LIBRARY COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting of Wednesday, November 6th, 2002, 2nd floor conference room, Robarts Library.

Present: Bellamy, P., Chase, V., Cozzi, S. (Chair), DeDiego, I., Devakos, R., Fleming, D., Granatstein, E., Grof, G., Healey, R., Leishman, J., Masters, A., McLeod, D., McNair, L., Moore, C., Murray, C., Newman, J., Ruscillo, M., Schlauch, E., Santeramo, A. (Recording Secretary), Snow, Judy

Regrets: Cheng, A., Clark, J., Clinton, P., Cummins, M., Dondertman, A., Dorskind, S., Downs, V., Hawrychuk, S., Holder, R., Houtman, E., Jaffray, C., King, P., Langlands, S., Mavrinac, M.A., McArthur, L., Meindl, P., Newman, S., Sardone, F., Socknat, C., Walker, S.

Guests: Bravo, G., Rae, A., Smith, R.

  1. Minutes of the meeting of October 9th, 2002: A question arose from number 3: Will the “green paper” be coming from the Provost? It was clarified that this green paper will be a paper to generate discussion on university planning and it will come from the Provost’s Office. Preparation of a green paper is normally the initial step in the creation of a long range plan.

A change was made to number 3. under Planning Strategy: c) add “and beyond” to

read “Student services from point of recruitment through to graduation, and beyond.”

The Minutes were approved with the one change noted above.

  1. Business arising:

Vendor File: Has there been a decision on how to handle this in the SIRSI system?

The Chair reported that it was likely that this file would be loaded into the main

database, and shadowed from public view.

SIRSI Passwords: In response to a question about SIRSI passwords, the Chair

noted that SIRSI passwords would be discussed later in the Agenda in the ITS Update

Report.

  1. Chief Librarian’s Report:

Appointment of Vice-Provost (Students)

A new Vice-Provost (Students) has been appointed. David Farrar, currently Chair of Chemistry, will take up his new appointment officially in January, 2003. The University wants to assess the impact of the double cohort on the experience of students; any thoughts are appreciated and can be brought forward to Carole Moore. It was clarified that interest is not in the usual circulation statistics gathered, but more in information that we do not already collect.

New Head of Reference

As previously announced by e-mail to all staff, Jenny Mendelsohn has been appointed to the position of Head of the Reference Department, effective January, 2003.

Dspace: Project to Standardize Archiving of Digital Materials

CARL, ARL and a number of Ontario libraries are all participants in the most current meetings taking place to discuss software being used to archive and offer web access to digital materials. At the last ARL meeting, it was announced that the University of Toronto will be one of the six partners to participate in the MIT Dspace Project that will begin in January 2003. The software releases to be used will become available soon.

Robert Blackburn

Dr. Blackburn recently attended a former Chief Librarians’ 70th Anniversary meeting at an ARL gathering. He was the librarian who had attended the earliest meeting, in 1948 and was honoured as being the longest standing member.

CARL Meeting

Joan Leishman reported on a CARL meeting that she had attended. There was much discussion on digital preservation and special projects, some of which were demonstrated. A few of the universities involved in the demonstrations of digital preservation efforts included the University of Calgary, the Universite de Laval and the Universite de Montreal. All projects were extremely interesting.

FOS News (Free Online Scholarship)

A service called FOS that includes updates on new projects, events, etc. was announced. The latest news is the digital project with MIT’s Dspace project. The URL for this news service is

  1. ITS Update: The Chair provided a report on behalf of Peter Clinton.

User names and passwords

Individual user names and passwords will be assigned for each staff member. As version 2002 will include updated and new functionality, it has been decided to delay the creation of individual accounts until it is possible to incorporate the 2002 updates.

Access to DRA

It is necessary to provide limited access to the DRA system until the SIRSI Serials check-in/serials control data is fully available and functional.

Acquisitions

DRA Acquisitions data have been successfully migrated to SIRSI.

Serials

UTL staff is in contact with SIRSI staff, working towards a successful migration of

Serials check-in data to SIRSI. Test loads are being evaluated.

Reformatting of Call Numbers

In DRA a Call Number Reformatting program was run only against the call numbers in the 090 field of the bibliographic records. This made call number searching more reliable and provided an online shelflist for the cataloguers. The SIRSI system differs in that it makes use of the call numbers in the item/copy records, ones that have not yet been reformatted and could be in a variety of formats. ITS, along with the help of Elizabeth Black, is preparing and testing a reformatting program to run against the item/copy call numbers. This testing and reformatting should be completed in the next three to four weeks.

Demand Management for Placement of Holds

This will also depend on when the new Unicorn 2002 version arrives.

PC Replacement Project (Staff and Public)

This is now in process.

Library Hours at a Glance

This new service was introduced to allow users and staff to have access to clear and up-to-date information on hours of opening and closing for libraries across campus. There has been good feedback on this service.

Question arising:

Do we know when we might be getting the new version of 2002?

This is entirely dependent on the successful migration of Serials check-in data.

  1. Publications Committee Annual Report: Carolyn Murray reviewed her Report for Council. Brochure samples were provided as were copies of a new newspaper type publication that is an introduction to the Library. A brochure on the new SIRSI public catalogue had been produced. The Publications Committee continues to use the services of the same designer and VERSATEL as the printer of its brochures. Maureen Morin designed the newspaper publication. Many brochures had been updated and upgraded. The frequently asked question brochure has been discontinued in favour of making this information available through the Web.

Questions arising:

Where do the Frequently Asked Questions come from?

The Publications Committee creates them and some suggestions received are included. If anyone has any questions, please send them to Carolyn Murray. The brochure for Holiday Hours will become available shortly. This information will be posted on the Web next week. It was reported that the new library newspaper brochure includes answers to many questions related to the Proxy Server and Wireless Network information. This information is also promoted in the Robarts Library brochure. The Chief Librarian added that the Robarts Library is the second highest user of wireless services on campus. The Faculty of Management is first highest user.

Carolyn moved acceptance of the Publication Committees’ report. This was seconded by Gabriele Grof. All members in attendance voted in favour of acceptance.

  1. Signage Committee Annual Report. Gabriela Bravo reported that there was no written report. Gayle Garlock had been Chair and has now retired. Many libraries had completed their signage efforts and this fact was the chief reason for there being no Report. Judy Snow will now chair the Signage Committee.
  1. Question Submitted to Library Council:What is the current size of the Central Library’s cataloguing backlog? Rosemary Smith addressed this question on behalf of Carol Jaffray. The current size is approximately 97,000. The backlog has been as high as137,000 and as low as 85,000. The Slavic, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic language materials comprise the largest numbers in the backlog. It was not known if the SIRSI system will make cataloguing more efficient and therefore contribute to a further decrease in the backlog.

Question arising:

How much of this backlog is in Rare Books?

The answer was not known. Much of the Rare Book materials are gifts and not much of this material has been entered into the main catalogue.

It was added that many large institutions have large backlogs. Much discussion ensued. The Chair thanked Rosemary for her report.

  1. Other business:

Update on Gerstein

Joan Leishman reported that it was not yet possible to have students using the first three floors. A celebration of the opening of the new staff space has already taken place. Students will not be using the new facility for a few more weeks due to mechanical issues. As soon as students are in, an invitation will be circulated to all staff to view the new quarters.

LC Steering Committee

The Chair reported that this Committee has begun its review of the terms of reference and composition of certain local system functional committees.

The Chair announced that the next meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 4, 2002.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:35 p.m.

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