April 12, 1999 -- Combined meeting of the New Brunswick Information
Services Steering Group and the Coordinating Team. 
Present: Ilona Caparros, Jeris Cassel, Ron Jantz, Jackie Mardikian, Jia Mi, Ferris
Olin, Patricia Piermatti.

We discussed the organizational structure of the NB Information Services
Group.

NEW BRUNSWICK INFORMATION SERVICES GROUP
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING DOCUMENT

OVERARCHING ISSUES:
• Organizational Communication  – within NB and inter RUL – what is the
impact of RUL public service issues (such as distance learning,
fee-based service, and who do we serve?) on NB issues?
ONGOING

• Info desks   KAL, DSS, LSM    Cost analysis, staffing, hours,
logistics, training.  Is the July 8, 1998 "Proposed Changes for NB
Informational Services" still applicable? If not, what are we going to
propose differently?
PLANNING 98-99   IMPLEMENTATION   2000 -- BASED ON THE REFERENCE SAMPLE
AT KAL AND STATISTICS AT DSS, KAL AND DSS HAD MANY REFERENCE QUESTIONS.
THE COMMITTEE DECIDED THAT WE ARE NOT READY TO MOVE TO THE STAFFING
MODELS PROPOSED IN THE JULY 8 REPORT. LSM BROUGHT UP AN ISSUE-THE PERSON
HAS TO BE A LIBRARIAN AT DESK. THEY DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE TO PUT ONE
NONE-LIBRARIAN ALONE AT REFERENCE DESK.
IN SUMMERY:
ALEX IS DOING THE MODEL ALREADY. DSS IS BEING PHASED IN. DSS IS GOING TO
DO SOME NEW ARRANGEMENTS OF THE DSS LIBRARY ROOMS. THEY WILL ALSO
EXPERIMENT WITH "INFO DESK" AND " LIBRARIAN-ON-CALL" IN SUMMER.
STUDENTS WORKING AT INFO DESK WILL BE TRAINED. KILMER'S DAILY STATISTICS
WILL BE EVALUATED. KILMER STARTED KEEPING DETAILED STATISTICS AS OF
NOVEMBER. LSM IS NOT READY TO MOVE TO THE PROPOSED  MODEL. LSM REDUCED
REFERENCE HOURS BASED ON  3-YEAR STATISTICS. NB COORDINATING TEAM WILL
SEND THE SUMMER HOURS TO NB FACULTY. CONNIE IS TRYING TO FIND SOMEONE TO
BE THE NEW LOCAL OPERATIONS LIAISON AT LSM.

• Inclusion/Recruitment of staff and other departments such as Access
Services and Collection Services as needed.  Interconnections and
communication with NB Access services and Collections Services
WE DID NOT  REACH AGREEMENT WITH MARY PAGE AND FARIDEH TEHRANI THROUGH
THE TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE. THEIR STAFF IS VERY BUSY. SO THE CLIMATE IS
NOT RIGHT. WE WILL CONTINUE DISCUSSIONS IN THE COMING YEAR.
 

• SCILS interns -- centralize procedure
DISCUSS WITH JANA VARLEJS in the future.  SEEMED TO BE A LOW PRIORITY.

• Branch libraries
IN 2001, WE WILL MEET WITH BRANCH LIBRARIES AND INVESTIGATE WHAT IS
INVOLVED.

• Closing ranks for staffing purposes - on-call librarian
THIS IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COORDINATING TEAM. IT IS ON THEIR
COMING THURSDAY AGENDA. THEY WILL SEND EMAIL TO THE NEW BRUNSWICK
LIBRARIES  TO REVIEW ALL THE ISSUES

• Queuing Model for staffing     Jia Mi   SPRING 99
EXAMINED IT AS A POSSIBLE METHOD, AND WE MAY CONSIDER IT AT A LATER
DATE. BUT WE DETERMINED THAT THE RESULTS WILL BE TOO GENERAL.

• Continued Technology liaisons
THIS SHOULD BE CONTINUED. WE SHOULD ALSO ADD A LIAISON TO WAC.. THE
CKDB  HAS CHANGED ITS MISSION TO "CAPTURE THE UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE." RON
SUGGESTED THAT CKDB SHOULD BE RUL WIDE.  THE ISSUE WILL BE DISCUSSED AT
THE APRIL 16TH NB FACULTY MEETING.

• Assessment and evaluation of all teams  – examine quality of service,
training and collections. Examine overlapping/interconnecting
responsibilities in order to avoid duplication.  Interconnections among
NB RUL committees/groups
THE COORDINATING TEAM AND THE TRAINING TEAM WILL STAY.  THE TELEPHONE
TEAM WILL REMAIN FOR ANOTHER YEAR UNTIL THEIR REPORT IS COMPLETED.
AFTER THAT THEY WILL FOLD IN THE COORDINATING TEAM.
THE REFERENCE COLLECTION TEAM SHOULD BE A PART OF COLLECTION GROUP, OR
COULD BE A LIAISON  FROM THE COLLECTION GROUP, OR COULD IT BE THE 4TH
SUB-TEAM OF THE COLLECTION GROUP. THIS ISSUE WILL BE DISCUSSED AT THE
APRIL 16TH NB FACULTY MEETING.
IN SUMMERY: KEEP THE TECHNOLOGY LIAISON, ESTABLISH A WAC LIAISON
(CKDB CAN BE PART OF WAC WITH A LIAISON TO THE NB ISSG), KEEP THE
TRAINING TEAM, KEEP THE TELEPHONE SERVICES TEAM FOR ONE MORE YEAR,
ESTABLISH A REFERENCE COLLECTION LIAISON WITH THE COLLECTIONS GROUP.

• Agree on terminology   Reference?  overall for group
SHALL THIS COMMITTEE BE CALLED "INFORMATION SERVICES STEERING COMMITTEE
?" OR "INFORMATIONAL SERVICES STEERING COMMITTEE?" THE LOCAL LIBRARIES'
REFERENCE DEPARTMENT SHOULD BE CALLED "REFERENCE DEPARTMENT?" OR
'INFORMATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT?"THE COORDINATING TEAM WILL DECIDE THE
TERMINOLOGY USED FOR THE COMMITTEE AND LOCAL REFERENCE DEPARTMENTS

• Transition for next steering group /and team leaders elections
IN SPRING 99, WE WILL CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FROM NB FACULTY AND SEND
BALLOTS TO ARLENE MINCH. THIS WILL BE DISCUSSED AT THE NB FACULTY
MEETING ON APRIL 16.

COORDINATING TEAM:

• Statistical Analysis Info/Ref Desks   Terminology-  guidelines.
ONGOING

• Reference services policies- manuals SPRING 99

• Examine voucher pay scale

• Determine work/study needs for fall semester        ACCOMPLISHED by
LOLs

CENTRAL TELEPHONE INFORMATION SERVICE TEAM:

• Central telephone service    932/445 LIBS   determine staffing, hours,
training, budget,
 proposal for access services and  PLANNING 98-99, IMPLEMENTATION 2000.

REFERENCE COLLECTION TEAM:

• Reference collections  budgets      98-99

• Reference collections assessment    99-2000

• Reference collections policies   SPRING 99- 2000

• Reference weeding – ONGOING

TRAINING TEAM:

• Develop an "Information Services Orientation Guide"   COMPLETED IN
DRAFT FORM

• Who will do the training?  NB vs local training?  Will be discussed at
April 1999 meeting

• Baseline standards and knowledge to provide info/ref services

• Computer literacy /windows 95
 SURVEY BASELINE KNOWLEDGE OF LIBRARIANS COULD BE DONE IN CONJUNCTION
WITH TECHNOLOGY GROUP.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE DATABASE TEAM:

• Determination of what kinds of resources and training manuals should
be mounted on the Common Knowledge Database SPRING 99

• Determination of which building specific databases including Camden
and Dana should be made available to the entire system SPRING 99
 

--
Jackie Mardikian
Medical Sciences Resource Librarian
 Library of Science and Medicine
 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
 165 Bevier Road
 Piscataway, NJ 08854-8009

Phone: 732-445-2890
Fax:   732-445-5703

Email:  mardikia@email.rci.rutgers.edu