Meeting Minutes
NOVELNY Steering Committee
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 10:30 AM-2:30 P.M.
Nylink Headquarters, Corporate Woods,
Albany, NY
Present: Bartle, Borges, Bower, Burke, Cannell, Conroy, Desch, Ebert, Elliott,
Fiske, Gilloon, Heebner, Hogan, Howe, Janowsky, Kendrick, Kramer, Krupczak,
Legendre, Mayo, McRae, Penniman, Serlis-McPhillips, Todd, Weisman, Welch, Woodward,
Wyrwa
Absent: Bardyn, Choltco-Devlin, Duncan, Eggleston, Hatch, Katzin, Killian,
Pope, Roe, Tuliao, Walsh, Whelan
Guest: Elizabeth Carrature-Brown
Recorder: Deitz
Welcome/Roll Call/Approval of Minutes—Sarah Conrad Weisman
The Steering Committee was welcomed by Ms. Weisman, Chair, and Mr. Penniman,
Executive Director of Nylink and the host of the meeting. Elizabeth Carrature-Brown
attended the meeting as a guest. She is a new Library Development Specialist
working with Team 3, the Technology and Resource Sharing Services Team.
The minutes of the February 6, 2008 conference call were approved: Hogan
moved; Heebner seconded.
Remarks from Chair—Sarah Conrad Weisman
On behalf of the entire NOVELNY Steering Committee, Ms. Weisman thanked retiring
State Librarian and Assistant Commissioner for Libraries, Janet M. Welch, for
her service to the committee. Mrs. Welch was with the group from its inception
as the NOVEL planning team and the Steering Committee’s first meeting
(April 24, 2002).
Remarks from the State Librarian—Janet M. Welch
Mrs. Welch noted that she is the first woman to serve as New York State Librarian
in 200 years of the library profession, a profession which is 80 percent female. If
she had to name the one accomplishment she is most proud of, it would be NOVEL,
since it has been so important in terms of what the libraries in New York State
can offer, working together statewide rather than as individual libraries,
and the continued exponential use of NOVEL. She thanked members of the
NOVELNY Steering Committee and their predecessors for giving her this sense
of accomplishment.
Mrs. Welch referred to her retirement party flyer (May 16, 2-4 PM, 4th Floor
Terrace Gallery, Cultural Education Center) and her last fundraising/advocacy
effort as State Librarian: the restoration of the Van Rensselaer Manor
papers. The State Library has a grant from the National Park Service to
conserve part of the papers. The terms of the grant award include a matching
funds provision. Any gift donation for her retirement party will be donated
to the Friends of the New York State Library for this purpose.
2008-2009 Legislative Update and Looking Ahead to 2009/10 (Janet Welch)
- Federal Budget: $2.5 million of LSTA money is used
to support NOVELNY. This is the third year that we are expecting cuts
in LSTA funding to New York State. Refer to the New York State
Library (NYSL) document, Will Your Constituents Lose Library Services
in 2008? for further information.
- State Budget: The State Library has developed a
preliminary internal discussion document setting priorities for the 2009-10
legislative year.
The document suggests funding for the following:
- New York Library Initiative
- The New York Digital Collection Initiative
- Capital Funds
- State Aid to Schools
Michael Borges—NYLA: Mr. Borges reminded the
Steering Committee that the legislature was still in session.
NYLA Mini-Lobby Day will be held in Albany on May 19, with a focus on the
top four NYLA 2008 legislative priorities: BOCES-Libraries Internet Partnerships;
Dormitory Authority Bonding; Association Libraries Opt into State Retirement;
and Sales tax Exemptions for Book Fairs.
Jason Kramer—NYSHEI/ARIA
The Higher Education Commission endorsed the ARIA proposal, but it did not
get through the Assembly and Senate. The focus is on next year’s
proposal, which will continue to tie ARIA to economic development in the State.
New York Digital Collection Initiative (Carol Desch/Loretta Ebert)
The NOVEL Planning Team’s Initiative III was “Develop a Coordinated
Program for the Digitization of Information Resources in New York Libraries
and Other Repositories.” See: http://novelnewyork.org/background.php Members
of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries (RAC) would like to include the
Statewide Internet Library in a comprehensive, multi-phase proposal, The New
York Digital Collection Initiative, a collaborative project of New York’s
libraries, archives, historical records repositories, museums, and public broadcasting
stations. RAC is seeking full project partnership with the following
groups: The State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB), the Museum
Association of New York (MANY), the Association of Public Broadcasting Stations
of New York (ABPSNY), and the NY3Rs. Additional partners are welcome. On
May 20, members of RAC and representatives from SHRAB, MANY, ABPSNY, and the
NY3Rs will meet with the Regents Cultural Education Committee, who will then
bring the group’s recommendation to the full Board of Regents.
Action Item: See the draft discussion paper at:
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/adviscns/rac/index.html
and
share your comments with RAC by contacting Jill
Hurst-Wahl at: NYSLRAC@mail.nysed.gov
The Steering Committee offered many good comments and questions regarding development
of the Initiative. There was interest in seeing further
iterations of the proposal..
Search for the Next State Librarian—Jeff Cannell
Liz Hood, Director of ETV/PB, has been appointed to chair the search for a
new State Librarian. The vacancy will be posted soon; a letter is going out
this week asking for nominations and input as to what the job should look like
and what skills would be needed for the 21st century. Stakeholders
in the field will be enlisted to put together a search/interview committee.
Interviews should be scheduled over the summer, with the hope of completing
the process and having a new State Librarian in place by fall. (Mr. Cannell
is confident this position will be filled despite the Governor’s desire
to reduce state spending.)
Action Item: Please forward any questions/suggestion/nominations
to Liz Hood, chair of the search for a new State Librarian, at: lhood@mail.nysed.gov .
NECAT—Sarah Conrad Weisman
The health, business and newspaper databases were recently renewed with Gale/Cengage. The
general periodicals database comes due at the end of August 2008. NYSL
staff continue to work with EBSCO to secure a seven-month extension (at a reasonable
price) so that the contract will run through the end of March 2009 and all
the license agreements for all the content would come due at the same time,
which would give us some added room to negotiate.
NECAT is issuing another survey of libraries to ask about their needs for
databases for NOVELNY. The last survey was conducted in 2002. The
survey will be short—ten questions—and will be posted on NYLINE
and sublists, with an anticipated release date of June 1. The survey
will ask what respondents are currently using and what they want.
NECAT wants NYLINE messages about databases to delineate paid content and bundled
content. People have come to rely on bundled content without knowing it
is secondary to the primary NOVELNY licenses.
Reports
- Ancestry.com (Amy Heebner)
The NYSL and NYS Archives (NYSA) are still in discussions with Ancestry.com
regarding the digitization of library/archives materials. The Library
is proposing digitization of various microfilm collections. Ancestry.com
will index the materials and will provide the NYSL/NYSA with digital files
for archival purposes. They will be free of charge for all New Yorkers. Timeframe: Still
too early to say.
Action Item: E-mail Ms.
Heebner (aheebner@mail.nysed.gov)
with comments on Ancestry.com
- Universal Broadband Grant and Gates Grant (Linda Todd)
The NYSL has received $621,000 from the NYS Office
for Technology for increasing broadband access in public libraries in New York
State. This five-year
program will target libraries that are already participating in the Gates initiative. The
grant amount will be spent in the first year; the next four years will be spent
working with the various libraries to show the impact of the funds and the
value of the program.
In October 2007, the NYSL received Gates online opportunity funding—421
public libraries participating—as determined by Gates’ criteria
to be eligible for the purchase of hardware. The first year match is
25 percent of funds received; and the second year (through December 2009) requires
a 50 percent match of grant funds.
Action Item: E-mail Ms.
Todd (mtodd@mail.nysed.gov) with
comments on Universal Broadband and the Gates Grant.
- NOVELNY Usability Study (Linda Todd/Dave Fiske)
One of the outcomes of the Statewide Education and Information Program was
a redesign of the NOVELNY web site. The next step is to conduct a usability
study of that site. The Division of Library Development received several
proposals submitted by firms interested in performing a usability study of
the web site. After reviewing the material submitted, it was decided
to engage the services of the Human-Computer Interaction Center at the University
at Albany. The study will be completed sometime in June 2008. We
will receive a report of their findings and recommendations to improve usability.
The Ivy Group made a presentation at the October 2006 NOVELNY Steering Committee
meeting. They were instrumental in developing the new NOVELNY website. The
Statewide Education and Information Project needs to have an evaluation as
stipulated in the RFP and the usability study is part of that evaluation. It
will be paid through the Ivy Group Contract.
Note: If you would like monthly statistics, e-mail the Help Desk nyslnovel@mail.nysed.gov and
sign up for an e-mail account or call them M-F, 9 AM-4 PM: Toll free: 877-277-0250
or Capital District area: 518-486-6012. Stats on your library’s
usage will be delivered to your computer every month.
- Speakers’ Bureau (Maribeth Krupczak)
The original NOVEL Steering Committee initiated a Speaker’s Bureau which
tracked instances in which Committee members spoke about or demonstrated NOVELNY. The
idea behind the Bureau was to provide additional venues to make the potential
community of users (e.g., the Rotary Club) aware of the NOVEL initiative. Does
the current NOVELNY Steering Committee wish to continue the Speakers Bureau?
The group believes anecdotes of NOVELNY success stories (e.g., student/patron
interactions, great uses of data acquired through NOVELNY) would be of more
use/interest. They can also become part of LSTA final narrative reports
and shared with the federal government via the State Program Report. Steering
Committee members will collect stories between in-person meetings to report.
- Charter School Registration for
NOVELNY Databases (Loretta Ebert)
At a recent NOVELNY Internal Team meeting, it was decided
to re-invite charter school participation in NOVELNY. The Charter School Association offered
to e-mail Ms. Ebert’s letter inviting participation in the NOVELNY database
program and will also include it in their newsletter. Division of Library
Development staff will confer about targeting public schools that do not currently
participate in NOVELNY. Do public/private schools need a similar reminder?
Note: If a system offers NOVELNY training, they are asked to notify the
charter schools in their area.
***** Action Items *****
- Please forward any questions/suggestion/nominations to Liz
Hood,
chair of the search for a new State Librarian, at: lhood@mail.nysed.gov .
- E-mail Amy Heebner (aheebner@mail.nysed.gov)
with comments on Ancestry.com
- E-mail Linda Todd (mtodd@mail.nysed.gov)
with comments on Universal Broadband and the Gates Grant.
The meeting adjourned at 2:28 PM.
UPCOMING:
ALA Lobby Day, Washington, DC, May 13-14, 2008
NYLA Mini-Lobby Day,
Albany, May 19, 2008
DATES OF THE REMAINING 2008 STEERING COMMITTEE MEETINGS/CONFERENCE CALLS:
Wednesday, June 11, 2008, 10-11 AM Conference Call
Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 10:30 AM-2:30 PM,
East Greenbush Community Library
|
