MnPALS Executive Committee: February 11, 2010

Web Meeting

Thursday, February 11, 2010
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Paul Dahl, Chair
Robbie LaFleur, Secretary

Conference Call Phone Number:  507-389-5077

(Please dial in at least 5 minutes prior to the meeting start time)

Draft Meeting Minutes

Attending: Paul Dahl, Chair; Robbie LaFleur, Secretary; Michael Kirby; Jan Carey; Kathy Malec; Kevin McGrew; Larry Kellerman; Todd Digby; Bill DeJohn; David Barton; Vi Bergquist; Thomas Bremer; Stephen Elfstrand; Susan Dueis

The agenda was approved. Thomas moved, Kathy seconded.

The meeting minutes from 12 November 2009 were adopted without additions or corrections. Michael moved, Vi seconded.

MNSCU Update, Todd Digby

PALS funding. The plan was to have an increase last year and this year. That still seems to be in place, but there has been much questioning about the needs for funds, as there has been questioning of ALL budget lines. We should know more in mid-March about specific levels. The bonding bill is moving through the House and Senate, with library buildings and MnSCU buildings in it, but it is uncertain how the governor will respond. Please come to Library Legislative Day on February 24 if you are concerned about specific projects.

The Legislator Auditor audited the MnSCU Central Office (see audit). There was some criticism of oversight and staffing levels. (There are four lines that refer to Todd’s job; it’s described as unique. See page 51.)

Todd was asked, “What is the use of electronic textbooks by MnSCU institutions?” Pretty minimal, right now. Most of the ordering goes through the local bookstores. There are interesting projects going on with faculty developing their own textbooks. Publishing companies like to tout that they are providing online textbooks, but then the reality is that it is a very small percentage of their work.

Executive Director’s Report, Stephen Elfstrand
(Powerpoint Presentation)

Web self-check is a piece of software that would need to be purchased from Aleph – cheaper than the $10,000 3M self-checkout systems. Are you interested? Contact Stephen.

When is the next Aleph migration? Perhaps a conversion to Aleph 20 in January-March, 2011. It will have small fixes and improvements, not a lot of compelling new features. The User Council seemed positive to the change.

The budget remains a concern. Options? Reduce expenses; 70% of expenses are staff. Or enhance services.

University of North Dakota is using MnPALS Plus as their interface. ODIN is making some improvements that we could use; they will provide source code.

Open Source ULR Link Resolver. There will be demos of the product in March. Stephen feels they can provide an important product that costs much less than comparable commercial products, as much as 50% less.

PALSConnect ERM: Open Source electronic subscription management. Hope to have it completed by summer.

Open Source ILS. There are three Evergreen servers running. PALS staff transferred two PALS libraries already – bibs, fines, patrons, etc.

PALS just signed a contract to install an Evergreen installation in a library system, to be completed in May. A $50,000 contract.

PALS staff are looking at moving their web pages to a DRUPAL platform.

Future: Looking into offering a federated search service.

Michael: What has been the reaction to the self-checkout software? Stephen: There has been interest shown by 2-3 libraries. It would be better for small libraries, with trusted patrons. The DNR is interested.

Paul: For the Version 20 upgrade, could we survey members as to the best time frame? Stephen: We could check again. Last year there was positive reaction to March, as opposed to August, when many people are gone. Stephen noted that the switch may be tricky for PALS staff, with an Oracle upgrade, but not so noticeable to end users.

Minitex Report, Bill DeJohn

Bill sent out cost-saving reports to libraries in the past couple of weeks. He will send out letters to State government libraries; those savings are mostly related to ELM.

He just came from a State Library meeting. They are planning a “Snapshot Day,” when all libraries track activities on a particular day. Several other states have done this; there is an ALA program on the topic.

MnSCU staff and Minitex staff will meet to discuss how to help faculty and students learn more about ELM resources in those institutions that don’t have adequate libraries.

User Council Update, Michael Kirby

Should librarians from North Dakota and South Dakota be allowed to attend user council workdays? Yes, the invitations would be extended after registration has been open to Minnesota librarians for a week.

User Group structure discussion took up half their morning meeting. The current User Group structure works well for voting purposes. Even though they are based on ILS modules initially, the scope of each group has grown over time. There is also an interest in expanding work with broader issues that aren’t covered by the existing group. Those groups could cover issues that don’t fit neatly into the existing structure. Possible topics include: collection development, LibData, digital repositories, distance education. They thought it would be good to have a decision-making group that would meet at the Fall User Group meetings. They were suggesting one group now, but it could be more – that’s OK with the User Council.

Orrin Ausen, Adam Marsnik and Michael Kirby have expressed interest in helping with the new interest group.

Michael moved: In addition to sustaining the current User Group structure, that the User Council's motion to support the creation of additional interest group(s) to address larger consortium-wide issues, be accepted. The motion was adopted.

The intention would be that the new Interest Group would be ongoing and deal with topics outside the narrower scope of the existing groups. The motion will be brought up at the Annual Meeting, with a vote by Deans/Directors/Coordinators. At the Deans/Directors/Coordinators meeting we can discuss a name and how the group would be operated within the Fall User Group meeting.

Old Business

Governance Structure
Move to combine the categories of Community College and Technical Colleges within the membership paragraph, yet retain four total members for the combined category. Approved. The exact language of the paragraph will be submitted for approval at the Annual Meeting.

Paul Dahl, Futures Task Force
Come up with recommendations regarding a future ILS and possible steps to maintain the viability of the finances of MnPALS. After discussion, there was a motion made (Tom, Larry seconded) that the first interest group formed in the User Group structure be a task force to look at principles to help guide the MnPALS Consortium in selecting a future ILS.

Michael Kirby
The date for the Annual Meeting is Thursday, April 8. It’s also the workday for the Ser/Acq/Cataloging workday. The User Council had an agenda suggestion: An hour of demos by the PALS staff, held in the late morning. The decision was made to check into alternative dates, possibly April 22, and possibly at Metropolitan State. Paul and Stephen will work on the schedule and date.

Larry: move to adjourn. Second: Michael Kirby.

Agenda

1. Introductions / Roll Call

2. Amend / Adopt Executive Committee Agenda

3. Approval of Minutes from the November 12 Meeting

4. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Update - Todd Digby

5. PALS Executive Director's Report - Stephen Elfstrand

6. Minitex Update - Bill DeJohn

7. User Council Update - Michael Kirby

8. Old Business
    a. Governance Structure
    b. Future Task Force

Break

9. New Business
    a. Annual Meeting (April 8) - Location and Format
    b. Executive Committee Member Recruitment

10. Closing Remarks

11. Adjourn