San Joaquin Valley Library System Reference Committee Minutes June 9, 1999 The meeting was hosted by the Tulare County Library at its Visalia branch. Present: Louann Nickerson, Kern County Library (Chair) Scott Frederick, Kern County Library Judy Woods, Tulare County Library Steve Fjeldsted, Tulare County Library Kathie Poundstone, Porterville Public Library Stan Matli, Madera County Library Greg Koster, Fresno County Free Library (Secretary) No one attended from the Mariposa County Library, the Tulare Public Library, the Kings County Library, or the Coalinga-Huron Library. Louann Nickerson, the Committee Chair, called the meeting to order at 10:02. 1. Demonstration of Reference USA, the online version of the American Business Disk -- Lauren Larscheid of InfoUSA presented the demonstration. She began by asking the librarians what sources they used to answer business reference questions. Then the meeting repaired to the Visalia computer lab. Ms. Larscheid demonstrated the techniques of using Reference USA. She pointed out that the database was not limited to businesses, but contained everything that you would find in the white pages. She showed how to find churches, schools, libraries, and nonprofits. Some of the other features she demonstrated: a) "Up" and "Down" links. These links to an organization indicate that it is owned by another organization (an "Up" link) or owns other organizations (a "Down" link.) b) The truncation symbol for ReferenceUSA, which is an asterisk. c) Multiple contacts. If there is more than a sole proprietor to an organization, ReferenceUSA lists the others by name, sex, and title. After the demonstration, the committee discussed recommending its purchase for SJVIS to the Administrative Council. The Committee agreed that it was a valuable tool. It became a question of how much capacity to buy. Greg Koster thought a 20 user capacity was needed for the 100 branches of SJVLS. But he conceded that to get this usage, staff would require training. Lauren said this could be done. Nevertheless, after further discussion, the Committee finally agreed to recommend to the Council that it purchase ReferenceUSA with a ten simultaneous user capacity. Should usage justify increased capacity, more can be purchased. 2. Acceptance of the minutes -- Steve Fjeldsted pointed out that the minutes of the 17 March meeting were incomplete. A sentence in the third item on the agenda reads: "Mary Ellen is working a way to clear requestors, and hopes to release it when WebPac is released." is missing a preposition. The sentence should read: "Mary Ellen is working on a way to clear requestors, and hopes to release it when WebPac if released." The Committee agreed to add a preposition to the minutes, and they were accepted. 3. Revision of the Valley Almanac -- Greg Koster showed the committee what he had done. As of the meeting date, there are approximately 270 facts in Valley Almanac. He had prepared a list of facts that concerned each of the jurisdictions and circulated it to the Committee. He also prepared a list of facts that crossed jurisdictions. The Committee discussed who would maintain what facts and came up with this list: FRESNO---California Assembly districts, Valley unemployment rate, Consumer Price Index KERN-----California Senate districts, California statewide officials except Supreme Court, Federal Representatives and Senators MADERA---President and Vice President, President's Cabinet, California Supreme Court, Governors of the other 49 states Facts within jurisdictions will be maintained by the jurisdiction. Greg urged Committee members to spread the word among their own staffs that this tool is out here, and to request a recall list of facts that are in the database from Keith Boettcher so they can learn what is there. 4. SJVIS CORE Reference Correspondence Course -- no one from SJVIS was present to report on this, so this item was deferred until the next meeting. However, the Committee did have some questions for this meeting: a) The Course is now available on the web, at the SJVLS home page. Will this online version supersede the printed version? b) If the printed course is not superseded, when will the current print version be brought up to date? c) Will hypertext links be available in the online version? d) Is a password needed to access the online version? 5. Report on the Library of California -- Deferred until the next meeting, because those who were to report on it were not present. 6. Other business -- Steve Fjeldsted said that he was new to attending Reference Committee meetings, and had some questions. He first asked if meetings were always on Wednesdays. When told they were, he said that in his days as Madera County Librarian, he had attended Administrative Council meetings on Monday and had worked with his County's Board of Supervisors on Tuesdays. Therefore, he didn't really begin to establish a work rhythm until Wednesdays. The Committee meetings therefore disrupted this rhythm. He wondered if it would be possible to reschedule them for Fridays, when the Tulare County Library at Visalia was closed and he did not have to work an hour on the reference desk. Because four jurisdictions were not present at this meeting, the Committee agreed to discuss this question at the next meeting. Steve also asked if there were official delegates to the Committee, with power to vote on matters that came before the Committee. After some discussion, the Committee concluded that no formal delegates to the Committee, with power to vote on matters that came before the Committee, in fact existed. 7. Sharing of reference tools. 8. Meeting adjourned at 12:15 Respectfully submitted, G.J. Koster, Secretary