Barton Advisory Group

Present: Davis-Millis, Follett (minutes,) Gabridge, Hartman, Maxwell, McReynolds, Moulen (chair,) Siers, Wenger
Guest: MacKenzie Smith

1. Security with "Your Account"
Smith reported on a meeting she had with IS regarding "My Account" and security issues. IS requires digital certificates or kerberos for all web applications. Smith informed IS that their security rules do not work for The Libraries. The difficulty with public machines is that we don't want patrons to leave personal certificates on our very public machines. Moulen recalled that we made a case to IT about this in the past and they agreed that we were an exception, but Moulen did not attend that meeting (Celeste and Jones probably attended.)

Davis-Millis will retrieve last document sent to ExLibris to see where we stand with them on security issues. Smith will verify the agreement made with IS at the ITAG meeting with Celeste and Jones, and then report back to the ITAG group.

Smith reminded the group that we need to keep IS security requirements in mind for all other web applications. We need to inform IS when we are not using certificates and why; IS is willing to work with us and outside vendors on security issues.

2. Indexing
Moulen has begun prep work for the indexing to be done over the weekend (September 13-14.) Siers made some changes to the tables on the test server, which she will examine, as well as some issues raised about corporate/conference names. In theory, we will re-index, put tables back in place, run regular bib. indexing and then run linking. On Friday, Siers will determing if this plan will work and if we can proceed.

Moulen expects public OPAC to be back to normal by late Saturday or early Sunday. Gabridge reported the public OPAC message is ready to post. Cataloging and Acquisitions staff should wait to hear from Moulen on Monday morning before resuming work. Direct indexing and reserves will also be done this weekend, but logical base counters will be done at a later date.

3. Testing
Moulen reminded the group that *all* testing should be done in the test database, NOT the live database. Some recent "live" testing in the Circulation module caused problems throughout the system. McReynolds will remind Circulation Committee that testing should be done in the test database so this will not happen again.

4. OPAC Training
Davis-Millis reported that Jonah Jenkins has agreed to coordinate future OPAC training sessions. He will coordinate a hand-picked group of volunteers to do on-demand training for new hires, keep record of who got trained and keep documentation up-to-date. Jenkins will consult with R.Deadrick on number of new hires in the past year, to get a sense of number of volunteers needed. Davis-Millis will then email BAG members for recommendations for new trainees. Once program is in place, all new hires since the last training session will be invited to attend.

5. Disabilities Testing
ICAU (International Consortium of Aleph Users) is looking for volunteers to test Aleph for meeting needs of disabled users. Kathy Cahill of MIT's ATIC (Adaptive Technologies for Information & Computing) Lab has agreed to participate, but will need to meet with library staff from the various modules. Moulen will contact ICAU to express MIT's interest in participating in this project. [UPDATE: ICAU received a number of volunteers. We'll hear after the annual meeting this week (week of Sept. 22) whether MIT is assigned to the Focus Group.]

6. NAAUG 2004
Davis-Millis reported that Chicago will not work as the location for the next meeting [June 14-16.] Harvard and MIT have agreed to co-sponsor the meeting in Cambridge, using MIT dorms and meeting spaces, but schedule special events at Harvard. Davis-Millis will ask for volunteers for Local Arrangements.

Next Meeting: September 25, 2003
Agenda Item: Reports Priorities (Web has updates from last discussion; Follett will bring copies to next meeting for everyone.)