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*{Darwin College Library Committee}

 Minutes of the meeting held Mon 28th January 2003 at 6pm, in the Seminar Room. \\ 


 Present:
 David MacKay  (djcm1) [Fellow Librarian],          
 Espen Koht (ehk20) [Computer Officer],              
 Christian Goeschel (cag41) [Student Librarian],         
 Ariane Kossack (ak280)  [Student Librarian],         
 Vasiliki Tsakali   (vt218),
 Deborah Pino (dsp26),
 Jim Endersby (jje21), 
 John Craig (jsc1004),
 Andrew Bell (agb38),
 Vikram Negi (vn218) [Council representative, DCSA president],
 Mike Sitch  (dcsa-coms@dar) [for DCSA rep],
 Elisabeth Leedham-Green (el17).


 Apologies:
 Pamela Abbott (pya20),
 Jason Hawkes (dcsa-welfare@dar) [DCSA representative].      


o Minutes of the meeting held on 	 Mon 21st October 2002 were confirmed.

o 2002 Book check.
 About 60 books
 that were missing at the stockcheck have been returned;
 the number still missing is now about 363.


o	It was agreed that
 a flat screen should be purchased for use
 in 
	a computer terminal dedicated to viewing the UL catalogue.
 The terminal will be placed alongside the checkout terminal.

o	Tamper-proof `returns' book bin / postbox.  The
 committee records its thanks to the Clerk of Works for a splendid job.

o	Book purchases.  The CUP allocation
 must be spent by 30 September 2003.
 It was agreed to ask CUP if they would
 in addition donate to us a set of Darwin's letters (which have
 a cost of about £ 1000).

 The question of purchasing policy was visited again, in the
 light of the steadily increasing number of MPhil students.
 It was agreed to stick to the current policy, which
 is to solicit book recommendations from all members,
 with an emphasis on books of general interest. Textbooks
 may also be purchased if
 they are not expensive and   are expected
 to have a long-lasting utility to students.

o Magazine subscriptions.
	It was agreed that the whole system for magazines and
 newspapers in the college deserves attention.
 The reading room is often untidy. Perhaps the College Council
 could consider how to improve the situation?
 The committee felt that it would be appropriate for
 the College to subscribe to some additional magazines
 of general interest (titles such as Harvard Business Review
 or New Scientist were mentioned), but that such magazines
 would belong in the Reading Room rather than in the library.
 The DCSA would also ask members to request suggestions
 for magazine titles from students.

o Donations. It was agreed that students should be
 encouraged to donate books to the Library when they leave Cambridge.
 It was suggested that the librarians be authorized
 to buy textbooks (that would be appropriate for the library)
 from departing students, for a nominal price.
 It was agreed that this was an idea worth trying.

o	Fines for overdue books.  The
	college council minutes recorded that a few members of the council
 were uncomfortable with the fines policy the library committee had
 suggested, even though the policy was in our view the most lenient
 and friendly possible.  Vikram Negi expressed the view that
 non-return of books by members should not be viewed as a big issue.
 However the majority of the library committee affirmed that the
 current rate of loss of books is unsatisfactory, and that the
 problem does not appear to be theft (since many books are voluntarily checked out
 and then not returned), but rather the inability of the Librarians to
 make the honest but busy member return the book.
 The committee agreed to recommend to the College Council  that  the policy be adopted
 for a trial period of one year initially and reviewed.

 { If a book has not been returned within two months of its due
 date, if at least two warnings have been issued to the borrower (at
 least one by email and one by paper), and if at least one month has
 elapsed since the second such warning, then the librarians may issue
 a fine equal to the replacement cost of the missing book (or a lesser
 sum, at the discretion of the librarians); fines are placed on the
 member's college bill.  A member who wishes to dispute the
 appropriateness of a fine should request a meeting with the Dean and
 one of the librarians; the Dean's decision will be final.  }

 The tamper-proof returns bin is now in place and works well.


o Vesalius. A meeting of Elizabeth Leedham-Green, Jim Endersby,
 David MacKay, and an expert will be arranged shortly by EL-G,
 to get advice on care of the Vesalius.

o 			Children's section.  Deborah Pino circulated
 a list of about 30 cut-price books, some of them second hand,
 proposed for purchase at a cost of about 100 pounds.
 The committee approved this list and thanked Deborah warmly.
 The future growth of the children's section will be discussed
 once feedback from members with children is received on this
 initial acquisition. It was confirmed that the { Harry Potter\/}
 books have already been ordered for the Adult section of the library.

o Finley Collection. CG reported a number of missing volumes on shelves. It was
 believed that some collected works of Nietzsche were missing, though
 they might be shelved elsewhere.  The stockcheck will be consulted to
 confirm the status of these books.

 The University  Classics Librarian has access to the Collection and
 can allow borrowing from it. Andrew Bell agreed to investigate whether
 the Classics Librarian has any knowledge of borrowed books,
 and whether they at present have keys to the study centre
 and/or the Finley shelves; and also to investigate whether
 old Finley Fellows of the College have any knowledge of
 borrowing from the Finley Collection.

o Date of next meeting: Tuesday 24 June at 6pm.



{ http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/darlib/minutes.html }  DJCM 
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