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Minutes of the Oct. 26, 2005 TERMinators meeting

Present: Nastia Guimaraes, Ben Heet, Tom Lehman, Chris Poehlmann, Kathie Ryan- Zeugner, Linda Sharp, Marina Smyth

Tom posted the agenda:

  • Define "Help" and "Services"
  • Classify resources under "Getting Help"
  • Next steps

Tom provided draft definitions of the terms for discussion:

Help
resources that provide answers to patrons' questions
Services
resources that furnish or supply patrons with something needed or desired

The group immediately ran into a problem with defining and separating "Help" and "Services." Reference was thought of as both service and help. ILL was considered a service. Some thought service involved human interaction while help could be an online FAQ or other information that was ready made. It was also pointed out that librarians and patrons view services and help differently. Service was thought of as providing a solution to a unique question or problem while help relied upon fixed answers from a web page or reference resource, etc. Service was more customized and personal.

The group had submitted the resources in the "Getting Help" column assigning each to either Help or Services. It was obvious we were having problems when only two items were assigned unanimously - Start my Research, and How do I.

We questioned what we were trying to accomplish. What do we want to be able to push out to the Campus Portal? What will people want on their customized web page? Nastia suggested a user study, but since the portal doesn't exist yet it would be difficult. Tom will find links to user studies already done. http://dewey.library.nd.edu/projects/focusgroup/

Assignment for the next meeting (copied from Tom's email):

  • Compile your list of 10 resources from the categories "Getting Help," "Library Services," and "Inside ND Libraries." Use the _More_ pages as well as what's listed on the main page.
  • Send your list to the TERMinators list by Friday Nov. 4
  • Don't include terms for the resources on your list. I'll combine the separate lists into a single list and we'll assign terms as a group

The next meeting will be Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 3:30 p.m. in 222a.

Respectfully submitted
Kathie Ryan-Zeugner