Serials Working Group

February 20, 2001

Present: Aaron Bales, Shelly Bates (for Barb Connelly), Barb Cole, Jill Dunkel, Bo Karol, Mary Lehman, Robin Lisek, Pat Loghry (chair), Pam Nicholas, Jayne Schlutt, Lisa Stienbarger, Leigh Taylor, Deborah Webb, LaDonna Weeks

Pat began the meeting by stating that the Serials Working Group is being reconvened in order to deal with upcoming initiatives affecting those involved with serials. Introductions were made, and it was decided that the members of SWG would alternate (by alphabetical order) taking minutes of the meetings. Minutes of each meeting will be posted first to the SWG Listserv list for approval by e-mail consensus and then on the Serials Department web page by Jill.

On the advice of Dan Marmion, each member of SWG should plan on a time commitment of one to one and a half hours a month for SWG meetings, in addition to time spent participating in small group meetings and training sessions. Arrangements should be made with supervisors if necessary.

Pat distributed a draft version of the SWG charge, suggesting that members try to gauge the needs others outside of SWG might have for the group. Bo added that members could bring any questions and/or examples to the next meeting, and Aaron stated that binding should also be considered as an issue.

In terms of the group's membership, it was suggested that Rachel Boyd might benefit from being a member of SWG, particularly with regards to the issue of continuations. Lisa brought to attention the fact that CADM was not represented. Pat will talk to Laura Bayard about Nastia Guimaraes joining the group, and she will also see that the Chem/Physics Library has a person in SWG. Since much of her work deals with serials issues, Shelly Bates will become a permanent member. Deb thought that Margaret Turza might be more suited in terms of serials involvement to represent Architecture, and Aaron said that someone else from Engineering could possibly become a member. Pam reminded everyone that the focus of this incarnation of SWG differs from the first in that the library is not changing systems from Notis to Aleph. The issues will have a broader focus in nature and will cross applications.

The inclusion of people who might have an interest in the group's decisions on the Listserv list but not on the meetings roster was discussed. Mary questioned how people just on the list would be distinguished from those who attended meetings. Bo stated that since the minutes would be posted on the web, there would be no need for others to read them on the list. Robin concurred, adding that only minutes that were approved would be on the web. Aaron said that the option of ALEPH-Discuss-L, etc. exists if other avenues of communication are needed. For the time being, only permanent members of SWG will be on the Listserv list, although Pat stated that if others have an interest in a particular meeting, they are welcome to attend.

Pat outlined three major upcoming challenges for serials:

1) the conversion to Aleph 14.2
*Pat and Pam will bring more information about the change to the next meeting

2) the introduction of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
*will be able to load and pay invoices and send claims electronically
*as the point person, Pam will probably work with Swets Blackwell and begin testing on Aleph 12.2 in mid- March

3) a possible vendor switch from Faxon
*have three RFI's (Ebsco, Swets Blackwell, and Faxon) and are analyzing the best offer
*should have a decision by the first of April

In terms of ideas/suggestions, Mary proposed that a link for SWG be added to the Committees list on the Library's web site. In addition, Lisa brought up the point that the manual prepared by the Volume Designation Committee (VDC) was designed for Notis and needs to be updated. In addition to the Bindery, many other departments depend upon the manual, including Current Periodicals, Serials Cataloging, and CADM. Mary, the chair of VDC, said that the committee has been inactive for a while, and Lisa recommended that it start up again as a sub-group of SWG. On a different note, Pat announced that Dan Marmion will be SWG's representative to LEC, and he can take ideas, concerns, etc. from the group.

In the future, meetings of SWG will take place on the first Tuesday of each month at 1:30 p.m. Items for the next meeting's agenda must be sent to the list two weeks prior to the meeting so that the finalized agenda can be posted one week beforehand.

The next meeting will be on April 3, 2001 at 1:30 p.m., with the location to be announced.

Submitted by Jill Dunkel