Minutes: SFX-Verde Group : MIT Libraries

1/13/2006

SFX / Verde Meeting, 1/13/2006

Minutes

Attending: Ellen Duranceau (co-chair), Jennifer Edwards (minutes), Tracy
Gabridge, Millicent Gaskell, Nicole Hennig (co-chair), Rebecca Lubas, Kim Maxwell,
Beth Siers, Rich Wenger

1. Timeline Review

We reviewed the timeline Ellen proposed. Ellen will revise the timeline, including adding columns for each of the sub teams (SFX, User Needs, Verde) to clarify who is doing what and when.

2. Sub Team Updates

User Need Team:
" They have about 17 volunteers, hope for 3 more, who are currently taking pictures for the photo diaries.
" The volunteers have been assigned to interview teams.
" Nicole has sent out lots of notes about how to interview, etc.

Verde Team:
" Kim and Ellen met with Ted Koppel at Ex Libris. They shared their Ver. 2 feedback, including what should be configurable, what should be pushed (instant or overnight) and what should be lookup. They felt good about Ted's response, that he understood what they were asking for.
" Version 2 currently has a April 1 release date.
" Because the Metalib Knowledgebase merge with SFX won't happen anytime soon, we need to decide if we should put records for databases in Verde ourselves and push them to SFX. There are many options with no clear path for database access, something another subgroup could work on.

SFX Team:
" Aleph as a SFX source: icons are on screens in Text and they do work. Conditional display of the icons has not been implemented yet.
" Scripting for finding records that need URLs put in from SFX has been implemented but needs more testing. Updates are running on the Test side. Going live depends on Beth's time.
" RSS feeds: Rich says they are easy to do but not ready for demo yet. He needs to know what parameters should be used to pull records for new books, etc.
" IEEE: Rich reported that he has scripted an update to the file received from Mark at Notre Dame, but that the data behind it is old. He suggested that we host our own database. The process could potentially be used for other conference databases such as SPIE, ACM, and ASCE.

4. Staff Training

Nicole has started planning staff training sessions. Some suggested topics include RSS feeds, Verde, Web services, flexible infrastructure (or include these topics in each training session).

We also discussed inviting someone who's done flexible infrastructure with similar staff and technology, with the purpose of educating ourselves and DLG/TSAC. They could meet with us and then give a presentation to all staff. Rebecca and Nicole will investigate suggested names.


Next Meeting: Feb. 6, 11:00-12:00 in Cubespace