Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, September 17, 2008, Conference Call
12:30-2:00 P.M.  

Present:  Weisman (Lead), Bartle, Bower, Choltco-Devlin, Duncan, Ebert, Eggleston, Elliott, Fiske, Gilloon, Heebner, Howe, Janowsky, Katzin, Kendrick, Knab, Kramer, Krupczak, Mayo, Penniman, Serlis-McPhillips, Todd, Tuliao, Woodward, Wyrwa

Absent: Bardyn, Borges, Burke, Cannell, Conroy, Desch,  Hatch, Hogan, Legendre, McRae, Pope, Roe, Walsh

Recorder:   Deitz

Welcome/Roll Call/Approval of Minutes (Sarah Conrad Weisman)

Ms. Weisman welcomed everyone to the conference call and announced that Shirley Whelan has retired and Tessa Killian will no longer participate due to professional responsibilities.  A special welcome was extended to our newest member, Sheryl Knab, Executive Director of the Western New York Library Resources Council.

The minutes of the June 11 conference call were approved:  Kendrick moved; Eggleston seconded. 

2008-2009 Budget Update (Loretta Ebert)

Ms. Ebert noted the Governor’s 3.35 percent reduction in this year’s operating expenses, followed by an additional 7 percent reduction in State operations.  The New York State Library (NYSL) is probably looking at a hard hiring freeze, with any vacancies likely to go unfilled.  Once the state aid figures are recalculated, they will be posted on the Division of Library Development’s website:  http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/stateaid/index.html.

It is unlikely that new initiatives will be included in the 2008/2009 Regents priorities.  There is little prospect of funding behind the Digital Collection Initiative; at best, a token amount may be advanced.

State Librarian Search (Maribeth Krupczak)

The group has been kept informed of the progress of the search for the next State Librarian via NYLINE messages.  The Search Committee recently completed telephone interviews.  Next, a smaller number of candidates will come to the NYSL the first week of October for in-person interviews.  The Search Committee will then put two or three names forward to Deputy Commissioner Cannell for a decision.  Ms. Krupczak believes the announcement of the new State Librarian is still on schedule for announcement at the NYLA Conference.

New York Digital Collection Initiative (Loretta Ebert)

Despite the budget situation, the Office of Cultural Education (OCE) has tried to keep some of the momentum on this project; specifically, creating a task force with representation across the Museum, Archives, Library and PBS to try to start laying the groundwork.  OCE has discussed having a statewide forum to bring other constituencies into the process.  The scope of the project has been identified in terms of content, standards and interfaces.  In concept, the Digital Collection Initiative contains the NOVELNY databases as digital resources; so by continuing those, we are working on the Digital Collection.

The concept for the Digital Collection Initiative was presented to the Board of Regents’ Cultural Education Committee earlier this year, and this month presented to the Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education (EMSC) Committee by Jill Hurst-Wahl of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries (RAC) and Patricia Dohrenwend of the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB).  The response was positive since the content in the Digital Collection Initiative could reinforce learning standards and help with lesson plans and integrating technology in the classroom.  When the time comes—not this year—we expect Regents support for the Initiative.

Action Item:  Ms. Ebert will share a confidential list of the OCE task force members with the Steering Committee.

Reports

• NECAT(Maribeth Krupczak)

Ms. Krupczak referred to the survey summary from the NECAT survey conducted this spring/summer.  There were over 1200 responses.  NYS Library staff prepared some summary statements and a summary analysis, and put together a package with the Himmel and Wilson (LSTA Evaluators) results.

Timeline for activities this year:  Toward the end of this month/early October, NECAT needs to look at the information with a goal of making a decision on vendors and content by early December so that all types of libraries will have adequate time in their budget cycles to determine their database needs.

• Statewide Information and Education Program (David Fiske)

Mr. Fiske referred to the summary of the usability study of the NOVELNY website and the resulting mock ups of the novelnewyork.org home page, and reported that usage is up.  Steering Committee members commented favorably on the proposed redesign.  Mr. Fiske will proceed with making a live beta site available for further comment.

Action Item: Mr. Fiske will proceed with making a live beta site available for further comment on the revised novelnewyork.org home page.   

Success Stories/Blog Hosting (All)

The last time we convened, there was a discussion of setting up a blog or wiki to allow people to share NOVELNY success stories.  Because the NYSL approval process would be slow and cumbersome, Sue Bartle agreed to host the blog as part of her Statewide LSTA project.  Steering Committee members will provide initial content.  The NYSL will provide contact information of people who indicated on the NECAT survey that they would be willing to provide more information on their experiences using NOVELNY.   Thanks to Marcia Eggleston and Beverly Choltco-Devlin, who expressed interest in working with Sue Bartle on this project.  Dave Fiske will act as their NYSL contact.  The group will explore the differences between blogs and forums and report on their progress at the next Steering Committee conference call (or via an interim report if something is ready prior to the conference call).  Additionally, David Penniman will share information he authored on using anecdotal information for a large scale project.

Action Item:   Sue Bartle, et al. will explore the differences between blogs and forums and report on their progress at the next Steering Committee conference call (or via an interim report if something is ready prior to the conference call). 

Action Item:   David Penniman will share information he authored on using anecdotal information for a large scale project.

NYLA Conference (Maribeth Krupczak)

Unlike past years, the 2009 NYLA Conference will not have a program targeted to NOVEL. However, the NYSL will have a double program-with legislators in attendance-on priorities and libraries in New York. Poster sessions from the Research Library will focus on the Talking Book and Braille Library (TBBL) and using historical documents in the classroom.

OTHER

All Steering Committee members will be contacted via email after the conference call regarding proposed 2009 meeting dates and verification of contact information.

Action Items

• Ms. Ebert will share a confidential list of the task force members with the Steering Committee.
• Sue Bartle, et al. will explore the differences between blogs and forums and report on their progress at the next Steering Committee conference call (or via an interim report if something is ready prior to the conference call). 
• Mr. Fiske will proceed with making a live beta site available for further comment on the revised novelnewyork.org home page.  
• David Penniman will share information he authored on using anecdotal information for a large scale project.

The conference call ended at 1:25 P.M.