1. History
The Library Director at Baylor organized the initial meeting in February, 1987. The meeting included Baylor-Moody Memorial Library, Baylor Law School Library, and Howard Payne University Library.
Library directors can make binding agreements documents librarians cannot.
Suggested goals of the consortium are to:
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Develop a union list of holdings;
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Purchase a fax machine for each library to enhance document communication and delivery;
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Invite Abilene Christian University and Hardin-Simmons University to join the consortium;
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Send a consortium representative to all meetings of the Depository Library functions.
2. Second meeting of the group included Abilene Christian University and Hardin-Simmons University, plus representatives from the two regionals in Texas: the Texas State Library and Texas Tech University. The 11th congressional district was split between the two (May, 1987). This has changed since the last census.
3. What prompted all of this activity?
A GPO inspection in 1986 and the ensuing report pointed out a lack of dialogue between institutions. No one had thought about forming a consortium just for documents.
4. Initial members:
Baylor University Hardin-Simmons University
Baylor Law School Howard Payne University
Abilene Christian University
5. New member added March 1993:
Angelo State University
6. Third meeting was held in June, 1987
All library directors, documents librarians, and support staff were invited.
Adopted the original agenda:
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Develop a Union List of Holdings;
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Agreed to purchase fax machines;
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Agreed to send a consortium representative to Depository Library functions.
Also agreed upon a name: HOT DOCS Consortium (Heart of Texas Documents Consortium) and to share:
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procedure manuals;
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guides;
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bibliographies and other in-house publications.
7. Organizational structure that developed:
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not highly structured;
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no elected chair;
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agreed to meet twice a year;
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notes are taken at meetings, but kept to a minimum;
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meetings generally last from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
8. What is the payoff and why participate?
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After five years of operation we have developed into a dynamic working group that attempts to be proactive instead of reactive.
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We continue to produce our annual list of holdings from the GPO Depository Union List Item Selections. Cost per year per member is $80.00 depending upon the number of copies ordered.
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All libraries continue to support the consortium with leave time and travel funds for documents librarians so they may attend meetings.
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The group is small enough that good relationships have developed over the years, and conversation and the sharing of ideas flows easily. At the four institutions there have been three changes in library directors and three new documents librarians.
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The consortium has become a support network and provides assistance and helpful solutions for difficult reference questions, automation problems, and other processing problems.
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Using fax for our ILL has improved the turnaround time for document delivery. We will fax any document under 50 pages.
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Communicate by telephone - then mailing a document usually takes two or three days. Average 20-25 requests per year. May not seem like much, but think about the "good will" benefits.
9. Achievements & Continuing Projects:
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Annual HOT Docs Union List
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Two formal educational programs
1. "Census 90 Workshop"
2. Combined AHE (Alliance for Higher Education of North Texas) and HOT Docs program: "How to Prepare for a GPO Inspection" with Joe McClane
10. New Ideas:
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Expansion of HOT Docs to a fifth institution: Angelo State University
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Adoption of a claims policy for documents not on the GPO's new "core list" one of the consortium's members will photocopy the missing documents and mail to the other library.
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For all consortium members to subscribe to Gov Docs-L.
Baylor shares its Gov Docs-L printouts at HOT Docs meeting.
Howard Payne University -- no fiber optics to Brownwood, TX
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All members should consider subscribing to MARCIVE's enhanced GPO CAT/PAC and mark one another's holdings.
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