In attendance:

The meeting was held at the Warwick Public Library and started at 10:05 a.m.

Chris LaRoux began the meeting by discussing the role of Lisa Davis from OSL (Ocean State Libraries).  Overdrive requested that one person be the go-to person for  OSL E-Zone matters.  Joan Gillespie, OSL Director, chose Lisa Davis for this job.   There had been some confusion when committee members contacted Overdrive and were told that all directions needed to go through Lisa Davis.  Chris thanked Lisa for her assistance and Joan for allowing her to help.

The same situation pertains to technical support.  Instead of listing an e-mail address for each library, as had been done with the original thirteen members, Joan has allowed Rick Payette at OSL to be the technical support person for the state.

Lisa Davis will look into problems patrons are having with Overdrive and will place the questions and answers on the E-Zone website.   She will also receive training from Overdrive and provide training to the staff of member libraries.  She will, for instance, show members how to run reports, order materials, and compile and interpret statistics.

She will set up the Web Design Committee conference call with Laura Crowe at Overdrive.

She mentioned that the graphics for E-Zone posters and bookmarks are on the OSL support site.

There was a review of committees and chairs:

Web Design--                                                            Dorey Conway

Publicity-                                                                   Sharon Fredette

Available Now (Always Available) materials--  Lynda Ross

Young Adult/Children’s materials--                    Sue Lepore

Young adult material titles must be submitted to Sue Lepore after ordering so they can be put into the YA division on the web site.  Otherwise they will go into the database as children’s materials.

The video collection group reported on their review of leased movies that Overdrive has provided free access to for one year.  A total of 227 movies, out of 1,043, were identified as possible discards due to their poor reviews and quality.  Mary Anne Quinn handed out a list she complied of the movies with bad reviews divided by genre.  Those present agreed to have Overdrive remove those titles.  There was a consensus that we want the public to know that materials are professionally selected.

There was a brief discussion of how we are going to pay for Always Available materials.  The original thirteen members paid for the current subscriptions.  Providence Public Library has agreed to pick up the renewal cost for the two subscriptions ($6,000) using a Champlin Foundations’ grant.  How these subscriptions will be paid for in the future must be decided.  Since many libraries are working on next year’s budgets, it is a good time to inform them of a need to pay for the Always Available plans.  These are leased materials that can be borrowed by an unlimited number of simultaneous users.  It was suggested that the topic be brought up at the next Director’s meeting.  Chris said he would notify Howard Boksenbaum. 

Deb Barchi suggested that we do a survey to find out how patrons are using the Overdrive materials.  For instance, are they downloading audio books on MP3 players, burning to CD, or listening directly from their computers?  How the materials are used will help determine  what to purchase.  Some materials have restrictions, for instance, and cannot be burned to CD.

A lengthy discussion took place concerning the cataloguing of the E-Zone materials.  Lisa Davis argued that the items should not be put into the OSL catalogue because :

--There is no federated searching ability

--There is not enough OSL cataloguing staff

--There would only be a pointer in the OSL catalogue that would take a patron to the E-Zone website.

Joan mentioned that she thought that there was an understanding that these materials would not be catalogued.  A lively discussion ensued in which most in attendance said that they thought the reason that the materials were not catalogued was because everyone in CLAN  (prior to the OSL) was not a member of the E-Zone.  Once everyone joined most thought the materials  would be identified in the OSL catalogue.

Others countered that:

--Format should not matter.  Audio books and e-books should be treated like all other catalogued items.

--Staff and patrons need to know that a title is available in different formats.

Joan will put the issue on the OSL Steering Committee agenda for November 29 and will check on the scope of cataloguing available.  Debbie Barchi had offered to present the issue at the Steering Committee meeting, but remembered that she had another meeting that day.  Chris LaRoux offered to attend the Steering Committee meeting.

Dorey Conway completed the standing orders.  She passed them out for approval.  We will be receiving the top best sellers from four publishers, Listening Library, Brilliance, BBC Audio, and Books on Tape.  We will receive approximately 37 new audios each month.  Providence Public Library is paying for the standing order plans with a grant from the Champlin Foundations.

The Standing Order titles will have an on-order status in the ordering module, so staff won’t order the same titles without knowing.

The next meeting of the E-Zone members will be held at OSL office in Warwick on January 11, 2008 at 10 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Christopher LaRoux

Director

Greenville Public Library