MnPALS Reference User Group: Spring 2008

Draft Minutes

Minutes submitted by Amy Soma

• Opening Remarks
  • Co-Convener Ruth Anderson started the meeting by introducing the steering committee and thanking Perry Madden and Peter McDonnell for their support during her steering committee term.
• Agenda Changes & Additions
  • Ruth Anderson indicated a desire to change the order of several agenda items in order to facilitate discussion.
  • A motion was made to make a series of changes to the order of the agenda. The motion was approved, there were no objections. No new agenda items were added.
• Fall 2007 Reference User Group Minutes
  • A motion was made to accept the Fall 2007 Reference User Group minutes. The motion was approved.
• PALS Report & Aleph work plan—Perry Madden
  • Perry indicated pages in the PALS Support and Training Services Report that pertain to the Reference User Group. For more information please see http://www.mnpals.org/pals/reports/support200804ug.pdf (pages 27-29).
  • An Aleph Version 18 OPAC development not mention in the PALS Support and Training Services Report is the ability to use Google to add book cover images to a record display. The current design has the cover image at the bottom of the display, but Perry is working to move the display to a better location. Individual libraries can opt out of the cover image display if they desire, but the display will appear in the union view of the OPAC.
  • Items in the PALS work plan that pertain to reference that have been completed include (see http://www.mnpals.org/aleph/wp200804complete.pdf for a complete list of completed work plan items since the Fall 2007 User Group meeting):
    • Work plan item #6—availability status: Availability status changed to available/unavailable. Still reads owned/out in the union view of the OPAC.
    • Work plan item # 14--reports: A report that allows staff to see all searches for a library (mnpals 42) and a report that allows staff to see most popular searches for a library (mnpals 43).
    • Work plan item # 24—URLs: URLs in note fields are now hyperlinked or “clickable”.
  • Items in the PALS work plan that pertain to reference that are still being considered include (see http://www.mnpals.org/aleph/wp200804open.pdf for the entire active work plan):
    • Work plan item #40: Electronic (URL) links within Web OPAC records in fields other than the 856 should now display/act as links now. Previously, they were plain text rather than actual links. This process fixes some of the problems that were combined under this work plan item.
    • Work plan item #45—Delete subfield 3 from 856 field in net Library records: This will get rid of the wording “Bibliographic Record Display” before the URL to the material. This is in progress.
    • Work plan item # 59—Saving Search AKA search persistence: There is an apparent java script conflict between the search persistence functionality and the example box functionality.
    • Work plan item #60—Color Scheme: Nobody has contacted Perry about a desire to change the color scheme of their OPAC. Individual libraries interested in this process should contact Perry via the PALS Support Center.
    • Work plan item #66—Implement new SDI feature: This feature should be available in Version 18, but the PALS staff is having trouble getting it to work at this time. This feature allows a user to save searches which can be rerun on regular intervals to highlight such things as new books that have been recently cataloged.
      • Bookbag: Perry explained the difference between SDI and the Bookbag. The Bookbag allows the user to save items for either the current session or for longer than a single session and will (in version 18) retain items a user has put in the “bookbag” once the user logs in into his/her account.
    • Work plan item #72—Investigate federated search tools.
    • Work plan item #75—Investigate and configure new Z39.50 targets.
    • Work plan item #85—Investigate implementation of hold types in the web OPAC: This item has been put on hold due to its complex nature and lack of interest from consortia libraries.
    • Work plan item #88—Web OPAC help screens.
  • Let Perry or your steering committee members know if you are interested in adding something to the work plan or changing the priority of an item already on the work plan.
• Elections
  • Due to a lack of representation elections for two additional steering committee members to replace Peter McDonnell and Ruth Anderson were delayed. A call for a person interested in representing special libraries and an “at large” member will go out via MnPALS discussion lists.
  • A discussion was held regarding the types of libraries represented on the steering committee. The following representation structure was determined to be most useful whenever possible:
    • Private College
    • 4 year State Universities
    • Special Libraries and State Government Agencies
    • Two year/Technical Colleges
    • At large member who can belong to any library type
  • Jennifer DeJonghe stated that serving on the steering committee is not a huge time commitment due to the excellent web meeting tools supplied by the PALS office. The reference steering committee meets frequently via phone, but in person meetings are infrequent.
• Reference Work Day Report
  • Around 50 people attended the Reference Work Day on March 28.
  • Perry Madden reminded the group that agendas and handouts for the work day are still available on the wiki if anybody is interested in obtaining them.
  • The Reference User Group is indebted to Metropolitan State University, St. Paul Campus, for donating meeting space and treats.
  • The possibility of moving to a meeting model that involved one annual User Group business meeting and one work day was discussed.
  • A motion was made that the Reference User Group recommend to the User Council that we hold one User Group (probably in the Spring) meeting per year and one work day (probably in the fall). Time at the work day could be set aside for User Group business if deemed necessary and the User Group she remain open to the idea of going back to the current meeting structure if conditions necessitate. This motion was approved, there were no objections.
  • The steering committee will send out a survey regarding possible locations, fees, and dining issues related to implementing a work day.
• MnPALS Access Task Force (MATF)
  • A motion was made that the Reference User Group recommend that the MATF be disbanded ad the steering committee will determine the need to form issue specific teams/task forces to deal with concerns as they arise. The motion passed, there were no objections.
• Open Source ILS Discussion
  • In response to the General Session discussion and PALS investigation into new ILS possibilities a discussion on our current options was held to help answer questions and allow members to express concerns.
  • Alec Sonsteby asked how WorldCat Local fit into PALS vision and plan for the future. Linda Richter responded that she didn’t believe there had been any formal discussion on this matter.
  • Al Rykhus stated that he would like the VU Find discovery tool up and running for libraries to use in the fall.
  • Amy Naughton expressed satisfaction with the exploration currently underway.
  • Several people expressed a concern that there seemed to be many “irons in the fire” and no consortia consensus.
  • Linda Richter said she would make sure that the MnPALS Discovery Tool Task Force convenes a meeting in order to stimulate progress on the implementation of a discovery tool.
• Aleph V. 18 Q & A
  • There will be no major changes to the overall Aleph Web OPAC.
  • There will be Bookbag changes. 
    
• Reconfigure display order in OPAC
  • This issue was passed to the Reference User Group from a cataloger.
  • In the record display of the OPAC the call number and location are the first items displayed. It was asked that we consider moving the call number and location to the middle of the record and insert appropriate spacing. This would move title, author, and description to the top of the display.
  • Harvard and the U of M OPACs were cited as examples of how this would look.
  • A motion was made that the issue be tabled and opened up for discussion via the MnPALS Forums. The motion passed, there were no objections.
• Adjourn

Agenda

1. 2:15 Opening Remarks
   
   
2. Recorder - Amy Soma (TRC)
   Please identify yourself when speaking at the meeting to ease the recorder's job. The recorder may ask someone to repeat his/her comment to verify their notes.
   
   
3. Additions/Changes to Agenda
   
   
4. Approve Fall 2007 Minutes
   
   
5. 2:20 PALS Report - Perry Madden (PALS)
   • Proposed Reports and Service Process Draft -- Revised April 2, 2008
     
     
6. 2:30 Elections
   
   
7. 2:45 MnPALS Access Task Force - Vote
   
   
8. 3:00 Aleph Work Plan - Report/Discussion - Perry Madden (PALS)
   
   
9. 3:15 Reconfiguring display order of MARC tags in OPAC - Discussion
   
   
10. 3:30 Open Source ILS/Discovery Tool - Discussion
    
    
11. 3:50 Reference Workday - Report
    
    
12. 4:00 Aleph v. 18 Q & A
    
    
13. 4:15 Adjourn

Discussion Notes for Agenda Items:

The Steering Committee consists of one representative from each institution type (State Universities, Private Colleges and Universities, Community and Consolidated Colleges, Technical Colleges, and Special/State Government Libraries). Two spots on the Steering Committee - Special Libraries and one At-Large - are up for re-election. A convener (or two co-conveners) should be elected as well.

Members from these libraries must meet in groups to re-elect or elect new representatives for the Steering Committee. Terms are two years, but members have the option of specifying a one-year term. The Steering Committee will meet briefly immediately following the Reference User Group meeting.

Terms Expiring April 30, 2008:

• Special Libraries - Ruth Anderson (MHS) - Co-Convener/UC Rep
• At-Large - Pete McDonnell (MSU) - Co-Convener/UC Rep

Terms Expiring April 30, 2009:

• State Universities - Jennifer DeJonghe (MTR)
• Private Colleges and Universities - Amy Soma (TRC)
• Consolidated Colleges - Kristen Larson (CTC, Moorhead Campus)

The MnPALS Access Task Force has been defunct for most of the fall and spring, and there have been no nominations forthcoming to chair the Task Force. In the meantime and as time has allowed, the Reference User Group Steering Committee agreed to look at some of the high priority recommendations from the Task Force and to form small, focused task forces/work groups to address them. We would like to call a vote to disband the MnPALS Access Task Force and to archive MATF documents for future reference. Does the Reference User Group approve of, moving forward, having the Steering Committee itself advise the PALS Office on recommendations for Web OPAC changes or enhancements? Or perhaps delegating smaller groups comprised of members of the Reference User Group working on specific areas?

PALS has begun to investigate other ILS options such as the open-source systems Koha and Evergreen, and Worldcat Local. The PALS Office has asked User Groups to prioritize items from the current work plan in light of the possible move to another system in 4-5 years.

Possible changes that may be helpful for creating a more orderly, understandable OPAC display of MARC records. Currently, the OPAC places the Location (holding link) and URL, if present, at the top of the record display, which is not perhaps as intuitive as it might be since most databases have the author/title/publication information displayed first (then other links to access that resource are presented). Most catalogs have the following order of information displayed:

• Author
• Title
• Pub Info
• Availability/URL
• Other MARC tags (notes, added entries, etc.)

Would it make more sense to adjust the OPAC display to follow the norm that patrons see in other databases and to provide an explicit link with the label "availability" to holdings information below the citation information?

The Harvard catalog is a good example of how that display can be done: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:hollisct. The University of Minnesota has something similar: http://www.lib.umn.edu/.

This portion of the meeting is for overflow discussion from the Koha/Open Source ILS demonstration and SOLR Discovery Tool update. In advance of the meeting, please take a look at the SOLR discovery tool at or read the notes from the March 24-25th Koha (LibLime) open-source training. Feedback on the discovery tool can be given at the Reference meeting, or on the Discovery Tool board of the Forums. Note: You must have a username and password for the Forums; this password will work for both the Forums and the Wiki.

 Wiki space for open-source training sessions (Koha and Evergreen) is at: http://wiki.mnpals.org/index.php/March_and_April_Demonstrations

The first Reference User Group Workday was held on March 28 at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul. Should something like the workday be offered again sometime in the future?