Back

Attendees: Mary Trev Thomas, Debbie Shoup, Jim Hobin, Margaret Garrett, Suzanne Fisher, Bobbi Crowther, Jo-Ann Benedetti (notes)

Implementation Team Members: Pat Nonamaker, Phil Ritter, Richard Naylor, Karen Nuckolls

Implementation Team: Members of the Implementation Team had asked to meet with the ASAC to provide information about the migration, and that attendees communicate with their directors about this meeting. Some of the topics discussed:

• A timeline was distributed and reviewed. Important dates are: deletions of bibliographic & item records cannot be done until after the Go Live date of 1/23/03; withdrawals can be done, because "withdrawn" is a status and as such, will be part of the gap load later; re-labeling barcodes cannot be done because a barcode change is considered to be the same as a deletion; from 1/20-1/23, there will be three days of “perfect patrons” where we will have access to DRA but only as a reference tool, not for circulation.
• When is the IPAC going to be available? No date yet. It will be “out of the box” which we can customize later.
• Suggest that staff play with the circulation system on the training database (not the test database!) before we go live on 1/23.
• Instead of material codes and location codes, the new system has collection codes and I-Types.
• Placing Local Requests: I-Types can be restricted so that a library’s patrons will only get that library’s materials.
• Changes to policy files should be sent in writing to Karen Nuckolls. It was suggested that we wait until 6 months into the migration year to consider restrictions and to communicate with the other members of the consortia.
• Questions? Send an email to impteam@uhls.lib.ny.us.

2003 Online Full Text Databases: The Central Library Advisory Committee has agreed to make the following online databases available to all 29 member libraries of the Upper Hudson Library System, through the generous support of our Central Library - Albany Public Library. Beginning in January 2003, these databases will be offered on the UHLS web site http://www.uhls.org/uhls/Databases/ for in-library and remote use, except where noted:

• Books in Print with reviews
• Dialog@CARL (through the New York State NOVEL program, though rumor has it that the State will drop this as of March 2003)
• EBSCO MasterFILE Premier (they no longer carry TopicSearch)
• Gale InfoTrac Health (through the New York State NOVEL program)
• Columbia Grangers World of Poetry
• Grolier Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, and the New Book of Knowledge (this is a change from World Book, which was twice as expensive as the Grolier products)
• Hoovers (due to Hoover’s company policy, they no longer offer remote access. We are purchasing Hoovers through WALDO, because EBSCO no longer carries it)
• Reference USA
• Times Union (due to Times Union company policy, remote access is not available. We purchased about 17,000 articles for the 2003 year, to be used in a pool account by all 29 member libraries.

The Learnatest database will be available through 2003 as well.

The online database program will continue to be maintained by the UHLS Adult & Information Services Department with technical assistance from the UHLS Systems Department. Rachel will plan an EBSCO training session for late winter/early spring, and a trial database demonstration in June.

Programming Survey Results: UHLS sent out a survey to adult and reference services staff asking about ASAC dates, times, program topics, attendance, etc.

2003 ASAC Program Planning: Based on the topics suggested by a recent survey, the UHLS Adult Services Advisory Council has planned its meetings/programs for 2003. The survey of adult services and reference librarians also recommended preferred dates, times and locations of the meetings. All programs will be held from 9:30 - 11:30 AM, and attendees are to bring a reference work to pass around and discuss. Meetings will alternate on Thursdays and Fridays, and at different host libraries in Albany and Rensselaer counties.

• Friday, February 14, 2003 at SNLK - epixtech “sanity session” to discuss the progress of migration
• Thursday, April 3, 2003 at VOOR - marketing your library
• Friday, June 20, 2003 at UHLS - demonstration and discussion of trial online databases
• Thursday, September 18 at EGRN - trends and changes in reference, including budgeting and staffing
• Thursday, November 20, 2003 at BETH - “chat class,” a demonstration of instant messaging and chat by a local teenager.

Joint Youth Services AV Meeting: The ASAC would like to have a joint meeting with the Youth Services Advisory Council (YSAC) to discuss AV collection development and acquisitions. Rachel will arrange this with Mary after she discusses it with the YSAC.

Adult Summer Reading Program: The Youth Services Advisory Council thought the ASAC might be interested in trying out a system-wide adult summer reading club. The group felt that: 1. existing book discussion groups could continue through the summer; 2. reading rewards and prizes might be considered too childish for adults; 3. parents are usually too busy to attend programs in the summer; 4. other family-oriented programs might work better to involve everyone in reading; 5. establishing adult reading criteria is too problematic. The group agreed that libraries are welcome to try out a summer reading program for adults on their own. UHLS will maintain a file of ideas for any library that would like to pursue this. The ASAC would like to see UHLS do a block booking for a local author during the summer. Suggested writers: Ms. A. Randall Bentley (Gone By Water); Bernie Conners (Tailspin), or perhaps someone from Yaddo.

Reference Works: Suzanne Fisher brought two volumes from the series American Popular Culture Through History (Greenwood Press, 2002; ISBN 0313316023; $49.95 each). Suzanne thought these books were excellent for student reports on specific decades. Although the text is boring to read, there is a lot of information on advertising, youth, architecture, design, fashion, food, leisure activities, literature, music, theater, travel, art, and costs of products.

Next Meeting: Friday, February 14, 2003 at 9:30 AM at SNLK.