Steering Committee Meeting Minutes, April 30, 2002: Wisconsin Public Library Consortium

Steering Committee Meeting Minutes: April 30, 2002
Location: South Central Library System

Present: Mellanie Mercier (WCFLS), David Weinhold (ESLS), Stef Morrill (SCLS), Inese Christman (Marathon Co.), Deb Dagnon (La Crosse), Ken Hall (WLS), Mark Merrifield (Nicolet), Linda Miller, Project Manager, and Kathy Schneider, WiLS. Josh Morrill also attended.

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

Linda Miller introduced Deb Dagnon from La Crosse.

1. Partner Reports

Marathon County held demonstrations during National Library Week on all electronic resources including netLibrary. Reference librarians are encouraged to use netLibrary to answer reference questions. More and more young people are using netLibrary. There is some question as to how long WVLS will continue with the program.

Nicolet wants additional training and promotion of netLibrary. It has been easier and more effective to do training and promotion of electronic resources, including netLibrary, at the libraries, rather than bringing them to a central site for group training. CESA8 hosted a showcase of electronic technology in schools and libraries for parents and teachers. There were very good results and the public libraries were highlighting the use of netLibrary.

SCLS has completed brochures on netLibrary which are available. There was not enough interest for the netLibrary as a reference tool workshop, but it will be rescheduled. Staff reported that Gemstar is no longer developing the e-book reader devices.

ESLS reported that Gemstar called David to ask how libraries are using the devices. At Mead Public Library, readers were used for a book discussion group. Participants seemed to like the idea of using them. Young adults really like the readers. There has been an increase in netLibrary registrations. This may be a result of including netLibrary titles in the shared catalog. There have been 3.3 uses for each account. David will be attending a meeting of school librarians to discuss joining.

Winnefox has been reviewing the netLibrary statistics and has seen a 60% increase in use. Ken is convinced that there is a future for e-books, especially for reference. The system plans to place netLibrary services at a high priority and to promote its use. The libraries that are using the service the most seem to be the smaller libraries.

WCFLS has about 80 uses a month of the netLibrary titles. An article was in last month's system newsletter to remind library staff of the service. Waukesha Public Library will be adding netLibrary MARC records to their MARC database which should increase the usage. Mellanie reported that there was a lot of discussion at Computers In Libraries last month on e-books. The Badger Association is very concerned about the loss of the reader software. Efforts must be made to obtain a new application.

WRLS has been very busy with migrating to a new Horizon system and efforts on e-book services are on hold.

There was a discussion of the future use of the reader devices. ESLS plans to investigate the possibility of distributing the devices to libraries so that they can be offered as a library service. When libraries demonstrated the devices for the public in some cases this led to patrons purchasing a device for themselves. David suggested that Gemstar should give devices to libraries to demonstrate them and encourage purchase.

2. Evaluation

Josh collected a large amount of data using three methods: 1) survey of netLibrary users; 2) focus groups; and 3) survey of partners on target groups.

1. Online surveys were sent to registered netLibrary users. There was a very good response rate - 13.4%. 736 people completed the survey. The mean age was 43.67 years old. The age range was from 11 to 86. The people using it seem to be typical library users. Most people have dial-up access but did not see that as a big factor in their use. Only 19.3% received any type of training. Most taught themselves. Over 50% said that if they had more training it would not affect their use. The service is being used mainly for reference purposes - to search for specific information.

Most agree that it is a useful resource. People's perception of the website interface for netLibrary is the greatest factor in whether users find the service useful. People seem to like the interface overall, but 15% don't like it. The open-ended questions received responses that total about 40 pages. This is available if anyone wants to read these. Over 50% agreed that the collection is too small. Overall people like netLibrary and want it to continue.

2. Focus groups of users with no previous experience with netLibrary were trained and then used it for two weeks. The users met in groups with the evaluator to discuss their experience.

The primary goals were to compare the difference in perception of netLibrary between adults and youths, rural and metro users, and whether training has an impact. The adult group were frequent users of the library and view the library as useful. The majority of youths did not use the library and did not view the library as useful.

The metro people agreed that the collection is too small, in comparison with the rural people. Unlike the adults, the youths did not believe that the collection is too small or that the interface was difficult to navigate.

There were no significant differences between those who were trained and those who were not. A large percentage agreed that the library should continue to provide the netLibrary service, that they would recommend this to others, and that overall it is a valuable resource.

People who didn't like it were very consistent with their negative views of netLibrary. Users really want to be able to view material offline.

3. The survey of partners on target groups sample size was very small, but some useful information came out of it. Three out of five partners said that they had initiated contact with target groups. Staff issues were the biggest factor in the reason for a lack of activity.

Kathy asked about sharing these findings with academic libraries and netLibrary, and everyone agreed that it will be good to share this information.

Linda conveyed a reminder from Bill Wilson that they are still accepting surveys for the readers until May 1st.

3. Budget

Linda clarified the fact that there is a significant amount of money left from the grant funds that needs to be spent by June 30th. The group had decided to put this money into netLibrary.

The only change in the netLibrary pricing model since its purchase by OCLC is that the access fee which was 50% of the title cost went up to 55% starting April 4. Also, the discount provided to WiLS has decreased from 7.5% to 4.5%. WiLS will probably need to start handling costs for this group as costs have been handled with the academic libraries, which is to pass the discount for titles on to the library and charge an 8% management fee.

Kathy believes that the remaining netLibrary money can be spent. A Selection Committee conference call will be scheduled for this purpose.

Some duplicate titles have been purchased for very popular titles. Stef suggested purchasing titles from turnaways of titles that are not owned. Kathy will ask netLibrary about testing this option. If the money is not yet spent by June 15th, another plan will be needed.

4. netLibrary

It doesn't seem very likely that the collection will merge with any academic collections before a meeting with the academics set for June 7. There is a possibility that UW may pull out of the academic group, and it will become a campus by campus decision. Kathy has received a request from UW IMC to join the public library consortium. Perhaps they could be brought in under the same plan as the schools. WPLC needs to consider how to create a membership for academic libraries.

Conserve School joined at $750 and have already selected $350 of titles which have been added to the collection. They also placed an order for 250 titles for a separate collection. They would consider sharing these with the WPLC collection if there was some compensation for this. WPLC needs to consider how to handle such situations and will discuss this at a future meeting. There is a statement in the original agreement that discourages a member from purchasing a separate collection that is not shared.

Eau Claire School District has joined. This raises the question of do we add schools to the current listserv or create a new one. WPLC needs to consider issues such as inclusion in the electronic discussion list and representation on WPLC committees. These issues will be discussed at a future meeting.

Kathy thinks that changes at netLibrary will result in strong management. The April visit by the netLibrary representative was very helpful. He will be returning at the end of July. If anyone would like a visit at a specific location, let Kathy know.

Kirsten is ready to do the first workshop in May on using netLibrary for reference. A Quicktime video has been created to show how to setup a netLibrary account. The file will be available for distribution soon, or libraries can link to it on the WiLS website.

5. Proposals

Two proposals were submitted for new projects in 2002.

SCLS and WCFLS Proposal: MP3 Audio Books.

A small test project will experiment with the use of MP3 audio books. Devices and a collection of audio book titles will be purchased.

Only six libraries will participate in the initial test, Stef and Mellanie will train library staff. Publicity will be done through the individual libraries and no funds are being requested for public relations. The libraries that were chosen are the ones that seemed to do the best job in promoting the e-book reader devices.

Kalamazoo, Michigan did a similar project from March to December 2001. The 20 MP3 players that were purchased had a total circulation of 158. The 54 audio book titles that they purchased had a total circulation of 379. Kalamazoo has some information on the project at its website.

Another good resource is http://audible.nolanet.org/ which is a project called Listen Ohio involving 10 libraries and offers a large number of titles.

King County Library System has had a successful program, starting with 15 players with one title for each. They are now up to 800-900 players, or about 25 per library.

Stef and Mellanie believe that MP3 players will be around longer than e-book readers. Also, audible.com may be adding services that would allow library patrons to download books to their own personal MP3 players.

This project could appeal to the young adults that don't currently view the library as valuable. Audible.com has about 6000 book titles, and over 20,000 audio files which include speeches and periodicals.

David commented that a smaller test project such as this will be much easier to manage and analyze the results. Stef will check on how long the players will be available for free to libraries.

Lakeshores and ESLS Proposal: Contract for Library Materials

For several years, David has been trying to work with Baker and Taylor and Ingram to negotiate a pricing agreement for ESLS.

Recently, Ingram has offered a pricing agreement for Wisconsin public libraries. This was not a negotiated agreement. There is no agreement in place that fully recognizes the buying power of Wisconsin libraries.

The project would employ a person to gather all the data, negotiate, and provide pricing agreements that would be available to not only public libraries, but also academic libraries and schools. This could be limited to WPLC members to provide an incentive to join the consortium, but it may make it difficult for the jobbers to track which library is eligible if it is limited to a specific group rather than to the entire state. A library would have to notify the jobber that they are covered by a specific pricing agreement.

Kathy commented that UW had attempted to do something similar, but that effort fell apart because a commitment could not be made on how much money would be spent.

David moved to accept the MP3 audio book proposal. Mark seconded the motion. The motion was approved.

David will discuss the contract proposal with Peggy regarding the issues that have been raised. Any new proposals, including a revised proposal will be due by June 5th. David may submit a proposal for additional data collection and analysis on issues raised by Josh's report.

Kathy wondered whether MP3 players could be part of the WATF project. Stef will ask Phyllis Davis about this.

The next meeting of the Steering Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12th 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, April 30, 2002

Members Bylaws Committees Meetings Discussion List Statistics Current Projects Proposals for Future Services Reports Links Home Contact Us		Steering Committee Meeting Minutes: April 30, 2002 Location: South Central Library System Present: Mellanie Mercier (WCFLS), David Weinhold (ESLS), Stef Morrill (SCLS), Inese Christman (Marathon Co.), Deb Dagnon (La Crosse), Ken Hall (WLS), Mark Merrifield (Nicolet), Linda Miller, Project Manager, and Kathy Schneider, WiLS. Josh Morrill also attended. The meeting came to order at 10:00 a.m. Linda Miller introduced Deb Dagnon from La Crosse. 1. Partner Reports Marathon County held demonstrations during National Library Week on all electronic resources including netLibrary. Reference librarians are encouraged to use netLibrary to answer reference questions. More and more young people are using netLibrary. There is some question as to how long WVLS will continue with the program. Nicolet wants additional training and promotion of netLibrary. It has been easier and more effective to do training and promotion of electronic resources, including netLibrary, at the libraries, rather than bringing them to a central site for group training. CESA8 hosted a showcase of electronic technology in schools and libraries for parents and teachers. There were very good results and the public libraries were highlighting the use of netLibrary. SCLS has completed brochures on netLibrary which are available. There was not enough interest for the netLibrary as a reference tool workshop, but it will be rescheduled. Staff reported that Gemstar is no longer developing the e-book reader devices. ESLS reported that Gemstar called David to ask how libraries are using the devices. At Mead Public Library, readers were used for a book discussion group. Participants seemed to like the idea of using them. Young adults really like the readers. There has been an increase in netLibrary registrations. This may be a result of including netLibrary titles in the shared catalog. There have been 3.3 uses for each account. David will be attending a meeting of school librarians to discuss joining. Winnefox has been reviewing the netLibrary statistics and has seen a 60% increase in use. Ken is convinced that there is a future for e-books, especially for reference. The system plans to place netLibrary services at a high priority and to promote its use. The libraries that are using the service the most seem to be the smaller libraries. WCFLS has about 80 uses a month of the netLibrary titles. An article was in last month's system newsletter to remind library staff of the service. Waukesha Public Library will be adding netLibrary MARC records to their MARC database which should increase the usage. Mellanie reported that there was a lot of discussion at Computers In Libraries last month on e-books. The Badger Association is very concerned about the loss of the reader software. Efforts must be made to obtain a new application. WRLS has been very busy with migrating to a new Horizon system and efforts on e-book services are on hold. There was a discussion of the future use of the reader devices. ESLS plans to investigate the possibility of distributing the devices to libraries so that they can be offered as a library service. When libraries demonstrated the devices for the public in some cases this led to patrons purchasing a device for themselves. David suggested that Gemstar should give devices to libraries to demonstrate them and encourage purchase. 2. Evaluation Josh collected a large amount of data using three methods: 1) survey of netLibrary users; 2) focus groups; and 3) survey of partners on target groups. 1. Online surveys were sent to registered netLibrary users. There was a very good response rate - 13.4%. 736 people completed the survey. The mean age was 43.67 years old. The age range was from 11 to 86. The people using it seem to be typical library users. Most people have dial-up access but did not see that as a big factor in their use. Only 19.3% received any type of training. Most taught themselves. Over 50% said that if they had more training it would not affect their use. The service is being used mainly for reference purposes - to search for specific information. Most agree that it is a useful resource. People's perception of the website interface for netLibrary is the greatest factor in whether users find the service useful. People seem to like the interface overall, but 15% don't like it. The open-ended questions received responses that total about 40 pages. This is available if anyone wants to read these. Over 50% agreed that the collection is too small. Overall people like netLibrary and want it to continue. 2. Focus groups of users with no previous experience with netLibrary were trained and then used it for two weeks. The users met in groups with the evaluator to discuss their experience. The primary goals were to compare the difference in perception of netLibrary between adults and youths, rural and metro users, and whether training has an impact. The adult group were frequent users of the library and view the library as useful. The majority of youths did not use the library and did not view the library as useful. The metro people agreed that the collection is too small, in comparison with the rural people. Unlike the adults, the youths did not believe that the collection is too small or that the interface was difficult to navigate. There were no significant differences between those who were trained and those who were not. A large percentage agreed that the library should continue to provide the netLibrary service, that they would recommend this to others, and that overall it is a valuable resource. People who didn't like it were very consistent with their negative views of netLibrary. Users really want to be able to view material offline. 3. The survey of partners on target groups sample size was very small, but some useful information came out of it. Three out of five partners said that they had initiated contact with target groups. Staff issues were the biggest factor in the reason for a lack of activity. Kathy asked about sharing these findings with academic libraries and netLibrary, and everyone agreed that it will be good to share this information. Linda conveyed a reminder from Bill Wilson that they are still accepting surveys for the readers until May 1st. 3. Budget Linda clarified the fact that there is a significant amount of money left from the grant funds that needs to be spent by June 30th. The group had decided to put this money into netLibrary. The only change in the netLibrary pricing model since its purchase by OCLC is that the access fee which was 50% of the title cost went up to 55% starting April 4. Also, the discount provided to WiLS has decreased from 7.5% to 4.5%. WiLS will probably need to start handling costs for this group as costs have been handled with the academic libraries, which is to pass the discount for titles on to the library and charge an 8% management fee. Kathy believes that the remaining netLibrary money can be spent. A Selection Committee conference call will be scheduled for this purpose. Some duplicate titles have been purchased for very popular titles. Stef suggested purchasing titles from turnaways of titles that are not owned. Kathy will ask netLibrary about testing this option. If the money is not yet spent by June 15th, another plan will be needed. 4. netLibrary It doesn't seem very likely that the collection will merge with any academic collections before a meeting with the academics set for June 7. There is a possibility that UW may pull out of the academic group, and it will become a campus by campus decision. Kathy has received a request from UW IMC to join the public library consortium. Perhaps they could be brought in under the same plan as the schools. WPLC needs to consider how to create a membership for academic libraries. Conserve School joined at $750 and have already selected $350 of titles which have been added to the collection. They also placed an order for 250 titles for a separate collection. They would consider sharing these with the WPLC collection if there was some compensation for this. WPLC needs to consider how to handle such situations and will discuss this at a future meeting. There is a statement in the original agreement that discourages a member from purchasing a separate collection that is not shared. Eau Claire School District has joined. This raises the question of do we add schools to the current listserv or create a new one. WPLC needs to consider issues such as inclusion in the electronic discussion list and representation on WPLC committees. These issues will be discussed at a future meeting. Kathy thinks that changes at netLibrary will result in strong management. The April visit by the netLibrary representative was very helpful. He will be returning at the end of July. If anyone would like a visit at a specific location, let Kathy know. Kirsten is ready to do the first workshop in May on using netLibrary for reference. A Quicktime video has been created to show how to setup a netLibrary account. The file will be available for distribution soon, or libraries can link to it on the WiLS website. 5. Proposals Two proposals were submitted for new projects in 2002. SCLS and WCFLS Proposal: MP3 Audio Books. A small test project will experiment with the use of MP3 audio books. Devices and a collection of audio book titles will be purchased. Only six libraries will participate in the initial test, Stef and Mellanie will train library staff. Publicity will be done through the individual libraries and no funds are being requested for public relations. The libraries that were chosen are the ones that seemed to do the best job in promoting the e-book reader devices. Kalamazoo, Michigan did a similar project from March to December 2001. The 20 MP3 players that were purchased had a total circulation of 158. The 54 audio book titles that they purchased had a total circulation of 379. Kalamazoo has some information on the project at its website. Another good resource is http://audible.nolanet.org/ which is a project called Listen Ohio involving 10 libraries and offers a large number of titles. King County Library System has had a successful program, starting with 15 players with one title for each. They are now up to 800-900 players, or about 25 per library. Stef and Mellanie believe that MP3 players will be around longer than e-book readers. Also, audible.com may be adding services that would allow library patrons to download books to their own personal MP3 players. This project could appeal to the young adults that don't currently view the library as valuable. Audible.com has about 6000 book titles, and over 20,000 audio files which include speeches and periodicals. David commented that a smaller test project such as this will be much easier to manage and analyze the results. Stef will check on how long the players will be available for free to libraries. Lakeshores and ESLS Proposal: Contract for Library Materials For several years, David has been trying to work with Baker and Taylor and Ingram to negotiate a pricing agreement for ESLS. Recently, Ingram has offered a pricing agreement for Wisconsin public libraries. This was not a negotiated agreement. There is no agreement in place that fully recognizes the buying power of Wisconsin libraries. The project would employ a person to gather all the data, negotiate, and provide pricing agreements that would be available to not only public libraries, but also academic libraries and schools. This could be limited to WPLC members to provide an incentive to join the consortium, but it may make it difficult for the jobbers to track which library is eligible if it is limited to a specific group rather than to the entire state. A library would have to notify the jobber that they are covered by a specific pricing agreement. Kathy commented that UW had attempted to do something similar, but that effort fell apart because a commitment could not be made on how much money would be spent. David moved to accept the MP3 audio book proposal. Mark seconded the motion. The motion was approved. David will discuss the contract proposal with Peggy regarding the issues that have been raised. Any new proposals, including a revised proposal will be due by June 5th. David may submit a proposal for additional data collection and analysis on issues raised by Josh's report. Kathy wondered whether MP3 players could be part of the WATF project. Stef will ask Phyllis Davis about this. The next meeting of the Steering Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12th 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