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Annual Users' Meeting

28-29 August 2000 Hotel Sofitel, Melbourne


Kinetica Homepage

Draft Minutes

  Agenda Item (minutes) Papers Presentation
1. Opening and welcome    
2. Minutes of the 1999 Annual Users' Meeting    
3. Introductory remarks    
4. Report on the year's activities and outcomes Presentation
Mr Andrew Wells
5. Report from Kinetica Advisory Committee (KAC)    
6. Parallel Sessions    
7.1 Kinetica Document Delivery (KDD) Report   Presentation
Ms Christine Cother
7.1 National Resource Sharing Working Group (NRSWG) - Consultation Group Report   Presentation
Ms Christine Cother
7.2 Kinetica Expert Advisory Group on Access to Electronic Resources Report Presentation
Ms Glenys Oxlee
7.3 Chinese Japanese Korean System (CJK) Users Report Presentation
Ms Magdalen Lee
7.4 Reference and End-User Access Expert Advisory Group Report  
8. Report on end-user trials Presentation
Ms Marian Bate
9. Kinetica response time  
10. ILRS/ ALG/ VDX redevelopment   Presentation
Ms Bronwyn Lee
11. Kinetica system developments   Presentation
Mr Rob Walls
12. Issues presentation by State User Groups  
13. Cooperative cataloguing issues Presentation
Ms Patricia Scott
14. Small libraries/ consortia   Presentation
Ms Susan Liepa
15. Questions on notice (answered verbaly at the meeting)  
16. Questions without notice    
17. Reports from parallel sessions   Presentation
Ms Helen Livingston
17.1 NLA Response    
  Closing Comments    
18. Next year's venue    

 

1. Opening and welcome - Steve O'Connor (Chair of meeting and CEO of CAVAL Collaborative Solutions)

Mr Steve O'Connor welcomed delegates to the meeting and to Melbourne.

Mr O'Connor introduced the members of the Kinetica Advisory Committee; Ms Jan Fullerton, Director-General of the National Library of Australia (NLA); and Mr Jeremy Lambe from IBM Global Services Australia.

Mr O’Connor encouraged delegates to provide input to the meeting and to raise any issues or questions they may have. The aim of the meeting was to focus on the large issues and the future of Kinetica. Kinetica staff would be happy to answer questions on smaller and operational issues during breaks, via email, or Kinetica-L after the meeting.

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2. Minutes of the 1999 Annual Users' Meeting - Steve O'Connor
1999 minutes

There were no amendments to the minutes of the 1999 Annual Users' Meeting.

Motion:
That the minutes of the 1999 Annual Users' Meeting be accepted as a true and accurate record.

Moved:

Ms Christine Cother, University of South Australia

Seconded:

Ms Sue Clarke, University of Melbourne

Motion carried

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3. Introductory remarks - Ms Jan Fullerton (Director General of the National Library of Australia)

Ms Jan Fullerton began by thanking delegates for attending the meeting and thanking all Kinetica customers for their loyalty during the transition from Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN). Ms Fullerton also thanked the members of the Kinetica Advisory Committee for their valuable advice and assistance over the past year.

Ms Fullerton confirmed the National Library's support for resource sharing in Australia and commitment to providing all Australians with access to information resources (as explained in the NLA's Directions for 2000-2002 document). The National Library believes that Kinetica is an invaluable tool for resource sharing and is committed to its future. Ms Fullerton commented that Kinetica has been in place for over one year and that it was an appropriate time to reflect on Kinetica’s achievements.

Ms Fullerton reflected on the history of Kinetica and ABN. She noted that the beginnings of ABN in the early 1980's were contentious but that over time its value had been recognised. The primary emphasis of ABN when it was set up was on-line cataloguing. Over time though, the value of ABN for resource sharing was recognised. In the transition from ABN to Kinetica, primary emphasis was placed on resource sharing, while also acknowledging the importance of cataloguing. This transition has led to various challenges, not the least of which is charging policies, which Kinetica staff and the NLA have been and are attempting to meet.

Ms Fullerton re-articulated the objectives of Kinetica and announced that the NLA would be conducting a major strategic review of Kinetica. She emphasised that this would not be a technical review. Included would be a cost/benefit study and a review of the National Bibliographic Database (NBD), particularly looking at different means of cataloguing and strategies to ensure its completeness and accuracy.

Ms Fullerton concluded her address by encouraging the users of Kinetica to provide input into this review and to let the National Library know what they think should be the directions for development of Kinetica.

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4. Report on the year's activities and outcomes - Mr Andrew Wells (Assistant Director-General, Kinetica, National Library) Presentation
Annual Report
ANCJK Service Report

Mr Andrew Wells spoke to his paper and outlined the major achievements of Kinetica over the last year:

  • The NBD being migrated to a Z39.50 server;
  • Access to the NBD through Kinetica Web;
  • Access for overseas users (notably Canada and the UK);
  • Introduction of the ILL protocol compliant KDD service;
  • Provision of access to RLIN; and
  • Steady growth in usage.

Mr Wells emphasised that the NBD is the heart of Kinetica, and as such needed to be accurate, current and comprehensive. He thanked the top 10 original and holdings contributors and everyone who contributed.

Mr Wells acknowledged that some libraries are working through technical and system problems and will be contributing in the near future, notably Griffith University and Curtin University which will be loading approximately 450,000 and 100,000 records shortly. While this situation has been unavoidable for some libraries, catch up contributions is not a good solution in terms of timeliness of the NBD (addressed in Ms Scott's paper) and resulting periods of intense workloads for Kinetica staff.

A disappointment has been the 20-25% drop in online cataloguing business over the last year, which has equated to a $0.9 million budget shortfall. Mr Wells presented a table (included in the presentation) outlining CPI increases over the last five years and the corresponding changes in ABN/Kinetica charges. Cumulatively the CPI had increased by 7-8% while ABN/ Kinetica charges have fallen by 0.4%. Most libraries have seen a fall in costs in the changeover from ABN to Kinetica. In comparison to similar services offered by commercial operations and in other countries, Kinetica charges are competitive.

The National Library has waited for a year’s data before reviewing Kinetica charges, but in light of this information and the shortfall in budget, the NLA is proposing an increase in Kinetica charges of 5%. It is proposed that this increase will be effective from 1 January 2001.

Other savings initiatives announced were:

  • The suspension of the purchase and loading of Blackwells' Table of Contents records to the NBD;
  • A reduction in the enhancements and database quality improvement budget (some will still be done, but subject to careful consideration and priority ranking);
  • A reduction in the overall staff numbers working on Kinetica, (with a proportion of existing staff being re-allocated to the Australian Libraries Gateway); and
  • A pragmatic balance between quality and coverage of the NBD being adopted.

These initiatives should lead to savings of between $400,000 - 500,000 over the next year. Although these are regrettable cut backs, Mr Wells reminded Kinetica users that the National Library has given an undertaking to government to operate Kinetica as a cost recovery service.

Targets for the coming year for Kinetica are:

  • 6.4 million searches on Kinetica databases; and
  • 250,000 KDD requests.

Customer Survey

A customer survey was conducted during March and April this year involving a random selection of users of Kinetica (some comments from these surveys are included in the presentation. Mr Wells thanked all those libraries that participated in the survey and announced that another customer survey will be conducted in March next year.

Mr Wells discussed a range of issues that had come out of the survey, including:

Issues from survey

NLA response

Response times

We have been working very hard on this issue, but not all problems relate to Kinetica systems. (Addressed further in Kinetica Response time paper).

Comprehensiveness of the NBD

The NLA strongly believes Kinetica is key infrastructure for Australian libraries. As such we are strongly committed to it and will encourage users to contribute new records and holdings.

Rate of `partial satisfaction' with Kinetica

NLA needs to investigate the underlying reasons for this. Possibly due to the newness of the service.

The large percentage of respondents who were unsure or did not think Kinetica was good value for money.

Possibly workflows of using Kinetica are the issue. As a service Kinetica is very competitively priced and the NLA is committed to it remaining affordable.

Future and System Developments

Mr Wells reiterated that the development of Kinetica is based on the principle of 'buy not build'. Kinetica is based on the following software: Amicus, Librivision and VDX. It requires constant effort to keep these systems working well together. The National Library seeks users' views on the systems, and recommendations for development are regularly made to software developers on behalf of users.

Mr Wells commented that Kinetica is investigating ways of displaying CJK holdings information in KineticaWeb.

Major changes in coming year

  • New version of Kinetica Web (Librivision), the Client (Amicus) and the NBD server (Amicus);
  • Feasibility study into the development of a web cataloguing system for brief records;
  • KDD upgrades to the web interface and underlying database;
  • Update of Kinetica Web (reduction in mouse clicks and improved workflows);
  • National Resource Sharing Working Group (NRSWG) to develop a new ILL code; and
  • Interlibrary Resource Sharing Directory undergoing major change for release in 2001.

Governance and advice

In the last year, senior staff of Kinetica visited every State and Territory, with effort being made to include regional areas as well as major cities. The Expert Advisory Groups have also been very helpful. Mr Wells reminded the delegates that as the name suggests, these are advisory groups. They are called upon whenever advice is sought on a particular matter. Some of these groups are in temporary suspension and the intention is to re-instate them if and when they are required. Mr Wells encouraged users to contact Kinetica if they feel additional Expert Advisory Groups are needed.

Metadata

Mr Wells noted that currently there are records of about 4000 networked digital resources on the NBD. He reiterated the desire of Kinetica to see more collaborative cataloguing of these records and their inclusion in the NBD. In relation to this particular issue the Expert Advisory Group on Electronic Resources has been very valuable.

Questions:

  • How compliant is Kinetica to standards? (Mr Steve O'Connor, CEO CAVAL Collaborative Solutions)

Mr Wells - Kinetica uses a large number of standards relating to data creation and system interconnectivity and interoperability, including AACR2, MARC21, Z39.50 and the ILL protocol. Mr Wells commented that the last two were relatively new standards and that Kinetica is playing a role in their implementation.

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5. Report from Kinetica Advisory Committee (KAC) - Ms Helen Livingston (KAC Chairperson and Acting University Librarian, Deakin University)

Ms Helen Livingston began by outlining how the membership of KAC was made up.

Ms Livingston explained that the KAC is an advisory committee, not a decision making one and that the approach is to work towards consensus on issues, rather than propose resolutions. It is also important that KAC works closely with the National Library and has a close understanding of the issues raised by the National Library.

One of the roles of KAC is to advise Kinetica on building partnerships. Some of those that have been developed over the past year were with:

  • Software developers;
  • Library of Congress;
  • British Library;
  • OCLC;
  • State user groups; and
  • Most importantly the users of Kinetica.

Two major issues that have arisen over the last year have been an unravelling of commitment to Kinetica and the NBD, and a decline in revenue for Kinetica. Ms Livingston thought that perhaps these two issues are connected. Major challenges for KAC and indeed everyone associated with Kinetica are:

  • To develop an appropriate charging system; and
  • To create appropriate incentives for users to enter data in a timely and comprehensive manner.

Ms Livingston also encouraged users of Kinetica to realise the value of Kinetica, (using the example of the UK where they do not have such a system and the consequent impediments to resource sharing), and to actively promote it, particularly to non-users.

Ms Livingston finished her address by emphasising the following points:

  • KAC members are approachable and would like to encourage users are to contact them if they have any issues, questions or suggestions;
  • Kinetica is a service for users, therefore it is essential that users make their wishes for Kinetica known; KAC is one mechanism for this;
  • KAC advises in two directions, to the NLA and to users and can pass on information in either direction; and
  • KAC advises on future directions of the service.

Questions:

  • How do people get in touch with the KAC? (Ms Petronella Miyanda Mavunga, Hurstville City Library and Information Services)

Ms Helen Livingston - There are a number of ways:

  • Through a member of KAC who represents your library sector, (eg. a CAUL or CASL representative);
  • Through a member of KAC who is from your State or Territory;
  • Through a State user group; or
  • Postings to the Kinetica List.

KAC members try and keep abreast of issues and attend State user group meetings. Importantly though if you have an issue or question, you need to seek out a KAC member.

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6. Parallel Sessions

Mr Steve O'Connor informed the delegates that the broad topic for the parallel sessions for this year was:

"What is and should be the contribution of Kinetica to Australian libraries and to your library?"

The four groups for parallel sessions were organised alphabetically and each was facilitated by two KAC members.

Ms Helen Livingston (Chairperson of KAC) consolidated comments for the Report from the parallel sessions which was presented to the meeting on Tuesday (please refer to Agenda item 17 and the relevant presentation).

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7.1 Kinetica Document Delivery (KDD) Report - Ms Christine Cother (University of South Australia) Presentation

Ms Christine Cother spoke to her presentation on the KDD expert group. She informed delegates that the group had disbanded for the time being as it had achieved its current objectives and is waiting for the NLA to implement the group's recommendations.

Questions:

  • What criteria are there for selecting members of expert advisory groups? (Ms Petronella Miyanda Mavunga, Hurstville City Library and Information Services)

Ms Cother and Mr Wells jointly answered that selection of experts is made by invitation from the NLA, and that people, libraries or groups may nominate persons for consideration. Criteria includes:

  • Being actively involved in an area (such as being a KDD trainer);
  • Proximity and ability to attend meetings; and
  • NLA tries to get a coverage of the library sector (eg. university, State, special libraries, etc.).

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7.1 (cont.) National Resource Sharing Working Group (NRSWG) - Consultation Group Report - Ms Christine Cother Presentation

Ms Cother spoke to her presentation on the NRSWG Consultation Group. She also acknowledged the hard work of Ms Charu Sood, (NLA) who had left the group and welcomed Mr Tom Ruthven, (NLA) as a new member.

Questions:

  • How will you report back on the benchmarking study and when? (Ms Amanda Biggs, AusAID)

Ms Cother - The NRSWG Consultation Group will be discussing this issue when they meet on Tuesday 29 August in the afternoon following the Kinetica AUM. Each member of the group should be responsible for disseminating the outcomes to their constituents. Mr Wells also added that there will be a report of the study placed on the Kinetica web site (users being notified of this via Kinetica List) and that libraries participating will also receive a report. Given the time taken to design such a study, implement the survey and then analyse it, it will probably be the second quarter of 2001 before this is available.

  • Regarding ILL as a whole and the question of standards, how will standards fit into the system? Are there minimum requirements? (Ms Helen Livingston, Deakin University)

Ms Cother - There is recognition that different libraries will have different abilities to meet standards. As such there has been a fairly low minimum standard set as a requirement which most libraries should be able to meet. Obviously the aim is that libraries will move to the higher end of the standard.

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7.2 Kinetica Expert Advisory Group on Access to Electronic Resources Report - Ms Glenys Oxlee (Macquarie University) Presentation
KEAG Access to Electronic Resouces Report

Ms Glenys Oxlee began by informing delegates that since this group first met in March 2000, it had been very active and had been communicating via fortnightly teleconferences and an email list. She then spoke to her presentation, highlighting the ScienceDirect pilot project, and the survey to identify major electronic collections in Australian libraries.

Questions:

  • Where has the group got to on the issue of multiple formats and format integration? (Ms Helen Livingston, Deakin University)

Ms Oxlee - The group has not yet addressed this issue, but will be working on it soon. The initial feeling is that a single record approach is best for most libraries, but not all.

  • Has the group looked at the issue of records for full text versus abstracts yet? (Ms Ebe Kartus, Deakin University)

Ms Oxlee - Not yet, but a question on this issue will be included in the survey.

  • Has there been any resolution or progress on the issues yet? (Ms Sue Clarke, University of Melbourne)

Ms Oxlee - No, not really. Problems have been identified and the group is currently working on them.

  • How will individual libraries holdings be added, updated and deleted? (Ms Joan Moncrieff, Deakin University)

Ms Oxlee - Where the composition of an aggregated service changes, there may be scope to obtain a revised listing from the supplier, but this has not yet been resolved.

  • How difficult is the issue of multiple records for document delivery? (Ms Joan Moncrieff, Deakin University)

Ms Oxlee - The group has not looked at this in any detail yet.

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7.3 Chinese Japanese Korean System (CJK) Users Report - Ms Magdalen Lee (University of Sydney) Presentation
CJK System Users' Report

Ms Magdalen Lee spoke to her presentation and pointed delegates to the agenda paper for more detail. Included in the presentation was:

  • Background information on the Australian National CJK Service (ANCJK);
  • Issues raised by ANCJK users; and
  • Options and recommendations put forward by ANCJK users.

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7.4 Reference and End-User Access Expert Advisory Group Report - Ms Roxanne Missingham (Director - Reader Services, National Library of Australia)
Reference and End-User Access EAG Report

Ms Roxanne Missingham gave a short presentation of the major issues and urged people to read the report provided for more detail.

Ms Missingham outlined the running of a workshop and teleconference which provided a list of recommendations for the development of KineticaWeb. These were put up on the web and generated a deal of interest and discussion and Ms Missingham thanked all those people who provided comments. The simpler interface that has been developed out of this process has been a step forward and has received positive comments from users.

The group feels that providing end user access is in the first stage of implementation, which will progress to the second stage next year. Until the release of the new version of KineticaWeb, the group is in hiatus.

Issues

  • Interface needs to be simple and intuitive;
  • Minimal use of acronyms and jargon;
  • What end users use Kinetica for, what they want to use it for, and how they use it are important to know;
  • Evaluation important ; and
  • Sharing documentation, training manuals, initiatives, etc. between institutions could be beneficial.

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8. Report on end-user trials - Ms Marian Bate (Principal Librarian, University of New South Wales) Presentation
Kinetica end-use at the NLA
End-user survey La Trobe University - Preliminary Report

Ms Marian Bate spoke to her presentation and emphasised the value of providing end-user access to Kinetica.

Benefits include:

  • Unrestricted access to information for end-users;
  • Convenience of being able to search the one database (often researchers have access to more than one library online and physically and being able to search them all in the one place is useful);
  • A large union catalogue is of enormous benefit for subject searches, ("what on this subject is available in Australia, but not in my library"); and
  • Easier access to monographs outside of own library (similar to the provision of online indexed databases of serials).

Ms Roxanne Missingham spoke briefly on the introduction of end-user access to reading rooms of the National Library. Some of the findings of the trial at the NLA have been:

  • A majority of NLA users using Kinetica for subject searches;
  • Little demand for training once set up;
  • Heavily accepted and used as a tool; and
  • Some confusion on the part of users over what they were searching (eg. NBD - National Book Directory, RLIN - Overseas Books, and some people thinking they were searching a database of articles).

Broadly the outcomes/findings of the NLA and other end-user trials inlude:

  • Keep it simple;
  • No jargon; and
  • Output in convenient format for researchers is critical.

Also covered in the presentation were:

  • The results of a CAUL survey on members' provision of end-user access; and
  • A number of issues for libraries which were identified by the group which would be particularly important for remote users that were never seen face to face.

Ms Bate finished by affirming that Kinetica is a tool that can help end-users find the information they want. The question now is what should Kinetica and libraries be doing to provide access to Kinetica for end-users.

Questions:

  • If there are a lot of libraries providing a lot of end-user access to Kinetica, what does this do to NLA costs and libraries costs? (Ms Janet McDonald, State Library of Victoria)

Mr Wells - The Kinetica system has the capacity to handle a far greater load. A site licence or concurrent user agreements would probably be better for libraries providing end-user access, and smaller libraries could consider forming a consortium. The National Library is very open to negotiating flexible arrangements for libraries and consortia.

  • Were there any questions on the NLA survey of end-users about how searching Kinetica compared with Web search engines? (Mr Dale Chatwin, Australian Bureau of Statistics)

Ms Missingham - There were no questions on the survey on this. However further research has indicated that users want simple searching and do not see the distinction between traditional catalogues and `e space'.

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9. Kinetica response time - Mr Andrew Wells
Response time benchmarking

Mr Wells began by acknowledging that response times have been a problem for some users of Kinetica, and that the National Library has been working on it. The National Library believes that the three applications are performing well and is committed to their improvement. One goal is to make the Kinetica Client more Internet friendly in future versions, which should improve response times.

Problems have included software and workflows and the National Library continues to work on this with the software developers and libraries. Changes include reducing mouse clicks, better screen layouts and interfaces (eg. shorter displays) and visiting some libraries to look at their workflows.

There are also issues and problems associated with Kinetica being available on the Internet. Some customers are using Internet Service Providers with limited bandwidth, and response times are consequently suffering. Mr Wells talked about the Kinetica response time benchmarking survey (outlined in the Response time benchmarking paper), and provided a handout outlining some of the findings. There is a wide range in the response times, but a good sign was that many libraries are getting good response times. It was also pleasing to note that some libraries' response times had improved in the transition from version 3.2.1 to 3.2.2 of the Client. Mr Wells thanked those libraries that had taken part in this survey and said that Kinetica would make the script for these tests available if other libraries want to do them.

Mr Wells also informed delegates that Kinetica was investigating relationships with Internet Service Providers about the provision of appropriate Internet access for libraries. Kinetica customers would be kept informed of any developments and Mr Wells assured users that the National Library would test and pilot any arrangements before making them available.

Another problem found with some libraries' response times was with their, or their parent organisation's Local Area Network (LAN). Mr Wells informed delegates that the National Library can recommend a consultant who can diagnose LAN problems.

In conclusion, Mr Wells noted that problems and issues were being identified and solved in partnership with the software developers, libraries and other parties. The National Library takes the issue of response times to Kinetica very seriously and he urged people to call the Helpdesk if they have any problems or queries.

Questions:

  • Why is the response time slow at six in the morning and on weekends? I'm using the Client and am connected through Optus. (Ms Liz Bracher, Bibliotek)

Mr Wells - There should not be a problem at that time and Kinetica staff will need to work on the individual circumstances of this case.

  • Who pays for calls to the Helpdesk, does my library? (Ms Petronella Miyanda Mavunga, Hurstville City Library and Information Services)

Mr Wells - No Kinetica is a 1800 number which means that it is free to callers, the National Library pays for the calls as part of the service offered by Kinetica.

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10. ILRS/ ALG/ VDX redevelopment - Ms Bronwyn Lee (Manager - Kinetica Document Delivery, National Library of Australia) Presentation

Ms Bronwyn Lee outlined the current state of VDX, the software used for KDD. She advised that the system is stable but not yet mature, and the system performance is being constantly monitored. Most of the priorities outlined in the presentation are expected to be possible, with local customisation and mass updating being available in VDX-Web 2, but some will need gradual improvements.

Ms Lee went on to outline the redevelopment of the ILRS Directory and Australian Libraries Gateway and the benefits flowing from this. She urged interested parties to comment on the ILRS prototype available on the National Library's web site at http://www.nla.gov.au/ilrsdemo/ .

Questions:

  • With KDD, will there soon be the ability to back out of status once a request has been sent? (Ms Julie Wilson, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology)

Ms Lee - This is a high priority and Fretwell Dowling has been asked to look at it, but technically it is difficult. We are looking at particular areas that people want to back out of, and trying to develop solutions for those rather than a general back out option. Unfortunately there is unlikely to be a solution in the short term.

  • We still have problems with KDD timeouts, which we sometimes don't bother reporting, we just restart. (Ms Christine Cother, University of South Australia)

Ms Lee - The timeout for KDD should be 30 minutes. This is the type of issue that needs to be investigated on a case by case basis. The NLA has specialists who are able to help in this area.

  • What about the problem of having to fill out the entire form before being told that you have been logged out? (Ms Ann Reynolds, State Library of South Australia)

Mr Mark Corbould (IT Division, NLA) - There should be a way to do this, but currently we are unsure how. Regarding timeouts generally, Mr Corbould encouraged users to report all problems to the Helpdesk so that we can get an idea on the spread and frequency of the problem. At the moment we are unsure if the problem is related to users' local systems, transient Internet and connection problems or whether it is endemic. If the problem is widespread then we can work on it and contact the software developers.

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11. Kinetica system developments - Mr Rob Walls (Director - Database Services Kinetica, National Library of Australia) Presentation

Mr Rob Walls began by stressing that developments to Kinetica Web and the Client were interdependent. Mr Walls mentioned that Kinetica is in constant communication with the software developers. He then spoke to his presentation outlining the priorities and future developments for Kinetica Web and the Client, noting that some of these issues have already begun to be worked on (such as improved accessibility and less mouse clicking).

Questions:

  • Will these developments reduce or stop the need for calling the Helpdesk to unlock records? (Ms Petronella Miyanda Mavunga, Hurstville City Library and Information Services)

Mr Walls - The second to last patch updating the Client to Version 3.2.2 has fixed the problems causing locked records. Locked records should be a fairly infrequent problem now, but if they occur, please contact the Helpdesk.

Mr Steve O'Connor closed day 1 of the meeting at 5.30pm.

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12. Issues presentation by State User Groups - Ms Margaret Waller (Yarra-Melbourne Regional Library Corporation)
Issues from State User Groups

Ms Margaret Waller informed delegates that in early July the Victorian Kinetica Users' Group had asked for issues from users in order to present a coordinated list to the Kinetica AUM. Issues were also collected from other State user groups and individuals outside of Victoria via Kinetica-L. Issues fell into the main groupings of:

Ergonomics
Received the most responses, mostly involved with the number of mouse-clicks.
Connectivity
Most comments regarding response times
Time out problems
Non-support of Batch*Link by software providers
Problems with contributing to RLIN
Authorities and the Australianisation of headings
A general feeling from all States and Territories that they could not rely solely on LC headings
The need for another expert advisory group on authorities
Purpose of Kinetica
Resource sharing and a one-stop shop
Needs regular and timely contributions to remain viable
Decline in the reliability of the NBD does matter and is a really important issue
Kinetica-L
Some support for splitting the list, though just as much for keeping one single list
Perhaps relevant Helpdesk queries could be posted to Kinetica-L
General feeling that the list is not over moderated
Expert Advisory Groups
South Australia feels the current philosophy on expert groups is effective
Metadata and digitisation
NSW asked if Kinetica is going to take a lead on this
Better Web interfaces for end-users
Tailored bibliographies and the ability to see authorities would be useful for reference librarians
KDD issues
Keyword and subject searching would be useful
Integration between KDD and Kinetica Web
Problems with different search results between KDD and Kinetica Web
Charging
NSW would like to see a budget and financial viability statements for Kinetica

The first seven of these were identified by the Victorian group (which are covered in detail, in the agenda paper), while the last three were put forward by other states.

Ms Waller noted that it is heartening to see that the NLA has recognised the importance of some of these issues already and are working on them.

NLA staff responded to some of these issues:

Authorities and the Australianisation of headings
Mr Rob Walls - The Expert Advisory Group on Subject Headings still exists but has not met for a while. A group of Australian headings has been sent through to LC in a batch, and the approach is being taken of continuously sending them through in smaller batches rather than a large set. There are web forms available for proposing headings and the Australianisation of headings is maintained by National Library staff and is up to date.

Metadata and digital resources
Mr Andrew Wells - replied that Kinetica would play a role in metadata and digital resources; he acknowledged that it was important for Kinetica to do so. The National Library is currently working on digital and metadata policies that would help shape the role that Kinetica undertakes.

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13. Cooperative cataloguing issues - Ms Patricia Scott (Adelaide University) Presentation
Cooperative cataloguing in Australia

Ms Scott spoke to her presentation, noting that it was a summary of the paper provided, which people could read for more detail. A major point made in her presentation was that libraries should be talking with software providers and vendors to ensure the development of Batch*Link ability in systems.

Mr Wells responded to some of Ms Scott's points:

  • Kinetica is building the NBD in different ways from ABN (both online and offline);
  • Currently working on the automation of batch loading;
  • An Expert Advisory Group could be formed to investigate this area;
  • Duplicates are a particular problem that the NLA is addressing through manual and automated means;

Questions:

  • If people want authority files on their systems, is it time to revisit the issue of loading authority files? (Mr Hal Cain, Joint Theological Library)

Ms Julia Trainor - Matching problems of authority records not linked to bibliographic records is very problematic, and is not an issue for immediate reconsideration.

  • Ms Joan Moncrieff, (Deakin University), stated that she feels similarly about authority files. She expressed concern that Deakin University are now looking to make their own authority file more useful and are fearful that the Kinetica authority file will deteriorate.
  • Is there any news on ELIAS's thinking on Z39.50 update? (Mr Paul Wilkins, Monash University)

Mr Andrew Wells - this is not an issue elsewhere for other Amicus installations, and so it is a challenge to make the software developers regard this as a priority.

  • Are there any plans for ELIAS to support the USMARC holdings format standard directly in the Kinetica data structure, or is the National Library considering accepting holdings data in the USMARC Holdings format for processing rather than as currently specified in the tag 984. A number of libraries have moved, or are now moving, to Library systems employing the USMARC holdings format and the need to process data to meet the NLA specification is contributing to delays. (Mr Paul Wilkins, Monash University)

Mr Wells - This matter was considered carefully during the implementation. The team recognised that we had a considerable amount of legacy data in tag 984, which operates as a de facto standard for summary level holdings in Australia. While AMICUS supports pure USMARC format for holdings and location data, it was not possible to fit the legacy data into this format. So, the Kinetica implementation customised this part of AMICUS. There have been efforts in the past to standardise holdings data but they have not been successful. The Kinetica team can assist libraries meet the specification.

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14. Small libraries/ consortia - Ms Susan Liepa (Murraylink Libraries Inc.) Presentation

Ms Susan Liepa gave a brief presentation of the history and development of the Murraylink consortium and the benefits for participating libraries and then took questions from the floor. She stressed that smaller libraries can gain a lot through cooperation, particularly in this environment of lower funding levels, and some lack of resources in regional areas. Ms Liepa made the point that without Kinetica, some of the Murraylink libraries could not exist, or would be limited because of the prohibitive costs of original cataloguing. Murraylink has a site licence for Kinetica use.

Questions:

  • Has the introduction of the GST curtailed your operations? (Ms Amanda Biggs, AusAID)

Ms Liepa - Murraylink has registered for GST, and as a not for profit organisation can claim all GST payments back. The Australian Taxation Office advice is that GST does not have to be charged for transactions between members. It has been an administrative headache only.

  • Is there only one Australian Business Number (ABN) required for the consortium? (Ms Amanda Biggs, AusAID)

Ms Liepa - The consortium does have an ABN, but each library also has its own ABN and operates quite independently of the consortium in most matters.

Mr Andrew Wells thanked Ms Liepa for her interesting presentation and praised Murraylink on their innovative approach. He also pointed out that a group of health libraries in Northern Sydney had adopted a consortium approach to Kinetica. The National Library sees such opportunities as a win - win situation and is very open to discussing such options with any interested libraries. Site licences for these types of consortia could also provide affordable end-user access if libraries are interested.

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15. Questions on notice
Response to questions received

It was explained that this year Kinetica staff had separated the questions on notice into those that required some in-depth explanation (following) and those that could be answered more usefully in writing (see Response to questions received). This should allow more time to discuss big issues, rather than focussing on operational issues.

KDD

  • It is recommended that institutions that use KDD and are not members of the payments scheme should become members of the payments scheme. (Submitted by Victorian Kinetica Users' Group Kinetica Interlending and Document Delivery Subcommittee)

Ms Bronwyn Lee – The National Library agrees that it is desirable for all KDD users to become members of the payments scheme, but is unable to make this compulsory. She further commented that it could be a matter of peer pressure, libraries pressuring those who do not use the system to join.

Holdings

  • It is often considered that Kinetica is a comprehensive expression of library holdings in Australia, however there appear to be several major libraries no longer contributing holdings information to Kinetica records. Has the National Library / Kinetica developed strategies to encourage those libraries who currently do not participate in adding holdings to Kinetica records to do so? (Submitted by NSW Resource Sharing Interest Group)

Mr Andrew Wells – Financial incentives have been offered for batchloading. He emphasised the national interest and self interest of getting holdings onto the NBD as it underpinned resource sharing.

  • The importance of standards for bibliographic records has long been recognised, is the National Library / Kinetica considering addressing the need for standards in holding statements given interoperability issues with other systems? (Submitted by NSW Resource Sharing Interest Group)

Mr Wells - The de facto national standard for summary holdings was used in Kinetica and he encouraged libraries to follow it. The migration of data from ABN to Kinetica had to follow the legacy of ABN summary holdings data in tag 984. There have been unsuccessful attempts in the past at adopting MARC standards for holdings statements in the NBD. Kinetica would be interested at this stage in handing this back to interest groups for their advice.

  • Is it possible to have a regular listing of Holdings participant libraries? (Submitted by NSW Resource Sharing Interest Group)

Mr Wells – While it is possible to have a regular listing of holdings participant libraries, the listing would not be exhaustive due to some libraries adding their holdings through Batch*Link. Some discussion followed on why this information was wanted. The feeling was that if a certain library or libraries were not contributing it would be useful for users to know, (for example so that library's OPAC could be investigated). Mr Wells replied that given this need the NLA would need to consult with libraries and examine ways of providing this information.

Music Cataloguing

  • Has Kinetica or the NLA appointed a staff member who has some responsibility for promoting Kinetica music cataloguing issues? (Submitted by LISWA)

Mr Wells introduced Ms Robyn Holmes, the newly appointed NLA Curator of Music to answer this question.

Ms Holmes explained that hers was a new position and role within the library, and she was attempting to work across the library rather than set up a specific music service. She further informed the meeting that work on cataloguing original Australian music was proceeding intensely.

Other issues and projects:

  • Address and take leadership in national infrastructure issues;
  • Define problems with national music and develop strategies for addressing them;
  • Problems with collections of music not being reported onto the NBD;
  • Currently setting up joint International Association of Music Libraries, Australian Branch - Kinetica expert advisory group to address problems:
    - Retrospective cataloguing;
    - Cataloguing sound recordings; and
    - Assisting small libraries to contribute to the NBD.
  • In house group set up, currently developing music guides on searching, cataloguing and adding records and holdings to Kinetica; and
  • Large survey being developed on the state of music collections, cataloguing and pathways in Australia.

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16. Questions without notice

Coverage of the NBD - to NLA and libraries with large holdings of older Australiana

  • Are libraries taking systematic action to add records to the NBD for Australian imprint items which do not now have a record on the NBD?
    Background: There is a continuing problem with retrospective coverage. I regularly find materials for which there are records in Ferguson, for example, but no records on the NBD.

Ms Jan Fullerton - The National Library has a policy of catching up on Australiana cataloguing, particularly Ferguson. Some State libraries however have either not catalogued their collections or have not contributed them to the NBD. She further commented that she had written to libraries that have gaps in the NBD to urge them to contribute their data in order to fill in this gap. She acknowledged that this is an expensive and complex project.

Representatives of some State libraries responded to this issue as well:

Ms Susanne Moir, State Library of New South Wales

  • Has finished converting Dixson from card catalogue to the NBD
  • Plans to convert the Mitchell card catalogue to NBD
  • Has no funds at this stage to be comprehensive, (project costed in the millions of dollars - over 250,000 records), but is identifying the most important parts

Ms Anne Robertson, State Library of Queensland

  • Some Qld Ferguson holdings in the NBD
  • Having problems with new ILMS
  • Getting Queenslandiana on the NBD is the highest priority, but with current funding and number of staff this will be years away yet

Ms Beth Frayne, Library and Information Service of Western Australia

  • JS Battye Library holdings are on the NBD
  • Holdings information for the State Library is not so good, but hopefully batchloading will help with this
  • Like other libraries, time and resources are the problem, not intentions

Ms Barbara Czech, State Library of Victoria

  • Most holdings, including Ferguson are available on the NBD
  • Are funded for and working on adding manuscripts holdings

Ms Ann Reynolds, State Library of South Australia

  • Currently retrospectively converting pre 1998 card catalogues
  • Any holdings that were listed on ABN are also listed in Kinetica
  • Decision not to include archival material on the NBD

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17. Reports from parallel sessions - Ms Helen Livingston (KAC Chairperson and Acting University Librarian, Deakin University) Presentation

Ms Livingston spoke to her detailed presentation outlining the issues raised and discussions of the parallel sessions.

Questions:

  • Dropping Blackwell's TOC data is a complete surprise and disaster for us. It is going backwards, not forwards. (Ms Sue Beatty, Australian Defence Force Academy)

Mr Wells - The decision not to load any more TOC data was primarily a cost savings initiative. Basic records for items in the Blackwell's file are loaded to the NBD from other sources, ensuring that records are available for copy cataloguing.

  • Looking around the people attending the AUM, there are no CEO's and virtually no one who has control over budgets. This means that we need to go back to our organisations and explain what has happened and try and stress to them the importance of more funding. There seems to be too much worrying about mouse clicks and such and not enough understanding of the big issues. We should be encouraging more senior people to come along to the Kinetica AUM, like they did in the past. (Ms Margaret Waller, Yarra-Melbourne Regional Library Corporation)

Ms Livingston - Replied that Ms Jan Fullerton had written to the CEO’s of libraries encouraging them to participate in the annual user meeting.

  • We all know what we want Kinetica to do, the problem is getting the money to do it. (Ms Rosemary Dearman, CAVAL Collaborative Solutions)

Ms Helen Livingston – Acknowledged this statement and suggested that one approach to secure such money is lobbying the government. She further suggested that as voters, Kinetica customers should be pro-active in putting their cause directly to the government as well as lobbying with other sectors to promote the cause.

  • It seems that some people are saying that they want ABN brought back. This seems to be an opportune time to do an analysis (SWOT) of what people really want and whether or not it is possible. There needs to be a process to bring the CEO's back into planning. (Ms Sue Clarke, University of Melbourne)

Ms Helen Livingston – The Kinetica Advisory Committee has developed a business plan with the NLA, which is confidential. She said that the KAC will take on board the suggestion though that CEO's should be brought into this.

  • Referring back to Sue Beattie's comments, I also agree with these. Regarding end-user access, it is good, but we need to ensure that Kinetica remains useable and useful to librarians, for without our support it will not remain viable. We need a powerful searching capability like Supersearch which has not yet been supplied, and more user friendly interfaces. (Ms Wendy Hicks, Department of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet)

Ms Helen Livingston – This suggestion will be taken into consideration. She further went on to comment that enhancements have been made and further search capabilities are being added, but acknowledged that Kinetica needs to ensure that it is providing the services that librarians want as well as moving down the track of end-user access.

  • We've been too nice for too long. We need to think more like a business and make deals with suppliers, sponsors, etc. "We'll buy what you have IF …" (Ms Mardi Cook, University of New England)

Mr Andrew Wells - Acknowledged that this is a good point, but commented that we also need to be careful that such deals reflect the needs of all users.

  • Ms Patricia Scott, (University of Adelaide) made the following observation: At the moment we want some big ticket enhancements. I feel that given this CEO's will not object to extra costs.
  • Ms Joan Moncrieff (Deakin University) made the following observation: We need to keep going forwards and not backwards. Some peoples' comments about going back to ABN are unrealistic, workflows and processes have changed, we can not go back. Removing Blackwell's Table of Contents however is a step backwards not forwards. We should be looking forward, keep changing and attempting to make all the things we've been talking of possible.

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17.1 NLA Response - Mr Andrew Wells

End-user access

  • Developing a simple search interface has not been at the expense of system development for professional use.
  • New search interfaces are being developed for Kinetica Web for both complex and simple searching.
  • We will support any library that wants to provide end user access, not leave you to work it out, as we feel that it is an important development.

Client

  • There seem to be equal numbers of users that are happy with the Client and those that think it is not adequate. We'll keep working on this.

Stakeholder involvement

  • It is obvious from the customer survey that chief librarians' perceptions of Kinetica are very different from the users' perceptions of the service. We will need to work further on this.

Funding

  • This is a particularly difficult area at the moment.
  • It was a big decision to exclude Blackwell's TOC, and it is a high priority to reinstate it if our income increases sufficiently.
  • We will endeavour to do as many enhancements as possible within our budget, particularly through the software developers.

Coverage

  • Inclusion of digital records in the NBD is a major issue that Kinetica particularly wants to encourage.

Back to ABN?

  • We do not want to go back to ABN, it lacked the flexibility that Kinetica has given us. Most of the developments that we have been talking about over the last two days would not have been possible if we still had ABN.

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Closing Comments:

Mr Steve O'Connor

The arguments and suggestions of the last two days have been very compelling, and it is clear that people want to move forwards with Kinetica. It becomes less clear however when we try and work out ways of achieving this. It is heartening though to see that there is definitely a commitment by the National Library to the upkeep and improvement of Kinetica.

Ms Jan Fullerton

The National Library is very committed to Kinetica and its continuous improvement. Thank you for attending and for your suggestions. It has been wonderful to hear the voices of so many users and to listen to the many interesting presentations. Special thanks also to those presenters from outside the National Library and the Chair Mr Steve O'Connor, we really appreciate the time and effort you have put in.

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18. Next year's venue - Mr Steve O'Connor

Mr O'Connor announced that the venue for the 2001 Kinetica Annual Users' Meeting would be the Gold Coast in Queensland.

The meeting closed at 12.00pm.

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