Hi everyone:

     Here’s what’s been happening over the past three weeks or so.  Sorry about the long email; some readers may find the version on the 2CUL TSI wiki easier on the eyes.

  1. Previously appointed TSI working groups have begun to move forward with the first phase of their work – chiefly a period of information-gathering and getting familiar with each other’s environments (and each other!).  Among them, the Monograph Ordering Working Group, the first group appointed back in February, has begun work in earnest.  On March 26, Cornell participants Pedro Arroyo and Lois Purcell made the C2C bus trip down to Columbia for afternoon meetings with Columbia team members Joan Jocson-Singh and Matt Pavlick, as well as a tour of Columbia technical services in Butler Library.  Notes from that meeting are available on the group’s wiki page (see the link above).
  2. A number of new TSI functional working groups have been appointed, with charges officially approved and now available on the groups’ wiki pages.  These are:
    1. The Monograph Receiving Working Group has been appointed.  Leads for this group are Matt Pavlick (Columbia) and Lisa Maybury (Cornell), with Matt chairing.
    2. The Print Serials Working Group is also up and running.  Leads for this group are Alan Schaplowsky (Columbia) and Deb Warfield (Cornell), with Deb chairing.
    3. The Batch Processing Working Group has also been appointed.  Members of this group are: Gary Bertchume (Columbia), Gary Branch (Cornell lead), Evelyn Ocken (Columbia), and Mark Wilson (Columbia lead and chair).
    4. Another functional working group, for Database Maintenance, is also now official.   Leads for this group are Dave Motson (Columbia) and Barb Tarbox (Cornell), with Barb chairing.
    5. The Non-MARC Metadata Working Group, announced in the last report, has also formally approved their charge.  Members are: Robbie Blitz (Columbia), Steven Folsom (Cornell), Jason Kovari (Cornell lead), Melanie Wacker (Columbia lead), and Wendy Kozlowski (Cornell), with Jason chairing.
    6. A Copy Cataloging Working Group is just about ready to go.  Teams for E-Resources and Original Cataloging are still in the works.
    7. The TSI Steering Committee, with help from Cornell’s Laurie Stevens, has developed guidelines for TSI committees, teams, and working groups, which are now posted on the wiki: Tips for Chairs and Leads of 2CUL TSI Committees, Teams, and Working Groups and TSI Working Groups: Guidelines for Phase 1 Reports.
    8. Columbia’s Susan Marcin, along with Cornellians Jesse Koennecke, Liisa Mobley and Boaz Nadav-Manes, gave a presentation at this year’s Electronic Resources and Libraries Conference in Austin, Texas.  Their presentation, “You Got a Problem with That?  We’re Working on a Solution: The Future of E-Resource Management and Troubleshooting in a Unified 2CUL Context,” reflected in part some of the work that Jesse, Susan, and Liisa are doing with the 2CUL TSI E-Resources Troubleshooting Team.
    9. TSI Steering Committee members Adam Chandler (Cornell), Kate Harcourt (Columbia), Jim LeBlanc (Cornell), and Robert Rendall (Columbia) presented a round-table session during Cornell’s annual Career Development Week this month.  In the session, entitled “2CUL Technical Services Integration: Comparing Notes,” the panelists shared observations, insights, and tales from the early stages of TSI planning.  Kate and Robert participated remotely via Polycom, as did a few members of the Columbia TS staff.
    10. A copy cataloger / batch processing position has been posted at Cornell, with explicit 2CUL implications.  The position requires fluent Chinese and, after training, we are hoping to conduct a pilot project (or two) involving CJKT batch processing for Columbia’s Starr East Asian Library, whose technical services staff will be part of TSI.
    11. Finally, a few more words on the TSI wiki.  Links to most information of general interest is available directly from the wiki home page, or at most one click down in the hierarchy.  Information related to more specific aspects of TSI requires further navigating.  The wiki is growing weekly and information may become more difficult to find.  For this reason, we’d like to remind everyone that there is a search button at the top of all TSI wiki pages.  Currently, that tool searches all Cornell wiki pages, but we’re trying to adjust it to search the TSI wiki only.  Hopefully, these Occasional Progress Reports will provide most 2CUL technical services staff with enough general information to go on, but we will be continually tweaking the wiki to make that information tool more effective as well.

     As always, please feel free to consult with your supervisors, if you have any questions or concerns, 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.

-          Jim LeBlanc (on behalf of the TSI SC)

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