Falcon Meeting

 

Date:     11/18/04

 

Minutes:

Approval of August minutes, motion to accept by Waverly, seconded by Newfield, passed.

 

Present:

Aurora, Berkshire, Cincinnatus, Dryden, Groton,  Homer, Interlaken, McGraw, Newfield, Nichols, Owego, Poplar Ridge, Port Bryon, Seneca Falls, TCPL, Trumansburg, Union Springs, Waterloo, Waverly, Weedsport, Rex,  Kathy, Marisa, Eric, Jan, Karen, and Robert from FLLS.

 

Absent:

 Alternatives, Apalachin, Auburn, Candor, Cato, Cortland, Fair Haven, Lodi, Marathon, Moravia, Newark Valley, Ovid, and Spencer.

 

Announcements:

  • Karen encouraged all libraries to send a letter to the legislature regarding the proposed decrease in funding. There is a link to a form letter on the FLLS website.
  • December 9th, the System Meeting topic will be on the Annual Report. Your financial person     should come and anyone who is unfamiliar with submitting an Annual Report.
  • There is a new library director at the Cincinnatus Library, her name is Suzanne Vetter.
  • Port Bryon has a new building; they are very busy and are open 8 more hours.

 

Old Business:

1)      Rex gave an update on the ILS committee. Their next meeting is Nov.30 and they should have enough information to make a final decision. They have narrowed it down to two vendors at this time, GIS Polaris and Dynix Horizon. They had visited two sites, one using Polaris (McLinc) in Pennsylvania and one using Horizon (Nioga) in Lockport. The committee observed the staff at both facilities still performing manual procedures even though an automated function was available. Both systems seem to have the capacity to do what we would like them to do. We are actually ahead in some areas of the upcoming migration. Every library has a PC for circulation and we have had a couple of years becoming familiar with a Windows environment. Our patrons are also familiar with using a web based catalog. A discussion followed on how much authority to give to the committee regarding the final decision on which product to chose. A motion was made by Trumansburg to accept the committee’s decision, seconded by Dryden. The motion was passed. Groton thanked the committee for their time and effort in this process. The final recommendation will have to be approved by the FLLS board. Rex also mentioned that FLLS has been putting money in reserve for this migration.

 

2)      Jan discussed the Trainer’s Toolbox. It is available now and there are several presentations available for download on the FLLS website. Please try and take advantage of this valuable training tool. Reservation forms are also available on the website.

 

3)      Rex discussed the new ILS training schedule. We are still in the process of setting up procedures to train all library staff prior to migration. There will be a test database available for training and practice. Most likely regional training sessions will be implemented along with additional onsite training where the need is identified.

 

4)      Robert requested feedback from each library regarding procedures for handling new materials prior to migration

 

5)      Expect to be down for 3-5 days during the migration. There will be a back up circulation system available for use during downtime. Circulation manuals and step by step instructions for frequently used commands will be available. Annual maintenance charges are all less than the current charge for both systems. According to the Falcon contract there must be one whole budget cycle advance notice before any increase in fees. We will need to revamp the pricing structure because the Dynix port model no longer applies.

 

6)      The item status of “Trace” was discussed. Please be aware that the status of “trace” does allow holds to be placed but the status of “missing” does not. When in doubt, use TRACE.

 

7)      Robert announced that the deletion of fast adds takes place once a month and will include those fast adds that are over 3 months old and checked in. There was some confusion of whether or not to delete the BIB record if you have deleted the last holding attached to that BIB record. Robert will finalize the procedure and generate a handout.

 

New  Business:

1)      Rex suggested using textsoup.com for discounted software purchases. It is available for libraries to buy, one a year only.

 

Meeting adjourned:

                 11:30 am

 

Next Meeting:

                Feb. 17th. Meetings in 2005 will be: 2/17, 5/19, 8/18, 11/17.

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