The ARC Customer Service IG met on Friday, March 28, 2008 at Holy Cross.
In attendance were: Dodie Gaudet (CMRLS), Kathy Maxwell (WSC), Eileen Cravedi (HC), Ginny Julian (WPI) and Barbara Merolli (HC).
Review Meeting Notes from January 11, 2008 with corrections and comments:
· Corrected spelling of CLIO.
· Barcode placement on books – Discussion related to reasons for change: change was made to accommodate future software for more automated processing of books, to facilitate inventorying books, and facilitate checking books in and out. More important to change the location to the outside of the book cover, less important is whether the front or back cover is used. This policy is for new books only going forward, not retroactive.
Preview Revised ARC Borrowing Letter with New Logo
Question was asked if we can have the new text in electronic format to begin using it on the old letterhead stationery until the supply is exhausted.
Question was asked why UMass Medical School library is not on the “In-House Only” list.
Both questions are being routed back through CMRLS for response: Per Rick Levine on 3/31/08, the “fillable form” templates will be ready in a few weeks. The UMass omission is being investigated.
Review and Discuss Draft Mission Statement
The draft mission statement of the Customer Service Group was discussed and revised to read:
“The Academic and Research Collaborative (ARC) Customer Service Interest Group (CSIG) represents the rim in a wheel analogy, where Circulation and Interlibrary Loan is the hub. The spokes of the wheel are Reference, Collection Management, Communications, Governance, Professional Development, and the Steering Committee. The Customer Service Interest Group shall provide a rim of awareness on customer service issues and initiatives to the ARC member libraries and greater CMRLS community. This awareness will be accomplished through periodic meetings, the CMRLS ARC web site, Customer Service Interest Group blog, and other venues as appropriate which may include wiki’s, social networks, and the Central Massachusetts Regional Library System ARC annual meeting.”
The revised mission statement will be reviewed and discussed again at the next meeting.
Discussion of ARC Strategic Plan Goal for Customer Service
The Customer Service objective and first of two related activities are:
Objective C. Promote ARC’s traditional resource sharing services.
Activity 1. Assure that all resource sharing library staff are aware of emerging developments/software.
This activity has a timeframe for completion of “Spring 2009.” The assessment is to be a “written report with summary of proposed technologies.”
Discussed using a survey format to identify what librarians know about technologies, what is used, what technologies librarians want to learn about, what other information is of interest to librarians in the realm of customer service. Discussed using Survey Monkey to distribute the survey and ARC-L list serve to publicize the survey. The timeframes for the survey are:
Creating Survey - Beginning of 2008 Fall Semester
Publicizing Survey – First half 2008 Fall Semester
Analyzing Survey – December CSIG meeting
Write and Publish Summary – Spring 2009
Further discussion of the survey, and formulation of survey questions will be conducted at the next CSIG meeting.
Identify Term Lengths for Officer Positions for CSIG
The terms of office were two years under the previous WACL structure. Secretary will check with other interest groups to determine what they have adopted for terms of office.
Best Practices Using ILL/Circulation Software Programs
Questions formulated for discussion of this topic are identified below. Participants will be asked to bring copies their current practices to the next meeting. Questions include but are not limited to:
1. E-reserves and what systems are being used: intranets, Blackboard, etc. Issues and recommendations
2. Video/Media reserves, requests, and ILL. Can faculty request themselves and does anyone uses interactive calendars to put hold on videos or what else is being used and how? What are the best practices?
3. Sharing of e-resources for ILL-Do licenses allow this? What are best ways to share them within ARC?
4. What group purchases or consortia agreements do libraries use?
5. What non-conventional models for accessing/sharing materials are libraries considering/using?
6. Are libraries streaming video through Blackboard (or other programs) for courses rather than putting them on reserve at the library?
7. How are reserves put on Blackboard or WebCT or Moodle—who takes them off at the end of the semester?
Other questions can be submitted for discussion.
Communications
Barbara Merolli created a blog on the for the Customer Service Interest Group at http://custsvcig.blogspot.com/
Matthew Haggard set up a Facebook group called CMRLS ARC Customer Service Interest Group, with a link to the blog. Meeting notes will be available via either of these two sites.
Next Meeting
The next meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 2:30 PM at CMRLS, 8 Flagg Road, Shrewsbury, MA. Directions are available at http://www.cmrls.org/about/directions.htm.
