Agenda, September 17

(Meet at Peabody Conference Room 303)

• Update on Digital Library Steering Committee activities
  • Report on discussions of Content Management for Library Websites
• DiscoverLibrary adoption issues and concerns
• Copy/Printing Services Report (Bill will distribute graphs prior to meeting)
• Compiling information for Connie
• Other
  • Archives Annex update

Minutes: (Regrets: Celia)

1. Jody updated the group on the Digital Library Steering Committee’s primary activities from the past year. A handout was distributed prior to the meeting listing accomplishments and future goals. One of the items the group felt was most fruitful to investigate was to research content management approaches for re-architecting the library’s web presence. Jody discussed their progress on this and plans to proceed. They found Drupal to be the most effective platform to explore to better manage and archive the library’s web environment. Currently the Web Mgmt group and others are working to convert the Staff Web page to this format as a pilot project. Once this is complete (it is expected to be up in November), they will analyze it and get feedback and advice before recommending any further transitions for additional library web pages. For those libraries considering updating their web pages anytime soon, a suggestion was made to use style sheet formatting to make any future potential transitions to Drupal easier.

2. Directors presented and discussed various questions and concerns they have received from library staff regarding adoption issues of DiscoverLibrary. Suggestions were made for better broad communication across the system on how to use this as a search tool. Flo asked Jody and Sue to compile a summary statement about use of DiscoverLibrary to be presented to staff; they will bring this back to the council for further input before distributing to staff.

3. Bill provided documents to the council prior to the meeting showing copier use statistics for card vs. coin print transactions. Upon further consideration of this issue he discovered that our system-wide copier volume had decreased dramatically and consistently over the past few years, leading him to drop that topic for now and consider a separate issue: rethinking our printer and copier technology. He proposed the creation of a project team to look into possible ways to update our equipment (for instance, scan-to-email capabilities) and implement some changes to our copy/printing services by next summer. Bill will report back to the committee with a project team proposal; directors are encouraged to recommend staff for participation.

4. With the approaching arrival of our new dean Connie Dowell, Flo encouraged committee members to consider what type of useful information they would like to compile for her review and consideration. Connie has already received some documents pertaining to the budget and will soon be ready for other information to review. She will also be receiving information on current salaries soon. Council members were encouraged to provide other recommendations.

5. Flo attended a meeting last week to get the final cost figures for the Archives Annex. Construction was slated to begin on September 22 and be complete by May 12, with the installation of shelving and the arrival of archival material to take place likely during June. However, the total cost came out to be much higher than anticipated, so another meeting with Campus Planning and the Provost will take place on Friday to discuss potential changes and/or funding possibilities. Resumption of normal book transfers to the current Annex facility will resume after the Archives have moved, likely sometime next summer at this point.

Announcements

• Sue and Tracy reminded the group that the Security Guard Trial will begin on Sunday, September 21.
• Roberta announced that the Verde contract has been completed and installation is expected in early November.