Information Services Management Committee

Minutes of the Meeting of June 19, 2001
1:30-3:30 P.M.
Davis Conference Room

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

Guests: Margaret Aquan-Yuen, Susan Bellingham, Anne Fullerton

1. Minutes of Previous Meeting (June 12, 2001)

   Susan R. will send the minutes to the Committee. Any revisions should be sent to Rose by Monday, June 25, and if there are no significant changes, she will send them out to all library staff.

2. Statistics Related to Information Services ISMC continued the work begun at the May 29th meeting to develop a chart with details relating to statistics. How the statistics are used will be addressed at a future meeting. A suggestion was made to add Ask Us/Tell Us and TUG comments to the e-mail category. Roving will also be added as a distinct category. The Committee worked through the following areas of activity to determine what is counted, who counts and compiles the statistics, and where they are recorded:
   • Reference:
     • Ask Us/Tell Us
     • TUG comments
     • journal indexes
     • IBIS
     • rainchecks (to be looked at when Richard provides information)
     Note: The possibility of double counting (e.g. forwarded e-mail messages) was earmarked for future discussion.

   • Instruction:
   • course/discipline specific workshops (we will remember to look at the other types of information that are counted as well when considering how stats are used)
   • general workshops
   • tours
   • print publications (paid for through Publications account)
   • displays (staffed)
   • displays (static--requires a closer look when considering how statistics are used)
   • Web pages created (whether there is a need to count more/all pages was earmarked for future discussion)

   • Hits (use) of electronic resources:
   • in house pages created (ISMC sent request to Web Ops Group in April)
   • external pages (some vendors provide information regarding number of hits)

   • Promotion
   • on-campus media
   • off-campus media
   • postings (electronic or print) to groups on campus (is this something we want to count; if so, why?)

   ISMC will re-visit statistics on July 3rd. Susan R. will ask Cheryl to add the above information and distribute it.

3. E-publication to Replace fyi

   Mary talked about an idea that she, Linda, and Esther have been working on to develop an electronic publication to replace fyi. Following the Fall 2000 publication, survey results indicated that grad students, faculty and staff would like to see this information published electronically. People were also interested in knowing about things such as what new electronic resources and journals were available. Mary talked about the proposed content, frequency of publication, and ways in which the online newsletter might be made available to faculty, grad students, staff, and undergrads. Mary will shortly send an e-mail message about this electronic publication to all library staff.

4. Membership Rotation

   Susan R. indicated that ISMC would try to co-ordinate its changeover in membership with that of IRMC, which will likely take place this September. There is a preference for the Committee to finish any outstanding business (e.g. statistics, review of the Systems/ISR Report) before this happens. The following members will have completed their terms: Wish, Marlene, Linda, Maureen, Sue M., and Jackie (Marlene volunteered to stay if no one from Special Collections or UMD comes forward; Linda also volunteered to stay, if this was agreed to by Systems staff). These members will stay: Shabiran, Doug, Mary, and Susan R. A library assistant each from Porter and Davis will be sought. Susan R. will send out a preliminary memo soon, and another in early August to invite expressions of interest from library staff.