Central Library / Collection Development Advisory Committee meeting
August 22, 2003

Attending: Greg Callahan, Josh Cohen, Tom Lawrence, Sue Hermans, Sally Alderdice, Ellen Guerci, Patti Haar, Pat Kaufman, Merribeth Advocate, Jim Cosgrove.

Minutes from May 22 meeting approved by T. Lawrence, seconded by P. Haar

Periodicals:

• Committee reviewed the diverse results from the periodical survey, showing the ways member libraries currently deal with magazines. See Appendix 1.
• Committee agreed that at some point all holdings need to be in the catalog, but this effort is to try to make unique and regional items more accessible, with the recommendation that members don’t necessarily link the popular titles, but do link the unusual magazines.
• Discussed reasons for having all periodicals barcoded (without dummy cards) and accessible through the catalog:
  • Material is out there and patrons can’t find it. Don’t know who has magazines or newspapers. See Action 1.
  • Millennium reports by material type would show circulation of magazines
• Discussed concerns about having periodicals barcoded:
  • Display in OPAC. More added will increase confused appearance for patrons.
    • Serials Module may help the display. L. Shedrick has looked at the Module for possible inclusion. It is also for serials management, not just linking.
    • Idea presented to put hotlink in bib record “Search Time Magazine” which would take to the holding statement, not the item statement.
    • Could redo the display of the current holding statement. In Millennium can we post MARC records that are generic holding statements, which would probably be in the notes field. Would give a sense of who has what, where to go to get it. See Action 2.
  • Slowness in linking reported by Millbrook. Could this be because top circulating libraries are in Dutchess County?
  • Do holds on multi-volume records really work? They are item level holds which may not be getting paged at some libraries.

Newspaper indexing:

Obit/death notice listing: A beginning to newspaper indexing would be to do the obit/death notice listing, 3 ways discussed:

1. Use a specific product, genealogy (Obituaries, Marriage, or Cemetery records are indexed by key criteria and image files can be referenced and viewed. Can do just Obituaries for $1200, additional options of Marriage and Cemetary are $200 each)
   
2. Create own database. J. Cosgrove is on a Genealogical list serv that is recommending Access. Adriance is currently using Access for this.
3. Innovative set up a separate database. Has advantage of being same format.

• Would be a joint effort within the counties, decided collaboratively.
• Being done currently at Adriance by Local History department and volunteer. See Action 3.

Subject material: Local entry of subject material is scary. Authority control must be in place from the beginning. Could begin by indexing headlines of first 3 pages of each section.

Readers Advisory:

• Add button to OPAC: Don’t Know What to Read click here.  Reading Suggestions. Be supported by info from the Staff Picks form. See Action 4. Have to be holdings for these items.
• Discussion of how to start moving the classics and other very well written books.
  • Oldies but goodies shelf.
  • By gone best sellers.
  • Staff picks sections in library.
  • Cart of “Save these books, they are going to be weeded out if not read”.

Committee mission statement:

• Committee discussed draft, made a few revisions/additions to the mission statement and actions, and approved the draft.

MHLS Web site:

• Discussion of where links to MHLS projects should be – on member library pages. See Action 5.
• Discussed draft of new navigational menus, made revisions/additions See Appendix 2. Committee was pleased to have the sections previously in Resources brought up a level to their own menu on the home page. Suggested font in News section of homepage be increased.
• Discussion that the new format will combine previously scattered resources, that it will be a new navigational path for the Youth Services staff, and that overall it will be a great improvement and best use of staff time.

Last copy:

• Suggestion from committee that when weeding Children’s and YA, if in Wilson Catalog, don’t discard. Last copy discussion will be continued at the next meeting.

Actions:

1.      MHLS will send directions out to members on how to look at their holdings in SEULS and make sure their representation is up-to-date.
2.      J. Cohen and T. Lawrence will look at the display options of the current holding statement for periodicals.
3.      Adriance will demo what they are doing with indexing at the next committee meeting.
4.      MHLS will design Staff Picks form and begin soliciting contributions.
5.      MHLS will send out information to all libraries about the Additional Resources page that the default libraries link to.
6.      MHLS will implement the new navigational menus on the midhudson.org home page, with the back end updated to support the new structure.

Report to DA:

·        In an effort to make unique and regional items more accessible, members don’t necessarily need to link popular titles, but do link the unusual magazines.
·        Committee approved draft of mission statement.
·        New navigational menus have been designed for the homepage of midhudson.org to make the Resources section easier to use.

 

Submitted by Merribeth Advocate 8/24/03

Appendix:

NUMBER OF PERIODICALS BARCODED IN MHLS LIBRARIES: 30 libraries have 100% barcoded (including 1 that has 99% and 2 that have 95%) 6 libraries have 51-75% barcoded 2 libraries have 26-50% barcoded 2 libraries have 25% barcoded 20 libraries have none of their periodicals barcoded	HOW MHLS LIBRARIES CIRCULATE THEIR CURRENT ISSUES: 29 libraries circulate 100% of their current issues 3 libraries circulate 51-75% 1 library circulated 25% 29 libraries circulate none of their current issues
HOW MHLS LIBRARIES LEND THEIR PERIODICALS: 47 libraries circulate 100% of titles (including 1 that circulates 95%) 9 libraries circulate 51-75% of titles 2 libraries circulate 25% of titles 4 libraries do not circulate any periodicals	PERCENTAGE OF PERIODICALS IN MHLS LIBRARIES CURRENTLY DESIGNATED AVAILABLE FOR HOLDS: 26 libraries indicated 100% are available for holds (including 1 that indicated 95%) 6 libraries indicated 51-75% 2 libraries indicated 26-50% 1 library indicated 25% 25 libraries have none of their periodicals available for holds

2.

Public Library Catalog	draft of the new homepage navigation menus	Administration & Management
Calendar		Resource Sharing & Millennium
Contacts & Services		Reference & Collection Development
Weekly Newsletter		Programming
Member Libraries		Professional Development
MHLS Board of Trustees		Marketing, Advocacy & Funding
Web Site Index		Trustee Resources