TexShare Advisory Board Meeting
September 22, 1999
Meeting Minutes

Meeting Location: Sam Houston Building, Room 210, Austin, TX

TexShare Advisory Board Chair Robert Seal convened the meeting and welcomed guests.

Agenda review

Board members asked staff to send the meeting packet to the Board one to two weeks before each meeting.

Working groups

Mr. Seal invited Michael Piper to introduce this topic. Mr. Piper outlined the following proposed goal, strategies, and outcome:

• Proposed TexShare goal, which is based on discussion at the Future of TexShare conference held in early 1998: "Deliver services that help every member library fulfill its unique mission."

• The proposed strategies are:

• The desired outcome is to develop satisfied customers so TexShare can gain more funding and everybody wins.

The Board endorsed these statements and asked staff to post them on the TexShare web page, and to send them to system coordinators to go to systems members. The Board also asked staff to review the TexShare electronic mailing lists to make sure the right people are subscribed. Michael Piper and Robert Seal will work together on a media campaign.

Card Program

Jay Clark presented the charge statement for the Card Program Working Group:

Desired results of team activity - The group’s business is to incorporate universities, both public and private, community colleges and public libraries into the effective sharing of resources among participating members of the TexShare Program and to make recommendations for changes that will improve the TexShare Card Program. Specifically, for the coming year the Group will plan for bringing public libraries smoothly into the existing Program and will assist participating libraries with their concerns about this expansion.

There was Board consensus that the Card Program draft charge was acceptable.

Card program report

In his report for the card program, Jay Clark pointed out that use of the card program has increased, the State Library has taken over collecting the program statistics, and UT/Austin is losing income from card program use. He added that UT/Austin handles a very high percentage of the program use, and the group is considering recommending a subsidy. The Board recommended that the working group consider including statistics from other local reciprocal borrowing agreements in Texas.

TExpress Courier Program

Jo Anne Hawkins presented the charge statement and report for this group:

Appoint a liaison to attend meetings of the TexShare ILL Working Group and to monitor and communicate with both working group concerning issues of common concern;

Monitor the performance of the TExpress courier, particularly in regard to the inclusion of public libraries into the service;

Consider the role of the Working Group in maintaining TExpress statistics;

Address the Alpine/Sul Ross situation and recommend a means by which Sul Ross can return to participation in TExpress;

Create "how to do TExpress" guidelines for the TexShare web that include shipping information and information concerning projected levels of courier use as well as break-even data to help libraries determine whether TExpress is a viable service in terms of cost;

Review and monitor the TExpress website and suggest changes as necessary;

Revisit the TexShare policy to subsidize TExpress at the membership level rather than at the site level;

Consider publicity for the TExpress program and determine how the Working Group can both initiate and assist with it;

Explore issues concerning the intersection of TExpress with Trans-AMIGOS Express (TAE).

The Board accepted the charge statement.

Ms. Hawkins discussed the current TExpress statistics and pointed out that the Central Texas Library System newsletter highlighted the benefit to the system of courier membership. The 100^th participant in TExpress is Collin County Community College and the group recommends a press release to mark the occasion.

Education Working Group

Bonnie Juergens presented the charge statement and report for this working group:

The Education Working Group (WG) is charged with recommending and prioritizing continuing education opportunities to be funded under the TexShare (T/S) umbrella. The WG may make recommendations regarding formats and delivery methods as well as frequency and location of offerings to make the most of opportunities provided by TexShare. The WG may gather information by using formal or informal survey methods, as well as gathering input from the WG itself, interested Texas librarians, other TexShare working groups and associated agencies.

Training topics funded by TexShare should be related to current TexShare services or future cooperative efforts. Such topics could be related to the use of electronic connectivity, databases and telecommunications as well as library issues associated with these topics. The Ovid, ILL, Ariel, copyright and technical forum workshops are examples of programs that relate to TexShare.

The Education WG considers part of its charge to communicate with other agencies regarding perceived educational needs, especially those that are unlikely to be filled by TexShare.

Actions to be accomplished by the WG for the coming year include:

Plan a WG meeting for the fall of 1999 (possibly October);

Gather needs data, discuss data gathering methodology and the use of the data;

Review statistics regarding T/S FY99 workshop activities;

Decide on methods to garner input from other T/S working groups;

Recommend workshop topics to be offered over the next 24 months;

Discuss past evaluation methods and make recommendations for program evaluations;

Recommend methods to best publicize T/S educational opportunities;

Discuss plans to insure the integration of public libraries into the process;

Report to T/S Board regarding the plan to integrate public libraries into training opportunities.

DRAFT -PUBLIC LIBRARY INTEGRATION

Public Libraries should have no trouble being integrated into the Education Working Group (WG). The WG will be including its new public library representative members into the planning process. As surveys and information regarding needs are considered, all TexShare members, both academic and public will be included in the information gathering. The program presenters will have information about their audience ahead of time and will be able to address the programs to the need level of the audiences.

The Board accepted the charge statement.

Ms. Juergens discussed the definition of the type of training eligible for TexShare funding and emphasized the working group will be coordinating its tasks closely with State Library programs, other working groups, and other organizations. Ms. Juergens presented a summary of the training coordinated by Amigos over FY99 and stated they are compiling a longer report on training.

In the working group report Ms. Juergens reported on the TexShare funds held by Amigos Library Services. The TexShare money administered by Amigos under previous contracts with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the State Library is almost gone.

Amigos has two new proposals to use these funds. The first is to spend just under $2,000 for the ILL fall workshop ($1,943 exactly), and the second request relates to courier startup costs. These costs came $8,000 short of the amount originally budgeted. Approval of these two amounts leaves $1,960 of old TexShare money at Amigos. Amigos is almost finished with their audit and the end balance may change slightly. A motion to approve the spending of these two amounts passed.

Texas Collections

Kathy Hoffman presented the charge statement and report for this working group:

The purpose of the TexTreasures program is to assist academic and public libraries in providing access to their special or unique local collections and to make information about these holdings available to library users across Texas. The primary responsibility for this Review Panel is to annually evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each grant application received based on an established set of criteria. After careful consideration and discussion of the each grant, the Review Panel will recommend specific grants to receive funding.

Secondly, the Review Panel should begin the process of evaluating the importance of the TexTreasures program by contacting previous awardees. The Review Panel members would develop a method or instrument for obtaining information about the grant process experience, the work that was completed with the grant, and the level of success achieved through the TexTreasures program.

The group should continue to improve TexTreasures. The original TexShare members were surveyed in 1995 concerning collections/holdings of special interest to the academic institutions within the State. The Working Group feels another survey is warranted given the new members of TexShare and our new organizational structure. The Group will develop a survey instrument that could be administered to each TexShare library during the year. The Group should also evaluate the TexShare Internet site with respect to the TexTreasures grant program. The suggestions would be forwarded to the State Library to improve the quality of the information available and to promote TexShare.

Finally, the group should begin to investigate other grant programs within multi-type networks. The group could compare these programs against those offered through TexShare in order to improve our program.

The Board asked about the need to clarify the focus of the TexTreasures grants and asked the working group to add a review of the administrative rules to the charge statement. The rule changes will go to the Commission in November, but will apply to the 2002 grant cycle. For the 2001 grant cycle the guidelines will point out that those proposals with a Texas focus will have priority as per the Commission directive from their August meeting. The Board approved the working group’s charge statement.

Electronic Information Working Group

Sue Phillips presented the charge statement and report for this group:

1) Welcome the public library representatives to the group as new members with terms beginning January 2000.

2) Compare the service profiles, budgets, and usage statistics of both the TexShare information services and the Texas State Electronic Library.

3) Review and recommend new services based on budget parameters established by the TexShare Advisory Board.

4) Discuss other issues brought to the attention of the Working Group.

The Board asked the group to look at the possibility of tier charges for TexSelect products. The Board accepted the charge statement.

The Electronic Information Working Group report highlighted the summer activity survey of academic library desires.

Strategic partner role —

Ms. Phillips presented a proposal to ask Peggy Rudd, the new State Librarian, to appoint a task force to examine strategic issues for TexShare, in light of the expanded TexShare membership and increased funding. The Board concurred with this recommendation and added that the Board would help.

Ms. Phillips then presented the online database renewal strategies paper and database usage figures. The working group needs guidance for spending these funds. She presented a recommendation that the TexShare Advisory Board appoint an ad hoc group to look at these issues. Ms. Phillips proposed that in the FY00 August renewal period TexShare continue two profiles (TSEL and TexShare) while working on these issues. The task force would look at budgetary guidelines and the issue of fees for TexShare.

Once this group makes its recommendations, the Electronic Information Working Group will recommend database offerings for the year, based on results of the database survey.

Mr. Seal read Dr. McCord’s opinion, which stated that he supported fees for public libraries and applying tiers to public libraries, but not for services public libraries already get free. The Board agreed to appoint a task force and will work with the State Library on appointments. A motion to accept the recommendation passed.

ILL Working Group

Sara Lowman presented the charge statement and report for this working group:

1. Investigate and make a recommendation on Internet-based resource sharing

programs that would enable non-OCLC member libraries to be integrated into

the interlibrary loan network.

2. Update the ILL Protocol to incorporate the public library members.

3. Hold the third TexShare ILL Workshop

4. Encourage discussion on the LoanStar e-mail list

5. Update the OCLC statistical report to include the public libraries

6. Identify possible ILL concerns and mutual needs among various subgroups

of TexShare libraries (by type of library and geography). Work towards

responding to concerns and capitalizing on mutual interests.

7. Enhance the ILL Working Group's web pages

The Board asked the group to consider what integration means for academic and public libraries. The Board accepted the charge statement.

Working Group appointments

Michael Piper introduced this issue. The proposed strategy has two basic assumptions: keep the working groups approximately the same size as they are now, and aim for equity of representation between public and academic libraries.

The Board asked staff to consider the variety of stakeholders involved in the working groups (such as size of library, medical libraries, and strategic partners), and to consider the recommendation guidelines that should consider all factors in the appointment process. The TexShare Roles and Responsibilities statement gives the task of making appointments to the working groups to the State Library staff, in consultation with the Advisory Board and working groups. Mr. Piper stated that staff will take the process seriously and will present a slate at the December meeting. Staff are still working on the steps to solicit nominations, and expect the steps will include a call for nominations.

Administrative update

Michael Piper presented the administrative update. The first topic was the

courier service implementation strategy and the issue of how many subsidized sites per member and how to define membership The Board accepted the recommendation presented to limit subsidies to one subsidy per member library, with members defined as they are for the information access fee. Community colleges could join as districts or campuses. The Board also asked the ad hoc task force on fees to consider fees and tiers for the courier service as well. A motion to adopt the strategy as presented passed.

Mr. Piper then presented an update on the technical support contract with the University of Texas at Austin. The contract allows for mutually identified adjustments to be made based on needs. The Board agreed to take this approach to the contract.

Michael Piper noted that UT had identified an additional need to address - a half time position to upgrade the TexShare web site. This will be added to the agreement as a contract addendum.

In July, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission declined funding for one of the TexTreasures proposals that had been recommended by the Texas Collections Working Group. At the December meeting Michael Piper will present a recommendation for re-allocating this amount within the TexShare budget.

Texas Library Association conference

Deborah Littrell reviewed the date and time for the TexShare program at the next annual TLA conference and asked the Board for suggestions for the program. The Board decided a status report and presentations on the working groups, the TexShare Roles and Responsibilities statement, and a legislative update would be interesting and useful for TexShare members.

Future meeting schedule

The next Advisory Board meeting will be December 13, 1999 at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, from 10 am — 3 pm. The Board decided it should meet before the TLA annual conference and reached a consensus to meet Friday, March 10, 2000 in Austin. The Board decided it would set a summer meeting date after checking on dates for TLA Annual Assembly.

Old Business

A motion to accept the minutes from the July 1999 meeting passed

New Business

Mr. Seal said the working group liaisons should try to get together the week before the December board meeting.

Gilda Ortego asked that "secretary" no longer appear on the roster next to her name.

The meeting was adjourned.

Attendance:

TexShare Advisory Board:

Marty Adamson, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

Paul Dumont, Dallas County Community College District

Marsha Harper, Abilene Christian University

George Huffman, Amarillo College

Eva Poole, Denton Public Library

Gilda Ortego, Texas A & M at Kingsville

Robert Seal, Texas Christian University

Rhoda Goldberg, Harris County Public Library

Darryl Tocker, Tocker Foundation

J. Grant Jones

Working Group Liaisons:

Sue Phillips, University of Texas at Austin

Kathy Hoffman, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Bonnie Juergens, Amigos Library Services

Sara Lowman, Rice University

Jay Clark, San Jacinto College

Jo Anne Hawkins, University of Texas at Austin

Strategic Partners:

Mark McFarland, University of Texas at Austin

Visitors:

Norman Hood, Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas

David Gill, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Texas State Library & Archives Commission:

Michael Piper, Library Resource Sharing Division

Beverley Shirley, Library Resource Sharing Division

Jeanette Larson, Library Development Division

Christine Peterson, Library Development Division

Recorder: Deborah Littrell, Texas State Library & Archives Commission