Minutes

• Review of Survey Results
  
  
  • Everyone satisfied with 28 day Loan period
  • No Action on 56 Loan Period, majority satisfied with it.
  • Varied responses for renewals. However most respondents are interested in some form of renewal.
    Renewal discussion tabled. Suggestion to bring it up to be discussed with user group. Renewals should be a high priority for the Task Force investigating new software to consider, because the majority of Users are interested in renewals.
  • TF should consider if software can issue varying loan periods for different material types.
  • Survey indicates that Users are interested in standardization of time periods for billing intervals. Team will consider the responses and discuss policies and procedures related and develop recommendations to present before Users Group and then present to directors.
  • Responses evenly split on allowing users to request items. No action necessary.
  • From General comments, pass this on to VC TF: a. URSA software is very unforgiving when a mistake is made, e.g. when a wrong barcode is wanded into a request. Rather than being able to back up and correct the action, it takes a long time and inconveniences other libraries to rectify the error.
  • Setting agenda items for future team meeting from survey.
    1. review procedural document to incorporate suggested changes.
  
  Scott will send out survey results power point to users Group.
  
  
• VC TASK FORCE
  
  Barbara Derosiers, UConn
  Kathy Ridenour, UMA
  Margaret Gooch, Tufts
  Walter Komorowski, Williams
  Ellen MJ Keane,
  
  meeting with vendors at MidWinter Ellen Was named as the Team/TF liaison.
  
  
• Jen Updates:
  Re purging requests: Purging set to start
  req's archived after rolling 14 days, patron info deleted after 14 days.
  statisical info will be available.
  Jen will post to user's group.
  
  Turn around time reports:
  Jen has received a draft, she is reviewing.
  Expects them to be ready at end of Jan.
  
  
• Unpaid Bills for lost items
  
  Discuss issue in terms of procedures document at next mtg
  
  
• Logo:
  We would like a BLC VC logo.
  This will be the first agenda item at next meeting. We will share any versions that anyone has.
  
  
• Other Business:
  Bonnie may resign from Team in Aug. '05
  Team recommends that Bonnie's Vacancy be filled with a current Team member who's term is due to expire.
  Jen will investigate if this is ok with board.
  
  

• We did a quick review of the results that Scot compiled and sent to us this morning. (Great job Scot!) 14 libraries responded; Jo-Anne received one additional response which she will forward to Scot for inclusion.
• Loan periods: There is general consensus that the 28-day checkout to users and 56-day checkout to other libraries is adequate.
• Renewals: If they were possible, 10 of the 14 libraries would like to see some form of renewal.
• AV material: Length of loan period is the main reason AV items are not on the VC; also a number of libraries do not own AV materials.
• Standard periods for notices between libraries: Most libraries favor these.
• Allow users to request available items: 7 in favor of allowing, 7 opposed.
• Scot will “clean up” the presentation and send it to the Users Group list.
• We will look at the results in detail at our next meeting, hoping to identify changes we can make that will meet the libraries’ preferences.

• Although we recognize there are still some issues with the Contact List that the BLC office compiled, we want to get it out to the users as soon as possible.
• We decided to add a category: Institutional Virtual Catalog Liaison. This should be the single person from each institution who will represent the institution. As a start, we will ask Melissa to list the person who filled out the VC Survey as Liaison. We will also ask Melissa to fill in any blanks.
• The Users Group will be notified when the new list is available, and corrections will be sought at that time.

• URSA 4.0 is still not fully released. Dynix will resume testing with ExLibris this week.
• The BLC Board of Directors and Management Council are creating a new Task Force to do a market survey of other products. Library Directors have been invited to suggest members. Some one from our Team will be on the Task Force, and serve as a liaison to the Team. We are pleased this group is being formed! Jen will send us a copy of the charge.
• In response to the query from Maggie Rioux of MBL-WHOI, the Team asked Jen at our last meeting to look into the options for re-instatement of the purging of completed requests. She reported on her conversations with Barbara Preece and Dynix. We decided to ask Dynix to do a daily archiving of requests 14 days after completion, stripping all personal information at that time. This will allow libraries to resolve problems that sometimes arise immediately after an item is returned, to have historical data available, and to protect patron privacy. Jen will report to the Users Group list when this is ready to take place.
• In response to our request that Jen look into turn-around-time reports that might be available from Dynix, she has confirmed that other consortia are getting such reports. She will continue to see if we can get similar reports.
• In response to library suggestions, Jen requested that Dynix change the message users get when they are unsuccessful in logging into the Virtual Catalog. This message was changed at midnight last night! Jen will report this on the Users Group list.
• Thank you Jen!

• After the holidays Jo-Ann will send a “save the date” message to the Users Group: April 6, 1-4 pm.

• Jen is going to look into unfilled requests to see if there are any patterns.

• Friday, January 7, 10 am
• Agenda to include:
  • Survey results
  • Task Force information
  • Logo

• Welcome to Jen Varney. Jen’s responsibilities will include liaison with Dynix, all operations of the central system, statistics, etc. It was noted that our Team will report to the BLC administration and Board via Jen. Welcome!
• Barbara Preece will be attending a focus group Dynix is hosting for URSA customers at the end of August.

• There was consensus that the Users Group Meeting went very well, that we gained a lot of information, and that the staff of participating libraries are interested and engaged in the Virtual Catalog. We were pleased and impressed that representatives from every BLC library except two were in attendance.
• Policy. Input from Users Group was used to edit several parts of the borrowing and lending policy.
• Next meeting. We will hold the next Users Group meeting in late October.

• The wording in parts 3.a. and 5.a was changed, and corrections made to the header and footer.
  Action: Bonnie will edit the document and distribute it to the Team.
• The next step will be to seek Board approval.
  Action: Jen will arrange for the policy to go to an upcoming meeting.
• Once approved, the policy will be posted to the web and distributed.

• The excellent document that Scot prepared was reviewed and revisions made.
  Action: Bonnie will edit the document and distribute it to the Team.
• We will have a conference call to further discuss the survey, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, August 11 at 10:00 AM.
  Action: Jo-Anne will ask Melissa to set up the conference call.
• Topics for the conference call will include:
  
  - How to distribute the survey so that there is one response per library.
  - Deadline for surveys.
  - How surveys will be returned.
  - How data will be compiled.
  

• During our survey discussion, we wondered whether Dynix could supply us with information on the turn-around-time between when a request is made and it is shipped.
  Action: Jen will look into whether statistics such as this are available.

• Jo-Anne reported that Melissa had collected updated contact information from the members.
  Action: Jo-Anne will share the lists Melissa made with the Team.
• We will discuss the contact list more at our next meeting.

• Kara raised the question of the text that displays when a user is unable to sign in. We thought that all libraries got the same message, but seeing the example Kara supplied we agreed that there is a variety.
  Action: We will all check to see what message our own patrons get.
  Action: Jen will check into this with Dynix.

• Tentative Date: Thursday, September 23, 10:30-1:30.
• Agenda to include:
  Survey results.
  Contact list.
  Plans for October Users Group meeting.

Server Migration

Sonya displayed a list of outstanding requests that remain on the old server. She reported that by contacting libraries with items returned to owning library without being "completed" in URSA i.e. of status available in their public catalogs, she was able to get a large number of requests completed. It was mentioned that some libraries have not billed for these remaining requests that should be considered lost by the lending libraries.

Borrowing and Lending Policies

Most of the meeting was spent reviewing and rewriting section 5 of the current Borrowing and Lending Policies document involving damaged, overdue and lost material.
Action: Bonnie will compile all changes and send out draft to Team to check over. Once we agree on all changes the document will be forwarded to Melissa to send in addition to the July 13th meeting announcement.

Users Group Meeting

The agenda for the Users Group Meeting on July 13th was discussed and outlined.
Action: Jo-Ann will check with BLC Administration Office before creating the email notice to Users Group containing the agenda.

Future Survey

The survey about loan rules, renewals, billing standards etc., discussed at the last meeting, was compiled by Scot. Questions were discussed and a few more added while updating the Policies document.
Action: Scot will rewrite the survey, possibly putting it online, for distribution after the Users Group meeting.

Last Meeting with Sonya

As it is our last meeting with her, thanks were expressed to Sonya for her hard work and time working with the Virtual Catalog Team and Users Group.

Next Meeting

A short informal meeting will be held after the Users Group meeting on July 13th to determine next meeting.

Barbara asked that all Virtual Catalog contacts and lists be maintained in the BLC Office. Currently there is a list of contacts for deliveries and a list for the Virtual Catalog. Any changes should be reported directly to the BLC Office.

Barbara reminded the team that there were several overlapping groups dealing with specific functions such as delivery issues which may overlap into the Virtual Catalog and that we had to be careful not to duplicate what has already been done. The Office is in the position to see the whole picture and to identify areas of duplication.

There was concern about the length of time scheduled for meetings. Two meetings were scheduled for five hours in hopes of completing the review process for the Borrowing and Lending Policies document in time for the User's Group meeting in July. We felt this would be an excellent opportunity to receive input from other libraries not represented on the Virtual Catalog Team. It was never the intention of the team to establish regular five hour meetings.

Barbara announced that Jennifer Varney from UMass Worchester had been hired as Assistant Director.

Sonya will send an e-mail notifying BLC Libraries that they will no longer have access to the old server as of June 11, 2004. Sonya will also check with Barbara (no longer at the meeting) to see how she would like to handle any outstanding requests on the old server.

Most of the meeting was spent reviewing the current Borrowing and Lending Policies document. With the exception of section 5 (Damaged, Overdue and Lost Material), the entire document has been reviewed. Kara will attempt to consolidate section 5 of the Policies with the Overdue and Replacement Procedures documents.

Is there a need for a Virtual Catalog billing directory or does the current Billing Directory include contacts for both Virtual Catalog and Consortium borrowing? Jo-Ann will ask Barbara for clarification.

Introductory Phone Calls
Team Members called participating institutions to explain role of Virtual Catalog Team, confirm contact information, learn about institutions' workflow, and solicit users' concerns. Overall the response to the introductions were positive about the existence of the team. Institutions not contacted as of yet are MBLWHOI, Northeastern, UCONN,

New Business:
Discussion: It was suggested that delivery time from BPL be monitored, noting the date shipped and the date received.

Discussion: It was suggested that a survey be conducted of how each site communicates with URSA.

Discussion: It was suggested that our colleagues would like to be involved in work flow conversations. It was suggested that we consider breaking into groups at the User's Group meeting with a VC Team member acting as moderator for the discussion.

Discussion: It is suggested that the Users' Group be reminded that books must be returned with the Virtual Catalog book band.

Discussion: It is noted that Tufts address in UPS is incorrect, and a work-around must be used when sending items to Tufts.

The team's review of the established VC Policies was begun and will be continued at the team's next meeting. Bonnie Buzzell volunteered to make the first few changes discussed to the original document and bring it to the next meeting.

Action: Sonya will try to locate consortium card documents.

Action: Scot will try to get a definition of BPL patrons eligible for VC service.

Next meeting set for June 9, 2004, 10:30-3:30.

• The minutes were approved from the April 26 meeting. The team agreed that the draft of minutes shall be distributed with a deadline. If no changes are suggested by the deadline, they will be approved by default.
• One suggested item (review goals) was left off the agenda. Jo-Ann suggested that goals may be difficult to set before we meet with Dynix. Ellen and Bonnie emphasized the need for tasks to "check off."

• Some libraries seem to be making headway clearing old requests from the old server, but the May 10 deadline is too soon. June 10 would allow us more time, but we need to confirm whether the state will allow us to remain on the old server until June 1 or June 30.
  Action: Sonya will send an email to the users group to announce an unspecified extension and will confirm the date
• Dynix sent Sonya a count of outstanding requests by borrower/lender. Sonya agreed that BLC should have paper backups of requests still outstanding on the migration date, whether generated by Dynix or printed from the system.
• Some incomplete requests with non-BLC libraries (i.e., the networks) still exist and should be taken care of
  Action: Sonya will contact the networks
• There is some concern that libraries don't know, remember, or follow current overdue policies.
  Action: Kara will email the users group with a reminder of these and to suggest how libraries can expedite the completion of outstanding requests
• Sonya explained an alternate way to find requests if the search by title doesn't work, using the percent sign (%) as a wildcard
  Action: Sonya will email to users group

• Survey the climate at other libraries to determine what issues users would like us to address. Also, we need to update the contact list for each institution to identify "key players" not only for daily operation, but policy decisions.
  Action: Each team member was assigned 1-3 institutions, in addition to their own, to contact by phone, preferably by next Friday.

• Chair
  Jo-Ann will be chair for the first year; the Chair's duties will include setting the agenda, scheduling, and acting as facilitator at meetings.
• Minutes
  Responsibility will be rotated alphabetically: Bonnie Buzzell, Scot Capehart, Ellen Keane, Kara Stroschein. A draft will be sent to the group before being forwarded to the Board.
• BLC
  Once hired, the BLC Assistant Director will be both Liaison to this Team, and Project Manager. Until then, Barbara Preece will be Liaison, and Sonya Walters will be Project Manager. Sonya will attend meetings when her schedule allows
• Participating libraries
  We will foster communication with participating libraries through the Users' Group and COIs.
• Authority
  The team will refer policy decisions to the Board. The team may implement operational changes such as revising the book band. Anything that is to go to the Board must be submitted a week in advance. The Board retreat is June 14-15.

• There is concern that the May 10 date of removing everything from the server is too soon. To better comply with the academic calendar, a date of June 1 or (better still) June 10 is desirable.
  Action: Barbara will check with Sonya to see what is possible.
• We wondered if a list of outstanding items could be generated to help libraries review outstanding books.
  Action: Scot will work with Sonya to see if this is possible.
• Simple instructions for libraries would be welcome.

• when to purge records from the database
• collection development reports
• courier service
• relationship of VC and ILL
• renewing VC books
• book band--not always filled out
• must requests to and from MBLN be made provisional?
• what formats are loaned and borrowed
• how to handle consistent errors from particular library
• how to manage growth
• compile directory of everyone involved
• simplify communication
• best practices from other consortia
• format pick lists

• Dates:
  Friday, May 7, 1:30 pm
  Friday, May 14, 1:30 pm.
  Action: Barbara will convey meeting times to Melissa
• Agenda to include:
  Review existing documents: policies etc.
  Action: Bonnie will include information with minutes.***
  Set goals for year.