May 29, 2002
Minutes

Members Present:   Gary Cornwell, Robena Cornwell, Lori Driscoll, Carol Drum, LeiLani Freund, David Fuller, Ann Lindell, Iona Malanchuk, Richard Phillips, Alice Primack, Pat Reakes, Colleen Seale, Jan Swanbeck, Carol Turner

Guest:  Barbara Oliver

1. Copy Service Update – Barbara Oliver Barbara reported that we are nearing the end of our contract with Xerox. Since the last contract negotiation, there has been a change in the way photocopy services are vended in Florida. There are currently three companies providing this kind of service in the state. Only Xerox has expressed an interest in providing a service to us. Xerox has been losing money (about $100,000 per year) on our service so there are going to be significant changes in the service offered in the libraries. Basically, the libraries will be contracting with Xerox to provide a service. We will be paying them a monthly fee and taking the risk of months with low revenue. Xerox technicians will continue to work 8-8 week days, 12-5 Saturday, and 12-8 Sunday and provide 1 hour turnaround time for reported problems in addition to the regular daily checking of all machines. New machines will be brought into service but there will be fewer of them (about half what we have now). There will continue to be type 1 and type 2 machines. It is unlikely that we will be able to continue to offer color photocopies; but alternatives, such as a scanner and color printer are being explored. All public machines will work only on cards, not on coins. Card dispensers will take $1, $5, $10, or $20 bills and will not give change. We will no longer have change machines. There will continue to be sales of cards to departments. The cards used for copying may change, and the issue of conversion and float will need to be addressed. Xerox will continue to maintain our staff machines but we will provide paper and toner. We will continue to provide cards for staff in locations without staff copiers. An effort will be made to put these changes into place before fall semester. PSC members support an increase in copy charges to meet the costs of providing the service. An increase to 11 or 12 cents is acceptable. Color printers may cost $.50. A meeting is planned with Health and Law during the next week to work out more details of the transition. Barbara agreed to provide PSC statistics on public and staff copying traffic.

2. Mapping NOTIS Location Codes to ALEPH – Rich Bennett Rich reported that FCLA is providing lists of current codes and Rich is putting these together with indications of whether they are in current use. He has developed a list of proposed sub libraries for UF’s Steering Committee and will be sending lists to the branches for review. We are trying to clean up these lists so that we can put together a fairly complete map of NOTIS locations and sub locations for a first load in August. At this point, the mandate is not necessarily to cut the number of locations but to clean up the list. ALEPH is a very different system from NOTIS and Rich, as Coordinator, is trying to really understand the differences so he will learn the implications of decisions we make. Questions were asked about using physical locations (e.g., 3rd floor) in the new systems and about how locations will be treated for materials without call numbers. Rich said we don’t yet know many of the details. We will be implementing version 15.2 (which is moving away from the frames environment) not 14.2, the latest version in production. When we switch to the new system, it will take 4-6 weeks to process our data loads. No additions to the system (new cataloging records, orders, etc.) can be made during that time. Circulation will remain operational until the week-end before the final switch. Rich will be attending a Joint OPAC Task Force meeting in Tallahassee next week to begin work toward the common interface. As we move toward implementation, ask questions and read the updates at https://www.uflib.ufl.edu/lms/.

3. Orientations
   Alice passed around a flier of orientations scheduled for the summer. Two have been held and 4 are planned for Summer B. A new series of orientations was instituted this summer for transfer students. Ten colleges are offering these. Alice passed around the booklet developed for the program and noted that it has a section on libraries. She also passed around handouts that have been developed for the students in specific colleges. These are tall cards, printed on both sides, that give basic library information for students in a specific college.

   Iona reported that orientations are beginning this week for the ELI (English Language Institute) students. 79 students are starting this summer, and there will be another group in the fall of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students here to study English. The library orientation begins in the Education Library (the program operates from Norman Hall) and includes a continuation session in Library West.

   Gary reminded the group that there will be many orientations and ENC 1101 and 1102 to teach fall semester. Instructors will be particularly needed because Mimi Pappas will be on maternity leave.

   Alice also noted that there will be two library orientation sessions for new minority graduate students the week before fall semester begins.

4. Handouts
   Alice will again be coordinating this with staff who have worked on previous revisions. Alice passed out a list of handouts with responsible editors and asked the group to send comments and suggestions to the appropriate people.

   Suggestions for new handouts are:

   • Guide for Faculty on How to Incorporate Library Research into Assignments – based on UCET presentation
   • Course Reserve Handout – Carol Drum will be contact person/drafter
   • ILL brochure – be sure this is up to date and widely available
   • Colorful brochure done by Barbara Hood – check availability and need for update

   A question was raised about a packet for new faculty orientation. Carol T will investigate.

   Also, having various guides in pdf format so they can be printed out came up in discussions of the task force working on the Public Services web page. Bringing materials together in one place in a format that can easily be reproduced is desirable.

5. QuestionPoint – Carol Turner
   Carol reported that the Library of Congress cdrs (collaborative digital reference service) project is being continued by the “next generation” cdrs, a joint LC/OCLC/member service called QuestionPoint. QuestionPoint is a global collaborative network that enables reference librarians to access a global knowledge base and share their expertise with each other and their patrons. QuestionPoint can be used to provide and manage Web-based reference services and it can also add broader coverage and enhance resources for libraries, such as UF, that have existing digital reference services. UF is one of the many academic research libraries that joined the cdrs project during the pilot project phase which tested software at the Library of Congress which matched submitted questions with library profiles. Our participation was very limited because we submitted a very limited profile. UF is signing up for the new service (for which a fee is charged) for a year. During that time Carol wants to expand the profile, encourage submitting questions for our UF patrons, evaluate how well this service integrates with existing services, and assess whether UF should continue to participate.

6. Triage
   Library West, Marston, and Education are planning to offer triage service at the beginning of Summer B and fall semester. This service was successful during spring semester, but there are challenges in offering the service in the much busier fall. A major workload will be authenticating new students so they can use library computers to access ISIS. We are planning an early tape load so that more new students will be in the system. West and Marston are planning to have more than one workstation for authentication at their circulation desks. Triage hours will cover high use, mid-day times – 10 – 2 or 3.

7. ILLiad – David Fuller
   David reported that the new interlibrary loan system is in place and that articles are now being delivered via the web. Response seems to be positive. Concern was expressed about patrons who submit a request and are notified later that they aren’t registered or authenticated. David will investigate messages sent to insure they are clear and facilitate the patron’s receiving the needed information resources.

8. Training
   Lori reminded the group of the Solinet Reference 101 workshop that is being conducted here on August 14. This is one in a series of six workshops geared to paraprofessional staff. The aim of this one is to build basic communications skills. Some spaces are still available in this. Communicate with Lori or Trudi if you have staff you’d like to attend.

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