Denise W. Lomax, Secretary, FEDLINK Advisory Council (FAC) Date: August 25, 1998 RE: Minutes of the FAC Meeting August 20, 1998 FAC Present: FLICC/FEDLINK Maxine Brown Susan Tarr Doria Grimes Milton MeGee Bonnie Klein Kathy Eighmey Denise Lomax Ruby Thomas Ken Nero Lee Porter Fred Rettenmaier Janet Wright FAC Absent: Mike Conklin AGENDA: 1. Tour of new FLICC/FEDLINK offices 2. Approval of May 14, 1998 FAC Meeting Minutes 3. FAC Issues and Topics 4. FEDLINK Customer Service Focus Group Report 5. User Group Meetings 6. NTIS Products via FEDLINK 7. FLICC/FEDLINK Update 8. Committee Reports 9. New Business 10. Announcements 1. The members of the FAC convened at 9:00 a.m. and were given a tour of the new FLICC/FEDLINK offices on the 2nd floor of the Adams Building, Library of Congress. Kathy Eighmey led the tour. 2. The FAC approved the minutes of the May 14, 1998 meeting with one correction - Lee Porter was absent. 3. FAC Issues and Topics. There was discussion about topics for the FEDLINK FALL Membership Meeting. Suggested topics included document delivery and electronic serials. The FAC agreed on the topic, "Integrating Electronic Materials into Library Operations: Access and Ownership - A Librarian's Perspective." Discussion continued about a guest speaker. Both FLICC/FEDLINK and FAC members will work on identifying and confirming a speaker for the Fall Meeting. Chair Fred Rettenmaier asked for a FAC member to volunteer to chair the Fall Membership Meeting. Rettenmaier reminded the FAC that his term is ending and a new chair has to be elected in the Fall. Rettenmaier said he was pleased with the number of members who stopped by the FLICC/FEDLINK booth at ALA. He also thanked Jim Oliver and the FEDLINK staff for the work they have done with vendors. 4. FEDLINK Customer Service Focus Group Report. Ruby Thomas gave an update of FEDLINK's progress with the customer service initiative. Thomas reported that the committee is organizing a Focus Group as a way to hear directly from FEDLINK customers on how to improve Member Services. The Focus Group will comprise Librarians, Project Managers, Library Technicians, and FEDLINK vendors. Thomas presented to the FAC a draft letter to be sent out to FEDLINK Members nominating them to participate in an eight- person focus group to be scheduled in October 1998. In order to reach libraries outside the metro area, the FAC proposed a three-stage approach to the focus group: (1)FLICC/FEDLINK staff will meet with military librarians at their workshop scheduled in November 1998; (2)FLICC/FEDLINK will work on a way to get non-military libraries outside the metro area included in the focus group; (3)and a notice will be posted to the FEDLIB listserv to remind members to fill out the customer service survey on the web since we can not accommodate everyone in the focus group. 5. User Group Meetings. Kathy Eighmey reported on the user group meetings that were held with FEDLINK's three largest vendors: Dialog, Lexis, and West Group. She reported that there was not a lot of interaction and discussion between members and vendors. Members were rather shy. They did not ask many questions or voice real concerns. Instead the vendors and their staff came out in big numbers and showcased their products. For some vendors the ratio for vendor staff to FEDLINK member was 2 to 1. FAC members discussed that the user group meetings were presented as vendor showcases instead of the town meeting-types that were intended. Future meetings will be structured in the town meeting style, possibly w ith a panel of members prepared with questions. Additionally, special efforts will be expended to make certain it is clear to members that this is a forum to get their questions answered about issues and concerns with vendors' products and services. 6. NTIS Products via FEDLINK. NTIS submitted a proposal to become a FEDLINK vendor, which may provide an easier means for members to purchase their products. NTIS would offer only a 4% discount. Susan Tarr pointed out that since NTIS is a government agency, an interagency agreement (IAG) would need to be established between them and the Library of Congress in order for them to become a FEDLINK vendor. Discussion followed about NTIS' 4% discount and the 8% fee that members already pay for FEDLINK membership and about the significant staff time and effort to set NTIS up as a vendor because of the IAG to be established. It was the consensus of the FAC that NTIS' proposal is not advantageous for FEDLINK members. 7. FLICC/FEDLINK Update. Susan Tarr reported on FLICC/FEDLINK efforts to form a Federal General Counsel's Forum that would : --be able to share research about how they come to conclusions on information issues; --share particular issues they are working on so that others would not need to reinvent the wheel; --raise visibility of library issues among General Counsel offices. Tarr reported on the progress of three efforts to streamline FLICC/FEDLINK operations: (1)The General Counsel has said that it is not necessary for FEDLINK to review Direct Pay customers' purchase orders - It is on the onus of the members. In FY'99 FEDLINK will not require members under $100,000 to send in purchase orders for review. (2)When members want to move money, FEDLINK is required to check with vendors before moving the money and there is sometimes a long wait for vendor's response. Now FEDLINK will give vendors only 3 days to respond. (3)Tarr continues efforts to clarify point with officials to get carry-over authority for administrative fees for members with carry-over or no-year accounts. It is too late for FY99 but plans are to have it set in place for year 2000. Milt MeGee reported on FEDLINK's upcoming program, the week-long training on Law Classification and Cataloging. He also mentioned about FEDLINK being able to secure member discounts for the upcoming Online World conference of which a significant number of FEDLINK members have registered. Tarr reported on our financial status. Our $4.6 million is behind last year and our initial budget proposal but we are still doing well. A letter of intent to replace our financial system is underway. 8. Committee Reports. Denise Lomax reported that the FLICC Education Working Group Task Force - Handbook for Federal Librarians received good response from the FEDLIB listserv posting for volunteers as well as good suggestions and input for the handbook. 9. New Business No new business to report. 10. Announcements. None. The meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m.