Service Quality Improvement Council

May 3, 2000

Agenda

1. The main item of business will be the services to patrons with disabilities document distributed earlier. Danuta has prepared a draft of action items for LMC. Paul will distribute this draft at the meeting.

Minutes

Present: Katie Bauer, Sue Crockford-Peters, Suzanne Eggleston, Emily Horning, Kenny Marone, Fred Martz, Danuta Nitecki, Sandy Peterson, Andy Shimp, Martha Smalley, Paul Stuehrenberg

Absent: Rich Richie, Joan Swanekamp

I. Questions, announcements, future agenda topics.

• Paul Stuehrenberg distributed copies of the Circulation Support Group proposed policy on LSF books and carrels. Judy Parker will visit SQIC's 5-17-00 meeting to discuss the document.

• Council members congratulated Kenny Marone on her recent appointment to the position of Cushing/Whitney Medical Library Director.

• Fred Martz asked that SQIC address the need for a short policy statement on the use of social security numbers [SSN] for library purposes and, in particular, to access online resources. This statement should note that the long-range objective of the library will be to eliminate the use of SSN altogether. This shift away from the SSN is already in process. SSN have been removed from date due slips and electronic overdue notices, though they are still used to access Ovid and a number of online forms, such as renewal and Eli Express requests; investigations have begun on alternatives to SSN for these two categories as well. More fundamental changes on the university level cannot be made since the SSN is embedded in the Yale University ID. Such changes will be possible once new ID cards are issued that do not depend on SSN.

  Danuta Nitecki mentioned that several readers have indicated their concerns about use of their SSN for library transactions, and particularly for displaying them on mailed notices on this matter.

  Sue Crockford-Peters volunteered to prepare a draft policy statement on use of social security numbers by the next meeting. Fred Martz or Karen Reardon will assist.

• Future Topic: Danuta reported that questions regarding issues of harassment raised in the campus Appropriate Use Policy were raised during a meeting of the Library Management Team. Scott has volunteered to draft a summary of discussions held with General Council as the start of a policy statement for SQIC's review. Danuta will bring the document to SQIC once prepared.

• Danuta mentioned that she will be out of town for part of the following week to attend a conference on service quality sponsored by the American Society for Quality. She explained that though it is not a library-based organization, it is on the cutting edge of trends on service quality. She has learned that there is an ISO [9000 series] standard available for what constitutes a service quality organization. She will share with SQIC insights garnered from the conference.

• Sue Crockford-Peters briefly discussed the first announcement of email circulation notices. The announcements will be stuffed in every circulation notice issued by the library before the start of the pilot. They will be placed in charged books as well. Sue will bring a revised draft of the policy on email notices to SQIC at a future meeting.

II. Task Force on Services for Persons with Disabilities document.

The Council read through the program statement with "action" items drafted by Danuta to accompany the policy report proposed by SQIC on services to readers with disabilities. Danuta extracted policy and goal statements from the document submitted by the Task Force on Services for Persons with Disabilities and subsequently reworked these into the program statement about the library's services to this reader population.

Paul asked that SQIC comment first on the policy document. A date has not been established to introduce this proposal to LMC, but Paul mentioned that he had warned Max Marmor (Chair of LMC) that it would soon be ready for the LMC agenda.

Sue Crockford-Peters noted that the document could go to LMC as it is -- any substantial issues will come up later and can be handled at the LMC level. The revisions made by Andy Shimp, Kalee Sprague, and Paul Stuehrenberg since the last discussion of this document by SQIC had changed the thrust of the report to highlight more clearly its policy elements.

This document is available online under Other Documents at

http://www.library.yale.edu/Administration/SQIC/SQIC.html

Danuta then reviewed her program statement. Key items requiring LMC approval are in bold type. The policy statement at the beginning of the document seeks to reflect the "values" underlying the policy, including the library's commitment to equity and the spirit of federal legislation on this matter. The program objectives and the timeframe for implementation (which establishes who does what by the next fiscal year) also are in bold. Danuta asked for comments on the draft.

Sue Crockford-Peters inquired whether resource allowances will be provided for the work needed to make the library's Web pages accessible. Andy Shimp commented that the Level I standards for accessibility will be easy to meet. He mentioned that Karen Reardon has recently posted a Web page which outlines the Level I Web accessibility requirements. Fred added that once the work is distributed, the time investment for staff will not be unmanageable. Danuta stated that staff who are responsible for Web pages will be asked to update their pages to meet accessibility requirements, and that training will be provided to facilitate the process. She also mentioned that the Web Advisory Group is currently looking into the establishment of a minimum level of competence needed to post a page online. Sue thought that given the additional burden of updating pages with the copyright compliance statement, the issue of making additional resource allowances will be raised. Some SQIC members voiced concern about the difficulty of adding alternate text for information in table format.

Fred noted that ensuring that Crossplex Orbis complies with accessibility standards would require substantial work and is probably not practical. The conclusion of the CrossPlex Orbis design team was that standard TN3270 meets the needs of patrons with disabilities far better than any version of CrossPlex Orbis could. Because of the library's obligation to provide all readers using the online catalog with the same service, Danuta urged that users be notified of the availability of the TN3270 Orbis alternative to Orbis-on-the-Web, the former being more easily accessible for persons using assistive technologies. Fred mentioned that such instructions to catalog users are already available on the Yale University Library Catalogs web page, though the instructions should probably be displayed more prominently. The statement currently reads as follows:

"Orbis on the Web is not suitable for use with Lynx (the text-based web browser). Readers who prefer traditional plain text may continue to use the excellent character-based interface provided by Standard Orbis (TN3270 or Telnet), which will remain available and unchanged."

(see http://www.library.yale.edu/orbis/)

The role of the Accessibility Resource Coordinator and how this assignment will be made was discussed. The Coordinator will be responsible for arranging annual accessibility tours and for publicizing the services to users with disabilities. Danuta anticipated that Accessibility Resource Network (ARN) participants may have to be recruited from the pool of D level or M&P employees in spite of SQIC's preference that it be kept open to all interested staff. Sue Crockford-Peters encouraged that the departmental ARN representative assignment be given to the staff member most capable of doing the best job, regardless of job level. Fred mentioned that the reason the Expert User position is open only to D level or higher staff is due to Human Resources compensation and classification criteria. When the charge for the Coordinator is drafted, Danuta will seek LHR advice on what, if any, minimum staffing levels will be required to fill this role. Danuta asked Council members to comment on which units should participate in the ARN. Paul suggested that one representative be appointed per library. Fred noted that the Expert User model functions on an as needed basis.

It was decided to use Danuta's "action" text, once revised, as the program statement, and the revised Task Force document as background information in the presentation to LMC. Revisions of these background documents will be made and forwarded for posting to the LMC Web site. Paul will contact Max to add the topic of services to readers with disabilities to the LMC agenda. A revised copy of the background document will be forwarded to the Task Force, with SQIC thanks for its thorough work.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 p.m.