FALCONS Meeting Minutes
Date: August 16, 2018
Present: Cathy Sorber (APAL), Sandra Groth (AURO), Fran Miller (BERK), Marcia Enright (CAN), Caroline Chatterton (CATO), Diane Pamel (DRY), Susie Gutenberger (LAN), Carol Forde (NEVA), Corinne Mosher (NIC), Shannon O’Connor (OVID), Lisa Semenza (POP), Jenny Burnett (SEN), Jen Schlossberg (TCPL), Ksana Broadwell (TRU), Chris Brewster (WAV), Cheryl Austin (WEED)
Via Zoom: Aimee Dorward (CORT), Priscilla Berggren-Thomas (HOM), Tammy Kubinec (NEW), Carla Jones (UNS), Brandi Rozelle (WAT)
Absent: Alternatives, Auburn, Cincinnatus, Fair Haven, Groton, Interlaken, Lodi, Marathon, McGraw, Moravia, Owego, Port Byron, Spencer
FLLS Staff: Nora Burrows, Eric Franks, Rex Helwig, Jenny Shonk
Introductions:
- Nora Burrows – Member Services Librarian (FLLS)
- Jenny Burnett – Seneca Falls Library
- Corinne Moshier – Cady Library (Nichols)
Rex reported there are other new directors coming on and should be at the November meeting.
Announcements:
Susie Gutenberg (LAN) reported that after 10 years of trying to get the library on the town budget, the town board recently passed giving the library $3,000 of support. They are supportive of Summer Reading. She stressed the importance of having year round conversations RE advocacy.
Approval of May 2018 minutes:
Sandy Groth (AURO) questioned the statement “Rather than making that change, Rex wants to rename the material type “DVD” to “Videodisc” and then patrons will need to use Collection and Volume to select the correct item. We agreed to think about this and bring it to the next FALCONS meeting.” because that change has already been made. With a change to “Rex will rename…….” And deleting “we agreed to think about this…….” Chris Brewster (WAV) moved and Cheryl Austin (WEED) seconded that the minutes be approved. This passed unanimously.
Old Business
One Card Many Libraries
Diane Pamel (DRY) asked if there was a deadline for merging/deleting duplicate cards. Rex reported he is still seeing circulation on duplicate cards and that new cards are being issued that are duplicates. Cards can’t be merged if a patron has gone to collections and he reported that there are often patrons who owe money on multiple cards in multiple libraries. For cards that are clear of debt, the patron should be purged after 3 years of non-use as a matter of course.
Annual Computer Bulk Buy 2018
Eric reported he has delivered the computers to 4 libraries however is still missing the keys for Office for another 8-10 libraries. Computers will be staged and delivered in the order he receives this information. In the future he is looking to streamline the process by having all new computers be installed with Office 365 rather than every library having a different version needing keys. The Chrome devices should be arriving this week.
Patron Privacy and Patron ID data scrub in Transactions Database
As discussed at the May 2018 meeting, there is patron ID data being retained in Polaris from as far back as 2005. This is data that could be accessed and need to be supplied in the case that the system ever receives a subpoena for information. Rex suggested that information be retained for 3 years and then scrubbed from the system. This would not have any impact on the ability for libraries to get statistics or generate reports as this is not information the libraries typically have access to or use. The group decided that 3 years was agreeable unless there is any dispute from a library not in attendance at today’s meeting.
PowerPAC Design Committee (delayed until Polaris 6.0 upgrade)
Rex has found that it is really difficult to make any changes since the upgrade because PowerPAC needs to be recompiled for the changes to take efferct. He will call a meeting when he is able to figure out how to accomplish this.
New Business
Collection Update
Jenny and Malia have been working on weeding the FLLS collection. They will e-mail when items are available for libraries to add to their collections. Unclaimed items will be donated to the jail/prison outreach and the Friends of TCPL Book Sale.
Jenny reported on new additions to the FLLS collection that are able to be circulated:
- 3 new adult book kits (“There There” by Tommy Orange, “A Place for Us” by Fatima Farheen Mirza, and “The Great Believers” by Rebecca Makkai).
- Giant board games
- “Cubetto” – visual coding for kids which will make a robot move
Training Update
- Item Maintenance Training (8/23 at FLLS) – Jenny offered to do this training as a webinar as well. Rex cautioned that it should not be done using the live Polaris database but it is difficult to give people remote access to the training database. Jenny also offered to do 1:1 training as needed.
- “Video Marketing for Libraries!” (8/30 at FLLS) – Drew Montreuil will offer training from his new venture, Fox Glen Media, on how libraries can produce videos easily and quickly. Regional trainings are planned for the future. FLLS has paid for all libraries to be able to use the technology for free during the next year.
- Upcoming in the fall (based on training survey) – Collection Development & Polaris Reporting, E-content – how to use and purchase, Grant writing
Volume Numbers and Quick Bibs
Rex has been identifying and fixing the errors for volume numbers (Blu-Ray, DVD, serials). There are 72,000 records to address. For searching purposes these materials need to be attached to the correct bib records and have the volume numbers entered accurately. The disc count needs to be correct even if you split up the discs.
- For Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs – Blu-Ray = d. 1, DVD = d. 2, bonus material = d. 3 (always leave a space after d.)
- For newer 4K media – 4K = d. 1, Blu-Ray = d. 2
Guidance is available on the FLLS website in the document labeled “other special procedures”. Email support@flls.org or call the CNS Deptartment for the staff login. If a library gets an error message when logging in it is most likely that they need to have their IP address registered at FLLS for access. This can be found at www.whatismyip.com.
Jenny will also put this information in the next bulletin (which may be going to 1x/month). Libraries are asked to check on their own holdings as much as possible to make corrections as needed to help Rex with this process.
Possible Technology Training/Chat & Chew (any interest in Sept/Oct?)
Possible topics suggested by Rex and Eric included:
- Current technology and use
- How to identify what equipment is in your library
- How to use service tags to find out warranty information
- How deep freeze works and how it is being used in relation to Windows upgrades
Discussion about having meetings included:
- Could the general information be made available via webinar?
- Could we offer information related to helping patrons (Pod casts? Pinterest?)
- Documentation for how to use different technology (eg deep freeze)
- Would “chat and chew” be more useful for librarians to get together and talk about how to address issues within their libraries? Would this be more useful at the county level (most counties do have semi-regular meetings)?
Jenny reported we have been having approximately 5 system meetings during the year and she is available for 1:1 trainings. Overall reception to the idea of “chat and chew” was lukewarm.
Windows Defender/Symantec Endpoint Protection
Rex reported that it is not possible to turn off or schedule Windows 10 feature updates. Microsoft is planning to do more regular and ongoing updates, at their discretion, rather than coming out with new Windows versions each year or so. This is a problem for computers that are frozen because the updates run but are not saved to the hard drive and therefore want to run multiple times until the computer is unfrozen and the process can be complete.
Symantec Endpoint Protection is not working well with Windows 10 updates on Public computers however all Windows 10 computers come with Windows Defender built in for anti-virus protection. Therefore any new computers will no longer need Symantec Endpoint Protection beginning with the 2018 bulk buy.
Eric will send out guidance on how to uninstall Symantec Endpoint Protection for computers with Windows 10. Windows Defender will then automatically take over and will update whenever Windows updates. Libraries will no longer have to pay licensing fees for Symantec.
Spectrum & Library Internet Access
Spectrum has not yet come to any agreement for service within NY. Many libraries are running exclusively on the free internet connections that have been under-performing for speed. Rex is looking into getting business class access for $59/mo using e-rate funding in 2019. In order to do this libraries will need to discontinue their business class accounts for 6 months before getting “new” accounts and will need to become CIPA compliant (agree to filter). These connections would be 100 Mbps down and 10 Mbps Up where the current free connection is 7 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up.
2019 Budget Review
Rex will supply an updated draft of the budget.
Highlights include:
- There has not been a Polaris fee increase since 2016 however it will increase by almost 2% in 2019. The fee of $5,900 will be a $100 increase and include 2 clients. Additional clients will be $1,300.
- The new Help Desk hosted service will offer features of being able to submit and monitor incident reports and to order needed supplies from FLLS (spine labels, receipt paper, etc). There was a question as to whether solutions to problems could show up as FAQs.
Discussion of Polaris LEAP: This is fine to use for circulation purposes but cataloging still has not been developed. It is uncertain how much of this feature Innovative will develop however with each release the circulation features are gaining more functionality.
Open Discussion:
This centered on concerns regarding the need to change passwords for Polaris every 3 months. Rex reported that there is a need for increased security for PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance (needed for being able to accept credit card payments) and for this passwords do need to be changed periodically. He is currently polling other systems in the state to see what their procedures and time frames are. He is leaning toward having to make changes every 6 months rather than quarterly. Library personnel can change their security questions and answers and Rex is able to reset an account if someone is locked out. “Control L” will log you out of your Polaris account.
Other security concerns discussed included:
- Security certificates – Eric is looking into being able to get a certificate that will cover all inMotion hosted websites but he doesn’t want this to mess up any of the websites. Rex reported that if a patron is making a donation they typically are redirected to PayPal which is secure but also cautioned that many phishing sites are getting SSL certificates to make themselves look legitimate even though they are still a scam.
- Patron confidentiality – Volunteers should be asked to sign a confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement if they will have access to patron records.
TCPL is getting rid of their reference desk (the “low” one) if anyone has a need for it.
Meeting adjourned: The meeting adjourned at 11:30.
Next meeting: November 15, 2018 (9:30 -11:30) at FLLS.