| USMAI Consortium of Libraries |
| University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions |
Present: A. Bahr (SU), R. Bradberry (BSU), D. Gillespie (FSU), B. Gontrum (Chair, UMLL), K. Heil CEES), S. LaBash (UB), C. Lowry (UMCP), D. Nolan (TU), K. Kelly (UMUC), C. Rabinowitz (SMCM, Vice–Chair), C. Ruschoff (ITD, recording), M.J. Tooey (HSHSL), W. Tress (UB Law), L. Wilt (UMBC), S. Miller (UMUC representing RSTG)
TOPIC 1: April meeting minutes
Alice Bahr was added to the list of attendees. The minutes were approved as corrected.
TOPIC 3: Version 18 update
Ruschoff reported that the AV18 Task Group continues to lead and coordinate the testing of the new version. PPH has been tested and 4 issues have been identified and reported to ExL to be taken up. A deadline of July 1 has been given. If there is no response, Hans will work on the fixes. Jamie is working with libraries to test the notices. ITD continues to test overnights, loads, extracts and other routine tasks. Test runs of the upgrades have been run, at this point we have been able to upgrade in under 15 hours. ITD is discussing whether the upgrade will be run on Saturday, July 15, or Sunday, July 16. Campus contacts will be notified of the start date and time of the upgrade, early in July.
The AV18 TG has conducted a survey of libraries to determine when Microsoft Vista will be needed on campuses. We have determined that the first implementation of Vista will be early fall, 2007. ITD will plan testing of Vista and ALEPH in August Over the past few weeks, the AV18 TG has directed its attention to PR and training issues. They are working with each of the functional task groups to identify issues that will require staff training and with UITG to identify functionality that will require user education.
There are two areas that will need to be addressed next. The first is to fix the date and start time for upgrade, and the second is develop a plan for receiving Rx’s after migration. Campuses may expect information on the cut-over date and Rx plan by July 2.
TOPIC 4: ELUNA report and Verde discussion
Ruschoff reported that the big issue at ELUNA was Verde and its functionality. The ELUNA Steering Committee had a special meeting with ExLibris Management to discuss a plan to address the problems with the ERM. ExLibris management opened the meeting by saying that they recognize that there are a number of problems with Verde and they are gathering a list of "critical" issues. The list, in priority order, was promised by the middle to end of the week of June 11, but as of June 13, the list had not been distributed. One of the critical issues relate to the synchronization between the knowledge base and Verde. The representatives at the meeting expressed concern that the "fix" does not disrupt SFX in any way. Betty, and Carlen will meet with Susan Stearns, one of the ExLibris VP’s and a Verde product manager after ALA to discuss USMAI’s next steps. Susan indicated to Betty and me during the ELUNA meeting that USMAI might "pause" in its implementation. At this point, USMAI is withholding maintenance and other payments associated with Verde, as is Harvard and Duke. We all realize that it is not a significant sum, but the three institutions agreed that it is a useful way to make a statement.
ExLibris is very concerned about the problems with Verde and they realize that the problems are affecting the market place. ExLibris promises to put more resources on solving the problems–but, customers were told that last fall. This product is a crucial piece in the ExLibris suite of services, so one would hope that sufficient resources to correct the problems will be spent. In all fairness, some "single" site customers have gotten Verde to work. It is primarily the consortial customers that are having difficulties.
USMAI will be looking for ways that we can use Verde. Betty and Carlen will continue to work with ExLibris through the summer to determine what we can do and develop reasonable expectations.
At the ELUNA Research Libraries Discussion Group, Ruschoff learned that there is indeed a way to encrypt personal data. Written instructions on how to do it have been provided. Another topic common to most of the research libraries represented is the goal to create new discovery tools using APIs. It appears that there are many opportunities for collaboration on new developments.
Laura Wrubel reported that the overall experience with the migration to MetaLib4 has been positive and relatively smooth. USMAI anticipates implementation before Spring Semester. Dave Kennedy reported that Primo implementations are proceeding well and assessed that Primo is a "full blown" product.
Linda Sequin (UMBC & Laura Wrubel presented a poster session entitled: Optimizing SFX in the Catalog and Yalan Qi presented a poster session: EDI Ordering with Blackwell’s Book Services.
USMAI funded attendees included: D. Kennedy, Y. Qi, C. Ruschoff, L. Sequin, and L. Wrubel. Susan Wheeler, UB, also attended.
TOPIC 5: ITD Staffing
Ruschoff reported that Jamie Bush is now back in the office, working part-time. And, Hongyan Sun has joined the staff as a systems librarian. Jamie is coordinating Hongyan’s training regimen. AV 18 migration has hindered progress on the search for the System’s Administrator.
There is growing interest within ITD to centralize the helpdesk operations. The responsibility of rolling out the AV 18 client has already been transferred to the ITD HelpDesk.
TOPIC 6: RSTG Recommendation on Record Retention Standards
Miller summarized the RSTG report: "Phase II Purge Recommendations" dated June 6, 2007.
The following edits to the document were made:
Page 1, item 4, remove "& Reserves" in title;
Page 2, under Recommendation Summary:
Bullet 1, change "3 years" to "5 years;"
Bullet 3, change "3 years" to "5 years."
In the discussion, Towson and Salisbury pointed out that all graduates become "alums" with full privileges on the day they graduate. Concern was expressed over automatically deleted these patrons after five years of inactivity. It was agreed that alums who have been deleted will have to re–register.
There was much discussion about marking all transactions that are sent to the Bursar as "paid". According to the proposal, these transactions will be purged at five years. There are pros and cons for this action. On the one hand, these transactions will be removed from the system and the associated lost or missing items can therefore also be removed. However, the record of the patron’s past borrowing history may not be evident. On the other hand, if these items are not marked paid and ultimately purged, the associated items will continue to show in the catalog as lost.
Outcome: CLD voted to approve RSTG recommendations, however, Miller was tasked to take the recommendation back to RSTG to poll campus contacts on the recommendation that Campuses that use Bursar’s should mark "Transfer to AR" items as "paid" in Aleph (bullet two on page two of the report) to determine the impact on each campus.
TOPIC 7: Report on Executive Council discussion: follow up on retreat items
CLD agreed to set-up two groups.
Call for volunteers will go out in August and work will begin in the fall.
A third topic that arose at the retreat "Core resources" will be discussed at a future meeting when Betty can be present.
TOPIC 8: Elections for Executive Council
The following individuals were elected to posts on the Executive Council, by acclamation: Celia Rabinowitz (Chair); M.J. Tooey (Vice Chair/Chair Elect); Alice Bahr; David Gillespie; Charles Lowry; Deborah Nolan.
TOPIC 9: CALD Executive Board (fill seat currently held by Rabinowitz)
USMAI currently has 3 seats on the CALD Executive Board. The Council agreed that two seats should be sufficient. CLD recommended to S. LaBash, the current chair of the CALD, to ask the Executive Board consider changing the number of seats allocated to USMAI. LaBash agreed.
TOPIC 10: Future Meeting Schedule (see below);
Announcements; New business
Future Meeting Dates
July 19
August 16
September 20
October 18
November 15 (IVN)
December 20 (IVN)
January 17 (IVN)
February 21 (IVN)
March 9 – 10 (retreat)
April 17
May 15
June 19
Notes:
Announcements
Kim Kelly (UMUC) has accepted the position as Dean of the School of Library and Information Studies at the Catholic University of America. Her last day at UC is Aug. 17. Stephen Miller will become Acting Director. He will join Kim at the next two CLD meetings.
Gloria Orr (UMUC) will retire as of Aug. 11, 2007
Bradberry (BU) announced that Tim Clarke joined the staff Bowie as of June 4. He also reported that two positions were lost to budget cuts for next fiscal year.
Heil (CEES) reported that there will be budget cuts that will force CEES to cut some consortial purchases.
Nolan (TU) announced that there will be an informal luncheon on June 27, 2007 at 1:00 – 2:30 PM in honor of Yvonne Lev who is retiring June 30th. She invited all to attend. Yvonne has worked at Towson University for 17 years.
Bahr (SU) announced that two new staff members have been hired: Martha Zimmerman Director of Technical Services and Moushumi Chakraborty in Public Services.
Lowry announced that CP is looking for a strategy to fund a 2nd module for a joint shelving facility with JHU. The MOU will be a shared ownership agreement and will be inclusive, so that others in the State may use the facility. The original seed money, for the shelving facility was awarded by the State to JHU. Wilt suggested that CP and JHU consider a mechanism to allow libraries within the state to donate titles that they can no longer house to this collection.
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