1.  Call to Order

Al Hopkins called the meeting to order at 1:03 p.m.

2.  Introductions – New Members

Al Hopkins introduced Melissa Behney, who is a reference librarian from the Charles E. Shain Library at the Connecticut College. Melissa attended the meeting in anticipation of her appointment later in the meeting to fill the Librarian, Other vacancy on the Board.

3.  Approval of Minutes

Alan Benkert MOVED (2nd David Bretthauer) to approve the minutes of January 7, 2004 as presented. VOTED UNANIMOUSLY.

4.  Approval of Agenda

David Bretthauer MOVED (2nd Alan Benkert) to approve the agenda as presented. VOTED UNANIMOUSLY.

5.  Public Comment

There was no public comment.

6.  State Library Report – Kendall Wiggin

Kendall Wiggin reported that a task force of the Connecticut Library Association and the Advisory Council on Library Planning was formed to examine Connecticard. They have issued a preliminary report to both Boards. The report calls for more funding and for a cost study to be done to support a request to the legislature next year. Sharon Brettschneider has issued an RFI for the study. Sharon also reported that the LSTA grants are due at the State Library on March 5. She is expecting more than the usual amount of grant applications. The State Library received an increase in Library Services and Technology Act funds. The extra funds will be used in part to support iCONN and the two new databases.

7. Department of Higher Education Report – Jonas Zdanys

Jonas Zdanys was unable to be present at the meeting. He did however provide a written report that was distributed to the board members. The report detailed the work that the statewide General Education Review Taskforce, convened by the Department of Education, will do to assist the Board of Governors’ standard of reflecting the role of higher education in the lives of students.

8. Other Reports

a. Database Update – Sharon Brettschneider

Sharon Brettschneider reported that both HeritageQuest Online and AccuNet AP/Multimedia Archive are up and accessible. Sharon will send out a letter to the public and academic libraries and also to CEMA. The database committee met after the meeting to schedule a date to discuss the databases and if they should start another RFP. Melissa Behney also volunteered to be on the database committee.

b. Digital Library Progress Report – William Sullivan

Bill Sullivan distributed a letter that was sent to all libraries announcing the migration of reQuest to the new version, AGent. A preview environment of the new version has been made available to all participating libraries and statewide training using the Preview environment has been scheduled to take place during the last half of March. This is phase 1 of the implementation -- to transfer all current reQuest functionality onto the AGent platform, and to begin to make use of federated searching capability with library catalogs and other public domain resources that do not require authentication. Phase 2 will incorporate all licensed iCONN resources as well as user authentication. Phase 2 is scheduled for July 1.

9. Old Business

a. Nominations Committee – Action Doc. #04-01-William Sullivan

William Sullivan distributed a revised nominations document. The slot for the Librarian, Other position was vacant due to Sandra Clockedile’s resignation. The nominations committee conferred electronically and agreed to select a candidate from the names of the recent solicitation of candidates, rather than do another statewide solicitation for applications. The nominations committee recommended Melissa Behney to fill the vacancy. Alan Benkert MOVED (2nd David Bretthauer) that the Connecticut Digital Library Board approves the appointment of Melissa Behney to the Connecticut Digital Library Advisory Board for a term of January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004. VOTED unanimously.

b. Public Awareness – Sharon Brettschneider

Sharon Brettschneider reported that we have funding to begin public awareness initiatives. Betty Goyette has agreed to develop learning activities for the school tool kit. The tool kit for schools will have these learning activities as well as public relations graphics to download. Bill Sullivan put together an iCONN awareness packet that was given to all the legislators. Bill is working on a packet for seniors regarding HeritageQuest. Sharon will be attending a curriculum meeting with Barbara Westwater to discuss iCONN and its resources. Art Skerker stated that he is looking to incorporate iCONN into their school training and for more material for mentors. 

10. New Business

a. Agent 2.0 Preview Environment Demo – William Sullivan

William Sullivan demonstrated the search features of the new reQuest AGent platform.

11.  Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 2:27 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for May 5, 2004 at the Middletown Library Service Center.

Respectfully submitted,

Lynette Baisden,
Connecticut State Library