Present: Jennifer Bond (WES),Joan Gillespie (OSL), Hope Houston (OLIS), Julie Holden (PAW), Sue Dunn (WAR), Manny Leite (TIV), Linda Caisse (NKI), Pat LaRose (NPT), Rick Payette (OSL), Mary Anne Quinn (WAR)

Minutes - Joan requested that she see a copy of the notes from our meetings to review for any OSL-related errors before they get posted. The committee agreed.

Pat is compiling a new group email list of everyone who went to the Reference Forum. She will use this for group notice of meetings, etc.  If you're a member of the working group, you're on a different mailing list. Committee notes will be sent to Lisa Davis, who has been appointed ILS Librarian for Ocean State Libraries.  She will attend our meetings so we have a direct contact.

September Reference Roundtable on print reference collections- Beth sent out list of dates she reserved at CRA. The committee decided on September 19, at CRA, 10:00a.m.  Hope Houston from OLIS, who has joined our group, is taking over some things Frank Iacono's had done. She offered help in anything we need for the roundtable. The focus of the roundtable will be on the future of print reference materials, for example, their being replaced by electronic sources,  interfiling reference books with circ books, downsizing print reference collections. The roundtable will be an open discussion.  Hope volunteered to put together a reading list of recent articles on the topic.  Pat would like to post a reading list for people to read before they come, even if it's just 2 or 3 articles.  Hope will gather articles and we can choose a few - she'll email us w/suggestions. Jen is going to a similar program at ALA and will get ideas.

Local holds only and related III issues- The issue had come up at the last meeting and on Clan mail about item specific holds placed by staff at the non-owning library to jump ahead of other holds. This only works with the date - if the item specific hold comes first by date.  Jen reminded us that when the item is placed in transit, it becomes item specific; this doesn't mean it's an item specific hold.  Pat is still getting item-specific requests on her holds list. This can still happen because of patrons being forced to place item specific holds on the OPAC because of a volume field problem. Sue read through Doug's question on Clan mail from BAR about a item level hold placed after a bib level and the item hold trumped it. A technical answer from Peter explained this can happen because of quirks in the III system. The problem is when staff members use this method to try to get new items from other libraries.

Pat went to a meeting about "local holds only" and the committee dealing with this issue is wondering how to present it to membership. Her impression from that meeting was if "My patron first" is really working, most libraries wouldn't feel the need for "local holds only". Is "my patron first" working? Our committee is not sure. We will test this.  Pat had suggested at the other meeting proposing "local holds" only for three months on new materials.. Pat went around the room to get opinions to bring back to the other committee.  Our committee members felt "local holds only" flies in the face of collaboration. The group strongly felt that we should leave the policy the way it is and make the libraries conform.  If they're dropping holds from other libraries - that's wrong. The policy should stand as it is - either holds or no holds.

Frozen Holds - The committee again discussed freezing holds. The frozen hold still shows up on the holds list.  If the item is available or there is a very short list of holds, then the patron can't freeze.  If there are other holds, OPAC will take the hold and freeze it.  Pat keeps getting frozen holds on her holds list - sometimes three days in a row - she's checked them and the hold is frozen.  Patrons cannot put a date on the item when they freeze it in OPAC.  Jen wondered if it makes a difference if you put in dates - are staff doing this on III client for patrons?

Rick Payette attended the second half of our meeting and needs to know what the committee needs in terms of a site that will work for our group and getting out information.  He's looking at "CONFLUENCE", a paid product that Brown University uses to manage IT information for internal use.  It has many components - blogging, wikis, and other ways to manage content.  Julie thought a private wiki that could be password protected would be useful so the group can work on documents together online.  Also, we need to allow other library staff to log in to view our documents but not be open to outside users.  CONFLUENCE seems to have more control along those security lines and allows access at different levels. Content could be minutes, tips and tricks, clan policies, faq's etc.  Wikis and blogs are much easier than maintaining a site with html. They would provide a platform so there is collaboration. Many people contribute and manage content and one person doesn't get stuck with all the work.   

We could research CONFLUENCE - you can set up a trial for 30 days with password protection.  CONFLUENCE is basically a content management system. There are a couple of ways to enter data - 1. Rich Text-Type in text as with a word processor and add pictures, etc. 2. Wiki Language is a little more complicated.  We should sign up for a trial and play with CONFLUENCE so we're comfortable with it when Rick is ready to put it online.  Rick likes this company because it seems that there is some real security on this site.  The security is more integrated. If we play with it - let Rick know if we think it's a good idea to use this. If OSL pays for it, the OSL server would host it.  Rick may still be able to get it free. If it works, all the OSL support sites would migrate there.  This site seems like the best for everyone in OSL. Other content management sites: CLONE, DRUPAL, JOOMLA.  Rick said they all have advantages and disadvantages. Jen suggested we should all set up free CONFLUENCE sites and then compare them to one of the other sites, each person looking into one other site.  

Next meeting - Everyone should sign up for the free CONFLUENCE site and then let other committee members know which other company they'll be looking at. The next committee meeting is Tuesday, July 10, at 2:15. Be prepared to discuss the different content management sites.

Julie asked Rick about the line on the OPAC holds page: after you put in your barcode to place a hold, it says below - "press the return key".  Julie asked for that to be dropped.  There is no return key.  Rick said that page is very difficult to change - includes system parameters but he will look into it. Feel free to contact Rick with questions, etc.

Barbara Herzog from III was at RILA and said there were things on WEBPAC PRO that we have not implemented. Rick says Peter has reviewed it and doesn't feel it is worth the effort.  We would lose all the customizing we have already done and Rick would have to start from scratch.  Rick says we can look at it on the III website - there's a free trial there somewhere. Rick says we could consider doing more with the OPAC, but it would have to be done by a web designer or someone who is on our staff permanently, because we would basically be creating our own product.

Submitted by Mary Anne Quinn