Attending: Patti Haar, Josh Cohen, Laurie Shedrick, Jim Cosgrove, Tow Lawrence, Greg Callahan, Ellen Guerci, Pat Kaufman, Sherry Haluska, Merribeth Advocate.
Excused: Sue Hermans, Sally Alderdice

Minutes from the August 2004 meeting were approved by P. Haar, seconded by G. Callahan. Amendment made to 8/04 minutes that P. Kaufman was excused.

• Review Central Library Actions:
  • Web resources
    • Dutchess County Info Port: <http://www.dcinfoport.org/> Committee reviewed this as a model for Info Ports for all counties. T. Lawrence will write brief description of site for addition on member pages. Design will have front page links to categories of local info including: State & local government, education, art & recreation and databases purchased collectively by counties. J. Cohen said databases are perfect use of county money. Databases will be authenticated through EZ Proxy. Statistics will be collected on database use through Click Tracker.
    • Recommended Links: Committee reviewed draft of the revised page designed using Mambo content management system to permit changing of the template without changing the information. Committee suggested adding county links to the top, and in the Local Information section pointing to the 5 county Info Ports.
  • Member library training: no progress on "cloning" S. Hermans training
    
    • CL pathfinders: no update
  • Local history cataloging:
  • Committee reviewed draft bulk contents notes examples in the catalog. (By keyword search: Vail Collection & Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge)
  • Looking for a source of local and regional subject headings. Need to develop a thesaurus through CL and K. O'Brien (see Action 1). Suggested speaking with Ellenville Public Library & Museum in RCLS.
  • Promotional materials: T. Lawrence distributed model for Postcards member libraries could give to patrons who need additional information that the local library cannot provide. Committee suggested title to be "Stumped? Need more info?", and info to be bulleted rather than linear.
• Development Aid / Funding update: Lost $14,000 due to 5% cut. Where this cut will be applied is still to be determined.
• MHLS rotating collection status
  • Committee suggested that the ability to place holds has ended the need for CD-Book and LP rotating collections from MHLS, and that MHLS should get out of the business of buying these materials. Libraries have the ability to form their own rotating collections and exchange them within a group of interested participants. Libraries have strong collections in specific areas that may not be circulating the way they want and this would refresh them without injecting MHLS funds.
  • Committee suggested additional focus and support in acquisition procedures for Spanish materials.
  • New Formats: Committee suggested that the concept of offering rotating collections of new format materials be retained, though at this point there is no recommendation to start any specific new format. Subscription price of future New Format collections should increase in price each year.
  • Committee recommendation is for MHLS to not spend funds on any new Books-on-CD, continue to rotate them to interested libraries who pay the $100 subscription fee, then disperse them equally to all interested libraries at the end of December 2005. (see Action 2)
• Local history records - LSTA
  • MHLS submitted a LSTA application for the Local Family Name Historical Newspaper Index. If funded, project would run April 2005 - March 2007.
  • Dianne Macpherson from the Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) (a statewide records program designed to locate and organize NYS historical records) said they will provide a free on-site visit to any interested MHLS library to review their local history collection and suggest a plan and next steps. M. Advocate will send an Action Memo to member libraries to coordinate on-site visits from DHP, with the recommendation from the committee that libraries have a site visit before the end of 2005. (See Action 3)
• DVD Collection Development report: DVD's account for over 50% of purchase alerts. A system-wide collection is not being built in this area as some libraries are not purchasing any; some are buying and not sending them. Committee suggested several possible remedies:
  • A library should own a proportion of the number of DVDs borrowed by their patrons over the year, based on a prescribed formula.
  • If a library doesn't buy DVD's their patrons cannot borrow other DVD's.

  Committee is referring this discussion to the Resource Sharing advisory committee for further discussion. (See Action 4)

• Coordinated Collection Development
  • CL conspectus report grid: Distributed to committee members. Includes for each Dewey range: description of collection, target users, collection statement, components (looking at different media) and level to collect at for Adriance. Level is based Collection Level Indicators summary on first page. Libraries when looking to focus on areas, may want to look to CL Conspectus to see what level to buy at locally.
  • Floating collections: Article distributed: The Latest Wave by Ann Cress, from October 1, 2004 issue of Library Journal. Floating collections would be best with high demand items. Could be done with any format that has its own I-Type. Would require some specific standardization of policies / rules.
• Preview revised Home Access display: Committee reviewed draft and agreed the new design was more useful for patrons. Agreed that Lifelines should not be included on the HomeAccess page, as it was a hybrid site not exclusively a database, and patrons accessing it though HomeAccess have to log-in twice. Committee recommended that the new HomeAccess page come up as soon as possible. (See Action 5)

Other

• What are the statistics that really matter to us: Discussion of this, combined with Management Report training, will be topic of Millennium Users Group in 2005. (See Action 6)
• Wilson Fiction Catalog: CL has purchased access to this online, with a URL that can be used for access by member library staff to this tool to help with collection development, weeding, and following Fiction Last Copy Policy & Procedure. CL will offer training to use this. (See Action 7)

Actions:

1. Central Library representatives and K. O'Brien will meet to begin discussion of a source of local and regional subject headings.
2. DA will discuss committee recommendation of MHLS rotating collections.
3. M. Advocate will distribute info to all libraries on initiating a review of their local history collection from DHP.
4. Resource Sharing Advisory Committee will discuss issue of DVD sharing.
5. M. Advocate will bring up the new HomeAccess page.
6. L.Shedrick will offer additional Management Report training, including discussion of "what are the statistics that really matter to us."
7. Central Library will provide access directions for Wilson Fiction Catalog to member libraries and will offer training on how to use it.

Report to DA:

• Central Library is modeling a revised look for County Info Ports at <http://www.dcinfoport.org/>
• MHLS rotating collections: Committee suggested that the ability to place holds has ended the need for CD-Book and LP rotating collections from MHLS, and that MHLS should get out of the business of buying these materials. Libraries have the ability to form their own rotating collections and exchange them within a group of interested participants. Libraries have strong collections in specific areas that may not be circulating the way they want and this would refresh them without injecting MHLS funds. Committee recommendation is for MHLS to not spend funds on any new Books-on-CD, continue to rotate them to interested libraries who pay the $100 subscription fee, then disperse them equally to all interested libraries at the end of December 2005.
• The Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) < http://www.lowerhudsonconference.org/Programs/DHP/dhp.html> (a statewide records program designed to locate and organize NYS historical records) said they will provide a free on-site visit to any interested MHLS library to review their local history collection and suggest a plan and next steps. M. Advocate will send an Action Memo to member libraries to coordinate on-site visits from DHP.
• DVD Collection Development: A system-wide collection is not being built in this area as some libraries are not purchasing any; some are buying and not sending them. Committee is referring this to the Resource Sharing committee for further discussion.
• Central Library has developed a conspectus report which includes for each Dewey range: description of collection, target users, collection statement, components (looking at different media) and level to collect at for Adriance. Level is based Collection Level Indicators summary on first page. Libraries when looking to focus on their collection development in specific areas, may want to look to CL Conspectus to see what level to buy at locally.
• New "patron friendly" HomeAccess page is being brought up.
• Central Library has purchased access to the Wilson Fiction Catalog online, with a URL that can be used for access by member library staff to this tool to help with collection development, weeding, and following Fiction Last Copy Policy & Procedure <http://midhudson.org/collection/last_copy.htm>. Central Library will offer training on using this resource.

Merribeth Advocate
November 22, 2004