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February 26, 2003

Minutes

Members Present:   Shelley Arlen, Helen Armstrong, Rich Bennett, Pam Cenzer, Gary Cornwell, Robena Cornwell, Carol Drum, LeiLani Freund, David Fuller, Ann Lindell, Iona Malanchuk, Alice Primack, Patrick Reakes, Jana Ronan, Colleen Seale, Jan Swanbeck, Carol Turner

Members Absent:  Jim Liversidge, Richard Phillips, and Robert Singerman

  1. Update from Rich Bennett on Aleph, SFX, MetaLib, etc.

    ALEPH -

    • The May 12th ALEPH implementation date is in serious doubt. There is a meeting scheduled for March 3rd with FCLA to discuss the implementation calendar.
    • FCLA received advanced systems training from ExLibris on Monday and Tuesday of this week. We agreed to wait to meet until after that so FCLA could have time to meet internally to make some judgments about what a revised implementation calendar might look like.
    • Rich requested a status report for several items. Some of them may not need to be in place day one but they are things for which planning needs to be in place.
    • Functional training is on schedule in terms of ExLibris’ responsibilities for train the trainer training. Functional training for Circulation and Acquisitions is complete. Cataloging will be on March 4&5, and Serials will be on March 26&27. The other training sessions, which served as prerequisite training for the functional training dealt with general searching in the GUI Client and WEB OPAC. In addition to those people who are going to the functional training sessions we have been able to send a few public service staff. We are anticipating that a lot of the training that will be offered to public services staff about those basic elements will be things we will have prepared for by sending staff to the ExLibris training.
    • Officially, cataloging is scheduled to run until March 31st. The Migration Committee is developing methods to save cataloging during the implementation period.
    • Before the end of the week Rich will send an email with general instructions for downloading the GUI client. He encourages staff to do it. Activity is moving from a test server to a test region in the production server. We will be able to point people to sub set data from the UF catalog that has been used for data review. It’s going to be an environment we can use for testing to see how circulation tables are behaving. This test environment will be much more like what we will be using. It will be tweaked and eventually moved into the production server with the full catalog data. Also, we will have the ability to look at that data in a WEB OPAC environment although the WEB OPAC, at this stage will not precisely what we will see when we implement. There has been inconsistency with download times. The software will be put on the Library Systems server to allow for easier downloading.
    • When we get closer to implementation we will need to do a little more publicity. We might put something on the homepage by the UF catalog link area that would contain some detail about implementation.
    • The reality is that the WEB LUIS search system is not going away. There will still be access to seven institution’s catalogs, academic index, etc. Rich believes that soon we may want to take the WEB LUIS logo off the prominent position on the web page and make the prominent thing UF Libraries Catalog with that linked to information that says coming soon.

    OPAC –

      Rich is the chair of the State OPAC Sub Committee for the PSPC (Carol Turner is Chair of PSPC). He submitted a report to the PSPC via conference call and will be sending out detailed information about the realities of the WEB OPAC. It is complicated. The UF libraries catalog will have several hundred WEB files that drive it. FCLA must plan to maintain these several hundred files for UF and several hundred for each of the other institutions. When changes are made in one, changes must be made to all of the comparable files to maintain consistency. Rich previously chaired the Joint Community College/University Committee for the WEB OPAC. That committee observed that a number of institutions that had implemented ALEPH made modifications locally to some of the web files that drive the presentation of the WEB OPAC at their institutions. The committee recommended that this type of work be done by FCLA and by CCLA (for community colleges). The implications for this are quite significant once we veer from the ExLibris native interface. There are things in ALEPH’s native interface that are not as good as we have now with WEB LUIS. We may have to accept a lot of the native interface without doing a lot of extra modifications because such modifications would add to the complexity of maintaining those files. ExLibris will come out with periodic updates and every time one of those updates comes out FCLA would have to rewrite and incorporate that java script into the files where modifications were made to the native interface. On day one of implementation it may not be what we want it to be. We will be able to continue to make enhancements to the system to some extent. We will also have another route for long-term enhancements because we are working with a vendor and participating in discussions with other institutions that will be requesting enhancements.

    SFX –

    • On April 28th – 29th or 29th –30th there will be two days of training in Tallahassee for the northern institutions. LeiLani Freund and Rich Bennett sat in on the training that FCLA received in December. They are not sure if they need to attend the training session in Tallahassee.
    • In the ALEPH catalog when you are looking at, for example serials record, the SFX button should appear and when selected it should connect to e-journal information.
    • It should help to interrelate our e-journals list and our catalog records without actually modifying the catalog record to include all those aggregator links.
    • It will not include print holdings, but could have a link to the UF catalog.
    • Not sure when this will be available, possibly summer.
    • FCLA will support the server for SFX but the work will have to be done at each institution.

    MetaLib –

    • It is similar to the subject searches done in the database locator and provides the ability to do cross database searching. There will need to be work done locally at a later date to review the work already completed with the database locator in terms of assigning sub headings to see how this can be applied to the use of the creation of UF MetaLib and to expand on that.
    • FCLA will support the server for MetaLib but the work will have to be done at each institution.
    • MetaLib is a web application but Rich is not sure whether it can do windows based searching.

  2. Initial discussion of user “handouts” information needs – planning for updating electronic and print information
    • Anything that says WEB LUIS will need to be reviewed. We could review other institutions web site to see what they have done.
    • Alice Primack will review general library handouts to assess which ones will need modification.
    • The most important thing is to pull misinformation.
    • Carol Turner asked all committee members to look at handouts and web pages for their respective areas.
    • A suggestion was made to move WEB LUIS into quick links for databases. Ann will bring this topic to the web group.
    • Rosetta will be the name for MetaLib. It will be a portal that is supported by FCLA and look the same to all the SUL Libraries. The committee for Rosetta drafted a timeline for publicizing Rosetta. Carol Turner will try to get a copy to send to PSC.
  3. User equipment – update by Gary Cornwell on discussions with OAT and exploration of current equipment needs
    • Equipment is tied to the new building layout.
      1. 1st floor – compact shelving
      2. 2nd floor – main entrance, circulation desk, classroom, and limited number of computers
      3. 3rd floor – information commons, user space
        • reference desk
        • 200+ computers
        • group study rooms
        • possibly multi media computers
        • microforms
        • current periodicals
        • multi media video
      4. 4th floor – user space, human resources
      5. 5th floor - H&SSS, CM, and Administration Offices and staff lounge
      6. 6th floor – user space
    • Library staff met with the CIRCA staff at OAT and toured their lab. The HUB is going to become a Technology Union. It will have an Internet Café and more sophisticated computer rooms. The food court will remain. OAT will be touring the DLC soon. The library is looking to coordinate what we do in the library with what OAT is doing so that we can approach the provost for additional funding. We are working closely with CIRCA to determine the kind of technology we want in our study rooms and what software/hardware we want on multimedia computers. There will not be a separate CIRCA lab in the library. However we do it, it would be invisible. All the library computers would mostly be the same aside from multimedia machines. The computers in CIRCA are set up to support a lab which is different than what a library supports. If we try to put everything on our computers that’s on their lab computers we would become a lab as opposed to a library. We had only envisioned office suite going on library computers and additional hardware on the multimedia machines. The library currently has 100 computers and is planning for 200. If we do not get the money we are looking for from Tigert or OAT then the 100 anticipated computer seats would become user space. Decisions about computers will impact LeiLani Freund’s group. Bill Covey believes that with the new computers we will be able to load software from the server and not have to do imaging so LeiLani’s group may become more “techi” in terms of software support.
    • Gary Cornwell and Marilyn Ochoa have to come up with recommendations for:
      1. Setup of a possible digitization center due to the number of requests by students (that cannot be completed) for the DLC to digitize materials.
      2. Group study rooms layout
      3. Basic software for all machines
      4. How many multi media machines and what should be on them
      5. Layout of 3rd floor
      6. Setup of 2nd floor classroom
        Gary asked for feedback.
    • Furniture funds are part of the building process.
    • There should be wireless and plug in access in the information commons area.
    • Printer capabilities in information commons area -
      What is done in West has to be in line with what is done in MSL and the branches.
    • Current scanning capabilities –
      1. AFA has scanning available for patrons. It functions pretty well however there is a troubleshooting component.
      2. The Map Library scanners get a lot of use.
      3. Carol Turner is looking to add scanning capabilities to more locations.

  4. Other updates
    • UF’s 150th Birthday
      1. There is a website up at https://www.uflib.ufl.edu/jour/150index.htm
      2. Tying in with National Library week and 4 millionth volume.
      3. SFCC, Public Library, and UF doing 150 readers in the plaza. Trying to get local authors, faculty, and library staff to do readings. Barbara Hood has the list of hopeful readers.
      4. There is a quiz on the web site linked to library history. https://www.uflib.ufl.edu/jour/quiz2.html
      5. Display for National Library Week will be about 4 millionth volume.
      6. Suggestion was made to announce on UF lighted billboard.
    • City, One Story
      1. Book chosen is Romeo and Juliet.
      2. Kick off February 28th.
      3. March 5th - scenes on the plaza
      4. Program for the public planned by John Van Hook on March 11th from 2:00 – 3:00p.
    • Committee Updates – Public Services and Building Committees
      1. Storage Facility Planning Team
        • Hired a consultant
        • Hope to get DOT building
        • Direct delivery from storage to branches should be looked at
      2. Marston Building Team
        • Met this morning
        • Planning is moving ahead rapidly
        • Some maps will have to move to storage

  5. Announcements
    • The second LibQual Survey is being sent out to faculty and graduate/undergraduate students on March 25th and will close April 15th. Using half the sample size as last time. The same questions will be asked with one additional question being added about location used. HSCL is conducting its own LibQual Survey. When the survey is completed a web page link to the results will be put up.
    • Maps received 24 map cases full of maps from a patron who has worked with Paul Kirk. A lot contained relevant geological material.
    • The senate voted to give an honorary doctorate to Maurice Sendak.
    • MSL L308 is reserved this semester as well as the summer semester for ALEPH training. A calendar is being put up for that room. Rich Bennett should be contacted to schedule events in MSL L308.
    • May is the 50th anniversary of the double helix. MSL is doing a display and bibliography. Vernon Kisling is doing a web page.
    • The faculty due date for book renewal has been moved to October 1st due to UF’s new ID numbers. There is supposed to be a global renewal for faculty. Graduate and undergraduate students will have to bring items in to have them renewed. Carol Turner will check with Rich Bennett to make sure the global renewal for faculty is going to be possible.
    • There is a new exhibit in Special Collections that HelenJane Armstrong worked on. There is a very nice guidebook for it. There will be an official reception with Ms. Simmons and a speaker.

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Last Updated March 2003