Minutes

• Program Details. Details that are set are as follows: There are 53 registered attendees, 41 of whom are not task force members or speakers. Registrants are evenly split between the two concurrent sessions - 21 in each session. Task force members who are not leading a session are not assigned to one. Heidi has bios from all of the speakers. Each speaker in the morning has 40 minutes. We need more questions for Session B - team members will try to come up with some. Details about facilities and food have been confirmed with Martha Barry at Brandeis. The Treasure Room has a PC with PowerPoint 2000. The Gardner/Jackson room will be the other breakout room. The main room will have microphones and audio and each room will have an easel with paper or a white board. Melissa P. will mail parking passes to directors on Friday April 11th via UPS. Each director is responsible for distributing the passes to his or her staff members. Attendees should also have picture identification and their car registration, just in case.
  Task: Heidi will bring a hard copy of the attendance sheet to the program for the registration table.
  Task: Barbara Preece will bring the nametags that Melissa Petze is making, and will also bring BLC notepads and pencils.
  Task: Heidi will send the speaker bios to Melissa P. to put on the BLC website.
  Task: Speakers should send copies of their presentations to Heidi so she can load them on the PC in the treasure room in the morning before the program.
  Task: Heidi will contact Greg about having something ready in case the audience is reluctant to ask questions in Session B.
  Task: Heidi will ask Martha Barry about a laser pointer.

• Logistics for April 22nd. It was decided that as many task force members as could arrive early would meet at 8:30 to go over last minute details. David Berona and Melissa Lamont have agreed to staff a registration table with name tags, list of who registered for what session, agendas, evaluation forms, and cards to write questions on. Heidi will give a quick welcome and introduce the task force, and the first speaker will start by 10:05. At noon, Jen will announce where lunch is and where the breakout sessions are. The closing session will be informal: Barbara, Brinley and David P. will just sit at a table at the head of the room. They will need a couple microphones and we would like to have a microphone for the audience if possible. During the breakout sessions, task force members who aren't leading a session may choose to sit in on one if there is room, but should be near the door in case people need them.
  Task: Dave B. will bring 55 copies of the agenda to the program.
  Task: Mac will bring 55 copies of the evaluation form to the program.
  Task: Jen will bring old catalog cards for people to write questions on.
  Task: Heidi will check with Martha Barry on microphones during the final session.

• Evaluation Form. Mac pointed out that generally, evaluations have either numerically rated questions or open-ended questions. The task force agreed that open-ended questions wouldn't be that useful for us, since we need to prepare the data for the final report quickly. The team thought the ideal form would be no longer than a page, with around one question per session and then some general overview questions about the program and about collaborating. It was decided to do the form in paper that day rather than post to the Web, because we need the results quickly and because a higher return rate was expected.
  Task: Mac will send out a draft of the form by Friday. The team will then edit and try to finalize by April 16th.

• Final Report. Just a reminder that it is due soon after the program. Dave P. suggested that a good way to incorporate the data from the evaluation form is to attach it as an appendix and just report a summary of the facts.
  Task: Jen and Heidi will work on a draft of the final report after the program and send it to the task force by April 29th.

Meeting was adjourned at 3 pm.

• Final Report. The task force's request to submit a final report after the April program was accepted by the BLC Management Council. The due date for our report is now early to mid-May. Our final report should include recommendation on the frequency of future digitization programs sponsored by the BLC.
  
  
• Planning for Digitization Program. We are planning on having 75 people at the program. There will not be any afternoon refreshments or give-aways, as was originally planned. Following are the planning points that were discussed with appropriate tasks.
  
  
  1. Advertising and Promotion. Jen and David B will be handling this aspect of the program. One point that needs to be clear is that this is FREE to BLC members.
     Task: (Jen) Check with Melissa Petze about registration deadline; how do we put files online from our task force web page such as a list of attendees; need a list of listservs to send announcement of the program; how do we advertise the program on the BLC website.
     Task: (David B.) Edit the program agenda when above information is received.
     Task: (Heidi) Check with Brandeis about what parking lot to use.
     
     
  2. Break out sessions. We talked at length about this and it was decided that a more detailed description is needed under the Introduction. Heidi volunteered to be the presenter for this session with her Power Point presentation that will describe digitization in "library" orientated terms. It was also agreed that there needs to be time allowed for questions and answers. The Intermediate session needs a moderator.
     Task: (Heidi) Will check to see if Greg Colati would chair this group that would involved some or all of the morning presenters.
     
     
  3. Closing Session. This final session should be renamed to "Open Dialogue." It was suggested that we have index cards available for attendees, as well as an open microphone.
     Task: David P will contact other directors about sitting on the table of this discussion
     
     
  4. Registration. Melissa Lamont will work with Melissa Petze about what is needed for registration.
     
     
  5. Information for Program attendees. Develop list of handouts for attendees such as a list of attendees, speaker bios and an online evaluation form.
     Task: (Mackenzie) Develop an evaluation form.
     Task: (Jen and David B) Contact Melissa Petze about how to make handouts available on the BLC website.
     
     
• Clearinghouse. From the comments of task members, there were some institutions who begrudgingly gave us information we requested about their digital projects. The fear of these institutions was that the contact involved with their digital projects has limited time and resources and they did not want to place their projects in jeopardy if the digital contact was spending more time working with BLC members. In spite of this, we have a viable clearinghouse of digital resources but now we need to broadcast this information, especially during the program. Concern about the maintenance of this clearinghouse was discussed but it was not determined who will be responsible for the ongoing maintenance.
  
  
• Other. We discussed the need for a moderator for the program to introduce speakers and welcome attendees but, at this point, there were no volunteers to do this from our task force. Heidi suggested that we all think about this.
  
  

1. Update on Digitization Task Force's Web Content
   
   
   1. The task force reviewed the progress on the completion of the web page. It was decided that each BLC institution should be listed on the web page, even if at this time the institution does not have any public projects or staff willing to serve as advisors. The page will need to be maintained, and information for institutions should be added as they develop projects and staff expertise.
      
      Task: All task force members should review the information for their assigned contact institutions and make sure it is correct and complete. Information to be changed/updated should be sent to Mac no later than January 30. On the page, Mac will clarify the difference between institutions that have nothing to report at this time and institutions that we have not heard from yet.
      
      Task: The target date for Mac to upload the page to the BLC server is February 1.
      
      Task: Dave P. will check with the BLC office to make sure they know the page will be delivered soon.
      
      
   2. Publicity: When the web page is complete and uploaded, it will need to be publicized.
      
      Task: Greg will follow up on the address and protocol for posting to the general BLC email list.
      
      Task: Heidi will write a blurb to be posted to the "News" section of the BLC's website in early February after the page is complete.
      
      
2. Development of Symposium/Workshop on Digitization
   
   
   1. Dave P. had learned some details about the workshop from the BLC office that Heidi relayed to the group. The workshop is intended to be free for library staff from BLC libraries. The workshop does not need to be held by the date of our final report. The BLC office can handle registration and refreshments, and may have money for honoraria and/or travel reimbursement for speakers. The issues surrounding the planning of the workshop are location, presenters, a need to not duplicate NELINET's efforts, and a need to develop a framework that is easily repeatable. A show-and-tell type of workshop was proposed and the idea approved. The workshop should showcase BLC projects of various technical ability and original formats (text, images, etc.), and should also showcase collaborative efforts. The following model was decided upon for a one-day workshop:
      
      
   9:30-10 Registration and refreshments
   10-12 Overview of three BLC library digital projects
   
   1. Fairly simple project to demonstrate that excessive amounts of money and/or technical expertise are not needed - UConn's Colonial Connecticut Records text-based project
   2. Somewhat more complex project (involves more technology, a grant, etc.) - Brandeis' Lithograph project?
   3. Collaborative project - Tufts and the Bostonian Society's "Boston Streets" - old photos of Boston
   12-1 Lunch
   1-2:15 Breakout Sessions
   1. Just Getting Started - Digital Projects Overview (Beginners)
   2. Next Steps - You've started, now what? (Intermediate)
   2:15-2:30 Break
   2:30-3:30 Closing session - Discussion with BLC officers: What is the BLC's role in digital projects and fostering collaboration in digital projects among BLC libraries?

   Timing for the program was discussed and it was decided that an entire day would be needed to thoroughly discuss the issues we'd like to discuss, but time needed to be allocated at the beginning and end of the day for those traveling long distances. Location for the program was discussed, and it was decided to try to find a BCL institution in a generally central location with appropriate facilities and parking that may be willing to host. Wellesley and Brandeis were the top two choices of the task members, with BC as a backup if needed.

   Dates for the program were discussed and it was decided that late April would be a good possibility, based on the (hopeful) lack of snow and lack of other library conferences that might conflict. Tuesday, April 15; Wednesday, April 16; Tuesday, April 22; and Wednesday, April 23 were suggested as tentative dates.

   It was decided the format as discussed "passed the repeatability test." It would be ideal to bring everyone together on a regular basis (possibly annually) to compare notes on digital projects. We do, however, still need a title for the program.

   Task: Greg will contact Susan Pyzynski from Brandeis to gauge interest in presenting their lithograph project and hosting the program.
   
   Task: Melissa will contact BC and gauge their interest in hosting the program.
   
   Task: Heidi will contact MacKenzie about possibly hosting the program at Wellesley. Heidi, Melissa and Greg will compare notes and try to get the location and date finalized by January 24.
   
   Task: Dave will contact BLC staff and board members to invite them to the program (especially the wrap-up session) and to get approval for the workshop as proposed. He will also ask about budgeting and honoraria.
   
   Task: Heidi will follow up with the BLC office to figure out how to handle food and registration. She will also draft a document discussing the "repeatability" of the workshop.
   
   Task: Jen will send email to the task force encouraging brainstorming for a title for the program.
   
   
3. Upcoming Reports
   
   Our next interim report is due to the BLC on January 31st. We have lots of progress to report!
   
   Task: Heidi will present a draft report to the task force by January 27th.
4. Evaluation and follow-up

   Initial follow-up will be done via email. Later, another conference call may be scheduled. Items for follow-up include finalization of plans for the workshop (including publicity, which we decided not to discuss until plans are finalized) and our final report.

   It was generally agreed that the conference call format worked very well, and we would not hesitate to utilize this capability in the future. We had a very productive meeting and accomplished a great deal.

   It was also generally agreed that the workshop as developed had a lot of exciting potential to position the BLC as an institution that people looked toward when developing a digital project and as a forum for encouraging collaboration.