Minutes

Attendees: Joan Thompson (BLC); Laura Stokes (NU); Barbara Vizoyan (U/Conn); Kathleen DiPerna (Tufts-Tisch) - recorder

Joan Thompson from the BLC office participated in the meeting held at Northeastern University. Joan consulted with the task force director liaison regarding the interim report submitted by the Task Force November 8, 2002. There is general agreement that the interim report was a good start with the need to clarify some issues, including the charge issued to the task force. Task force members felt the charge was not clear, especially regarding recommendations. Joan confirmed that the BLC Board makes the final decisions; we are recommending; the BLC would like additional specifics for the final report. The BLC is pleased with the amount of work completed by the Task Force.

Task force members updated Joan that we had previously discussed sharing the report with BLC member institutions and the Circulation COI members in order to solicit input. In addition, elements of the interim report will be structured as a questionnaire/survey for distribution to other BLC/COI members. Laura Stokes will distribute the survey/questionnaire in December and compile the results.

The task force interim report recommended having all documents related to billing policies, card issuing policies, circulation policies etc. available through the WEB to all BLC member institutions. U/Mass Dartmouth staff member, Kathy Grandmaison, is currently compiling a contact list/billing directory for BLC members. Kathy DiPerna will contact U/Mass Dartmouth to see if the file is available electronically.

A second, large element of the Task Force charge is to explore software option(s) for reciprocal borrowing rather than using consortium cards. Joan Thompson will provide options re: sources to check and possible list-serves for information on this topic.

The five Task Force members met and planned a strategy to accomplish the charge. The team followed the 'Task Force Training Agenda" guidelines during this process. The team also began discussion regarding the implementing the charge.

1. The team determined that each member would participate in assignments
   
2. Minute taking will be rotated
   
3. Meeting agendas are shared in advance

1. Decide whether the BLC card policy required revision or if a new policy was necessary
   
2. Determine if the BLC card was required
   
   1. In its physical form;
      
   2. Or, if the Virtual Catalog would preclude the card's physical necessity in the near future;
      
   3. Or, if the card was valid due to its value as a patron option.
      
      
3. Explore reciprocal borrowing software option and compare to Epitech and share findings about 'walk-in' interlibrary loans with BLC community
   

1. The policy required revision rather than complete change in policy and procedures
   
2. The card is also a convenient method for exchange of resources among private institutions even more so the public academic institutions
   
3. Developments in VC would be monitored. It is not anticipated that the card will be eliminated in the near future
   
4. Any revisions to the Card Program must be flexible enough to be implemented across all institutions
   
5. Policy revisions should reflect current state of technology
   

1. The BLC Card policy should be made available in one place on the Web
   
2. Consortium wide authentification process and inter-library access to BLC patron to verify patron enrollment status as BLC borrower
   
3. Consistency in borrowing privileges among libraries
   
4. A renewal sticker might be used when issuing new expiration dates on cards
   

1. Kathy DiPerna, Tufts, will get electronic copies of BLC documents relating to Card Program and send to Task Force. She will inquire card issuance stats
   
2. Laura Stokes, Northeastern, will act as Permanent Convener and set NE as meeting place
   
3. Ellen Royalty, Umass Boston, will write the rough draft of documents to be submitted to Task Force members by November 1st. Interim Report to BLC is due November 8th
   
4. All Task Force members to review and edit
   • Kathy DiPerna will pull rough draft together
5. Cathy Fortier-Barnes will get Epictech information from vendor and send to TF for discussion at next meeting
   
6. Barbara Vizoyan, UCONN, will do minutes and distribute to TF for approval before submitting to Liaison and BLC