A. Database Standards - Karla Johnson/EF – deferred her report until later in the meeting.

B. Finance – Paul Johnson/RP reporting for Nancy Huntley/LL

· summarized the proposed budget for next year, the Computer Development Fund Projections to 7/01/02 handout.

· funds should be available for the move to Taos.

· gave a detailed description of the process and costs involved with TMQ (The MARC of Quality) batchloading project.

· training is a new expenditure in this budget based on recommendations by the newly formed Training Task Force.

C. Policy – Becky Wright/TH

· summarized Policies and Procedures Survey Results handout.

· 60% returned the survey; received positive responses.

· stressed libraries are just a phone call away when trying to resolve a problem.

· hoping to finish any revisions by the next meeting, with possibly a "bullet form" cheat sheet to the manual.

D. Technology – Cheryl Bushnell/LLCC – topics the committee considered:

· requesting the DRA Conference notebook, with program, be made available to everyone for checkout/review; shelved at a central site like RPLS.

· serials module – investigating.

· OBC – need to know of any unique problems when using.

· slowdowns – saw on Listserv the various reportings; reminder to check the website if the system is down or you are experiencing any problems. Good idea to inform ALL staff on how to check the system status page.

· audio-visual databases – if you come across any good ones, let the Committee know the web addresses. They will contact library to see if a copy-cataloging agreement can be reached.

· reports – July 1 is the cutoff for printing your own patron notices, which include all overdues, pickup notices, etc. and are currently printed on the three-part forms. Paul explained patron notices are only the first step. They were also the biggest step. Other reports will follow at a later date; RPLS will continue printing those until further notice.

· other types of reports; will keep group informed as we go.

· Web2 improvements. Limiting is an on-going project.

· MFHD – interested in holdings in the MARC format.

· Kid’s Catalog – once Web2 was developed, Kid’s Catalog sort of died; no longer being improved by DRA. Check out http://web2.dra.com and link to the Toledo Lucas County, Ohio site. They have been very creative with Web2, creating TIGER and TIGER CUB. TIGER CUB is very kid-oriented. Our consortium is limited on how creative we can get due to our size – approximately 145 libraries. We do not have the resources to create and maintain 145 different interfaces. An additional one specifically for kids could be developed for everyone to use. DRA now has two interfaces: the original out-of-the-box interface and one called a portal, which is much more versatile with community links and multiple links to other sites.

· strategic plan – work in progress.

E. Governing Board – Linda Shaw/RO – minutes from last meeting have been posted on the website, and the committee always meets on the first Thursday of each month.

F. Training Task Force – Linda Shaw – reported the committee had their first meeting and discussed the following:

· changes in training needs.

· staffs are much more global today with V.I.C., First Search, etc.

· both local and global standards are a necessity, not a luxury.

· training has moved to central sites.

· retraining, continuing education and new staff members.

· exploring what is used by others when retraining.

G. DRAgon/DPL Transition Committee – Ann Adkesson/WA – met twice with DPL; the first time to discuss DPL’s concerns; the second time to discuss specific issues and to give a demo of the send item list, etc. Minutes of the meetings will be posted on the website. Hope to meet again in about a month or so.

 

1. Status update of software releases -

· upgraded MultiNet to v4.3 last Wednesday.

· received v2.5-2 of DRA Classic software from DRA last week; targeting the end of May to early June for the upgrade, with documentation going out one to two weeks prior to upgrade. The end of the school year and the beginning of the Summer Reading Program are concerns and will be considered.

· must do upgrade from VMS v7.1-2 to v7.2 prior to Classic upgrade.

2. Expansion Grant -

· upgrading to a total of 350 simultaneous users on the DRA system.

· met with DPL staff for first few steps of the transition.

· met with the other 10 new libraries; have put together orders for their equipment.

 

· there wasn’t a lot of readily available information on MFHD at the Conference, but did hear of some problems with a few customers.

· the Conference was a good experience, although the only First Time Users’ Orientation session is held on Saturday; didn’t realize that until Sunday.

· also heard v2.5-2 of the DRA Classic software fixed the cataloger’s need to change subfield v to x; great time-saver for catalogers.

Matt Wilkerson/RP - Kregg Argenta/LL filled in for Matt at the Conference and was to gather information on Acquisitions. Kregg was not able to attend today’s meeting.

Paul Johnson/RP – assignment was Taos:

· will start to work with DRA next year on plan to move to Taos.

· will not run on PC’s with Windows 95 or 98; must have Windows 2000 or its successor; not an issue if using PC for Web2 only; only one site is using a Citrix server.

· central site can be Windows NT server.

· may by 2003 when we actually migrate.

· may not be able to have both systems co-exist temporarily, as first reported.

Terry Moreland/RP – assignment was DRA Classic system:

· attended several breakout sessions on maintenance, system management, upgrades to the Classic software, as well as a couple on Taos and Safari Report Writer.

· discovered we are keeping on track with maintenance and running all recommended programs.

· food was great!

 

· if you miss any meetings, you are out of the loop.

· unofficial hand count – 19 for keeping the quarterly format, 9 for meeting more often.

· video tape meetings.

· call special meetings as needed.

· hold more meetings during the school year, none during the summer.

· must consider impact on committee members who already meet at least once a month.

· speakers could hand out written reports in advance, then summarize at the meetings.

· more volunteers – get more representation on each committee, then representative report back to specific libraries.

· post committee meeting minutes on website.

· provide more detailed minutes of U.G. meetings.

· Linda reminded everyone that anyone can serve on a committee by calling the chairperson to volunteer.

· further discussion tabled until next U.G. meeting.

B. Paul reported the Illinois Century Network is on this proposed budget. DRA Internet service will be dropped July 1, 2001.

D. Cheryl reported July 1 deadline for libraries to print their own patron notices; any notice on three-part forms. If printing off the Web, the wide-carriage printers are not necessary. Reports posted to the Web are not formatted for the three-part forms.

A. Linda reported requests are not being handled for those titles whose only holdings are at new libraries not yet circulating on DRA; unattended send item lists are growing. We need a solution. If the new libraries are exempt from a send item list, but these items still filter through, what is the best way to handle?

· mark the items unavailable until ready to circulate?

· each library be responsible for unfilling the send item lists daily, until they are ready to circulate?

· circulate those items on send item lists only, after a quick training session on that topic only?

· discussion was deferred until the next U.G. meeting.

 

B. Matt reported on SmarTerm glitches:

· RPLS did a major MultiNet upgrade on Wednesday of last week.

· MultiNet patches will be installed on Thursday; system unavailable from 5:30 to 7:00 a.m.

· need to upgrade to v10 of SmarTerm at a cost of around $50 each; Matt will send out scource information.

· One issue may be firewall-to-firewall connections; if still a problem after patches are installed, call Matt and problems will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

C. Matt gave a live ‘tour’ of the RPLS website, including the system status page, how to access reports, a demo of searching Web2, meeting agendas and minutes, etc.

 

· deadline was extended to October 1.

· has been posted on web for at least a week.

· to get your copy, connect to RPLS web site, click on DRA, click on DRA Certification, then on Process for Insuring Certification Compliance.

· Committee wants the document to be a part of the manual, making it a more legal document.

· Joan Rhoades/CW made a motion to add the document to the manual, making it a more legal document; Stephanie Edwards/WD seconded; the motion carried.

 

FYI Two to one - most libraries reported that their patrons were receiving high demand books faster.

The High Demand List is available at www.rpls.ws -- DRA -- DRA Reports. The list should be checked weekly.