Annual Report FY 2015-2016
Annual Report to the MOBAC Administrative Council
Fiscal Year: 2015-2016
Committee: MOBAC Technology Committee
Committee Member & Chair: Glenn Tozier (MPC) & Kristen Cardoso (MIIS)
Active Committee Members: Kristen Cardoso (MIIS), Stacy DeMatteo (NPS), Chris Ricker (MCFPL), Stephanie Staley (Cabrillo), Deborah Stephens (Hartnell), Glenn Swift Tozier (MPC), Steve Watkins (CSUMB), Stacey Wiens (PGPL)
Date: August 31, 2016
What did your committee accomplish during the last year?
- We held ten meetings throughout the fiscal year, including one that was held entirely virtually with participants connecting through Zoom. One committee chair attended and reported on five MOBAC Administrative Council meetings.
- As a result of the recommendations of the Technology Committee last year, PLP has purchased two Zoom Pro host accounts, replacing the MegaMeeting license held previously. In an effort to offer hands-on training, Kristen gave a Zoom demonstration to the Reference Committee in January 2016 and she has offered to do the same for other committees. The Technology Committee’s February meeting was opened to all committees to join via Zoom, with four members participating on various devices. The June meeting was held virtually on Zoom with no physical meeting place, with several new members joining us. Feedback received from the Reference Committee, the Interlibrary Loan Committee, and the Administrative Council has been positive overall. Basic instructions on using Zoom are available on the MOBAC website: https://www.mobac.org/professional-development/using-zoom-video-conferencing/
- With the upcoming discontinuation of OCLC FirstSearch, the Technology Committee conducted a survey of all MOBAC member libraries regarding their use of the MOBAC Regional Catalog. As a result, the Technology Committee decided not to create a new regional catalog. Not all MOBAC member libraries currently have their holdings in OCLC, not all holdings currently in OCLC are up-to-date, and not everyone will be moving from FirstSearch to WorldShare Discovery. With limited resources to build a new catalog, and low usage of the current catalog, we decided instead to create a page on the MOBAC website where you can find links to all the catalogs of current member libraries, which can be found under the Directory tab on the MOBAC website homepage: https://www.mobac.org/directory/mobac-member-library-catalogs/
- In the past, archived video recordings of MOBAC workshops have been stored on a streaming video server at CSUMB. Since this service is no longer being used by CSUMB, the Technology Committee decided to create a MOBAC YouTube channel as a hosting service. There are two benefits to the new YouTube channel: we will now be able to collect usage statistics on our videos and it is now much easier for the Committees who do the recording to upload their videos directly to YouTube themselves. The two latest workshops are available for viewing on the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu-G7MjbKc7JurjeR87VsAw
- On Friday, May 13th, we held a workshop on Keeping Content Current and Consistent. The program included Stacy DeMatteo and Karen Kerno from NPS on “Web Presence Maintenance,” Glenn Tozier from MPC on “Simple HTML and CSS Fixes to Make Your Resources More Accessible Across Devices,” Kristen Cardoso from MIIS on “Keeping Content Current and Consistent in an Academic Library,” and Douglas Holtzman on “Importing Current Content from Social Media (And Other Places)”, concluding with a panel discussion. The workshop was well attended and can be viewed on both the MOBAC website and the new MOBAC YouTube channel.
- We updated our roster/contact list and welcomed one new committee members: Stacey Wiens (PGPL) joined in June 2016. We are also anticipating new members in the upcoming year from Salinas Public Library and Monterey Public Library. https://mobac.wpengine.com/committees/technology-committee/
What activities, workshops, etc. are you planning for the coming year?
- Based on feedback we received during our last workshop, we are considering holding at least one workshop for the coming year on using Google Analytics, developer’s tools, using social media, or website accessibility testing.
Are there any obstacles/issues/challenges you wish to convey?
- Our biggest issue concerns membership on the Technology Committee and attendance at our monthly meetings. Some libraries are still not sending members, and public libraries in particular are not well-represented although we are hoping this will change next fiscal year. These include Santa Cruz Public Libraries, San Benito Public Library, Watsonville Public Library, and UC Santa Cruz Library.