Bonnie Klein, FAC Secretary Date: July 3, 1997 Re: Minutes of the FEDLINK FAC Meeting June 19, 1997 FAC Present FLICC/FEDLINK Churchville Susan Tarr, FLICC Executive Director Grimes Milton MeGee, Network Coordinator Klein Joseph Banks, Fiscal Operations Rettenmaier Robin Hatziyannis, Editor Wright Lomax FAC Absent Porter Updegrove Whitmore AGENDA 1. Approval of the May 15, 1997 FAC Meeting Minutes 2. FAC Issues and Topics 3. FLICC Update 4. FEDLINK Network Operations 5. FEDLINK Fiscal Operations 6. Committee Reports 7. New Business Fred Rettenmaier, FAC Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 9:15 a.m. 1. Minutes. The May 15, 1997, FAC Meeting Minutes were accepted without correction. 2. FAC Issues and Topics. Fred Rettenmaier deferred to Susan Tarr. 3. FLICC Update. Abacus Study. Susan Tarr announced that FEDLINK staff were in the process of reviewing the Cost Benefits Analysis completed by Abacus. She asked the FAC to review "Appendix A, Typical Agency Cost Matrix" and to confirm or challenge the assumptions used for agency costs. Tarr clarified that "Technical Hrs" ,the first column under "Agency Hours Spent on One Procurement without FEDLINK," referred to the work the librarian and library administrator did for procurement requirements analysis. The matrix seeks to break-out who touches the procurement, how much time they spend and the steps involved. The basis of the contracts and accounting assumptions came from a NASA study. Tarr noted the Abacus study does not distinguish between contract and material types. Fred Rettenmaier suggested it would be helpful to have that information, specifically for serials, and also useful to differentiate between type of library, the assumption being serials for general libraries are less difficult and costly to procure than those for technical or academic libraries. The FAC also recommended adding an additional "Estimated Remaining Hours" column for Direct Pay comparison; the existing column gives the difference for Transfer Pay. Tarr promised to share the full report at the next meeting. Fred Rettenmaier suggested a future add-on study to determine agency savings in addition to labor hours for such factors as product and vendor evaluations and negotiated discounts. Business Plan. Discussion turned to Chapters Five and Six of the Abacus-developed FEDLINK Business Plan. FEDLINK needs to convert the recommendations into action plans. Tarr asked the FAC to provide their opinions on what needs to happen and in what priority. Referencing Chapter Six, Tarr said the membership did not agree with the phrase "to sustain FLICC" in FEDLINK's mission statement. The FEB will restate and refine the mission statement at their July meeting. In their review of the eight goals outlined in Chapter Six, the FAC commented that: (1) FEDLINK's training role is not emphasized, but subsumed in Goal Four, and (2) Goal Three, "Focus FEDLINK product and service offerings" begs the question whether FEDLINK has an obligation to serve all Federal libraries or a narrowly-defined customer base. The FAC discussed surveying all federal libraries about the types of services and products they procure. Tarr noted that the data collected in the 1994 federal library survey and the Oryx Press Directory could be combined to derive a fairly accurate contact list. Doria Grimes suggested that FEDLINK begin by looking at current user accounts to determine how many members were using what services. There was discussion about whether all federal libraries know about FEDLINK services. The FAC consensus was "no." Denise Lomax remarked that the FEDLINK message to the broad federal community needs to be short and clear. Tarr said this is a goal of the FEDLINK marketing plan. The message should be that FEDLINK adds value and saves money in a changing environment. Klein also suggested educating or reminding the federal library community about the history and evolution of FEDLINK as a cooperative service for the benefit of the collective. End-of-Year Surplus. Tarr announced that FEDLINK projected a substantial end-of-year surplus. Conservative budgeting, 1-year appropriation authority, and end-of-year member deposits all contribute to the surplus. The FLICC Budget and Finance Working Group recommended spending the surplus for FEDLINK operations rather than returning funds to members. Their reasoning was the surplus is distributed too late in the fiscal year for members to spend. Tarr proposed applying surplus rebates to the 8% administrative fee for no-year or multi-year money accounts because carry-overs pay twice on their deposits. Grimes suggested perhaps a 50%-50% split between spending the surplus on FEDLINK operations and rebates to members. Rettenmaier stated that the surplus should be spent on items that benefit FEDLINK efficiency, thereby benefiting all members. 4. FEDLINK Network Operations. Relevant to spending the end-of-year surplus, Milton MeGee presented two FLICC projects for possible funding: (1) Annotated Model Statement of Work for Digitizing Materials and (2) Collection Assessment for FLICC Libraries. The FAC felt that FEDLINK operations upgrades were a higher priority. MeGee reported that in May, Steve Kirchoff had conducted eleven FEDLINK training classes for eighty-two Air Force students in Guam and Korea. FEDLINK also exhibited at the Special Libraries Association Conference in Seattle and conducted training classes in Alaska for the Air Force.. The FLICC/FEDLINK homepage now has links to training websites and offers the FLICC/FEDLINK Education Survey. 5. FEDLINK Fiscal Operations. Joe Banks presented the May and June 1977 FEDLINK Fiscal Operations report. He projected that in 1997 FEDLINK will handle $200,000 to $300,000 more than in 1996. He also reported the FY92 reconcilation letters were ready to be sent, finalizing refunds and closing the books. 6. Committee Reports. Rettenmaier reported on the upcoming Technician Training to be held in August. 7. New Business. Robin Hatziyannis discussed her project to promote FEDLINK and federal libraries within the FLICC community and to the general public. She asked the FAC to provide her examples of and ideas for broad based promotion efforts that would be of benefit and of use within their agencies. Janet Wright suggested that we need to refute the perception that everything is available on the Internet and, therefore, libraries are redundant. There was also discussion on where best to advertise to reach agency decision-makers. The FAC mentioned Federal Computer Week, Harvard Business Review, Federal Government Manager and Government Executive. Other suggestions included preparing a White Paper for distribution to professional associations and creating Internet infomercials for placement on relevant websites. The promotion project is a subset of plans for the Year 2000 Library of Congress Bicentennial Celebration. The Library of Congress sees it as an opportunity to promote all American libraries, to laud library contributions to the communities served and to the nation. Laurie Stackpole, Naval Research Library, represented federal libraries at the Celebration Forum held at the American Library Association conference. The meeting adjourned at 12:15 pm. The next meeting is scheduled for July 10, 1997 at FEDLINK. The FAC will not meet in August.