PLNRC Meeting
28 November 2012
File 31933
State Library of New South Wales
Public Library Network Research Committee Meeting
Draft minutes
28 November 2012
Coles Room
1. Present
Adele Casey, (Director, Community and Development Services, Bland Shire); State
Library of NSW; Linda Horswell, (Manager, Mosman Library), Jill Webb, (Manager,
Ryde Library Services), Cameron Morley, (Manager, Funding and Advisory Services,
Public Library Services, State Library of NSW), Leanne Perry (Consultant, Public
Library Services, State Library of NSW (Minutes)
Apologies
Frances Sims (Director, Public Library and Learning Services)
Alex Mills (Manager, Singleton Public Library)
Paul Scully (Manager, Liverpool City Library)
Jo Carmody (Manager, Richmond Tweed Regional Library)
1.
Minutes of the last meeting
The minutes of the meeting of 13 June 2012 were
confirmed and adopted.
Business arising
A letter was sent to all councils emphasising the
importance of collecting data on use and demand for
electronic services.
The 2012 edition of Living Learning Libraries has been
published and includes a new preliminary standard on
measuring digital library use.
2.
RFID Cost Benefit Analysis
Richard Buller and Ben Petschel from Huegin Consulting
attended the meeting and presented on the progress of
the Cost Benefit Analysis of RFID.
The presentation (attached) outlined the process for the
cost benefit analysis and the key outcomes of phase one,
the information gathering phase of the project:
 A business case framework has been used to
identify the problem to be solved by RFID
investment and the associated, risks, costs and
benefits.
 The key results of the survey undertaken with 7
libraries varied in size and service model, at
different stages in the RFID investment cycle
 The results of the benefits options by size of the
library
Public Library Network Research Committee
Action
PLNRC Meeting
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

The quantification of non financial benefits
A tool for identifying the cost of each stage in the Huegin
RFID cycle will be developed.
Issues identified during phase 12 of the project included:
 The need for clarification on the use of the term Huegin
‘regional’ libraries in the report
 The full life cycle costs of RFID are still largely
unknown
 The need for a minimum standard for transactions
needs to be specified at the tender stage of the
process
 System performance criteria needs to be
established. eg. Standards on performance on
inventory checks
 Savings on staff resources is highly dependent on
the take up level of self check. Generally the staff
to loan ratio was maintained after RFID
implementation however extra services were
offered.
All
 Any feedback on the quantification of non financial
benefits should be forwarded to Leanne
It was agreed that any further information required on the
use of RFID in libraries could be gathered via a survey
across the network. Huegin to advise.
4.
Huegin
Phase 1 closes understanding the context and information
gathering phase of the project. The next steps for the
project will be:
 Analyse and model the costs and benefits –draft
report 12 December 2012
 Definition of recommendations for tracking benefits
(KPIs)
 Development and delivery of the report - 17
January 2013
Leanne
Perry
The draft report will be circulated to all members for
feedback
Datavisualisation project update
Cameron tabled an update on the datavisualisation
project and demonstrated two prototypes- the Manly
Images and Trove Mosaic which draws from images
currently hosted on Trove.
The datavisualisation prototypes use open source
software and the code will be made available so that
libraries can access and modify it for use with their own
collections.
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PLNRC Meeting
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5.
Local History collections and services : a shared
strategy
Leanne tabled an outline for a proposed project to
develop:
 a shared understanding local history collections
and practices across the public library network
 best practice guidelines for the collection
development, management, provision of access
and services around NSW public library local
history collections
 a shared statewide local history strategy for NSW
public libraries and the State Library of NSW
The committee suggested that the project
 explicitly state the inclusion of born digital material
 include the use of social media tools relevant to
local history
 provide exemplars of best practice
 the Local History group is used as a key reference
point for feedback on the needs audit survey tool
and report
The Committee recommended the project is auspiced by
the PLNRC. The project brief will go to PLCC with a Cameron
Morley
recommendation for endorsement.
6.
Value of Public Libraries study
A draft copy of the Value of Public Libraries study was
circulated to committee members. This report builds on
the 2008 Enriching Communities report however changes
in methodology mean the value figures identified are
significantly different from those presented in the
Enriching Communities report.
Feedback on the report, the most important parts of the
report and mechanisms for presenting the results, should All
be provided to Cameron by 24 December.
7.
Submissions to the PLNRC
A submission from PLNSW examining the career paths of
librarians in the network was received. It was agreed that
this would be more appropriate at a national level and
should be referred to ALIA for consideration.
A proposal to develop best practice guidelines for genre
arrangement of collections was also tabled for discussion.
The committee agreed that varying contexts in library size
and layout, community demand and a lack of evidence
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Leanne
Perry
PLNRC Meeting
28 November 2012
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base would make the development of best practice
guidelines difficult. However the committee agreed that
some examples of libraries currently using genre
collection arrangement, photographs, issues to consider
and examples of subject combinations would be a useful
tool for the network.
Leanne to discuss with the Readers Advisory and RISG
working groups
8.
Leanne
Perry
2013 meetings
2013 meetings will be held on Wednesdays from 1-3pm. Leanne
Proposed dates for the four meetings to be held across Perry
the year will be circulated to members.
Public Library Network Research Committee