Executive Committee Meeting - September 2005

1. Introductions, sign-in sheet
   
   
2. Amend/Adopt Agenda
   1. A motion was made to approve the September 8, 2005, agenda. The motion was seconded and approved.
      
      
3. Approve minutes from May meeting
   1. A motion was made to approve the May 5, 2005 minutes after proposed change, Todd Digby's formal title is System Director of Libraries. The motion was seconded and approved.
      
      
4. Location
   • Kathleen Ashe reported that the November User Council meeting will be moved to Hennepin Technical College, Eden Prairie campus. The February meeting will be held via conference call.
   • Motion was made to hold the DDC-EC meeting via conference call in February unless agenda items call for extensive discussion. The motion was seconded and approved. DDC-EC meeting will be held at Hennepin Technical College, Eden Prairie campus in November.
     
     
5. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (Todd Digby)
   • Todd Digby introduced himself to the group and reported the following. He has made numerous visits to the PALS office in Mankato. He sees part of his role as advocating for the libraries at the System's office, coordinating joint projects and a voice for MnSCU libraries at the state level.
   • Todd also reported on the PALS Study Group created to discuss finance & long term objectives of PALS. The report has been finished and presented to the finance committee in the Office of the Chancellor. The report recommended a 7% increase in member fees in 2007 & 2008. In 2009 & 2010 member fees will increase by 4% in each year. The Study Group also recommended a MnSCU base budget increase to the PALS operation in 2011 to cover a projected deficit and new technologies. The group recommended re-examination of the staffing of the PALS Office after the completion of the migration. The finance committee will continue discussions of the report at its October meeting.
     
     
6. User Council Report (Kathleen Ashe)
   • User Council will standardize dates of User Group meeting, the last week in October and the second week in April.
   • Aleph Access Task Force will be reorganized with a more focused charge, establish limited goals and recruit a new chair.
     
     
7. Director's Report (Linda Richter)
   1. Social Security numbers have been removed from existing patron records and are not being loaded with new records.
   2. All libraries using the proxy server will be moved to the new server by December 31, 2005.
   3. Pilot Project for Support has been announced but there is not much traffic on the list yet. The PALS Office is monitoring, tracking and keeping statistics.
   4. NAAUG Enhancements. Subsytems committees have finished their work and the report will be available on September 15, 2005. Enhancements will be discussed at MnPALS and MnLINK User Groups in October and MnLINK voting will take place after November 1st.
   5. Maintenance Agreement. Talks concerning the agreement are in preliminary stages.
      
      
8. Aleph Update (Linda Richter & Becky Bell)
   1. ILL Report (Becky Bell)
      • Final version of the software is due to PALS on September 30. ExLibris has been making good progress.
      • Targeting mid to late October for the first group to go live. Libraries will be trained and moved to Aleph ILL in groups. The first libraries for production use have not been identified.
      • ExLibris has not tested with OCLC and MINITEX is still being set up at the U of M. PALS will coordinate with MINITEX.
   2. Version 17 (Linda Richter)
      • Version 18 due to PALS office in January, 2006.
      • There is not much information on Version 18, so it is too soon to say whether it will be prudent to skip version 17.
      • The migration calendar was distributed, showing a very full schedule from now through spring. PALS believes the migration has been compacted as much as possible, without being detrimental to the libraries that are migrating.
      • All libraries will be migrated by April 24, 2006. Libraries will be migrated to version 15.5.
      • Conversion for all libraries will be 15.5 to 16 to 17. These versions do not have to go into production but the data must be converted in this manner.
      • Conversion to newer versions will be more labor intensive for the PALS office than the local library staffs. There will be data review required of the libraries when moving to version 17, but not as intensive as the move from PALS to Aleph.
   3. ARC (Becky Bell)
      • 10 libraries are testing the software, reactions to the software are mixed. Mike Kathman and Barb Golden described their experiences.
      • PALS office will verify with the 10 test libraries that passwords could be shared to test the software at other Aleph libraries using the test data.
      • It was suggested that there be a standard list of reports that could be run by the PALS office or the library for local libraries that do not need in depth special reports. Standardized reports such as IPEDS and those needed by academic libraries were mentioned.
   4. Migration
      • Calendar was presented for the planned migration of the last 3 groups. The first data load and complete re-indexing is planned during the winter holidays. Data load and indexing for the last group of libraries is planned for late April. There will be some down time for libraries on Aleph during these two time periods.
        
        
9. Core purpose and scope of consortium
   1. Final mission statement and goals was presented to the group.
   2. A small group met with Todd Digby to present the mission statement and goals. A discussion occurred about the name of the consortium and about the confusion it causes within the MnSCU office.
   3. Todd Digby, Dan Mollner and Michael Fox will meet to discuss how to proceed with the report from the combined User Council/Executive Committee meeting dated March 31, 2005.
   4. Motion was made to name the consortium, Consortium of MnPALS Libraries. This name will be placed in three places in the mission statement and goals. The motion was seconded and approved.
   5. It was suggested that we consider a public acknowledgment or celebration when the last group is migrated.
      
      
10. Other/Adjourn
    • Hearings will be held around the state concerning the Minnesota State Plan for Libraries. Dates will be announced by the MINITEX office, academic libraries are encouraged to attend.
    • www.reflections.mndigital.org is up and running, libraries encouraged to visit the site.
    • A motion was made to adjourn. The motion was seconded and approved.
      
      

1. 1:00 Introductions, sign-in sheet
   
   
2. Amend/Adopt Agenda
   
   
3. Approve minutes from May meeting
   
   
4. Location of future meetings
   
   
5. 1:10 Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (Todd Digby)
   1. Introduction
   2. PALS Study Group
      
      
6. 1:30 User Council Report (Kathleen Ashe)
   1. User Group meetings
   2. Improvements in communications
   3. Other
      
      
7. 1:40 Director's Report (Linda Richter)
   1. Removal of SSNs - update
   2. Proxy Server update
   3. Pilot Project for Support
   4. NAAUG enhancements
   5. Maintenance agreement
      
      
8. 1:55 Aleph Update
   1. ILL - report on motion
   2. Version 17 - report on motion
   3. ARC
   4. Migration update
      
      

• 2:30 Break
  
  

9. 2:45 Discussion of core purpose and scope of the consortium
   1. Mission Statement and Goals
   2. Concerns not addressed by the mission statement - group formed by EC to meet with Todd Digby
   3. Work of combined group on March 31/Priorities/Action plan
   4. Name of the consortium
      
      
10. 4:00 Other/Adjourn
    
    

• Executive Committee meetings:
  • November 10 (Sandy Fuhr will attend User Council)
  • February 2 (Mike Kathman will attend User Council)
  • May 4
    
    
• Annual Meeting:
  • March 30
    
    
• User Group meetings:
  • October 24 and 25
  • Week of April 18