GPLNE MEETING
NOVEMBER 3, 2006
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST
MINUTES
Present:
Len Adams, UMASS Amherst, len.adams@library.umass.edu
Deborah Angelo, Providence College, dangelo@providence.edu
Kate Flynn, Hampden Law Library, kflynn@external.umass.edu
Nancy Godleski, Lexis-Nexis, nancy.godleski@lexisnexis.com
Donna Koepp, Harvard, koepp@fas.harvard.edu
Elaine Pinkos, Elms College, pinkose@elms.edu
Connie Reik, Tufts Univ., connie.reik@tufts.edu
Tom Stieve, Brown Univ., Thomas_Stieve@brown.edu
Julia R. Tryon, Providence College, jtryon@providence.edu
Jim Walsh, NewBank, jwalsh@newsbank.com
Susan Wells, Hampden Law Library, sconrad98@yahoo.com
Chair Donna Koepp called the meeting to order and introductions were made.
Because our secretary, Bette Siegel, could not attend, Donna asked for a volunteer to take minutes. Susan Wells volunteered.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as submitted and posted to the GPLNE website.
The treasurer’s report noted that there is a balance of $1,167.43 in savings.
Donna announced that since Bobbie Brook had withdrawn from her position as Vice Chair (because her institution had dropped depository status), that we now are looking for a volunteer to take over as Vice Chair. A volunteer was not forthcoming at the meeting.
The Vice Chair will take over as Chair following the May meeting in 2007, and will serve for one year.
This past summer, Donna, as Chair, met with Bette Siegel, as Secretary, to draft a plan for the coming year. Notes from this meeting were posted to the list serve.
One of the activities that we hoped to do this fall was to host a StatUSA training session, provided by a trainer from their office. The CT-GODORT group had asked GPLNE to join them in hosting this event last May, hoping that we would be able to fund a portion of the training cost.
Donna reported that we had at first hoped to do this in December, but a poll of GPLNE membership and the response from CT-GODORT, indicated that Spring would be a more acceptable time. We are looking for a venue that would accommodate about 30 trainees and that would be central to GPLNE and CT-GODORT members. Donna will check with the following institutions on availability and size of their computer classrooms: Holy Cross in Worcester, UConn, and Salve Regina. Len offered to host it at UMass, Amherst, which has 19 terminals, if that turns out to be the best option. In discussion of a time frame for the training session, it was decided that the week of May 21st would be our first choice. A nominal registration fee will be charged, (perhaps $25.00) mainly to insure attendance of those who register, but also it will likely be used to cover a box lunch if that proves to be available at the selected facility. The cost of the training session is $650.00, which GPLNE will pay. Julie Linden at Yale has agreed to do publicity and marketing for the session.
For other meetings, Donna said that she and Bette had discussed having one at a public library. Suggestions made from the group were Springfield Public Library or Worcester Public Library.
Suggestions made for future programs were a visit to the Boston Atheneaum; bringing in a trainer from the Census Bureau District Office for the American Community Survey data; bringing in Nan Myers for a session on Data Miner; and one that Bette Siegel suggested at our planning session this summer on state government publications.
Meeting dates were discussed. The next meeting will be Friday, December 15th, the March meeting will be sometime the week of the 12th. Donna will check on a location for these meetings and arrange for a program.
This concluded the business meeting. We then had a round robin of the five members who had attended the FDLP Conference in Washington, D.C., October 22-25. Len called our attention to the report of the conference that Deborah Mongeau had posted to the GPLNE listserv the day before. Comments on various high points of conference were shared with the group. Some of the major points follow:
· GPO catalogers will retain their series authority work despite LC’s decision to discontinue their use of series and the authority work.
· NTIS is exploring the possibility of working with GPO to provide electronic content to published federal information, primarily the PB publications. There will be links to full text online, likely the most recent 3-5 years. A pilot will be announced soon which will include all depository libraries. NTIS will continue to sell tangible copies. NTIS is totally self-supporting, so they will be evaluating the financial impact of this project.
· Nan Myers presented on Data Miner 2, explaining some of the new features and benefits. These include the capability to batch load MARC records by depository number, item number, or SuDoc number.
· Workshops-on-demand was a concept presented by a presenter from Texas A&M that seemed like a great idea that could be incorporated into some of our instruction routines.
· In the FDSys update, we learned that it will not be able to handle dynamic databases, but it will still supply pointers. FDSys is for publications, and it can take publications from larger databases. There is also capability within the harvester to harvest content within databases.
· For a much more complete and comprehensive report see Deborah Mongeau’s report which she sent to the GPLNE list on Nov. 2nd.
The meeting adjourned to the Calipari Computer Classroom for a presentation by Len Adams on Patents and Trademarks.
Lenny’s presentation was a hands-on overview of basic search strategies, a look at the different kinds of patents, a review of the process one follows to apply for a patent, and some basic information about trademarks. Plant patents are not online because of the need for very precise photos of the plants, but all others are available. A couple of sample searches were done so that the group could develop a feel for the database and the search tools, terminology, and process one must follow in a patent search. There is a very helpful website at:
http://www.library.umass.edu/subject/patents/patentsearch.html
Ending on a fun note, we went into a web site where there are ‘Crazy’ patents to search. Try it out at http://www.freepatentsonline.com
The meeting concluded at 12:30 p.m. The group dispersed out into a beautiful autumn day. Five of us went to lunch at the Faculty (University) Club, which is in an 18th century restored home, the Stockbridge House, built by Samuel Boltwood and his wife Hannah in 1728. The food was wonderful.
We thank Len Adams for graciously hosting our meeting, for ordering such a lovely fall day, and for a most informative presentation on Patents and Trademarks.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Wells, notes
Donna Koepp, compiler