Materials Services Division Managers' Meeting Minutes for November 20, 2003

Date: November 20, 2003 

Capitol Hill Library; 8:00 a.m. 

Present: Janet Brooks, Heidi Johnson, Karen Marriott,  Pauline Rodriguez

Also present:  Anne Fischer, AUT and Phil Tolbert, CH 

New Telephone System - Anne  

Anne gave a presentation about the new telephone system to be installed in all libraries and departments.  She mentioned that at some agencies the wiring will need to be upgraded to support this new system.  She said that after Downtown, Edmond and the new Choctaw Library will probably be next to have it installed, with Capitol Hill probably one of the last ones to be switched over it since some major rewiring will be necessary. 

Phil thanked the MSD managers for inviting him to attend Anne's presentation and left the meeting. 

Cataloging Update - Pauline 

• Lori Jones is Cataloging’s new page.  She began work on November 10, and is picking up processing skills very well. 
• All Cataloging staff attended the Library Managers’ meeting on October 22.  They thanked libraries for assisting in Cataloging’s work.  Each staff member created a personal thank-you for a library that does something that helps Cataloging, and presented them to managers with bags of chocolate. 
• Pauline, Jana, Crystal, Clyde, and Ursula attended the OLA TSRT workshop on MARC formats on October 25.  Pauline gave the introductory address, and Jana presented a session on formatting for videos. 
• Cataloging held an open house on October 28.  Attendance from outside the CH building was sparse, but everyone who attended found it informative. 
• Veronica attended a business writing workshop on November 5. Pauline attended the “Showdown at Generation Gap” Lunch ‘n Learn on November 6. 
• Ursula volunteered at the Penn Square Kidgits Club on November 15. 
• Pauline attended the X-Change at BI on November 17. 
• Cataloging held a staff meeting on November 19.  At the meeting, staff presented ideas regarding what they would like others to know about Cataloging. 
• Pauline, Clyde, and Jana attended the Library Managers’ meeting on November 19.  Jana and Clyde presented Cataloging’s PowerPoint slide show, which was very well received.  Pauline followed up with a few comments, based on staff’s input during the staff meeting.  She also spoke briefly about the importance of inventory control and gave a few pointers. 
• Ursula plans to attend the meeting of the Oklahoma Depository Libraries on November 21. 
• Jana, Ursula, Clyde, and Paula will be on AVL November 24-26.  Lori will work full time for those three days; Laqueta will work full time November 25 and 26. 
• Linda Temple, the system’s intern from OU SLIS, will spend the afternoon of November 26 in Cataloging. 
• There have been some problems with the federal depository exchange lists.  The most recent list was returned, due to formatting problems.  Pauline and Ursula have consulted with Anne; Anne was able to download the list into an Excel file.  This will allow Ursula to manipulate the list to meet ODL’s formatting requirements.  She can also submit the list to ODL via e-mail.  They will continue this process for future lists. 
• ODL has issued new guidelines for depository exchange lists.  The major changes are that microfiche, maps not covering an area of Oklahoma, pamphlets not dealing with Oklahoma, and ephemera may be discarded without listing.  The determination of what constitutes ephemera is left to the individual institution.  This will cut down considerably on our listing. 
• Cataloging has received 3 boxes of blank labels for barcodes.  This should last 4-6 months. 
• The new Dewey books have been received and processed, and the catalogers are now using them.  Dewey recalls will begin after the first of the new year. Spanish recalls are almost completed.  Cataloging will stop placing system reserves after the first of December, until the new year.  This will give them time to clear their backlog of recalled materials. 
• Now that re-barcoding of genealogy materials is complete, there will be some rebarcoding of OK collection materials.  Buddy from DN has sent approximately 10 boxes of these materials to Cataloging, since receipt of transfers will probably slow during the holidays. 
• Pauline and Veronica are serving on the CH Christmas Potluck Luncheon committee.  The luncheon will be on December 9. 

Materials Selection Update - Janet 

• Library Visits 
• In October selectors completed a 6 month visit to WA and annual visits to BE and CT.  Janet and Karen had follow up meetings with Rosemary and Barbara. 
• During November, selectors will be conducting 6 month visits to CH and DC.  Normally, these visits are done in December.  Since selectors did CT early and we have an annual visit in December, it was decided to do CH and DC early. 
• In December selectors will complete an annual visit to VI. 
• Meetings 
• Janet attended the two day First Amendment Congress at UCO on November 6 & 7.  The topic was “Homeland Security:  Redefining Freedom”
• Julie attended a Success by Six meeting in November and is scheduled for another one in December. 
• Ruby attended the adult programmers’ meeting. 
• Julie attended the YA programmer’s meeting. 
• Kim went to a United Way breakfast to celebrate the recent fund drive. 
• Janet attended the YA Sequoyah Committee meeting where they finalized the Masterlist for the upcoming year. 
• Janet attended a book signing by the children’s book author/illustrator Jan Brett at Barnes and Nobel.  She received 5 free books for the library system during a presentation. 
• Janet will attend the Trainer Development workshop on Dec. 5th at WA. 
• Josh/TP is scheduled to visit MSL.  He will meet with Elizabeth and Kim. 
• Baker and Taylor  ƒ Rob Rodriguez, the new B&T rep. is scheduled to come back for a visit on Dec. 2nd at 9:00.  Anyone interested in meeting with him, let Janet know so she can schedule a meeting room. 
• Technicians 
• Janet is working with the Technicians and Kim updating the procedures manual.  This should be mostly completed by the time the new Technician is on board. 
• There were 50 applicants for the new Technician position.  Janet, Julie and Kim interviewed 6.  
• The new Technician is Linda Hyams.  She will start work on November 24th.  All will be very happy to have her start, as we have been pulling extra duties, (including Janet who tried her hand at inputting orders with some success!). 
• Basement/Withdrawals 
• MSL staff took care of a large backlog of boxes in the basement on Friday. 
• Janet is scheduling staff more hours to work in the basement during the month of December to stay ahead of the boxes.   
• Grants 
• The Friends’ grant is encumbered.   
• The last order on the grant goes out on Friday, Nov 21.  We will wait for cancellations and discount money to come back in before spending again. 
• Janet is still encumbering discount/cancellation money for the Hispanic Grant 
• Ruby has encumbered the Large Print Grant for MC. 
• Customer Suggestions
• ƒ Jimmy made a recent change to the CyberMars catalog where customers can make a suggestion to purchase a title.  Wording was added to alert customer to the fact that we will no longer respond to each request individually.  This should ease some of the frustrations MSL staff in handling the volume. 
• Janet showed samples of the pages customers will see when they make a suggestion. ƒ A volunteer is helping get a backlog of regrets out to customers.  They will receive a regret letter which has similar wording about the volume and us not responding to each request. 
• MSL Intranet Page 
• Teresa Goggins and Janet met to review the pages developed for the Intranet.  The mock up is attractive and intuitive.   
• Janet will write introductory paragraphs for some sections.  
• Teresa suggested a group photo for the “Who’s Who” page.   
• The page should be up sometime in early December. 
• Spotlight On 
• The Spotlight On…Native Americans is up on the Library’s Home page.  
• Selectors will begin working on the Spotlight On…Black History Month during December. 
• Materials Selection “Clean House Day” 
• Janet has scheduled a “Clean House Day” for Materials Selection in December in preparation for the move to the new building.  The motto for the day will be, "Toss It Now, Transfer It Now, or Move It Later".  In the meantime, MSL staff are busy weeding the PR collection, review media, and catalogs. 

Technical Processing Update - Heidi 

• Runs are between 600-1000 labels at this time.  TP currently receives an average of about 45 boxes of materials a day.  
• The fall bindery group was picked up on Oct. 22.  The bindery is supposed to return the rebound books around Christmas, at which time the bindery will also pick up the next group of genealogy materials to be rebound.  The group of genealogy materials received back from the bindery overall looked very nice; however, 11 materials need to be redone by the bindery because of misspellings.  Also, one book from the list has disappeared.  The bindery is not sure whether they ever received the book; they did not check it off their list when they received all the other materials on the bindery list. 
• Linda Temple, the intern from OU, is scheduled to spend time in Technical Processing on Nov. 26th. • The CH building is preparing for its Christmas luncheon on Dec. 9.  Josh and Laura are TP's representatives on the Christmas luncheon committee which met for the first time on Tuesday, Nov. 18. 
• Heidi attended the X-Change meeting on Nov. 17 at Belle Isle.   
• Josh attended the Lunch and Learn series " Showdown at Generation Gap" on Nov. 6 at CH. 
• Heidi taped 3 segments for Read About It on Nov. 10. 
• Loretta is scheduled to teach the next Basic Materials Processing workshop on Dec. 4.  Heidi and Loretta are currently expanding the list of supplies included in the manual to reflect where these supplies can be obtained.  The list will give information as to whether certain items can be ordered from TP, whether they are available through the weekly supply order from the Business Office, or whether they need to be ordered with a RFP. 
• Heidi will be updating the pictures in TP's PowerPoint presentation to reflect new staff working in the dept. since the original pictures were taken.  Denyvetta has asked Heidi to show this presentation and talk some more about the problems with properly routing materials within the system at the December library managers' meeting. This way, the presentation will already be updated and ready  to take to an AdTeam meeting in January. 
• Heidi sent out an e-mail to everyone informing them that TP now has replacement sleeves for books on CD in stock, and that the list of supplies available from TP has been updated on the Intranet to reflect this addition. 
• Josh and Heidi are scheduled to visit MSL on Dec. 12.  Josh will have a chance to find out more about the ordering procedures and to ask Susan and Kim questions about continuations, etc. 

Administrative Update - Karen 

• The special Commission meeting held at Belle Isle passed the consent docket.  
• The Pension Board will meet again in February.  Two Ad Team members, Anne Hsieh and Don Updegrove, will be retiring the end of January.  At the next Commission meeting, the library director's evaluation and the annual audit are agenda topics; Mick Cornett will possibly be attending regarding the discussion of naming the new Downtown library.   
• Donna Morris is back at work and doing well.   Choctaw is still running behind schedule.  The opening is planned for January, with an official grand opening later in January or early February. 
• The City maintains that the Downtown building will be finished by December 31. 
• The Public Services Council will meet December 3 to talk about system reserves and DVDs.  Karen advised managers to alert her to any possible issues relating to these topics before December 3.  Heidi asked that managers be made aware of greater vulnerability of DVDs to scratches compared to CDs and asked that some guidelines be established on the difference between damage incurred during customer checkout and manufacturers' defects which can be returned to the vendor.  Heidi will also revise the current guidelines on returning defective AV materials to TP to make it clear that AV materials cannot be returned to vendors up to 5 months after purchase like print materials are.  Whether these materials can be returned depends on number of checkouts, how long ago purchased, purchased from which vendor, etc. 

Collection Management Workshop - Pauline + Heidi 

Heidi and Pauline queried Janet and Karen regarding areas needing expanded coverage in the workshop.  Bindery and routing were mentioned.   Possible inclusion of related subjects was discussed.  Managers agreed to meet again to review the workshop manual as a group, and determine needed revisions.  The meeting was set for January 15, 2004, at Capitol Hill.  Janet will arrange for Karen and Pauline to receive hard copies of the participant's manual. 

Materials Services Intranet Pages - Karen 

Karen mentioned that Materials Selection's intranet webpage will be going up soon.  She suggested that Pauline and Heidi set up meetings with Teresa Goggins to discuss contents of the intranet webpages about their departments.  Inclusion of staff pages, mission statements, and PowerPoint presentations about the departments were discussed.  (Managers are to send any documents they want included to Traci in Planning, cc: Teresa.)  Managers may also check with staff about ideas what else they would like to see included in this page.  Karen would like intranet webpages for Cataloging and Technical Processing to go up as soon as possible after the MSL page. 

X-Change Meetings - Karen 

Karen reminded managers that the X-Change meetings can be a forum to provide training or information, like a slide show, etc. It was decided that Heidi should show Technical Processing's PowerPoint presentation about the department at the February X-Change meeting, providing the agenda was not full already. 

Miscellaneous - all 

• Karen said the Ad Team wants the Material Services Division to post the minutes of their monthly meetings on the Intranet.  From now on, a copy of the final minutes is also to be sent to Traci in Planning.  All managers have stored copies of past minutes on their PCs.  The group discussed whether to post minutes from past meetings.  Karen will check with Planning as to the time period to be covered.  Once it is determined, she will notify Pauline to send the appropriate minutes to PLA.   
• Karen asked about the status of department presentations for the Ad Team.  Pauline and Heidi indicated that they will be ready in January 2004; Janet will be ready later in the year.  Karen will contact appropriate Ad Team members and see about scheduling Pauline for January 21, Heidi for February 4.
• The MSD meeting schedule for 2004 was discussed and finalized.  Pauline is to book Capitol Hill's meeting room for the scheduled days and times; Janet will do the same for meetings scheduled for Downtown. 
• A timeline for the next scheduled genealogy bindery was discussed.  Pauline will check on the number of genealogy materials waiting in Cataloging for binding, and notify Heidi.  Heidi will determine how many additional genealogy books may be bound using the grant funds.  On December 8, she will code the appropriate number for bindery and request bindery lists from Automation.  The bindery will pick up the materials during the week of December 22. 

The meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m.  The next meeting is scheduled for December 11, 8:00 a.m..  Pauline will chair.