Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Discussion Group Minutes - 2007 MidWinter
From WESSWeb
Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Discussion Group, Saturday January 20, 2007-02-06, Hotel W, Studio 5
Attending: Kate Brooks (Indiana University), Rebecca R. Malek-Wiley (Tulane University), Shawn Martin (University of Michigan), James Neissen (Rutgers University), Hannah Bennett (Yale University), Brian Vetruba (Washington University), Bryan Skib (University of Michigan), Daryl Boone (University of Harvard), Helen Williams (University of Harvard), Kathleen Hunter Rutter (University of Harvard), Faye Christenberry (Washington University), Eileen Bentsen (Baylor University), June Engel (Corona Public Library),Eufora Loh (UCLA), Richard Bleiler (University of Connecticut), Jennifer MacDonald (Saint Louis University), Steven Knowlton (Proquest) Kate Brooks (Indiana University)
Part I: Shawn Martin, Project Librarian,Text Creation Partnership (TCP) will give a talk "Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP): The Future of Electronic Resources?" Shawn gave an informative and thought-provoking talk on the Text Creation Partnership (TCP). The TCP is a cooperative academic project based at the Universities of Michigan and Oxford. Along with ProQuest Information and Learning, Thomson-Gale, Newsbank-Readex and over one hundred and fifty universities worldwide TCP has created a database of thousands of fully searchable texts included in ProQuest's Early English Books Online (EEBO), Gales' Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO, and NEwsbank-Readex's Evans Early American Imprints image databases. The OCR format of these databases does not allow them to be easily searched. Thus TCP is providing an important service by enhancing the text in these databases with “TCI Lite.” The TCP’s de-centralized structure across 5 production centers offers a new model for scholarly and commercial collaboration. Its blending of a commercial product and scholarship and the involvement of scholars, librarians, and publishers makes it an interesting hybrid that pushes the boundaries of all three worlds. The close participation of faculty means that the TCP and its products can influence teaching, learning, and scholarship. Librarians also play an important role in TCP in their capacity as advisors. As Shawn said, “the value of such a project lies not in its structure but in its use by all of these communities”, that is by publishers, faculty and librarians. TCP hopes to influence the scholarly publishing through offering a new model of collaboration. Part II: Open Forum
In the second half of the meeting Paula Carns, Chair, moderated an open forum on the future of CMR. Paula has been Chair for the past 2 years (there is no Vice-chair) and would be willing to step down if someone else was interested. She doesn’t want to “hog” the leadership. To help the next Chair, she is considering creating a Vice-chair to share the burden and make the transition between leadership easier. She will send out a call on WESS-L and WESS-CMR for a Chair or Vice-chair.
Paula also asked those present “How can CMR better serve WESS members?” 1. One response was for CMR to provide lists of essential works. For such a list Paula suggested looking at a shelf list of Medieval Studies reading rooms, such as at Notre Dame or University of Toronto. She will mention this need to Thomas Izbicki. Perhaps WESS-Web can provide a list. 2. Another idea was for CMR to co-sponsor a session with College and Medium-sized Library and/ or Romance Discussion Group. A warmly-received idea was for CMR to sponsor a session, perhaps with IS, ACRL’s Instruction Section, on library instruction of CMR resources. A presentation on instruction could explain how to introduce complex resources to undergraduates; how to give tips to librarians for instructional sessions on resources in Medieval Studies; how to offer advice on dealing with changes in scholarly communication from an instructional perspective; and how to present materials housed in different libraries or parts of a library. Paula will investigate a CMR session on instruction, perhaps for next Midwinter or Annual 2008.
