Minutes

TexShare Card Program Working Group Meeting
Wednesday March 19, 2004

Present: Tania Bardyn, Jay Clark, Jackie Dodson, June Koelker (for Hugh McDonald), Ann Mason, Suzanne McAnna (chair), Gene Rollins, Brenda Tirrell

Agenda

1. Overview of TexShare Card Tips panel
2. TexShare and Loan Star
3. Review of text on TexShare Card for next reprinting
4. Future directions for the Working Group
5. Next meeting date

As June Koelker was attending the meeting to represent Hugh McDonald, the members present did a round of introductions.

1. Overview of TexShare Card Tips Panel

Tania provided a brief overview of plans for the panel to be presented at TLA the next morning. The panel is being sponsored by ProQuest as well as by the Library Partnerships Committee, the Public Libraries Division, and TSLAC. It includes representatives from medical, community college, small and large public, and academic
libraries. Ann will speak on TexShare and Loan Star and Suzanne will provide a brief overview on TexShare card use based on statistics compiled by Jay for the Advisory Board.

Suzanne acknowledged the excellent work Tania has done in organizing and coordinating the panel.

2. TexShare and Loan Star

Ann shared some of the comments about TexShare and Loan Star that she is planning to present on the panel. The differences between Loan Star and the Texshare Card Program often need to be explained, she finds. Some people believe that there is a Loan Star card, which is not the case--Loan Star is a direct aid program for public libraries.
Ann said that she is especially interested in talking with Loan Star libraries about the advantages of joining the TexShare Card program. The TSLAC Loan Star manager, Wendy Clark, must make site visits and Ann may join her on some of these; and Library Resource Sharing staff may attend the system meetings in the fall.

3. Review of text on TexShare Card for next reprinting

Suzanne said that the impetus for reviewing the card text was that the language about returning materials is no longer quite accurate, now that TExpress courier service may be used. The card is due to be reprinted in the fairly near future.

Members discussed and suggested the following:

Front of card:
Change "Authorization for" to "Name"
Change "Institution/Library" to "Issuing Institution/Library"
Change "Borrower Status" to "Borrower Type"

Back of card:
Change the second bullet to: "Observe the policies, including loan periods, of the lending library."
Change the third bullet to: "Return materials to the lending library on or before the due date."
Change fifth bullet to: "Surrender the card if requested to library staff."

The printing date on the card will also need to change.

4. Future Directions for the Working Group

There was a brief discussion of possible future directions for the Card Working Group. It appears that with regard to TexShare and K-12, the emphasis will be on database access, rather than on other TexShare programs.

The Group agreed that the Program is working very well and there is no reason to tweak it unless there are problems. There was some discussion of whether requiring a TexShare Card applicant to be a cardholder in good standing at the issuing library for a specified number of months should be a standard. But "good standing" has different meanings for public and academic libraries--for the latter, enrollment status is a key factor. The FAQs include advice to libraries to set appropriate restrictions to establish a borrower's good standing, and this is probably all we need.

The Group is very interested in offering another program on a Card Program topic at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference. After discussion of the timeline for submitting proposed programs to TLA, members agreed that we would aim for a program at the 2006 conference, and could discuss our ideas for this at our next meeting.

5. Next Meeting Date

There appears to be no need to meet in person in the fall. We can schedule a conference call if issues arise that we need to address. We will meet again in person during the 2005 TLA Conference in Austin.

- Submitted by Suzanne McAnna, 3-26-04