9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Tampa Bay Library Consortium Headquarters

Progress Update

RPA

·        13 libraries using RPA to access commercial databases

·        DRA libraries and Sarasota have not been added yet

OCLC as lender of last resort

·        Sarasota County Public Libraries – May 2002 – were first to use this, anywhere

o       Refined OCLC procedures

o       Provided workflow procedures and tips

o       We're now training North Bay on procedures

·        Added Tampa (June 2002) & SUNLINE (Aug. 2002)

·        Alleycat interfaces with OCLC Direct Request

·        Let Beth Watson know if your library is interested in this

Expand catalog with additional libraries

·        Currently -  42 libraries with 92 outlets

·        13 catalogs – includes WorldCat; does not include the State Library catalog

·        Access to 7.8 million volumes – in Florida

·        2.1 million registered patrons

·        Serving over 3.9 million residents in Florida

Statistics

·        Over 100,000 requests made as of December 2002

·        60,000 requests filled

·        TBLC staff felt that Alleycat fill rate numbers were low for the volume of requests

o       Lauren and Diane spoke with other URSA users at ALA Midwinter

o       Procedure others use is cumbersome and time consuming

·        Lauren is now working with epixtech/Dynix to refine statistical reporting procedure to produce more accurate numbers for number of requests pending, unfilled, and completed.

o       Cancelled requests will be removed from statistics – remainder is either “filled” or “unfilled”

o       Using new formula the January fill rate went from 63% to 82% which is more of a reflection of what we're actually doing

o       SQL report statistics from epixtech for individual libraries will be available on the project site

o       Change how we calculate the fill rate beginning January 2003

·        Question from Mary Brown regarding what the “cancelled” means – what criteria is used

o       Criteria: requests are active 30-60 days as long as they are not cancelled. Requests can only be cancelled while in “pending” stage.  Most of canceled requests were duplicate requests that a patron cancelled, leaving only 1 active request for the item.  Staff can cancel a request and sometimes need to do this in mediated mode.  Requests that are not filled will become “unfilled” requests – not “cancelled” requests.

o       Response from Diane Solomon: Some libraries at Midwinter were reporting a high fill rate of 90%+ due to a different reporting process. One problem is that at some libraries the request gets recorded as “unfilled”[unavailable], while the same request is “filled” at another. PALSI feels fill rate statistic is unreliable because of this. But, the TBLC report should be closer to the actual number.

·        Issue raised by Patty Owen regarding the DRA system and item records. DRA de-dupes by ISBN number and some ISBN fields in DRA also allow for text after the number. DRA system can't strip off text from number.  Then those records are not de-duped.

o       Diane Solomon stated that this happens in other libraries and does affect some items. If the catalog records are different, URSA will not de-dupe the records.

Alleycat's Impact on libraries

·        90% reported an increase in ILL; 10% said it stayed about the same

·        Cost savings = $618,840: Figured by taking the same number of ILLs and calculating the OCLC charge based on a rate of $26 for OCLC versus the $8 cost in Alleycat

·        Faster service – patrons report time of 3-4 days to receive item after request was placed. Theoretically, the item is on shelf and the first lender can find and ship the item quickly.

·        Libraries adding OCLC as library of last resort have 1 software management tool to manage all ILL

Challenges

·        Still some problems with staff not following procedures correctly or not following through with processing in Alleycat (not setting to receive, return, complete). This leads to unnecessary steps and creates problems for borrowing/lending libraries.

Patron survey

·        September 2002 – 823 surveys were sent out to patrons who had completed at least one request in Alleycat. Received 225 responses back.

o       79% use from home

o       91% report being “delighted” or “satisfied” with Alleycat service

o       61% of respondents are in 41-65 year age group – increase in teen use – up to 3%

o       42% of patrons learn about Alleycat through library staff; word of mouth from staff is best advertising

o       Patrons want all libraries in state to participate; want to be able to request more media; want to be able to also place a request on item at their home library; be able to renew; get everything they request

What's Up for 2003?

·        Name change: epixtech is now Dynix

Horizon Interlibrary Loan (HILL)

·        iSelect and iRequest names have been combined into “Horizon Interlibrary Loan”(HILL)  – will have seamless integration with Dynix's iPAC

·        SunLine is moving to Horizon; Sunline has enhanced content on iPAC – HILL will not have enhanced content unless we ask and pay for it.

·        HILL – takes the RSS and URSA products and merges them together

o       Faster searching

o       Can handle more catalogs

o       Better de-duping

o       Will use RPA

o       Can talk to other ILL systems (i.e. Illiad)

o       NCIP compliant –

o       Staff will be able to set items to complete without going through each intervening step (go from “shipped” to complete without having to “receive” and “return” – this will help with problems that arise from staff error – save time on phone calls between libraries/TBLC to change status – does not eliminate need for staff to follow procedures)

·        Style sheets allow for customization – like TBLC has done with Sunline

·        Lauren showed the group some sample screens based on the current interface design; these screens do not have enhanced content; pointed out features that are customizable; patron can choose to be contacted by email, phone, or printed notice

·        Other HILL features

o       Load balancing

o       Availability checking

o       Patron can view status of requests online – shows all steps

o       Journal article & multi-volume request – patron will have to supply volume number – HILL will duplicate request if they want more than one volume

·        TBLC working on getting Union List of Serials up and running – Dynix was not designed for this – need Horizon system to do this: currently working with Polk County; Gladys Roberts, Polk County Library Cooperative reports that project is moving forward

o       Diane Solomon stated that currently patrons will have access to only TBLC libraries; all FLIN libraries to be added later

Reciprocal Borrowing

·        Coming out in 1^st quarter of 2003

·        Live authentication

·        Libraries can use this to authenticate patrons from other Alleycat libraries

o       Will show information from patron record at home library including blocks on card and expiration of card

o       Staff can add patron type, patron barcode, or whatever is needed to complete record

o       Creates a patron record in your automation system based upon patron record in other system

o       Can set this up to keep patron records or delete upon return of book

·        Will also produce reports.

Introducing “AC”

Karen Wilber passed around “AC” – plush, toy cat that should be used to promote the Alleycat. Toys are $9.00 each and are ordered through TBLC Headquarters.  Libraries may use these to sell in the library; use as prizes for FLYP program, give to volunteers and friends, display at staff terminals at Reference and Circulation to generate interest and remind people of the Alleycat service.

OCLC component in Alleycat

• If you're experienced in OCLC there should be an easy conversion to this; libraries can choose how to implement OCLC as library of last resort
• Benefits –
• Adds extra catalogs of materials held in Florida; fills from Alleycat 1^st – then goes to OCLC
• Patron can track request activity
• Libraries can use Alleycat to track all ILL activity; maintains records in your system; don't have to keep paper files; functions as an extra clerk to help with ILL
• Can have staff review requests before they go to OCLC or have them go in directly – use Custom Holdings to set up parameters – can start with FLIN libraries and only borrow from them
• Beth will come out to do both overview and training for OCLC component
• If you want to see how it works search Alleycat as “guest”
• Diane Solomon stated that the cost for implementation is in the grant; maintenance costs are paid by participating libraries; under the current grant – libraries pay ½ of maintenance costs
• OCLC charges now are dependent on skill of staff searching OCLC; when you use Alleycat there is a per item cost for every request that's passed through to OCLC ($1.47 – 1.60 depending on if you're a full user of OCLC or not) –
• Alleycat saves time with staff and on OCLC costs; for example:  Custom Holdings reduced OCLC bill for Sarasota County Public Libraries because they did not have to pay for display of holdings

Alleycat is part of Anywhere Anytime Library

·        LibrarE (ebooks) project is going into 3^rd year

o       Netlibrary now under OCLC (this will be discussed at LibrarE meeting next week

o       Collection continues to develop

·        Brian Jones, TBLC Webmaster has been working on designs for AAL website

o       Have not selected a final design; working designs shown to attendees

o       Suggestions from attendees to have more of a sense of this being from Florida – have TBLC and SWFLN logos on the home page so that users know where this comes from geographically

o       Design likes - #1, #2 called out by attendees

o       Can see designs at www.tblc.org/designs

·        In AAL – Web Feet will be used for overall search of databases and catalogs

o       Searches resources and displays list to users

o       Committee is meeting to discuss how to make this work; selecting resources to use (health, business, government) and how to display them to the end user

o       Diane Solomon - TBLC purchased 16 translators from epixtech (about $1,000 per translator for first year – less for subsequent years); can purchase additional translators at bulk prices if we have enough purchasers; users pay an annual fee

o       SEFLIN is using Web Feet for their mylibraryservice.org project – we asked them which were the most used databases; using this information for selection

o       Can use Web Feet to search catalogs that are not Z39.50 compliant – Eckerd, University of Tampa, Stetson University College of Law

Maintenance Costs

·        Diane Solomon distributed 2 spreadsheets

o       “Maintenance Calculations 2002-2003” and

o       “Draft Maintenance Calculations 2003-2004”

·        For the most part maintenance costs went down – 2 exceptions who have been notified

·        1^st year of maintenance included when software is first installed.  Charges begin in 2nd year.

·        Cost per server – not per library; libraries in this position will need to decide how they are going to pay for costs

·        TBLC phasing in costs for maintenance; 2002-03 – libraries paying ½ the cost

·        2003-2004 – libraries pay ½ of total plus part of the cost of the server – still need to add SWFLN to the figures – so the server cost will go down

Florida Virtual Library

·        Plan has been approved. Barratt Wilkins presented project around the state. Feedback given

·        Mark Flynn named as Project Director as of Jan. 2003 – is now an employee of the organization that is managing the FVL monies, not the State

·        Mark is working with someone to provide promotional campaign

·        Training on Gale Databases for TBLC region will be the last week in March; training throughout TBLC area – West Hernando, Selby, Jan Platt Regional, Bartow, Hudson Regional, Pinellas Park, and TBLC Headquarters; registration through www.tblc.org/workshops. Train-the-trainer is for select group that will return to library system and provide additional training to that system/county

·        6 elements to Virtual Library Plan

1.      Portal – AAL is a portal, mylibraryservice.org is portal – currently no portal for whole project yet – Mark will have to bring current projects together under 1 umbrella

2.      Databases – under an introductory page that Gale has put together

3.      Virtual Catalog, Interlibrary Loan including delivery – FloridaCat is an OCLC test of a Florida subset of materials (think: “Florida FirstSearch”); currently testing display, will also test ILL capability; meeting with OCLC to talk about Union Catalog next week.; committee will be evaluating this project in summer and how it compares with other projects in the state

4.      Digitization

5.      Statewide Library Card

6.      ElectronicReference –

·        TBLC and CCLA working together to pilot Virtual Reference project

o       28 community colleges and 12 TBLC libraries are part of initial group

o       Each will take shift in staffing Virtual Reference desk

o       TBLC is hiring V-Ref coordinator who will be responsible for training, scheduling and staffing the V-Ref desk

o       CCLA hired part-time web developer, systems administrator, and project coordinator

o       Start with small group in May 2003 and add additional libraries in summer 2003

o       Every library that participates takes part in 2 parts of project

1.      Provide service to their own patrons using software

2.      Agree to be part of collaborative reference with other libraries

o       Libraries can just be part of collaborative project and not have software on in-library computer

o       Software costs less than expected – good opportunity to add others to project this year while monies are available (2^nd wave will purchase now, but not come up until October at earliest)

o       Docutek software used

o       Not 24/7; start with 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. to start – open same hours that libraries are open. No one will have to staff V-Ref during hours that their library is not open

o       Software needs great amount of bandwidth and is not practical from home dial-up connection; but project may expand to “after hours” in future

Alleycat Enhancement

·        Ellen Cannon outlined a proposed LSTA project – for de-duping records; handout distributed to attendees; contact Ellen with questions

o       Identify records in library databases that don't have unique numbers.

o       File of records sent to OCLC for processing and returned by them with unique numbers

o       Currently doing this for Sunline – 4% of records

o       Duplicate records within local system will be resolved so that holding list in Alleycat will more accurately reflect actual holdings.  Will improve quality of catalogs.

Year 5 grant plan

·        DLIS encouraged writing grant proposals to show maintenance of project. TBLC writing five year plan will show how entire state can be added to Anywhere Anytime Library

o       Beth Watson compiled list of libraries that receive state aid and sorted by population; grouped libraries by shared systems

o       Still debating how to phase libraries in – geographically? By automation system?

o       After Community Colleges and State University Systems have migrated to new automation system – include their holdings as well and make it possible to do ILL

o       Include almost 50 different catalogs across the state

o       Then look at adding private academic colleges

·        Project looks toward creating a statewide virtual catalog. Many libraries are currently in OCLC – but not all libraries maintain their holdings in OCLC. This would allow more libraries to participate. Horizon ILL will allow this to happen.

·        Server – may not be able to handle all catalogs at the same time – may need to divide into groups – issue being examined

·        Question from Patty Owen – do you have an idea of how up-to-date OCLC records are?

·        Response from Diane Solomon – search on “Cider House Rules” – could not find a copy listed by a library that owns it  - so OCLC not as up-to-date as library catalogs are

o       Selective users can only set holdings once a year.

o       FloridaCat does not show item status – not good for ILL

o       Alleycat already has extended circulation feature that's not available with FloridaCat

User Forum

·        Question by Patty Owen – Any discussion of using any of this as a bartering chip when writing/talking to Governor Bush?

o       Response from Diane Solomon – State Librarian has been talking to governor about the Florida Virtual Library and plans for future – Governor Bush is beginning to mention this project (Gainesville Sun editorial)

o       Need to emphasize to elected officials that the Virtual Library project will only work with a strong State Library

·        Alleycat Users Meeting scheduled for Friday, February 21, 2003 at Venice Public Library  1:30 – 4:00 p.m.

o       For the “hands-on” people

o       Tours of library and ILL department if you come early

o       Sarasota has label-printing solution to print labels for them