Resource Discovery Meeting Minutes

NOTE: The following minutes are unapproved and will be formally agreed at the next meeting of the working group.

1. Welcome, Apologies for Absence and Membership Update

Present: William Marsterson (Chair - WM), Gavin Beattie (GB), John Gilby (Minutes - JG), Robert Hall (RH), Rosemary Lynch (RL), Marion Peulevé (MP), Maureen Wade (MW).

Apologies: Stewart Brownrigg (Kent).

2. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes

The minutes from 2 October 2007 were approved.

3. Action Update and Matters Arising

Progress on actions from the previous meeting held on 2 October 2007 are summarised below:

•  Action 1.1 - MW was awaiting details from other working group chairs regarding advertising for new group members but will be sending out a call for volunteers in the near future. Action Complete.
• Action 3.1 Continues - JG to progress InforM25 'Landscaping' document.
• Action 3.2 Continues - JG to look into the Talis Directory further and also about the feasibility of using the existing Find-a-library data/system with Google Maps.
• Action 3.3 the revised web statistics requirement specification - reported under Item 4 below. Action superceded.
• Action 3.4 - JG had forwarded his and WM details to AIM25 regarding their project Steering Group but as yet, there was no date set for a meeting. Action Complete.
• Action 3.5 - MW had contacted the relevant CPD25 task group regarding the InforM25 promotional ideas. There had been some misunderstanding as to who was doing the organisational work and the CPD25 group are already organising a number of events this academic year. The group agreed to work towards one event in May/June 2008 and then another in the next academic year. Action Complete.
• Action 4.1 - Action ongoing - WM to approach Steering Group regarding additional effort for Systems Team.
• Action 4.2 - JG had not sent the group a task summary to help with prioritisation as the maintenance tasks were continually changing. The group suggested that JG list the development tasks and the group assist with prioritising those. Action continues.
• Action 8.1 - Meeting arranged for Spring 2008. Action complete.
  

Matters Arising from previous meeting not covered elsewhere:

4. M25 Systems Team Manager's Report

M25 Server: had been completely rebuilt with increased security following the recent problems. In particular, the CMS installations have been carefully configured.

Visit-a-Library: Following recent email exchanges, Sconul Access will be be using the Visit-a-Library software. They have requested some changes (including a post code search and a more direct route to the results) that they will pay for. These changes can then be used by M25 if desired. It was noted that this was a good example of co-operative working that should be publicised.

Search Catalogues: the Z39.50 connections for the Courtauld, Oxford Brookes, University of Bedfordshire and UCCA will be tested soon. The IDS Z-server is currently being tested (there was a problem with phrase searching, but a replacement server has proved to be a great improvement) and will be added to the live service in the near future. Testing can start for Ravensbourne once firewall access for JG is resolved. It isn't clear exactly what the issues are with the Royal Society of Chemistry, but this will be followed up in February. There is still no progress with the Royal College of Nursing, JG noted that he had been trying to progress this for 2.5 years. All existing libraries are running without problems.

There was a discussion about whether there comes a stage when the Systems Team stops chasing members about integration onto the service. It was felt when the process is slow or static a letter to the Head of Service could be helpful, stating that the Team have done all they can and that the process is closed until we hear back from them.
Action 4.1 MW & JG to draft such a letter to the Royal College of Nursing worded such that it could be reused for other members if necessary in the future.

Union List of Serials: Birkbeck's data has now been updated after some time, and a process has been put in place for future regular updates. The Royal Veterinary College is now on the service for the first time - they were not originally part of the then-new ULS as their data used to be unavailable for technical reasons.

Due to the increased size of the Consortium and additional maintenance tasks, there is very little time for some key development tasks, so it was suggested that some extra temporary staffing would be of benefit to the Systems Team. A member of staff at LSE would be available to work on the usage statistics, particularly Google Analytics, for a week during January 2008. There is other work that could be undertaken such as ISBN-13 searching, some Z39.50 tasks and a request from the M25 Steering Group that the M25 website host the 'Heritage at Risk' Bibliography. The person concerned would be available to carry out further M25 work in May/June 2008. The group agreed that this was a good idea and WM would draft a letter to the M25 Steering Group to request funding.
Action 4.2 WM to approach Steering Group regarding an appropriate amount of additional funding.

JG gave a demonstration of work that has been done on test versions of "Search catalogues" and the ULS. This was driven partly by user feedback, partly by new functionality and advances in web programming. It was agreed that the changes were welcome and that JG should continue this work.

5. Future Developments

Talis Insight07

JG reported on the recent Talis Insight07 conference he had attended where a number of interesting presentations covered the use of Web 2.0 technology. In particular, one presentation looked at the way the Huddersfield OPAC had been changed to include new facilities for users such as query spell-checking, suggestions on what to do when a search gives zero results, the addition of book cover images and linking to ISBN services to find other editions of the same work. JG suggested that a number of these ideas were worthy of consideration to develop "Search catalogues" especially as Copac has also done similar developments.

The group agreed that the ideas were interesting and that there was a need to keep abreast of developments. It was suggested these ideas be incorporated in the planned review of InforM25 later in 2008. 

London Health Libraries

The group discussed issues contained in an email from the Collaboration & Partnership Working Group regarding closer working with London Health Libraries. It was not clear what was being suggested so clarification will be sought.
Action 5.1 WM/MW to talk to the chair of C&P to expand on their comments about closer links and working with the RDWG and Systems Team.
Action 5.2 WM to also discuss matter further with Richard Osborn of London Health Libraries.

6. AOB

7. Future Meetings

19 February 2008
30 April 2008

All meetings start at 2pm at the LSE Library. 

Minutes by JG and GB