Recorded by: Toni Harrell

NLS Staff Present:

Karen Keninger, Director
Michael Martys, Automation Officer
Vickie Collins, Head, Network Services Section
Jane Caulton, Head, Publications and Media Section
Pamela Davenport, Network Consultant
MaryBeth Wise, Network Consultant

Network Chairs:

Debbi MacLeod, Western Conference
Craig Hayward, Southern Conference
Toni Harrell, Midlands Conference (for Sharon Ruda)
Marilyn Stevenson, Northern Conference (for Adam Szczepaniak)

NLS Updates:

MaryBeth shared that a preliminary agenda for the NLS conference has been posted, with final agenda being worked on now. All are encouraged to attend the pre-conference. There will be two sessions – Magazine circulation and distribution - even those that don’t have recording programs can learn about distribution, and a Hindenburg software demo. Conference registration site will be up soon.

Karen is excited to see that three locally produced books are now on BARD. It is good that progress in being made and things are moving forward. Vickie reminded everyone the annual survey is due February 28. If information becomes available after the window closes, the information can be emailed to the network consultants.

An operation alert went out today announcing the availability of chrome labels for players. There is a fairly small window for ordering those as well – March 3rd Conference chairs question and issues.

Conference Chair Questions and Issues:

Western: There have been questions about BARD passwords being case sensitive. Has that changed?

NLS Response: M. Martys – The intent is to be case insensitive, but when recent updates were made to fix a bug, those became case sensitive. NLS is working to fix this new bug.

Western: With the availability of the USB cable for cartridges, is there any guidance on the distribution of those?

NLS Response: The person that would have those answers is not here, but NLS will have an answer to share at next week’s conference call.

Midlands: Have patrons been made aware of the availability of these cables? Will it be up to network libraries to get the word out?

NLS Response: No announcement has gone out yet. This can be a topic for next week’s call as well, when there are answers about available quantities.

Southern: Patrons have been encouraged to buy their own cartridges and the necessary cables. With the availability of DTB cable to patrons when commercial connectors are available, will NLS provide cartridges at some point?

NLS Response: No. Finding the commercial USB cable was problematic so NLS decided to provide them.

Western: Debbi provided feedback on the new TBT format – patrons love it. Marilyn reported the same type of response.

NLS Response: That is good to hear.

Southern: What is the turn-a-round time once catalog information is submitted?

NLS Response: The person that could answer that is not in the room today. NLS will get back to us on that.

Southern: Since at one time it was mentioned, is there an update or plans to broaden NLS services?
NLS Response: No news at this point.

Midlands: How is recall working for NLS? Are they getting the expected amounts from the network? - asking because we have fallen behind internal expectations these past few months toward meeting this year’s goal.

NLS Response: Things seem to be going well. NLS looks at it more from an annual perspective, with a steady stream being better than a rush at the end of the year. However, it is important to participate in getting those back for reuse. This will be a good topic for next week’s forum as Steve would be able to provide some feedback.