Sheila M. Riley, FEDLINK Advisory Council (FAC)                  
Minutes of the FAC Meeting - December 16, 1999 

FAC Present:             FAC Absent:              FLICC/FEDLI
                                                  NK Present:
Maxine Brown (Chair)          Ken Nero (Vice Chair)    Susan Tarr
Carla Pomager            Bonnie Klein             Milton MeGee
Sheila Riley                                      Joe Banks 
Fred Rettenmaier         
Louise LeTendre 
Cheryl Thomas
Denise Lomax

AGENDA
1. Introduction of Newly Elected FAC Members  -- Maxine Brown, Chair
2. Approval of the November 18th FAC Meeting Minutes -- FAC                                
              
3. FAC Issues and Topics -- Maxine Brown, Chair
          FAC representative to the FLICC Budget & Finance Working Group
          and the Nominating Working Group
          CY 2000 FAC Meeting Dates
4. FLICC/FEDLINK 2000 Performance Plan -- Susan Tarr
5. FLICC/FEDLINK Update -- Susan M. Tarr, FLICC Executive Director, and
     FEDLINK   Managers
6. Committee Reports
7. New Business 
8. Announcements


1. Introduction of Newly Elected FAC Members   Maxine Brown
  Denise Lomax, Cheryl Thomas, and Bonnie Klein were reelected.  Louise
LeTendre, from the Army Research Library, was newly elected and introduced to the
group.

2. Approval of the November 18, 1999 FAC Meeting Minutes
  Cheryl Thomas moved to approve the November 18th  FAC minutes as
amended to reflect the correct spelling of Louise LeTendre's name. Carla Pomager
seconded.  The FAC approved the November 18th minutes as amended.

3. FAC Issues and Topics

  FAC representative to the FLICC Budget & Finance Working Group
  and the Nominating Working Group
  Fred Rettenmaier offered to continue as the FAC representative for the
Budget & Finance Working Group. Carla Pomager volunteered to assist the
Nominating Working Group.

       CY 2000 FAC Meeting Dates+
  The FLICC/FAC 2000 meeting calendar was distributed to all members
attending and Milton Megee agreed to also send them electronically.  Although a
meeting is scheduled each month, the FAC  is required to meet only 6 times a year. 
Last year the FAC met 10 times. Meetings normally begin at 9:00 unless otherwise
specified.

4. FLICC/FEDLINK 2000 Performance Plan -- Susan Tarr
  The annual performance plan (January to December) is usually due to
Winston Tabb mid-January and Susan asked for FAC input.  Her approach to the
plan has been to start with the annual program maintenance goals and then to add
specific goals following a brainstorming session with staff.  Susan told the staff that
she would like FEDLINK to be so good that both members and vendors are
consistently impressed by what we know about our business, and their business and
by how helpful we are.  Some ideas generated: FEDLINK work on its relationships
with vendors and focus on them more as a customer so that they offer better
discounts and services to members.  Online registration for FY 2001.
 
To Cheryl Thomas' inquiry as to whether LC Bicentennial activities would be part of
the plan, Susan responded that those projects remaining undone will be in the plan.
 
Denise Lomax suggested 2 issues: To counteract the fact that libraries can approach
vendors independently and negotiate contracts outside of FEDLINK, work on
showing how FEDLINK provides savings to members.  Put effort also into issue of
contracting out and doing an authoritative list.  Cheryl Thomas offered that social
settings and conferences, such as the Charleston Conference in SC, are useful forums
for talking with vendors.  At conferences librarians can stand up and tell vendors
what they want. Susan Tarr said the recent FEDLINK sessions with vendors were
beneficial and that they could consider sending staff to the Charleston Conference.

Louise LeTendre asked if FEDLINK had done a study on its value to Federal
libraries. She would like a way to better explain the use of FEDLINK to our funding
institutions, not budget people but directors.  She suggested a factual statement from
LC that she can throw up on a screen.  Susan Tarr said they had done a study where
they computed the annual savings for Federal libraries and she would look into
getting it on screen.

Regarding the impact of contracting out Susan said she has avoided getting the
numbers because of the inherently governmental issue and the risk of determining
that more libraries like yours have been contracted out.  In these cases numbers can
sometimes hurt you.  Fred Rettenmaier suggested that the contracting out issue go to
FLICC.  They could collect and have available to its members the facts and numbers. 
Denise pointed out that it is an issue that is not going away and libraries will need
advice.  Susan said they had discussed contracting out in terms of the Education
Working Group handbook.  She also mentioned obtaining a slide presentation on
lessons learned which had been done on this issue by a Military Librarians
Workshop.

Fred Rettenmaier said that more work is needed on stipulating what members get for
the 7.75% charged by FEDLINK.  Libraries may not realize what that means in
terms of staff savings and he emphasized that 7.75% is a real bargain when you
consider the quality of FEDLINK services and staff.  Carla Pomager offered a
testimonial based on experience: Because her library's serial contract was done
locally they were required to take the lowest bid and then they did not get all the
materials they needed and lost a year's worth of journals.  From that point on her
library went through FEDLINK.  Cheryl suggested posing the question, what it
would be like if FEDLINK was not there?  She suggested that we might get worse
prices individually if vendors were not already working from established published
consortia prices.

Another aspect suggested by Cheryl Thomas is education of agency administration
on the value of libraries.  She has been asked by her administration, do we really
need you?  How do we calculate the value of knowledge management?  This is
especially difficult in pay-for- performance scenarios where no one gives credit to
anyone else.  

Maxine Brown asked whether FEDLINK would continue doing customer focus
sessions?  Susan explained that in 1998 FEDLINK had assembled groups to focus on
all aspects of FEDLINK's customer service and these surfaced projects for the 1999
performance plan.  Susan Tarr was uncertain about repeating these and asked the
FAC for advice.  She said that they have not yet been able to do a summary
evaluation of the customer service projects but will try to get this on the agenda for
the FAC January meeting.  Fred advised continuing to solicit input with customer
service focus/suggestions and  Susan asked the FAC to consider how to solicit input?

Cheryl Thomas asked if FEDLINK could negotiate the issue of fair use for electronic
journals?  Could we push for a model license?  Susan explained that the fair use
concept still exists but once libraries sign a licensing agreement, then it becomes a
contractual issue.  Fred pointed out that publishers can't control photocopying but
have learned they can control the  electronic medium.

Cheryl suggested putting out press releases promoting FEDLINK to vendors, etc.   
Louise proposed providing a small handbook to library advisory committees and
governing boards.  The handbook would give background and explain why libraries
cooperate and hence, why FEDLINK.   The handbook could take advantage of the
imprimatur of the Library of Congress.   Susan said she would see if she could get
Winston Tabb to sign off on such a handbook.

Fred said that FEDLINK could look into whether they need to tighten up delivery
orders for journals.  Susan responded that this year proved especially difficult
because the serials contracts had to be re-competed. 

Susan said the next step will be to consider all these suggestions and work with
FEDLINK staff to formulate an action plan.   At next month's meeting, the FAC can
review a draft of what will be sent to Winston Tabb.

5. FLICC/FEDLINK Update -- Susan M. Tarr, FLICC Executive Director, and
FEDLINK   Managers
  The White paper (i.e. 10 reasons to use FEDLINK) will be out in an early
January Alert and will be carried in a FEDLINK Technical Notes issue.

  Susan Tarr reported that FEDLINK is getting an intern from the Pentagon for
30-60 days to work on financial issues.  This person could work with the Defense
financial accounting system (DFAS) concerns beginning with a single regional
center and then generalize from that. This person asked for a financial internship but
works in the library and will likely be sympathetic to libraries.

  Susan Tarr reported for Joe Banks that FEDLINK receipts are running a little
behind last year and last year wasn't very good.  They do not know yet if this has to
do with the continuing resolutions situation.  FEDLINK does have a bad OCLC
payments problem and they have notified libraries that if payment doesn't come
through, they will have to shut down service.  Louise inquired whether libraries
could pay monthly.  Susan answered affirmatively but said an IAG must be done
every month. This is what they ask members to do through the continuing resolution
process.

6. Committee Reports
  Denise Lomax, reporting for the Education Working Group, said the Federal
Librarians Handbook is going live ahead of schedule before the end of December.
  Cheryl Thomas, reporting for the Information Technology Working Group,
stated that they are progressing on the idea of developing a distance learning
program, how to do one, and how to use it to instruct people in the use of various
resources.   
  
7. New Business   
  Fred Rettenmaier reminded us that election of FAC officers occurs at the
January meeting.
  
8. Announcements:
  Marcia Talley is retiring and she will be replaced by the first alternate for the
OCLC Users Council.
  
Fred Rettenmaier moved to adjourn the meeting.  Cheryl Thomas seconded the
motion.  The meeting adjourned at 12:10 a.m.