XXXX Coordination Group Meeting

Wed., July 29^th , 1998

9:00 am to 12:00 pm, University of Guelph Data Resource Centre

Attendance:

Bo Wandschneider, Doug Horne, Susan Moskal, Helene Leblanc

This was the first meeting of the coordination group as established at a meeting of July 20^th , 1998, between the 3 chief librarians and the group charged with designing the amalgamation. Several issues associated with the implementing joint data service were discussed and the highlights are outlined below.

1. Name, meetings (time and format), membership

The issue of a name for the facility was discussed. No formal name was decided on and the group was to go back and consider this. It was hoped that consensus would be reached by the week of August 3^rd . It was noted that the use of the word TUG in the title would conform with other joint ventures, however, there is concern that this will be a difficult issue should the services be expanded beyond the three core institutions. This is considered a strong reality.

Action: group will consider a name

It was determined that the group would meet as needed and this would probably be monthly. Meetings will not need to follow any rules of order and will be informal, although we will have an agenda and there will be summary reports published to the web.

With respect to membership it was decided that this group of 4 was the best way to proceed. Individual resource people will be invited to meetings as needed. It is expected that this will be a common practice.

2. What do we do:

This issue took up most of the meeting time. The discussion centered around the notes prepared by Ron McKinnon on July 20^th . It was stressed that the objective of this group is to coordinate the day to day operations. Individuals will be involved in executing the day to day activities, but as a group we will simply coordinate these. As such we defined the functions of the group as follows:

1. Coordinate the day-to-day operations and functioning of the XXX

- coordinate workload for major data releases in order to anticipate user demands

- monitor and evaluate client services

- monitor and evaluate software and hardware performance

- coordinate a system for documentation, trouble shooting and complaints

- coordinate the training of library staff

- monitor usage statistics and report these to University Librarians

2. Planning and development of the service

- monitor collection and future needs

- keep interested parties informed of activities through newsletters, articles and announcements on the web (see links in part 3)

- liaison with University Librarians and collection groups related to budgeting and long-term direction

- work with computing services departments in order to meet demand on hardware and implement new technologies

Action: Bo and Barry will design and implement a form to input and monitor data acquisitions

3. Formal Links:

This overlaps with the above topics. In summary the coordination group will work closely with the following groups, keeping them informed of relevant information.

Chief Librarians

Director of CCS (UG)

Collection groups

TUG collections group

Cataloging groups

TUG cataloguing

Information Resources Management Group (WAT)

Electronic Data Services (WAT)

Electronic Resource Collection group (WLU)

Statistical Advisory Group (UG)

4. Coordination of Web pages:

It was agreed that we should try and have a common interface to our web information. It was decided that we would try and build a proto-type around the Guelph page and then proceed from there. It was determined that this should be done soon so that we can use this in training and get feedback from these sessions. This common set of web pages would be managed by all three institutions and would provide direct links to each institution. The idea of getting a separate domain name such as XXX.on.ca was discussed and Doug was going to follow up on this.

Action: Doug will check into domain names

Bo, set up test pages

5. Training - user support

technical support

The training for user support was discussed, and it was determined that there would be at least 2 separate sessions. The first session would be held on August 5^th or 6^th . The second session would be held in the 3^rd week of September. It was felt that having an initial session now would give people a chance to try the system and they would be better prepared in September. Holidays are proving to be a major impediment.

Action: Sue and Helen will check on dates

Technical training is scheduled for Sept. 21^st (am or pm) or Sept. 22^nd (am or pm).

Action: Sue and Helen will check on dates

6. Catalog Records

Issues surrounding how we should catalogue electronic records was discussed. Entering the CD-ROMS and codebooks seems straight forward and will continue for each institution. Sue will consult with cataloguers and prepare a draft report on how we should deal with the electronic data set records. Ideally we would like to see a URL in the record that connects the user to the retrieval system.

Action: Sue will draft a report on procedures

Bo will discuss with Barry on how we may get a link directly to data

7. Publicity

It was determined that publicity is extremely important and a schedule for informing the user community was developed. An article will be prepared outlining the amalgamation and what it means to the user community. This article will be published in At Guelph, the Waterloo Gazzette, and the Laurier News, sometime in early October. Bo will work with Shayla Steeves in CCS to prepare this article. IN addition a short report will be prepared for the DLI - update and releases sent to OCULA, GOVINFO and OLITA listserves.

The current DRC newsletter due out in the fall semester will be re-worked to be a common newsletter for the collaborative effort. The format will be similar. Artcicles will be prepared from each institution and Carol Pery will put it together. Projected release data is mid semester.

Action: Sue and Helene will get dates for submission to respective papers

Bo will work on getting article written with Shayla

Sue will prepare a report for DLI and contact Lynda about dates

Sue will prepare releases for listserves

8. Other business

At the next meeting we will discuss issues around statistics