NSW PUBLIC LIBRARIES DOCUMENT DELIVERY WORKING GROUP MEETING MINUTES
Date: Wednesday 7th December 2022
Venue: Dixson Room, State Library of New South Wales
Time: 2.00pm – 5.00pm
Chairperson: Anne Laidlaw, City of Sydney ; Shelley Petchell, Cumberland
Secretary: Kristin Ovidi, Sutherland
1. Welcome and introductions
I acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation; the traditional custodians of our local area and we acknowledge their continued connection to Country. I would like to pay respect to Elders both past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are present.
2. Searching the SLNSW’s catalogue
Michael from the SLNSW joined us today to demonstrate the use of the catalogue and provide search tips. The catalogue has been up and running for a couple of years now. The previous catalogue was not purpose-built whereas the new catalogue was built inhouse - feedback is still welcome as improvements continue to be made. Most of the databases the SLNSW subscribes to, you will be able to access by registering and logging in with a library card.
The use of the catalogue’s filters can assist you to narrow down your search. Under Refine Your Search you can select the Access filter, and this will provide the option to Ask at Your Local Public Library. This displays the location for items rehoused by the SLNSW at other NSW public libraries (eg such as LP and audiobooks). Other filters include Format and Language – the former is broken down into sub-formats such as audio, books, music, the latter assists with searching for multicultural items. You can also search via Location (eg Multicultural, SRL Collection Onsite). If you undertake a search and the item displayed has a thumbnail, this indicates that is a digitised item. More information about the item selected will be given on the catalogue record. Apart from the catalogue, there is also a Digital Collections viewer. No additional material is included using the viewer, but it is a good browsing option. You can select the format you wish, and the Books option will produce hits for digital books. Items in the Mitchell and Dixson collections have been digitised and this is a handy option for pre-1970 publications and Mitchell items which cannot be loaned out as ILLs. Zoom sessions on the use of the catalogue will be scheduled for the end of January 2023. Thank you for the demonstration, Michael.
3. Apologies:
Annette Maksum, Blacktown
John Hogan, City of Canada Bay
4. Confirmation of the minutes dated 1st August 2022
Murray Boothman, Strathfield
Diane Parkin, Hornsby
5. Actions arising from previous meeting
• Recruiting a Library Manager for the Working Group
The Working Group is hoping to find a Library Manager willing to attend some of the Group’s quarterly meetings. The aim of this is to take any concerns/issues we have around changes relating to LADD and Trove to the NSW Library Managers meetings. This may enable us to action LADD issues at higher levels as we transition to a new platform. At this stage it is something we can all think about.
• Demonstration on searching the SLNSW’s catalogue
See point 2.
6. State Library of NSW report
Nil.
7. Multicultural Services report
News from Abby Dawson. Abby will undertake a new role in 2023 but we can continue to contact her regarding bulk loans for now. We would like to thank Abby for all her wonderful assistance over the years, she has been supportive and a great communicator. We wish her happiness and success in her new role.
At present, Royce Propert (who works in Document Delivery Services in the Reading Room) can be approached if we have any ILL questions dds@sl.nsw.gov.au
The Bulk Loans service will be suspended over Christmas – it will be unavailable from Friday 23 December 2022 and reopen Monday 9 January 2023. Last requests for bulk loans need to be placed by Friday 9 December 2022.
8. Trove Collaborative Services update
• TCS Town Hall, 22 November 2022
The link to the Town Hall has been added to the dokuwiki. The Town Hall related to the results of the Resource Sharing Landscape Review. While TCS is still working through results from the survey, three key themes are evident:
A. The importance of hybrid digital/physical collections. Due to factors beyond our control such as end user preference and publisher restrictions on digital material, the need for a hybrid system to cover everyone is important. For instance, public libraries’ physical items are borrowed most heavily, whereas larger resource libraries’ digital collections are the focus for users.
B. Cost. This is the main driver for resource sharing behaviours. In the public library sector, this includes trying to minimise/cancel costs for patrons, the van delivery service and front-end usage of LADD. For large resource sharing libraries this could include interoperable software that utilises their own catalogue/local system and they only use LADD back-end. Smaller libraries can get priced out of options and prefer reciprocal arrangements.
C. Providing a full library service to end users takes a range of sharing networks. We all use multiple networks across various sectors and geographical areas. Many responses in the survey reported that a need for a national network is important – to be able to access up-to-date holdings in the ANBD to help keep the process efficient and successful. Regarding data harvesting, there will be a push by Trove for this in 2023 to encourage Trove Partners to participate - OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting).
What are the next steps?
~ Information gathered from the survey will be used to work on the future of resource sharing.
~ In February 2023, Trove/Libraries Australia will go to market to see what platforms are available at a reasonable price point that will work for everyone, also ensuring integration with the ANBD. The outcome of this will determine what will happen next in the resource sharing arena.
Questions
~ Will the new platform be in place by LADD’s end of life in 2024? Currently, there are no concrete answers. At this stage there is no definite date for the decommissioning of LADD in 2024. It may be a good idea to look locally for alternate ways to manage your ILLs e.g. Murray, Strathfield, uses Excel spreadsheets to keep track of all requests.
~ Another issue was raised about the high increase in the cost of subscription to Trove and its impact on what services are available e.g. the lowest price point includes showing holdings on Trove but it does not include interlibrary loans.
Further results from the TCS survey will be released in early 2023.
• Resource Sharing Landscape Review results and Resource Sharing webinars
These two webinars were held in September 2022 and can be viewed at Resource Sharing. You will also find them located on the Trove Partners dashboard and there is also a link in the dokuwiki. Anne, City of Sydney, was asked to be a speaker in the first webinar representing the voice of public libraries. The focus of the webinars was weighted more on the university and special libraries sectors. Libraries Australia now has a YouTube channel to which they are adding their webinars.
• Trove Partner newsletter
This newsletter will be launched in February and will include information on upcoming webinars and TCS matters. The newsletter will initially go to Partner contacts (i.e. managers).
9. ILL Van
Genevieve Freeman (one of our ILL Van representatives) emailed the ILL elist on 2/12/2022 with a schedule of the van run suspensions over the Christmas/New Year break - a link of the document has also been included on the dokuwiki. Van run deliveries have been a little unreliable recently so please ring Genevieve or Samantha if you don’t receive your delivery on the expected day and have had no notification.
10. The Wiki
This is running as usual. A Trove Collaborative Services page has been added and includes the Town Hall webinars and links to the Resource Sharing Landscape Review.
11. Libraries Australia/LADD issues
• Moving forward with TCS
With a focus on the future, there is a new single Trove Collaborative Services email address for all your LADD and TSC related correspondence tcs@nla.gov.au. Please direct all LADD enquiries to this email address as it replaces the previous laadministration@nla.gov.au which is no longer being monitored. There is also an online form for technical issues or you can email your question if preferred.
• ILRS Directory
Chrome doesn’t appear to allow access to the Directory, but Edge seems to be fine. It has also been noticed that the site is no longer secure. The link to the contact form on Trove for the ILRS/Libraries Gateway is on the dokuwiki.
12. Suggested topics for discussion
• Ongoing solution for the roles of Chair and Secretary
Going forward, it has been suggested that these roles work in a similar manner to the Multicultural Working Group who have the following Terms of Office:
The terms for the Chairperson, the Secretary and the Library Mangers is two years in total and will commence in November at the AGM. These positions may not be reappointed after their two-year term. Nomination forms will be sent out with the minutes prior to the Annual General Meeting in November.
Anne has drafted a nomination form for the Working Group NSW ILL Working Group nomination form
• e-lists
The Reply-all issue is still with us. Please ensure you are only replying to the requestor: select “reply to all” when answering to e-list emails for book club books requests. Then remove the e-list email address at the top and leave the second line email which is for the person who has sent the request. Please note, if you are unable to supply the item, there is no need to respond. Also, a reminder to please use the ILL e-list (not the Hard2find elist) to request book club items. At this stage, the SLNSW is looking for an alternative option to resolve this email situation and hopefully a solution will result next year.
• Holding location list in LADD
Reinstating the drop-down list of holding locations when placing requests is hoped for. For the time being, press Control and highlight one of the options and then move through the locations until you get the one you want.
13. General business
• Online meetings
We will trial having two of our meetings online and two in person next year. The August meeting will continue to remain online and we will have our first AGM in February this way also. The May and December meetings will be in person.
• Victorian libraries
Victorian libraries continue to have courier issues so remain as last resort libraries. Jess, from Melbourne City Libraries, mentioned how some libraries use Australia Post for ILLs outside of their van run. Victorian libraries are considering using Australia Post until the courier is up and running again. She would like an idea of how many libraries take their ILL parcels to the post office themselves, and what charges are incurred. Stanton has used Mail Plus to collect their boxes (they collect six at a time) and it costs $20.00 to the items to the post office. Most of the metropolitan libraries on the van run send their parcels via their Council.
14. Next meetings:
Monday 6th February 2023, 2.00-5.00pm – online
Monday 1st May 2023, 2.00-5.00pm – in person
Monday 7th August 2023, 2.00-5.00pm – online
Monday 4th December 2023, 2.00-5.00pm – in person
15. Attendees:
Abby Dawson, SLNSW
Anne Laidlaw, City of Sydney
Annie Persjian, Georges River
Christine Bendit, Blacktown
Deanne Kennedy, Central Coast
Deborah Malcom, Stanton
Diane Parkin, Hornsby
Fiona Zi, Mosman
Fujing Zhao, Ku-ring-gai
Georgia Matthews, Hawkesbury
Julie Jones, Central Coast
Kalyani Avula, Ku-ring-gai
Ken Cullen, Inner West
Kristin Ovidi, Sutherland
Li Yuan Shepherd, Inner West
Mark Ross, Ryde
Mayer Wu, Canterbury-Bankstown
Murray Boothman, Strathfield
Parekh Chandra, Burwood
Samantha Howes, Stanton
Sharon Downie, Liverpool
Shelley Petchell, Cumberland
Teresita Quinones, Waverley