Service Quality Improvement Council

Minutes
January 27, 1999

Present: Betty Cohen, Suzanne Eggleston, Jan Glover, Emily Horning, Kenny Marone, Fred Martz, Danuta Nitecki, Sandy Peterson, Rich Richie, Andy Shimp, Paul Stuehrenberg (chair), Joan Swanekamp

Absent: Ellen Cordes, Sue Crockford-Peters

I. Announcements

A. Improvements to the proposed Service Quality Improvement Council website were discussed.

B. Rich Richie reported on documentation on service quality in ARL SPECS It was noted that an online version of materials on performance quality is also available.

C. Danuta Nitecki spoke briefly on her participation in a recent retreat in Tucson, AZ sponsored by ARL's Measurements & Statistics Committee.

D. Kenny Marone suggested that SQIC group chairs should be mentioned to members of other library committees, including the Library Management Council.

E. Fred Martz was welcomed to SQIC. He was asked to speak during upcoming meetings on the issues of how best to structure access to Orbis, Crossplex, and service impact of removing access to MPG (which will take place in the next couple of months).  More information on Crossplex as used at SUNY-Buffalo's library will be forwarded to Council members.

F. The CoPY Project Testing Group is looking for one or two more participants. The pilot test version of the software will be delivered on 8 February; and the public launch date of CoPY has not yet been scheduled. Updates will be provided to the Council as available.

G. Rich Richie volunteered to take part in the Council's Assessment Group.  Danuta will draft a charge for this group.

II. Updates

A. Staffing Issues Group. Suggestions on the revised charge were made. Potential members of the Group will be contacted before the next meeting of the Council on 10 February.

B. Assessment. Danuta reported on the current status of the Council's survey to measure service quality at YUL. Council members reviewed the revised "cut" version of the service statements and were asked to send further revisions to Danuta within the next few days. Danuta will then recast the list for the next round of evaluation. It was decided that student employees of YUL will be asked to evaluate the revised list in the second round. A revised copy of the survey will be issued to Council members via email to be distributed to student employees.

C. Public Workstation. Six themes related to this topic were discussed -

1) clarification of reader service expectations

a) software/applications/network access distribution

b) authentication

c) adequate access (# of workstations)

d) access to peripherals (e.g., CD-ROMs & zip drives )

2) cleaning and maintaining the public workstations

3) printing at workstations/downloading for later use

4) guidance on handling complaints of misuse

5) American Disabilities Act (ADA) assistive technologies

6) assessment of use patterns

7) relation of library workstations to network drops/unassigned network ports

Discussion of this topic will continue on the next agenda.