Minutes

Discussed Draft, BLC Task Force Interim Report 2 and made recommendations for changes and additions.

The Interim report template is difficult to work with for editing documents and the Task Force recommends that improvements would be a welcome improvement for future groups.

A place on the BLC server where groups could share files for working on draft documents

1. Kathy Williams will edit and make changes to the current draft. She will send new draft to TF members for one final review this afternoon.
2. TF members should send any editing changes to Kathy by 8 a.m. tomorrow.
3. Kathy will bring final Interim Report in paper form to the BLC Celebration and submit interim report to the BLC admin for posting on the web.

Made corrections and additions to the BLC Members Current Assessment Methods Chart.

Discussed the draft report and made changes additional recommendations including a bibliography and introductory paragraph.

Work to put minutes on web site. Kathy Williams will do 2/26 and Anne Moore will do 3/5. Introductory meeting has been submitted to group and will be sent to BLC for posting. Draft minutes will be sent to group for comments and corrections before submitting to BLC. Response from Task Force needed by 3/22. Submit to BLC by 3/26.

Kathy Williams will merge all parts of separate group reports into one draft document. All members responsible for editing and making suggestions for additions to the substance of the document. Final document due on April 1.

Discussed the importance of follow through on Task Force recommendations. Also discussed the importance of a quorum and leadership for the task force to have effective and efficient use of meeting time.

Anne Nolan to call UMB, UML, and Wellesley directly about responding to assessment survey.

Next conference call will be 3/25/04 at 11 a.m. The final draft of our report will be the discussion topic.

The Task Force reviewed the charge and scrutinized the four action items. The in-depth discussion of the charge and actions items offered the opportunity to define phrases such as 'measures of effectiveness' and 'value of services' in relation to a consortium environment. The discussion promoted a clarification of which questions to ask users and which to ask institutions in order to find out which services are worth the investment. Task Force members offered points to consider such as yearly dues for being a member of the consortium. It also came up that questions for institutions could highlight a difference in the degree of value of membership to institutions. Some institutions may be net borrowers and reap more benefits from free borrowing among consortium members, while other institutions are net lenders and expend more time and money on reciprocal Interlibrary Loans.

After this discussion the group solidified the strategy for carrying out the charge. The resources and collections areas had already been divided among the members. Different members would develop the questions for 1) the institutions and 2) the library users for the assigned areas.

Another aspect of the charge is to determine what BLC libraries are already doing in terms of assessment. Anne Nolan has prepared a draft survey to send out to BLC libraries in order to gather this information. The group agreed that the section of the charge that asks for recommendation on assessment strategies would be better addressed upon reviewing this survey.

Another conference call will be set up for March 5, 2004

• Members to take turns with meeting minutes.
• Lesley will convene meetings and keep in touch with Elaine. Anne Nolan will back-up as needed.
• The services and programs to be considered by the committee were divided into 3 groups and committee members will choose the area they will concentrate their efforts. Each group will have 2-3 people. These groups will work through e-mail and conference calls.
  1. e-resources: Anne Nolan, Cindy Philips
  2. VC, ILL, & Delivery: Anne L. Moore
  3. On-site access and Borrower's Card Program: Lesley Milner
     
     

• Lesley to ask Elaine about adding 24/7 reference and staff development to charge.
• Anne Moore will synthesize delivery report for the Task Force.
• Anne Nolan to contact other BLC members and ask them to share assessment tools and/or projects, including libqual.
• Each member will concentrate on their assigned areas to research BLC reports and see how they address the 4 action items.
• Lesley to e-mail absent members and expedite their selection choices for area of concentration.