Comprehensive Application Guidelines for The North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources' (NCC) 2007-08 Multi-Volume Sets (MVS) Project Grants
Prescreening Deadline: November 5, 2007
MVS Final Application Deadline: January 11, 2008
Two Important Recent Provisions for MVS Grant:
- MVS now permits the charging of ILL fees in accordance with the loan policies of individual holding institutions. Institutions must continue to freely circulate all volumes supported by MVS through interlibrary loan, however the charging of regular ILL fees is now permitted.
- Second-hand titles may now be proposed for MVS funding assuming the following provisions: a) the vendor of those titles promises to hold them pending the MVS grant decision, made by March 1st each year; b) the vendor provides written assurance that the condition of the proposed volumes is at a level that will permit the materials to freely circulate through ILL in accordance with MVS policies; and c) the applying institution provides a copy of the vendor's written statement regarding the above as part of their application for each second-hand set being proposed to MVS.
History of the MVS Project
Created in 1992, with generous funding from the Japan-United States Friendship Commission, the NCC's Multi-Volume Sets Project makes grants for the purchase of expensive multi-volume sets of Japanese language materials that are in demand by users and are not held elsewhere in North America. Acquiring libraries must be willing to bear between 25% and 50% of the purchase price as outlined below and to cover all shipping and handling costs. In addition, the recipient library must agree to provide prompt full-level cataloging, including necessary data in Sino-Japanese original script as well as in Romanization, of materials acquired through MVS in WorldCat no later than June 30th of the grant year. All materials acquired through the project must be labeled as part of the MVS Collection, must circulate freely both locally and nationally through interlibrary loan.
To be considered for funding by MVS, sets must be Japanese language imprints relevant to Japanese studies that cost in excess of ¥l00,000 (about $1,000). The project is intended only to support the purchase of those expensive multi-volume sets that, while important for research, are somewhat specialized and would not fit within ordinary acquisition plans because their purchase would strain library budgets. MVS will not support materials considered essential to any library. And except in rare and well documented circumstances, MVS will not fund the purchase of materials published more recently than two years prior to the grant year. There is no cost ceiling; however, when there is a scarcity of funds the committee may reduce the level of funding granted for any materials.
In addition the NCC encourages applications that will purchase materials in new and emerging areas of scholarship not widely represented in current North American Japanese language collections. The NCC is especially committed to making MVS grants in these categories and whenever possible preference will be given to such applications. Individual faculty members from smaller institutions without professional Japanese studies librarians may apply on behalf of their institution. To apply, faculty members must fully complete the application and provide documentation on their institution's commitment to meeting all MVS requirements.
The MVS Committee has provisionally included electronic materials such as DVD's and CD-ROM's (as was done with videotaped materials in the past). Applications for non-print materials such as DVD's and CD-ROMs must be accompanied by a copy of the licensing agreement from the publisher that clearly states that its terms allow for the proposed materials to circulate freely through interlibrary loan in accordance with MVS Guidelines. As noted, second-hand titles may now be proposed to MVS providing the guidelines above are fully met.
MVS Duplicate Prescreening Option:
Submitting a title for prescreening is easy. All the applying institution must do before submitting a title for prescreening is to conduct a full bibliographic search of the title or titles to determine their uniqueness within North American collections. Institutions that have completed that preliminary search before November 5, 2007 may then submit their chosen titles to the MVS Committee for an early pre-application review and extended search of volumes not yet cataloged.
The prescreening process helps avoid the work and disappointment of application rejection due to set duplication and also helps prevent the submission of duplicate applications for the same title in the same year. Institutions that submit titles early for prescreening will have priority over other institutions that may wish to apply for the same title but which only apply in the final round.
Titles for duplicate screening should be sent following the required format to Eiichi Ito,
eito@loc.gov by
November 5, 2007. An email survey of the major North American collections will then be conducted to verify the uniqueness of proposed titles and the results will be forwarded to the potential applicants who may then complete a full MVS application.
Please note that an application for prescreening is NOT the same as an application for an MVS grant.
An institution must also submit a full MVS application to receive an MVS grant.
The final MVS application deadline is
January 11, 2008; see below for application template. As in the past, the MVS Committee will meet in late February and successful applicants will be notified immediately thereafter.
Checklist of Application Criteria:
- Titles will be eligible for 75% funding assistance only if they have been fully published at the time of application and if NO CIRCULATING COPY is available in North America. In addition, except in rare and well documented circumstances, MVS will not fund works published after the end of the calendar year two years prior to the current grant year; that is, for 2007-08, by the end of 2005. Exceptions will be made only in cases where there is a limited print run and where the applicant has made a compelling case that its institution is the logical holder of those materials based on faculty interest and special collection criteria.
- Funding assistance will also be considered at the 50% level for titles of which only one circulating copy exists in North America, providing that sufficient funds are available.
- Fully-published sections of very large sets not yet published in their entirety will be eligible for funding at the 50% level so long as the requesting institution commits itself to bear all costs of the purchase of volumes not yet published with local funds.
- The sections of large sets (dai 1-ki, etc.) that are not yet completely published may be proposed for MVS support as subsequent sections are published provided that the requesting institution has committed to purchase of the entire set with the clear understanding that there is no guarantee of MVS funding for sections published after the one that was originally funded. However, when possible, the Committee looks favorably on such major purchases and when funds are available offers its support to encourage the commitment of individual institutions to building of the North American MVS Collection in this manner.
- The final decision about the level of funding granted is at the discretion of the MVS Committee based on a number of factors, including the number of applications received and the total cost of titles to be supported.
Required Cost-Sharing and Other Commitments from Applying Institution:
To receive MVS funding, the library of the applying institution must make the following commitments:
- To fund either 25% or 50% of the purchase price in yen as determined by the MVS Committee, and to pay all shipping, handling, insurance, taxes, and all other charges related to acquisition of the set.
- Any institution receiving MVS support must submit orders for purchase of the approved sets to the designated Tokyo agent, the Japan Publications Trading Company (JPT), as soon as possible but no later than one month after receiving notice of support.
- The recipient library must agree to provide prompt full-level cataloging, including necessary data in Sino-Japanese original script as well as in Romanization, of materials acquired through MVS in WorldCat, as soon as possible but no later than June 30, 2008. Each MARC record should contain the following note in the MARC 500 field: "NCC-funded title; to be lent locally and nationally according to normal ILL procedures. |5 [MARC institution code]"
Note: Each institution receiving MVS funding should substitute the institution's actual code for [MARC institution code]. Also, MARC institution codes are *not* always the same as the OCLC holding symbols. E.g. 500 NCC MVS-funded title; to be lent locally and nationally in accordance with normal ILL procedures. |5 PPiU.
MVS Review and Selection Process:
The MVS Project Committee is comprised of five Japanese studies scholars and librarians who are appointed by the NCC. The current MVS Committee Members are: Co-Chairs Professor Susan Matisoff, University of California, Berkeley and Eiichi Ito, Library of Congress; Members Professor Philip Brown, Ohio State University, (on leave during 2007-08); Sanae Isozumi, University of California, San Diego; Kuniko Yamada Mc Vey, Harvard University; another faculty member as substitute for Philip Brown, to be designated; and Victoria Lyon Bestor, NCC Executive Director (ex-officio).
The Committee screens applications, confirms the absence of duplicate holdings in North American collections, and functions as a clearinghouse for the purchase of funded sets. The Committee keeps records of titles requested both funded and not funded titles, and publishes those records on the NCC's Website. All funded titles are also contained in the NCC's fully searchable database linked to the OPAC records of the holding institutions at
http://www.nccjapan.org/mvs.asp.
The MVS Committee determines which sets will qualify for support and which libraries will receive support to purchase them. In determining distribution of awards, the Committee will consider each applicant institution's areas of specialization, unique character, and collection development traditions; in addition, it will also consider the presence of actual users of a specific set, the accessibility of catalog data, and the library's readiness to freely share purchased materials.
Individual faculty at institutions without a professional Japanese studies librarian may submit an application on behalf of their institution provided they can document how the above criteria will be met.
The optional prescreening deadline for 2007-08 MVS Awards is
November 5, 2007 and the final application deadline is
January 11, 2008. Please address any questions to Committee Co-Chair Eiichi Ito at
eito@loc.gov, and check the MVS homepage at
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ncc/mvs.html.
The Multi-Volume Sets Project receives major funding from the Japan-US Friendship Commission with supplemental support from the Japan Publications Trading Company (JPT). Funds are deposited in a JPT account from which they are disbursed following the instructions of the MVS Committee.
One original and
six copies of the final application together with all supporting materials must be shipped (To expedite delivery, please send by parcel carrier, not by regular mail.) to:
Prof. Susan Matisoff
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
University of California, Berkeley
104 Durant Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-2230
(Phone: 510-642-3480)
All proposals must be shipped by
January 11, 2008. Announcement of the awards will be made in March.
Additional Materials which must be submitted for each set applied for:
Application Form Please follow the format, providing information in as much detail as necessary, filling out and attaching a separate outline for
each title applied for. Please send final applications by parcel shipping, air or ground through UPS, Federal Express or other means, not by regular mail to:
Professor Susan Matisoff, Department of East Asian Languages and Culture, University of California Berkeley,104 Durant Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-2230. (phone: 510-642-3480)
Applications must be sent by January 11, 2008.
Supporting Information should include a narrative of a maximum of two-pages which makes reference to: the strength of the institution's collection; its ability to catalog materials promptly and fully into a national database; the potential use of materials by local faculty and students and by the national scholarly community; justification of the value of the requested title to the national body of Japanese resources; university or other institutional support for the Japanese collection (if support for the purchase of a partial set is requested, plans to purchase the remaining portion should be outlined); and confirmation that the materials will circulate freely to any user inside the United States through interlibrary loan.
Brochures or other printed information as well as relevant supporting communication from the publisher and/or vendor, if available)
Letters of support from faculty members for whom the requested materials are vital to their research will help greatly to demonstrate the local demand for the requested materials. Ultimately, the strength of faculty support letters can often be the deciding factor in whether a request is funded or not. In addition, letters from relevant officers--such as the heads of the cataloging unit, collection development budget division, and/or interlibrary loan services -are critical to a successful application. (All supporting materials should be copied and submitted as part of the overall application packet.)
Evidence of resource sharing will also greatly enhance an application. Letters of support from faculty at nearby institutions that will make use of the requested materials are strongly encouraged. Also please note your institution's participation in regional or state-wide consortia that further facilitate access to MVS and other materials within your collection.
A copy of the print-out from a search of the national databases, print and electronic, of possible holdings at other institutions must be submitted as evidence that the set is not previously held in the US. Applicants should also ascertain the availability or unavailability of currently held items through normal interlibrary borrowing procedures.
If applying for digital materials: Must include a copy of the licensing agreement showing the vendors permission for the materials to freely circulate through interlibrary loan.
If applying for second-hand materials: Application must be accompanied by a letter from the vendor promising to hold materials pending the MVS grant decision and affirming that the material are in a condition sufficient to allow their full circulation through interlibrary loan.
