Charge

The Virtual Catalog Functionality Task Force will recommend to the BLC a product or products to provide searching and unmediated requesting of materials within the Consortium. Most of the work of the Task Force will commence after the Virtual Catalog project evaluation has been completed.

• Before the Virtual Catalog project evaluation is complete, the task force will develop a program in conjunction with BLC staff on the present working of the Virtual Catalog, especially patron-initiated ILL
• It will take the results of the project evaluation into consideration in deciding whether to examine products to search serials alone or to look for a global solution
• The Task Force will use the report of the previous VCF Task Force as the basis on which to evaluate products and as a guide to which products to examine
• The Task force will ask for comments from appropriate Communities of Interest, such as (but not limited to) ILL, Serials, Reference, and Circulation; it will also invite members of such COIs and of the Board of Directors to product demonstrations
• The Task Force will report on the pros and cons of products examined
• The Task Force will define appropriate search results and request options as a basis for product evaluation
• The Task force will submit a report, including recommendations, to the Management Council

The Task Force will communicate with the BLC community through news items on the BLC's web page, BLC-L, and any COI that may have interest in the project. The Task Force will work closely through the BLC Office and the Director Liaison to make sure information about the project is distributed.

The Task Force may hold at least one program for the BLC community on this topic.

This task force is aligned with the BLC Goal: Resource Sharing, "To offer resource sharing opportunities and expeditious delivery of materials (electronic and print) to support the research and teaching of the BLC's constituency." And specifically, "To create a patron-initiated hold ILL system through virtual catalog software that works for all members at a reasonable cost."