In attendance:  Owen McDermott, Wendy Hysko, Chris Kirby, Debra Tinkham, Judy Russell & Mary Danko (Scribe) Special Guest:  Marty Reid

1.  ListenUp!Vermont Update

Judy let everyone know that our circs continue to rise for eBooks.  The blog has been revamped and we have over 170 subscribers to the blog.  Judy welcomes any input on what she should be posting about.

2.  VOKAL Update

Wendy informed us that there has been an increase in interest for more libraries to come on.  We are capping VOKAL at 40 libraries.  Current VOKAL Stats:

  • # Libraries – 30
  • # Patrons – 67823
  • # Items – 616258
  • Circ Q1 2012 – 256741
  • Total Circ – 1026964
  • Avg Daily Circ Q1 – 3292

 3.  Grant from DOL to GMLC for purchase of e-book content

Marty Reid will be offering GMLC a grant for purchase of eBooks through Overdrive.  The board was delighted to get this gift!!  Mary pointed out that we will be able to attribute the purchases to The Vermont Dept. of Libraries (VT DOL) in the records of the titles we buy.

4.  Statewide strategies for database and e-book content and other digital services

Marty talked about how the State is looking into different services they can offer libraries.  Helping libraries to develop a mobile presence is part of that.  VOKAL is looking at code for a Koha catalog search that is mobile friendly.  We will continue to share our findings and research on this topic.

5.   Catamount Project

Marty reported on the status of the Catamount Project and noted that the VOKAL system should be able to talk to the Evergreen system easily.  The Fulfillment Module in Evergreen was one of the big features that appealed the Catamount Project group.  Mary will send Marty VOKAL’s standards matrix.

6.   VOKAL: staff training, bib records, ILL and CatExpress

After discussing the need for more cataloging training, Marty offered to help VOKAL set-up one day cataloging workshops to provide already trained catalogers for refreshing skills and working on standardized consortium cataloging.

7.  Discuss possible Mid-Year Appeal Letter to members for donations for eBooks – How to ask?  How to structure?

The board agreed to a Mid-year appeal to member libraries for donations to go towards eBooks.  The email will include explanations for the changes in eBook purchasing models & pricing.   Owen mentioned that some school libraries are frozen till July.  Mary mentioned that we can send invoices based on pledges with Net 60 day terms.

8.  SCOOP

Wendy reported on SCOOP (purchasing cooperative with the State of Maine Libraries) and some of the discounts we can look forward to.  The program starts 7/1/12.  The login & password need to be protected so we will send an email to libraries and ask them to identify the director or buyer via a Google Form and then we will email the login info.

9.  Annual Meeting

Mary talked about what we need to cover during the meeting and that we will need to have elections.

10.  2013 Member Agreements

This was tabled to the next meeting.  We will look at forming a small committee to look closer at next year’s agreement.

10.  Other

GMLC would like to host a roundtable for all VT DOL consultants to bring them up to date on our projects and to discuss ways to work together in the future.