Reference Coordinators= Committee

Pyle Center

October 22, 2002, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

 

MINUTES

 

Present:            Mark Bucher                                                    Mimi King

Anne Kasuboski                                               Randy Hoelzen

Ed Van Gemert                                                Vanaja Menon

Sara Neises                                                      Linda Kopecky

John-Leonard Berg                                           Cynthia Bryan

Patty Becker                                                    Valerie Malzacher

Ella Cross                                                         Jana Reeg

Barbara Bren                                                    Lori Docken

Paul Moriarty

 

I.          Introductions

Members introduced themselves.

 

2.                  Approval of the March 28, 2002 minutes

Minutes were approved as written.

 

3.                  Review of charge to committee and priorities identified during 3/28 conference call

Committee reviewed the charges as established by CUWL.  Individual duties and priority issues listed in the March 28 minutes were addressed and reestablished.

 

4.                  Virtual Reference presentation

Steven Frye, Reference and Instruction Librarian from Memorial Library, gave an in-depth overview of the Virtual Reference Service currently being used in Madison.   Steven demonstrated the new service and addressed salient issues affecting both practice and administration.

 

Kirsten Houtman, from the WILS office, introduced the QuestionPoint product sponsored by OCLC and the Library of Congress. Kirsten demonstrated the email and live chat features of the product.  This product is currently being piloted by several libraries across Wisconsin.

 

After the presentations the committee discussed issues relating to implementation of QuestionPoint a.k.a. AskWisconsin and possible joint endeavors related to marketing, publicity and training. 

 

Participants involved with the AskWisconsin pilot project shared their experiences with the new product.  Most RCC members had attended the System Administrator training for AskWisconsin and were waiting for additional direction from Mark Beatty.

BREAK FOR LUNCH

 

5.                  Relationship between the CDC and RCC

JoAnn Carr from the CDC and Randy Hoelzen discussed the current relationship between the CDC and RCC.  A lengthy discussion followed concerning the procedure in deselecting electronic databases and the need for an improved logistical framework.

 

Besides providing tutorial and training material related to the shared collections, it was suggested that the RCC can assist the CDC by reviewing any titles available for trial, assisting with content coverage comparisons, reviewing usage statistics, and providing input on title cancellations.

 

 

6.                  One-Search Software

There was a general discussion on the need for a “1 search software” product since it is very difficult for students, and even librarians, to locate appropriate resources.  Ed Van Gemert reported on UW-Madison’s interest in a product that would provide both the ability to search across commercial databases and also replace SiteSearch.  The Madison campus will be having a demo of the Endeavor Encompass system, including LinkFinder Plus.  The RCC will be kept up-to-date on UW-Madison’s progress.

 

7.                  Web based instructional materials and tutorials

There was a discussion on the need to share web tutorials and other training materials that is related to the titles included in the shared collection.  Any library that has effective tutorials or training material should send the URL and description to Paul Moriarty at UW System by Friday, November 1^st.  He will then compile a list to be posted on the RCC web page.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

 

John-Leonard Berg

Secretary/Chair-Elect