December 2007 Executive Committee Meeting

PINES Executive Committee Meeting – December 12, 2007

Bull Street Library – Savannah, Georgia

Minutes approved 2/13/2008

Committee members attending:  Marsha Christy, Carolyn Fuller, Donna Howell, Lisa Rigsby, Lois Roberts, Richard Sanders, Joe Shinnick, Nancy Tillinghast.

The meeting was called to order at 1:05 PM.

Welcome – Joe Shinnick.

Approval of Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

The minutes of the September 6th meeting were approved as corrected.

PINES staff reports

Good News – David Singleton

David announced the awarding of a $50K Mellon Institute grant to GPLS for the purpose of PINES/Evergreen development.  Other grantees were from all over the world.  Most were from university libraries, and most were being honored for contributions to Open Source projects.  By the terms of the proposal submitted to the Mellon Institute, the grant money will be devoted to the Evergreen Acquisitions module and to software documentation.

Delivery System – Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia
   
STAT came close to defaulting on its contract.  An agreement was reached, though, with a 10% price increase from them to be accompanied by a 15% reduction in delivery volume from PINES libraries.  STAT had initially asked for a 40% price increase, but settled for the aforementioned terms, and the PINES staff is still looking to improve how Holds work.

[See handout – “Hold & Transit Counts – 1/06 – 11/07”.]

An RFP for a new courier contract has been assembled, but it may take until June to get a new service in place.  PINES will require that any courier bidding on the contract base their pricing on volume.  The PINES staff is also examining the concept of an “in-house” courier service, and will be looking at prices and logistics with an eye toward cooperation and efficiency.  Elizabeth asked for volunteers for a study committee.  Dusty Gres mentioned the RPLAC [Regents Public Library Advisory Committee] commitment to efficiency.  Elizabeth asked for volunteers to sort materials for route-makers.  Greg Heid endorsed the idea as a time-saver.
   
Discussion:  The level of benefit would probably vary per library system.

Budget – Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

A 2% increase in the PINES budget was requested.

Staff update – Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

PINES staff is interviewing for a system administrator.  There are currently three candidates.  The responsibilities of the position were discussed. 

Equinox has hired two new staff people, for sales, public relations, and statistics, and are looking to expand further.

HelpDesk - Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia
   
The HelpDesk needs someone to man the HelpDesk specifically for PINES-related issues, who really knows how the software works.

The Bugzilla database needs to go away, and there is a need for new HelpDesk software, as well, since the system has outgrown the current program.

Since January, 1146 out of 1691 HelpDesk tickets were for PINES-related issues.  The HelpDesk will be a priority for budget enhancement.

Dusty Gres asked for status reports on HelpDesk tickets.

Software Development - Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

The Acquisitions module is not yet ready.  Tim Daniel will be the designated “Acquisitions Guy”, and is looking at various procedures to help the software’s flexibility.  He also asked for input from the library directors.
   
Kathie Ames asked that the Acquisitions subcommittee be brought in.

Greg Heid mentioned that accounting/bookkeeping factors will need serious consideration.

Priority list – [See handout – “Evergreen – GPLS TO DO List”.]

Documentation – A lot of PINES documentation may be shifted to a content management system to make it searchable, accessible, and easier to update.

Murph asked for volunteer help with the documentation process.

Training – Katherine Gregory

Since September, the following training sessions have been held:
        2 – Circulation Refresher
        2 – Beginning Reports
        2 – Advanced Reports
        1 – Original Cataloging
        1 – New Cataloger training

Community Building - Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

Reports of the travels of the PINES staff to various conferences and seminars, usually “open source”-related.  [Tim Daniel has been to Pennsylvania and Minnesota, Dr. Veatch has been to North Dakota and Wisconsin, David Singleton has been to Ohio and South Carolina, and Elizabeth McKinney De Garcia has been to Louisiana.]   

There is an idea in the works for an Evergreen international meeting next November.
   
Statistical Reports - Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia
   
[See handout – “PINES Overdue Materials”.  Note that the “**” designation on the chart indicates libraries that use Unique Collection Agency.]   

[See handout – “Intra-PINES Loans – July – Sept 2007 Third Quarter”.  Note that an enhanced version of this spreadsheet is available online.]

[See handout – “Holds and Transit Counts 1/06 – 11/07”.]

[See handout – “Renewals Placed During Closed Hours or Holidays”.]

New Libraries - Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

Lake Blackshear Regional Library System is scheduled to go live on January 28, 2008.

Chattahoochee Valley Regional Library is considering becoming a PINES library system.  The PINES staff is also looking at libraries that are considering breaking off from existing systems.

Several out-of-state library systems are cranking up PINES/Evergreen.

PINES Bag Order - Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

The order is due to be delivered in 3-4 weeks.

PINES barcode order – there’s still a lot of difficulty with vendors and their product.  The search for a vendor that can fulfill all the product requirements is ongoing.

Executive Committee Discussion/Action Items

[See handout – “Discussion/Action Items – December 2007”.]

Item #1 – Default Item Prices

• Systems can request a global change for the prices of their items.
• Motion from Lisa Rigsby that $25.01 be set as the default price.  [$25.01 was chosen to be readily recognizable as a default price.]
• Motion seconded by Carolyn Fuller.
• Vote:  Motion carried unanimously.

Item #2 – Unrecovered Debt

• Comments from Murph per the handout.
• Motion from Donna Howell that the Executive Committee go along with the recommendation from the PINES staff.
• Motion seconded by Claire Leavy.
• Vote:  Motion carried unanimously.

Item #3 – Holds

• Comments, proposals, statistics per the handout.
• Motion from Lisa Rigsby that opportunistic holds go from three days to five days.
• Motion seconded by Donna Howell.
• Vote:  Motion carried unanimously.

Request #1 [Limiting the number of holds a patron can place]

• Motion from Lois Roberts not to change the current PINES policy of 50 holds per patron.
• Motion seconded by Lisa Rigsby.
• Vote:  Motion carried with Carolyn Fuller opposed.

Request #2 [Out-of-system holds would be staff-placed holds only]

• Motion from Lisa Rigsby not to change the current PINES policy regarding staff-placed holds.
• Motion seconded by Lois Roberts.
• Discussion from Carolyn Fuller.  The request was an attempt to provide better service by making newer/better materials available.  Dissenting opinion offered by Dusty Gres.
• Vote:  Motion carried unanimously.
• Comment from Greg Heid, RE:  the appropriate procedure for re-addressing of this issue, per Robert’s Rules of Order.
• Comments from Carolyn Fuller and Donna Howell per public-relations issues due to late-arriving holds.  Courier service issues acknowledged by David Singleton.
• Comment from Joe Shinnick recommending a wait-and-see position as we wait for courier-related issues to settle.

Request #3 [Disallowing intra-PINES holds when the title is owned by the patron’s home library system]

• Motion from Lisa Rigsby that we do nothing.
• Motion seconded by Marsha Christy.
• Vote:  Motion carried unanimously, with the idea that the issue will be revisited after the opportunistic holds procedure has had time to work.

Discussion Items

Enhancement Decision Process
Presentation from Murph regarding the interface between programmers and users.  PINES needs a way for subcommittees and other groups to talk about Evergreen priorities – a “Top 10” list.  Such a “Top 10” list would go to programmers directly without GPLS involvement.  There would be online as well as in-person meetings.  Results would include a more knowledgeable group of end users, with a greater sense of ownership.  Catalogers might be an appropriate initial test group.

• Discussion of the programming process/bugs vs. enhancements/composition of subcommittees, etc.
• Comment that directors would want a guarantee that they’d be kept in the information loop.
• Overall feeling toward the proposal was favorable and it was given the official go-ahead.

Proposed Town Hall Meetings
    A proposal for more direct interaction between GPLS and Evergreen libraries for the purpose of bringing up relevant issues.

• This proposal was also given the official go-ahead.

New Business

Proposed addendum to “Intent to Participate” Agreement
    Would require a commitment to a database “cleanup” before a library system can join PINES.  This proposal would require discussion among the PINES membership at the annual meeting in May, but the Executive Committee may vote on the wording of the addendum at the meeting in February.

Dougherty County Public Library & Lee County Library Proposal
    [See handout – “Dougherty County Public Library & Lee County Library Proposal”.]

• Motion from Lois Roberts that the Lee County and Dougherty County library systems proceed with this unique opportunity.
• Motion seconded by Nancy Tillinghast.
• Vote:  Motion carried unanimously.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the PINES Executive Committee will be held on February 13, 2008 at the Locust Grove Library.

Adjournment

• Motion from Carolyn Fuller that the meeting adjourn.
• Vote:  Motion seconded and carried by acclamation.

Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Richard Sanders, Secretary.