May 2007 Executive Committee Meeting
Macon State University
Warner Robins, GA
May 17, 2007
10:00 a.m.
Minutes approved 9/6/2007
Members present: Lois Roberts (Statesboro), Richard Sanders (Hart Co.), Joe Shinnick (Three Rivers), Lisa Rigsby (DeSoto Trail), Claire Leavy (Lee Co.), Jim Cooper (West Georgia), Carolyn Fuller (Henry Co.), and Frances Messer (Kinchafoonee).
Chairman Lois Roberts called the Executive Committee Meeting to order at 10:04 a.m. and thanked Marsha Christy and the staff of the Houston County Library System for hosting the event. She also extended her appreciation to the staff of Macon State University for their generous assistance. Also, she thanked all of the PINES representatives who attended the meeting.
Roberts explained that the one “empty chair” on the Executive Committee was that of Diana Tope who has retired.
Roberts explained that there will be two PINES meetings: the first is the Executive Committee Meeting. The second meeting will be the Annual PINES Membership Meeting consisting of all PINES members who are present, and that meeting will immediately follow the Executive Committee Meeting.
Approval of Minutes.
Roberts asked first that the minutes of the combined meeting of the Executive Committee and the Annual Meeting of May 18, 2006 be approved. Frances Messer made a motion that these minutes be approved; Carolyn Fuller seconded. Motion carried.
Roberts asked for approval of the minutes of the February 23, 2007 meeting be approved. Claire Leavy made a motion that the Executive Committee minutes of February 23, 2007 be approved; Lisa Rigsby seconded. Motion carried.
PINES Staff Reports
Katherine Gregory reported that in the latest user survey, over 1,000 users responded. Well over 80% agree or strongly agree that PINES provides good service, and the most positive aspect is its access state-wide. The results of the survey are available on the GPLS website at www.georgialibraries.org
Training & Presentations. Katherine Gregory reported that PINES staff have trained over 500 people; over 100 people received training on May 16 prior to the PINES meeting. There have been over 60 training sessions and four focus group meetings for the Acquisitions system. Presentations include (among others) the MALTA Conference, a demonstration for Fulton County, the Ohio Council, COMO, BOR, Emory, the University of West Georgia, Solinet, Georgia Tech, the SELA Leadership Conference, DTAE, the British Columbia Association. Hosted a South Africa group and a New Jersey Academic group. Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia stated that because of the large number of requests, the PINES staff will “farm out” some of these presentations and will ask some Directors for help.
HelpDesk. Nicol Lewis reported that there were 2844 HelpDesk tickets in 2006; of these, 2068 (72.71%) were PINES tickets.
Longoverdues. Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia reported that overdues numbers are higher than previous reports, but that some libraries have discovered that some items are actually on the shelf but are still showing as being checked out.
New Libraries. Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia gave the following report concerning new & potential PINES libraries:
The new libraries added in the last year were:
- Three Rivers Regional: St Simons and Sapelo
- Oconee Regional: Transfer of Glascock County Library
- South GA Regional (8 facilities)
- Thomas County (6 facilities)
In the coming months, we will add
- DeSoto Trail: Sale City
- West GA Regional: Mount Zion
- Troup Harris will be added in the Fall.
- Lake Blackshear has signed an "Intent to Participate" agreement
Coweta County is still considering PINES Membership.
Delivery Service. Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia states that the shift from Velocity to STAT is complete, and PINES staff are trying to rectify the transit list to be sure everything is accounted for. STAT has 7 routes to cover the entire state, and these routes are to be dedicated to library materials only. Georgia Tech students are doing a logistics study in an effort to improve service. For delivery problems, please e-mail Elizabeth and copy Marlene at GPLS.
Cataloging. Bin Lin reports that the first round of training with Everygreen is complete; things have calmed down some. Vendors doing either original cataloging or copy cataloging include Recorded Books, Baker & Taylor, Brodart, Ingram, BWI, and Quality Books.
Software Development. Brad LaJeunesse reports that since its release in September, fixing bugs (especially those that face patrons) has been the highest priority; the motto, “release often & release early” applies. Staff is working hard On Acquisitions and Serials modules; currently using an existing retail system called OFBiz. An early version of the acquisitions system is expected in the first quarter of 2008.
PINES Budget. A budget comparison between FY 07 and FY 08 shows that PINES definitely will be stretching the budget.
Strategies for the Future.
The ILS market is in some turmoil with the purchase of various companies, and this is creating a great deal of interest and focus on Evergreen.
Funding opportunities may be available through the Mellon Foundation, which wants the software to be useful in many different environments.
One possibility for the software is to set up a foundation concerning the future development of the software (David Singleton).
Elizabeth Garcia states that the Equinox company can work to our benefit because they can work on production while other staff can work on maintenance efforts.
Executive Committee Discussion/Action Items
- Collection Items. Joe Shinnick made a motion that concerning collection agencies, a “library may send any patrons who have overdue materials as a result of TRANSACTIONS originating from this library, regardless of item ownership or patron home library;” Jim Cooper seconded. Motion carried.
- Use of Special Characters in Patron Record. The proposal before the committee was that names be entered into PINES without hyphens, apostrophes, dashes, quotation marks, etc. Jim Cooper made a motion that PINES developers proceed with a software development solution to accomplish disambiguation rather than relying on library staff to enter characters of patrons names in a consistent manner; Joe Shinnick seconded. Motion carried. [Note: anticipated development time is two weeks]
- Policy Name Approval for WGRL-MZ West Georgia Regional Library—Mount Zion. Frances Messer made a motion to approve the policy name WGRL-MZ; seconded by Lisa Rigsby. Motion carried.
- Pre-overdue notice. Request from many patrons that a “pre-overdue” notice or reminder be sent out prior to the due date of an item. Cooper made a motion that an e-mail reminder be sent 3 days prior to the due date; Carolyn Fuller seconded. Motion carried. [Comment: wording of the notice should be different (more positive) than the overdue notice]
- Subcommittee nominations. In addition to subcommittee nominations printed and distributed at the meeting, Julie Walker asked that Dawn Dale (Hall Co.) be added to the list for the Reports subcommittee and that Kay Breyer (Chestatee) be added to the nominations for the Circulation subcommittee. Lisa Rigsby made a motion that all subcommittee nominees (listed below) be approved:
Acquisitions
Judy Golden (Houston County Libraries)
Cataloging
Sara Paulk (Fitzgerald-Ben Hill)
Circulation
Mary Hardy (Conyers-Rockdale)
Barry Reese (Twin Lakes)
George Tuttle (Piedmont Regional)
Kay Breyer (Chestatee)
OPAC
Christina Trotter (Oconee Regional)
Reports
LaToya Davidson (Twin Lakes)
Roberta Wilder (East Central Georgia)
Dawn Dale (Hall County)
Staff Training and Documentation
Suzanne Watson (West Georgia Regional)
Motion carried.
Executive Committee Election Results
Marsha Christy, Houston Co. (Large Library—At Large) [replaces Jim Cooper]
Nancy Tillinghast, Thomas Co. (Medium Library) [replaces Diana Tope]
Donna Howell, Mountain Reg. (Small Library—At Large) [repl. Frances Messer]
All terms expire June 30, 2010
Officers for FY 2008
The Nominating Committee (Jim Cooper and Frances Messer) will present nominations for FY 2008 Executive Committee Officers prior to June 30, 2007.
Old Business
Online Credit Card Payment. Greg Heid discussed general issues such as transaction fees, setup fees, Paypal, etc. relating to Online Credit Card Payment. Richard Sanders made a motion the this issue should be referred to the ILS Advisory Committee for further review; Joe Shinnick seconded. Motion carried.
New Business
There was no new business.
Jim Cooper made a motion that the PINES Executive Committee adjourn; Carolyn Fuller seconded. Motion carried.
The Executive Committee adjourned at 12:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Cooper
Secretary
