SUNYConnect Advisory Council

Minutes – December 17, 2003

 

Present:            John Anderson, Randy Gadikian, Carey Hatch, Andy Perry, Janet Potter, Judy Sikora, Nancy Van Deusen, Barbara von Wahlde, Rick Winant, Maureen Zajkowski, Connie Perrin (Staff)

 

Excused:           John Homburger, Mike Pisa

 

Guests:             Provost Peter Salins, Rick Steiner, Jenny Walker (Ex Libris, Boston), Eva Krall (Ex Libris, Berlin, Germany), Jane Neale (Nylink), Lauren Pinsley (Nylink)

 

Review of Agenda Items

There were no changes to the agenda.

 

Introductions

Introductions were made around the table.  Jenny Walker, Ex Libris of Boston and Eva Krall, Ex Libris of Berlin, were introduced as today’s presenters.

 

Approval of Minutes for September 24, 2003

The minutes for the meeting of October 22, 2003 were approved as distributed.

 

LMS Report

Maureen provided the following LMS report:

 

Union Catalog

1.      As of the end of October there has been no update from the Ex Libris V.P. for Operations regarding the assignment of a project manager to the union catalog development.  A status update was requested by OLIS in November.  No significant information was received in response. 

2.      In October OLIS staff required input from Ex Libris in order to go forward with testing the processes involved in applying pre-processing and load parameter routines for SUNYConnect union catalog data.  No progress was made during November.

 

Group4

1.      The following campuses have switched to production (STP):  Alfred State (ALF), Alfred University (AUA), Alfred Ceramics (CER), Corning (CNG), Jamestown (JAM), Erie (ERI), Finger Lakes (FIN), Buffalo State College (BSC), Genesee (GCC), Geneseo (GEN). 

2.      Anticipated STP for December 17, 2003: Monroe (MON)

3.      The following Group 4 campuses have switched to Ex Libris Support:  Alfred University (AUA), Alfred State (ALF), Alfred Ceramics (CER), Corning (CNG), Jamestown (JAM), Erie (ERI).  

 

Group6 - University at Albany

1.      The University at Albany has been working with Ex Libris to develop and refine conversion specifications. 

2.      Initial test loads have been received.

3.      Some Aleph training has taken place during fall semester 2003.  Other Aleph training has been rescheduled to 1st quarter 2004. 

 

Group7

Group7 planning activities are underway for the 9 campuses (Brooklyn Downstate Medical (BRH), Farmingdale (FAR), Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), Nassau (NAS), Old Westbury (OLD), Optometry (OPT), Maritime (MAR), Suffolk SUF) and Westchester (WES): 

• development of calendar of activities for data loads/switch to production
• site visits to each campus
• scheduling of planning meetings
• documenting and distributing site information related to staff contacts, bib sizing, and other information required for planning
• investigating facilities for training
• updating of documentation for Group7 activities. 

 

Patch 7 Upgrade

The patch 7 upgrade process is well underway and proceeding as scheduled:

1.      Group2 and Group3:  dev regions have been updated; prod region updates scheduled for December 2003 and January 2004

2.      Group4: dev regions for half of the campuses have been updated; prod region updates scheduled for January 2004

3.      Group4: remaining sites (BSC, GCC, GEN, MON) will have dev regions updated in January with prod region updates to be scheduled.

4.      The OLIS training database TOL has been updated to patch 7.

 

Staff Adjustments

1.      Resignation of key staff people in OLIS will impact plans for improvement and support.

2.      Meeting held with SCTech group to identify responsibilities for Aleph technical support.

 

With respect to number 1 under Staff Adjustments above, Carey announced that as a result of the resignations of Clare Field and Joe Thornton, two new positions will be created:  one with a focus on Application Development and the other with a focus on Technical Project Management.

 

Maureen announced that she will be facilitating a session at the mid-winter ALA Conference in San Diego.  Jenny Walker agreed to explore the possibility of arranging an Aleph consortia meeting at the conference.

 

Union Catalog Report – Eva Krall

Eva Krall has been appointed by Ex Libris to implement the Union Catalog for SUNY.  She provided an outline of the U.C. and announced that she would be meeting with OLIS staff members on December 18 to further refine her plans and timelines.

 

MetaLib

Jenny Walker demonstrated MetaLib through a PowerPoint presentation.  She explained that Ex Libris will be showing some of MetaLib’s features at the mid-winter ALA Conference.  Members discussed how MetaLib could be integrated with SLN, SUNY Learning Environments and CourseSpace.

 

Lunch with the Provost

Dr. Salins discussed his vision for the SUNYConnect implementation project.  Randy presented an update on SUNYConnect accomplishments, issues and goals.  He briefly covered such topics as LAND delivery, JSTOR, NYSHEI, inflation and libraries, travel issues, shared technical processing and the IDS pilot project.

 

One essential request involved the need for more OLIS/NYSHEI travel.  Dr. Salins recommended that Carey send a letter to Mr. Richter requesting a lessening of the travel ban for these staff members.

 

SUNYConnect E-Resources - Carey

The group decided that despite the fact that SLiCAT has been disbanded, it is only for the time being.  When a new group is formed, Nylink will be asked to play a larger role.

 

Carey described a meeting with Ex Libris staff members in Boston on 11/21 to discuss SFX and MetaLib.  He said that each campus has its own instance of SFX.  SAC members agreed that the two year colleges should pursue implementation.  Carey will undertake a statistical analysis.

 

Carey announced that negotiations have been ongoing concerning the renewal of ScienceDirect.  He said that SUNY will be renewing for one year.

 

Carey stated that an arrangement has been reached involving the Gale Archive.

 

LAND Delivery

Carey mentioned the success of the LAND delivery system.

 

            On motion made by Rick Winant, seconded by Barbara von Wahlde and carried,           the following resolution was passed regarding LAND delivery:

 

            Be it resolved that SUNYConnect funds shall be used to pay for one delivery site at      each SUNY institution until such time as LAND delivery funding needs further           review.

 

Music CDs from Lawsuit

As a result of a lawsuit, Carey has been offered 40,000 music CDs.  He said this would be most advantageous for the campuses with a music department.  He will be looking at the campus credit hours to assist him with the distribution of the CDs.

 

Coordinated Collection Management

A meeting with the center directors was held on December 15.  At this time, Barbara reviewed a document on collections for the centers.  Carey said he will be revising this document.

 

Carey recently met with the art department chairs in order to discuss copyright issues with slide collections.  He offered to write a letter to the Provost proposing that a university-wide digital archiving project be explored.  Carey said he has talked with the Counsel’s office about this.  He was told that SUNY operates as a single entity.  This issue will be an agenda item at the next SAC meeting.

 

Special Project Funding

Randy announced that Fredonia and Binghamton are proceeding with their shared technical processing pilot project.  He explained that they are asking for $10,000 to cover the cost of the pilot.  The results of the project will be presented at the 2004 SUNYLA.

 

            On motion made by Rick Winant, seconded by Judy Sikora and carried, SAC     approved the payment of $10,000 to be split between Binghamton and Fredonia       over two fiscal years to cover release time for their shared technical processing pilot      project.

 

Four Year Colleges Information Delivery Services

Randy said that the IDS project will involve $20,000 spread over a two year period.

 

            On motion made by Rick Winant, seconded by Nancy Van Deusen and carried, SAC     approved the payment of $10,000 for this fiscal year (2003-04) and $10,000 for the       next fiscal year (2004-05) to cover the expense of the Information Delivery Services         pilot project.

 

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 in Syracuse.

 

Adjournment.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nancy Van Deusen, Secretary

Draft prepared by Connie Perrin (Staff)