Library Tools Task Force Meeting Minutes
March 16 (in-person) and March 27 (conference call), 2006
Present: Lynn Bierma (ISL), chair; Terry Huttenlock (Wheaton Coll.), by phone; Michel Nguessan, Governors State Univ.; Pamela Salela, Univ. IL Springfield; Cason Snow, Northern IL Univ.; Peggy Steele, Univ. IL Urbana-Champaign; Anne Hudson, CARLI liaison
These minutes also include information received subsequent to the actual meetings.
- Review of Task Force’s Charge: There was a wide variety of interpretations among the Task Force members as to the specific goals of the charge. L. Bierma and A. Hudson agreed to follow up with Paula Kaufman (UIUC) who had been chair of the group that created the Task Force and with Susan Singleton, CARLI ED.
The subsequent clarification is: The charge is to identify products and services developed in-house (or under development) by CARLI members that enhance existing commercial products or that address library needs uniquely (in ways that are not available commercially). Additionally, the Task Force is to recommend a way for CARLI members to easily identify these products and services (develop a web site to act as a clearinghouse, for example) along with the costs involved.
The charge is NOT to seek, evaluate or recommend any new products for CARLI purchase or implementation. - Development of a CARLI Member Survey: The Task Force agreed that a survey to identify what the members’ current automation environments are and to solicit specific examples of in-house development would probably be the most useful way to go about the task.
After extensive discussion, various assignments for proceeding were made:
(NB: at the March 27 conference call, some of these assignments were modified)
L. Bierma: clarification of charge and drafting a cover letter to go with the survey
P. Salela: research survey techniques and set up a Blackboard instance for the TF
M. Nguessan: set up an Elluminate meeting space for the TF; identify best sources for information on library technologies in general
P. Steele: the survey component that identifies the technical support available in the library
C. Snow: the survey component that asks about software that was evaluated and not chosen
At the March 27 conference call, C. Snow and P. Steele decided to combine their efforts into the survey component assessing technical support at each institution
A. Hudson: the survey component (grid) that asks about currently used commercial and open source software; clarify the process for getting the survey into a Web-based format and available to all CARLI members
At the March 27 conference call, T. Huttenlock and M. Nguessan agreed to classify the products and services that are returned on the survey results.
There was discussion, but no decision, on whether to include a “wish list” component in the survey, i.e., what tools do you wish you had?
Ideally, the assignments were to be completed and distributed to other TF members by March 31. - Next Meeting: April 13, 2006; 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.; same ISU conference room