Present: Alfred Hopkins (Chair), Alan Benkert, Cheryl Beturne, David Bretthauer, Samuel Brown, LuAnn Cogliser, Betty Goyette, Alana Meloni, Jenifer O’Connor, Kendall Wiggin, Jonas Zdanys
Others: Lynette Baisden, Sharon Brettschneider, Stephen Cauffman, Gail Hurley, William Sullivan.
Absent: Edward Murray, James Smith

1. Call to Order
Alfred Hopkins called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m.

2. Approval of Minutes
LuAnn Cogliser MOVED (2nd S. Brown) to approve the minutes as presented. VOTED unanimously.

3. Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved as presented. VOTED unanimously.

4. Public Comment
There was none.

5. State Library Report – Kendall Wiggin
Sharon Brettschneider reported that the Digital Library has $500,000 in its budget for FY 2003. The Lexus Nexus Statistical Universe: Basic Power Tables and ATLA Religion databases have been dropped from iCONN. The Request for Proposal (RFP) for the outsourcing of the statewide delivery system has been completed and BeavEx was awarded the contract. Sharon and Kendall Wiggin will meet on September 11th with representative from the Office of Labor Relations and the Maintenance Union. OPM has agreed to guarantee jobs to the C-Car drivers. Sharon hopes to have the outsourcing completed within two months. BeavEx has asked for 30 days after the contract has been signed to get the service running. The Community Service Providers have been providing temporary drivers and we will try to take advantage of their service during the transition time. Under the contract with BeavEx, libraries will receive everyday delivery, Monday through Friday, if they are open any hours from 10 - 4 p.m. Schools can purchase off the contract for delivery. The State Library had reductions to the book budget, CLSUS, state aid and Connecticard payments. The State Library and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have begun implementation of the State Partnership grant program. Letters will be going out to public libraries that are eligible to receive computers, training, technical support, and software. Libraries serving population that are 10% below the poverty level will receive free computers. There are approximately 36 libraries that fit this requirement. The other libraries that are not below the poverty level will receive free software, technical support and training but must purchase the computers. Connecticut is also eligible for 5 training labs. The Advisory Council for Library Planning and Development voted to offer the labs to Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, New Britain and Waterbury. Kendall Wiggin gave a brief report on the Commission for Educational Technology (CET). They currently have $10 million in bonding funds for the development of the network. They are connecting a number of schools systems. At their September 13th meeting, the Commission addressed the budget issues including the amount that will be requested for iCONN. We are looking for approximately 2.1 million for the next two years. Mr. Wiggin also reported that he met with Commissioners Lewis and Sergi earlier this summer to discuss support for iCONN.

6. Department of Higher Education Report.
Jonas Zdanys expressed appreciation for the partnership with the State Library and thanked Sharon Brettschneider, Jane Emerson and Kendall Wiggin for all their work with iCONN. Even though there were eliminations to the databases, he stated that there was still money to provide a solid core of resources for academic libraries. Mr. Zdanys stated that he hopes that there will be additional funding for 2003 and 2004. The Department of Higher Education secured agreement from the college presidents not to cut the budgets of their libraries based on the resources provided by iCONN. Academic libraries have been asked to identify collection specializations.

7. Other Reports
a. Digital Library Budget Appropriation: This was covered under the State Library Report.

b. Digital Library Progress Report – William Sullivan
Bill Sullivan reported that Jane Emerson is working with the CSU systems department to develop a new off-site access page for public/school databases. Currently, you must re-enter your barcode when you switch from one vendor’s database to another. The new authentication method will allow you to enter your card number once and freely switch among databases. Libraries near the border who routinely issue in-state library cards to out-of-state residents will be able to obtain from the State Library special library barcodes that will ensure that out-of-state residents are not able to use their in-state library cards to access iCONN databases remotely (which is a violation of our license agreements). Bibliomation and Connect libraries already have special barcodes for out-of-state users and this barcode range is not registered for iCONN access. Special barcode ranges unique to a specific library can also be issued to libraries that want to preclude access to both iCONN databases as well as to local databases licensed by that library. Teachers who reside outside of CT are an exception – they may use in-state public library cards (if their public library is willing to issue them) to access the databases remotely. Mr. Sullivan reported that he is working with the Hartford Public Library and their Midnight Library to set up after-hours support for iCONN (including reQuest). This service would provide support to patrons when their library is closed, to library staff when the vendor’s help desk is closed, and would also perform periodic checks to verify that all iCONN databases and reQuest are running. If we give them the appropriate training they have proposed piloting the service (at no charge) for 9 months (through June 30, 2003) in order to assess what it would cost to offer the service on an ongoing basis. The link between the GreatKidsCT site and the Gale Health & Wellness site is operational. Mr. Sullivan is also working on implementing Auto-Graphics’ portal product, AGent. We would like to reallocate unused money obligated under our contract to this resource. Gail Hurley distributed copies of the iCONN Times (July 2002 issue) which is published quarterly. The next issue will be out in October and it can be found on the iCONN website.

c. RFP Process (Update) – William Sullivan

Bill Sullivan met with DOIT to discuss their current RFP procedural requirements. They have made improvements to the process since the last RFP. He and his staff are working on putting together the functional requirements for the RFP consistent with the Request for Comments. The plan is to issue the RFP in January 2003, issue an award in 2003, and have the contract signed early in 2004 so that the system can be operational by July 1, 2004.

8. Old Business

a. Unfilled positions on Board
Jonas Zdanys reported they will continue to look for a student to fill that available slot. Sharon Brettschneider reported that Ed Murray has taken a position in another state and his slot as “Other Librarian” must now be refilled. The nomination forms have been sent out and will be due by October 15th.

9. New Business
a. Policies governing use of reQuest as a z39.50 target site – Action Item Doc. 02-05 Gail Hurley

Gail Hurley gave a summary of z39.50 functionality that allows libraries and patrons to download bibliographic records and citations from reQuest. It is becoming increasingly popular and she has received several requests to supply target information for reQuest. She summarized the policy and possible costs considerations of allowing Z39.50 access to request. She proposed allowing such access but only under certain conditions. Betty Goyette MOVED (2nd LuAnn Cogliser) that the Connecticut Library Advisory Board approve making available request z39.50 profile information to libraries and to individuals but only under the following conditions:

• Profile information is given to Connecticut libraries and patrons only
• Libraries that wish to use the information to download MARC records must be reQuest participants and must sign an agreement that commits them to the following:
• They will not redistribute the downloaded records to another party
• They will not disclose the profile information to another party
• They will contribute the downloaded records/holdings to reQuest
• If they discontinue reQuest participation, they will discontinue downloading records from reQuest
• Individuals that want to download bibliographic information into a citation program must sign an agreement indicating that their use will be limited to the downloading of bibliographic citation information (not MARC records) that they will not disclose the profile information to another party.

VOTED unanimously.

b. Demo of library portals – William Sullivan

Bill Sullivan gave a demonstration of the AGent and other library portals and their search functions. During the demo, Mr. Sullivan highlighted the performance challenges in using portal (cross-database searching) technology to create a “virtual union catalog”.

10. Any other Business to come before the Board

Bill Sullivan reported that we were able to continue offering the Hartford Courant because of a one-time price reduction from Newsbank.

Elana Meloni MOVED (2nd Alan Benkert) to adjourn the meeting at 2:33 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for November 6, 2002 at the Middletown Library Service Center.

Respectfully submitted,

Lynette Baisden,
Connecticut State Library