September 2007 Executive Committee Meeting

PINES Executive Committee Meeting - September 6, 2007

Nola Brantley Library – Warner Robins, GA

Minutes approved 12/12/2007

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

Call to order

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 AM [EST].

Welcome

Chair Joe Shinnick thanked Marsha and Glenda of the Houston County Library System for hosting the meeting.

There was an introduction of new PINES staff: 
Tim Daniels – PINES Program Manager
Sally “Murph” Murphy – Quality Assurance Engineer

There were thanks for the PINES officer nominating committee, Jim Cooper and Frances Messer and the slate of officers they had assembled:
    Joe Shinnick – Chair
    Marsha Christy – Chair-elect
    Richard Sanders – Secretary

Motion by Carolyn Fuller to appoint the slate of officers as presented.
Motion seconded by Donna Howell.
Motion carried almost unanimously.
(The newly-appointed Secretary offered token protest.)

Review of the Annual Membership Meeting Minutes – May 2007

Review of PINES Annual Membership Meeting minutes. 

(Will be approved at the next Annual Meeting.)

Approval of Executive Committee Meeting Minutes – May 2007

Review of PINES Executive Committee Meeting minutes – May 2007.
Motion by Carolyn Fuller to approve the minutes as presented.
Motion seconded by Marsha Christy.
Motion carried unanimously.

PINES Staff Reports

PINES Staff Update – Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

Introductions (again) for latecomers.
Presentation of PINES organizational chart:
The System Administrator position has been advertised.
Roles have shifted as the EVERGREEN developers have shifted to independent contractor status.
The Help Desk will be taking a more aggressive approach to prioritizing tickets.

Software Development – Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

    The 24-hour Holds delay upgrade is in version 1.2.1, which is in development.  (The next version to come out will be 1.2, which is ready now.)  Murph will be helping to speed the process.  1.2.1 may be a separate release.
    Pre-overdue notice function is almost ready, but will require additional hardware (servers), and the wording of the notice requires tweaking by the appropriate subcommittee.
We were shown a list of the PINES development priority list.
Development of the Acquisitions and Serials modules is in process.  The alpha version should be ready in October; the beta version should be ready in the spring, with the production version slated for summer of 2008.  David Singleton says there will be ample demonstrations of the modules.

Training – Katherine Gregory

120 were trained at the May meeting.
Bin Lin will be running other sessions, and will run additional ones, if needed.
In July, Katherine conducted Beginning (and Advanced) Reports training for 60 people.
Refresher training will be available in mid-October and may include reports, if needed.  Locations for the sessions are pending.
The Reports module is constantly being worked on to increase “usability”.  (The term “usability” is used in preference to “dumbing down”.)

Presentations - David Singleton

GPLS staff have made EVERGREEN presentations in 18 states, usually at conferences. 
They have been invited to an international conference in Greece.  This conference is of particular interest for libraries in developing countries.  They’ve also been invited to one in Vancouver, Canada for a pre-conference session on open source software.  This has been a very labor-intensive time for the GPLS staff , keeping everything working at home as well as promoting development of the PINES community elsewhere.

David offered assurances that the Equinox group is contractually obligated to keep four software developers working on PINES issues. 

Discussion of EVERGREEN-related travel issues, GPLS staff, Equinox, and expenses.

Discussion of Equinox relationship and communication.

Budget – David Singleton

The Board of Regents has asked GPLS to prepare for a 2.5% cut or 2.5% enhancement.  PINES has asked for a 2% increase.  It’s technically possible to add more systems, but it will be more difficult from a financial standpoint.

[See handout – “Estimate to Replace PINES with Individual Automation Systems”]

Pending PINES libraries:  Lake Blackshear Regional and Chattahoochee Valley Regional.  Atlanta-Fulton County is a still a possible PINES library.  They’re expected to make a decision within six months.

Discussion of ramifications of AFPL addition to PINES – substantial expense to add all AFPL libraries.

Interjected issue – PINES equipment, etc.

Has a PINES drop box ever been installed at the state Capitol?
PINES staff is looking into a group order for equipment, especially thermal printers.
    Mailing bags are in a price-negotiation process.
    Mailing label software is still in process.
    Can PINES staff give us an estimate on supplies PINES libraries need to buy.
    Status of the PINES barcode order – in Limbo at the moment.  The barcode company –
        which puts out a very good product – is getting out of the library business.
   
[See handout – “PINES Overdue Materials”]

Delivery service – Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia
Elizabeth will be negotiating with the president of the STAT delivery service in a meeting on September 17th.
They’ll be working on a plan for issue resolution including:
    A dedicated contract manager to GPLS [Tresa Agee].
    Monthly inventory of the sorting facility.
    Opinion survey of the courier service.
 
[See handout – “Georgia Library Stops”]

Question:  Greg Heid asked to see the contract with STAT.  Elizabeth declined, but said that she could provide the “Scope of work” section of the contract.  She also will be putting a PDF version of the delivery claim form online.

Note:  It was suggested that STAT’s planned travel times between pickups may be unrealistic.

Note:  STAT may be carrying other things besides library materials during deliveries.

A report on the meeting with the STAT president will be presented at the September directors meeting.

Cataloging report – Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

Match rate = 85% for Troup Harris’ addition to the PINES database.
One of the priorities for the Cataloging division is the procedure for de-duplicating records.
Lake Blackshear’s catalog data will be examined.  The quality/condition of their records will have a direct bearing on their activation date as a PINES library.

New Libraries – Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia

Discussion of the Troup-Harris system “go live” day, the Monday before Labor Day.

Chattahoochee Valley Regional is being very serious about their PINES library conversion and actually have a transition consultant on board, but they have not signed [as of this meeting] a formal “Intent to Participate” document.

Executive Committee Discussion/Action Items

[See “Discussion/Action Items” handout]

Interjected issue:  Discussion of the PINES policy change mechanism.
    A policy change is suggested by a director.
    That suggestion is given to a subcommittee for study/discussion/recommendations.
    The PINES staff compiles the subcommittee recommendations.
    The recommendations are given to the PINES Executive Committee to be voted upon.

Importing CIP Records for “On Order” Records
Motion by Carolyn Fuller to make it a practice not to use CIP records (as per the subcommittee recommendations), with the clarification that the PINES Cataloging Coordinator will have the authority to rule on exceptions.
Motion seconded by Nancy Tillinghast.
Motion carried unanimously.

Fees for Holds   
Discussion:  Massive numbers of holds being placed.  The option of Blocking/Barring patrons for excessive holds (and also the issue of Blocked/Barred patrons placing holds).
    PINES needs a checkbox to deactivate a patron’s Holds capability.
    PINES needs a mechanism for determining easily where a Hold on an item was placed.
Motion by Lisa Rigsby that PINES does not charge fees for Holds.
Motion seconded by Lois Roberts.

Discussion:  The concept of “Local option” was offered for discussion.
    A possible option might be an expiration date for Holds.  David Singleton suggested that six months (as used by the Dynix system) might be a reasonable default period.
    Greg Heid pointed out that PINES libraries will be seeing more “gray area” issues that affect individual libraries and systems.  Suggested that we keep in mind the concept of “local option” for future issues, especially with regard to the issue of resource management.

Note:  If fees are instituted, the wording for the billing notice needs to be considered.  Will it be a fee for holds, or a fine for failure to pick up Holds?

Note:  Suggestion – Posters that enumerate the costs of Intra-PINES loans.

Note:  Opinion – If we can’t guarantee delivery of materials, it’s unfair to charge for Holds that don’t get picked up.
   
Note:  Opinion – We need to control the volume of the deliveries.

Original motion withdrawn.

Motion by Lisa Rigsby that the “Fees for holds” motion be tabled until the Executive Committee meeting in February 2008, pending the resolution of the STAT delivery issues.  The issues of 24-hour opportunistic Holds, the Holds disabling toggle, and Holds expiration will be farmed out to the appropriate subcommittee(s).  
Motion seconded by Lois Roberts.
Motion carried unanimously.

New Billing Type – Bad Debt
Note:  An immediate suggestion was made that “Written off debt” be substituted for the term “Bad debt”.
Motion by Lisa Rigsby that “Written off debt” be added to the list of billing types.
Motion seconded by Marsha Christy.

Note:  Question – Will “Written off debt” give the wrong impression to a patron examining his own record?

Note:  Suggestion – We would also need to create a payment type of “Written off debt”.

Note:  Suggestion – That “Unrecovered debt” be used as the term for both billing and payment type.

Motion amended to the effect that “Unrecovered debt” be added to the list of available PINES billing and payment types.
Motion carried unanimously.

Change to Wording of Holds Notice
Motion by Lisa Rigsby that the wording of the Holds notice be changed as per the subcommittee recommendation. 
Motion seconded by Nancy Tillinghast.
Motion carried unanimously.

Renewing Items on Hold
Motion by Donna Howell to uphold the subcommittee recommendation.
Motion seconded by Lois Roberts.
Motion carried unanimously.

Old Business

Online credit card payment: 
Tim Daniel has been tasked with examining option for accepting online credit card payments, but this project is still in the information-gathering stage.

New Business
Question:  Charges for returned mail?  Apparently practices vary among post offices.

Question:  Would it be feasible for PINES to calculate/auto-fill item costs plus processing fees for items “Damaged beyond repair”?  Will be referred to appropriate subcommittee by the PINES staff.

Question:  Would it be possible to publish the PINES Executive Committee meeting schedule up to a year in advance?
Response: 
    December 12, 2007 at 1:00 PM in Savannah.  Venue to be determined.
        (Held in conjunction with directors meeting.)
    February 13, 2008 at 10:00 AM in Locust Grove.  Venue to be determined.
    May 15, 2008 at 11:00 AM in Warner Robins.  Venue to be determined.
        (Held in conjunction with PINES annual meeting/directors meeting.)

Adjournment

Motion by Lois Roberts to adjourn.
Motion seconded by Carolyn Fuller.
Motion carried unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:50 PM [EST].

Respectfully submitted by Richard Sanders (Secretary)