WebPac Implementation Team : Meeting Minutes

6/7/01

Present

• Bill Fontaine
• Norma Pellerin
• Ann McHugo
• Jennifer Merill
• Bill Ghezzi
• Reinhart Sonnenburg
• Paul Merchant (recorder)

Minutes

Minutes of 5/31/01 approved.

Announcements

There were no announcements.

Location Links

Discussion of the location links continued. The possibility of displaying loan rules from those links was discussed, which raised a number of questions. If the rules are listed, will differences between libraries cause political problems? Putting the rules on the web pages will duplicate information in Innopac. Will it be possible to keep them synchronized? Do we need to include all the loan rules, just a general "this item can/can not be checked out of the library", or just?

How detailed can the maps be? Right now the Baker/Berry collection is moving, so a map that isn't actively maintained will quickly be out-of-date. We can't take the user to a call number range directly anyway, so we would have to go to a page that lists the call number ranges and the user would have the select the range that applies to their item.

Discussion then focused on how much detail the team should include in its recommendation. We decided to focus on the elements that should be on the page, rather than how the information should look.

We recognized that any recommendation will have implications for how individual library pages look, since the libraries probably won't want to maintain a set of pages for the WebPAC and a separate set for their own web site. However it was felt that consistency of the format of information across libraries is important.

The following was proposed: The location link should go to a stack guide page (which might be a map or a text table or some other format). The page should also have links to show the library's hours, borrowing privileges, and some directions for how to find the library. (Directions may be text directions, a map or photographs for example.) In some cases it may be appropriate for a library to have several guides (for example, Baker/Berry oversize map vs. the general stack guide.) Baker/Berry will likely have multiple guides. The Evans Map room may have its own location page, the oversize items another and then the general stack guides. We expect that libraries will determine what guides they need.

Orientation Schedule

For faculty scheduling, we decided on a mix of days and times to avoid scheduling during the same class period. We also want to schedule throughout the term rather than only the beginning, middle or end. Not all faculty may want to come to a formal session. Some may want one-on-one consulting, others formal sessions at Starr, and others presentations at department meetings. We expect that eventually individual bibliographers will be offering one-on-one orientation.

For advertising we will send postcards to the faculty and administrative staff listing the times of the orientation sessions. We'll offer separate orientations for faculty, staff, and students. We also include a note to advise faculty to contact their bibliographer if they want a different time or one-on-one consulting.

Marketing is also producing pencils and post-it notes for advertising the new catalog.

Status Message

Not On Loan doesn't seem to be working. We have a list of options "Available", "Check Shelf", "Not Chckd Out", "Not On Loan", and a blank message. For our next experiment, we'll try "Available", and we'll ask for feedback and suggestions on the front page.