WRLSWEB Network Advisory Committee Meeting
February 7, 2008
Sparta Free Library
Minutes
Members present: Elaine Angst, Patti Berglund, Karen Bernau, Cindy
Brown, Karen Carr, Mary Crawford, Laurie Erickson, David Goldfein,
Murial Gunderson, Meredith Houge, Carol Krett, Deb Lambert, Chris
McArdle Rojo, David Polodna, Jeanne Rice, Karyn Schmidt, Mary
Waarvik, Rita Wachuta-Breckel, Pamela Westby
Guests: Deb Dagnon, Randy Dagnon, Noreen Fish
Meeting was convened by Polodna at 10:03 am.
I. Greetings and Introductions/Roll Call. Roll call was taken as
indicated above. Murial Gunderson, the new director at Black River
Falls Public Library, was introduced and welcomed.
II. Approval of minutes from October 4 Meeting: Motion by Goldfein,
seconded by Bernau, to approve the minutes of the October 4, 2007
meeting with the correction of the spelling of Meredith Houge's
surname. Carried.
III. Laptop for Inventory -- Update: Randy Dagnon explained that
the laptops had been received and configured. All that remained
was testing them to be sure they operated properly for multiple
institutions. Goldfein reminded all that training would be needed
and that the earlier discussion proposed doing county or regional
training sessions in actual inventory situations to expedite this
process. It was concluded that Randy Dagnon will be the primary
contact person for all matters related to using the laptops, and
that he would coordinate with other WRLSWEB/LPL staff in regard to
training. Those interested in getting started with inventory soon
were encouraged to contact Randy within the next week or so.
IV. Entering Bib Records -- Issues, Solutions: Goldfein requested
that library staff be careful not to add duplicate short
bibliographic records to the WRLSWEB database when processing new
materials for which an OCLC record is not already present. He
emphasized what information was essential: ISBN number (13 digit
form preferred but always only one ISBN), author, title, other
identifying numbers. There is no need to do any involved cataloging
or classification.
V. Replacing Horizon: Goldfein reported that efforts had already
begun to investigate replacement platforms for Horizon. The first
step will be he and Deb Dagnon eliminating vendors which clearly
cannot satisfy the basic needs of WRLSWEB. Once this process has
narrowed the choice down to just a few vendors, then all will be
invited to participate in demonstrations or conference calls of the
most promising products. Open source platforms are being
considered. He hoped to have the narrowed list ready for the June
NAC meeting, and was setting a preliminary target of early 2009 for
a transition. He added that the bibliographic database condition,
discussed in IV above, will have an impact on the transition, so it
is important to keep data as clean as possible.
VI. Library Card Format: Polodna announced that 2008 would be the
year to order patron cards, and as he began considering what to
request, he wondered if there was interest in having card and key
fob sets, with identical printed barcodes on each piece. Each
person registering for a new library card could then receive two
card formats at one time. Part of what raised the question was the
fact that the original key fob cards do not hold the barcode labels
well and could have been ordered with barcodes for no additional
cost. Discussion followed with both enthusiasm and caution
expressed for this two-card set. Polodna noted that in suggesting
this change he was not envisioning a wholesale switch to a new
format or incurring significant added costs. So price quotes could
ultimately settle the question if costs come in too high. He said
he would be sending out a notice about card orders to all
libraries, and would provide further information about formats.
VII. OWLS' Experience with Cooperative Purchase of Databases:
Polodna introduced the one page report on OWLS' costs and
selections, then noted that he felt a few things needed to happen
before this process could advance further. 1) Most library
directors and boards in WRLS would need to make a philosophical and
financial commitment to online databases. 2) Once this critical
support was achieved, library directors would need to agree on
which databases they were interested in. 3) If there were
libraries which did not wish to contribute to cooperatively
purchased databases, a protocol would need to be established for
either excluding or subsidizing the users of these libraries. He
went on to say he felt further initiative for this project needed to
come from the various libraries, not the system director. Much
discussion followed, touching upon the importance of this being a
regionwide endeavor, with all residents of the seven counties
having access, and the significant cost savings to be realized by
licensing these resources cooperatively. The group concluded that
Proquest's Ancestry and Heritage Quest were the most universally
desired databases and that Polodna should get a quote for a full
regional subscription.
VIII. Desirableness of Uniform Fine Thresholds: Christensen
distributed a chart showing current fine thresholds at each
library, and explained that the wide variety of thresholds creates
problems and exclusions for users as they move from one library to
another, sometimes preventing someone from using the Internet
because they have fines at another library that exceed a relatively
low threshold. She also noted that the variations create confusion
for users and added work of overriding thresholds that are two low
and not honored by library staff. Discussion followed about the
benefit of pursuing uniform parameters more generally, but it was
concluded that starting with fine thresholds was a reasonable place
to begin because changing the threshold had less effect on revenues
or other operational policies. Motion by Goldfein, seconded by
Krett, to call on each library in WRLSWEB to take the steps
necessary (included board approval if required) to set the fine
threshold at $10.00. Carried with one opposed. Libraries will
need to contact Deb Dagnon to have the threshold set at the new
limit.
IX. AVG Anti-Virus Support: Polodna explained that the AVG licenses
would be running out in summer 2008 and that the first experience
with the cooperative purchase of the license was less than ideal
because once the licenses were acquired some libraries chose not to
utilize them. He said that if WRLS was to renew the licenses for
another two years, all libraries would be expected to use AVG and
billed for the appropriate number of licenses. WRLSWEB had fronted
the funds in the first cycle and cannot afford to do so again if
libraries do not intend to take advantage of the cooperatively
purchased licenses. The group expressed a willingness to accept
the uniform charges and have the AVG protection continue.
X. WRLSWEB Intranet: Goldfein asked if there was interest in
developing an Intranet for WRLSWEB which would allow a controlled
set of communication facilities like Wikis, blogs, service tickets,
etc.. A few people thought a feature or two might be useful or
interesting (such as an FAQ on technology troubleshooting which
could be consulted during WRLS' closed hours), but no one expressed
strong need or support for an Intranet. It was noted that if
people's views and desires change in the future, this topic can be
revisited.
XI. Conflict with NAC and Workshop Dates: Polodna reported that
because of conflicts with speakers' schedules, the April and
December NAC meeting dates will conflict with workshop dates. It
was suggested that a NAC meeting following the December half-day
workshop might work fine, and that the April meeting could be moved
to the following Thursday, April 10. This seemed to be agreeable
with those in attendance.
XII. 2007 WRLSWEB Activity Summary: Polodna distributed a chart
showing how many items libraries lent and borrowed via WRLSWEB.
This is similar to a chart prepared last year. WRLSWEB activity
increased another 35% in 2007.
XIII. Additional Issues and Concerns: Westby reminded all that a
directors meeting was being held following the NAC meeting at
Culvers Restaurant. A show of hands indicated that several
directors planned to attend. Schmidt asked if Overdrive use
statistics were available on a per-library basis. Fish reported
that at this point statistics are only by system, but there is talk
about library level data being available in the future.
Questions were raised about obtaining a list of misassigned patron
types and in transit items. Deb Dagnon said she would look into
both matters. Finally a question was raised about whether Tomah
Public Library was going to complete its WRLSWEB project. Polodna
said he had not received any notification a a decision by the Tomah
board. McArdle Rojo said there was to be a Tomah board meeting on
February 12 at which she and Fred Nehring would each provide a
report on why their library boards took the actions they did in
regard to WRLSWEB participation.
XIV. Next Meeting: April 10, 2008.
XIII. Adjournment: Motion by Carr, seconded by Houge to adjourn.
Meeting was adjourned at 12:06 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
David Polodna
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