The Prospector Cataloging Reference Committee met at netLibrary on September 28th after a morning session with the netLibrary staff.
Present were: George Machovec, Helen Reed, Judith Heck, and Lois Jones, Bill
Garrison, Carol White, Sandy Arnesen and Joan Beam.
Minutes from the last meeting were distributed in draft form for further comments by members of the Committee. Comments should be sent to Helen Reed.
1. netLibrary.
The Committee and representatives from other Alliance libraries met with netLibrary in the morning to discuss Alliance-wide issues relating to providing access to netLibrary titles.
The following is a summary of the morning meeting and the Committee’s afternoon discussion of the topics.
Marc record distribution The main issues relate to marc record distribution. Several models were discussed including:
· distribution of records directly by netLibrary, perhaps on the basis of unique library profiles
· distribution directly into Prospector via INN-Reach were netLibrary to acquire the INN-Reach software
· distribution from the central Prospector site to individual libraries by using the create list functionality in Prospector to create lists of records to be loaded
If and when we reach an agreement with netLibrary there are several logistical matters to consider including would we delete the present OCLC records from Chinook and Prospector and load the netLibrary records. Also, if we were to load the records into Prospector and use the create lists to extract them, we would need some date designations in the records so libraries could extract only newly loaded records.
The cost of records is a major issue. As we work with netLibrary we need to consider costs for the initial load of 31,000 retrospective records vs ongoing titles. NetLibrary may choose to tie the costs for distribution of records to the purchase of a certain volume of new ebooks.
George reported that since the time the netLibrary records were loaded into Chinook/Prospector in August, there has been a four-fold increase in patron selection and purchase of netLibrary titles. NetLibrary titles are only purchased once within the Alliance, repeated uses by Alliance-member library patrons is free.
NetLibrary will put together a proposal for the Alliance regarding the cost and loading of marc records either via Prospector or to individual Alliance libraries. Ultimately the proposal will have to go to Member Council for approval. George will distribute copies of the proposal to all Alliance libraries since this issue needs consideration beyond the Catalog/Reference Committee.
Authority control One other issue that arose regarding netLibrary records is authority control for these records. NetLibrary does not do authority control on their records and this could raise concerns if these records are loaded directly into an INN-Reach system since there is no authority control within INN-Reach. NetLibrary is now aware of these concerns.
INN-Reach software Presently netLibrary does not own the INN-reach software, thus, they could not contribute records directly to Prospector. The production tracking system at netLibrary is separate from their III system, which they use for cataloging, although they enter records for ebooks into their III system before they are fully cataloged.
Loaders All
III libraries will need a loader in order to bring netLibrary records into
their catalog. The cost of these III
loaders is fairly high. George will get
10 free test records from netLibrary for individual libraries to load into
their local catalogs to see if existing loaders can be used.
2. Denver
Public Library
George Machovec and Jim Farmer (CSU) did training at DPL on circulation functions. DPL has created a staff manual describing borrowing and lending materials in Prospector.
On October 17, DPL and CSU will start a partnership in borrowing and lending to test the CARL/Prospector/III functionality in a live environment. The III circulation module required some adjustments in order to receive requests from non-III sites. This will require all Prospector III sites to have a software upgrade before they can begin interacting with DPL, thus the process for full implementation of DPL will be incremental. As of October 17, the “STATUS” of all items in DPL will be “AVAILABLE”, however only CUS patrons will be able to request them. This testing will last about two weeks and then we can begin to phase in the other III sites.
DPL transactions are done in “real time” but due to the requirements in software design they will load into Prospector approximately 6 hours later. The DPL Photodigitization collection will be added to Prospector after the Regis load.
3. Regis Update
Regis records will be loaded into Prospector in the next 2 to 3 weeks. George will consult with Janet Lee regarding the types of training she feels would be most useful to them.
4. Prospector
Lost Books
Patrons who lose books borrowed through Prospector are charged $100. This includes a $75 book replacement cost and a $25 processing fee. If the book is truly lost the owning library gets the full $100. If the book is subsequently returned, the $25 processing fee is charged and is kept by the borrowing (i.e. the patron’s) library or that library can choose to waive the charge.
5. Load
Balancing
The Circulation Committee will look at this at their next meeting. With the addition of DPL there will be some adjustments to the Load Balancing Table.
6. INN-Reach Enhancements
The Catalog Reference Committee agreed that the INN-Reach enhancement process could be kept separate from the overall III enhancement process as long as the recommendations received by the III Users Group during their regular process are forwarded to the INN-Reach group. Further, there should be a process where there is only 1 vote per INN-Reach site, preferably via email, when determining the priorities for enhancements. George will send our comments to the INN-Reach list
Next Meeting: Nov. 9th.
Agenda to include: Best Practices for local versus Prospector codes
(Bcodes, Icodes, etc.). We would like to compile a list of codes that when changed in a local III system, impact directly on Prospector. This would help local sites insure integrity of their records as they are uploaded to Prospector.
Minutes Submitted by Joan Beam and modified by Helen Reed.
November 13, 2000