Maine Shared Collections Strategy Project Team
August 13, 2014
Fogler Library Conference Room
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Attendees: Clem Guthro, Matthew Revitt, Deb Rollins, Barbara McDade
Absentees: Sara Amato, James Jackson Sanborn
1. Project Updates
a. HathiTrust/Google Books & POD
i. URSUS record move
Sara has produced guidance for Maine InfoNet staff to follow for loading the HathiTrust records into MaineCat via URSUS. Sara is willing to do this next reload once she is back from vacation, but she needs to familiarize herself first with Sierra and do some investigative work on updating the POD link language, deciding on overlay policy and dealing with records with multiple 856s. Matthew commented that either grant and/or Maine InfoNet funds will be used to pay Sara for this work. Clem commented that it makes sense for Sara to carry out the work again as she has the experience from the previous load.
The MARC records Sara will load are from OCLC WorldCat Knowledgebase. Clem commented that getting the records from OCLC was a plus and confirmed that Sara can continue to use Colby’s profile to pull the records.
ii. Partnership with UMaine Printing Services & Bookstore
Sara and Matthew met last week with representatives from the UMaine Bookstore and Printing and Mailing Services to go over the process for delivering Print-On-Demand in MaineCat. They were shown screen shots of the order pages and Matthew had a few changes he wanted made.
The current estimates for costs for printing and shipping were: small books (1-150 pages) $29.99 plus tax, medium (151–300 pages) $34.99 plus tax, and large (301-500 pages) $39.99 plus tax. Books over 500 pages will be variable. Matthew commented that although he thinks POD is a worthwhile service to offer, on top of the costs which will generally be higher than commercial vendors, the process is not as smooth as going through a commercial vendor either. Requesters will go from pages on MaineCat to a Printing & Mailing Service order form where they will fill in their contact and delivery details (still unclear whether requesters will also have to fill in the title they want and a link, or whether this information will auto populate from the record). Requesters will then receive (within an hour of the request) an email from Printing Services detailing the costs of printing their requested book and a link that will take them directly to a shopping cart at the University Bookstore to checkout; once there they will have to a use a credit, debit, or gift card to complete the order.
The new billing system that the Bookstore are implementing which is needed for processing POD orders won’t go live until fall time, so Matthew can’t see POD back live before then.
The Project Team agreed with Clem that the process Matthew described was very convoluted. Clem asked Matthew to speak to Printing Services about the possibility of using the page number data that appears in the MaineCat record (see here http://mainecat.maine.edu/record=b12924254~S0) under “Phys Descr 1 online resource (252 p., 1 l.), : col. front., illus:”) to bypass the need for the confirmation email from Printing Services, as using the page number data they should already know what the cost is, as it should be approximately the same number pages as the PDF used to print from. This will make the process more automated and shorten the process for the requester because they will go straight from the Printing and Mailing Services order form to the Bookstore cart for payment without having to wait for an email, Matthew agreed to look into further. The Project Team wondered whether Sara could assist Printing & Mailing Services on programming required to ensure the title of a book is auto-populated in the order form to the user having to cut and paste the title information, Matthew will speak to Sara about this work.
b. Budget
i. Budget vs. actual spending update
Matthew reported on the latest spending figures for MSCS.
● Approximately $8,000 remaining to pay for Matthew’s compensation until the end of August.
● $230 remaining currently allocated for Sara’s work which is about three hours of work. Matthew has a meeting scheduled with Susan Clement (UMaine) to go over what MSCS have remaining. Matthew will work with Susan to allocate the majority of the remaining funds for Sara’s work. Sara is willing to be on call as and when MSCC need her, including for work with new libraries.
● $581.85 remaining for the costs of in-state meetings which will include the catering bill for MSCS’s meeting last week that came to $336.70. Matthew has asked the partner libraries to submit their travel claims for attendance at MSCS meetings by next week, so it’s tied up before the end of August. If all libraries claim, MSCS will exceed the funds allocated for in-state meetings by a couple of hundred dollars, but unallocated funds can be used to cover the costs.
● $284.50 this month for Matthew’s travel to Amherst for the EAST meeting
● For ALA conference costs, the room and AV equipment came to $1,755 and should be coming out this next week. ALA actually charged $600 for room hire which is more than Matthew anticipated it to be.
MSCS currently have $8,502.66 in unallocated funds, but with F&A fees and extra costs for instate travel this amount might be reduced by a few hundred dollars.
c. MSCS wrap-up
i. Project evaluation survey results
Matthew presented the results of the project evaluation survey he had sent out to MSCS project participants (see here). There had been 18 responses to the survey which Matthew felt was quite good considering the turnover in committee members. The Project Team agreed with Matthew that the results were very positive and reflected well on the project.
In relation to questions regarding MSCS retention commitment levels, Deb felt that MSCS had committed to retain too many titles as a result of the one circulation retention criterion. Clem commented that perhaps Deb’s point was that MSCS hadn’t committed to retain too many titles, but not the correct ones.
Clem discussed how important it was to MSCS’s success that they secured grant funding.
The Project Team were not surprised to see that responders felt that of the MSCS activities EOD and POD had the lowest impact on their libraries as the services are not fully functional and were more likely to benefit smaller Maine libraries. Clem commented that for other libraries in Maine the rankings might be reversed with POD and EOD having the highest impact. It still remains to be seen what impact POD and EOD will eventually have on Maine libraries.
The Project Team discussed the weeding already taking place at the MSCS partners Bates College and Bangor Public Library, who are including MSCS retention commitments in their decision-making process.
ii. MSCS wrap-up meeting – feedback & outcomes
Matthew commented that he thought the wrap-up meeting was a success and he came away with plenty of ideas for the IMLS reports and future MSCC activities.
Barbara confirmed for Clem that Debbie Lozito (director, Edythe L. Dyer Community Library) had found the meeting useful and that for her the benefits of joining MSCC will be identifying weeding candidates and prospective collection development going forward. However, Debbie thinks MSCC will be a hard sell to smaller libraries who be put off by the fees (approx. $350). Matthew responded that it was always going to be the case that some libraries won’t have the resources to join MSCC. Barbara commented that some of the data MSCC would be providing in their data reports could be pulled by libraries themselves. Matthew commented that based on discussions he has had with Debbie it’s having all the data in one spreadsheet that will be helpful for collection analysis. Clem felt that $350 was extremely reasonable when you consider the staff time it would take to pull and compile such data.
iii. IMLS reports due 12/31 and 8/29
The official end date of MSCS is May 31, 2015. The next set of interim reports are due by 12/31/2014; Matthew has a draft completed for this report. The final report is not due until August of next year, but Matthew plans to work on it over the next month or so, while it’s still fresh in his mind. However, Matthew will not submit either report until closer to the deadlines, so he can include information on MSCC and its attempts to recruit new members, which is an important part of MSCS’s legacy. Matthew will send the Project Team copies of the reports for comment.
d. MSCC sustainability planning
i. Discussions with Edythe L. Dyer
Matthew reported that Debbie Lozito (director, Edythe L. Dyer Community Library is very enthusiastic about joining MSCC and working with Matthew to recruit new members. Sara and Matthew met with Debbie two weeks ago to discuss collection analysis.
At Edythe Dyer, approximately a quarter (5,000) of their print monograph collection (20,000) had a MSCC retention commitment. Debbie is now analyzing the data to see what additional factors should be considered for withdrawing items.
In terms of retention, Matthew and Debbie asked Sara to show data for what is ‘rare’ in Edythe L. Dyer’s collection and she identified 87 titles with no OCLC frbr holdings in Maine and only one other MaineCat holding. There are some caveats to the data, like some titles having multiple MaineCat records, but it’s such a small they can review it title-by-title.
There are also possible retention candidates from a list of approximately 60 titles that there are Under 10 OCLC holdings for in the U.S. Debbie is currently reviewing the spreadsheets and will be meeting with Matthew to discuss her findings on Friday August 15th.
Barbara commented that there may be titles that Edythe Dyer can’t commit to retain on site that could be transferred to UMaine and/or Bangor Public Library. However, Matthew observed that a lot of the titles in Debbie’s retention lists are ones they would want to retain on site e.g. local interest material. Matthew thought it was interesting that a lot of the titles on the list are also published post-2003, which is why they haven’t got existing MSCS retention commitments, as these titles were out of scope for MSCS.
Matthew reported that Sara was thinking of working on a tool with an interface that Matthew could use himself with new MSCC libraries, so she wouldn’t have to work with each individual library. Matthew’s was concerned that there would still be a lot of data clean-up required before they could compile the data using the tool that would require Sara’s expertise.
Clem confirmed for Matthew that the proposed date of the Maine InfoNet Collection Summit is October 14th. However, Clem reported that he needs to verify with Joyce Rumery (UMaine) that the meeting will definitely go ahead.
Matthew has already mentioned to Debbie that in order for Edythe Dyer to formally join MSCC their chair of trustees will need to sign the MOU. Matthew asked Clem (as chair of MSCC) whether the MSCC Board will need to first approve their membership. Clem will consider the joining process further and asked Matthew to inform him of the outcomes of his Friday meeting with Debbie. Barbara commented that in her opinion the institution should sign the MOU first and then have them send it to the MSCC Board.
ii. Appointment of MSCC committee
Clem confirmed for Matthew that UMaine and Portland Public were the only MSCC libraries yet to confirm who they wanted to represent their libraries on the MSCC Collections & Operations Committee. The Project Team presumed Joyce would nominate Deb, so Clem added her to the roster alongside:
● Lanny Lumbert, University of Southern Maine
● Patrick Layne, Bangor Public Library
● Joan Campbell, Bowdoin College
● Becky Albitz, Bates College
● Peggy O’Kane, Maine State Library
● TBC, Colby College
Matthew felt that even though the MSCC Board will be selected by the Maine InfoNet Board Executive Committee, there still might need to be a Maine InfoNet representative on the Collections & Operations Committee, particularly as James is not on the board. Clem will speak to James about this and suggest Alisia Revitt is appointed to the Collections & Operations Committee.
iii. MSCC staffing & reporting channels
Matthew reported that he had been appointed to a full-time position at UMaine, with managing MSCC as one of his responsibilities. Matthew will continue to report to Deb for that role. Clem confirmed for Matthew that as chair of MSCC he should also be kept informed of progress, but he will think about how reporting for MSCC should work in practice. Once Matthew starts his new position he will schedule the MSCC meetings which will be separate from Maine InfoNet Board meetings.
iv. Policies, procedures & guidance documents
Matthew showed the Project Team that the MSCS webpage Progress & Outcomes (see here) now includes all of the policies and procedures that he and Sara have worked on, including a FAQ. Matthew asked the Project Team to review the page to see if there were any questions they thought should be added. Matthew intends to add questions for new libraries as well as generally ensuring the website includes information for prospective MSCC members.
Deb has submitted the first retention commitment transfer request, asking USM and Bangor Public if they would be willing to physically transfer to UMaine a copy of CTR titles they hold to replace UMaine’s water-damaged MSCC copies. It took Deb quite a while to fill out all the fields of the transfer form and she felt it would have been quicker to cut and paste data into an email. Matthew commented that having the data in a spreadsheet was a good record of the transfers made and MSCC libraries should not be using the process to carry out mass withdrawals, so it should only ever be a small amount of items that need information adding for. Deb reported that using the local discretion granted to MSCC partners she had decided not to seek replacements for some titles.
e. Loading & display of retention information in catalogs
i. Local catalogs
ii. OCLC WorldCat
iii. MaineCat
All MSCS retention commitments are now loaded and displayed in both local catalogs, OCLC WorldCat, and MaineCat.
iv. PAPR
Sara has submitted to Amy Wood (Center for Research Libraries) holdings information for all of MSCS committed to retains serials so they can be added to the Print Archives Preservation Registry (PAPR).
2. Conferences, Articles, Events & Meetings
a. ALCTS Monographs Series – deadlines announced
The authors for the ALCTS Monograph Series on shared print have been set a deadline of November 14th to have their draft chapters completed by. Matthew will be in contact with Dawn Hale from ALCTS about what subjects she wants him to cover in his chapter on MSCS.
b. HathiTrust Shared Print Project – CG update
Matthew and Clem continue to attend virtual meetings for the HathiTrust’s Shared Print Task Force. The Task Force have potentially three in-person meetings scheduled between September 2014 – January 2015. Clem commented that the Task Force are still in the early stages of the project and have a lot to get through between now and January. The Task Force plan on using Zephir, the HathiTrust Metadata System (which the University of California California Digital Library supports) to perform an analysis of the HathiTrust’s data corpus in order to identify holdings distribution and overlap.
c. EAST Project – MR & CG updates
Clem has canvassed the opinion of MSCS library directors on their interest in joining the Eastern Academic Scholar’s Trust (EAST). The consensus of the directors was that while they are interested in participating, they are unable to commit funds to the project. Clem has informed the EAST project directors Neal Abraham and Chris Loring that they can list MSCS partners as participants that are willing to be involved in finalizing the planning for EAST. Matthew will contact Neal and Chris to let them know that in his new role for MSCC he is willing to assist them in the process.
d. MLA & NELA – MR speaking opportunities
Matthew and Debbie Lozito will be presenting on their collection analysis work at Edythe Dyer (see above) at the Maine Library Association’s annual conference which is being held in Bangor at the Cross Center, November 16-17. Matthew is waiting to hear back from Bryce Cundick (Maine Library Association) with more details about their slot, but he does know it will be part of a panel discussion on resource sharing. Matthew hopes this presentation will be a good opportunity to attract new member libraries.
Matthew was due to speak at a pre-conference event before this year’s New England Library Association (NELA) conference which was being organized by Greg Pronevitz from the Massachusetts Library System who heard Deb and Matthew speak at last year’s NELA conference, but unfortunately that event had to be cancelled. However, Greg has asked Matthew to speak at an event in February instead. Similarly to MLA they want Matthew to be part of a panel on resource sharing and discuss MSCS’s collection analysis process.
3. Upcoming meetings
a. TBC
Once Matthew starts his new position as Special Collections and Maine Shared Collection Librarian, he will schedule MSCC meetings – which won’t be as frequent as MSCS meetings have been.
This was the final MSCS Project Team meeting.