Materials Services Division Managers' Meeting Minutes for June 04, 2009

Materials Services Division Managers’ Monthly meeting

June 4, 2009; 8:00 A.M.; Capitol Hill Library

Present: Karen Marriott, Janet Brooks, Heidi Johnson, Pauline Rodriguez-Atkins.

Technical Processing update – Heidi

The average daily run in April was 775 items and in May, 720 items. The dept. processed a total of 17,057 items in April, and in May 14,395 items. Technical Processing continues to be current on the processing of rush materials, and is working on non-rush materials from yesterday’s run. 

In April, TP received an average of 33 boxes of materials, and in May, 35 boxes per day. 

All B&T accounts continue to be current, as are all Ingram accounts. 

The bindery has returned the rebound materials. There were 2 books with misspellings which need to be returned to the bindery to correct; one book was returned due to a problem with insufficient margins. 

Melanie conducted the Basic Processing workshop at ED on May13. 

Loretta Frantz was called for jury duty during the weeks of May 11 and May 18. 

All TP staff have completed their summer reading training. 

The MLS leadership group toured TP on May 21. The group had some very interesting questions and comments. 

Heidi and Alan attended Ernestine Clark’s retirement party on June 1. 

TP had a staff appreciation pizza party on June 2; staff seemed to feel appreciated. 

Heidi is planning on taking AVL Aug. 20-28, providing there will be no scheduling issues. Alexis should be back from maternity leave by then. 

Sandi Gonzaga’s last day with the dept. was May 15. 

In April, Heidi attended OLA in Midwest City. 

Kim Macarty attended the Generational Diversity workshop at ED on June 3. 

Heidi and Kim Rickey have been interviewing candidates for the Technical Processor position vacated by Sandi. Michelle Merriman, a former page at CH, was selected to start on June 15.

Heidi met with Karen Marriott and Jim Welch on April 23 for a demonstration of the latest progress on the software applications for the vertical lift. 

On 5-21-09, Heidi contacted Bruce with Southwest Solutions again about the noise issue with the metal tubs to be used in the new SC. Bruce assured Heidi that they are trying to find a solution to the noise problem. They are currently considering acrylic strips affixed to the bottom of the tubs. Bruce is supposed to keep Heidi and Todd updated on any progress being made. 

Todd notified Heidi and Karen that there are plans to add a window in TP, facing the break room, to provide some additional natural light in the dept. Approval for this addition is pending, waiting on the cost estimate Todd requested. 

The CH building experienced a power outage when a transformer went out around 11:30 a.m.. At first, telephones were working, but also went down around noon. Power was restored to the building about 12:30 p.m. as were the phones. Russell from Maintenance was there for quite a while longer, trying to get the building’s A/C system restarted. 

Materials Selection update – Janet

Library Visits

During April, Selectors made an annual visit to MC and a 6-month visit to VI. 

During May, an annual visit to SO and a 6-month visit to RE was conducted. 

During June, Selectors are scheduled to do an annual visit to BE and a 6- month visit to WA.

Staff Recognition

MSL held their staff recognition luncheon at LaLuna’s on May 8th.

Customer Suggestion Time Study

MSL staff participated in a second time study for the activities surrounding system reserves and customer suggestions.

The information will be used in evaluating the processes and helping in streamlining the workflow and developing new processes.

Budget

Selectors are finishing up FY09. Janet has discussed each selector’s fund status with them and made suggestions about finishing the various funds.

Kim is checking to see how much of the CO budget is needed to pay for the projected Cos that may come in during the next couple of weeks. Once Kim has determined the amount needed, Janet plans to distribute remaining SELFU for selectors to encumber the first couple of weeks of June. 

The last list for FY09 is scheduled to go out June 25. 

Selectors are ready to begin meeting about the distribution of FY10, when figures are available. 

Meetings/Workshops

Melissa, Ruby and Janet attended portions of OLA.

Janet attended the Tech Group meeting on April 28.

Anna assisted with a job fair at the ASCTEC school on May 1 and stuffing summer reading packets.

Melissa attended the YA services meeting on May 6

Marilyn attended the Adult services meeting on May 13.

Janet attended the Safety Committee meeting on May 12.

Janet attended the X-change meeting on May 18 and volunteered to work on the Communications AdHoc committee.

Janet attended the Supervisory Skills workshop and shared a handout with the communications AdHoc committee and the MSD Managers.

Ruby facilitated the GOAL class in May. Melissa taught the Readers’ Advisory workshop on May 21 and 28. 

Kim assisted with TP interviews.

Julia and Lisa volunteered for Summer Reading Sign up.

Cataloging update – Pauline

Meetings and training attended:

Pauline – Tech Support, April 28

Aaron – Leadership, April 29

Ursula – MetroDocs, May 5

Jana – Staff Recognition, May 12

Pauline – OKULS, May 15

Pauline – X Change, May 18

Aaron – Staff Association, May 28

Aaron – OLA TSRT, May 29

Catalogers began uploading catalog records for downloadable audio recordings in May. Each person is expected to spend 2 hours each week uploading records. Pauline sent an e-mail announcement to all staff, and the information was included in the June Shelflife. 

Cataloging’s output of barcode labels printed through May was 163.618. Overall, barcode labels printed for FY09 continue to run 6% ahead of FY08. Already, the total number of labels printed has exceeded every fiscal year except FY06 and FY08, and the FY08 total will be surpassed shortly. 18,408 new titles were  cataloged; the number of titles cataloged is currently about 6% ahead of FY08. So far, 444 downloadable audio titles have been added to the catalog, meaning that 18,852 new titles have been added this fiscal year. Currently, barcode labels have been printed for 6% more titles than last year. 

Several staff members attended OLA during April. Aaron presented a session on cataloging popular music CDs at a TSRT pre-conference. 

Pauline is working on her Tech Support assignment to evaluate the possibility of creating some type of catalog records for currently uncataloged paperbacks. 

Pauline attended the Amigos Membership Conference on May 6 and 7. The new membership dues structure was approved; MLS will pay increased membership dues, but no longer will pay service charges to Amigos. Pauline may want to re-evaluate Amigos membership before renewing next year. 

Oklahoma Union List of Serials dues will continue to be suspended for this year. Co-Ming Chan will chair the Advisory Council beginning July 1. Pauline will continue to serve as secretary of the group and of the Advisory Council.

The Leadership MLS group visited Cataloging on May 14. They received a quick overview of department operations, and met with Pauline to discuss leadership ideas. 

Jana was asked to serve as a guest speaker at the MLS Friends board meeting on May 14.

Ursula assisted with Summer Reading at CH on June 1; Lisa will assist at HR on June 5. 

ILL update – Pauline

As of the end of April, ILL has received 7,209 requests to borrow materials from other libraries. (May statistics are not yet available.) 5,913, or 82%, of those requests were filled. 

During the same period, ILL received 18,009 requests to borrow MLS materials via FirstSearch, and 4,571 via AGent, for a grand total of 22,670 loan requests. This is only 1,474 fewer requests than were received in all of FY08. A total of 9,888 requests (7,209 FirstSearch and 2,679 AGent) were filled, for a fill rate of 44%. The fill rate for FirstSearch is currently about 40%; for AGent, it is about 59%. 

ILL’s laser printer stopped working this week, which should not be a surprise given the workout that it has been getting. IT replaced it and all seems to be well. 

At the Amigos Membership Conference, Pauline learned that the FirstSearch Policies Directory is being updated to make it more user-friendly. ILL staff use this directory to check libraries’ policies about what materials are lent and whether fees are charged for lending. The changes will help staff to check library lending policies more efficiently. 

Anne Fischer reports that ODL plans to discontinue the AGent program with its new budget year beginning in October, and switch all requests to FirstSearch. ILL staff are excited about this, as it will eliminate the need to use two processes. It will also reduce MLS’s costs for FirstSearch. MLS receives a credit toward its ILL costs whenever it lends a material; if the materials currently lent through AGent are lent through FirstSearch, it will mean about another 3,000 credits per year. 

Karen asked how the courier service is working out. Pauline stated that it is not any worse than last month, and seems to be holding steady. 

Kudos t0 the ILL staff for excellent customer service! Donna Morris received an email from a customer who stated that he is “very impressed” with ILL service; she forwarded the e-mail to Pauline and Karen. Kim Edwards also reported to Pauline that she has heard from a regular customer that he is pleased with the service.

Administration update – Karen

Service Center

Staff tours have been set up; dates/times are Thursday, July 16, 8:00 A.M., and Friday, July 17, 3:00 P.M. Pauline and Heidi are to determine which staff members will go at which times. 

There will be visits for the Commission, Friends’ Board, and other staff on Tuesday, July 21, and Wednesday, July 22, 4:00-5:00 P.M. each day. Pauline and Heidi were asked to have a few staff members on site during each visit time. 

Ad Team 

The Ad Team has set up three committees to explore various future projects: self-serve reserves, computers in the YA areas (without being part of the regular computer sign-up), and Saturday intrasystem deliveries. Karen is serving on the last committee. 

An announcement about the Director of Development position is expected shortly. 

Kim Terry is out indefinitely for medical reasons. 

Ralph Ellison

The project is on schedule.

The Friends and the Endowment have each granted $25,000 for public art at RE. 

Budget

The budget has passed both the Administrative & Personnel and the Finance Committees. 

OverDrive

The MLS OverDrive page has been enhanced, so that customers are able to rate materials. 

Customers may choose a loan period of 7 or 14 days. OverDrive materials cannot be returned early, and customers may check out only 10 at a time. 

MLS plans to try adding ebooks through OverDrive. They will work on a variety of devices, but not on Kindle. The system will purchase MARC records through OverDrive. 

Cultural Survey 

Karen is serving on the “Being Receptive to Change” committee; Janet, the “Improving Communication” committee; and Pauline, the “Increasing Appreciation of Staff” committee. 

None of the committees has met yet. 

Karen asked that any comments or suggestions of staff who might be added to her committee be forwarded to her. 

Managers’ AVL 

At Karen’s request, managers went over their planned AVL for the summer, to confirm that someone will be on-site at all times. 

Karen will be gone to ALA July 9-14. 

Janet will be gone to ALA July 10-14 and on AVL August 5-14. 

Pauline will be gone for ALA and AVL July 9-15 and on AVL August 10-14 and August 31-September 4. 

Heidi will be on AVL August 20-27. 

Questions/Miscellaneous

There being none, the meeting adjourned.

The next meeting is scheduled for July 23, 8:00 A.M., at Downtown. Janet will chair.