February 28, 2000 Meeting of User Education Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Members Present: Jim Cotter, Lori DuBois, Ruby Jahr, Chris Quinn, Sarah Reisinger, Lynne Rudasill, Sue Searing – Chair, Dee Shonkwiler, Helen Sullivan, Beth Woodard

Additional Attendees: Julie Veazie (User Education GA)

1. Housekeeping

No revisions of today’s agenda. Minutes of 2/14/00 accepted as presented.

2. Review of Action List

PROJECTOR EQUIPMENT FOR UNDERGRAD LIBRARY

Sue contacted Bart Clark regarding need for projector and ceiling mount screen equipment in the Undergrad Library. He said they could use a projector which is currently assigned to the University Librarian. However, this does not handle video. He agreed to purchase the equipment, if he was given an exact list. Sarah, Bart, Lori, Aart Olsen and Media Center staff will consult to develop a list of the exact needs and costs.

LIBRARY RESEARCH WORKSHOPS

Lori sent brochures regarding workshops to most campus libraries. Julie has been passing out signs advertising the Library Research Workshops to departments, dorms, and other places students might see them. Lori needs to update the evaluation questionnaire to include a distinction between hearing about the workshop through the purple handout and the yellow sign.

ACADEMIC UNIVERSE

Lori is continuing to develop a handout on Academic Universe. When she is done, the User Ed team will review it.

GEN DOCUMENTS

Lori has send out the url of the Gen Documents list to the User Ed Committee members. Rich Palmer from the Circ Team is working on weeding out the unused ones related to circulation. When a current list is ready, Lori will announce it on LIBNEWS.

“ALL COPIES UNAVAILABLE”

Jim Cotter brought up to the Circ Team the issue of the unclear nature of the ILLINET Online message, which is displayed when all copies of a book are charged. The message will be changed to point to a “What’s Next” document which will be available at the library desk. The possibility of sending an e-mail to someone to initiate a recall and the decision of who that someone might be will be discussed at the next Circ Team meeting, March 9.

DEB GILCHRIST PROGRAM

A list of possible ideas to be covered at the program will be sent to Deb Gilchrist to see if she can cover them in 1 ½ days and what the cost would be. Beth will calculate the other costs, such as state allowance for hotel and per diem food expenses, as well as travel expenses.

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS DATABASE

Helen discussed with Systems Office the possibility of making the database of UIUC library instruction materials she has been working on widely accessible. They do not want to put a database on the web because of the maintenance problems. They proposed using metadata tags with a set list of searchable headings which we would devise. This system would also require cooperation from departmental libraries. Darlene Chirolas from the Systems Office came to the User Ed meeting and discussed this issue. She said Systems Office will be developing a new search engine which would be used for this purpose (and other purposes) in the summer. We would need to do the classifying of the metadata tags by reviewing the web pages. Adding tags is not a problem and Systems would be able to assist those libraries to learn how to do it . It was suggested that we use one of our libraries (ie LIS) and/or the User Ed site itself as a pilot test. We would keep track of the time involved.

“LEARN TO USE THE LIBRARY” website

This was an agenda item. See notes later in minutes.

3. Needs Assessment

Beth handed out paper with discussion of need to identify the basic level of core knowledge needed and the continuing education needs of staff. The continuing education sub-group developed a table with lists of the needs, sources for education, and the time frame to complete these. Sue will use this list to develop a check list which will be distributed to the librarians and staff in order to set priorities for continuing ed programs.

4. Web Site Maintenance

Lori passed out Statistics on hits for Library Web Site pages. Members noted the large number of hits on tours, quick tips, and tutorials. We spent time reviewing the first part of this site. Lori brought equipment and displayed it on screen in room.

Suggestions made were:

• Create a virtual tour of the main library. Sarah will check with Reference about the availability of staff time (GA). Should include a script with maps. Script could parallel the audio tour.
• Library Contacts page need to be updated
• TTY machines should be defined
• History page should be updated; FAQ: There are some gaps. Sarah will check on some of the links.

5. NEXT MEETING

Sue will e-mail members to get their opinion on whether the committee should continue meeting two times a month or return to one time a month and have the other day available for special subcommittees to meet.