1. The TSI Steering Committee met in Ithaca Feb. 11-12 for a productive meeting which included several planning meetings, a conference call with staff at Denison/Kenyon colleges to learn more about their technical services integration and we attended a meeting with the Cornell catalogers. (Their discussions on RDA implementation sounded very familiar!)
  2. The has successfully installed a few remote desktop connections at each institution.  This will allow technical services staff to work in each other’s Voyager system. Details about Cornell NetIDs and Columbia UNIs are complex and are still being worked out. 
  3. The 2CUL TSI Administrative Team met and we welcomed our HR liaisons Lyndsi Prignon (Cornell) and Carla Mezic (Columbia).  They have begun to explore differences and similarities in our organizational structures.  The Team also discussed whether or not to appoint a group to study all issues relating to Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Tibetan (CJKT) materials processing. Columbia handles CJKT material in the Starr East Asian Library but Cornell includes CJKT in their Central Technical Services operation. We ended up deciding to add CJKT liaisons Jim Cheng (Columbia) and Liren Zhen (Cornell) to the Administrative Team and create an operating principle advising the functional teams to be mindful of CJKT issues in all planning work.
  4. We recently re-evaluated the terms and expectations of our current “2CUL Collaborative Cataloging Services Agreement [for] Korean Language Materials,” a 2CUL workflow that has been in place for nearly two years now.  It has become clear that some of our original assumptions about the workflow were overly ambitious, and we will be adjusting the agreement when the current version expires this summer.  This is a good example of how we’re learning how to be 2CUL as we go along, and how we need to be willing and able to adjust our expectations as circumstances require.
  5. Work is well underway to appoint the functional teams. The teams will work in two phases. Phase one will be an inventory and initial assessment of policies, practices, staffing, workflows, etc. at each institution. Phase 2 will be a more in depth look at similarities and differences with an eye toward consolidation and efficiencies.  Charges and reports are beginning to be posted on the Project wiki.
  6. The E-Resources Troubleshooting Team has been appointed with Jesse Koennecke (Cornell lead and Chair), Joyce McDonough (Columbia lead), Susan Marcin (Columbia) and Liisa Mobley (Cornell).
  7. The Monograph Ordering Team has been appointed with Lois Purcell (Cornell lead and Chair), Matt Pavlick (Columbia lead), Pedro Arroyo (Cornell) and Joan Jocson-Singh (Columbia)
  8. The Licensed Electronic Resources Interface Working Group has begun work to systematically monitoring and reporting functional issues and usability problems with licensed electronic resource platforms common to Columbia and Cornell. This group consists of Columbia:  Sarah Witte (co-chair), Colleen Major, Susan Marcin, Robert Scott, James Coen, Susan Klimley and Cornell: Adam Chandler (co-chair);  Boaz Theodor Nadav-Manes, Maureen Morris, Dianne Dietrich, Jeremy Cusker, Jesse Koennecke, Jim Spear, Kizer S Walker.
  9.  The Non-MARC Metadata Team is being formed. Members so far include Melanie Wacker (Columbia lead), Jason Kovari (Cornell lead and Chair), Steven Folsom (Cornell), Robbie Blitz (Columbia) and Wendy Kozlowski (Cornell).
  10. Appointments to Copy Cataloging, Monograph Receiving, Original Cataloging, Batch Processing, Database Maintenance, and Print Serials are in process.
  11. Chew Chiat Naun (from the University of Minnesota) has been appointed as Cornell’s Director of Library Technical Services (LTS) Cataloging and Metadata Services.  He will participate in TSI once he is settled in this May.
  12. Cornell staff will be coming to Columbia May 14 and 15th.  We are planning a site visit to see the integrated technical services facility (combining NYPL and Brooklyn Public Library) and speak with staff on lessons learned. See also the Library Journal article.
  13. Other environmental scanning included looking at a 2009 plan by 5 New England Colleges (Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith and U Mass) to merge technical services.  Their emphasis was on cost reduction and shelf ready processing and apparently did not result in the sort of integration we envision for 2CUL.
  14. Columbia’s Robert Rendall conducted RDA Serials Training at Cornell this February.
  15. On March 22, four members of the TSI Steering Committee (Adam Chandler, Kate Harcourt, Jim LeBlanc, and Robert Rendall) will participate in a 2CUL round table during Cornell’s Career Development Week entitled “2CUL Technical Services Integration: Comparing Notes.”  The program will be available at Columbia via polycom.
  16. Finally, a reminder about the 2CUL TSI wiki . That front page won’t change much, but do feel free to click on some of the links – that’s where the action is.  The pace at which we’ll be issuing these progress reports will increase as the overall TSI effort expands, but the more detailed background material, meetings notes, etc. will live on the wiki.  With the exception of the “Restricted” section, these wiki pages should be accessible to all 2CUL staff.

      Please feel free to consult with your supervisors, if you have any questions or concerns about TSI, or with any member of the TSI Steering Committee: Kate Harcourt, Colleen Major, or Robert Rendall at Columbia; Adam Chandler, Boaz Nadav-Manes, or Jim LeBlanc at Cornell.

-          Kate Harcourt (on behalf of the TSI SC)

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