Technology Advisory Group
27 July 2006
The meeting was called to order at 10 AM by Chair Kristina Knezic. The following people were present:
|
Linda Koch |
Allegan |
Mary Fain |
Marcellus |
|
Sharon Holloway |
|
Ann Flora |
|
|
Kristina Knezic |
Berrien Springs |
|
Paw Paw |
|
|
Cass District |
Dawn Holtman |
Plainwell |
|
Rachel H. |
Dowagiac |
Julie Somers |
|
|
Ann Greene |
|
Paula Stakley |
|
|
Wanda Maston |
|
Erik Nieman |
Three Oaks |
|
|
|
Lois Hartman |
Watervliet |
John made a motion to accept the minutes of the May 3rd meeting. There was support. Motion carried.
Tim reported on the MELCAT committee. He made a presentation to the SMLC Council at their meeting in July. The committee is working on the answers to questions and working with those members who are in the process of signing up. Cass District has signed up and is currently working on answering the questionnaire that they received from MELCAT. Once this questionnaire is completed and submitted they will be placed in the line.
There were questions concerning the cost of signing up and the hardware requirements. The recommended hardware requirements are on the website and include things like IE 6.1 and a Pentium 4 computer.
Tim suggested that interested libraries could talk to libraries with the same circulation system that are already on MELCAT. This might help to answer specific questions. He also said that the circulation software vendor may charge to upload files to MELCAT, but that there is not a charge from MELCAT.
There was not a report from the
Lois reported that they lost quite a few of their “awaiting approvals” recently. Agathe also had the same problem. Gail is checking into this with Auto Graphics. If you have problems of this nature you can call SMLC and they will forward the information on to Auto Graphics or you can call the AG helpline directly.
When you are adding holdings and do not find the title, you may still send a printout to SMLC. Also, if you find a problem with the database, you should send the information to SMLC.
Linda Lightcap is able to do our OCLC without having to prioritize the requests. Gail will send her contact information to us so that we can communicate directly with Linda about our OCLC requests.
Susan will be attending a workshop to learn about webpage design. In addition, Willard Library has offered assistance in designing the new SMLC website.
It was noted that the due date should be on the blue sticky
note which is supposed to be on the title page of the book. The due date area on the blue band should be
left blank for the borrowing library to use for the patron due date. It is helpful to have the
If an item is lost, the borrowing library is responsible for
the replacement cost, even if they returned it.
Mary reported that Marcellus has not been able to update their holdings on Auto Graphics. They have been in contact with A-G, but are still not able to make it work. Gail will check into this for them.
Ann F. reported that the last time she ordered books for her book discussion group the place where you could order multiple copies was not there. Gail will check with Auto Graphics about this. Agathe also noticed this problem.
Rachel told us that Dowagiac has ordered PC Cop and it will be installed next month. Several people were interested in how well it works for them, so Rachel will send a note to tell us after they have used it for a while.
Mary was excited that Marcellus has just upgraded from a dial up connection for their Internet computers.
Paula asked if anyone had information about virtual drivers. They would like to load games for the preschoolers onto a computer and not have to deal with handing out CD’s.
The meeting adjourned at 11 AM.
Minutes taken by,
Ann
Greene