TexShare Courier Service Working Group Minutes
October 17, 2000

TexShare Courier Service Working Group Minutes October 17, 2000

Participants: April Bennington (Chair), Jackie Crinion, Victoria Duff, Jo Anne Hawkins, Lee Hilyer, Linda Hughes, Gerard Mittelstaedt, Connie Moss, Rachel Robbins, Mike Robinson, Carolyn Thorne, Jerilynn Williams, Susie Thompson (Amigos Liaison), Deborah Littrell (State Library), Rebecca Linton (State Library Liaison)

1. April welcomed everyone and thanked the members for their participation.

2. Jackie Crinion volunteered as secretary for this meeting.

3. Members were asked to make sure all the information is correct on the group roster.

4. April has resigned as Chair of the Working Group effective the end of the year. Deborah Littrell explained that the Advisory Board Roles and Responsibilities state that working groups designate chairs. They do not state how chairs are designated. Some working groups have chosen to appoint chairs; others have held elections. Jerilynn Williams was nominated and elected. She will begin her term in January 2001.

5. It is almost time for the appointment of new members to the Working Group. Deborah explained that there is an effort made to keep good representation on the working groups. Factors include, but are not limited to, type of library, geographical location, and size of patron base. Lee ?s, Rachel?s, and Mike?s terms expire at the end of the year. A call for nominations will be made in the near future. Committee members may be reappointed provided the representation factors have been taken into consideration.

6. Suggested changes to the TExpress Shipping Guidelines were made and reviewed. Lee led the discussion and will make the changes indicated, sending out a draft for everyone?s approval. Most discussion centered on the purpose of the existing guidelines and, as a result, a title change to ?TExpress User Guide?, as well as what should be included in the ?costs and benefits? section and appendices.

7. TExpress statistics for calendar year 2000, through August, were distributed alphabetically by institution and by total counts. These statistics are also available on the web page and can be downloaded as spreadsheets. Suggestions for improvements were to (1) include total packages sent and total packages received for each institution and (2) include a total for Trans Amigos Express activities. There have been a few problems collecting statistics from some institutions. This is usually resolved with a phone call.

8. Susie updated the Working Group on participation in TExpress noting there are currently 149 TExpress sites.

9. Performance measures for TExpress were a major topic of discussion again. Some of the performance measures identified were overall satisfaction, turnaround time, reliability of the courier, and patron comments. Discussion centered on the rationale for conducting a survey. Namely, whether it should be a satisfaction survey or a method of evaluating control. It was decided that we would try a limited pilot study with Working Group member libraries as the primary base. Rebecca and Mike will work on a form and send it out to everyone for review. It should include a weekly total of receipts and identify items taking more than 2 days for delivery. The designated week for the survey will probably be the last week in October or the first week in November. We will then review the information supplied to decide whether a larger study is warranted. The results should be available by the next meeting.

10. The next meeting will be a conference call, scheduled for Tuesday, November 28th at 1:30 pm.