Falcon Meeting

 

Date:     02/19/04

 

Present:

Alternative, Apalachin, Aurora, Berkshire, Candor, Cortland, Dryden, Groton, Homer, Marathon, McGraw, Moravia, Newfield, Owego, Poplar Ridge, Port Bryon,  TCPL, Trumansburg, Union Springs, Waterloo, Waverly, Weedsport, Kathy, Marisa, Eric, Jan, Karen, and Robert from FLLS.

NOTE: Those libraries in BOLD, I believe were present but did not sign the Sign In Sheet. Please let me know if indeed you were present for the meeting.

Absent:

Auburn, Cato, Cincinnatus, Fair Haven, Interlaken, Lodi, Newark Valley, Nichols, Ovid, Seneca Falls and Spencer.

Minutes:

Approval of November minutes, motion to accept by Waverly, seconded by Poplar Ridge,  passed.

Old Business:

1)      On-going issues; these will be reevaluated when we move to the new system.

 

2)      ILL’s lost to other libraries; nothing further to report, input received from some libraries, committee will meet again in the near future.

 

3)      Marisa reminded everyone that the parking shuttle is now in service due to the current construction going on in the library parking lot. She has the passes, maps, and applications if you need them.

New  Business:

1)      Karen discussed the Integrated Library System Selection Committee. The first in the process is to select a committee. Then they will proceed to make a preliminary selection, develop criteria, and make a decision. Two representatives from each county, one from the largest library and one other who will be nominated from the county. Nominations for these representatives do not have to be technology experts, input from circulation staff, tech services staff is also welcome. We currently have received two nominations from Tioga County, One from Tompkins County, two from TCPL, one from Cayuga County and one from Cortland County. Karen and Rex are attending PLA in Seattle this month and will investigate several Library Automation software products and present these findings to the committee. The committee will then develop a list of criteria they would like to see in the new system, talk to the vendors and visit sites. No exact time or day has been set yet for the committee to meet, this will be determined when the committee is identified.

 

2)      Karen also discussed the proposed NYS budget which was released at the end of January. There will be a 5% decrease in state aid for libraries. This translates to a funding decrease of $69,000 for the Finger Lakes Library System. There has been no increase in state aid since 1998. Information has been sent out urging patrons and library staff to write their legislators stressing how important library services are to them. The FLLS website is also updated regularly with legislative information. Lobby Day in Albany is set for Tuesday March 16th. We will be taking the FLLS minivan or if necessary will coordinate with Southern Tier if a bus is necessary. Please try to attend this very important day in Albany.

 

3)      The Dynix upgrade on Jan. 28th to Release 191 went well. One of the changes you will see is in regards to the pre-overdue notices. Previously they were displaying on the current block screen every time a patron’s record was accessed. This tended to be misleading and confusing to both patrons and staff. This has been changed in 191. If a pre-overdue notice was sent (and these are only sent through email) it now will show up in PURF history NOT in the current PURF screen. To see if a pre-overdue notice was sent you must access their PURF history by using the .HB command at checkout or selecting the History command from the .L screen

 

4)      Eric discussed the proper protocol for responding to a list serve. If you select reply, your reply will go to all recipients on the list serve. If this is in response to an ongoing discussion, then its ok, however if the post is asking for feedback from each library or is private, please respond to the individual. Pull out the specific email and insert in the To: line. Eric will include a note in the post if the reply is to be sent to him only. Surveys set upon on the FLLS website automatically go to an individual.

 

5)      Robert discussed the BOT vs. PTC format controversy. The BOT or BOCD or BOTJ or BOCDJ collection code is to be used strictly for Books on Tape not music. This would include fiction, non fiction, poetry, published set of plays. One way to identify these is to look in the MARC record for “Based on a book by…..or Read by ….” Non book material such as music, radio programs, and instructional language tapes should be classified as PTC, JPT, CD, or CDJ with the appropriate call number prefix.

 

 

Also the collection code of CDFLLS has been changed to CD. This was due to the number of complaints received regarding the confusion of including FLLS in the code. Since TCPL was using the collection code CD for their CD collection, it was necessary to change their code first, wait a year, and then change ours to avoid statistical repercussions.

 

6)        Kathy discussed member library lending policies which were sent out the end of January listed who restricts videos and new book policies. She has not gotten much feedback yet and encourages those who have to respond. TCPL has just changed their lending policy for New Adult non fiction books to now be available after 6 months. Their holdings have been cleaned up to reflect this change. New fiction is still not available until one year. Melanie from TCPL did point out that changing the new books involves handling each book individually and they are currently backed up in this process. CBA books, those items purchased with Central Book Aid monies are all available from day one. These items are Adult non fiction only.

 

7)      Jan discussed training in 2004. She encourages all libraries to complete the training survey which has a deadline for completion of Feb. 29th. 24 libraries have responded so far. Several topics are being offered; please indicate which ones you would like to attend and an approximate number attending. Training may be offered both regionally and in house.

 

Open Discussion:

1)      It was pointed out that to help with the migration, please start paying attention to work flow issues and functionality you would like to see in a new product that either Dynix currently has or does not have.

 

2)      A question was asked regarding the anti virus software. You will be billed for the number of PC’s you are putting the software package on. Updates are being done county by county. It takes about a ˝ hour to download. Presently Cortland County is being done and Seneca County is next. Eric reminded everyone to make sure you do weekly updates on the virus definition files or if a new virus is identified, you may have to update more often than on a weekly basis. Any new virus found will have an alert on the FLLS website. Eric said he can’t stress enough how important it is to schedule weekly updates. On your public PC’s, there is no automatic reminder to update; you must do these manually because of the security. This security must be turned off, then log in as exec, do the update, log off and turn the security back on. Instructions include uninstalling the current version before updating the new version. Once the county by county procedure is done, you will still be able to update but will need to use a general link that will be posted in a future email. A question was raised as to whether there is anyway to let yourself know updates need to be done, no but when you launch the virus program it will display the current status. Mary Quant from Port Byron asked whether there was a way to see when a full system scan was done in the Corporate edition, Eric will look into it.

 

3)      Eric also suggested you update Windows once a month. The instructions were on a previous FLLS Bulletin, the Winter or Spring of 2003. Microsoft Office updates are a separate pop up in the Windows up date screen and you may need the Windows Office install CD. Any updates require you to unlock the security on the PC. Do not update the Gates Windows NT, if they have been upgraded to Windows 2000, you can now do updates.

 

4)      If you have virus software that expires between January and April please upgrade now. Counties will be done in approximately three weeks then the general link will be available.

 

5)      Gates PC warranty. The warranty is based on the ship date so try to take care of any issues that are now under warranty otherwise there will be a cost. Issues to look for: sticky keyboard, monitor going dim, hard drive making noise, mouse not working properly. Phone support for the Gates computers is effective through August. Headphones have already been replaced for some Gates PC’s. They run $20 or under, are similar to the original Gates one but made by Labtech. We can order them for you or you can pick them up yourself.

 

6)      Fran from the Candor Library announced they will be closed for an indefinite time due to a furnace problem and the layer of soot that now has to be cleaned up.

 

7)      A question was raised about the status of filtering software. Several products were investigated and the product S4F was determined to be the best choice. The software contains a database of websites that are blocked and filters on keywords. The software checks against an online database and your subscription pays for access to this online database.

 

 

Meeting adjourned:

                 11:15 am

 

Next Meeting:

                May 20th. All meetings are now 9:30 – 11:30 am