This meeting was hosted by the Fresno County Library. Present were: Stan Matli, Madera County; Michael Stowell, Tulare Public; Lydia Kuhn and Marie Stanley, Fresno County; Kay Anthony, Coalinga/Huron District Library; Melanie Wells, Porterville; Louise Hodges and Janet Harader, Kings County; Louann Nickerson, Norm Hutcherson, and Georgia Wages, Kern County; Keith Boettcher, Mary Ellen Huls, Judy Baumgardner, Mike Drake, and Bill Young; SJVLS.
Not present: Mariposa County, Tulare County.
CALL TO ORDER - The meeting was called to order by the chair of both committees, Stan Matli.
VALLEY CAT FLYER - David DeLaurant of SJVIS distributed the latest draft of the instructional flyer on the Valley Almanac that the Reference Committee has devised. The Committee approved the wording and the way of displaying the information. Stiff paper will be used so the instructional sheets can be folded and stood up near computer sites to insure they are seen by patrons. It is hoped this will stimulate even greater interest in the Valley Almanac. This flyer is to be used throughout the System.
MODEL OPAC MENUS - Keith Boettcher of SJVLS brought us up to date on the Model OPAC menus that were devised and recommended by the SJVLS Reference Committee. Some libraries have not adopted them. It is hoped that all libraries in the System will adopt the model or a close proximity to them in the future. They are devised to make it easier for the patron in searching. Changes can be made by the local entity. Keith will help those needing it. With the model menu, the Valley Almanac is found under "Quick Facts". Some libraries still go through "Community Resource Searches" to get to the Valley Almanac. "Quick Facts" is recommended by the Reference Committee.
CORE UPDATE - Judy Baumgardner of SJVLS reported on the work of CORE. Last year's general reference workshops were very successful. They literally covered the state from Yreka to San Diego. This year's topic is government documents. The workshops will start in May and run through September. Judy also noted the the CORE reference correspondence course is being revised.
UMI DEMONSTRATION - It was proposed by Marie Stanley of Fresno County that there be a demostration of the UMI ProQuest product by a UMI representative at a forthcoming meeting. Marie noted that this product includes the "Fresno Bee". It was agreed that there be another joint meeting of the Collection Development and Reference Committees in March at which a demonstration of ProQuest would take place. It was decided that Bakersfiled would be a good site for the demonstration because many wanted to see Bakersfield's Health Reference Center, a topic in a previous Reference Committee meeting.
DYNIX UPDATE - Mary Ellen Huls of SJVLS gave an update of announcements made by Dynix at the ALA Midwinter meeting. An important item was the decision to migrate VISTA to a new Web-based product called Impart. Although libraries may renew their VISTA access this year, Dynix will not be making any enhancements to the product, and they are only planning to keep it running for "up to" one year. The Reference Committee should begin looking at alternatives to VISTA, including Impart and other direct database vendors such as EBSCOHost and IAC. A demo of Impart is available at www.impart.amlibs.com. An alternative to accepting the system via telnet for home users will soon be available. WebPac provides a web-based graphic interface to the online catalog and no telnet application is required. WebPAC is in our current contract with Dynix, and the version for the Web server is due out this spring.
COLLECTIVE BUYING OF LARGE PRINT BOOKS - Lydia Kuhn of Fresno county volunteered to contact large print publishers to explore the possibility of attaining higher discounts through negotiations as a System rather that individual libraries. Traditionally individual libraries have received only a 25% discount. This led to a discussion of the possibility of sharing large print collections among System members since readers in each jurisdiction soon exhaust new titles. It was decided to continue discussion at the March meeting.
THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY LIBRARY SYSTEM WEB SITE - Mike Drake of SJVLS reported on the work he has been doing on the San Joaquin Valley Library System Web Site. This site is still in constuction. When fully operational it will be a place to find dates of System committee meetings, agendas, and minutes, visit SJVLS libraries on the Web, and read "News and Clues". One feature of special interest to reference librarians is that reference questions will be able to be sent to SJVIS through this Web Site.
INTERNET RELATED EDUCATIONAL FLYERS - Marie Stanley of Fresno County handed out examples of Internet educational flyers that have been devised in Fresno to help patrons with the Internet. These are succinctly written and give rules, policies, and basic Internet instruction. The Reference Commitee showed interest in sharing and discussing Internet educational aids in a future meeting.
BEST SELLER POOL - Kay Anthony of Coalinga said that the Pool is up and running successfully. Even if a particular library does not see Best Seller Pool books at their location, they are out there circulating, and this means that your patron will get that popular book he or she wants just that much faster. The Pool books originate in Tulare Public so their name is used in holding records. There needs to be a discussion and review of the Best Seller Pool at a future Collection Development Committee meeting.
ILL LIABILITY - Kay Anthony of Coalinga discussed her problem with ALA-ILL rules. She explained that everyone needs to be aware of one rule in particular. If a lending library sends a book and for whatever reason the borrowoig library does not receive it, ALA rules state that the borrowing library must pay for the lost item. Her example was: Coalinga had asked for a copy of a journal or the journal itself if the copy was not clear. Santa Cruz claims they sent the copy pages (which were received) and the journal also. The journal was never recieved and Coalinga must pay $96.00 for the "lost journal". Coalinga feels that the journal was lost in-house, not in the mail. Copies of the ALA-ILL rules were handed out to everyone. It really is something that needs to be seriously considered when asking to borrow an expensive item.
STARRY LETTER - A letter from Michael Starry, a Fresno County Library patron, was sent on January 1, 1998 to John Kallenberg, Administrator of the San Joaquin Valley Library System. At the January, 1998 meeting of the SJVLS Administrative Council it was decided that the letter be referred to the Collection Development Committee for review, a response be drafted to Mr. Starry, and a report given to Council. The letter expresses displeasure with the way some individual System libraries handle the circulation, or non-circulation, of new books. The letter was read in Committee. A discussion took place. A consensus was reached, and Stan Matli of Madera and Kay Anthony of Coalinga were to draft a letter of response to Mr. Starry. The letter was to be reviewed by John Kallenberg before it is sent to Mr. Starry. The consensus was basically that System members cooperate in many areas, but remain autonomous libraries. Circulation policy involving new books is a local matter.
FUTURE MEETINGS - Both the Collection Development Committee and the Reference Committee set their meeting dates for 1998 and the joint meeting in 1999. Dates are as follows:
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT:
REFERENCE COMMITTEE MEETINGS:
ANNUAL JOINT MEETING:
Respectfully submitted,
Stanley J. Matli