SIRS Meeting Minutes
August 22, 2001

Present:  Yahaira Norris-Gonzalez, Robin Whitt, William Stanek, Travis Johnson, Ross Laguerre, Barbara Nail-Chiwetalu, Suvanida Duangudom, Susanna VanSant, Otis Chadley (visiting), Eric Lindquist, Cindy Todd, Mary Winker

1. Update on Reference room construction:  Cindy Todd distributed a schematic drawing of the proposed reconfigured Information Desk; she asked for comments from the group by next week.

2. Rotation of meeting responsibilities, etc.:  The group discussed how the meeting process was working, and how to improve it.  We decided to begin adding pending agenda items to the minutes.  Also, the facilitator of the next meeting will call for agenda items at the end of each meeting.  The facilitator will continue to call for agenda items via email on the Friday before each meeting.  SIRS will review how the meeting process is going after the fall semester.

3. Best practices discussion, continued:   SIRS made plans for presenting guidelines for best practices at the Service Plus desk at a future TIP meeting (tentatively Nov. 8).   The group decided to ask Sue Baughman to facilitate the meeting.  Eric Lindquist offered to invite Sue to a SIRS meeting (possibly Sept. 19) to discuss our goals for the TIP meeting.  Robin Whitt agreed to distribute the guidelines prior to the TIP meeting to all Service Plus staff, along with a cover letter drafted by Susanna VanSant.

4. Planning for Fall, 2001:  SIRS discussed projects and potential challenges of the upcoming fall semester.  The items are outlined in the list of pending agenda topics at the end of the minutes.

5. Big ticket process:  Glenn Moreton raised the concern that valuable general reference materials are being overlooked due to the fragmentation of selector responsibilities.  SIRS deferred this discussion until they get further clarification from Glenn.

6. Round Robin - Barbara Nail-Chiwetalu will miss the next three SIRS meetings.  She is arranging for a replacement.  The facilitator of the next SIRS meeting is Eric Lindquist.  The following items were proposed for the agenda:
1. Physical changes in the reference room
2. Best practices, continued
3. Summer on-call data (Cindy Todd will distribute)
4. Update on rovers
5. Rotating SIRS representation responsibilities
6. Glenn's item concerning big ticket general reference purchases
             
Next SIRS meeting: Sept. 5; facilitator - Eric Lindquist; notetaker - Evelyn Yocco; timekeeper - Bob Garber.

Pending agenda items
(1) telephone survey in Dec. and Feb.
(2) rethinking the special circulation process
(3) serving the public during the Info desk reconstruction process (probably during end of Dec. or Jan.)
(4) ramifications of journal collection move to movable shelving
(5) rover project - expansion of project to service sights outside of McKeldin creates allocation issues;  Stan agreed to send out an invitation to all staff to rove
(6) how to encourage Service Plus staff to serve patrons in expanded part of Reference room
(7) move of MS-Word print-only station from SP desk to reference room; REMINDER - staff should not assist patrons in document formatting and should allow only minimal editing
(8) patron email stations - locations, etc.