Re: LMC Minutes 1/26/00

[Frederick Martz <frederick.martz@YALE.EDU>]

Several staff have expressed serious concern about the reduction in support
for equipment purchases reported in the LMC Minutes.  I would like to
clarify and expand upon a few points.

My comments in LMC (see below) addressed equipment purchases for the
"major" computer systems for which the Library Systems Office has
responsibility, i.e. Orbis and the many other servers which support the
library's electronic resources.
http://www.library.yale.edu/systems_steering/public/servers4.pdf
For these servers the likelihood of further Y2K emergency equipment needs
was greatly reduced once we successfully made it through the first few
weeks of January, and the numerous server upgrades already performed have
substantially reduced the likelihood of server failures between now and
July 1st.

Department Heads are responsible for initiating requests for new and
replacement equipment located in their units (both automation and
non-automation) and they can best judge what the urgent  needs in their
units are.  The LMC vote indicated that most department heads felt that
their units could postpone equipment purchases until next fiscal year,
without crippling services.

The money set aside last October to cover the emergency replacement of
failed equipment throughout the year was NOT eliminated and there is enough
still available to address critical failures this spring.

In addition, the schedule for submitting equipment requests next year will
be advanced so that the next round of requests will begin in June instead
of September.  The net result is that there will be only a three-month
delay (this year's spring round would have begun in March).

There is certainly a considerable amount of obsolete equipment still in use
throughout the libraries and many staff, students, and faculty are
consequently hindered in their work.  The Digital Pentium 560s, for
instance, are now beyond their 5-year projected lifespan and are far from
an ideal platform for our current staff and public workstation software
configurations.  Systematic replacement of these machines will begin during
this coming summer.

-- Fred

-------------------------------------

"The equipment budget was identified as a means to lessen the vacancy
savings shortfall. Fred Martz assured LMC that numerous upgrades and system
adjustments had recently been made to prepare for the Y2K shift. As a
result, he doesn't anticipate the library's experiencing any major computer
needs this spring, nor the need for any emergency equipment requests. He
suggested that funding for ergonomic improvements, which should have come
from the equipment budget, come instead from the equipment disaster
contingency funds on the condition that it be repaid immediately next
fiscal year.

Scott Bennett moved to fund ergonomic improvements from the equipment
disaster contingency fund, with the intention to immediately repay this
amount from the equipment budget next fiscal year. The movement was
seconded. Eighteen members voted in favor, with one member abstaining. 

Scott Bennett moved: 

  1. To apply the remaining balance in the equipment budget towards
covering the negative balance shown in projected vacancy savings. The move
was seconded. Fifteen members voted in favor, and two members abstained
from voting."



	Frederick Martz
	Library Systems Office
	Yale University Library
	(203) 432-1856
	frederick.martz@yale.edu