MnPALS Executive Committeee Chair Report: Fall 2008MnPALS Fall 2008 Users Group
Executive Chair Report: Orrin Ausen (Bethany Lutheran College)
October 29-30, 2008
Welcome
Thank you for attending and I hope you enjoy the new format for this years Users Group Meeting. As you may recall this new format and number of meetings was recommended by the User Council and approved by the Executive Committee at our last two meetings.
Report - Aleph
We will be investigating if and when we may update to v19. The course reserves module becomes apart of the GUI client which provides the foundation to make a more cohesive ILS for the consortium and to migrate to an Open Source ILS product.
Open Source Software
PALS office will continue to monitor the latest developments with Evergreen and Koha ILS and will need to look at a commitment and recommendation from the Consortium by summer 2009. We have a number of interested libraries that are looking to move to Open Source ILS within the next couple of years and they have demonstrated a strong interest in our consortium to be a host server site as well as hosting a discovery tool for them.
Marketing Opportunities
Within the past several months we have had a number of inquiries about MnPALS Plus Discovery Tool. The PALS staff has initiated a marketing effort to promote the discovery tool. They have had a brochure made to advertise and attended state and regional conferences which has created a high level of interest from libraries in Minnesota, South and North Dakota.
Needs Assessment Task Force to Operationalize the Strategic Plan
At our upcoming November Executive meeting we will be organizing a needs assessment task force. We will be establishing guidelines and tasks for this task force. I ask that if you are contacted to strongly consider serving. I promise that you will work with some fantastic individuals and learn a lot.
Governance Structure
We are currently working on the structure of the different library types to better redefine what is currently stated to increase participation of the technical/community college representation on steering committee elections.
Next Executive Meetings
Both the November and February meetings will web only.
Closing
I notice much more of a positive attitude from consortium member’s with what we are currently doing and as Executive Committee Chair I want you to know that we do keep your interests and needs at heart to help us move forward and offer the best possible services we can for our libraries and those we serve. We really are beginning to make progress with implementing emerging technologies and we need your continued support to make all these changes become a reality. Thank you for attending, volunteering when asked, and to make use of all our communication tools available to you. Your ideas and input are valuable and is what makes our consortium more cohesive and better adapt to change.
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