Tuesday September 22, 2009
2:00-4:00p.m.
Hartnell College Library
Present: Bill Rawson (HCL), Janet Cubbage (HML), Merritt Taylor (SCPL), Inga Labeaune (MPL), Frank Gravier (UCSC), Irene Berry (NPS), Jean Chapin (HML), Christie Tam. (MIIS), Pamela Jungerberg (PGPL), Deborah Ruiz (MPC), Georg Romero (CAB), Mary Housel (MCFL).
Call to order
Additions/Changes to the Agenda
Georg suggested several minor changes to the meeting minutes of Aug 25, 2009. These corrections he will make on the MOBACREF wiki.
Irene suggested a “workflow” for using the wiki/webpage to document minutes:
- Meeting minutes will be posted in draft form as a wiki page (not a Word document) on the MOBACREF wiki after each meeting. This will allow committee members to contribute to and edit them in the period until the next meeting. The draft version is provided by each meeting’s Minutes-taker.
- Once the draft version is adopted at the following meeting, it will be removed from the wiki and posted with other minutes at https://www.mobac.org/members/reference/minutes and linked so it appears on the drop down menus for minutes. The final version to be provided by each meeting’s Chair.
Adoption of Aug 25, 2009 Meeting Minutes
Reports
- Technology Committee Report
No representatives among attendees - Interlibrary Loan Committee Report
Has not met since our last meeting - SPLAMBA Committee Report
No report this time - Administrative Council Report
Has not met since our last meeting
Old Business
- Workshops: Hands onDate (October 9), Location (MPC) and refreshments have been arranged. The list of books is up on our wiki. MC to be Irene Berry. The flyer has been distributed. The presentations are as follows: Betty from San Benito County PL will be speaking on the Oaxacan community of Hollister. Georg will speak on the Digital Archive project at Cabrillo. Irene will be presenting on Library PressDisplay. Deborah Murphy (UCSC) will be presenting one of the ALA Outstanding Refererence Books.
We need more presenters: three or so to fill the additional 45 minutes of time during the workshop. If we don’t have additional presenters, “Plan B” may include shortening the program, or utilizing the presence of attendees for a focus group of some kind. Frank pointed out that such a focus group will need a faciliator, if we decide to follow that course.
Pamela offered to contact a speaker who works for Facebook, and will follow up about that in the next few days. Mary is checking with the branch manager of Greenfield for a presentation on the Triqui community in Greenfield. Inga will check with MPL to see if someone would present Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales.
- Workshops: Working with Difficult Patrons22 attendees are registered. The room is booked and the speaker has been contacted about area-stay information.
Merritt asked the group about a Job Seeker workshop InfoPeople is offering: would we be interested? The group responded positively and we discussed dates. The proposed date would likely be in January or March, on a Thursday (in acknowledgement of the number of people on furlough each Friday.)
- Memo to administrative council regarding website passwordsHeather will include our conclusions in the packet of information Admin Council will receive for their next meeting.
New Business
- no new business this time.
Repeat Business
- New Reference Sources (books, websites,)Jean asked the group for feedback on using WorldCat Local. They had set up a trial but were somewhat disappointed because search results were imprecise. Frank noted that the new MELVYL is based on WorldCat, but it is clear it is still under development, The resource is free.
- Problem Sharing/solving/trendsBill informed the group about some changes to EBSCO searching including limiters that don’t “stick” with each new iteration of a search. EBSCO’s tech team verified the changes are “meant to behave that way”. He recommended giving EBSCO feedback if you don’t like the changes.
Georg asked about the McNaughton lease program and other libraries’ experiences. Janet provided some explanation about this service to public libraries and others joined in to say it is useful, and a good marketing tool for offering multiple copies of “hot” popular fiction titles, but has some hidden costs in their “point” system. Costs seem inflated, per title. Baker and Taylor offers a similar program.
- News from LibrariesUCSC: Web pages have moved to a Content Management System (Drupal). If you can’t find certain parts of the site you’re used to using, Frank invites questions, comments.
MPL: their webpage has now been redesigned so they’re broken out of a narrow strip at the center of the page. They’ve received one-time funding for a single service point: Youth Services, Circulation and Reference will now be together in one location. They are working out staff members’ concerns. Their self-check system may expand as well, to one more station. They still are not able to offer ILL but are looking at reinstating it.
SCPL: Many changes, recently, including more reductions in open hours; not a popular move with the public. Assistant Director Susan Elgin is retiring, which has led to a reorganization; Merritt announced that she and Janice O’Driscoll have new job duties. Neither Reference nor Youth Services have a department head at the moment, and Merritt may have to discontinue attending MOBACREF. She is considering a candidate to replace her at our meetings.
Hartnell: Classes are very full and students seem focused. More class cuts are coming, and furloughs have meant that there is no service at certain points in the library.
CAB: Classes are overflowing. Gate counts at the library nearly 3000 students daily at the start of the new semester.
MPC: Issued the greatest number of library cards, ever — they had to order more to meet the demand. Bernie Abbott is about to retire in July. They still have no director. Their hours have been reduced: they are no longer open on Sundays. Their budget was balanced this time. Outside demands on library classroom space for meetings have forced discussions of preserving instructional areas for instruction. The Karas room may be tied up as meeting space in future — to be continued.
PGPL: Measure J will decide the library’s fate; it needs a 2/3 vote. A new city manager begins in October. Their recent fundraiser was a success: there were 400 attendees and they were able to raise $10,000. They are seeking an on-call person for about 16 hours a month.
MIIS: They have a new website, also organized with Drupal, and they like that they are now able to edit their own site. They now have pictures, as well. Faculty publications are featured on the site, using a service called “Selected Works”.
HML: They now have a new part time librarian, shared with Monterey PL and Pacific Grove. This person’s responsibilities are split between local history support and reference. They are beginning to engage staff in cross-training for Youth and Adult services. Their website has been updated as well.
NPS: This is the first week of the quarter. Now offering in-library tech support during regular hours at the start of the quarter. The library has a Twitter presence, and is investigating the use of Facebook. TextALibrarian is now part of the library’s front page and so is generating more questions.
MCFL: They are now offering very popular computer classes at Seaside, including content in English and Spanish, and even one on one tutoring at Marina. This service comes to them thanks to volunteers. The King City branch joins the Seaside branch in offering the Foundation Directory Online, a popular source for searching for funding for non-profits. NetLibrary was launched last week, and the patrons can create an account remotely with their library card. eBooks and eAudioBooks are both offered. Only the eAudiobooks are downloadable, the eBooks are not downloadable. They are pleased with this service as a first step in the direction of this kind of content for users.
Agenda building for the next meeting
Adjournment
A Refresher Course on using the pbwiki was offered by Georg after the meeting.
Minutes by Irene Berry, and posted to the wiki for the group to edit on 9/23/2009.