Steering Committee Meeting Minutes, January 17, 2001: Wisconsin Public Library Consortium

Steering Committee Meeting Minutes: January 17, 2001
Location: South Central Library System

Present: Ken Hall (WLS), Phyllis Davis (SCLS), Barbara Strauss (OWLS), Mellanie Mercier (WCFLS), Mary Tlusty (L.E. Phillips), David Weinhold (ESLS), Bernie Bellin (LLS), Sue Siewert (KCLS), Matt Bollerman (MWFLS), Linda Miller, Project Manager, and Kathy Schneider, WiLS.

The meeting came to order at 10:00 a.m.

1. Welcome to New Members

New consortium members in 2001 include Kenosha County Library System (KCLS), Lakeshores Library System (LLS), Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System (MWFLS), and Milwaukee Public Library (MPL). All but MPL were represented at the meeting. Phyllis Davis announced that Wisconsin Valley Library Service (WVLS) was joining also.

Phyllis briefly reviewed the grant services as they differ from the services which new consortium members are eligible to receive. New members are equal partners in the netLibrary collection. Payments from new members are recorded by SCLS separately from those received from the original grant partners. New members may get MARC records for netLibrary titles on the same basis as the other participants and will receive netLibrary promotional materials from WiLS. Materials designed by the WPLC Public Relations Committee are available to all WPLC members. Training services provided by WiLS to grant participants are available to new members through individual member contracts with WiLS. Grant funds allocated for readers, or handheld devices, are available to the original partners only.

2. Partner Reports

WLS has completed overview and netLibrary training by WiLS. WLS staff will be conducting small group and one-on-one training. PR materials prepared by the WPLC Public Relations Committee are being personalized by WLS staff. There are no plans for readers at this time. Plans are in place to go live with netLibrary for the public on February 1st.

SCLS has had a busy schedule with training, also. Training will continue through February and March. PR materials have been distributed to the libraries and information has been posted on the SCLS web site. A big promotion is planned during National Library Week. Library staff are concerned about the amount of assistance that library users may require in using netLibrary. Phyllis will be training CESA 5 staff, the system's target group. Plans are in place to go live with netLibrary for the public on February 1st.

KCLS wants to hear what others are doing to prepare for implementation.

L E Philips staff have been trained by WiLS with positive feedback. PR materials have been received and are being distributed. Plans are in place to go live with netLibrary for the public on February 1st.

LLS libraries are excited about participating and ready to go. System staff will contact WiLS to arrange for training. No date has been set to introduce netLibrary to the public.

ESLS had training in December, and all staff who were trained have netLibrary accounts. PR materials have been distributed to member libraries. Plans are in place to go live with netLibrary for the public on February 1st. Sue Mathews, Mead PL, will train School District of Sheboygan staff, the system's target group.

MWFLS has several technology projects happening right now. Matt will arrange with WiLS to do netLibrary training.

WCFLS had training in December and is ready to go live with netLibrary on February 1st. Mellanie has been learning the administrative functions in netLibrary, such as changing the IP for authentication.

OWLS has almost completed training. System staff will do some individual training. PR materials are being distributed to member libraries. A prerequisite for introducing netLibrary to the public is having bibliographic records in the OWLSnet database. As the WPLC partner charged with investigating authentication using referring URL, OWLS has implemented this and has been working with Geac to get information on patron authentication services. Readers are a low priority at this time.

MPL is coming to WPLC after having just completed a six month project with netLibrary. MPL staff will share with the consortium issues that they identified in their project.

3. Six Month Target Report

WATF requires a six month report. It will be submitted to WATF within the week and will include a narrative summary of activities along with minutes from past meetings. Phyllis will post the narrative to the list.

4. Target Group Issues

Original grant partners identified target groups to integrate into the grant activities. Activities to date have consisted of a few partners training staff in target group agencies. Examples of target groups include CESA 5 for SCLS, School District of Sheboygan for ESLS, and special needs agencies for WCFLS.

Mary Tlusty expressed concern about the amount of time that may be required to fulfill this grant activity.

5. Project Evaluation

Himmel & Wilson are at work on a survey to be distributed to library staff.

6. Reader Issues

Readers were discussed briefly. The consensus of the group was that the development and trends in the industry should continue to be followed, but that the grant did not include activities for an investigation and experiment with various readers.

7. Authentication Issues

Kathy Schneider asked all new consortium members to provide her with a contact person especially to address IP authentication issues.

Barbara Strauss gave new members a history of the investigation of the use of referring URL for authentication as an alternative to authentication by IP address. Briefly, the WPLC Catalog, Access, and Circulation Committee had discussed the issues and recommended that OWLSnet be allowed to investigate this option while all other WPLC members continue to use only IP authentication for netLibrary access. OWLSnet wanted to provide an option that did not require library users to come into the library to open a netLibrary account. By placing a link to netLibrary on library home pages, remote users can access the services and register for an account. Once an account is open, it can be accessed from any location and IP address. Either authentication method, IP or referring URL, is acceptable with netLibrary. OWLSnet has implemented referring URL.

At this time, individual users are not also authenticated against a user database. OWLS has had discussions with its automation vendor, Geac, about purchasing software to provide these services. Not all vendors offer such services. Ken Hall mentioned that DRA, the vendor used by WLS, does not yet offer patron authentication.

Many different opinions on, and definitions of, referring URL exist among Steering Committee members. These were freely shared by all throughout most of the remainder of the meeting. To some consortium members, authentication by referring URL should by definition include patron authentication. Some members expressed strong feelings that access to services that had been purchased by the consortium had to be restricted to only those who are generally understood to be library users of libraries within the consortium. The question was raised of how many non-library users actually visit the libraries' web sites, which would be a necessary first step before anyone accessed netLibrary and then registered for an account. Some committee members see the method of authentication more as a local library system issue than a consortium issue. There is also the question of intersystem agreements and providing services to a user from a non-consortium library who comes to a WPLC library to get access to netLibrary.

Barbara Strauss reported that investigation into the use of referring URL was already identifying issues beyond that of authentication of individual users. OWLS has been reviewing statistics from its web server to identify who is using the service. This has proven to be difficult to do so far. This was an issue that the Catalog, Access, and Circulation Committee had asked OWLS to investigate.

However, one benefit of using referring URL has already been identified. It may be easier to provide use statistics for individual libraries if authentication is by referring URL rather than IP address. The design of the library system's wide area network is a factor here. The ability to get statistics at the library level, as opposed to the system level, was very appealing to committee members.

Ken Hall moved that OWLSnet continue its investigation into the use of referring URL and provide a report to the Steering Committee in Fall 2001, with a final report at the end of the grant period, at which time the Steering Committee will consider what methods of authentication will be allowed. Bernie Bellin seconded to open the motion for discussion. Motion passed.

8. netLibrary Live Update

Most original grant partners plan to go live with netLibrary on February 1, 2001. Kathy Schneider announced that MARC records for the netLibrary collection had been ordered and the file should be available for download soon.

David Weinhold asked about access to the Gutenberg collection. WiLS has asked netLibrary to set the default to allow access.

Ken Hall asked if it was possible for libraries to purchase their own collections of netLibrary titles to increase the number of titles available beyond the WPLC collection. Kathy Schneider replied that netLibrary can now do this.

Barbara Strauss asked about statements made at the WiLS netLibrary training that the academic and public consortia collections will merge. A decision to do so would be needed by both consortia before this would happen.

WiLS is going to make an offline version of the training curriculum available. David Weinhold asked that all training materials be available after the grant ends, and Kathy Schneider agreed. SCLS offered to post the training materials on the SCLS web site on pages reserved for staff.

WiLS will provide one print set of the publicity materials to each new member. There are lots of netLibrary quickstart guides available from WiLS.

Phyllis Davis shared library staff's concerns about the netLibrary statement telling users to contact the librarian if they have problems. Kathy Schneider stated that netLibrary will accept e-mail technical support questions directly from individual users.

9. Committee Activities

The Public Relations Committee needs a new coordinator. Brenda Haines, WLS, is leaving to accept a position outside of WLS. Materials were forwarded to Kathy Schneider.

The Selection Committee will meet for the first time in person on January 24, 2001. Linda Miller will facilitate the first meeting.

The Catalog, Access, and Circulation Committee met in December and is also meeting on January 17 in the afternoon. Barbara Strauss is the coordinator.

The next meeting of the Steering Committee is scheduled for March 28, 2001 at 10:00 a.m. at the SCLS offices.

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

Linda K. Miller
linda@lmatechwork.com
815-229-8215 voice
815-229-5362 fax


		Home > Meetings > Minutes > Steering Committee Meeting, Jan. 17, 2001

Members Bylaws Committees Meetings Discussion List Statistics Current Projects Proposals for Future Services Reports Links Home Contact Us		Steering Committee Meeting Minutes: January 17, 2001 Location: South Central Library System Present: Ken Hall (WLS), Phyllis Davis (SCLS), Barbara Strauss (OWLS), Mellanie Mercier (WCFLS), Mary Tlusty (L.E. Phillips), David Weinhold (ESLS), Bernie Bellin (LLS), Sue Siewert (KCLS), Matt Bollerman (MWFLS), Linda Miller, Project Manager, and Kathy Schneider, WiLS. The meeting came to order at 10:00 a.m. 1. Welcome to New Members New consortium members in 2001 include Kenosha County Library System (KCLS), Lakeshores Library System (LLS), Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System (MWFLS), and Milwaukee Public Library (MPL). All but MPL were represented at the meeting. Phyllis Davis announced that Wisconsin Valley Library Service (WVLS) was joining also. Phyllis briefly reviewed the grant services as they differ from the services which new consortium members are eligible to receive. New members are equal partners in the netLibrary collection. Payments from new members are recorded by SCLS separately from those received from the original grant partners. New members may get MARC records for netLibrary titles on the same basis as the other participants and will receive netLibrary promotional materials from WiLS. Materials designed by the WPLC Public Relations Committee are available to all WPLC members. Training services provided by WiLS to grant participants are available to new members through individual member contracts with WiLS. Grant funds allocated for readers, or handheld devices, are available to the original partners only. 2. Partner Reports WLS has completed overview and netLibrary training by WiLS. WLS staff will be conducting small group and one-on-one training. PR materials prepared by the WPLC Public Relations Committee are being personalized by WLS staff. There are no plans for readers at this time. Plans are in place to go live with netLibrary for the public on February 1st. SCLS has had a busy schedule with training, also. Training will continue through February and March. PR materials have been distributed to the libraries and information has been posted on the SCLS web site. A big promotion is planned during National Library Week. Library staff are concerned about the amount of assistance that library users may require in using netLibrary. Phyllis will be training CESA 5 staff, the system's target group. Plans are in place to go live with netLibrary for the public on February 1st. KCLS wants to hear what others are doing to prepare for implementation. L E Philips staff have been trained by WiLS with positive feedback. PR materials have been received and are being distributed. Plans are in place to go live with netLibrary for the public on February 1st. LLS libraries are excited about participating and ready to go. System staff will contact WiLS to arrange for training. No date has been set to introduce netLibrary to the public. ESLS had training in December, and all staff who were trained have netLibrary accounts. PR materials have been distributed to member libraries. Plans are in place to go live with netLibrary for the public on February 1st. Sue Mathews, Mead PL, will train School District of Sheboygan staff, the system's target group. MWFLS has several technology projects happening right now. Matt will arrange with WiLS to do netLibrary training. WCFLS had training in December and is ready to go live with netLibrary on February 1st. Mellanie has been learning the administrative functions in netLibrary, such as changing the IP for authentication. OWLS has almost completed training. System staff will do some individual training. PR materials are being distributed to member libraries. A prerequisite for introducing netLibrary to the public is having bibliographic records in the OWLSnet database. As the WPLC partner charged with investigating authentication using referring URL, OWLS has implemented this and has been working with Geac to get information on patron authentication services. Readers are a low priority at this time. MPL is coming to WPLC after having just completed a six month project with netLibrary. MPL staff will share with the consortium issues that they identified in their project. 3. Six Month Target Report WATF requires a six month report. It will be submitted to WATF within the week and will include a narrative summary of activities along with minutes from past meetings. Phyllis will post the narrative to the list. 4. Target Group Issues Original grant partners identified target groups to integrate into the grant activities. Activities to date have consisted of a few partners training staff in target group agencies. Examples of target groups include CESA 5 for SCLS, School District of Sheboygan for ESLS, and special needs agencies for WCFLS. Mary Tlusty expressed concern about the amount of time that may be required to fulfill this grant activity. 5. Project Evaluation Himmel & Wilson are at work on a survey to be distributed to library staff. 6. Reader Issues Readers were discussed briefly. The consensus of the group was that the development and trends in the industry should continue to be followed, but that the grant did not include activities for an investigation and experiment with various readers. 7. Authentication Issues Kathy Schneider asked all new consortium members to provide her with a contact person especially to address IP authentication issues. Barbara Strauss gave new members a history of the investigation of the use of referring URL for authentication as an alternative to authentication by IP address. Briefly, the WPLC Catalog, Access, and Circulation Committee had discussed the issues and recommended that OWLSnet be allowed to investigate this option while all other WPLC members continue to use only IP authentication for netLibrary access. OWLSnet wanted to provide an option that did not require library users to come into the library to open a netLibrary account. By placing a link to netLibrary on library home pages, remote users can access the services and register for an account. Once an account is open, it can be accessed from any location and IP address. Either authentication method, IP or referring URL, is acceptable with netLibrary. OWLSnet has implemented referring URL. At this time, individual users are not also authenticated against a user database. OWLS has had discussions with its automation vendor, Geac, about purchasing software to provide these services. Not all vendors offer such services. Ken Hall mentioned that DRA, the vendor used by WLS, does not yet offer patron authentication. Many different opinions on, and definitions of, referring URL exist among Steering Committee members. These were freely shared by all throughout most of the remainder of the meeting. To some consortium members, authentication by referring URL should by definition include patron authentication. Some members expressed strong feelings that access to services that had been purchased by the consortium had to be restricted to only those who are generally understood to be library users of libraries within the consortium. The question was raised of how many non-library users actually visit the libraries' web sites, which would be a necessary first step before anyone accessed netLibrary and then registered for an account. Some committee members see the method of authentication more as a local library system issue than a consortium issue. There is also the question of intersystem agreements and providing services to a user from a non-consortium library who comes to a WPLC library to get access to netLibrary. Barbara Strauss reported that investigation into the use of referring URL was already identifying issues beyond that of authentication of individual users. OWLS has been reviewing statistics from its web server to identify who is using the service. This has proven to be difficult to do so far. This was an issue that the Catalog, Access, and Circulation Committee had asked OWLS to investigate. However, one benefit of using referring URL has already been identified. It may be easier to provide use statistics for individual libraries if authentication is by referring URL rather than IP address. The design of the library system's wide area network is a factor here. The ability to get statistics at the library level, as opposed to the system level, was very appealing to committee members. Ken Hall moved that OWLSnet continue its investigation into the use of referring URL and provide a report to the Steering Committee in Fall 2001, with a final report at the end of the grant period, at which time the Steering Committee will consider what methods of authentication will be allowed. Bernie Bellin seconded to open the motion for discussion. Motion passed. 8. netLibrary Live Update Most original grant partners plan to go live with netLibrary on February 1, 2001. Kathy Schneider announced that MARC records for the netLibrary collection had been ordered and the file should be available for download soon. David Weinhold asked about access to the Gutenberg collection. WiLS has asked netLibrary to set the default to allow access. Ken Hall asked if it was possible for libraries to purchase their own collections of netLibrary titles to increase the number of titles available beyond the WPLC collection. Kathy Schneider replied that netLibrary can now do this. Barbara Strauss asked about statements made at the WiLS netLibrary training that the academic and public consortia collections will merge. A decision to do so would be needed by both consortia before this would happen. WiLS is going to make an offline version of the training curriculum available. David Weinhold asked that all training materials be available after the grant ends, and Kathy Schneider agreed. SCLS offered to post the training materials on the SCLS web site on pages reserved for staff. WiLS will provide one print set of the publicity materials to each new member. There are lots of netLibrary quickstart guides available from WiLS. Phyllis Davis shared library staff's concerns about the netLibrary statement telling users to contact the librarian if they have problems. Kathy Schneider stated that netLibrary will accept e-mail technical support questions directly from individual users. 9. Committee Activities The Public Relations Committee needs a new coordinator. Brenda Haines, WLS, is leaving to accept a position outside of WLS. Materials were forwarded to Kathy Schneider. The Selection Committee will meet for the first time in person on January 24, 2001. Linda Miller will facilitate the first meeting. The Catalog, Access, and Circulation Committee met in December and is also meeting on January 17 in the afternoon. Barbara Strauss is the coordinator. The next meeting of the Steering Committee is scheduled for March 28, 2001 at 10:00 a.m. at the SCLS offices. The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m. Linda K. Miller linda@lmatechwork.com 815-229-8215 voice 815-229-5362 fax

		Updated October 22, 2004