SUNYConnect Advisory Council

Conference Call Minutes

February 15, 2007

Present: Walter Asonevich, Mary Beth Bell, Don Boyce, Carey Hatch, Lynne King, Dave Ritchie, Stephen Roberts, Nancy Van Deusen, Rick Winant, Maureen Zajkowski, Connie Perrin (Staff)

Excused: John Homburger, Walter Lukhaup, Cerise Oberman

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of January 11, 2007 were approved after changes were made to the motions regarding ILLiad and Syndetics. Nancy said she would send them out to the group later in the day.

Review of Agenda

No changes were made to the agenda.

Finance Committee Report

Carey stated that he is working with John Schumacher on the Opposing Viewpoints data. He also said he would send the updated SUNYConnect financial plan spreadsheet to the SAC members.

STATUS REPORTS

UUP Grant

Carey said he needs to discuss the proposal with Provost Palm.

ILLiad

Carey reported that a Borrowing meeting was held in Buffalo on 2/2. He said the group is working on recommendations for workflow and implementation. He also stated that the group has revised information on loan requirements. They plan to continue working at least for a year in order to assist with the ILLiad implementation, and uniform lending policies.

The Committee agreed to accept Susan Curry’s recommendation for her replacement. Rick agreed to talk with medical library group for a medical rep replacement since Mary Chimato resigned.

Shared Services

Maureen provided the following Aleph/Shared Services Task Force updates:

Service Packs

· schedule and process distributed to campuses on January 30

· updates to DEV regions begin the week of February 12

· updates to PROD regions begin the week of April 2

· updates completed on May 23

Request assistance from Ex Libris for

· streamlining service pack updates

· moving toward an Aleph architecture that reduces our total cots of ownership - help ITEC and OLIS determine the technical feasibility of moving to the Ex Libris preferred architecture

· clarifying service level obligations and expectations for Aleph support

SAC Task Force on Aleph Shared Services

· February 12 , 2006 conference call

o reviewed status of Ex Libris preferred architecture - developments discussed with LaSSSI in October 2006 are proposed to be in versions 19 and 20

o Task Force will start a series of conference call with LaSSSI sites that currently have Aleph architectures similar to the Ex Libris preferred model. Calls will be by topics. Examples include managing one shared bib environment (technical and policies); managing systems administration (batch processes, service pack upgrades, re-indexing); managing campus support for local and system wide needs.

o Task Force began discussion on developing parameters for Aleph support provided by OLIS to distinguish between campuses in "managed services" and those that are "independent."

· Managed Services

o Purchase, Ulster and Niagara are now in Managed Services

o site visits are set for Rockland and Westchester

o arrangements are still to be made for a site visit to Clinton

Notes on Ex Libris Preferred Architecture

· Brief description

o 1 bib file with multiple ADMs on 1 server

o 1 bib file would contain bib records contributed by each campus for each item cataloged (i.e., duplicate bib records for the same title owned by different campuses)

o there would be one alephe

o that a number of configuration files be at the alephe level as well as at the ADM level to provide for easy update of configuration files generic to all campuses; but would also allow for some variation at the ADM level.

o patron files could be shared or not across ADMs (either/or, not both)

o changes in how staff permissions are stored within Aleph

· Considerations

o feasibility of moving 56 campuses on 3 servers to 1 server with 56 ADMs and 1 bib file

o how to maintain concept of a Union Catalog with the 4 university centers if 56 campuses move to 1 server

§ retain separate physical Union Catalog?

§ feasibility of integrating 4 university center titles into the 1 bib file of 56 campuses?

o need more specific information on the Oracle environment - table spaces, number of regions, sizing

o need more specific information about the needs for the server environment - redundancy, CPU, disk space, memory, software architecture (multi-tier?)

o rethinking structure of DEV region for each campus, how to refresh DEV, testing for campus needs and for cross campus needs (service packs, other updates)

o indexing - time for indexing, parallel indexing, policies for when to index

o better handle on current problems - hanging shutdowns (handled with workaround not through input from Ex Libris), managing number of Aleph processes and server memory needs

o rethinking Aleph support model

§ table locations will change - who will have access depending on location

§ impact of shared tables for single bib file - examples, shared z13 (common tab22 across campuses); tab_base, tab100

Aleph Reports Survey

Dave discussed his preliminary report which was based on 46 responses.

A fuller report will include recommendations about individual reports, and these results will be characterized with the comments that respondents have given.

Digital Library Collection

Carey said he would leave the $42 million under revenue and work on the other dollar amounts before sending them out to SAC later today. SCLD and the SUNYLA Executive Board will be the next groups to review it.

Last Copy Task Force

Steve reported that he has sent the Last Copy Task Force charge to Rick and Carey. He has worked with Austin Booth in setting up a committee to include access and tech services at the University of Buffalo first. Then the group will be expanded to include additional SUNY people. Steve said that other Center directors have expressed an interest in splitting resources across the state. He explained that the University of Buffalo’s intent is to help create a centralized SUNY library and move away from local ownership rights. The Task Force is working on policies/practices for J-Stor journals first; then moving on to monographs.

State-wide Contract for E-resources (similar to Texas?)

Rick explained that some e-vendors require e-resources to be printed then faxed rather than directly forwarded to the requestor. Since NYS does not have a bargaining agent this is more problematic. In Texas, certain licenses have addressed this issue. Rick said he would speak with Jason Kramer, Executive Director of NYSHEI, to ask about the feasibility of having these licenses and having them negotiated through NYSHEI.

U-wide Meeting Report

Rick and Carey explained that the focus of this meeting was more on technology (integration of application) than on content. Carey said he would be attending a similar meeting on Friday. There is a continued interest in further collaboration and to keep dialog open among the groups.

NYSHEI, SUNYConnect, CUNY, State Library Content Discussion

Lynne and Rick offered to talk with Jason Kramer of NYSHEI and other groups about the SAC digital plan and other areas of potential collaboration.

Old Business

Carey mentioned that if SUNY changes from SFX to Serial Solutions, a process for the change needs to be developed. He explained that Serial Solutions would be an all or nothing situation and would result in considerable savings of time and effort. He said a survey will be done sometime in the future. We need better cost benefit analysis.

New Business

Rick suggested that SUNY should work on getting a librarian on the Governor’s Commission on Public Education. Steve offered to talk with Chris Filstrup about being a candidate since Chris is already on the NYSHEI Board. Carey said he will consult with Provost Palm about this issue.

The next meeting is scheduled for March 22, 2007 in Albany. Provost Palm is scheduled to attend for lunch.

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Van Deusen, Secretary

Draft prepared by Connie Perrin (Staff)