MARINET Board Minutes

To: MARINet Board and Interested Parties

From: MARINet Staff

CC: Val Morehouse; Glade Van Loan

Date: 05/28/99

Re: 04/22/99 Meeting at Marin County Civic Center, Room 410B, 9 A.M. (Approved)

Attending:

Board Members---Mary Richardson, Board President (Sausalito Public Library); Debbie Mazzolini, MARINet Board Secretary (Belvedere-Tiburon Public Library); Anne Montgomery (Mill Valley Public Library); Carol Starr (Marin County Free Library); Sara Loyster (San Anselmo Public Library); Vaughn Stratford (San Rafael Public Library). Staff---Val Morehouse (MARINet Systems Administrator). There were no guests.

The Board caught up on approval of the Minutes for the January, February and March meetings. Val Morehouse will post these to the MARINet Home Page as soon as she can translate them to HTML. Approved Minutes of previous meetings can be found online at http://marinet.marin.org under "About Us". The Board discussed inviting library guests to upcoming meetings. Frances Gordon from the Larkspur Public Library and the MALC Librarians were suggested.

 Announcements:

Val announced that the ERATE website had moved to http://www.sl.universalservice.org. Also MARINet has a number of workshops scheduled: May 18^th - Innopac Statistics for Preparing the State Library Annual Report (Location = Marin City Library); May 19^th - Netscape 4.0 session one (Location = Belvedere-Tiburon Library); May 26^th - Netscape 4.0 session two (Location = Belvedere-Tiburon Library). An intermediate workshop on Create Lists , focussing on Featured Lists is in the works. Everyone has been waiting for software Release 12.1, which is now scheduled for loading on April 29, 8-10 a.m. The system will be down for a short time. Val distributed an update on recent adds and changes to the MARINet Intranet.

Addition to the Agenda:

 The 655 field was added to the Committees report area under the Bibliographic Standards Committee, and clarification of the ownership of peripheral equipment under the Audit Acceptance area.

Personnel Update

Val queried Board members about personnel hires, job title changes, job location changes, or end- of-service changes during the previous month, that would necessitate adjustments in the online system. She mentioned that MARINet will be partially staffed May 10-21, 1999, since Glade VanLoan needs to use up vacation before she loses it. Glade is a long time employee who earns four weeks per year. Val has encouraged Glade to take Fridays off to help with the vacation hour total. In addition, Val will take vacation in early June after Glade returns, again causing short staffing. During vacations, the notice printing and mail tally will be handled by Mary Cranston, who is MARINet's extra hire clerical shared with the Marin County Library Administration.

ERATE, Budget Update, & Approval of Additional Clerical Support Time

Val announced that MARINet's Technology Plan certification by the State Library had been received. MARINet met all five criteria: clear goals and strategy for using telecommunications; a professional development strategy to train staff on new technologies; an assessment of existing networking and devices needing improvement; budget support sufficient to achieve improvement; and an evaluation process to monitor progress on the plan. It is necessary to have a certified plan in order to receive ERATE funds.

Members reviewed copies of the Monthly Budget Report showing MARINet's expenditures and projected encumbrances as of April 10^th. The report is cumulative from July 1st at the beginning of this fiscal year. Val stated that the salary account balance was high because money had not been transferred yet back to Marin County Library to reimburse them for salaries and extra-hires. Once that is complete, the salaries and wages line will show a balance more in line with the other budget areas. Based on the rate sheet for Library Assistant I's provided in Board packets, Members discussed possible costs for adding more clerical hours for MARINet. Members asked whether or not additional carryover funds could be found to buy time. Val Morehouse replied that her calculations at the last Board meeting concerning carryover had been conservative, and she feels the necessary amount can be found. The Board directed Val to increase the salary line to .5 FTE LA I hours for FY 1999-2000 (based on the 37.5/hr work week), if this can be funded from carryover FY98-99 dollars.

 4-Year Audit Accepted & Peripherals Ownership Clarified

Val stated that she and Glade had met with the Auditor concerning the starting inventory issue. One point remains to be formally clarified: ownership of the remote site peripheral equipment such as terminals, printers, etc. in each library. MARINet does not pay maintenance on these per an earlier Board decision; nor does MARINet actively maintain a comprehensive inventory of remote peripherals, due to that decision when responsibility for ownership and maintenance of peripherals reverted to the individual library. This informal shift caused problems during the 4-year audit, and Val urged the Board to formalize the decision by clarifying ownership of peripherals. MARINet will then remove these from the starting inventory and maintain an inventory of central site hardware and software. It was moved, seconded, and carried unanimously that it is the intent of the MARINet Board that all remote in-library peripheral equipment is the property of each r emote library jurisdiction. The Board then voted unanimously to accept and approve the Four-Year Audit. MARINet will file audit copies with the proper state officials..

 Proposed Security Policy

A draft of a proposed system security policy that had been presented to the Board during the Retreat was brought to the table again after Board members had had a chance ask for staff suggestions. The second sentence was changed to read, "All MARINet Member Library Staff have a responsibility for maintaining the security and confidentiality of MARINet's information assets (programs and data), and each individual must comply with these MARINet security policies and procedures." An additional bullet was added under precautions as follows: "Management has the right to and will be reviewing staff work on the system for quality control and monitoring purposes." An updated copy will be distributed for review at a future meeting. Once approved the Board Members will distribute and introduce it to staff members themselves. All staff will be required to sign it as they do the confidentiality policy.

Board Letter to Committees

Mary Richardson and Sara Loyster have been working on a draft of a Board Letter to Committees, which came out of the Better Committees Workshop in February. Members reviewed what committees to include in the letter; for instance TUG (Technology Users' Group) and SIG (the Systems Integration Group). Sara reported that she and Mary hope to have the letter and a draft of the committee Action Form ready for review at the next meeting.

SuperSearch Location, Promotion, and Approval of Uniform Charges for Holds

Val reported that discussion at a recent committee meeting had revealed that the charges for staff placed holds, patron placed holds, and SuperSearch holds are not uniform. There are issues of who should collect and when. After discussion, the group decided that holds, regardless of type or generator should be charged at 50 cents. Val Morehouse will investigate whether or not CPS is able to make SuperSearch do this automatically.

Val Morehouse has placed a test SuperSearch link hidden under Help Screens on the WEBPAC for everyone to try before launching. She also has a URL from SuperSearch that has .gifs of buttons (samples were in the packet) saying "SuperSearch", which libraries can download and use. At a recent SIG meeting it was suggested that each library put the Supersearch icon on its own home page instead of MARINet placing it in the MARINet WEBPAC as had been discussed at the Retreat. Val referred the Board to discussion notes from the SIG meeting which were in the Board packets. Libby Flynn had reported at the April 12^th SIG meeting that Marin County Library has decided to do it that way and is testing it now at several branch libraries. Val stated that she will remove MARINet's test link if all the libraries want to do it that way. Sara Loyster stated that she would like to revisit this issue at the next meeting since that is not what was decided at the Retreat. All the Members felt that MARINet's libraries need to get SuperSearch up and test it since they have helped pay for its development. Val will be attending a SuperSearch meeting about a possible frame relay that could improve response. SuperSearch will return to the next agenda for more discussion.

Intranet Update

Val referred Members to the printed Intranet Update distributed in the packet rather than detailing changes from the past month. She is notifying library staff about changes via email "Quick Takes". She has not succeeded in getting the Links Task Force really going yet due to schedule conflicts but will keep trying.

1/8 Cent Sales Tax Issues

The Board discussed why libraries need better support and possible options for that. All agreed that a list of pros and cons on the issue should be started and revised as the funding picture develops. This item will return to future agendas.

Cataloging Internet Resources, the Intranet & Using the 856

Val discussed the purchase of Web Access Management (WAM) from Innovative, and how some of its features control some Internet access from Online Catalog terminals. Thus, it would not be a good idea to begin using the 856 field in MARC records until after WAM is installed, the MARINet staff is trained and have had a chance to do setup. However, Intranet links cannot be controlled this way, which would require staff policing of online catalog terminals. Other solutions: Contra Costa has catalog terminals clearly marked as "catalog express" terminals with a set time limit for use. This are placed where library staff can see the terminals at all times. Another aspect is the cataloging of Internet resources using the 856 field. OCLC is providing 856 links in the MARC record, and when online catalog software is connected to the Internet, these links are "live". Val reported that she has been discussing the Marin County Geographic Information System, (GIS) which will have online map overlays that can been cataloged and accessed via the 856. This would be an excellent reference tool, as well as a good test for using the 856. The earliest it could be ready is September. Val mentioned that the issue of URL checking is moot since Web Access Management has a URL checker which can be run on a schedule or as often as necessary. The re are other URL checkers available as well. As long as links from an 856 are carefully selected (for data resources without a backdoor), the problem of general surfing will not occur. As developments come, this item will return to the agenda. 

Committees: Database Cleanups, Re-Indexing, File Sizing, & TUG Job Description

A cleanup of patrons expired as of 12/25/95 is in process with the Circulation Standards Committee. Val has cleaned out those not renewed and not owing money. The remainder owe money, and Val has asked individual libraries to check a review file of these and make a decision one way or the other. The circulation staff will need to be reminded again as cleanup is proceeding slowly. Circulation Standards requested that the patron history file be enlarged to include more fines paid. This has been done, and the size of the file doubled. Recent Circulation Standards Minutes are included in the packet. Minutes are also being posted on the Intranet.

Sara Loyster informed that Board that the Bibliographic Standards Committee requested that MARINet pay for 2 hours of Consultant Phil Youngholm's time to attend all regular meetings of the Bibliographic Standards Committee. Val Morehouse questioned the appropriateness of expensing a consultant at $40 plus per hour to sit in regular meetings in which 99% of committee business is coordination of routine bibliographic maintenance. A discussion of the role of hired consultants followed, and the Board declined to approve the Bibliographic Standards Committee request.

Val Morehouse then presented rough figures on the status of TALX records cleanup, which is the responsibility of cataloging staff in MARINet libraries. Prior to the Board meeting, a review file using BCODE3 equals code "x", when "x" stands for those records not overlaid by MARINet's contract with TALX, was compiled. Although MARINet's final overlay of the TALX records was more than a year ago, only about 1,000 records have been fixed out of approximately 13,000 remaining "x" coded. Generally, "x" records are so incomplete that no vendor could select the correct one for overlay; thus these must be fixed by catalogers in MARINet libraries. Most are without any subject headings, consequently are "invisible" to the public by default. Val directed Board member's attention to a named review file so that members can inspect the records for themselves. This cleanup is an unpleasant but necessary job which fits into the Board's database cleanup goal. Val suggested that B oard members visit with their cataloging staff about this; and she will also visit with the Bibliographic Standards Committee about it. It would be helpful if each Director established a reporting mechanism to track cataloging staff progress on cleanup, since temptation to defer work on these tough records seems to have gotten the upper hand.

A brief discussion of the 655 genre field indexing followed. The Bibliographic Standards Committee has been objecting to the inclusion of genre headings in the keyword index. Val stated that when patrons enter something like "mystery stories" in keyword, they expect to get hits not error messages. Including the 655 provides those genre hits to patrons in keyword searches. No one present understood why having genres in keyword would be a problem. Val stated that the upcoming re-indexing order will include the 655, together with a number of punctuation and musical symbols in the Library of Congress subject heading index as well. The title index will also include 505's, plus punctuation and musical symbols. This should improve retrieval and take care of problems with computer languages and musical works in certain keys.

Val shared a draft of a job description for Technology User's Group (TUG) Members which had been drafted by the Systems Integration Group (SIG). It is an explanation of what tasks constitute technology "mentoring" at one's home branch. She asked for adds and changes from the Board. The Board made some adds and wording changes. The revised draft will return to SIG. If there are no further changes, the job description will be presented to TUG so that everyone is clear on performance expectations for TUG members attending meetings on work time. Val reported disagreement has surfaced in SIG on allowing public services staff to use some review files as "featured lists" for the Public. Currently the system has 80 review files, and Val feels that there are enough to allow reasonable use of some files for featured bibliographic lists for the Public. Purchased review files were never intended only for technical services staff use. Various options were discu ssed but no method of alloting review files by library seemed feasible. A figure of five files was discussed as not an unreasonable number for use. The Public Services Committee appears to be the venue to develop this idea after the Featured Lists workshop is held.

Other: Unauthorized Call Number Changes

Under other new business, Mill Valley reported that someone has been making unauthorized changes to Mill Valley's item call numbers since about last October. A quick discussion of policy regarding changing another libraries call numbers revealed that every library understood the policy in the same way: any such changes are totally against system policy. Anne Montgomery reported that Beverly Burke had discussed the problem several times with the Bibliographic Standards Committee, but the problem is continuing even this week. Board Members directed Val Morehouse to follow up immediately with Bev Burke and attempt to discover how this was occurring and who is/was doing the changes.

 The next meeting will be May 24th at Civic Center, Room 410 B, 9:00 AM.

 Attachments:

Agenda for the April Meeting

Draft Minutes 1/14/99 Meeting

Draft Minutes 2/18/99 Meeting

Draft Minutes 3/18/99 Meeting

Announcement: Release 12.1 Software Update Scheduled

Intranet Update

MARINet Monthly Budget 98-99 Report by Category as of 4/10/99.

Cost For Adding Clerical Hours to Budget

Technology Plan Certification

Proposed Security Policy

Draft MARINet Committees Request for Action Form

Publicizing SuperSearch

Circulation Committee Minutes 4/8/99

655 Indexing

 TUG Mentor's Job Description Draft from SIG Committee Meeting.

SIG Notes 4/12/99

856 Field: URL Checker Examples.

  

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