April 2001 Executive Committee Meeting

Byron Public Library April 16, 2001

Attending Members: Barbara Hutsell, Steve Schaefer, Alan Kaye, Kathryn Ames, Judy Golden, Walter Murphy, Charles Schmidt and Charles Gee

Staff: David Singleton, Lois Upham and Julie Walker

Barbara Hutsell, Board Chair, called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM.

Minutes of the February 2, 2001 meeting were distributed and were reviewed by the board members present. Ms. Ames moved that the minutes be accepted. Mr. Schaefer seconded the motion. The floor was open for discussion. Seeing that there was none, the chair called the question. The vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

Staff reports

David Singleton, PINES Project Manager, passed out the PINES phase II rollout schedule. As of today, 25 of 110 phase II sites have been installed. The remaining sites are on schedule to be installed by May 17, 2001.

Mr. Murphy, at this point, complimented the PINES staff on remaining on schedule.

Mr. Singleton told the board that those libraries needing to re-barcode had already received their supply of smart barcodes. Samples of the new format smart barcodes were passed out to board members to review.

A PINES training schedule was announced. The training will include cataloging and circulation for the Phase II libraries and refresher courses for Phase I libraries.

The Board asked Mr. Singlcton about plans for a Phase III of Pines and would funds be available. He stated there were several library systems that remained interested in PINES and several that had opted not to join PINES at this time. The interested library systems would be included in Phase III and funds were planned to be budgeted.

Mr. Murphy asked, about the rumor that a current member of PINES was not meeting its obligations to PINES. Mr. Singleton acknowledged that there was such a rumored library system and that he planned to visit the library system. During the visit he would determine if the library system were meeting its membership obligations. Following the visit a report would be made and recommended reaction outlined, if needed.

It was announced that several Phase II Iibraries were going to pre-register patrons.

Mr. Singleton reported to the Board that OPLS was moving ahead interviewing for vacant PINES employee slots. He hoped that they would be filled soon.

It was reported that there was strong possibility that the PINES SUN server would be moved to the Georgia State University Computer Center. The advantage of the move is that the server would have technical support around the clock. If the move take place, it would mean the server would be down one day.

Governor Barnes in the State of Georgia FY2001 Supplemental Budget provided $800,000 to continued support of PINES. OPLS hopes that the Office of Planning and Budget will annualize the annual PINES support in future budgets.

Mr. Singleton announced that the PINES staff was in the process of testing of PINES 2000 and 2001 software updates. The 2000 update will be installed prior to the Phase II cataloguing training classes. Several existing bugs must be worked out before the rollout.

The 2001 software upgrade will start staff testing after the release in late May 2001. The training in PINES with the 2001 upgrade should start in August of 2001.

A board member asked why the 2000 update was being installed when it had several serious bugs. Mr. Singleton replied that the 2000 update was being fixed and using PINES with the 2000 update will make it easier to move to the 2001 update that contained many of the changes and enhancements PINES library systems had requested.

Committee/Subcommittee Reports

Julie Walker made the Circulation Committee's report. The committee reported that several Phase II libraries had expressed concern that the current PINES third fine level was too high and the other two lower levels were too low. They requested that there be created a fourth level with a maximum fine level of $50.00.

Mr. Schmidt made the motion that the numbers of fine levels remain at three, but the maximum PINES fine be changed to $50.00. Ms. Ames seconded the motion. The chair called for discussion. The vote was called. The motion was approved unanimously.

The Circulation Committee reported that several libraries had expressed concern that patrons were repeatedly requesting items, but were not picking them up. These libraries desired to penalize these patrons by charging a fine, blocking them or limiting their requests.

Ms. Ames made the motion that no change in policy be made to allow libraries to penalize patrons making repeated item requests, but not picking them up. Mr. Schmidt seconded the motion. Discussion was called. The question was called. The motion was approved unanimously.

Nominating Committee

Alan Kaye presented the report of the Nominating Committee. The committee recommended the following slate as new executive board members effective July I, 2001. The slate was composed of Debbie Monget representing future PINES libraries, Dusty Gres representing medium PINES libraries and Greg Heid representing PINES libraries at large.

Mr. Kaye, on behalf, of the committee requested that the slate be voted on as group. There was a call for nominations from the floor. The chair hearing no additional nominations called the question. Mr. Schmidt made the motion to accept the slate. Mr. Schaefer seconded the motion.

The question was called and approved unanimously that the slate be submitted to the PINES membership at the May 9, 2001 general membership meeting.

The chair noted that each PINES library system would have one vote and that the Director or his/her representative must vote the ballot. Any write-in candidate must be contacted and agree to serve, if elected to the PINES Executive Board.

Old Business

The special committee on statistics reported that problems continued in obtaining acceptable PINES circulation reports. The committee is looking at signing a contract with Dr. Robert Molyneux an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Studies. The contract would be to create a software package to produce the needed PINES reports. The contract would be signed and funded by OPLS.

The second option is to use an existing report package. The existing report package would be adapted to provide the needed PINES reports.

There was a call to submit orders for PINES mouse pads and/or magnets. The order was being sent to the vendor on Friday of this week.

There have been continued talks about an interface between the GAULEO Interconnected Libraries (GIL) and PINES. Tests show that an interface can be created for viewing library catalogues, but not reserving items. Talks and tests will continue between the two groups.

Dr. Lois Upham announced that the problem in quickly printing spine labels and not bogging down PINES had been solved. The instructions will be sent to the PINES cataloguers by e-mail in the near future.

Staff Recommendations for Executive Committee Approval

The PINES staff presented a list of PINES policy name additions and changes. Mr. Schmidt made the motion to accept the staff recommended policy name additions and changes. Ms. Golden seconded the motion. The question was called. The motion was approved unanimously.

Mr. Greg Heid presented a report to the committee about talks with the Georgia Secretary of States office about motor voter registration being recorded electronically in the PINES database. The talks were promising and will continue.

Mr. Singleton discussed the possibility of titles from the website NetLibrary being catalogued into the PINES database. Currently NetLibrary is available by accessing Galileo. Following discussion, no decision was reached. The issue was referred to the Cataloging Subcommittee and the new PINES Cataloging Coordinator for follow-up and future recommendations. The staff will continue to monitor NetLibrary and report at a later date to the committee.

The staff reported on Hot Links being allowed to be accessed from with PINES. Concern was that Hot Links had the advantage of providing expended information on a topic, but it also allowed free access to other Internet websites. The staff recommended that following PINES Phase II rollout the issue of Hot Links be reexamined. A vote was called. The vote was unanimous to accept the staff recommendation.

Mr. Singleton reported to the executive committee that the PINES staff was exploring the use of a collection agency to collect patron overdues and fees. General information about the service was presented to the committee. No action was taken.

New Business

As the PINES patron database increases, the occurrence of same or similar patron names is an increasing problem. The staff requested that PINES libraries start providing patron middle names when issuing a PINES card. The full name will provide a more reliable method to different between patrons.

Annonncements

The SIRSI Users Group meeting will be May 2-5, 2001 in Huntsville AL PINES Annual Users Group meeting will be May 9, 2001 at the Newton County Library in Covington, GA. The meeting starts at 1 PM.

The next PINES Executive Board meeting is May 9, 2001 at Newton County Library in Covington Georgia. The meeting starts at 10 AM. The chair called for a motion to adjourn. The committee made the motion and the meeting was adjourned.