09/21/2007
DEDCC meeting minutes for Friday, September 21, 2007
Attendees: Janet Ewing (chair), Sika Berger, Marilyn Billings, Rebecca Henning, Anne Moore, Mary Stettner
1) Agenda Review
• minutes-taker = Mary
2) Aquabrowser Demo
• Given by Aquabrowser rep, John Mihalick. Points mentioned:
o It’s not a catalog but an “independent discovery platform”
o Some 200 libraries already using Aquabrowser, including U of Chicago, U of Illinois, and Oklahoma State U.
o Social tools like tagging available. They have a connection with Library Thing and tags from there are ported over to Aquabrowser so there are some pre-populated tags already available. RSS is standard out of the box.
o “word cloud” offers visual breakdown of subconcepts that help you focus your search and re-relevancy rank with a click
o Suggests alternate terms if you misspell a search term
o Access to MARC record data via refine dimensions without user needing to know what a MARC record is.
o Can bring in information from a variety of resources, not just the catalog (e.g. other datbases, Syndetics data outside MARC records, even less structured data) so all is searchable
o Possible to customize weighting of fields and defining of relevancy
o Aquabrowser offers customization services if you don’t have the necessary staff to do it yourself
o Catalog has been implemented for a consortium: Boston’s Old Colony Library Network
o ALEPH experience: they have run a test file for one of the SUNY libraries using ALEPH
3) FCLC update
• Sika delivered message from Chris that FCLC appreciates DEDCC’s efforts to find alternate funding sources for Next Gen catalog program. The libraries are willling to contribute ,000 – 4,500, so it’s likely we won’t have to charge for the program, though FCLC appreciates our ongoing efforts to keep cost down.
4) Syndetics question: awards piece not working (list of award recipients appears ok, but click to see holdings and an error message appears plus it’s not linking to other libraries)
a) substitutions idea
o Briefly entertained picking an alternate feature (possible candidates suggested included Spanish and Find Similar Titles), but dismissed this in favor of giving Syndetics a chance to fix Awards.
b) what help is needed from DEDCC?
o Contact Syndetics and give them a deadline by which they should at least show progress on fixing Awards. Proposed deadline is Oct. 12, date of the next DEDCC meeting. If no progress by then will re-entertain idea of substituting another Syndetics feature or ask for a credit.
5) ALEPH improvements – v. brief check
a) do we have any tasks here?
o ALEPH task force minutes appear to indicate they’re mainly working with RIO. Others confirmed this.
6) DEDCC Program – reports & discussion
a) general updates from folks
o Janet: Marie Hess at Five Colleges has given the Next Gen program an account number and there is a form for requesting reimbursement for speakers. If UMass Campus Center and hotel have direct chargeback, this should go straight to Five Colleges (Janet and Anne are double-checking on this). All DEDCC members should try to funnel communications with Marie through Janet.
b) funding/finances
i) Status of NERCOMP inquiry
o Marilyn heard from Braddlee at Simmons. NERCOMP works on a cost-recovery basis and they don’t want to contribute money if we’re not going to charge for the program. There may be a problem with perception here – we weren’t going to charge Five College people. At any rate, NERCOMP isn’t a funding possibility. However, NERCOMP is willing to advertise the program for us.
ii) Where should Simmons go?
o Probably to Five Colleges, but Janet will check.
iii) charging/registration
o Registration for program will be necessary for planning purposes. Will need some system to keep track of this, preferably web-based. If charging, will need to take checks only, can’t take credit card, or send invoices. Janet will contact Chris to find out if we will need to charge at all considering the amount of money the library directors seem to be willing to contribute. [Note: post-meeting email exchange between Chris and Janet confirmed we do not have to charge.]
iv) brief update on financial paperwork
o See earlier, general update from Janet.
c) form working group(s)
i) speaker hospitality
o Marilyn, Anne, and Mary. Transportation to and from airport, refer speakers to Valley Transporter and ask them to send us the receipt. Also send speakers information on program schedule/speaker order (according to Aug. 28th minutes: David Lindahl overview of Next Gen catalogs, Jennifer Ward on WorldCat Local, Anne Prestamo on Aquabrowser). Things we’d like them to address: why did their library decide to implement a next gen catalog, what they hoped to accomplish, how things are going, and a brief demo of how the catalog works. Also, keep presentation accessible to non-technical folks.
ii) facilities arrangements
o Marilyn checking how many the UMass Campus Center room will hold, getting price estimates for coffe break refreshments, checking into projection and network access availability.
iii) Publicity
o Sika and Rebecca
o Sika – if you have any deli.icio.us links, add them (e.g., sample implentations of catalogs, other web pages discussing catalogs).
o Info to get from speakers: job title, bio (two or three sentences), how they should be introduced, title for their program and possibly an abstract.
o Sending save the date email – Rebecca sent one to Amherst, sending copy to us for tweaking for own institutions. Email to other groups (preferrably by Oct. 1st): Marilyn – NERCOMP, Anne – Simmons, Rebecca – PVAAL, Janet – ACRL New England, BLC – Marilyn, NELA – Rebecca. If anyone thinks of other lists to contact, send an email to DEDCC list first so we don’t accidentally overlap.
iv) other? Rsvps and reservations?
o Rebecca and Janet will work on setting up a method of registration. Likely web form. Will need a way to give Five College people priority.
7) Wrap up
a) action items – see section 6 above for details
b) communicating out – ibid
