Meeting Location: AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, Inc., Dallas, Texas 

PRESENT:  

Advisory Board: Marty Adamson (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas), Paul Dumont (Dallas County Community College District), Marsha W. Harper (Abilene Christian University), George Huffman (Amarillo College), Dr. S. Joe McCord (University of Houston - Clear Lake), Gilda Ortego y Gasca (Sul Ross State University), Robert A. Seal (Texas Christian University) 

Management Team: Jo Anne Hawkins (University of Texas at Austin), Kathryn Hoffman (University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center), Bonnie Juergens (AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, Inc.), Sue Phillips (University of Texas at Austin) 

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Dr. Robert Martin 

Visitors: David Gardner (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board); Mark McFarland (University of Texas at Austin); Michael Piper (Topeka, Kansas) 

Recorder: Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa (University of Texas at Austin) 

Advisory Board: Bill Hobby, Nelda Laney 

Management Team: Joan Heath (Southwest Texas State University) 

The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. by Robert Seal, TexShare Advisory Board Chair, who welcomed everyone in attendance. Bonnie Juergens welcomed the board to AMIGOS. Board members introduced themselves.  
 

AGENDA REVIEW 

The agenda was accepted by board members. 
 

TEXSHARE ACTIVITIES AT THE STATE LIBRARY  

Bob Martin introduced Michael Piper, who will serve as the director of the Library Resource Sharing Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, effective July 1.  

Bob distributed copies of the recently adopted §§8.1-8.6, new sections establishing policies to govern the operation of the TexShare library consortium, setting forth membership criteria, establishing policies for an advisory board, and proposing guidelines for grants to members. The new sections affect the Government Code, §§441.201-441.120.  

One change was made to what was published as proposed prior to adoption. A phrase was added to 8.4 (Advisory Board): "The ninth member is at large without any affiliation specified."  

Future of TexShare Meeting, March 24-25, 1998:  

Bob Martin referred to a brief report of the meeting, prepared by facilitator Lou Wetherbee. Bob highlighted two important points from the meeting:  

*Now is the time for increased funding in support of TexShare. 
*TexShare should begin to expand its membership beyond the current members, to include the public libraries.  

Bob Martin distributed "Exceptional Items Ranking, LAR 2000-20001," prepared May 11, 1998. The State Library and Archives Commission will be asking for 5 million additional dollars for TexShare. 

Bob asked the Advisory Board if it wished to endorse the addition of the public library community in TexShare at some point in time. 

In discussing the strategic goal of expanding TexShare beyond academic libraries which was articulated by the Future of TexShare Working Group in March, members of the Advisory Board supported in principle the move to include in TexShare the public library community at some point in the future. General discussion centered around these guidelines:  

1) Adequate additional funding would be required to expand the program to additional libraries in the State. 

2) Adequate planning and transition lead time would be a necessity (Members of the Advisory Board referenced TexShare's own history of development, in which a full year of funded planning preceded the first year of TexShare program implementation.). 

3) Existing TexShare programs should not be reduced to support the addition of new members. 

4) The first priority in regard to public library programs will be access to electronic information appropriate to the public library community. 

Bob Martin discussed 2 timeline options for conducting the upcoming Texas Treasures competitive grant competition: one would have projects beginning in September; the other in December. The consensus of the Board was for grants to be awarded to begin as soon as possible. After discussion, it was determined that FY1998 grants could be funded from TexShare reserves in a way that will expedite the grant distribution process. The process will be defined by Bob Martin and the Management Team. 

INTERLIBRARY LOAN UNIT AWARD 

Bonnie Juergens announced that the Interlibrary Loan Unit Award has been proposed to recognize an interlibrary loan working unit that has contributed in noteworthy ways to TexShares' Interlibrary Loan Protocol. The recipient institution will be announced at the Interlibrary Loan Workshop on June 5.  

Bonnie asked the Board if it was comfortable with and supportive of this award.  

Bob Martin encouraged the Interlibrary Loan Working Group to find a corporate sponsor so that a monetary award could be given to award recipients in the future. 

Joe McCord moved that the board endorse the concept of the award and commend the working group for originating the idea.Gilda Baeza y Ortega seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.  

David Gardner commented that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board would also provide additional recognition for award recipients through its publications. 

Marsha Harper moved that all awards established on behalf of TexShare go through an approval process by the Advisory Board. Marty Adamson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.  
 
 
 

WORKING GROUP STATUS REPORTS 

TexShare Card and TExpress:  

Jo Anne Hawkins reported the following: 

TexShare Card Program: 

The program expanded formally to private and community colleges March 16, 1998. 

Packets of brochures, cards, etc. were sent to all TexShare libraries the week of March 9. 

120 libraries are participating in the program as of March 30, 1998. 

81 libraries had posted their lending policies on the TexShare website by May 5. 

Approximately 100 names are on the TexShare Card Liaison listserve. 

Work is continuing to refine and update TexShare website information about the program. 

The program is going smoothly; no problems have been reported. 

The TexShare Courier Service Working Group met with the new membership in Dallas March 10. 

Bonnie Juergens and Susie Thompson attended to provide updates and information about the present and future TExpress. 

Minutes of the meeting were produced and posted on the TexShare Web.

The Working Group decided to simplify statistics gathered by program participants to the following: 

-Packages sent via TExpress 
-Packages received via TExpress 

Working group chair Gary Ives has notified participants to forward statistics to him no later than Monday, June 1, to be compiled and reported at the ILL Workshop on June 5. 

There are 85 participants in TExpress, including the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the Houston Public Library, which is in a pilot mode. 

Dallas Public Library will be added soon, also in pilot mode. 

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission authorized reallocation of $6,000 during FY 1998 to support TExpress. 

Una Gourlay of Rice has resigned from the Working Group to move to Singapore in July; a replacement member will be appointed whose term will expire December 31, 2000. 

The program is going well. Susie Thompson's Troubleshooting Desk assistance is very helpful. 

Electronic Information Programs:  

Sue Phillips reported the following:  

Counterpoint: 

Counterpoint has provided the Federal Register and Commerce Business Daily, which was paid for with TexShare funds. 

Counterpoint was purchased by West Publishing.  

Commerce Business Daily was removed from service on April 8th; access to the Federal Register based on IP address was discontinued. 

TexShare has provided alternate links to the Federal Register and Commerce Business Daily. Searching methods are different and different backfiles are available.  

TexShare is pursuing a refund from Counterpoint.  

ArchivesUSA is an electronic database of primary archival literature integrating three major information resources: DAMRUS (Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States), NUCMC (National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Collections) and NIDS (National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States). The NUCMC and NIDS information has been combined to provide a single record for each collection, with detailed information drawn from both resources when available. 

ArchivesUSA will be available to all TexShare and public libraries in Texas on June 1, making Texas one of 6 states that will have statewide availability.  

UT Austin is supplying the IP addresses for TexShare libraries and working with the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to obtain IP addresses for the public libraries. 

The Texas Education Agency, Texas State Library, and TexShare met in Austin on April 24 with Britannica Online representatives to discuss a statewide license for Britannica, focusing on lowering the costs to the public and school libraries. Further discussions will take place in Austin the week of May 18. 

The license would begin around August 1 and would coordinate with existing subscriptions. 

TAAHSLD met on April 17 in Houston to discuss which health-related resources would be useful to all TexShare libraries. 

Recommendations on health-related electronic resources for all TexShare libraries are: IAC Health Reference Center-Academic, MDConsult, Stat!-Ref. Vendors of these products are in the process of providing pricing information. 

The Working Group met April 23 in Dallas; all members attended. 

With new membership, the group spent time reviewing the history of TexShare databases. 

The group reviewed current services and recommended continuation. 

Libraries are making collection development decisions based on ABI/Inform and Periodical Abstracts.  

The Working Group discussed the recommendations from the April 17 meeting of TAAHSLD and other vendor proposals for TexShare Select products. 

A survey was sent to TexShare libraries to determine the 5 highest priority electronic resources for the TexShare Select program. 

Fifty-one libraries have responded to date. 

TexShare intends to license for 10 users for one year. 

AMIGOS attorneys are reviewing the license.  

TexShare will evaluate the services (Z39.50 capabilities, image support) and the platform (stability, staff requirements to administer). 

Hardware Upgrade: 
 

The current system is a DEC Alphaserver 2100 4/275 with expansion slots for 4 CPUs. We are using 3 CPUs to support a 140-user license for access to 2 full-text databases. We began to see performance problems on this system in March 1998. We could have upgraded the platform one final time by adding a 4th CPU and installing the maximum amount of memory. However, results of performance testing indicated that this new system, even at maximum configuration, would only marginally relieve the pressure and would not completely satisfy our performance requirements. 

UT Austin is currently developing cost models for a new system.  

Based on a UNIX platform, we have planned the next system using the following parameters: 

-database service is a critical path application for TexShare subscribers 

-must support a minimum of a 200-user license for 3 databases -must support growth up to twice current capacity without upgrading or adding 

-modularity: we must be able to expand capacity of these systems 

-failover protection to minimize downtime due to system failure 

-RAID storage to minimize impact of disk failure 

-platform should be able to support non-Ovid applications and/or data 

Problems: 

Five schools have paid but do not yet have access as they have not submitted their IP and technical contact information. The AMIGOS TexShare Office will contact the directors of these institutions to remind them that they are not using the service for which they have paid.  

Mark announced that database access has been turned on for Wayland Baptist University's Hawaii and Alaska components.  

Access Control: 

Several schools have approached UT Austin in regard to working with them to establish solutions for authorizing remote users (off-campus users). UT Austin is developing a Web page that will outline options that UT Austin can support and is planning a meeting of interested TexShare schools for early this summer. 

Interlibrary Loan:  

Bonnie Juergens reported for Joan Heath that the Interlibrary Loan Workshop will be held June 5 in Dallas. To date, 130 people are registered to attend. 

The Interlibrary Loan Protocol revision is almost completed and ready for distribution. The following changes have been recommended by the Interlibrary Loan Working Group: 
 

Section 8.1: 

"The goal for TexShare Libraries is not to charge for interlibrary loan services and for all libraries to participate... "  
 

Sections defining what an institution must post to the TexShare website in regard to loan policy have been removed.  

 

Section 4.2.1 has been added to state that Ariel is recommended as a delivery mechanism for articles. Until the working group evaluates Ariel's usefulness, an institution is not required to use Ariel. 

 

Section 4.3.1 had been added, with wording encouraging TexShare participants to use TExpress. 

Texas Collections:  

Kathy Hoffman reported that 3 projects have been chosen for funding through TexTreasures: 

Texas A&M at Commerce - Provide access to oral history items available in the University archives and from public libraries. 

Award amount: $5,875 
 

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas - Produce a Web-based biographical database of Texas physicians, 1905-66. 

Award amount: $4,275 
 

University of Texas at Dallas - Provide access to the Edward Ferko Collection, a sub-collection within the History of Aviation Collection (World War I) 

Award amount: $6,000 

ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATE 

Bonnie Juergens reported the following: 

Training Update:   

260 people attended 17 sessions on the TexShare databases. 

Bonnie conducted 7 sessions of "Introduction to TexShare for Administrators" (65 participants). 

45 people attended the session, "Surviving the Internet." 

The Interlibrary Loan workshop will be held June 5 (130 registrants as of 5/14). 

Integrating electronic reference resources with traditional reference 

What reference practitioners should know about copyright and the Web 

OCLC's Interlibrary Loan Direct requests: how to plan to use this service 

Distance education/distance information: How TexShare libraries are meeting the need 

Academic Universe: 

AMIGOS will be providing information to TexShare members via the TexShare listserve to inform them how to get access to Academic Universe. The number of institutions which sign up for Academic Universe by May 20 will determine the price TexShare and other AMIGOS member libraries receives. 

Financial Report: 

Bonnie provided an updated report detailing the current status of available TexShare funds. Reallocations will be defined by the Management Team in concert with Bob Martin and the Advisory Board. 

Texas Group: 

Bonnie will be sending letters to 50 libraries in regard to joining the Texas Group. TexShare will pay for these libraries to accomplish their participation, which is required for signing the revised Interlibrary Loan Protocol. 

Next Meeting: 

The Advisory Board will meet July 9 in Austin. The meeting location will be announced in June. 

OLD BUSINESS 

There was no old business. 

NEW BUSINESS 

Bob Martin announced that he will attend a hearing of the Library Subcommittee of the House Committee on State, Federal and International Relations in 2 weeks. 

ADJOURNMENT 

Chair Bob Seal adjourned the meeting at 2:45 p.m.