VLAC Minutes

Present: A. Almquist, D. Culbertson, J. Nelson, N. Northern, M. Pattie, W. Onkst, L. Rees, C. Reilender, J. Stith, L. Van Orsdel

Absent: K. Hamperian, M. Molinaro, H. Rader, J. Scarborough, D. Taulbee

Guests: C. Davis, P. Fuller, T. Keller, K. McDaniel, D. Rabuzzi, T. Merritt

1. KYVU Update (Rabuzzi): This can be combined with agenda item #2 as Rabuzzi reported on the search for a new director of the KYVL. Interviews are currently underway and the committee will announce the results at the January VLAC meeting.

2. KYVL Update (Pattie): The committee was reminded that we originally had a shortfall of $63,905 to cover increases in databases for 02-03. KYVL had appealed to the vendors to not increase their fees at this time given the budget shortfall. There was some success with this appeal, and while we still have a shortfall, it will not be as large as was expected. Since all communities of interest were asked to increase their contributions to help cover the anticipated shortfall, it was asked if those institutions would be rebated some of their extra contributions. The response was that there is still some uncertainty in final costs of databases and the courier service which may need to be addressed, so the KYVL would hold onto the savings until the final budget issues are resolved. If not used for 02-03, it could be used for 03-04 as we don't know what increase will be needed.

Recently, notice had gone out from KYVL that the reference services to learners with home libraries would be discontinued due to cutbacks on staffing at the Council. It was stated that this move would actually move the responsibility to where it could be better addressed - the KYVL doesn't actually have a collection and local libraries have the resources to best answer questions. Students could also receive better and more personal services at their home institutions and this would allow those institutions to keep statistics on use by their own client base. In any case, KYVL would answer all questions related to use of KYVL and not turn people away even though they would be referring reference questions back to the home library. Adult education and EPSB clients would continue to receive reference service as they don't have home libraries. The new KYVL director will need to deal with this issue, but staff will make it more clear on the KYVL page so people using the services would better understand the service policy. It was observed that KYVL is going through organizational change like we all are and that the initial impulse to "be everything to everybody" was clearly not possible. The new director will need to further refine the best and most appropriate roles for KYVL in complementing local library services. Some institutions are currently looking at some kind of asynchronous solutions to improve collaborative reference services among their institutions.

There was a demonstration of the new KYVL for Kids portal which was launched by Governor Patton at Hearn Elementary School in Frankfort recently. The Governor was clearly impressed by this project, especially since it was a "home grown" project and not purchased from outside sources. There will be efforts made to enter the portal project in some kind of competition in the coming weeks.

There is more training being done by vendors and it's possible that there may be a couple of sessions added for the spring in Louisville and Lexington, which are the areas where session are most heavily attended and often fill up. For next year, KYVL will again offer the blocks of training sessions throughout the state (five or six sessions). It's hoped that web conferencing software solutions will help with this function as with the virtual reference collaborations.

The issue of how to bring on the private K-12 schools into the KYVL database utilization was discussed. There will be a team established to look at the options for how to cover database costs in allocating them to the schools, headed by Diane Culbertson who will draw in some representatives of the schools. The goal is to come up with a "cost neutral" solution which can be supported by the schools. It is expected that this
team will have a report by the January meeting.

3. Courier Services Small Group Recommendation (Davis): This work group did an analysis of current use of the Courier Service contracted through Lanter, utilizing the best data available from OCLC. It was noted that the data was not really adequate, but given the shortfall of $40,000 to accommodate, it at least provided a basis for considering use and cut-back options. Lanter had not been contacted by the group, so this was intended to only be an interim report. The three options considered by the group were: reduce service (pickup/delivery); retain service but charge participants to help make up shortfall; or cutback in certain areas and charge to make up the difference. The committee decided on option one and set up a proposed four tier system for services. The committee will check with Lanter to see what options they will accept and get back with the VLAC at the January meeting. It was noted that the per unit cost would be cheaper using UPS and that might eventually become a factor.

4. Work Group Reports: The Voyager work group will not meet until Dec. 6th, so there was not report on that. The Collections work group has a survey out to help determine what to consider for the next round of database selection and should have a recommendation by the March meeting. It was noted that EBSCO will no longer be able to offer Sociological Abstracts and there will need to be a replacement selected.

The next meeting will be held January 3, 2003.

Last Updated: 11/22/02