SUNYConnect Advisory Council

 Minutes

May 17, 2006

 

Present:            Walter Asonevich, Randy Gadikian, Carey Hatch, Dave Ritchie, Judy Sikora, Rick Winant, Maureen Zajkowski, Connie Perrin (Staff)

 

Excused:           Don Boyce, John Homburger, Walter Lukhaup, Janet Potter, Stephen Roberts,                                     Nancy VanDeusen

 

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of April 12, 2006 were approved as distributed.

 

New SAC Members

Randy announced that Cerise Oberman, Dean of Library and Information Services at SUNY Plattsburgh, will be the new Comprehensive College Rep for SAC.  Lynne King, Director of Library Services for Schenectady County Community College, will be the new rep for the community colleges.  Mary Beth Bell, Director of Libraries at SUNY Oswego, will serve as the SCLD Executive Board Liaison.

 

Aleph 500 LMS Update

Maureen provided the following LMS update:

 

Implementations

  • University at Buffalo (BUF) - work is continuing toward the scheduled July 17 STP date.

 

Version 16 Upgrade Activities

  • Version 16 Aleph regions - Valerie Lehman, Natalie Sturr and ITEC staff are working on the multiple steps involved in creating  the v16 environments:
    • v16 DEV regions
      • 40 campuses have been notified that their v16 DEV region is now available
      • 10 campuses - work is underway to develop their v16 DEV regions
    • v16 PROD regions
      • 9 campuses have moved from v14 to v16
      •  3-4 campuses are scheduled almost weekly to switch to production; this activity will continue through mid-August
  • WebOPAC customization:
    • The upgrade process essentially removes all OPAC customizations that campuses have invested in.  Laura Murray is updating each campus v16 WebOPAC to reflect the customizations that had been done in v14. 
      • 21 campus WebOPACs have been completed
  • Aleph v14 to v16 training:
    • Karen Gardner-Athey and Maggie Horn began training to highlight the differences between the v14 and v16 Aleph modules; this addresses cataloging, circulation, serials/acquisitions and library systems functions
    • 4 training sessions have been completed
    • 1 training session is underway
    • 5 additional training sessions are scheduled
  • Version 16 Upgrade support
    • Access to a GUI, to documentation, to web-based overview sessions, and more http://www.sunyconnect.suny.edu/aleph/v16upgrade.htm (login: aleph500/ aleph500)

 

Union Catalog Activities

  • Data loads
    • Group9 campus files for data extracts have been configured
    • Test loading of Group9 data extracts is underway
    • Group9 weekly production loads are anticipated to be underway over the next few weeks
    • Once Group9 campuses are loaded in the SUNY Catalog only the collections of the University at Buffalo will remain to be added
  • Nathan Fixler has been asked to look at the Aleph/Syndetics documents to see if there is anything we may be able to do with comparable Amazon services which are free.

 

Campus level Aleph Activities

OLIS has been in discussions with Syndetics to arrive at pricing that takes advantage of SUNY size.  Recently Syndetics has provided a reasonable pricing model. Syndetics will be working with Nylink to establish a contract that can be utilized across the state.  OLIS has sent out a Zoomerang survey to gauge the level of financial commitment libraries would be willing to spend on Syndetics.

 

SCLD Annual Conference - Feedback

The group briefly discussed the success of the SCLD Annual Conference held in April.  All sectors were especially impressed with the recent endeavors of the E-Resources Evaluation Project Team, headed by John Schumacher, and their choice of EBSCO.

 

Carey referred to an e-mail and portions of the draft minutes from the April 2006 SCLD conference he had sent to SAC.  He explained the importance of forming task forces relating to three of the strategic directions:  shared services and infrastructure; SUNY-wide collaborative collections and access management; and the SUNY-wide digital library.

 

Several resolutions were passed at the April conference.  Upon discussion, SAC decided on the following activities:

 

Regarding the SCLD resolution on Centralized Applications Management:

 

            On motion made by Rick Winant, seconded by Judy Sikora and carried, SAC will                      address SUNY Aleph shared services concerns by forming a Task Force consisting         of two subgroups which will work interdependently on current and future issues.

 

For membership on the Task Force, the library directors will be asked to submit up to two names from their campus.  SAC will then choose from the nominees.  Carey said he would draft a charge for review at the June SAC meeting.

 

Regarding the SCLD resolution for a Comprehensive, University-wide Digital Collection and the request by SCLD that SAC develop a business plan:

 

Carey stated that he will be talking with various finance people, including the SAC Finance Committee, to gather data and content for the business plan.  He agreed to check on how many new programs were added to SUNY and how much money was allocated for collections for each.  Carey will prepare an outline within the next two weeks.

 

Regarding the SCLD resolution to Endorse the Recommendation presented on behalf of the SAC SUNY Borrowing Committee:

 

Rick explained the changes made to the ILL proposal after review by SUNYLA and SCLD.  He said it is now time to form a task force.  Carey asked for suggestions on how to improve the draft charge he has been developing.  It was recommended that respondents identify the deficiencies they currently perceive.  Carey will soon issue a revised edition of the charge.

 

Other topics discussed:

 

E-Resources

Because the E-Resources Project Evaluation Team has completed its charge, SAC discussed the future responsibilities of the group.  Members agreed on the following resolution:

 

            On motion made by Rick Winant, seconded by Dave Ritchie and carried, the E- Resources Project Evaluation Team will meet annually to review and assess the level           of satisfaction regarding choice of vendor.  Members of the team will be polled to       determine if they want to continue to serve in this capacity.  OLIS staff will poll             members of this group. In addition, a faculty member from the community colleges will be added to the group.

 

Collection Development

In December 2005, SAC proposed the use of approximately $200,000 of capital funds over a two year trial to aid in the acquisition of materials requested by patrons through ILL that were not already owned in any SUNY collection.  After further discussion SAC decided, for now, to separate collection development activities from ILL.  Consequently, spending the $200,000 for ILL related purchases would be deferred, which will free up the allotted capital funding.  The group discussed possible ways in which to use the money.  Members decided to continue this discussion when Steve Roberts was present to provide input for the center directors.  They also agreed with Carey that a business plan needs to be in place before deciding how to spend the funds.

 

 

 

 

Future of NYSHEI

Carey mentioned that John Townsend is resigning as the Executive Director of NYSHEI.  He referred to an e-mail from Michael Borges, Executive Director of NYLA, which invites SUNY libraries to consider a partnership with them.  Discussions will be continued.

 

2006 Annual SUNYLA Conference

Maureen briefly recapped the sessions in which SAC members will be participating.  A few suggestions were made on how the sessions could be improved.

 

Next Meeting

The June 14 SAC meeting will be held in the Milne Library at SUNY Geneseo during the SUNYLA 2006 Conference.

 

Adjournment.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nancy Van Deusen, Secretary

Draft prepared by Connie Perrin (Staff)