Present: Carmen Blankinship (chair), Barbara Berger Eden, Janet Gillespie, Cammie Hoffmier, Jesse Koennecke, Joanne Leary, Xin Li, Margaret Nichols (recorder)


Review of faculty open due dates procedures

Carmen reported that stamps have been ordered with this wording:
        Due Back Upon Recall or Leaving the University

Publicity for the new open due dates will continue in January. Access Services will send a postcard to the Deans, Directors, and Department Heads list on Jan. 16, and an e-mail to faculty on Jan. 25. Carmen will also draft a paragraph for the Cornell Chronicle, and an announcement for the Library Gateway. The e-mail to faculty on the 25th will cover both the open due date and delivery to faculty offices. A definite start date has not yet been set for the open due dates. Jesse and Carmen need to work on the matrix in Voyager Circulation before open due dates can go into effect.


Voyager developments

Once we upgrade to Voyager Unicode (i.e. Voyager 2003), Voyager reports will be issued centrally, but individual libraries that want to run queries can do so (for instance, to get a list of everyone who has a book out for which they will be billed the next day). Library units should not change anything in the configuration file, though.

Carmen described some of the new features of Voyager 2003's Circulation client. From certain screens in the client (such as a patron record), you can send the patron an e-mail. If you have more than one e-mail program on your computer, the e-mail message takes the last one opened as the basis for your return address. Carmen will send out a clarification about this to the circ-admin-l listserve. Staff in circulation units will need new ODBC drivers in order to run reports in the new version of Voyager.


Document delivery sub-group

The Committee approved Jesse's proposed charge for a sub-group to address policy questions arising out of the MyDocumentDelivery service, and his suggested list of members. Jesse will check with the proposed members' supervisors for permission for them to serve on this group.


Access Services Committee vs. Access Services Forum

Carmen noted that some staff are still confused about the distinction between the Access Services Committee (our committee) and the Access Services Forum (the monthly public forum for access services staff across CUL). We discussed other possible names for the Committee that would make its role clearer. Use of the term "Steering Committee" has been discouraged. We decided to suggest that we be called the Access Services Coordinating Committee. Xin will take this suggestion to PSEC for approval.


Access Services Web site

The Access Services Web site needs to be updated. Xin will check on its status and report back.


IT Advisory Group

We discussed a suggestion from Oliver Habicht (of Desktop Services) that an IT Advisory Group be formed to alert him to Library staff's computer equipment needs. Serving on this group would be a short-term assignment. We came up with some ideas for possible members--staff who work in circulation and are knowledgeable about technical issues. Xin suggested adding a policy-making element to the process, so that decisions on equipment can be made on a coordinated, planned basis. We agreed that the IT Advisory Group should meet, come up with recommendations, and report to the Access Services Committee around the end of March, so that the Committee can decide on what to recommend to Desktop Services.


Loaner laptops

Eight libraries in CUL currently loan laptops, with differing loan periods and policies. Some patrons have been keeping laptops beyond the loan period because they don't mind paying the overdue fine. We need uniform policies concerning the loan period, replacement fee, etc. For example, should a patron who loses a laptop have to pay for a new one, even though the one they lost was a couple of years old? Xin will explore with PSEC the question of whether DLIT should budget for regular replacement of laptops. The laptop loan service is wildly popular. Evidently, even though many students have their own laptops, they still like the convenience of checking one out of the library so that they don't have to carry their own laptop to and from campus. Carmen and other members will draft a proposal concerning the loan period, replacement fee, and other laptop policies for CUL.