision at DC. Ignore the customs slips; they are only to assist the APO.
    • Current SACAP/New Delhi List has 47 member participants. Not all of them are represented at CONSALD meetings because they may represent agricultural or law libraries or Burma programs and go to other conferences.
    • Itemized Billing is possible if you need to bill other entities within your institution, e.g., a law school. But this service costs LC money.
  6. Acceptance of Previous Meeting Minutes (as Revised)
  7. DSAL/SAMP (Mary Rader) to the top
    • The subcommittee met earlier in the day and will continue discussions before submitting proposals to CONSALD next Spring.
    • Among the issues is that of voting privileges for faculty and the possibility of year-round voting via email.
  8. DSAL/DDSA (Rebecca Moore)
    • Are monthly reports ok? [Yes]
    • Imperial Gazetteers: 24 of 25 volumes are online. Maps are coming.
      • Q: Some names of places have changed; how will people find citations? A: Places will have geo-coordinates and people will be able to use the digital maps to find them.
    • Q: Are ebook URL's stable? A: Yes, they can be bookmarked.
    • DSAL resources are being cataloged for entry into OCLC by CRL.
    • Funding: original funding came from the AAU/ARL Global Resources Program. DSAL is in the third year of the three year grant. Other CONSALD members are invited to participate in the next funding proposal. The deadline is November 30. For matching purposes, there is a need for institutions to contribute human time and/or created resources. Contact Jim Nye.
  9. Round Robin to the top
    • There was no time for traditional Round Robin so it was suggested that everyone simply give their name, current institution, and institution where they obtained their last degree.
    • David Magier announced that Bindu Bhatt has been hired as South Asia Librarian at Columbia University.
    • Jim Nye announced that the University of Chicago is underwriting recovery of the flooded Urdu Research Library in Hyderabad but solicits additional help from other institutions, esp. those thay may have insurance coverage.
    • David Nelson announced that Penn obtained a Mellon grant to load Oxford etitles in the area of history. Expansion to include Social Science titles is under way.
    • Alan Grosenheider announced that a new executive committee will need to be elected in the Spring.
  10. Online Technologies Workshop URL's to the top
  11. Attendees to the top
    12.  James C. Armstrong, Library of Congress
    Larry Ashmun, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Bronwen Bledsoe, University of Chicago
    Tim Bryson, Emory University
    Merry Burlingham, University of Texas-Austin
    James Genter, Library of Congress
    Alan Grosenheider, University of Washington (chair)
    Donald Clay Johnson, University of Minnesota
    Ved Kayastha, Cornell University
    Catherine Lee, UCLA
    David Magier, Columbia University
    Avinash Maheshwary, Duke
    Philip McEldowney, University of Virginia
    Carol Mitchell, Library of Congress
    Rebecca Moore, Digital South Asia Library
    Panna Naik, University of Pennsylvania
    David Nelson, University of Pennsylvania
    James Nye, University of Chicago
    Mary Rader, University of Michigan
    Richard Richie, Yale University
    James Simon, CRL
    Andrea Singer, Indiana University
    Gurnek Singh, Syracuse University     to the top

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