Libraries: Research, Instruction, and Outreach Committee : Minutes August 18, 2008

08/20/2008
Minutes August 18, 2008

Present: Bryan Goodwin (chair), Sherre Harrington (FCLC liaison), Susan Kimball, Beth Lang, Barbara Polowy (recorder), Bonnie Vigeland

Fall Meeting Dates
September 15 at 9:00, October 6 at 9:30, November 10 at 9:00, December 8 at 9:00, January 12 at 9:00
All meetings will be held at Hampshire College Library.

Minutes
Minutes of the July 14, 2008, meeting were approved without changes.

Investigation of Next Generation Catalog User Interface
Sherre reported that the FCLC has not come to a decision about whether or not to purchase a NextGen OPAC interface. This topic may be discussed at the September meeting.

Fields indexed in Title Field Searches
Changes to the title field searches recommended by RIO and the Five College Cataloging Committee have been implemented in the test catalog. RIO members should test the changes as soon as possible. Bryan will coordinate RIO responses to Jan Jourdain.

SFX –related Issues
•It is not possible to implement SFX in the catalog at this time.
•Amherst is still adding records for the library’s print journals to the SFX KnowledgeBase
•Susan has developed a method to pre-populate the AC Depository articles form with data from licensed databases. Once she’s wrapped up this project, she will apply the method to the FC Depository articles form.

OPAC Alerts
•All agreed on new language for the “no new results” RSS message: “Your Five College Library Catalog alert retrieved no results.” Bryan will ask Jan to make this change.
•No problems were reported with email or RSS feed alerts, so the service is ready to be promoted to users.
Email/Save Results Problems in the Production OPAC
After some discussion about how to remedy the problem of records dropped from emailed and saved results at Smith and Mount Holyoke, it was agreed that Bryan and Barbara will ask their AMC representatives to submit this to Ex Libris as an SI.

Annual Report
Committee members reviewed Bryan’s draft, suggested some minor changes and established the following goals for the coming year:
•Evaluate Amherst’s initiative to incorporate print journal holdings into SFX and consider the possibility of making this a Five College initative.
•Continue to explore ways to improve the usability of the OPAC including adoption of a Next Generation catalog.
•Plan for a Five College January program focusing on some aspect of research and instruction.
•Explore ways to develop a good working relationship with the new ALEPH manager scheduled to begin in January 2009.
Annual Reference Librarians Meeting
All agreed to hold the annual gathering of Five College reference librarians from 2:00 to 4:00 on September 22 in the Amherst Alumni House. Susan will check on the availability of the space and reserve it. Sherre offered to pay for light refreshments for the meeting.

OPAC Title Browse Search Instructions
Beth mentioned that UMass reference librarians feel the “Omit initial articles (the, an, a, les, das, etc.)” instruction on the basic search screen does not need to appear above the search box since it now appears in the search box. Other committee members did not support removing the instructions above the search box, however.


	08/20/2008 Minutes August 18, 2008 Present: Bryan Goodwin (chair), Sherre Harrington (FCLC liaison), Susan Kimball, Beth Lang, Barbara Polowy (recorder), Bonnie Vigeland Fall Meeting Dates September 15 at 9:00, October 6 at 9:30, November 10 at 9:00, December 8 at 9:00, January 12 at 9:00 All meetings will be held at Hampshire College Library. Minutes Minutes of the July 14, 2008, meeting were approved without changes. Investigation of Next Generation Catalog User Interface Sherre reported that the FCLC has not come to a decision about whether or not to purchase a NextGen OPAC interface. This topic may be discussed at the September meeting. Fields indexed in Title Field Searches Changes to the title field searches recommended by RIO and the Five College Cataloging Committee have been implemented in the test catalog. RIO members should test the changes as soon as possible. Bryan will coordinate RIO responses to Jan Jourdain. SFX –related Issues •It is not possible to implement SFX in the catalog at this time. •Amherst is still adding records for the library’s print journals to the SFX KnowledgeBase •Susan has developed a method to pre-populate the AC Depository articles form with data from licensed databases. Once she’s wrapped up this project, she will apply the method to the FC Depository articles form. OPAC Alerts •All agreed on new language for the “no new results” RSS message: “Your Five College Library Catalog alert retrieved no results.” Bryan will ask Jan to make this change. •No problems were reported with email or RSS feed alerts, so the service is ready to be promoted to users. Email/Save Results Problems in the Production OPAC After some discussion about how to remedy the problem of records dropped from emailed and saved results at Smith and Mount Holyoke, it was agreed that Bryan and Barbara will ask their AMC representatives to submit this to Ex Libris as an SI. Annual Report Committee members reviewed Bryan’s draft, suggested some minor changes and established the following goals for the coming year: •Evaluate Amherst’s initiative to incorporate print journal holdings into SFX and consider the possibility of making this a Five College initative. •Continue to explore ways to improve the usability of the OPAC including adoption of a Next Generation catalog. •Plan for a Five College January program focusing on some aspect of research and instruction. •Explore ways to develop a good working relationship with the new ALEPH manager scheduled to begin in January 2009. Annual Reference Librarians Meeting All agreed to hold the annual gathering of Five College reference librarians from 2:00 to 4:00 on September 22 in the Amherst Alumni House. Susan will check on the availability of the space and reserve it. Sherre offered to pay for light refreshments for the meeting. OPAC Title Browse Search Instructions Beth mentioned that UMass reference librarians feel the “Omit initial articles (the, an, a, les, das, etc.)” instruction on the basic search screen does not need to appear above the search box since it now appears in the search box. Other committee members did not support removing the instructions above the search box, however.