SUNYConnect Advisory Council

February 15, 2006

 

 

Present:            Walter Asonevich, Randy Gadikian, Carey Hatch, Janet Potter, Dave Ritchie, Steve Roberts, Nancy VanDeusen, Rick Winant, Maureen Zajkowski, Connie Perrin (Staff)

Excused:           Don Boyce, John Homburger, Walter Lukhaup, Judy Sikora

Guests: Sharon Gallagher, Wendy Gilman, John Schumacher, Rick Steiner

 

Introductions

Walter Asonevich, Ph.D., Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs at Corning Community College, was welcomed to SAC as the new representative of the SUNY Chief Academic Officers.

 

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of January 18, 2006 were approved as distributed.

 

Aleph 500 LMS Update

Maureen provided the following LMS update:

 

Implementations

  • SUNYIT (INS), Mohawk Valley Community College (MVC), Brockport (BRO), Niagara (NIA) and Empire (ESC) are now in production with Aleph.
  • North Country (NOR) is expected to STP on February 16.
  • INS and MVC moved to Ex Libris support.
  • BRO and NIA are expected to move to Ex Libris support at the end of February.
  • University at Buffalo (BUF) - are working through their first full data load; are waiting to see how long it will take to process and index; had training last week and will continue training next week; are working on implementing LDAP capabilities.

 

Version 16 Upgrade

  • The process has started to open the v16 Aleph DEV regions for the campuses on the new servers.  This involves:
    • the creation of the Aleph libraries structure (xxx01, xxx10, xxx30, xxx50, xxx60)
    • extracting copies of the v14 Aleph tables, running them through the upgrade process and loading the v16 Aleph tables on the v16 servers
    • extracting copies of the v14 oracle data, running them through the upgrade process and loading the v16 oracle data on the v16 servers
    • groups of 5-6 campuses will be "opened" each week; the first of these campuses will be notified this week
    • when campus v16 DEV regions are ready to be released to the campuses a formal announcement will be sent to the campus reps with copies to the Director and to the SUNYLMS list 
    • the announcement will include information to guide the campus staff as to the next steps in the process
  • Training facilities and specific training dates have been finalized
  • A v16 Upgrade Support page is available off the Aleph500 Portal page; this provides links to information such as v16 upgrade schedules, a v16 GUI, access to a test v16 database, and information on downloading Interwise sessions (pre-recorded web videos of the GUI clients created by Ex Libris)

 

Ex Libris News

Susan Stearns, Ex Libris Vice President for Customer Services, reported on February 7 that James Steenbergen, Director of ALEPH Support Services, had died a few days earlier in his home.  James was greatly admired for his professionalism, his devotion to providing excellent customer service, and his warm personality and sense of humor. 

 

Union Catalog

·        Stony Brook (STB) v17 data has been successfully loaded into the Union Catalog.

·        Activities that are required prior to loading Group9 data into the Union Catalog will begin in March.

·        Investigation continues on having the Union catalog be available for searching as an external base through the campus WebOPACs.

·        Discussions have been underway with Nylink to better understand how the OCLC Direct Request capability could work with requests originating from the Union Catalog.

 

Union Catalog

Carey described in two phases what SAC is recommending for the Universal Borrowing process.  After some discussion, members agreed that SUNY will proceed with this plan.  Carey said he will work on a more formal explanation for distribution.

 

ILL Meeting Outcomes

Because he represented SAC at the ILL meeting held in Syracuse on 2/8 and 2/9, Rick provided the following report.  He stated that the group had unanimous approval of the goals that they developed.

 

ILL Goals to be Recommended to the SAC – 2/9/06

 

Vision: 

  • to get materials for patrons quickly, reliably and efficiently
  • to provide universal, unfiltered borrowing

 

Question:  What do we need to accomplish this within the SUNY collection?

 

Performance Goals:

1.           72 hour loans (from time user places request until time user is notified that material is ready to be picked up)

2.           48 hour articles

3.           144 hour research category

4.           Management statistics

5.           Collection/selection statistics

 

The above performance goals can only be realized if the “must haves” below are achieved.

 

Must haves:

  • Automated request
  • ILLiad
  • Equipment to support technology
  • User-group development:  ongoing training, development & support (technology & other)
  • Reliable delivery system with tracking
  • One comprehensive, accurate catalog including serial holdings & monographs
  • Task Force to establish this landscape with representation including ILL expertise
  • SUNY database administrator with direct access to each ILLiad database to collect statistics

 

Requirements:

  • Form University-wide selection committee (collection)
  • Negotiate licensing agreements for electronic databases to include SUNY ILL component
  • “Purchase on Demand” if not within SUNY
  • Work toward common lending policies

 

Nice to haves:

  • Reward for performance & volume

 

Benefits:

  • Increased ability to get faster turn-around, better access to materials
  • Common platform; ease of use, esp. with transfer students
  • Reduce in cost of transactions
  • Maximized use of staff
  • Selection of items for the university-wide system collection
  • Standardization
  • Recruitment/retention benefit
  • More data for informed decision making
  • Community of practitioners working together; higher level of interaction and cooperation

 

Brainstormed ideas of the Ideal – 2/8/06

 

Process related:

  • Common lending policies
  • Provide accurate catalog holdings
  • Create common policies / agreement / for liberal loaning
  • Analyze statistics to document progress and identify areas that need improvement
  • Set up custom holdings / practices to use University / Medic Libraries as last requestor within SUNY Libraries; encourage usage of 4-year and community college libraries first)
  • Basic lending policies for all campuses
    • 28-day loan
    • lend non-print material

 

Collection related:

  • Identify and secure funding for an enriched research collection
  • Coordinated collection development should be a higher priority
  • If item unavailable in SUNY shared collection, get item through SUNY shared “Purchase on Demand”
  • Centralize NetLibrary collection and make it accessible to all SUNY students, etc.

 

Technology related:

  • All SUNY institutions should be at a compatible level of hardware and software compatibility
    • electronic article transmitted
    • patrons submit requests electronically
    • support for all who want / need it
  • Agree on a common technology platform
  • Provide technical support (from SAC / OLIS) for ILLiad/Resource sharing; electronic article delivery; direct request

 

Delivery related:

  • Identify effective electronic and physical delivery mechanisms
  • Tag Union Catalog holdings in Worldcat as SUNY Connect to alert borrower that SUNY holds the item; i.e., influence borrowing choices prior to processing

 

Staff related:

  • Provide staff development, “Webinars,” cooperation

 

Next Steps

Based on the 2/8 and 2/9 discussions, Rick recommended to SAC the possibility of forming an ILL Task Force.  Carey said this will be undertaken after SCLD and SUNYLA have a chance to look at the goals and submit their recommendations.  Randy agreed to send the information out to SCLD.  Dave offered to collect comments from the SUNYLA Executive Board members before their March 3rd meeting.  Conference calls will be scheduled for both SCLD and SUNYLA discussions.

 

The SAC agreed that the ILL group members should be recognized for their contribution to the progress of SUNYConnect.

 

SUNY 2006-2007 Executive Budget

Wendy Gilman and Sharon Gallagher joined the meeting from the System Administration Budget Office.  Wendy explained the SUNY 2006-07 Executive Budget.  She, Sharon and Rick Steiner discussed some effective ways to increase funding for future SUNYConnect projects.  Rick stressed the importance of enlisting the support of the campus Presidents.

 

SUNYConnect Financial Plan

Carey briefly explained the SUNYConnect financial plan.  He said he will schedule a conference call between some NYSHEI board members and the SAC Finance Committee to discuss the possibility of continuing/discontinuing membership in NYSHEI.

 

Electronic Resources Evaluation Project Team Meeting Update

John Schumacher of OLIS explained the outcomes of the 2/10 meeting of the E-resources Evaluation Project Team.

 

SUNY-wide Digital Library

Carey described the status of the UUP Conceptual Summary developed by several members of SAC.  If UUP finds the plan viable, a budget will be requested.

 

SUNY Library Systems – Shared Services and Infrastructure

Maureen stated that she and Carey will be presenting a talk about shared services at SCLD in April.  SAC members agreed it is too soon to form committees to address Strategic Direction 1.

 

Maureen talked about SUNYLA Resource Sharing.  Everyone agreed with her that having representatives from SAC attend the 2006 SUNYLA Conference sessions on Resource Sharing and Models for Aleph Management and Support Services would be worthwhile.  The group asked Dave to serve as moderator of both sessions and Randy to serve as the second SAC rep.

 

Next Meeting

The next SAC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 15 in Syracuse.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nancy Van Deusen, Secretary

Draft prepared by Connie Perrin (Staff)