Minutes of SIRS meeting
February 21, 2001

Present:
Ross Laguerre, Eric Lindquist, Glenn Moreton, Barbara Nail-Chiwetalu, Yahaira
Norris-Gonzalez, Deborah Stefany, William Stanek, Susanna Van Sant

Librarians' Schedule for Spring Break:
We decided that single coverage by librarians (with a second librarian on-call)
would be adequate for the week of spring break.  Librarians are to be asked to
volunteer.  (However, since the Science team had already made a schedule for
spring break, members of that team will keep the hours they have already been
assigned.)  A sign-up sheet is to be posted on Cindy's door; librarians should
sign up for the desk and for back-up.

Moreton Report:
We first discussed the appropriate name for the document that Glenn had created
to summarize the results of the survey conducted in the fall among librarians,
staff, and students at the McKeldin Information and Research Services Center.
After considering several possibilities, including the Moreton White Paper, the
Moreton Memorandum, and the Moreton Working Paper Number One, we decided that
the document should be known as the Moreton Report.

SIRS had already decided that the document should serve as the basis of a
discussion at the April TIP meeting.  The discussion this day centered around
what should be done at the TIP meeting.  We decided that at the TIP meeting we
should try to reach some shared understanding of what constitutes best
practices in reference service as well as suggestions for improvement.  The
Moreton Report will be distributed again before the TIP meeting, perhaps by
e-mail attachment. Eric will ask Sue Baughman to facilitate the meeting.
Everyone is to think of (open-ended) questions to prompt discussion; these
should be circulated among SIRS members beforehand.  Among those already
suggested: Was there anything in the survey results that surprised you?  Are
there any important issues not dealt with in the survey?

Round Robin:
Quite a lot discussion took place about security issues and inappropriate
behavior, with Debbie providing anecdotes from her extensive collection of war
stories.  We thought that these issues would be a good agenda item for a future
SIRS meeting.

Periodicals has a new security alarm system for use during late-night study
period.  It is more annoying than the old system.

Thanks to Stan for getting the yellow "Need Help?" buttons worn by rovers and
others.

Respectfully submitted by Eric N. Lindquist

----------------------
eric n. lindquist
el69@umail.umd.edu