PALS Plus Information Management Committee

March 2, 2017

Clifton Public Library

CALL TO ORDER

The PALS Plus Information Management Committee was called to order at 2:13 PM by Committee Chair, Michael Drazek.

ATTENDANCE

In attendance was Michael Drazek. Precious Mack, Anne Schapiro, Mary Wilson, and Luca Manna (PALS Plus liaison).

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

There were no previous meeting minutes to approve.

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business to discuss.

NEW BUSINESS

For the inaugural meeting of the PALS Plus Information Management Committee, Mr. Drazek, chair of the committee, welcomed the group and presented the 2017 committee charges and objectives as set by the PALS Plus Executive Board.

The committee discussed the necessity and importance of having a centralized resource for information management and concluded that such a resource would be of tremendous benefit to new members and staff, and as a means of maintaining institutional memory and information.

Mr. Drazek recapped on the findings of the PALS Plus Technology Plan Committee that corresponded with the Wiki, information management in general, and how the demand for managing information was being met.

Mr. Drazek presented examples of how neighboring consortia are managing their institutional knowledge.  Specific mention was made on the ‘openness’ of those systems in that most information was easily accessible without requiring log ins.  Discussion ensued about the benefits and pitfalls of having an open or closed system.  Mr. Drazek asked that committee members investigate how other systems manage information and the tools (software, website, wiki, etc.) they use to serve their needs.

A discussion was held on the need to assess the membership (as many staff members as possible) of their experience and opinions of the current wiki (design, structure, effectiveness, etc.) to serve as a need assessment and to gain a better understanding of how the PALS Plus wiki is currently being used.  The committee decided that the ideal approach would be iterative, that is, the first would be a brief survey and subsequent surveys would build upon the results of the previous.  Mr. Manna volunteered to create the survey using Google Forms and to distribute the draft to the committee members for modifications and approval.

Finally, the committee set meeting dates through July as follows:

ADJOURNMENT              

The meeting ended at 3:45 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Luca Manna