Minutes of October 31, 2002 Meeting

Present:

S. Beck, A. Montanaro, J. Gardner (recorder), N. Borisovets, L. Murtha, M. Chung Wilson, J. Boyle, M. Kesselman, R. Sewell

1. AUL Update.

• Web of Science vendor training is coming up; ABI was well attended including staff from the Office of Technology Transfer.
• Two think tank sessions have been scheduled with a moderator from the Office of Continuous Education to discuss requirements of a Web content management system.
• IPAC is reviewing the Unicorn 2002 release, which includes an ability to broadcast search to three Z39.50 sites. CRL and the Rutgers law library catalogs have been suggested. The group is also reviewing nonbook record displays, looking at other Sirsi sites, and updating the IRIS Guide.
• PSC is co-sponsoring a program with SAPAC on the future of reference. Ann Lipow will speak on Thurs., December 12th followed by a panel discussion that includes Marty and Natalie.
• There will be a teleconference on the USA Patriot Act Dec. 11th.
• State of the Libraries will be held Nov. 11th, acting President Samuels is the invited speaker.
• Public services’ RLG/OCLC study reports will be distributed shortly and placed on the agenda for our next meeting.
• The government documents group has asked to present a recon proposal to PSC.
• Facilitators from the Office of Leadership Development will provide a report on the Cabinet retreat. Among items discussed were external communication, assessment, the Vagelos report, and the announcement of new RU president.

2. Vagelos Report.

Aside from the impact on resource sharing which Jeanne is writing, PSC commented on other public services implications of dividing into 3 universities-- loss of shared expertise (reference, subject, systems), loss of coordination and need to develop duplicate administrative structures for the same functions, and public services impact on programs that are based on one campus and taught on others. Natalie updated us on Senate discussions.

3. Evaluation Questions.

Questions to assist the evaluation of faculty public services were approved, as revised based on PSC email discussions and dated 10/30/02. Jeanne will forward them to the Coordinating Committee.

4. Actions for AY 2003 Goals.

After review and discussion of the top ranked PSC goals for AY 2003, the following actions were planned:

• Marty, Myoung, and Ann will form a small group to study and evaluate different open source URL software (SFX, etc.), software to expand access to e-resoures (crossref, one-click, etc.), and Sirsi’s i-Link. They will determine which ones do what things and evaluate them in the context of Sirsi’s development. They will make a recommendation, including a budget request, to PSC by February 2003. [#1 Evaluate open URL software, #2 Evaluate software to expand access in e-resources, #11 Evaluate migration to Sirsi Link.]
• PSC will recommend that a “Recon Project List” be created and posted on the Web so that public services and other staff can stay informed about current recon projects. PSC praised progress being made on various recon fronts, including resources identified earlier by this group. PSC acknowledges that the role of setting recon priorities resides with CDC and happily defers this goal/responsibility to CDC. [#3 Consider Recon Priorities.]
• PSC will discuss the role of public services in creation of digital projects and digitization at the December PSC meeting. [#3 Define Public Services Role in Creation of Digital Projects or Digitization.]
• Pending available budget support we will conduct a second real-time reference pilot during the spring semester. This pilot will complement other reference services and will be offered during evening hours (Sun-Thurs. 7-9 pm). Natalie and Marty will coordinate the pilot. [#4 Pilot Real-Time Reference.]
• We will conduct a “borrow direct” pilot with the PALCI consortium during the spring semester; funding has been approved. Judy and Jeanne will prepare background materials and schedule a working group meeting (heads of public and access services on the three campuses) to plan the pilot. [#5 Pursue PALCI and other collaborations.]
• PSC will review progress and address other goals in the spring. PSC especially expressed interest in the following: #6 assess reference, #6 investigate scalability, e.g., instruction, and #12 learn about how libraries are used.

5. Faculty teaching page.

Suggestions were made to eliminate the statement of support for tutorial, develop a more teaching/faculty-oriented perspective, and include a sample course page. Myoung and Judy were asked to work on a revised draft.

6. Announcements.

• Staff are invited to attend a Systems-sponsored “how videoconferencing works” program, Wed., 11/4/02 at noon, at one of the 4 videoconferencing sites: TSB, Alex, Dana, and Robeson.
• New PCs are being installed at the Robeson instructional classroom today.
• Replacement of 100 staff PCs, based on PC Working Group’s recommendations, will begin next week.
• Luna software is ready. Documentation (how to get started, a contract between the library and collection providers, and questionnaire for collection providers) is available. The Systems SCILS intern is working with Sara Harrington on a generic Luna BI session. Ann will send Luna URL and instructions to PSC.
• Language capabilities will be reset on all public access terminals by the start of spring semester.
• JerseyCat is now available on the RUL website
• A wireless network is now available on the 2nd floor of Dana library. As long as students have a network card in their laptops, they can just plug in for network access.
• NB is converting instructional classrooms from Tech Commander to NetOps, starting with the SCC.
• NB Info Services has applied for online tutorial and instructional assessment grants.
• Construction will start at Douglass in January.

Next Meeting: MONDAY, 11/25/02, Robeson Library, Camden