11/28/01 RSIG Meeting

All members were present except for Nancy Boggess-Korekach.

COPY DESIGNATOR DISPLAY: Roberta announced that as of Monday, 11/26/01, the Webcat will no longer display copy designators. The hope is that the public will no longer be confused about how many/which copies of an item are available. The group briefly discussed how to disseminate the information to all interested parties; Roberta will follow up.

U2001 UPGRADE TESTING: Work groups, including CAAG, are testing the new product. Individuals interested in specific components or features are also testing. In fact, most, if not all, members of RSIG are involved in testing one way or another. The consensus from the group was that this upgrade was not a major one. Because of the timing of the upgrade, RSIG encourages technical services staff to consider taking off December 31 or plan for non- Acorn activity that day. More information about U2001 features and fixes will be forthcoming as testers learn about it. U2001 documentation is available at: http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/acorntest/v2001rn.pdf

INVENTORY REDUCTION PROJECT: RSIG members discussed the pros and cons of pursuing the project. Issues include available space at the Annex, staffing for the project, searching protocols, and available funds. It was agreed that Norma's impending retirement has a significant impact on the Cataloging Team's ability to take on such a project. RSIG recommends that the task force continue to investigate options. Roberta will attend the next task force meeting to clarify the group's charges and answer questions.

STAFF SATISFACTION SURVEY: All teams are meeting to discuss the top two RS issues and possible solutions. The team summaries will be discussed at a Dec. 4 RSMngt. Team meeting. RSIG notes that the issues of most importance to staff over all--pay, benefits, and parking--will not be directly addressed by the local library process. These issues are university-wide.

SHADOWED RECORDS FOR WORKING COPIES: Peggy investigated the CATSTAT "C" report, which lists records for work tool items with conversion problems. She identified questions in three main areas: 1) SPEC kits, 2) newsletter files, and 3)other worktools. RSIG agreed that consistency is very important and settled on some locations/ shadowing/circulation coding. The Cataloging Team will visit the issue and sort through the remaining questions. Linda Davis plans to tackle this as her next project after she helps the Pres Team catch up with holdings updating.

ILL REQUESTS VIA OCLC PRECEEDING ACORN RECORD LOAD: Peggy also alerted RSIG to a occasional problem with items showing our symbol on OCLC, but no record yet in Acorn. The problem may be due to a record loading delay. Catalogers will be reminded to remove our TJC symbol from OCLC if they choose another record than the pre-selected one. Also, Mary Ellen asked Peggy to contact her if she thinks the book might be an approval. The books may have arrived even if the record isn't loaded.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Peggy announced that Yvonne has requested the Arts Library picture files be transferred to the Annex. She does not yet know the size of the collection.

Susan B. announced that she has almost caught up with cataloging the last shipment of textbooks from Lee Ann, but another one is ready to head her way.

Zora announced the cataloging team will meet to decide how to divide up Norma's workload. Norma's part time position will not be filled.

Mary Ellen announced that she will be meeting with Karen and Machelle Dec. 11 to train them on new online invoice processing now that two separate funds are involved in each invoice payment. A new procedure will be developed.

Sue announced that the Special Collections search committee work is still continuing and another candidate will be selected for an interview. She also expressed hope that a dim light at the end of the long binding tunnel is in sight. The backlog is slowly shrinking. She mentioned that DeWanda's schedule will temporarily change significantly due to a family matter. And, she mentioned that the ARL preservation survey was not yet complete because not all numbers had come in from the libraries.

Roberta announced that she is following up on the EEBO records which have been purchased, but not yet arrived. She also mentioned that the paper edition of the EBSCO invoice has arrived.

The next RSIG meeting is scheduled for Dec. 12 in the Goldberg Room.

Minutes submitted by Sue Davis.