Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics
Minutes of Meeting
Members Present: H. Richard Crane – Chairman, J. A. Burton, W. W. Havens, Jr., G. A. Jeffrey, E. Leonard Jossem, H. William Koch, A. I. Mahan
Absent: Gerald Holton
AIP Staff Present: H. William Koch, Director; Wallace Waterfall, Secretary; G. F. Gilbert, Treasurer; Lewis Slack, Assoc. Director for General Activities; R. H. Marks, Assoc. Dir. for Publishing & Information; Dorothy M. Lasky, Assistant to the Director; Mary M. Johnson, Assistant to the Secretary
Chairman Crane called the meeting to order at 9:33 a.m.
1. Minutes
The Secretary said that he regretted personal matters had made it impossible for him to complete the minutes of the June 29 meeting in time to mail them to all Executive Committee members before this meeting. Copies of those minutes were distributed just before this meeting and so it would be unfair to ask the Committee to approve the minutes without having had an opportunity to read them. Furthermore, there was an error in the minutes which should be corrected before their approval. The Secretary suggested the following motion which was made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that the Secretary be authorized to take a mail ballot on approval of the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of June 29 with the understanding that Item 2c of the minutes will be changed to record that the Sigma Pi Sigma Trust Fund was to be turned over to AIP at the end of five years.
2. Subscription Fulfillment Activities
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Status
Gilbert called attention to the booklet of background material on various agenda items which had been distributed before the meeting and referred particularly to DiCaro’s monthly status report to Secretaries and Treasurers of Societies dated August 15, 1973. Copies of revised yellow sheets were then distributed and had been sent to Society Secretaries and Treasurers with DiCaro’s memorandum of August 20, 1973. The revised report is attached as Exhibit A. In DiCaro’s report he mentions that a microfilm of the Master History Record File will be prepared and made available to those Societies who wish to have it after each update. It is planned to charge $30.00 for the microfilm and it is understood that a suitable microfilm reader can be purchased for $465.00.
A document described as Illustration No. 1 and entitled “Maximum and Minimum Computer Thru-Put Times” was also distributed and is attached as Exhibit B.
Gilbert said that the fulfillment and other responsibilities of the Data Processing group had reached a point where a two-shift operation was necessary and had been started. The shift hours and staffing are indicated on the sheet entitled Illustration No. 2 which is attached to Illustration No. 1. Havens raised a question about the adequacy of our equipment to handle all of the jobs it is being used for. Gilbert answered that the present equipment is getting old and we are about reaching its capacity limit. We have met with representatives of IBM and UNIVAC to talk about our needs and expect to have some proposals from them soon. Burton said that AIP has many influential friends connected with various computer organizations and he felt that it would be wise for us to ask their assistance in helping determine our needs rather than depend on the sales representatives of the various computer manufacturers.
Gilbert said that another innovation is the new change-of-address form, which will be included in every issue of PHYSICS TODAY starting with October. All of our members get PT and it will simplify operations greatly if they will use the PT form only in requesting change of address. In answer to a question, it takes about six weeks from the time we are notified of an address change until the new address is placed on the mailing list. Koch said we hope to be able to cut this time down to three weeks.
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Approval of Staff and Equipment Expenditures
Gilbert distributed a memorandum on this subject dated 29 August 1973 which is attached as Exhibit C. He said that one of the big reasons we had been in so much trouble with our fulfillment activities early this year was because we were understaffed. We had done this deliberately in order to hold down costs but we now realize it was a mistake and that the staff must be built up in order to handle the 1974 billing satisfactorily. The 1973 budget for the Subscription Fulfillment Division totals $688,900.00. The 29 August memorandum indicates that the Management Committee has given careful consideration to the needs of both the Fulfillment Division and the Data Processing Division and has concluded that the 1973 budget for these two activities should be increased by $110,000.00. Gilbert requested that the Executive Committee authorize change of the 1973 budget by the amount indicated.
Then followed considerable discussion by Executive Committee members. Most of them agreed that AIP must do a much better job than it did early in 1973 and that the Societies and AIP should recognize that doing a better job requires more people and greater expenditures. Jossem pointed out that this meant a total increase in 1973 costs over 1972 costs of about 35% which would have to be distributed over all of the journals published by AIP. Jossem said he felt it was very unfair for AIP to wait until this late in the year to notify Societies of such an increase in costs. Gilbert said that AIP had already started to increase the staffs in the various divisions because we knew that a performance similar to that of early this year would be intolerable. We do not know how large a staff we will need to assure a smooth and satisfactory operation so we may be expanding now more than we should but it is better to do that and retrench later rather than to repeat the situation we had early this year. We will examine the situation carefully in preparing the 1974 budget with the intention of avoiding another large increase next year.
After further discussion the following motion was made by Havens, seconded by Burton, and passed with Jossem abstaining:
MOVED that the subscription fulfillment item in the previously established 1973 budget be increased by $110,000.00 without any commitment as to 1974.
3. Negotiations with Soviets on Photocopying and Translating
Koch referred to the background material which had been distributed in the booklet under Tab B and which included a proposed letter which Koch suggested should be sent to Mr. Yuriy B. Leonov of the USSR. He said he was proposing that a delegation consisting of himself, Marks, and George Adashko go to Moscow to initiate negotiations. Now that the USSR has officially adhered to the Universal Copyright Convention, they are apparently willing and anxious to make some arrangement with AIP regarding the wholesale photocopying of our journals which they admit they are doing and also about our translation of a number of their physics journals.
The consensus of Executive Committee members appeared to be that negotiations were necessary and should be started but most of the Committee members seemed to feel that having a delegation from AIP visit Moscow at this time was not appropriate. There was general agreement with the contents of the letter which Koch proposed to send Leonov and, after further discussion, the following motion was made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that the staff be authorized to start, by mail, negotiations with the Soviets in line with Koch's proposed letter to Leonov (attached as Exhibit D) without proposing at this time that a delegation from AIP visit Moscow.
4. Status of Negotiations with IEE
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On Proposal in Koch Letter to Barlow Dated 22 June 1973
Koch recalled that, at the last meeting of the Executive Committee, he had described at great length the proposed agreement with IEE and he reminded the Committee that the IEE delegation consisting of Barlow, Hunter, and Ball, whom we understood had come over here with authority to conclude an arrangement, had approved of the proposed agreement. However, almost two months after the delegation returned to London, we received word that the proposed deal was not acceptable to IEE. Accordingly, Koch said he felt that we should not pursue negotiations with IEE any further at this time and that we should discontinue the marketing of IEE products in the Americas for calendar year 1974. The following motion was therefore made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that AIP advise IEE that we do not wish to market or in any way be involved in the distribution of IEE journals and services in 1974.
At this point the meeting adjourned for lunch at 12:30 until 1:22 p.m.
5. Changes in Journal Publishing and Secondary Service Plans for 1974
Chairman Crane had notified the Committee earlier that he wished to introduce this general subject by some comments of his own regarding the contents of the Koch letter of 17 August 1973 and attachments (Exhibit E), and following is an outline of his comments as given to the Secretary by the Chairman:
Why we are in the Information Program
This is a time of extremely rapid change. We must:
- Be in position to be fast on our feet, take advantage of new developments.
- Exert leadership, influence the way information handling develops.
It is a great credit to our AIP staff and Executive Committee that we are at present in such a position.
What should we be doing?
If we knew exactly, we would have no trouble financing it or getting support.
But we do not know, because of rapidly changing factors (which Koch will review)
Next best is to keep options at maximum.
Right solution may be different from all of the plans (A, B etc.) proposed in the Koch letter.
What we are sure of is that we must keep our position of leadership and expertise. We have a great investment in this, and should not give it up except under extreme pressure.
A comment about the June action of the Exec. Committee.
This was, in effect, a decision to go on Alternate B in the Koch letter after 1974. The fact that this would put us out of the business of marketing non-AIP secondary information was one of the selling points to the British, although not admitted in Gainsborough’s recent letter dated 20 August 1973.
Under the new conditions of non-collaboration with IEE it does not follow that we should reaffirm the June decision to go the route of Alternate B. The question of whether we should compete in the open market in producing and selling non-AIP secondary material is again open, and it should be discussed here today. It is in some degree intertwined with the processing of AIP secondary material. We could even see the day when we would count the British defection from the June agreement as fortunate.
A few specific comments about the Alternatives.
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If we adopt B rather than A, the saving will be approximately the combined deficit in SPIN and CPT, which at present is $124,000.00.
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If we adopt C instead of B, the big changes are two: the cost of handling abstracts would drop from $28 to $10, a decrease of about $300,000.00. Secondly, there would be a one-shot termination cost of the products related to the tape, of about $200,000.00.
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As between B and C: If we should adopt B, we would find it hard to justify the continued expenditure of a premium of $18 per item for computerized journal head composition ($300,000.00 total) when the other uses (SPIN and CPT) of the tape have already been greatly curtailed by the elimination of SPIN and CPT. In other words B does not seem to be a logical stopping point.
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If we consider adopting A, we should have some dollar projections of the expected growth in income from individual products and possible other sources of income or savings, e.g. cooperation with Engineering Index. Clearly, these are difficult estimates to make, and the ± will equal the amounts.
Should we stay in the business of processing and marketing non-AIP as well as AIP-generated secondary material?
The answer to that clearly comes ahead of all considerations of the alternatives and it determines the future character of our whole information effort. I hope that question can receive critical discussion at this meeting.
Marks referred to the Koch letter of 17 August 1973 which had been distributed to all members of the Executive Committee and made the following comments. He gave a description of what SPIN has been in 1973. It has contained about 30,000 articles of which 17,000 are from AIP journals. The INSPEC physics tape has about 80,000 articles of which 68,000 are journal articles. Engineering Index has about 60,000 items per year in which some physics is included. The printed journal of Engineering Index is their big money-making item. They have about 1,450 subscribers in the United States and 1,800 outside of the U.S. We believe it is possible to work out some cooperative arrangement with Engineering Index and have had indications that NSF might be willing to provide funds to assist in setting up such cooperation. Havens said the question seemed to be whether we intended to fold up our secondary services and depend on the British or make some other arrangements and compete with them. Marks agreed that we have reached a point where we must seriously threaten competition with the British and be prepared to go through with it if no arrangement can be reached with them.
Then followed much discussion of the contents of the Koch memorandum of 17 August to the Executive Committee and of the three alternatives suggested in that memorandum. Burton pointed out that the Executive Committee had not yet been presented with and asked to adopt a budget for AIP journals and secondary services for 1974. He said he questioned whether any of the proposed alternatives (A, B, or C) should be approved at the moment. He felt we should wait until we see how things go with Engineering Index and with NSF. We assume that the 1974 budget will anticipate a substantial deficit but everything possible should be done to hold this deficit to a minimum and to avoid unacceptable deficits in future years.
After further discussion the following motions were made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that the proposed subscription prices for SPIN and CPT for 1974 be approved with the understanding that an austere budget for the production and distribution of these products will be presented to the Executive Committee for approval along with the 1974 budget.
MOVED that the staff be encouraged to find ways of increasing income and reducing expenses for the products mentioned .in the preceding motion and particularly encouraged to seek NSF funds jointly with Engineering Index to obtain the subsidy needed for a computerized secondary service program.
6. 1974 Journal Subscription Prices
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Specific Prices Proposed in Response to Executive Committee Action of June 29, 1973
Waterfall recalled that, at the last meeting of the Executive Committee, the proposed prices for translation journals for the 1974-75 year had been approved but the Committee felt that the other 1974 subscription prices proposed were too high and the Committee had recommended that the 1974 prices be increased an average of about 15% over 1973 prices for members and about 35% over 1973 prices for non-members.
In response to the above recommendation Marks distributed a sheet (attached as Exhibit F) listing proposed prices for 1974 AIP-owned journals. The following motion was then made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that the proposed 1974 subscription prices to AIP-owned journals as given in Exhibit F be approved.
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Restrictions on Price Increases
At the last meeting the Executive Committee had made it clear that any price increases approved were contingent upon the staff’s receiving approval from the Price Commission if such approval is necessary. Marks reported that he had consulted legal counsel about the proposed price increases and had been advised that any increases made should be within the provisions of Phase IV regulations. Marks said that, based on our audited financial statement for last year which shows a net loss, he believes the proposed price increases are within Phase IV guidelines. Under present regulations non-profit firms such as AIP are exempt from prenotifying the Price Commission of proposed increases. The Executive Committee appeared to be satisfied with this explanation.
7. Reduced Rates on CPAA, CPT, and PHYSICS TODAY for Members of European Physical Society and Japanese Physical Society
Koch called attention to his proposed letter to Dr. H. V. G. Casimir of The European Physical Society (copy attached as Exhibit G) in which he offered reduced subscription rates on the subject publications to members of The European Physical Society. Koch pointed out that the proposed subscription rates are sufficiently higher than our own member rates to cover additional postage costs adequately. Koch said he would also like to make a similar proposal to the Japanese Physical Society. The following motion was then made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that members of The European Physical Society and the Japanese Physical Society be offered special subscription prices on CPAA, CPT, and PT as proposed in Koch's letter to Casimir attached as Exhibit G.
8. Proposal on Publication of Journal of Medical Physics
Marks said that about two years ago he started conversations with representatives of AAPM about our publishing a journal of medical physics for them. The financial position of AAPM is not strong and they were afraid of the possible loss involved in starting a new journal. They attempted unsuccessfully to get NSF support. Then Lippincott made them a proposition to publish a journal for them which would relieve AAPM of all financial responsibility and they sent this Lippincott proposal to Marks for study and comments. Marks' reply to Galkin of AAPM is contained in his letter of 23 August 1973, copy of which is attached as Exhibit H. A question was raised about our offering AAPM the same kind of deal offered by Lippincott but objections were immediately raised to this as being contrary to AIP general policy. (We have since learned that AAPM has rejected the Lippincott proposal and is asking AIP to publish their journal for them under our normal conditions.)
9. Status of Solicitation of Funds for Center of History and Philosophy of Physics
Slack said that last year the Heineman Foundation offered $15,000.00 provided AIP raised matching funds. Funds collected in 1972 were $9,000.00 more than collected in 1971, making a total of almost $15,000.00. This year a number of industrial firms were approached for 3-year pledges. Thus far we have received about $5,600.00 from 300 Friends and it is expected that further billings and new solicitations in the fall will increase this.
The industrial phase of the campaign has resulted in gifts and pledges of $5,000.00 each year for three years from Bell Telephone Laboratories and General Electric Company, and $2,500.00 a year for three years from IBM, and $5,000.00 this year from Ford. Our requests are also currently being considered by RCA and Westinghouse. For 1973 we have $17,500.00 paid or pledged from industry and we have informed the Heineman Foundation that we expect to receive the promised $15,000.00 bringing the total for 1973 to about $41,000.00.
10. Other Business
Slack recalled that, at the last meeting, Gilbert had reported on the funds transferred from Sigma Pi Sigma to AIP. According to the terms of the agreement income from the funds is to be used to stimulate and promote educational activities among students. At its meeting in January the SPS Executive Committee, anticipating receipt of the funds, recommended that an appropriate use of the income would be to support special educational projects resulting from proposals received from SPS chapters. The SPS committee also recommended that, in view of Marsh W. White's long association with Sigma Pi Sigma and deep involvement in raising a large part of the fund capital, awards so made be known as the Marsh W. White Awards. After brief discussion the following motion was made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that the Executive Committee approve the recommendation of the SPS Executive Committee that the funds from the Sigma Pi Sigma Trust be used to support special educational projects, and awards to that end be known as the Marsh W. White Awards.
11. Appointment of Administrative Review Committee
Chairman Crane announced that he had appointed an Administrative Review Committee for the current year consisting of John C. Johnson as Chairman with Winston E. Kock and Karl G. Kessler as the other two members.
12. Next Meeting
It was announced that the next meeting of the Executive Committee will be held on November 15, 1973, starting at 2:00 p.m. This meeting will be in conjunction with the annual fall Assembly of Society Officers and there will be a meeting of the Governing Board on November 16. Formal notice of both meetings will be distributed later.
There being no further business to be transacted, the meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.