Instruction/Reference Program Committee (IRPC) Meeting Minutes, 12/16/02

1. Voyager OPAC/MyOPAC: Kornelia Tancheva presented the 3 new features that will be available form the Library Catalog after the upcoming Voyager upgrade. She also distributed a Documentation Committee handout with details about:MyCatalog (including Search Preferences, Saved Searches, and Bookbag), Combined Keyword Searches, and Multiple Export Formats.

2. Distributed Learning Update: Oya Rieger presented a CUL Distributed Learning Initiatives Update. A Powerpoint presentation included details of each initiative and is found under "Presentations" at http://www.library.cornell.edu/dl/odlcul.htm -- some additional information is included below.

• Alumni & Friends Access -- Pilot Phase II, Jan-March '03, will use self-selected users and Public Services staff were encouraged to refer people to the service http://alumni.library.cornell.edu/
• Learning and Teaching with Technology Expo -- there are plans for a brochure and web site, which will build on the January 16-17 event.
• D-Caps: Digital Consulting and Production Services -- still finalizing details, but those interested in consultations may contact dcaps@cornell.edu.
  CUL Copyright Service -- a question was asked about referrals to the Copyright Service from reference desks. Oya responded that she wants to work with public services staff to determine the best work flow for referrals, but in the meantime, questions can go to copyright@cornell.edu. The web site is at http://www.copyright.cornell.edu
• CourseInfo White Paper -- LMT will discuss in January 2003. Found at http://www.library.cornell.edu/dl/odlcul.htm
• CUL-DL Services -- Library Gateway presence at http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/services/odl/odl.html
• Faculty Innovation Grant - reminder that CUL is one of the Development Partners for these grants http://www.cit.cornell.edu/atc/innovation/index.html

3. Gateway Update/Subject Guides on the Gateway: Maureen Morris gave an update on the work of the Gateway Redesign team (soon to change its name, since the redesign part is almost over!). A web page is being created that will aggregate in a single table the special equipment, technologies, software, and space of each library. Discussion focused on the subject guides page [Maureen subsequently sent a message to IRPC about this]. Questions were raised about whether a more formal procedure needs to be in place to insure that guides are reviewed for currency/accuracy and about whether the group has examined the idea of a consistent interface for all guides. The former is something that IRPC could discuss more. The latter has been considered, but is extremely complicated :) . Gathering guides in one place is a first step.

4. IRPC on the Web: Deferred until the next meeting.

5. Announcements: Lynn Brown informed people that Global Access will now be called Thomson Research -- no major content changes. FIS Online will be changing -- more content and some interface modifications are coming. More details later. A question was asked about Factiva, which led to a discussion about web browser requirements for databases. Kornelia reminded people to send any known "browser issues" to her or Thad Dickinson, so that notes may be included in Gateway Help. Individual journal titles from Factiva are now cataloged and an interim screen has been written to explain access to users.
In anticipation of the Voyager upgrade, Fred Muratori encouraged people to use the test system http://test.library.cornell.edu and report to him any problems that are discovered.

6. Retreat Planning Update: March 17th IRPC retreat planning is moving forward -- more details to come. This retreat is meant for all staff who work at Reference Desks, so supervisors should be considering how to allow as many staff as possible to attend. Nan also mentioned that IRPC steering hopes to bring topics that can't be included on the retreat agenda (due to limited time) to future IRPC meetings for more in-depth discussions.

7. Next meeting: January 20, 2003, 8:30am