03/30/2009
Research, Instruction and Outreach Committee (RIO)
Minutes of the March 27, 2009 Meeting
Present: Bryan Goodwin (chair), Susan Kimball (recorder), Beth Lang, Charlotte Slocum Patriquin, Barbara Polowy, Bonnie Vigeland
Bryan welcomed Charlotte Slocum Patriquin, MHC’s “new” CIO and the FCLC’s liaison to RIO.
The bulk of the meeting was spent discussing the proposal to AMC for the formation of a task group/committee dedicated to addressing the issue of improving the OPAC. Barbara reported that the OPAC task force formed in summer 2007 to address a short, targeted list of improvements was very effective. The pros and cons of forming a separate committee vs. charging RIO to take on the task were discussed. There was support for a separate group because RIO hasn’t had time to dedicate to other parts of our charge besides the OPAC in many years.
Stephanie Schmitt presented a draft proposal to the FCLC about how the ALEPH Management Committee might be re-imagined now that the ALEPH Manager is in place. FCLC is taking the opportunity to evaluate and consider all committee charges and structures.
One major advantage to a new committee with the ALEPH Manager as the chair is that it has the potential to overcome some of the divisions and stalemates that have formed between groups. Psychologically a new committee brings new life and attention to the project. One suggestion was to invite Stephanie and the technical folks to some RIO meetings to work on this as a project. There is a concern that this proposal doesn’t allow for creating a regular group that can develop a working relationship and good group dynamics.
We decided to propose the new committee/task force to AMC so that it is considered alongside Stephanie’s proposal for reconfiguring AMC. It’s important that the first task of such a group will be to assess our options for improving the public interface given our current financial and staffing levels. Does it make sense to spend resources (human and financial) on our current OPAC given the evidence that it is not being enhanced by the vendor? Should we spend our own programming resources to enhance our existing system ourselves? Should we look at open source public interface options that might make more sense?
Bryan will wordsmith the proposal to reflect today’s conversation and send out a draft for comments. He’ll also share it with Stephanie. He and Beth are scheduled to present the proposal to AMC at their meeting on Thursday, April 2nd.
Bryan suggested that we meet with members of DEDCC to discuss our roles relative to one another and resolve some of the confusion that has developed. He will contact David Podboy to see if they can join us at our next meeting or vice versa.
Several members reported that the OPAC enhancements for v.19 of ALEPH were not significant. Once v.19 is up and running on Test, we will take a look and determine whether any of the new features are desirable for implementation.
Next meeting will be Friday, April 10th 9:00am at Hampshire Colle
