Maureen Zajkowski suggested that the SUNY Users’ Group be added to the agenda. A discussion of the by-laws committee was also recommended.

The minutes for the meeting of August 6, 2002 were approved as distributed.

Carey reported that Joe Thornton will be joining the OLIS staff as their new Library Systems/Database Administrator on November 6, 2002. Joe spent the past few years as a Systems Librarian at Skidmore College. Other staff changes include resignations from Eric Fredericksen, Director of the SUNY Learning Network, and Leslie Mayville, Director of the SUNY Training Center. Eric has accepted a position with Cornell and Leslie will be leaving for a position in San Francisco.

Regarding SFX, Carey explained that training for the western campuses will be held on October 28 and 29 in Brockport. Two representatives are scheduled to attend from each campus. The eastern campuses will receive their training in November.

Carey reported NYSHEI meeting will be held in New York City on October 10. An interim board includes four representatives from SUNY and two from CUNY, plus the privates. Carey asked the SAC members to look at the by-laws and respond to him before Thursday. The interim board will be selecting a director. Carey agreed to share the job description with members of this group for their review and input.

Carey said the storage report prepared by Reese Dill of Dill and Company has been distributed. In addition to Mr. Dill, Carey has gotten the name of a contact in the Construction Fund from Wayne Diesel, Vice Chancellor for Business and Industry Relations. The importance of determining the storage needs of downstate was raised. The group agreed that representatives from Binghamton, Downstate and Geneseo could best address this concern. Janet offered to make the appropriate contacts and Barbara von Wahlde will chair the group.

No start-up date has been set for the new LAND service. Carey stressed the importance of exploring best practices of various delivery models. He suggested that this endeavor be undertaken by one of the SUNYConnect working groups. Nylink is working with the 3Rs on integrating existing delivery systems.

Maureen explained that the experience for the Group2 migration was much more stable than those undertaken previously. Group2 had a better understanding of conversion needs and documentation. She described the tremendous amount of preparatory work required and stated that the migration process minimally takes six to seven months.

Following is Maureen’s detailed account:

Pilots

• The library environment configuration was completed for Fredonia. This enabled Fredonia to begin their transition from the 12.4 version of Aleph to the 14.2 upgrade.

• Representatives from OLIS and University at Buffalo met to review issues and proposed timeframes related to Buffalo's decision to renew the Aleph implementation process.

• Conference call and email correspondence is underway with representatives from Stony Brook to review a re-configuration of the server environment to ultimately address housing both the Main campus and Health Sciences in separate production environments.

Group2

• Ex Libris had scheduled all Group 2 sites to be transitioned to Support by the end of September. However, Ex Libris implementation staff has continued to work with Group 2 campuses to resolve post-STP setup questions.

• Three workshops were held over the summer and presented by SUNY staff. They included one on tables review, forms/reports, and troubleshooting problems. The sessions were well received. OLIS hopes to continue these types of sessions as follow-up Aleph review.

Group 3

• Kickoff meetings have taken place for Oneonta, Purchase, Sullivan (Group 3A) in Albany and Canton, Jefferson and Potsdam (Group 3B) in Potsdam. The initial meetings for the final 4 campuses of Delhi, Orange, Rockland, and Ulster will be held later in October.
• The type of information reviewed at the Kickoff meetings include:

• introduction to Aleph application and concepts
• overview of implementation process (teams, timeframes, milestones)
• communication with OLIS and Ex Libris
• overview of training

• planning for data conversion
• overview of Aleph as it relates to data mapping
• SUNY standards
• data mapping considerations/options including those impacting Multilis data
• review of data mapping worksheets, purpose, how to complete

Day 3 - OLIS/Group3/Ex Libris

• review data mapping worksheets

• answer questions

• Data extractions for the Group 3 campuses are well underway and on schedule.

• The Aleph training schedule for the Group 3 campuses has been finalized. The OLIS staff has taken on a significant role in the development and teaching of many of the Aleph training sessions. Training for Group 3 is now underway.

• The OLIS and Ex Libris will continue regularly scheduled conference calls to review pertinent implementation related issues for Group 3.
• Configuration problems were found in a new 14.2 patch 4 client supplied by Ex Libris for Group 3. OLIS staff identified the problems and worked with Ex Libris to revolve them.

Union Catalog

• The Data Management Working Group is reviewing the sample union catalog data load. Configuration problems continue to impact a timely review of the prototype.

Server Environments

• A number of configuration problems were identified with the Ex Libris installation of the patch 4 version of 14.2 on both the Westaleph server (at ITEC) and the Alpeh1 server (at OLIS). ITEC staff worked closely with OLIS and Ex Libris to uncover and rectify the problems. This has caused a delay in the opening libraries process for campus databases to be housed on Westaleph and for the development of a training database on Aleph1.

• A meeting was held at Buffalo with Ex Libris, ITEC, OLIS, and Oswego computing center representatives to review a number of technical server support issues and to continue with quarterly in person meetings.
• Testing for the patch 4 upgrade of version of 14.2 is underway. The Oswego test server (oswtst) has been re-configured and now contains both the 14.2.2 and 14.2.4 versions of Aleph500. A /prod and/dev environment have been set up with Oswego data. The automatic upgrade scripts are under review and a process for documenting the files to be updated is being developed.
• A document outlining SUNYConnect service communication processes for Aleph500 and SFX was developed and IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING finalized.

Other Planning

• OLIS and SUNY Albany representatives will meet regarding the process and possible timeframe for Albany's migration to Aleph500.

Following some discussion about scheduling, the group agreed that notices should be sent to the campuses periodically based on the STPs.

Maureen stated that representatives from each campus in Group2 will be asked to address four basic questions about the implementation process: What went well? What were the major problems? What needs to be improved? How do we attend to the problems? It was recommended that conference calls among members of SAC, OLIS and the campus representatives be held within the next six weeks to discuss these issues. A summary of the results of these conversations will be prepared for our next meeting by Maureen.

Maureen told the group that SUNYLA has formed an Ad Hoc group, the SUNY Aleph Users’ Group, with Linda Frank as Chair. The purpose of the group is to consolidate needs and to develop sessions on Aleph related issues.

Larry summarized the core database recommendations forwarded by SLiCAT. They are Gale OneFile; ProQuest Education Plus or a comparable product from OCLC FirstSearch, final choice depending primarily on price; ProQuest National Newspapers; ProQuest ABI Inform; CINAHL, with OVID being the vendor of choice but with FirstSearch as the alternative, more likely, vendor because of the anticipated high cost of OVID.

The quote received from ProQuest (previously forwarded via the list) for their recommended products was discussed. Larry pointed out that the quote bundles together several products, including one not under consideration, rather than providing a separate quote for each product. There was discussion of how to proceed if a vendor is not responsive. Larry was requested to prepare a list of recommended products and alternatives, in rank order. This will give SAC options in making decisions. It will also enable Nylink, as the preferred e-resource provider, more flexibility in any negotiations.

Larry also provided feedback from SLiCAT on Mary Casserly’s comments on the database recommendations, especially vis-à-vis OneFile and EBSCO Academic Search Premier.

Members of the SAC committee expressed their appreciation to SLiCAT for all its efforts during the past year.

Randy reported on the latest Finance Committee meeting which was held on October 7. Our objective is to have Nylink pursue database purchases. Nylink will be given a list of preferred vendors. Carey suggested SLiCAT could help identify secondary vendors. The major problem centers on how to fund an expansion of electronic resources. Randy recommended that this be resolved by raising the SUNYConnect fee. Talks will continue.

Carey presented a Funding Model for SUNYConnect fees that addresses payment plan for private schools. Based on feedback from the group, he will revise the spreadsheet and discuss the proposed changes with the Finance Committee.

Randy discussed multi-campus delivery costs for LAND. The Finance Committee recommends the SUNYConnect Financial Plan cover the cost of one site per campus for the first year. How to pay for multiple drops per campus will be an agenda item for the next Finance Committee meeting scheduled in six months.

The following agenda items were identified for the meeting of December 3, 2002 in Albany with the Provost:

• Summary of SAC accomplishments during the past year and future goals
• Funding of Core Database Collection
• NYSHEI
• Storage
• Capital Funds
• Inflation and library budgets within BAP
• Institutional Repositories
• Scholarly publication models
• Common acquisitions throughout the state

Laura, Larry and Pam agreed to read through the by-laws for possible changes. Laura offered to convene the group. A report will be prepared for the February SAC meeting.

Adjournment.

Respectfully submitted,

Pam Peters, Secretary

Draft prepared by Connie Perrin (Staff)