Board Meeting Minutes, Dec. 19, 2002: Wisconsin Public Library Consortium

WPLC Board Meeting Minutes: December 19, 2002

Present: David Weinhold (ESLS), Peggy Shaffer (LLS), Stef Morrill (SCLS), Inese Christman (WVLS), Barbara Strauss (OWLS), Mark Arend (WLS), Peter Hamon (SCLS), Phyllis Davis (SCLS), Linda Miller, Project Manager, and Kathy Schneider (WiLS). Josh Morrill also attended.

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

1. Partner Reports

Winnefox reported that Joy has the WPLC website up. New titles will be updated by WiLS, not Winnefox.

WVLS will add records to V-Cat. Marathon County has had good results from including records in its catalog. MCPL has started circulating four handheld readers, which have been popular.

SCLS ran ads regarding netLibrary in high school newspapers around the area. There has been an increase in use that is believed to be a result of the ads. The handheld readers were upgraded to the new operating system.

ESLS reported that there has been an increase in the number of registered netLibrary users. The readers may be used by book discussion groups and also to fill requests for popular titles. There have been some issues related to the operating system upgrade of the readers. All but the original titles needed to be downloaded again. Some good features, such as pagination, were added, but some features, such as orienting the device in landscape view, were removed.

OWLS reported that an integrated serials project has already been accomplished by their in-house staff so there is no longer a need to pursue a proposal for this project. They will have a list on their website soon. They plan to update this list once a month. They have seen an increased use of netLibrary titles. Staff has found that the process to gather netLibrary statistics has improved.

2. Current Project Reports

Stef Morrill reported on the audio book project. Four libraries are circulating the devices. They have 77 titles and there is still some money left to spend. There have been 24 circulations of the devices so far. Some libraries added memory cards because some titles are too large. Promotional materials are being developed. It appears that it will be possible to burn titles onto CDs that can be played in standard CD players. This may be an alternative to purchasing devices. A separate copy of a title must be owned for each CD that is burned.

David Weinhold reported on the survey project. They have been able to raise most of the money that will be needed to carry out the project. He approached both WLA and WLA Foundation regarding the project. The Foundation has offered $5000 for 2003. WLA is agreeable to WPLC approaching vendors who exhibit at WLA regarding the survey project. Josh reported that netLibrary has agreed to provide $2300 for the project. They also expressed interest in potential future projects.

The remaining $2700 of the estimated $10,000 total cost of the project may not be needed. The plan is to proceed with the $7300 that has been raised and see if more funds are needed. David would prefer to not impose any additional charges on WPLC members unless absolutely necessary.

Kathy asked if any library systems that are not members of WPLC have been approached regarding the survey project. David said that this has not been done yet, but he plans to pursue this.

The steering committee that David is forming currently includes Jessica McPhail from Racine, Peg Zappen from LaCrosse, Becca Berger from WLA, and Peter Hamon from WPLC. David has also asked for one representative each from the WLA Foundation and from the Division. He has not heard back from them yet. The steering committee will be involved in reviewing and finalizing the survey questions, reviewing the results, and preparing the report. David expects that much of these activities can be accomplished using email communication.

Josh reported on the status of setting up the call center. The SCLS training room will be used for this. Additional phone lines will be installed. The hiring of persons other than delivery staff is being considered. The survey should be conducted in January and February. The report should be completed in April.

SRLAAW expressed interest in having the report by late spring so that legislators could use the data for planning the budget.

3. Survey Project Funding

Josh reported on an initiative by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to do a national survey of online users and how people perceive information. It probably will not be possible to pursue this now.

Linda Miller stated that WPLC should keep an eye on this IMLS project to see what organization is hired since this will give some indication of the competition that may be faced in pursuing other similar projects.

4. netLibrary

Kathy Schneider reported that there are currently 4,716 books (volumes) held by WPLC. The recent list of titles to order included some from three publishers that will require a special quote for shared collections. These are Gale, Rosetta, and Tumble Books. Quotes are being requested and should be received by late January.

There have been 47 people participating in the Web-CT course. All but three systems in WPLC have someone participating. WRLS and SCLS each have ten participating. IFLS has eight. Two lessons have been conducted so far. There was a lot of discussion generated, especially with the first lesson.

A promotion has been sent to schools. About a dozen responded with questions or comments. Kathy will respond to these. One school district asked about the need for plug-ins to view titles. A request has been sent to netLibrary for the percentage of titles that require a plug-in and a list of the plug-ins required.

CESA 10 is interested in joining for itself, not on behalf of member schools. The CESA has a professional collection for teachers. They may also want to select some materials that would be of value to their schools.

Peter said that the rate for a district would apply - $3000. Kathy will offer this rate and will communicate that this will be for access by teachers and faculty using the professional collection, not for students.

netLibrary has pulled back from introducing an Adobe offline reader due to unreasonable costs imposed by Adobe and the limited number of titles that would be compatible.

There are a few issues that need to be resolved to complete the merger with the academic library collection. It should be provide users with seamless searching of both collections. MARC records are to be housed at WiLS. Both groups will have access to the records, and each library will decide whether or not to download them. There will still be separate budgets and selection plans for WPLC and the academic libraries. netLibrary needs to talk to the Cliff Notes to assure them that the academic libraries will not be putting those titles in their catalog. netLibrary will also be checking with other publishers to be sure that the merger will not cause any problems.

There will be separate statistics for the WPLC and academic library collections. There will be about 10,000 titles after the merger. The academic libraries have no duplicates and WPLC has less than 100 duplicates. There should not be much overlap.

David asked about the cost to WiLS for hosting the MARC records and title list.

Some WPLC libraries may be participating in the Safari ebook trial. The libraries are working directly with Safari on this. Safari offers many technical titles, such as O'Reilly books.

5. Budget

Funds that were not spent in 2002 have been carried over to the 2003 budget. This includes funds for new projects, training, and curriculum updates. Funds for program management have been increased. The projected income includes $1,600 from the schools.

Kathy will review the cost to WiLS for hosing the MARC records and title list.

SCLS continues as fiscal agent and does retain any interest earned.

Mark Arend made a motion to adopt the budget. Peter Hamon seconded the motion. The motion was carried.

Thanks to Phyllis Davis for chairing the committee that prepared the budget.

6. New Project Proposals

SCLS and WCFLS may propose a project with tablet PCs.

David asked about considering the use of ebrary since they are developing Spanish language titles. Interest was mixed.

7. Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 5, 2003 at 10:00 a.m.

The meeting adjourned.

Linda Miller


		Home > Meetings > Minutes > Board Meeting, Dec. 19, 2002

Members Bylaws Committees Meetings Discussion List Statistics Current Projects Proposals for Future Services Reports Links Home Contact Us		WPLC Board Meeting Minutes: December 19, 2002 Present: David Weinhold (ESLS), Peggy Shaffer (LLS), Stef Morrill (SCLS), Inese Christman (WVLS), Barbara Strauss (OWLS), Mark Arend (WLS), Peter Hamon (SCLS), Phyllis Davis (SCLS), Linda Miller, Project Manager, and Kathy Schneider (WiLS). Josh Morrill also attended. The meeting came to order at 10:00 a.m. 1. Partner Reports Winnefox reported that Joy has the WPLC website up. New titles will be updated by WiLS, not Winnefox. WVLS will add records to V-Cat. Marathon County has had good results from including records in its catalog. MCPL has started circulating four handheld readers, which have been popular. SCLS ran ads regarding netLibrary in high school newspapers around the area. There has been an increase in use that is believed to be a result of the ads. The handheld readers were upgraded to the new operating system. ESLS reported that there has been an increase in the number of registered netLibrary users. The readers may be used by book discussion groups and also to fill requests for popular titles. There have been some issues related to the operating system upgrade of the readers. All but the original titles needed to be downloaded again. Some good features, such as pagination, were added, but some features, such as orienting the device in landscape view, were removed. OWLS reported that an integrated serials project has already been accomplished by their in-house staff so there is no longer a need to pursue a proposal for this project. They will have a list on their website soon. They plan to update this list once a month. They have seen an increased use of netLibrary titles. Staff has found that the process to gather netLibrary statistics has improved. 2. Current Project Reports Stef Morrill reported on the audio book project. Four libraries are circulating the devices. They have 77 titles and there is still some money left to spend. There have been 24 circulations of the devices so far. Some libraries added memory cards because some titles are too large. Promotional materials are being developed. It appears that it will be possible to burn titles onto CDs that can be played in standard CD players. This may be an alternative to purchasing devices. A separate copy of a title must be owned for each CD that is burned. David Weinhold reported on the survey project. They have been able to raise most of the money that will be needed to carry out the project. He approached both WLA and WLA Foundation regarding the project. The Foundation has offered $5000 for 2003. WLA is agreeable to WPLC approaching vendors who exhibit at WLA regarding the survey project. Josh reported that netLibrary has agreed to provide $2300 for the project. They also expressed interest in potential future projects. The remaining $2700 of the estimated $10,000 total cost of the project may not be needed. The plan is to proceed with the $7300 that has been raised and see if more funds are needed. David would prefer to not impose any additional charges on WPLC members unless absolutely necessary. Kathy asked if any library systems that are not members of WPLC have been approached regarding the survey project. David said that this has not been done yet, but he plans to pursue this. The steering committee that David is forming currently includes Jessica McPhail from Racine, Peg Zappen from LaCrosse, Becca Berger from WLA, and Peter Hamon from WPLC. David has also asked for one representative each from the WLA Foundation and from the Division. He has not heard back from them yet. The steering committee will be involved in reviewing and finalizing the survey questions, reviewing the results, and preparing the report. David expects that much of these activities can be accomplished using email communication. Josh reported on the status of setting up the call center. The SCLS training room will be used for this. Additional phone lines will be installed. The hiring of persons other than delivery staff is being considered. The survey should be conducted in January and February. The report should be completed in April. SRLAAW expressed interest in having the report by late spring so that legislators could use the data for planning the budget. 3. Survey Project Funding Josh reported on an initiative by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to do a national survey of online users and how people perceive information. It probably will not be possible to pursue this now. Linda Miller stated that WPLC should keep an eye on this IMLS project to see what organization is hired since this will give some indication of the competition that may be faced in pursuing other similar projects. 4. netLibrary Kathy Schneider reported that there are currently 4,716 books (volumes) held by WPLC. The recent list of titles to order included some from three publishers that will require a special quote for shared collections. These are Gale, Rosetta, and Tumble Books. Quotes are being requested and should be received by late January. There have been 47 people participating in the Web-CT course. All but three systems in WPLC have someone participating. WRLS and SCLS each have ten participating. IFLS has eight. Two lessons have been conducted so far. There was a lot of discussion generated, especially with the first lesson. A promotion has been sent to schools. About a dozen responded with questions or comments. Kathy will respond to these. One school district asked about the need for plug-ins to view titles. A request has been sent to netLibrary for the percentage of titles that require a plug-in and a list of the plug-ins required. CESA 10 is interested in joining for itself, not on behalf of member schools. The CESA has a professional collection for teachers. They may also want to select some materials that would be of value to their schools. Peter said that the rate for a district would apply - $3000. Kathy will offer this rate and will communicate that this will be for access by teachers and faculty using the professional collection, not for students. netLibrary has pulled back from introducing an Adobe offline reader due to unreasonable costs imposed by Adobe and the limited number of titles that would be compatible. There are a few issues that need to be resolved to complete the merger with the academic library collection. It should be provide users with seamless searching of both collections. MARC records are to be housed at WiLS. Both groups will have access to the records, and each library will decide whether or not to download them. There will still be separate budgets and selection plans for WPLC and the academic libraries. netLibrary needs to talk to the Cliff Notes to assure them that the academic libraries will not be putting those titles in their catalog. netLibrary will also be checking with other publishers to be sure that the merger will not cause any problems. There will be separate statistics for the WPLC and academic library collections. There will be about 10,000 titles after the merger. The academic libraries have no duplicates and WPLC has less than 100 duplicates. There should not be much overlap. David asked about the cost to WiLS for hosting the MARC records and title list. Some WPLC libraries may be participating in the Safari ebook trial. The libraries are working directly with Safari on this. Safari offers many technical titles, such as O'Reilly books. 5. Budget Funds that were not spent in 2002 have been carried over to the 2003 budget. This includes funds for new projects, training, and curriculum updates. Funds for program management have been increased. The projected income includes $1,600 from the schools. Kathy will review the cost to WiLS for hosing the MARC records and title list. SCLS continues as fiscal agent and does retain any interest earned. Mark Arend made a motion to adopt the budget. Peter Hamon seconded the motion. The motion was carried. Thanks to Phyllis Davis for chairing the committee that prepared the budget. 6. New Project Proposals SCLS and WCFLS may propose a project with tablet PCs. David asked about considering the use of ebrary since they are developing Spanish language titles. Interest was mixed. 7. Next Meeting The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 5, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. The meeting adjourned. Linda Miller

		Updated October 22, 2004