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March 28, 2003 Meeting Notes

Attendees: Katie Quinn (APLM), Jendy Murphy (APLM), Debbie Shoup (EGRN), Lee Ricci (EGRN), Sharon O’Brien (TROY), Pat Sahr (NASS), Bev Provost (BETH), Suzanne Fisher (VOOR), Denise Coblish (BETH), Tom Barnes (GUIL), Ann-Marie Cicchinelli (COLN), Suzanne Winkler (GUIL), Jo-Ann Benedetti (UHLS), Rawdon Cheng (UHLS), Mary Fellows (UHLS).

This was a joint meeting to discuss the iPAC with members of the Youth Services Advisory Council.

New information – KidsPAC will be ready in 4 weeks. The ASC has to decide when to launch it here. The goal is that we tweak it in advance before the launch.

An upgrade to Horizon will occur Tuesday of next week. This should not affect the iPAC or the circulation system.

IPAC changes previously agreed upon:

• Re-order the search with top seven search fields in the staffPAC.
• On the Welcome screen, top right should have the media limit boxes AND search field boxes, with OR in between each.
• Remove Add to my list from the search results page.
• To Email List, add MLA and Chicago formats, if possible.
• There should be Basic Search and Advanced Search only. The Advanced Search should look like the Power Search. Remove the other search options.

Questions:

• Is it possible to have the drop down menu Select Another Library simply continue the search, rather than kick the user back to the beginning screen?
• How many items can go on My List? How long do they stay on? How can you change the length of time that an item stays on the list? How do you clear your list? How do we let the patron know about this?
• When will we have individual signons for the staffPAC so that each person can create their own profile?
• If you double click or occasionally even just single click on a title, sometimes it won’t load, and you have to refresh the screen. It happens quite often. Is this a bug that can be fixed?
• When computers come up in morning, Ipac comes up, blanks out, then comes right back. Is this a bug, or something to worry about?

New iPAC recommendations:

• Use bold, CAPS, and italics for (location/details). Remove the parentheses. Make it look like an actual button so people know to click on it. Move it closer to the title.
• “Click on title for more information” – put this in center just below Search Results.
• Put the call number on each entry of the Search Results, when you are searching in a particular library.
• There is no need to put the call numbers or the hours if you choose All Libraries.
• After you click on the Hours tab, it should say which library’s hours are listed. Put this up where it says iPAC by epixtech.
• Underline each title so people know they can click on it to get more information.
• On the Search Results screen, put the book jacket graphic on the right.
• Remove the author name after the slash. It is a duplication of the author name that comes below the title.
• Like Hennipin County Public Library’s iPAC, try to make it more in columns, and keep it consistent so information is in predictable format.
• Add a Kids button up at the top along with the Basic Search and Advanced Search.
• Number each entry in the Search Results list.
• Make it evident, when in a single library catalog, when the library owns an item (Browse Scope). It will do this now in a Keyword Search.
• For libraries with branches, they want to be able to see ownership of an item by all their branches without having to constantly change screens.
• For the Kids search, more of the J items need to be picked up. YA needs to be added, too. Part of this is a cataloging issue from the Library of Congress.
• If there are no holdings at the library, it should say “No holdings at this library. Click here for other locations.”

New StaffPAC recommendations:

• Make the highlighting brighter or bolder. It is difficult to see.
• It’s not possible to change your restrictions and not lose your search. Now, you have to go back and redo it.

The Adult Services Advisory Council and the Youth Services Advisory Council will send liaisons to each other’s meetings to ensure consistency.

Other: Mary distributed information about the upcoming Riverway Storytelling Festival. She also said that Youth Services Departments are aware that the Summer Reading Program impacts the whole library. If anyone has concerns about this, call or email Mary.

Rawdon said that the overdue notices are now being done on 3-part forms, for those libraries that have had them in the past.

Next Meeting: Thursday, April 10 at 9:00 AM. The topic will not be the iPAC! Carol Germain will speak on marketing your library.