August 11, 1998

Dr. Richard Rhoda
Interim Director
State of Tennessee
Higher Education Commission
Parkway Towers, Suite 1900
Nashville, TN 37243-0830

Dear Dr. Rhoda:

Enclosed is a brief version of the document which we discussed earlier. It has been reviewed and approved by the TALC Board of Directors. I am also including a copy of a discussion of GALILEO which we would hope to emulate in Tennessee. I will be happy to meet with you to discuss the proposal in any detail you might wish before you forward it on to anyone else.

Again, thank you for meeting with me, and with Paula Kaufman and for encouraging our efforts with a statewide network to enhance higher education in Tennessee.

With all best regards,

Lester J. Pourciau
Director of Libraries

---

TALCnet

A Proposal to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission from the
Tennessee Academic Library Collaborative

Digital information resources are becoming increasingly important to learning and research in virtually all academic disciplines. Although all indications are that published information in ink-on-paper forms will continue to predominate, information in digital formats is becoming increasingly common and increasingly important. Technology is available today allowing a virtual library for the students and faculty of Tennessee's larger educational community. Such a virtual library would increase efficiency in research scholarship, and academic achievement. Users could easily access library holdings, journal databases, image collections, and reference resources using one interface, one search process, and one desktop workstation whether in a library, a laboratory, an office, or a home. Such access could easily transport persons to an electronic journal on the Web, a database halfway around the world, or deep within their own institutional library's archives.

Tennessee is distinctly different from other states in the Southeast because of the absence of any such statewide network as briefly described above. As a result of this, individual libraries pay more for each digital resource than they would if they negotiated a large multi-site access license. A further result is that students and faculty at institutions not purchasing access to digital information resources cannot access such resources through other state institutions. Finally, students and faculty who cannot access information resources commonly available in publicly supported colleges and universities in other states lose an edge of competitiveness when beginning jobs, entering graduate school, or seeking research grants.

The libraries of Tennessee's publicly supported institutions of higher education will spend $1.3 million (est.) collectively for digital resources in 1998/99. If these funds were to be leveraged by negotiating joint license and purchase agreements, an additional $60,000 would be available to invest in other resources to which there is now no or limited access. Although the smaller institutions would benefit more directly than larger ones from a shared access program by being able to provide access to commonly needed databases they cannot now afford to purchase, the larger institutions will also benefit by using dollars once spent for these databases for other more research-oriented resources. Citizens who use the facilities of the TBR and UT libraries, will also be able to access resources not available at the present time. Once such a program is funded and underway, models such as that provided by Georgia's GALILEO project, may be employed to extend access to other types of libraries. Through the newly-formed Tennessee Academic Library Collaborative (TALC), TBR and UT libraries are partnering to negotiate more favorable access licenses, to implement a universal borrowers program for students and faculty at all TBR and UT institutions, and to develop training programs to improve the skills of TBR and UT library professionals and staff. However, these steps are not sufficient to provide the level of access and services provided in our neighboring states, and they will not generate sufficient funds to provide Tennessee's college and university students and faculty access to the digital resources they need to do their work. We estimate that $1.5 million is required to start a program of expanded shared access to critically needed digital information resources. Annual costs are estimated to be $2.5 million, with an annual inflation factor of 8%. These funds will be used to:

1. select materials of importance to groups of participants

2. negotiate joint and shared license and purchase agreements with information vendors

3. provide technical support for delivering access to shared digital resources (most resources will be provided through facilities at UTK and the University of Memphis)

An example of a successful and very highly regarded state-wide network analogous to what is proposed here is GALILEO, the GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online system. This system delivers bibliographic, abstract and full text information to more than 2,300 academic, public, technical, and school libraries throughout the state of Georgia. It uses software and online services from OCLC to build local databases and to merge diverse databases into seamless information resources accessible through a single World Wide Web based interface. The result is a customized, virtual library for the students and faculty of Georgia's educational community.

8/11/98