SFX System Committee, May 13, 2015

SFX System Committee, May 13, 2015

Conference Call

ATTENDANCE

MEMBERS PRESENT: Xiaotian Chen,  Stacey Knight-Davis, Joanna Kolendo (minute taker), Andy Meyer, Jim Millhorn, Jeffrey Matlak, Steve Oberg (led the meeting)

MEMBERS ABSENT: Andrea Imre (chair)

STAFF PRESENT: Denise Green, Paige Weston

Minutes:

  1. Updates from CARLI staff

    1. Appointment Process: Paige informed the committee that three people were cycling off the SFX committee—Jim Millhorn, Stacey Knight-Davis, and Andrea Imre—and there was an additional position that needed to be filled which was left vacant by Denise Green. Three new committee members have accepted their appointments and one more needs to confirm. Paige will publicly disseminate the names of the new committee members at a later time.  Paige will invite the new members to the June meeting.  Appointments will begin in July.

    2. SFX: Paige reported that the issue with duplicate EBSCO object portfolios has been fixed.

    3. ELUNA conference meeting/ SFX product meeting: Denise reported that SFX presented on some new features that have been implemented as well as ones that will be implemented in the Fall of 2015.  Some of the new features include the addition of a comment field and an e-mail field in the Report a problem link.  SFX also acknowledged the problem with Elsevier changes and they are attempting to make the process more automated.  Another new feature already implemented includes having more indications if an object portfolio has been locally modified.    They will also add a feature in SFX admin that allows the running of reports for multi-instances.

    4. A quick discussion took place of the possible impact of the I-Share Next Program on the SFX system.  Paige informed the committee that there is a Link Resolver Working Group reporting to the I-Share Next Taskforce.

  2. Discussion Items

    1. Training webinars planning team

      1. Webinars in progress:  Steve and Andy are working on a webinar: “How to Control What Shows Up on the SFX Menu?” in other words customizing what is displayed on the SFX menu.  Andrea’s handout supplement to the Weekly Knowledge Base Updates webinar still needs to be marked up and posted on the web; Paige will post it.

      2. Paige informed the committee that she has started to add the link of the lesson “What Are My Duties When CARLI Applies a KB Update?” to the weekly update e-mails. Paige also informed the committee that she often points to the training videos when answering inquiries from CARLI members.  Denise informed the committee that she received positive feedback about the SFX videos during an on-site Collections Committee meeting.

      3. Other ideas for webinars/ Next priority: Andy informed the committee that North Park will be overhauling their SFX system’s interface to look more like their library’s website, and he is willing to make a tutorial about his specific experience. Additionally, he will also explore how SFX interfaces with interlibrary loan systems during this summer, and that might be a potential tutorial, if anyone is interested.  Steve brought up the idea that he is interested in how to sync up two knowledge bases, specifically SFX and World Cat Local. Denise suggested that the mixing of products might become more common in the future, as libraries pick and choose different systems.  This could potentially become a project in the future and framed as “How to Leverage the SFX Knowledge Base in Other Areas?”

    2. Open conference call overview – next one planned for May 20  (Andy, Steve, Andrea will not join the call)

      1. The whole committee minus the members listed above will be present at the open call. Jim volunteered to take notes during the call, and it was asked that he make sure to write down who participates in the call.  

      2. It was decided that the overall approach will be the same as last time, and there is no need to over-prepare material. 

        1. Paige suggested that some topics should be kept in mind just in case there are no questions from the participants. 

        2. Denise proposed that one of the topics could be how to troubleshoot issues with object portfolios that do not have 100% full text such as the New Yorker.

        3. Another possible topic is to ask pariticipants about questions they have received from students and faculty and then address these questions. 

        4. Steve suggested that we talk again about the weekly updates process and promote the video which was specifically created in response to the last conference call. 

        5. Paige suggested we discuss the pathfinders and make participants aware that the list is now searchable.

    3. SFX button design (presentation at ELUNA by Denise and Paige)  - see abstract

      1. Denise and Paige summarized their presentation at ELUNA on SFX button customization.  Their findings include: three of the six libraries that changed their SFX button had an increase in the number of requests; the simplified menu had 10% more click-throughs on average than the advanced menu; and direct linking did not have a more significant effect on click-throughs.   It was also discovered that there needs to be further examination of “how simple is simple” when referring to the simplified SFX menu. One question from the audience that perhaps can be researched next year is “if the SFX libraries that have google scholar enabled experience higher usage?”

      2. Paige stated that there needs to be more in-depth research to discover the right number of targets to expose to get the highest click-through rate.  Denise proposed that another factor that might have an impact on usage is if users have trust in the items displayed on the request menu.  This is just like the trust factor in regards to free targets. There needs to be more research done to uncover why people are not clicking through the ILLiad option: do they not have time for ILL, or is there another reason.

    4. Discussion of deliverable document in draft
      A brief discussion was held; there were no additional changes suggested.  The whole committee agreed that the deliverable was very well done and complete.

  3. Other items?
    There was an inquiry about which committee member libraries use ILLiad for their ILL system, and what their experience was with the system in the SFX environment.  In general, all libraries on the committee that use it are pleased with the system.  It was pointed out, however, that ILLiad does take time to set up. Denise suggested that the question be posted on the CARLI listservs.

Meeting adjourned at 10:55.