CCL-EAR Committee Chair Report

By Tamara Weintraub, CCL-EAR Committee Chair

This academic year is starting out like no other in my long career in the California Community College system. Most of our libraries are providing services solely online right now, and as a result, the electronic information resources we offer students have never been more critical. The value of having had a team already in place to ease the sudden changes we all faced in March -- including a committee of peers that vets resources we all use, and a consortium director who negotiates the best prices and contract terms possible -- is “cclear” (pun intended).

As the new CCL-EAR Committee Chair, I have been reminded many times over the past several months of the meaningful ways this group supports the immediate and long-term needs of our library community in normal times and during periods of crisis. A few of the things EAR accomplished last year are representative of how we do this:

• EAR Committee reviewed and assessed results of its third annual electronic access and resources survey of California community college librarians (from May 2019, SurveyMonkey or PDF). The findings help inform decisions we make and actions we take.
• The Committee worked with CCL Executive Board members on the new CCL Statement on Library User Privacy (many thanks to CCL-EAR member and CCSF Librarian Megan Kinney for her role).
• We worked with the CCL Communications Manager to develop a new review format that will make our product reviews more accessible (see Oxford Research Encyclopedias for a sample). We’ll continue work in the coming year to put all future and past reviews into this new format.

As for the year ahead, just a few of our goals include undertaking new product reviews and comparisons, looking at open access resources in Primo, and re-examining the old NetLibrary/EBSCO Shared ebook collection for another weeding project.

Want to be a part of this? Consider joining CCL-EAR as a Regional Representative or attending our meetings – all Consortium members are invited. When I look back on my career, I count serving on the EAR Committee as one of my most meaningful professional contributions. Learn more about what’s involved and who we are, and contact me if you have questions or would like to become a Committee member.

Finally, I want to thank Past/current Vice Chair Steve Hunt, for his many years of service on the EAR Committee, both as a member representative and leader. Under his leadership, Steve ensured the Committee always maintained its charge “to explore ways in which the resources of the community college libraries could be maximized through cooperative ventures for electronic resources, databases and information.” I pledge to continue his good work moving forward.