LINC Policy Council Minutes (not yet approved)

January 18, 2006

Members Present: Cynthia Helms, Mary Bissey, Fred Schlipf, Lynn Schmit, Alice Cisna, Rick Dulaney, Kathy Fell, Scott Drone-Silvers, Jan Ison, Barb Turner, Ann Newman

Members Absent:

Others Present: Pat Boze, Marsha Grove, Donna Schaal

The meeting was called to order at 1:35 by Alice Cisna. The minutes of the October 19, 2005 meeting were approved, with corrections (Barb Turner attended, Anne Newman was absent).

Local Holds Committee

There was an update from the Local Holds committee. The committee met in November and decided upon a test of local holds to see if it would work with Horizon. The test was to be based on borrower/item location, with a local itype created for local holds materials. The test was set up for 5 libraries and worked for all but Champaign. SirsiDynix determined weπd identified a bug in the software. We were advised to upgrade LINCPac (which handles requests) to the next version. The committee agreed to hold off further work until the upgrade. This upgrade is planned for February 7.

Horizon 8.0 Beta Process

Pat reported that the Horizon 8.0 beta process is proceeding. We have 17 volunteers from 6 libraries who are receiving training on the Horizon 8.0 modules. The product is getting a new build every 2 weeks. Weπve been asked to give input specifically on how holds work in a consortium. Once volunteers have access to the product, we will forward functionality/performance questions to the development team. Notices/circ stats not in place yet - WebReporter will be the product for this, so weπve also volunteered to test this product, also.

Horizon 7.4/LINCPac 4.1 upgrade

Even though a major upgrade has been planned for February 7, within the last few days weπve been advised by SirsiDynix to not upgrade to Horizon 7.4/LINCPac 4.1, but instead to only upgrade to LINCPac 3.06A because of problems with limits and stability. Communications with 2 other consortium and 1 large public library site all recommended against going to 4.1 because of instability and non-functionality issues. If we decide to not upgrade to 7.4, SirsiDynix will upgrade us to LINCPac 3.06A, which has 120 bug fixes, on February 7. After general discussion, LPC members concurred that this major upgrade should not happen but we should upgrade to LINCPac 3.06A.

RFID Issues

There was a general discussion of RFID technology and the implications it might have for the consortia. Champaign Public Library is investigating a move to this technology. There was concern that once a vendor is chosen for this technology, the entire consortia would have to follow this choice. Scott mentioned that the main issue for him is that any new technology not have a negative impact on system performance.

The next meeting is scheduled for April 19, 2006 at 1:30 pm. The meeting was adjourned at 3:30.