August 2005 Executive Committee Meeting

Date: 
2005/08/19

Meeting Minutes

August 19, 2005 – 10:00 AM
West Georgia Regional Library
Carrollton, GA

Minutes approved 1/5/2006

Committee Members Present: Jim Cooper, Lyn Hopper, Claire Leavy, Frances Messer, Lois Roberts, Steve Schaefer, Diana Tope
Committee Members Absent:  Carolyn Fuller
PINES Staff present:  Bill Ericson, Jason Etheridge, Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia, Katherine Gregory, Elaine Hardy, Brad LaJeunesse, and Mike Rylander, Julie Walker,
GPLS Staff present:  David Singleton,
Visitors:  7

WELCOME. 

The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Dusty Gres.  She thanked Director Jim Cooper for hosting the meeting.  Jim welcomed everyone to the library and told attendees about the availability of library note cards and cookbooks for sale.  Since there were new members on the Committee everyone introduced themselves

ELECTION OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OFFICERS. 

By agreeing to serve and by acclamation, Lyn Hopper agreed to serve as Chair Elect and Lois Roberts agreed to be Secretary.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES. 

After reviewing the minutes and suggesting two clarifications, Frances Messer made the motion to approve the minutes of May 19, 2005.  Steve Schaefer seconded the motion and it carried

Clarification included the addition of the PINES Policy Names for the new additions at Piedmont Regional Library, Pendergrass Public Library, PIED-PEN, Talmo Public Library, PIED-TAL; Athens Regional Library, Pinewoods North Community Center; ARL-PWOODS and Lee County Library, Redbone Public Library, LEE-RED.  The Hall County branch has yet to be named. 

Clarification on the discussion/action items for the PINES ID requirement included the following change to wording: “The subcommittee voted 18-1 against the proposal that the SS# be the only choice.”

REPORTS FROM THE PINES STAFF.

  • Software Development – Brad LaJeunesse described how busy everyone was with the project and the Alpha release.  ILS is coming together though there are a lot of bugs to work out.  The hardware is in.  Logical Choice has provided storage space. The GPLS mail server needs to be located in a hardened facility where there is sufficient security and no loss of power.  Brad encouraged everyone to take a look at Evergreen and make comments.  Then, a demonstration was conducted by the development team.
  • Delivery Service – Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia reported that she had recently completed the regularly scheduled quarterly meeting with Velocity and that there were still some difficulties in the “line hauls” between Atlanta and Macon.  The Brunswick area is also experiencing slow service.  Elizabeth said that the contract calls for 80% of the books being delivered the next day and that “they weren’t there yet”.  It was suggested that dates be added to the mailing labels to improve time tracking and transit counts. 
  • Training Report – Kathryn Gregory reported that 232 people attended the PINES annual meeting in May and 132 people participated in staff development workshops. Bin Lin has returned and will conduct original catalog training in Dawsonville in September.  The class for new catalogers scheduled for September 7th in Warner Robins is filled. 
  • Overdue Report - Elizabeth reported that the RFP for processing overdue notices has been released and three vendors look very promising.  The $250K contract is expected to be awarded in September with a start date of October 1.  Notices will be standard letter size paper enclosed in an envelope. 
  • Cataloging Report - Many thanks to Elaine Hardy for providing support in cataloging in Bin’s absence.  Thanks are also extended to everyone who has assisted in the de-duplication project.  It is about 15% completed.  It is hoped that the project will be completed by spring 2006. 
  • OCLC Batch Load – Brad also expressed appreciation for the database clean-up assistance and said that it will help with the extracted database for the OCLC load.  It will take months to prepare for this and he will keep the Committee posted on the progress. Ideally, if a record is deleted from PINES it would be deleted from OCLC.  This enhancement depends on OCLC. 
  • Fiscal Year Reports – Kathryn Gregory said that the reports were created and sent out July 7th.  If there are any questions, please contact her.  The TOP 50 circulating books in PINES distribution has been well received.  It is sent twice each month.
  • Review Vendor Procedures – Elizabeth reminded everyone to use caution in purchasing and installing library management products and cautioned everyone to check with the IT folks prior to any installation. 

 

DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS

  1. Addition of a New Non-circulating User Profilethis topic was withdrawn from the agenda.
  2. Requirement of Changing Password once a year and at Departure of Employee – As the result of audit concerns, it has been proposed that passwords be changed a minimum of once per year and at the departure of a staff member.  A Subcommittee reviewed this suggestion.  The motion was made by Lyn Hopper that passwords be changed on an annual basis and at the library’s discretion when a key staff member with high-level access leaves, or if an employee leaves under hostile circumstances.  Diana Tope seconded the motion and it carried. 
  3. Require all Libraries to have Branch Delivery Three (3) Days Per Week – This suggestion resulted in much discussion in Sub-Committee.  While it was agreed that the requirement would be good for PINES and its patrons, it could be a financial hardship for some libraries.  PINES staff recommended that a “requirement for branch delivery be put into policy to begin with the implementation of the Evergreen software conversion”.  Diana Tope made the motion that the issue be referred to an Executive Committee working group.  Frances Messer seconded the motion and it carried.  Chairman Dusty Gres appointed the following committee to work with her in preparing guidelines for implementing this:  Jim Cooper, Lois Roberts, and Diana Tope with Dusty Gres as chair for this ad hoc committee.
  4. Standard, consistent Format for Entering Alt ID – At its May meeting the PINES Executive Committee asked that a standard, consistent format for entering Alt ID in the patron record be selected and included in PINES Circulation Manual.  Julie Walker suggested that social security numbers be entered with hyphens and drivers’ license numbers be entered with numbers only (no DL designation included).  Diana Tope made the motion that the suggestion be adopted as procedure, clarifying that the changes would be made when cards are renewed.  Steve Schaefer seconded the motion and it carried. 

 

OTHER TOPICS

  • ID Requirement for Obtaining PINES Card - Accepting photocopies of a driver’s license as proof of residency was discussed.  It was agreed that it was necessary to require the original document as proof and a motion was made to add the words “original copy” to the descriptor of required proof in the Circulation Policy Manual.  Jim Cooper made the motion to approve this change in wording for circulation policy and Lyn Hopper seconded it.  The motion passed.   The Circulation Policy will read as follows: Acceptable ID includes valid driver’s license, valid voter registration card, checks with pre-printed addresses, a utility bill, tax receipt or other piece of mail that shows the user’s name and present address. Original documents are required.  The registering library is responsible for ensuring that a correct address is obtained.
  • Statewide Collection Agency – At the Annual Meeting in May it was suggested that the Executive committee explore group pricing for a state-wide collections service.  Everyone agreed that it would be a good idea to have this service available and optional.  No action was taken on the suggestion. 
  • Floating Collection – Live Oak Libraries has floating collections (items that are not attached to any specific location in their System libraries or catalog) and it was asked if Evergreen would be able to handle such a practice state-wide.  This concept will be reviewed by the development team.

 

UPCOMING MEETINGS/CONFERNECES

  • Public Library Director’s Meeting – September 15-16th – Albany
  • Georgia OCLC/SOLINET Users Group – September 15th – Athens Technical College
  • PINES Presentation – North Carolina Library Association Conference – September 21-23 – Winston Salem, NC
  • Evergreen Presentation – MALTA – September 27th – Georgia Tech
  • PINES Presentation – Ohio Library Council Conference – October 5-7 – Columbus, OH
  • Georgia Council of Media Organizations Conference (COMO) – October 12 -14 – Ironworks Convention & Trade Center – Columbus, GA

ADJOURNMENT

The motion to adjourn the meeting and to meet again in November 2005 was made at 12:25 PM by Jim Cooper and seconded by Steve Schaefer.  The motion was unanimously approved and the meeting was adjourned.