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Information Services and Resources, Dana Porter Library
Departmental Meeting
March 5 , 2010
Dana Porter Library Room 428
10:00am -12:00pm
Minutes

Present: Annie Bélanger, Michael Bustamante, Helena Calogeridis, Marian Davies, Jane Forgay, Tim Ireland (recorder), Christine Jewell, Sandra Keys, Judy McTaggart, Carol Steele, Janet Wason, Agnes Zientarska-Kayko

  1. Minutes from February 5, 2010.
    Minutes were discussed for approval. Action items were discussed.

  2. Business Arising from the Minutes
    1. Student Endowment Fund: There have been no projects submitted to Annie.
      ACTION: Submit projects to Annie.
      ACTION: Nancy will send links to previously supported projects.

    2. MLIS Co-op: Sandra and Leeanne will be interviewing at Western for a MLIS co-op student. The contract will be 8 months. Leeanne will be the supervisor this time. The contract will last from May to December 2010. The position will be for both Porter and Davis, but the co-op will continue to “reside” in Porter.

    3. Cords and trays at the information desk: One of the previous keyboard trays broke. The new tray is not large enough to comfortably hold the keyboard and mouse.
      ACTION: Annie will ask Wolf to re-wire the keyboard and mouse to try and increase mobility.
      ACTION: All-Will try the computer on the left side to see if that tray is more ergonomically friendly. After testing, a new tray may be ordered for the right side of the reference desk.

    4. Policies and Procedures: Judy and Marian looked into the history of the policies and procedures documents as they relate to the information desk. They discovered in the book stacks a publication listing complete procedures, including an order of responding to requests for assistance. There was also a copy of this 1991 document in the University of Guelph stacks. Further, there was an out of date copy from 2002 located on the staff web. In 2003, ISMC (Information services Management Committee) developed a service philosophy based on focus groups and user feedback. The document was completed in 2004.

      Judy and Marian will work on updating this document. Feedback will be solicited from both ISR departments and upon completion will be shared with all library locations.

      ACTION: Judy and Marian will begin work on updating the Policies and Procedures document.
      ACTION: Annie will co-ordinate with Jennifer to ensure feedback from both departments is considered.

    5. E-Books platform: Usability testing was completed by various people from the University of Waterloo. Comments about the platform should be sent through the feedback box on the e-books platform. Annie also mentioned there will be a new search discovery layer similar to Summons. This will be an amalgamated search tool of multiple databases. There are some outstanding concerns including accessibility issues and facet searching. Jennifer will be looking at the feedback in more detail as she is the UW representative on (PSAG) OCUL’s Public Services Advisory Group.

  3. Additional Agenda
    1. Express Workstations

  4. Popular Database Choices (Annie)
    Doug and Nancy are looking at the “Popular Choices” option on the databases page. There is concern about which databases to include/exclude and a potential name change. There are suggested name changes; for example, Web of Knowledge may become Web of Science. Other more appropriate names for the interface were also discussed. Comments from the discussion were given to Nancy for consideration.

  5. Admin Matters-Patron Driven Acquisition (Annie)
    Annie outlined a pilot project that will be happening at the OCUL level. It is a patron driven selection system for e-books. Based on user activities, the purchase of certain e-books would be triggered and made available to all participants within OCUL. There are outstanding issues. Funding would not affect the selectors’ budget. Waterloo has agreed to participate contingent on the pilot working well within TUG. The potential timeline for the pilot is April/May 2010.
    ACTION: Annie will continue to look into some of the outstanding issues.

  6. Admin Matters Coutts vs. YBP (Annie, All)
    The transition from Blackwells to YBP is estimated to take about 45 minutes per profile. This work will begin on March 22. Librarians with multiple profiles will be allotted 1.5 hours.

    There were concerns voiced about the customer service offered by Coutts. The number of items previously coming in on approval plans has decreased dramatically since the purchase freeze we had last year. There were also concerns voiced about selected books not being delivered after an inappropriate delay.

    ACTION: Annie will follow up with David (Coutts rep).
    ACTION: Everyone with concerns about Coutts’ customer service should send details to Annie. Annie will compile and send formal complaint letter. This will be completed by the end of March.

  7. Express Workstations (Jane)
    Jane brought forward concerns voiced by a faculty member. The faculty member would like to see an express terminal set aside for searching the catalogue. As this has a greater impact on the library than just Porter ISR staff, Annie has requested a written proposal outlining the request. Details such as time of day and specifics on what we would like to see happen will be included.
    ACTION: Jane will write up a proposal for express computer stations.
    ACTION: Annie will bring proposal forward at the next library managers meeting (March 17).

  8. Around the table:
    Michael noted that there are now UW created RefWorks videos with captions on the UW YouTube.edu site. Additional information about this screencasting project was requested and will be sent out via e-mail.

    Annie mentioned she is now part of the core UW web implementation team. She is excited to participate and share her knowledge of accessibility issues with the campus.
    Helena suggested that the poster created as part of the German Bibliography project could be mounted in the Porter ISR area so it can be enjoyed by all.

    Janet announced that she and Annie will be presenting a session titled “Lost in Library Land: Collaborating for Accessible LibGuides” at the accessibility conference (University of Guelph) June 8 and 9.

January 30, 2012