Attendees:  Eleanor Brown, Kathy Chiang, Anne Kenney, Xin Li

1)      Tom Hickerson came to discuss MyUpdates

·        He gave a brief history of MyUpdates

o       MyLibrary started 6 years ago (which included MyLinks, MyUpdates, and MyContents)

o       The server, maintenance, and software were paid for centrally

o       Some of the programs never developed a big constituency

§         MyLinks was big, then faded

§         MyUpdates had 308 total users over 3 ½ - 4 years

§         MyContents had 1800 users with 10,000 subscriptions

o       Eventually, the server aged and it started having trouble

o       PLS did a user report in 2005 and recommended dropping MyLinks

§         They also recommended keeping MyUpdates, but this needs heavy rewriting/updating

§         They also recommended buying a new server for MyContents

§         These suggestions were taken to LMT and ITECH and they suggested dropping MyLinks and MyUpdates because of the small takeup

o       On October 21^st, MyUpdates crashed

§         It has not been resuscitated

§         No one has complained about it not working, but some may (it has only been down less than a month)

§         There is no way to let the subscribers know it has crashed (it took the subscription list when it crashed)

§         MyLinks still works-PLS should send a message to users that it will be shut down (PSEC was in favor of this)

o       MyContents should be made a more robust service (with Tech support and more titles)

§         It will move to DLIT, where Surinder Ghangas will take care of support

§         A new server will be a minimum of $8,000

§         John Fereira will continue to provide support and will be involved in the server purchase decision

ACTION ITEMS:

ü      Tom will send a copy of the original report to PSEC (including Angela’s report about comparing options)

ü      PSEC is supportive of MyUpdates and MyLinks shutting down by the end of the year

ü      PSEC is also supportive of MyContents being made a more robust service and recommended that when it is, it should be brought back to PSEC for help with marketing

2)      The Faculty Due Date Subgroup (Carmen Blankinship, Jesse Koennecke, and Joanne Leary) came to discuss the Open Due Date for Faculty

·        Sarah Thomas has announced this service to faculty already

·        They are aiming for this to start at the beginning of the Spring term (end of January)

·        There will still be some rules faculty will have to follow:

o        Short term loans will remain in effect (e.g., New and Noteworthy Books)

o        Faculty with short term loans will still be charged overdue fines

o        Previously billed items will remain billed

o        Faculty are responsible for replacing lost items

·        To transition into the open due date:

o        Currently charged items can continue to be renewed for 180 days; books with definite due dates will continue to generate courtesy and overdue notices

o        To renew to “indefinite,” the faculty member must contact the library, who will need to discharge the book and then charge it back out

After implementation, the library should develop reports for the following purposes: 

o        To notify faculty once a year of the books they have out

o        To contact faculty who have left the university but who still have books checked out

·        Concerns about indefinite loan

o        If individual libraries (Africana library, for example), are having trouble moving books into “indefinite” status, they may contact the staff of other libraries (Olin, for example) to help with the workload

o        Publicity is important

o        Word of mouth

o        Flyer to put in books

o        Signs/posters/some kind of notice

·        Concerns about previewing notices and special services

o        There isn’t a consistent treatment of patrons across the campus; some units have developed special services that are based on the ability to review daily notices before they are sent.  Previewing notices will no longer be possible after the Unicode upgrade, and thus the services may not be able to be continued.

o        PSEC’s goal is to make a base level consistency across all the libraries, and then the individual units can choose to build on that.  In this case, the base level consistency is to send out all notices without reviewing. 

o        Those libraries that wish to continue their local services may develop reports for this purpose on their own, or may make a group request for agreed-upon reports from Library Systems.   

3)      Jesse Koennecke discussed the WebBridge Trial Summary

·        What is WebBridge?

o        Software package being examined to replace LinkFinderPlus

o        Made by III (“Triple i”)

o        It uses OpenURL-data are transferred by one system to another

·        Negatives of WebBridge

o        It does not come pre-supplied (but this will not be hard to do)

·        Positives of WebBridge

o        It will be populated with our system holdings

o        It works well with our system (they are made by the same company)

·        Adam Chandler is working on a report to submit to LMT with the recommendation to go ahead with WebBridge

·        The Get It Team (Priority Objective 6) likes it, too

·        Next steps

o        If it is approved, a production version will be installed in January, then there will be a full rollover by March

4)      Ed Weissman attended to discuss a consistent Food Policy for CUL

·        The Food Policy has been different for each library depending on a number of factors

o        The facility itself (linoleum vs. carpeting)

o        How often the custodians come through

o        Where the library sits (next to a café, for example)

ACTION ITEMS:

ü      Anne should talk to John Hoffmann about better spill proof lids for coffee cups

ü      Ed should change the wording on the Gateway to something similar to:  “unless otherwise posted, beverages will be allowed in spillproof containers, but no food is allowed at all”

ü      PSEC supports this (and it is on the Council of Librarians agenda)

5)  Linda Beins is leaving the Assessment and Usability Committee, and PSEC thought Melissa Kuo would be a good replacement