Date:
Sat, 12 Apr 2003 17:23:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: John F Helmer
<jhelmer@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Reply-To:
orca-announce@lists.uoregon.edu
To: ORCA Announcement List
<orca-announce@lists.uoregon.edu>
Subject: orca-announce: ORCA Update
Forwarded on behalf of Patty Cutright
& Ginny Steel.
--jfh
===============================================================
Orbis Cascade Alliance,
Last week we held the first directors
meeting of the Orbis Cascade
Alliance. The ORCA Council Meeting was a great event and we send our thanks
to everyone who has worked to make this merger a success.
In brief, here are a few highlights
that we thought you would like to know
about as soon as possible:
Logo!
-----
The ORCA Council selected a new
logo. Have a look at the logo as well
as
a picture of the two of us placing our
ceremonial final votes on the
successful design:
http://oldlib.uoregon.edu/orca/
http://oldlib.uoregon.edu/orca/council/logo_vote.jpg
Name
----
Council also approved the various names
we'll be using
Organization: Orbis Cascade Alliance
Short form of organization name: ORCA
Catalog: Orca
We are thinking in terms of the
consortium beginning as of last week but
Web updates etc. will happen over a period
of time so don't be surprised
to see "Cascade" and
"Orbis" used here and there for some time to come.
Legalities
----------
The Council approved Bylaws and
discussed a draft Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU). The MOU is a legal description of the consortium
signed by each member institution while
the Bylaws record more detail
about how the consortium works. The ORCA Bylaws adopted by Council are
essentially identical to those used by
Orbis. Bylaws are relatively easy
for Council to change and we expect to
update this document as needed over
the next year.
Catalog
----------
Council unanimously approved the
recommendations of the Catalog Design
Task Force and Staff Team. These documents can be found at
http://oldlib.uoregon.edu/orca/CDTFreport/CDTFreportindex.htm
http://oldlib.uoregon.edu/orca/cat_and_circ_recs_to_council-03jan.htm
We would like to extend our great
thanks to both groups for these
excellent recommendations. Although much remains to be done, catalog
merger is on track and the fully
functional Orca catalog and borrowing
system is expected to be available in
time for fall term. Over the next
couple of weeks our graphic artist will
help fit the logo in to a new
catalog interface.
Committees
----------
Orbis and Cascade have each relied on a
variety of very successful
committees and we expect committee work
to be an important part of the
new consortium. Council is taking this opportunity to think
through
committee structure and has appointed a
task force made up of Council
members and people with Orbis or
Cascade committee experience. The task
force charge and membership can be
found at
http://oldlib.uoregon.edu/orbis/TFC-charge.html
Summer Meeting
--------------
Orbis has a long tradition of holding an
annual membership gathering
called the "Summer
Meeting." This has been a time to
meet colleagues,
hold committee meetings, conduct
training sessions, participate in general
sessions, and enjoy a barbecue lunch
together. Although ORCA may elect to
do something similar in the future,
this year we will not have a Summer
Meeting. Because committees are yet to be formed and much attention must
be focused on catalog merger, it seems
a bit early to have people travel
from all over the region to attend a
general membership meeting.
In place of this meeting and at a
somewhat later date, we will plan a
focused gathering for member library
staff involved in Orca Borrowing.
We hope that many staff who work with
INN-Reach can get together to meet
each other, compare notes, and discuss
the new system.
Budget & Staffing
-----------------
Council approved the first ORCA budget,
beginning July 2003. Included in
this budget is funding for two new
consortium positions. One position
will be largely focused on supporting
the INN-Reach system, courier
service, and technical work needed to
add new members. The second will be
an Electronic Resources Program
Manager, a person to help coordinate and
manage database and ejournal
purchasing. Both positions should be
advertised by late summer.
Membership & Governance
----------
Finally, we should mention that Council
spent some time discussing ideas
concerning consortium governance and
membership interest expressed by a
number of institutions. Council formed a "Transitional
Executive
Committee" that will sort through
these topics over the next year.
Members of this committee are Deb
Carver (UO), Merrill Johnson (George
Fox Univ.), Patty Cutright (EOU), Pat
Kelley (EWU), and Betsy Wilson (UW).
In short, merger priorities start with
the consortium and union catalog
but will be followed shortly by
committee structure, electronic resources,
the Regional Library Services Center,
and the other important work of the
Orbis Cascade Alliance.
The creation of ORCA is a big and
historic project. This is a
tremendously worthwhile venture and we
appreciate your patience as the
pieces come together.
Please feel free to contact us, your
library director, or any ORCA staff
member if any questions should arise.
Thank you.
Patty Cutright, ORCA Chair
Ginny Steel, ICCL Chair