TexShare Advisory Board Meeting
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
1201 Brazos, Room 314
October 10, 2003
TexShare Advisory Board Chair, Eva Poole, convened the meeting.
1. Recognition of Departing Member
The board would like to thank Glenda Swink for her dedicated
service to TexShare.
2. Introduction of New Member
The board would like to welcome Martha Tandy from Weatherford
College who is now representing community colleges.
3. Election of Chair and Vice Chair
Eva Poole was re-elected the Chair and J.J. Baskin was re-elected
Vice Chair.
4. Approve minutes from July 9, 2003
Minutes stand approved.
5. Schedule FY04 Meetings
The following are the dates agreed on by the TSAB
for FY04:
Friday, December 12, 2003 – special meeting for database
fee invoice appeals
Thursday, January 22, 2004 – the morning after the Strategic
Planning Session
Friday, April 16, 2004
Friday, July 23, 2004
Friday, October 15, 2004
6. Public Comment
None
7. Report on TexShare Database Fees Task Force –
Eva Poole
The task force had a phone conference August 8, 2003
and agreed to look at any and all different varieties of statistics
for assessing the database fees. The goal is to have a draft
fee schedule available for review at the end of November.
8. Discuss Database Fees Invoice Complaint Process
and Amendments 13 TAC §8.3 – Beverley Shirley
The protest procedure to be used for the database
fees invoice appeals is the same process used agency-wide
for other programs (13 TAC §2.55). TSLAC has approved
the posting of a rule change related to fee assessment and
the complaint process to the Texas Register. The proposed
amendments will delete the old tier structure thus making
the rules more adaptable to fit a variety of situations in
which fees may be assessed as determined by the task force
and advisory board. Also, adding reference to the complaint
process establishes a formal mechanism by which a library
may request that a fee be lowered or waived.
9. Discuss TexShare Multi-Library Memberships –
13 TAC §8.3(d) – Beverley Shirley
The existing membership rules are contradictory in defining
membership by academic institution (13 TAC §8.3(a)),
while allowing for some academic institutions to have multiple
memberships (13TAC §8.3(d)). The board recommended that
section (d) be changed. The consensus is to move toward consolidating
the multi-library academic institutions.
Some health science centers that are affiliated with universities
are treated as individual members, with individual billing
for services. Other health science centers receive no billing,
as they are considered part of the home institution’s
library. Once again, we have a contradiction. The recommendation
is to identify the HSC libraries on The Higher Education Coordinating
Board list and develop a schema of how they will be treated
in the future. Beverely will report on the HSC libraries at
the next meeting.
The last issue discussed were the institutions that share
a library. Are they one member or two? The board recommends
we determine one way to deal with the joint libraries and
be consistent.
Beverley Shirley will provide further information on the
membership issue at the next meeting.
10. Report on TLA Resource Sharing Task Force –
Rhoda Goldberg
The task force is in the process of gathering information.
A questionnaire was sent out to other state libraries asking
how they handle statewide resource sharing. The task force
will have a conference call in November to discuss the results
of the survey. The Texas Education Agency has eliminated the
department that managed the Texas Library Connection (TLC).
The future of the TLC Union Catalog is uncertain at this time.
A face-to-face meeting is planned for January 5, 2004 with
the goal of developing some tentative recommendations before
the Statewide Resource Sharing Strategic Planning Session
on January 20 & 21.
11. Discuss Strategic Planning Session – Nancy
Anderson
The two-day session is being on Tues, Jan. 20 & Wed, Jan.
21, 2004 at The Commons Center on the J.J. Pickle Research
Complex. A sub-committee conference call was held on September
23, 2003 to establish a draft agenda and list of stakeholder
groups. The board approved the sub-committee’s draft
agenda and stakeholder list. The bid for an outside facilitator
will go out in November.
12. Working Group Reports:
A. Card Program Working Group – Jay Clark
The card program has grown from 17,440 cards issued
in 1996 to 437,544 in 2002. Over this same time period, the
loss of books has remained well below ½ of 1% of total
volumes circulated. UT Austin plays a large role, accounting
for 55% of the all books circulated by the card program. FY03
card program statistics reflect 31,120 cards issued, 437,544
circulation transactions, 94 lost items paid for by borrowers,
130 lost items paid for by home library, and 95 lost items
paid for by other libraries. The working group has 2 recommendations:
1) use the courier service to ship borrowed materials back
to the home library; and
2) having a “best practices” program at TLA Annual
Conference in March. The board approved both recommendations.
B. Courier Working Group - Jo Anne Hawkins
· TExpress statistics for Sept ’02 – Aug
’03 were presented. The number of items sent (268,821)
increased by 22% over FY02, items received (277,989) increased
30%, bringing the total increase to 26%.
· 17% of the libraries on the courier service are still
not reporting their statistics. The working group continues
to call non-reporting libraries. To simplify the reporting
process, a direct link to the TExpress statistics reporting
form is now on the front page of the TexShare Web site.
· To date, 10 libraries have cancelled TExpress due
to the increase in cost for FY04.
· Victoria Duff of Wilson County Public Library and
Jo Anne Hawkins have been reappointed to the working group,
and a replacement for Linda Hughes is being sought.
· The working group plans a conference call on October
21, 2003.
C. Education Working Group – Lisa Loranc
The working group joined the system consultants at
their annual meeting on July 29, 2003 in an effort to coordinate
educational efforts among all interested library agencies.
This opportunity allowed for a comparison of system needs
with needs identified by the working group through surveys
and to identify areas where the working group is able to meet
needs not currently being met by the systems. Joan Alcott
will provide a statewide list of libraries with acceptable
facilities for continuing education programs. The working
group will continue its effort to create an online clearinghouse
for training resources. A joint committee has been set up
work on database training. Lisa Loranc, Jerry Hoke, and Farzaneh
Razzaghi are representing the working group on this committee.
The working group will hold its next meeting on Monday, Jan.
12, 2004 at the State Library.
D. Electronic Information Working Group –
Syma Zerkow
FY03 usage statistics are available on the TexShare Web site.
A total of 9,664,427 database sessions, 20,435,024 searches,
and 12,209,165 documents were provided through the database
service in FY03. These numbers represent increases over FY02
of 62%, 23%, and 17% respectively. Some new titles were bought
from netLibrary at the end of the fiscal year. The working
group is most worried about being able to continue to provide
access to Heritage Quest database.
E. Interlibrary Loan Working Group – No report
F. Texas Collections Working Group
Ann Mason read a sample letter that went out to all
the FY04 TexTreasures grant applicants explaining regarding
the loss of funding for grants in FY04. Also included with
each letter were the applicant’s proposal assessments
based on the working group evaluations and suggestions for
potential alternative funding sources for their projects.
13. Strategic Partner Reports:
A. UT at Austin – Sue Phillips
No Report.
B. Amigos – Bonnie Juergens
As suggested by the board, the courier mailing labels now
include the Amigos toll-free phone number.
The number of cancellations due to the reduction in state
subsidy was less than anticipated. There are now 168 libraries
signed up for the service that are subsidized by the state
library and 10 that are not subsidized.
14. Administrative Report – Beverley Shirley
TexShare representatives: Welcome to Martha
Tandy, director of Weatherford Community College Library,
new TexShare Advisory Board member. Ms. Tandy is currently
serving as chair of the Texas Council of Community/Junior
College Librarians and chair of the Administrative Round Table
of the Texas Library Association. She has served as a member
of the TexShare Communication Plan Implementation Task Force
and the TexShare Task Force on Database Fees. Ms. Tandy has
her MLS from Texas Woman’s University and her BBA from
Tarlton State University. Term to expire August 31, 2006.
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission expresses
its appreciation to Glenda Swink, Director of Libraries at
Southwest Texas Community College, who served on the TexShare
Advisory Board for three years.
We also thank Nancy Paine, who retired August 31, 2003, from
the University of Texas at Austin. Nancy served as Chair of
the Interlibrary Loan Working Group from1998 to 2003.
TexShare Fees: As of October 1st, TSLAC has
received approximately $575,000 in TexShare fees, which is
over one-third of our goal of $1.5 million. “First reminder”
invoices are scheduled to go out to libraries on November
5, 2003. As of October 2, 2003, we have received “intent
to appeal” notices from fourteen libraries. These include
three public libraries, ten private academic institutions,
and one community college. Of these appeals, five libraries
intend to request that fees be waived and nine intend to request
that their fees be lowered.
We have received communications from several private institutions
regarding the structure of the fee assessment, and objecting
to the use of volume count in determining fees. We have also
heard that several public libraries are concerned about the
value derived from maintaining the database service in their
libraries given the low level of database usage. The regional
library system coordinators are working with us and with the
Library Development Division to extend more training to these
libraries and to help them promote usage among their patrons.
Public libraries are given the opportunity to use money from
their Loan Star Library grants to pay for the database service.
Some regional library systems are directing collection development
money toward partially or totally subsidizing the database
service for their members.
Complaint Process for Fees: The Texas State
Library and Archives Commission has approved the posting of
a rule change related to fee assessment and the complaint
process to the Texas Register. The proposed amendments would
have two impacts:
1) Deleting the old tier structure, and making the rules more
adaptable to fit a variety of situations in which fees may
be assessed.
2) Adding reference to the complaint (appeals) process establishes
a formal mechanism by which a library may request that a fee
be lowered or waived. TexShare member libraries would follow
the same review procedure as is established for all other
TSLAC programs. Putting this procedure into practice may involve
the following steps:
a. Library sends a letter of complaint as outlined in the
rule.
b. TexShare Advisory Board reviews the complaints and makes
a recommendation.
c. Director and Librarian determines resolution of complaint.
d. Library accepts determination or appeals decision to Texas
State Library and Archives Commission.
e. Texas State Library and Archives Commission hears appeals
and makes final determination.
TexShare membership status: In the process
of implementing the new database fee schedule, several questions
have arisen regarding the definition of a member institution.
Member institutions are defined in 13 TAC §8.3. However,
the rules are somewhat contradictory in defining membership
by institution (13 TAC §8.3 (a)), while allowing for
some institutions to have multiple memberships (13 TAC §8.3
(d)). Some specific examples of ambiguity include:
1) Community colleges
2) Law libraries
3) Health science centers
4) Institutions that share a library.
5) HAM/TMC
The TexShare membership eligibility rules refer to Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board legislation found in Section
61.003, Education Code.
Library of Texas Update:
The Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund grant for the Library
of Texas Project expired on August 31,2003. With only two
invoices outstanding, we project the project expended $13,
277,385 of the $13,281,962 grant.
Electronic Depository Program
· The Electronic Depository Program (EDP) system completed
a harvest of all state agencies, collecting over 32,000 electronic
publications and their metadata.
· A study on meta-tagging practices and the EDP concluded
that the meta-tagging process required of state agencies in
preparing publications for the EDP couldn’t be automated
in any efficient or practical way at this time.
· Texas School of Information students have reviewed
Web sites for all 187 agencies and provided detailed recommendations
for appropriate meta-tags
Resource Discovery Service:
· Software was mounted on RDS servers and successfully
tested.
· Approximately 100 libraries participated in the library
uplift project. This project provided software upgrades to
local public or academic libraries from their current library
automation vendors in order to achieve the level of standard
and profile compliance needed for full participation in the
RDS.
· Directory Database that runs in conjunction with
the RDS software was built and populated with skeletal information.
· Interlibrary loan (ILL) software (and associated
hardware) to expedite library-to-library lending of materials
identified through the RDS was purchased.
TexShare databases:
· Database subscriptions to 48 of the 60 core databases
were renewed. The remaining databases were dropped from the
core due to funding cuts.
· Discounted pricing was negotiated for TexShare member
libraries that wanted to continue receiving the databases
that are no longer part of the core.
· An interim database fee schedule was developed to
assess TexShare member libraries for their participation in
the database service.
Training:
· Videoconference equipment was used for a variety
of meetings involving persons at diverse locations.
· TSLAC staff attended certification training in distance
technologies.
· We continued end-user training on the videoconferencing
systems.
· We began development of web-based learning workshops.
· Upgrades for videoconferencing systems were purchased.
LOT Evaluation Process:
Outline of specific actions required for evaluation of database
and RDS components was completed and a timeline put in place.
Next TexShare Advisory Board Meeting is January
22, 2004.
Present:
TexShare Advisory Board Members:
Eva Poole, Denton Public Library, Chair
Nancy Anderson, Howard Payne University
Douglas Ferrier, University of Texas at Brownsville
Maurice Fortin, Angelo State University
Rhoda Goldberg, Harris County Public Library
Darryl Tocker, Tocker Foundation
Martha Tandy, Weatherford College
Eileen Altmiller, St. Edward’s University
Dennis Michaelis, McLennan Community College
Texas State Library and Archives Commission:
Michael Avila, Library Resource Sharing Division
Ann Mason, Library Resource Sharing Division
Beverley Shirley, Library Resource Sharing Division
Ted Wanner, Library Development Division
Russlene Waukechon, Library Resource Sharing Division
Working Group Chairs/Liaisons:
Jo Anne Hawkins, University of Texas at Austin
Lisa Loranc, Pasadena Public Library
Jay Clark, San Jacinto College
Syma Zerkow, Houston Public Library
Strategic Partners:
Sue Phillips, University of Texas at Austin
Bonnie Juergens, Amigos Library Services
Guests:
Carol McDonald, ICUT Inc.
Gloria Meraz, Texas Library Association
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