There were no changes to the agenda.

Janet distributed copies of letters she sent to NYLINK (appreciating the launching of LAND service) and to Ex Libris (voicing concerns about the union catalog implementation).

The minutes for the meeting of February 5, 2003 were approved as distributed. Pam announced that this will be her last meeting as Secretary.

Carey introduced John Townsend, the new Executive Director of NYSHEI. John told the group that he comes from SUNY Cobleskill and that he has a background in Library Science and Information Technology. He briefly described his new responsibilities and the initiative’s goals. NYSHEI’s inaugural membership meeting is scheduled for April 21.

Laura explained proposed changes to the Bylaws based on discussions held by the Bylaws Revisions Group.

Laura agreed to re-distribute the document after the changes have been made.

Carey provided the following update:

• SFX is proceeding as anticipated with the last set of trainings scheduled for April. Carey will post to the list any new information regarding timelines and updates.

• On March 17 and 18, interviews for the Assistant Provost for Learning Environments were held at SUNY System Administration.

• There will be some reorganization within the Provost’s Office. Sharon Gallagher will now be reporting to David Richter, CFO in the Office of the Vice Chancellor.

• Budgeting is currently addressed with future cuts in mind. John Homburger explained that everyone is taking the same conservative, non-spending approach with respect to local resources. He said the next five year Capital Plan will focus on critical maintenance.

• Carl Grant, President of Ex Libris, has resigned. The acting President is Oren Beit Arie. Janet and Carey have sent letters to Azriel Morag, Chairman of the Board, inviting him and his associates to meet with SUNY representatives to discuss difficulties with the implementation process.

John stated that he has a CFO/Provost meeting scheduled in June in Syracuse. He offered to provide a report from SAC. Carey and Janet agreed to prepare a one page update.

• Marie Erdman from Ex Libris has been named the project manager. Ex Libris said they would re-install the latest version of the union catalog software on the Aleph1 server by the end of this week. Current documentation will be sent on configuring and loading bibliographic records into the union catalog. The OLIS will select 4 or 5 SUNY Aleph bibliographic databases to load into the union catalog. It will total about 2 million records and replace the sample bib records currently in the union catalog. The rationale is to re-test the data extraction and loading routines and the merge algorithms. The OLIS will go forward with the attempt to extract data from at least one institution. The next conference call with Ex Libris is April 15. Ex Libris input will be needed for loading the records.

• Sullivan, Purchase, Oneonta, Jefferson and Canton have switched to production.
• Delhi will have their production extract pulled March 19 and are scheduled to switch to production on April 4.
• Potsdam was scheduled to switch to production on March 21 but that date will not be met. They have experienced numerous conversation related problems that other sites had not identified or been impacted by. Dates for re-scheduling will be finalized next week.
• Stony Brook Health Sciences was scheduled to switch to production on March 18. They are delaying for a few days to continue testing Aleph functionality.
• Remaining sites for an April switch to production are Ulster, Orange and Rockland.
• The remaining Aleph training for group 3 in March is to covers Aleph indexing, printed products, and troubleshooting.
• Workload for Ex Libris, campus, and OLIS implementation staff is now intense given that the switch to production for a number of campuses is imminent while remaining sites need to complete and test configurations for their production loads and those that have switched to production have follow-up questions to be addressed.

• A core set of configuration tables will be established; questionnaires will be created to gather data from the campuses and OLIS, working with Ex Libris, will setup these tables. Campuses can then focus on testing functionality rather than spend time on data input.
• Training will be reviewed to determine at what point within the implementation or post-implementation it is most appropriate to offer particular sessions and to identify sessions that can be offered project wide on a regular basis rather than have all training tied to particular groups of implementing campuses.
• OLIS/ITEC staff will work with Ex Libris conversion programmers to determine what greater role SUNY can play in the conversion process.
• An implementation server separate from the production server will be used to minimize the amount of pressure on one server's processing capabilities for conversion loads and indexing.

• Group4 campuses will start with Aleph version 14.2 patch 4.
• OLIS staff will work to finalize dates for the Group4 process by the end of March. It is anticipated that Group4a will start at the end of April.

• Both University Centers have chosen to begin implementation with version 16. It is expected to be available for new installations in fall 2003. There has been no update from Ex Libris as to if the timeframes for release of version 16 has changed.
• Hardware recommendations from Ex Libris for Albany and Buffalo were reviewed by OLIS and ITEC. Follow-up questions have been sent to Ex Libris. The recommendations have been shared with Albany and Buffalo.
• OLIS staff has a meeting scheduled in March with Albany Aleph implementation team to identify key documentation and areas of review as an aid in their work with Ex Libris on data conversion.

• Fredonia continues to experience problems with their migration from Aleph version 12.4 to version 14.2. While problems related to the Westaleph server configuration has caused difficulties there has also been a number of questions related to Ex Libris activities and support.
• An acquisitions workshop will be held for Group2 campuses and TCC.

• Discussions have been ongoing among Ex Libris, OLIS and ITEC to address Westaleph server configuration problems related to space requirements for temp and scratch files; permission problems causing batch jobs to fail, and shutdown and startup routines not functioning properly.

Maureen reported that Fredonia is having difficulties converting from 12.4 to 14.2. Randy explained the problem in more detail and stressed the need for proper documentation. He suggested that an Ex Libris person work with them on campus. Carey assured the group that this problem will be addressed as soon as he hears from Azriel Morag.

Dr. Salins joined the meeting at this point. He discussed the importance of the SUNYConnect project and its university-wide impact, and stressed the need for a SUNY wide collection plan. He responded to various questions pertaining to library budgets, the core database collection and capital funds.

Larry explained that after exploring various options for renewing FirstSearch, SLICAT recommended that the current subscription be maintained through June 2004. It was decided during SLICAT’s meeting that the group continue its work after Larry’s retirement in July. Members expressed a desire to maintain close ties with OLIS and SAC. Larry said he would forward the group’s mission statement and charge to SAC members.

The flexible database program was discussed. Members agreed that it is necessary to go forward with the flexibility aspect. Carey will continue working with the Finance Committee on this.

Randy announced that after Carey completes his expenditure report, a meeting of the Finance Committee will be scheduled.

Barbara handed out the specifications developed by University of Buffalo for their remote storage requirements. Discussion on storage was postponed until the next meeting.

The following topics were identified for discussion at the section meetings at the Sagamore in April:

Consortial purchase of e-resources

Monograph acquisitions – collective purchasing

Collective serial acquisitions and deselection

Storage – Do we need it and how should it work?

Carey and Janet will develop a number of questions on these topics.

The next SAC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 11, 2003 in Syracuse.

Adjournment.

Respectfully submitted,

Pam Peters, Secretary

Draft prepared by Connie Perrin (Staff)