LRA District V Meeting

11/2/07

Gaston Technical College

 

Present: Allen Mosteller (Cleveland CC), Grant LeFoe (SPCC), Karen MacMurray (SPCC), Libby Stone (Gaston), Calvin Craig (Gaston), Dr. Harry Cooke (Gaston), Sharon Day-Lowe (Gaston), Bonita King (Gaston), Sharon Faulkner (Montgomery CC), Amy Burns (CPCC), Gena Craig (CPCC), Kimberly Balcos (CPCC), Doug Short (CPCC), Susan Vaughan (Isothermal), Becky Cleland (Isothermal).

 

The meeting opened with a vendor demonstration by Jack Mitchell of Indigo Logic.  Jack highlighted a suite of Humanware products that are all geared toward magnifying smaller sized print literature for the visually impaired.

 

President Allen Mosteller called the meeting to order.

 

Old Business: none

 

New Business:

 

  1. Dr. Harry Cooke welcomed all attendees, gave a brief summary of statistics from the recent NCLA conference (i.e. number in attendance), and introduced guest speaker Vernon Shoaf.
  2. Vernon Shoaf, Manager of the BioNewtwork BioEd Center at Gaston College gave a rundown of the rise of biotechnology research facilities in NC, the types of biotechnology (industry, agriculture, healthcare, marine biology) and the schools with biotechnology programs in NC.
  3. Dr. Cooke gave the group some insights on changes in SACS requirements.  A big change is that schools are expected to have a password protected document server, where all SACS documents are made available online.  He also spoke about a Quality Enhancement Plan – a 5 year plan for what the college plans to accomplish during that time period.  Some of the library-specific issues related to SACS accreditation involve having qualified staff to cover all hours and supporting distance learning through things such as having a good website, and a presence on Blackboard.
  4. Allen Mosteller presented an idea for a possible workshop at the next District V meeting in April.  The idea is to talk about e-Audiobooks and how to upload them to portable audio players.  Allen planned on bringing a few devices to the workshop, and giving the attendees the opportunity to play around with them.  He was looking for collaborators from the District V group.

 

There was a conversation amongst the group about the dates of the previous to NCCCLRA conferences.  Consensus among the group was that the conference should be moved back to July, mostly because it is easier to get away from work and attend.  Allen Mosteller said that he would pass along the District’s opinion to the NCCCLRA officers. 

 

Sharon Faulkner spoke about her recent experiences with a program called “The Big Read,” sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. 

 

Amy Burns spoke about her recent outreach project at CPCC, trying to bring reference services to students outside of the library

 

Grant LeFoe inquired how others liked the new NC LIVE multisearch functions.  Feedback was generally pretty negative.  The group agreed that EZ and Advanced Search were not very user-friendly.

 

The meeting was adjourned and the group had lunch at the Surf and Turf Lodge in Bessemer City.

 

 

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Grant LeFoe

District V Secretary