1. John Gaboury welcomed the group and gave a brief background on the
development of the VALE project. Under the auspices of NJIN, the project will be
submitted as a proposal for funding under the Interinstitutional portion of the Higher
Education Technology Infrastructure Bond Act.
2. Phil Long gave an overview of the legislation and noted that efforts to add a non-matching $5 million to the Bond for the NJ State Library had been successful. A discussion followed about the language of the Bond Act and whether it allowed funds to be used for databases, etc. In Phil's opinion, there is concern among the legislators that the bond funds not be used for common software programs, such as Wordperfect. As a long-term loan, many legislators believe the money should be used only for infrastructure needs which will last at least for the duration of the loan.
The general view of the group is that the language of the Bond is sufficiently
vague to allow for purchases of databases, but that this is still a battle which must be
fought when it comes to writing the regulations.
3. Phil Long also reviewed the process for submitting a proposal for funds and noted
that the Commission of Higher Education has released an RFP to hire a consultant who
will study the interinstitutional campus needs and write an RFP for use of the Bond's
interinstitutional funds. It will be in response to this RFP that the VALE project's
proposal will be developed. The time frame for this is estimated as sometime in the fall
of 1997.
4. John Gaboury distributed a roster of the VALE Advisory Task Force, noting that
there was good interest and representation from the corporate world and that key
personnel in both the VIVA and GALILEO projects had agreed to serve as advisors.
5. John requested that the 6 subgroups: Automation, Ariel Document Delivery,
Electronic Resources, Training, Web Interface, and Help Desk begin meeting. He
asked that the Workgroup Chairpersons report back to the Advisory Task Force every 2
weeks using the Web Forums Discussion Groups set up on the VALE homepage
(//~VALE). He emphasized that the list of Volunteers which had
been distributed to each of the Chairpersons should be used only as a starting point for
formation of the workgroups. The chairpersons should feel free to contact others to join
as well.
6. Phil Long demonstrated the Web Forums on the VALE homepage and showed the
group that there is a "threaded" discussion forum for each of the 6 groups, accessible
only to the Advisory Task Force. The conference will be expanded to include all
workgroup participants as the workgroups form and begin working.
7. John Gaboury distributed a two-page summary of the VALE project which the group
reviewed. Among the suggestions for improvement were that the document enunciate a
vision for the effort as an overview to the rather specific components. A "cradle to
grave" theme was suggested that might help to elicit future funding once the Bond
funds are gone.
8. John Gaboury invited Task Force members attending ALA to join him in meeting
and discussing the project with vendors. Gary Golden volunteered to participate in this
way.
9. The group acknowledged that VALE is unique in that it includes all private as well as
public institutions of higher education. This fact is viewed as having a positive impact
on potential vendors.
10. The need to keep the NJ higher education informed of the VALE efforts was
discussed and Anne Ciliberti agreed to talk with Pat Tumulty about participating in the
fall EMA/NJLA conference. Jeris Cassel noted that the Aca_libs listserv is another
vehicle good for this purpose.
11. John Gaboury also asked the group to begin thinking of other potential revenue
streams for the future, since the Bond money at this time is only a one-time source of
funding.
12. John suggested that the Task Force meet again during the week of July 15 and asked members to contact Anne Ciliberti or him about their availability that week.