User Coucil Meeting - November, 2005

1. Introductions, sign-in sheet
   
   Members present: Edward Swanson (MINITEX-Cataloging); Jan Carey (HCC-Systems); Kathleen Ashe (SSU-Systems); Sharon Evensen (VCC-ILL); Julie Blake (SCSU-Acquisitions); Ruth Zietlow (MTR-Reference); Kathleen Daniels (MCTC-Reference); Becky Schwartzkopf (MSU,Mankato-Serials) Lynne Weber (MSU-Circulation); Rosie Bunge (NCC-Acquisitions); Adam Marsnik (NCC-Cataloging);
   
   PALS staff present: Becky Bell, Cathy Kolbinger, Linda Richter
   
   Other guests and participants: Todd Digby (MnSCU), Kevin McGrew (St. Scolastica)
   
   
2. Amend/Adopt Agenda
   
   Agenda adopted as is.
   
   
3. Approve minutes from September meeting
   
   Last Council minutes were approved (Jan Carey, recorder)
   
   
4. Todd Digby, System Director of Libraries for MnSCU
   
   Todd thanked everyone for working in the user groups. Things are moving along well from the MnSCU side. The PALS study group report released to several groups in late Sept., early Oct. generated some response. Namely, the presidents of the various MnSCU schools did not want to make recommendations out to 2010. However, a 7% increase (approx. $50,000 in each year for the next biennium) from MnSCU to PALS was approved.
   
   There is some interest in doing a survey of satisfaction after ALEPH implementation is done. The surveys will be administered by his office.
   
   Todd is working to build knowledge of library technology (SFX, RefWorks, etc) in the Chancellor's Office.
   
   Todd has the MnSCU librarians list up and going. He is also able to post information on the web quickly using E-Folio, which supports self-registration and unsubscribe functions.
   
   The PALS study group report is posted at http://libraries.project.mnscu.edu/ The Library Advisory Council (LAC) web page is also linked there. A direct URL to the LAC is at http://lac.project.mnscu.edu/
   
   MnSCU is also looking at standard staffing levels based on a ratio of degreed librarian per FTE. Minitex is also interested in this staffing ratio.
   
   
5. PALS Update (Cathy Kolbinger)
   
   Location of future meetings, conference call option
   
   

   From last Council minutes: Motion (Becky Schwartzkopf): to change the November meeting place to Hennepin Technical College-Eden Prairie and also provide 'conference call' ability for the February meeting. Motion carried.
   
   

   The next meeting will be held at North Hennepin Community College and PALS will also support a conference call. The conference call number is (507)389-1014.
   
   The March annual meeting will be held in the Metropolitan area, and there is currently a request pending for the May 4th location.
   
   PALS staff update
   
   There is a technical position opening at PALS and the staff is currently working on a position statement.
   
   ELUNA
   

   From Linda Richter: ELUNA stands for Ex Libris Users of North America and is the new User Group replacing NAAUG. Cathy will describe the new group briefly and we can discuss the options and benefits of membership. We will also talk about how the new group may impact Aleph enhancement requests.
   
   

   ELUNA represents a single group of all users of an Ex Libris product. It will have a single steering committee. This committee will be created in June at the conference in Knoxville.
   
   Two documents that are worth reviewing are:
   • 1. ELUNA's Constitution and Bylaws
   • 2. The Merger Transition Document (this has timeline information)
     
     
   It is still unclear from these documents who gets to vote. Any institution is eligible to become a member in ELUNA for $250 per calendar year. Voting is held at the annual conference, but it is believed that proxy voting is allowed..
   
   There will be informal product and user groups. All procedures for these groups are still forming. Since ALEPH is a product, we will want to monitor the informal ALEPH group.
   
   Pilot project for support
   
   There hasn't been much discussion on the list, but the timing of the pilot may have been impacted by the focus on implementation. Though there hasn't been much volume on the listserv, there has been some.
   
   K. Ashe observed that the pilot supported aspect of PALSTAC, and thought it may be useful during the implementation to ALEPH.
   
   A. Marsnik commented on the close relationship of many PALS librarians in the Metro area and that they are used to picking up the phone and working with each other.
   
   All agreed that if someone wants to reply to a posted request for help, it's helpful to reply to the full list.
   
   Proxy server
   
   All sites that have used the old proxy have switched over or are in the process of switching to Lib Proxy. The new server should arrive soon, and installation should be done within a month. PALS staff anticipates a transparent cut-over with no downtime, but is scheduling the cut-over during working hours so that if problems occur, user libraries can notify the PALS office.
   
   The old proxy will be shut down at the end of December.
   
   
6. Aleph Update (Becky Bell) ILL
   

   From Linda Richter: Training for the first group to go into test production on Aleph ILL has been scheduled for November 30 and December 1. Production use will follow soon after. Other Aleph libraries will follow with training in January.
   
   

   The new service pack from Ex Libris is expected soon.
   
   The first training session is scheduled for 8 institutions (16 people) represent an opportunity to both train and test of training. Once this training is done, the participating libraries will be able to start using ILL right away. The decision to make the ILL system public will be a library by library decision.
   
   A solution to the ISO interoperability with OCLC is be tested.
   
   ARC
   ARC stands for the Aleph Reporting Center. Becky is working with Ex Libris on some outstanding licensing questions. Each license is a one-time fee of $300. While the client licenses are not part of the contract, maintenance is in the contract. There is no deadline on the decision to get a license, and the price will stay the same over time.
   
   Ex Libris will need to initially set up the accounts, but after that PALS will be able to distribute usernames and passwords.
   
   Migration update
   
   ALEPH limits created some unexpected surprises for PALS staff. Ex Libris found the problem. The number of libraries supported as well as table support were both undersized. These limits were raised and the fix is being installed today. It will need to be tested before conversion can proceed, and the client installation training for Etas remains to be rescheduled.
   
   
7. Review of Fall 2005 User Group meetings

   From Linda Richter: The evaluation results have been tabulated and are attached. Come with your thoughts on how the days went and what we might want to change. Each user group convener should come prepared to report on the highlights of their meeting. We are hoping to have all of the minutes out on the web in advance of the meeting.
   
   

   Review of schedule, general session
   
   Attendees seemed to like having the electronic documentation available before the meeting, and were happy with the publication the PALS office did on this.
   
   PALS is still working on using video-streaming for meetings.
   
   Review evaluation results
   
   Many participants did not like the rooms, but the scheduling for the meeting was problematic. We now have dates set far enough ahead that there is more flexibility in finding suitable space.
   
   Report from each User Group
   
   Cataloging (Edward Swanson)
   
   There was a sense that the 2-day format worked well.
   
   There was discussion about communication between PALS staff and task forces. Managing expectations about timelines and responses were addressed.
   
   The sense of the Council is that this is a unique year for PALS, and Kathleen Daniels made the following motions.
   
   Motion: The Council recognizes that the top 3 priorities for this year are Migration, ILL, and version 17, and that all approved changes in the work plan areto be used for direction of the PALS staff as time allows (Passed)
   
   Currently, when changes are done they are moved to the Completed tab in the work plan. The operations tab has the day to day priorities listed.
   
   Motion: The Council requests that the PALS office continue to communicate regarding approved changes as they are done; and identify approved changes likely to be worked on in the coming year. Additionally, Council requests that the PALS office communicate which approved changes they expect will be fixed in version 17, and which approved changes are unlikely to be addressed this year. (Passed)
   
   Circulation (Lynne Weber)
   
   This user group also generally liked the 2-day format, and the turnout was good.
   
   Three agenda items were discussed in the Circulation User Group meeting. The first was the issue of birthdays in the patron record. In the minutes of April 2004 it indicated that birthdays should be omitted from the record. However, issues around Authority records (for thesis papers, etc.), and identification came up. E. Swanson stated it was his impression that birthdays were not considered private information under Minnesota law. L. Weber asked the Council to think more about the ramifications of this policy.
   
   Item 2 was the identification of gender in the record, but that is now a moot point.
   
   Item 3 was a discussion around patron records that come from Registration without barcodes. There may be a work around for this.
   
   Interlibrary Loan (Sharon Evensen)
   
   ILL had a short meeting. They reviewed the MINITEX report that indicated a 9% increase in ILLs.
   
   In the context of PALS there was also some consideration for terms "User" and "Member". "User" seemed to be the preferred term.
   
   Reference (Kathleen Daniels)
   
   In addition to a break-out session that allowed interest groups to brainstorm future presentation ideas, and priorities, the following motion was passed.
   
   Motion: Until all the MnPALS consortium libraries are on version 17, or until the Access Task Force has a chair, the group will focus on the following two efforts. 1) Review the backlog of approved work requests from the Access Task Force and the Customization Task Force that preceded it, to reconsider the work and priorities assigned. 2) Focus on textual issues related to the public access screens. At the Spring User Group meeting this will be revisited.
   
   The charge of the MnPALS Access Task Force (MATF) was discussed.
   
   The revised MATF charge is:
   
   The Task Force shall evaluate the OPAC interface and recommend changes to improve the end-user operability of the interface. Primary focus on the layout, design, ease of use, intuitiveness, and user-friendliness of the interface is paramount. The MATF shall design an interface that is most compatible to the largest population of users. The interface should be clear, intuitive, and easy to use without training. The MATF will forward recommendations to the PALS Office with priorities indicated. Member libraries will be informed of the approved changes before implementation.
   
   As an initial step, the Task Force shall review the work of the Customization Task Force and determine how the recommendations of the two groups fit together. Following this they shall develop a plan for carrying out these recommendations. This plan will determine the steps needed, set priorities for each step, and in a consultation with the PALS staff provide a proposed timeframe for accomplishing the recommendations.
   
   As it works, the MATF shall identify those aspects of the work that fall under the purview of the Indexing Task Force and work in conjunction with the ITF to carry them out
   
   Serials and Acquisitions (Leah Anderson, Julie Blake)
   
   The serials group is still looking for a convener. A. Marsnik made the following motion.
   
   Motion: The User Council will override the current bylaws and temporarily allow a librarian currently not in the Serials and Acquisitions area to convene this user group. (Passed)
   
   The user group had a very good conversation about renewals of electronic resources and inherent problems when there is no module for their control.
   
   Systems (Kathleen Ashe)
   
   This user group discussed ARC and the importance of standards. There is expectation that ALEPH will keep up with industry standards, especially in the area of Open URLs.
   
   
8. Spring, 2006 User Group meetings - preliminary planning From Linda Richter: Based on the discussion of the fall meetings, are we prepared to make some decisions about the spring meetings? We have rooms reserved for April 20 and 21 at St. Cloud State University. As previously agreed, user groups are being rotated between the metro, St. Cloud, and Mankato.
   
   
   1. Two days? Schedule for each day
      
      Please see previous discussion.
      
      
   2. General session topics, topics for user groups
      
      Tabled to February meeting.
      
      
   3. Breakout sessions
      
      Please let the PALS Office know whether you'll need a breakout room so they can schedule it. Ideas include a demo on the URL Checker program, and the basics of SFX.
      
      
9. Consortium discussion
   
   
   1. Name of the User Council and User Groups
      

      a. From Linda Richter: A question was raised at the User Group meeting about consistent naming of the consortium, User Council, and User Groups. Can we agree on a common name?
      
      

      The Council affirmed preference for the term "Users", and agreed the name of the user council will be "Consortium of MnPALS Libraries User Council."
      
      
   2. Improvements in communications
      

      b. From Linda Richter: Communication improvements are needed on several levels: between the PALS office and the libraries, between the PALS office and the task forces, between member libraries, and perhaps, even, within member libraries. Bring your ideas for improvements.
      
      

      Please see previous discussion under 7. Cataloging User Group report.
      
      
10. Task Forces
    1. Access Task Force charge
       

       From Linda Richter: A draft revised charge for the Access Task Force was created following our last meeting. It is attached. The draft was reviewed by the Cataloging and Reference User Groups. We will discuss and, hopefully, approve a revised charge.
       
       

       Please see previous discussion under 7. Reference User Group report.
       
       
    2. Access Task Force chair
       

       From Linda Richter: The Access Task Force is without a chair, but a candidate has been identified and will be presented for approval.

       Motion: The User Council appoint Keith Ewing to serve as the MATF Chair through the spring of 2006. (Passed)
       
       
    3. Uniform process
       

       From Linda Richter: There was discussion in the spring, and again at the Reference User Group about establishing a uniform process for handling task force recommendations. One idea is to use the process in use by the Access Task Force for all task forces. The Access Task Force process is attached.
       
       

       Discussion tabled until the February meeting.
       
       User group conveners are asked to gather comments on how to pinpoint the best time in the process to involve PALS technical and database staff.
       
       
    4. Uniform tracking method

       From Linda Richter: There has also been discussion of using similar methods for tracking recommendations for each task force.
       
       

       The discussion of using the conference facility on the Web Board was discussed in tandem with 10.c. above.
       
       
11. MnLINK User Groups
    1. Report from 10/31 meetings
       
       Tabled until the February meeting.
       
       
    2. Plans for the future

       From Linda Richter: Joyce Hommel, MnLINK director, has announced that MnLINK is planning a regional Ex Libris users meeting for the spring of 2006. This would include those that use all Ex Libris products in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa. Volunteers were sought at the MnLINK User Group meetings to help plan the spring meeting. The PALS staff will also be involved in the planning, so ideas for the meeting are welcome
       
       

       Tabled until the February meeting. No location or date set yet.
       
       
12. User Council report to the Executive Committee
    1. User Group meetings
    2. Improvements in communications
    3. Other
       
       
13. Other/Adjourn
    
    

• February 2, Bonnie Oldre , secretary
• May 4, Angela Wortham, secretary
  
  

• March 30
  
  

• April 20 and 21, 2006, St. Cloud State University
• October 23 and 24, 2006, Mankato
  
  

1. 9:00 Introductions, sign-in sheet
   
   
2. Amend/Adopt Agenda
   
   
3. Approve minutes from September meeting
   
   
4. 9:10 Todd Digby, System Director of Libraries for MnSCU
   
   
5. 9:20 PALS Update (Cathy Kolbinger)
   1. Location of future meetings, conference call option
   2. PALS staff update
   3. ELUNA
   4. Pilot project for support
   5. Proxy server
      
      
6. 9:25 Aleph Update (Becky Bell)
   1. ILL
   2. ARC
   3. Migration update
      
      
7. 9:45 Review of Fall 2005 User Group meetings
   1. Review of schedule, general session
   2. Review evaluation results
   3. Report from each User Group
      • Cataloging (Edward Swanson)
      • Circulation (Lynne Weber)
      • Interlibrary Loan (Sharon Evensen)
      • Reference (Kathleen Daniels)
      • Serials and Acquisitions (Leah Anderson, Julie Blake)
      • Systems (Kathleen Ashe)
        
        
8. 10:25 Spring, 2006 User Group meetings - preliminary planning
   1. Two days? Schedule for each day
   2. General session topics, topics for user groups
   3. Breakout sessions
      
      

• 10:40 Break
  
  

9. 10:55 Consortium discussion
   1. Name of the User Council and User Groups
   2. Improvements in communications
      
      
10. 11:20 Task Forces
    1. Access Task Force charge
    2. Access Task Force chair
    3. Uniform process
    4. Uniform tracking method
       
       
11. 11:40 MnLINK User Groups
    1. Report from 10/31 meetings
    2. Plans for the future
       
       
12. 11:55 User Council report to the Executive Committee
    1. User Group meetings
    2. Improvements in communications
    3. Other
       
       
13. 12:00 Other/Adjourn
    
    

• User Council meetings:
  • February 2, Bonnie Oldre, secretary
  • May 4, Angela Wortham, secretary
    
    
• Annual Meeting:
  • March 30
    
    
• User Group meetings:
  • April 20 and 21, 2006, St. Cloud State University
  • October 23 and 24, 2006, Mankato