Falcon Meeting

 

Date:     05/20/04

 

Present:

Alternative, Aurora, Berkshire, Candor, Cato, Cortland, Dryden, Groton,  Interlaken, McGraw, Moravia, Newfield, Nichols, Owego, Seneca Falls, TCPL, Trumansburg, , Waterloo, Waverly, Weedsport, Rex,  Kathy, Marisa, Eric, Jan, Karen, and Robert from FLLS.

Absent:

Apalachin, Auburn, Homer, Marathon, Cincinnatus, Fair Haven, Lodi, Newark Valley, Ovid, Poplar Ridge, Port Bryon, Spencer, and Union Springs.

Minutes:

Approval of February minutes, motion to accept by Waverly, seconded by TCPL, passed.

Old Business:

1)  ILS Committee update – please contact the committee member in your county to provide input and hear their views on the demonstrations given so far. Members are : in Cortland County – Kay Zaharis and Suzanne Vetter, in Cayuga County – Anne Gaston and Jim Vivenzio, in Seneca County – Mike Cahar and Anne Stinic, in Tompkins County, Jon Long, Jennifer Schossberg and Lois Maki, in Tioga County – Christine Burroughs, Beverley Dann and Charlie Steiglitz. All are encouraged to speak with your representative.

 

 The committee has looked at two products so far, GIS (Polaris) based out of Syracuse and Dynix (Horizon) based out of Provo, Utah. Observations from the committee were discussed. Polaris seemed to be easier to understand, more user friendly, there were more pictures and seemed like it would be easier to teach. The Horizon software seems a little easy to get lost in or wander around.

 

However, the presenters were also different in the method of demonstration. Liz Pitts fro Dynix assumed everyone present was familiar with current Dynix terminology and functionality and therefore was not as aggressive. Both products are Windows based. The core functionality is the same, just using a different skin so it feels different. The FLLS Department heads met with each vendor separately also to discuss issues pertaining to Headquarters, such as collections, homebound, etc. Jen pointed that going with Horizon would have its advantages. We know the problems in Dynix, the question is though, and do they still exist in Horizon? And do similar problems exist in Polaris?

 

 Kathy mentioned the greater flexibility and functionality in creating and generating reports and statistics in Polaris. A question was raised as to how much front end customization is there? Rex indicated there is some customization available but it should look fairly consistent.

 

 From a cataloging point of view, Robert indicated both systems seemed more efficient both from the FLLS staff pint of view and from a member libraries point of view. Fast adds will no longer exist so different procedures will have to be initiated for the circulation of new materials. The client can be tailored to see only what you need to see, such as library specific codes, there will be no log to, and all modules are available. You will be able to add a holding right from Circulation; it’s very easy to switch between modules. There will be no ore locked records, everything is in real time.

 

Placing holds, at least in Polaris, can be done from a list; you will no longer have to re-search each title. Both products had very nice looking Public Access Catalogues.

A critical issue is of course, the cost, overall and in annual maintenance fees.

 

The Sirsi demonstration will be June 2nd and Innovative Interfaces will

be here June 9th.

 

2)  Jan discussed the 2004 training schedule. Holdings Maintenance Workshop, Thursday June 16th here in the FLLS Conference Room. Topics covered: setting up session defaults, adding, editing, deleting holdings, finding the correct BIB record, identifying the fields in a MARC record, dot and unlisted commands in Cataloging, setting up function keys. Train the Trainer, Tuesday June 22nd, and Wednesday June 23rd 9-12 Noon, presented by Robert J. Lackie, recently named 2004 New Jersey Librarian of the Year and recipient of the 2004 Rider University Award for Distinguished Teaching. Mr. Lackie is also a trainer for the NJ Train-the-Trainer Group. Topics covered: how to build retention, identifying 3 styles of learning, identifying how much practice is needed to learn a skill, pacing methods to avoid boredom, using basic questions to promote understanding, dealing with problem learner situations, effective job aids to extend learning, how to correct errors and give "constructive criticism", how to coach learners one on one.

 

Starting in July, the Regional Training Workshops will begin.

Database Lite

Topics will be: An overview of the electronic databases available through our web page, focusing on the Literature databases, including how to access them from home, briefly identifying each database that is on our web page with more detail on Novelist, Literature Resource Center, and Twayne’s Author Series. This will include instruction on, when you will use it, how you search it, which online help is more in-depth, and sample questions.

 

Candor session is Monday July 19th, Weedsport is Wednesday July 21st, Trumansburg is Wednesday July 28th, and Homer is Thursday July 29th.

 

Basic Windows will be taught in August.

Topics will include: understanding the Windows screen, using a mouse, working with a Windows program, working with files and folders.

 

Trumansburg session is Wednesday Aug 4th, Candor is Monday Aug.9th, Weedsport is Wednesday Aug.18th, and Homer is Thursday Sept. 2nd.

 

Basic Excel will be taught in September.

Topics will include: entering data, saving a file, using formulas, working with ranges, working with functions, editing cells, moving and copying data, printing options

 

The Trumansburg session will be Wednesday Sept. 8th, Weedsport Wednesday Sept. 15th, Candor Monday Sept. 20th, and Homer Thursday Sept. 30th.

 

There will be a repeat of the Dynix Reports workshop

Topics will include a basic explanation of RECALL and how it is used to generate reports, reports set up in MISCR, how to access and print these reports, and canned reports available in Dynix.

 

The Weedsport session in Wednesday Oct. 6th, Homer is Thursday Oct 14th, Candor is Monday Oct. 18th, and Trumansburg is Wednesday Oct. 27th.

 

3)  Rex discussed filtering software. We have started installing it on some PC’s. There are many categories which can be trimmed down. We will keep you posted on how it is working. The software can also be password protected so you can turn it on and off. The product S4F Filterpak which is $20.00 per PC per year, works off a live database, sends the request to the database and determines whether it is okay to load, if not, a warning is issued.

 

4)  Lost ILL Policy Committee update: Kathy indicated there is a meeting of all committee members after the Falcon Meeting today to establish the direction on a couple of key issues, i.e. processing fees. Members include Trumansburg, Cato, Weedsport, Groton, and TCPL. If recommendations from the committee affect other libraries policies and procedures, you will be notified. We plan on making some decisions within the next month. We want to make sure we include these concerns in any future ILS software.

 

New  Business:

1)      Rex discussed the new iPac search options. Any word searches are now available. Any word meaning, parts of the author’s name, the title, subject, series or call number. He demonstrated theses searches which are already available in the FLLS iPac. Some discussion followed on how the display should look and whether the wordage explaining the new search options should be changed. A consensus is needed on how the display should look. You do have the option to have a second search screen for the any word option or have the any word search option on the first screen. The consensus was to change the wordage in the note to: that any word includes author, title, subject, or series.

Add Author exact match to Quick Search. To add any word (keyword) and Video, Sound Recording and Large Type to Quick Search and add the limit options to the first screen. All libraries will be notified when these changes are in affect.

 

2)      Robert discussed the upcoming batch deletes of Fast Adds. Printouts of your fast adds were sent out six months ago for you to clean up. These need to be cleaned up by the end of June. In July we will delete all fast add records older than one month, and then every month thereafter. Options to creating fast adds is to add to an existing BIB record in Dynix if available even the TCPL items that have a status of on order. Robert also pointed out that Midwest Video is now sending up complete records you can attach your holdings to. The batch delete of fast adds will not include those special items in your collection where you need to use a fast add, i.e. out of system ILL’s, special collections, etc.

 

3)      An update on the anti virus software was given. You have received a bill for the virus updates, if your  virus definition files expired between January and April. If your subscription expires between May and December, call FLLS and let us know how many PC’s so we can pro rate and bill for these and then give you the link to download the updates. Microsoft is also releasing a Service Pac 2 later this year. These Windows updates only affect Windows XP. The updates include known bug fixes and change to firewalls. The update could cause problems when it is released. Eric advised you to suspend updates until we can install it and test it to see if any problems occur with older software. He will send a notice out when to stop the updates on the Windows XP computers. This will be a critical update. One of the problems already documented is that the enhanced firewall comes turned on with the maximum settings which may affect older software. That is why we need to test it here first, to see what problems there may be.

 

Open Discussion:

 

1)      Lois Maki asked how many libraries allow patrons to bring in floppy disks and use them in the public PC’s. Several libraries indicated they do and Rex pointed out that Norton does a real time scan of the disk as soon as it’s inserted. He stressed that if you keep up with your virus protection updates, this service shouldn’t be a problem. He also suggested that maybe using a micro drive on the USB port would also work. It uses a cable that plugs into the USB port.

 

2)      Several libraries complained about the reoccurring problem of pop up adds appearing and not being able to get rid of them. Eric suggested you try and reboot, which should clean those up. Yu can also try alt F4, this command closes the active window so you can see the start button and reboot. The Centurion Guard software protection reads the operating system and then uses a copy of the operating system, so if changes have been made, they go away after a reboot, the changes were only made to the copy. Centurion Guard runs about $40-$50 per PC and a yearly maintenance fee of $23 per library. Eric will investigate this option and send the information out on the list serve.

 

3)      Weedsport and Popular Ridge are willing to share the Power Point Presentations from the Gates training they attended.

 

4)      A discussion followed on software available to reduce the number of pop up ads. SpyBot monitors web traffic used to target marketing. AdAware looks for cookies, software that has been downloaded and tracking. All of these products are free to download. You must log in as EXEC, turn off Centurion Guard, and download from there. If Spy Ware has installed software that generates pop ups, this software will stop this.

 

 

Meeting adjourned:

                 11:29 am

 

Next Meeting:

                Aug19th. All meetings are now 9:30 – 11:30 am