Present: Marlene Laurence, Wish Leonard, Maureen McCormack, Doug Morton, Sue Moskal, Shabiran Rahman, Susan Routliffe (Chair), Jackie Stapleton, Mary Stanley, Linda Teather (Recorder)

1. Minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes of the meeting of Oct. 17, 2000 were approved with minor corrections.

2. Laptop Drops in the Library

Jackie reported that the committee looking at internet drops for laptops had discussed the issues raised at last week's ISMC meeting. Since increasing the number of drops would require an additional switch at a significantly increased cost for the project and since campus wireless capability is under development, the number of drops recommended will not be changed. Study rooms as drop locations will remain but the situation will be monitored and moving the drops to areas outside the study rooms will be considered if problems develop. The report has been revised to indicate that a description of system support will be created before the drops are activated.

Jackie will forward the revised report to Mark Haslett and ISMC.

Susan thanked the members of the group for their work.

3. Questionnaire for Staff re Roving

Shabiran distributed a draft questionnaire to be used for the staff evaluation of the roving reference pilot. Discussion was deferred to the next meeting.

4. Agenda Schedule for Upcoming Meetings

Ezproxy, originally scheduled for Oct. 31^st, has been deferred until a later meeting.

The agenda for the Oct. 31^st meeting will include the Staff Roving questionnaire, ISMC meeting evaluation (if the summary of evaluations is ready), and another topic selected by Susan. All ISMC members should complete the meeting evaluation form and forward it to Wish electronically by the end of the day on Wednesday. Wish will compile the results.

Discussion of "Reference service at Circulation Desks" will be scheduled for Nov. 7^th and continue on Nov. 14^th if necessary. Melanie Watkins and Sharon Lamont will attend the ISMC meetings. The ISMC discussion is timed to precede a series of customer service meetings User Services will be holding beginning Nov. 21^st.

5. Volunteers at the Information Services Desks

Shabiran and Mary have each been contacted by a person interested in working on our information services desks as volunteers. One is a library science graduate and the other will soon graduate. ISMC members discussed issues relating to the training commitment by the library vs the time commitment by the volunteer and the resulting cost/benefit to the library, the impact on staff of using volunteers to do work we should be paying staff to do, and the appropriate use of volunteers in the library.

ISMC decided that volunteers should not be accepted to provide information service but that project work be investigated if the prospective volunteer is interested. The work and liability waiver would be coordinated through Mary, as it is for all volunteers.

Shabiran will talk with the student who contacted her and report back to ISMC.

6. Systems/ISR Relationship

Discussion focused on the May 2000 ISMC document, "ISR's Systems Liaison Working Group" and Maureen and Doug's work on that group to date. They have concentrated mainly on getting an overall view of the status of the CD ROM databases awaiting initial loading or updating and they have instituted some changes in the information flow to keep better control of CD ROMs in the library. There are still some CD ROM database issues that need to be addressed, FLEXLab requirements for orientation were all addressed, and no other items awaiting Systems attention have been identified.

Maureen and Doug will draft criteria for establishing priorities and forward these to ISMC for input before discussing them with ISR. Sue Moskal will work with Maureen and Doug to provide input from the government publications perspective.

Since many of the CD ROMs awaiting attention from Systems are government publications received on deposit and all other depository libraries must be facing the same workload to provide access to these, it was suggested that this might be a good candidate for a cooperative project on some level (e.g. OCUL). Sue Moskal will discuss this with the TUG government publications group or other appropriate contacts. Susan Routliffe will contact Faye to discuss the possibility of forwarding this to OCUL for a future agenda.

Some of the CD ROMs that have not been loaded have system requirements we can't support. The issue of the IRMC review process before an item is purchased and problems that might be avoided by wider application of that process was raised. Linda will get examples of such problem items and forward them to ISMC.

The discussion concluded with a status review of the four recommendations from the ISMC ISR/Systems report that were referred to the Working Group for action:

1. Clarify what types of requests are appropriately submitted directly to Systems by individuals and what types need broader discussion within the department before they are submitted.

The most problematic requests identified were related to CD ROMs. Procedures are in place for CD ROM and FLEXLab items. No further action will be taken until other types of support needs are identified.

2. Determine the level or levels of priority that will generally be assigned to requests submitted directly by individuals.
3. Develop a process within ISR for collecting, discussing, and assigning departmental priority to requests requiring broader discussion.

The Working Group is drafting criteria for assigning priorities, with a focus on CD ROMs. The process for submitting requests and communicating about outstanding requests has been clarified. Requests from ISR are either submitted via Maureen and Doug or, if sent directly to Chris, are copied to Maureen and Doug. Ongoing communication is coordinated through Maureen and Doug and they are also monitoring the status of CD ROM requests. Maureen ensures that someone from ISR tests newly loaded databases to confirm that they are working correctly.

4. Develop procedures for submitting requests requiring broader discussion to Systems and for letting all members of ISR know what requests, with what level of priority, have been submitted.

No action has been taken because no examples requiring broader discussion have been identified.

Susan Routliffe will edit the full ISR/Systems report to include status updates. At a future ISMC meeting we will review the recommendations in the full report.

7. Roving Reference Pilot Project

Sue and Maureen summarized the discussion on roving reference at the last ISR meeting. After clarification of the roving requirement at less busy times [a person is not required to rove the full shift if assistance is not required by users] and the relative importance of the desk vs roving [neither activity is more important, but the rover will return to the desk if there is a line-up], roving is being viewed more positively. Some ISR librarians heard Evan Solomon speak at a recent OLA Cummings Lecture and reported that his comments related to this type of proactive service would help alleviate concerns. Maureen and Sue will try to get more information about this speaker.

The roving pilot will start on Monday. Maureen and Doug will ensure that all needed supplies are available for desk staff. Sue Moskal will send an email reminder about the pilot to all information desk staff.

8. Next Meeting

Oct. 31, 1:30-3:30, Davis Conference Room