Discussion centered chiefly on how much space remains in the Annex for materials transferred from the libraries. Peg Earheart reported that if the libraries continue to send materials at their present rate without major surges and if we can continue to procure compact shelving, she expects that the Annex can accommodate materials for another four to five years.

This means that we effectively have four to five years in which to plan and build an Annex expansion. We have requested permission to use reassessment reserve funding to hire architects to design an expansion, but issues of funding and neighborhood approval remain to be resolved.

All the directors indicated that they do not anticipate surges in demand for Annex space in the near term. Everyone agreed, however, that additional Annex space will be essential in the future. We also discussed emergency measures we might consider if we face a shortage of Annex space before an expansion is ready. Options include withdrawing duplicates currently stored in the Annex; withdrawing print journals duplicated by digital content if we have permanent rights to the archival electronic material; and making greater use of consortial storage options such as the Information Alliance Serials Archive.