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Home > About InfoNet > Board > Meetings > Oct 11, 2006

Maine InfoNet Board Meetings, October 11, 2006

Agenda

October 11, 2006 1:30pm
Maine InfoNet Board of Director’s Meeting
Bangor Public Library Board Room, Maine State Library via ATM link

  1. Approval of Minutes from August Board meeting
  2. Organizational Issues
    • Edit and approve By-Laws
    • Appointment of Finance Committee?
    • Creation of Committee as suggested by By-Laws
    • School Library representation
  3. Strategic Planning
    • Review of outcomes from September 11 Planning Meeting
    • Amendments and Edits to a 2006-07 Plan
    • Implementation Strategy
  4. Concept of “membership” in MIN
  5. Communication with all libraries in state on status of MIN from Board
  6. MIN Updates
    • Status of search for position
    • Technology Issues

Minutes

Members Present in Bangor:
Judy Frost, CMCC; John McManus, Director Millinocket Public Library; David Nutty – Director of Libraries at USM (CHAIR); Sue Jagels, Eastern Maine Medical Center Health Science Library Director; Clem Guthro, Director Miller Library, Colby College; Joyce Rumery, Dean of Libraries at UM;Karl Beiser, Infonet CEO;
Member present in Augusta:
Gary Nichols, Maine State Librarian
Also Present in Augusta until 2:30; Linda Lord (non member – recording secretary)
Members absent:
Steve Podgajny Director, Portland Public Library; Barbara McDade, Director, Bangor Public Library; Richard Thompson, CIO for the State of Maine; Ralph Caruso, CIO UMS IT.

1. Minutes of Sept. 18, 2006  meeting were approved as submitted.

2. BYLAWS

Comments and reactions:
Judy – Purpose, Article 2 – needs a (2) after UMS
Clem – Bullets represent a statement of purpose but does the first paragraph?
Karl – There is no other place in the bylaws to assert affiliations
Information in this paragraph needs to be somewhere.  What should we call it – affiliations, sponsoring agencies? 

  1. Are these bylaws of Maine InfoNet or of the Maine InfoNet Board?
  2. Gary and Joyce responded that these are bylaws for the Board and that the word Board will be inserted in the title.  References to membership will be changed to Board membership.  Need consistency in terms.
  3. Karl asked about school library representation on the Board.  Following discussion, the Board decided by consensus to add a school library representative.   Chairman Nutty wrapped up the discussion by stating that the Board should err on the side of inclusion.  Another “at large” position will be created for the school representative. (Current at large positions are for public, academic, and special libraries.  Judy wants to be sure other groups are represented on the Board including academic libraries outside of UM and Colby, Bates and Bowdoin.)
  4. Chairman Nutty mentioned that there are eight committees for a twelve member Board.
  5. Clem suggested that the description of the Public and Legislative Relations Committee include the phrase “and develop legislative strategies”.
  6. Program-Related Committees – Resource Sharing – grammatical change regarding colon noted.
  7. People can be on committees who aren’t on the Board with the exception of the governance committee.  The Board needs a mechanism for appointing committee members.  Should this be the chair’s responsibility?  How many members should each committee have? Response 8-10 or 8-12.  Phrase “generally not to exceed 12” will be added to the Committee section of the bylaws.  “If a member can not attend meetings…, s/he may have a designated substitute authorized with a proxy vote.” 
  8. Section 5 – the Executive Director shall provide for the recording of the minutes.
  9. Section 3: Need a minimum of seven voting Board members for a quorum.

Karl and David will revise the bylaws as recommended and present a second draft  for approval at the next Board meeting on Nov. 6, 2006.  Linda Lord was asked to provide the Chair with contact information for the Maine Association of School Libraries President so that she might be contacted about a Board representative before the next meeting.

10. The Chair pointed out that the Board needs a finance committee chair and vice chair.  Judy Frost nominated John McManus for Vice Chair of the Board and member of the Executive Committee and Joyce Rumery nominated Clem Guthro.
Judy Frost nominated Sue Jagels for Finance Committee Chair and member of the Executive Board, and Gary Nichols nominated Dick Thompson   The entire board will vote by email before the November meeting.  

3.  STRATEGIC PLANNING RETREAT

The Chair asked if the emails from Arnold reflect the Board’s memory of the day?  Gary commented that it was an excellent overview.
Judy pointed out that “patron card” and solar were mixed up under Universal access and might need clarifying.
John added that the Board has to prioritize the recommendations and focus on addressing major weaknesses.  We need to focus on funding and marketing.  Karl pointed out that this is done on the first page of the report. .
David praised Arnold Hirshon for doing a nice job of making an overwhelming quantity of raw notes covering the planning retreat digestible.
Discussion ensued.  Clem and Judy pointed out the importance of the role of human beings, library reference staff in particular, in adding value to the provision of information resources.
The “Role” of Maine Info Net, as set forth in Arnold’s Summary of Program Directions was thought incomplete.  On suggested rephrasing: The role of Maine Info Net is to lead the Maine library community in provision of high quality digital information services to Maine citizens.”  David and Karl were to refine or reword this for consideration at the next meeting.
Google and other readily available, no-cost options should be investigated and taken advantage of in development of multiple pilots, as discussed in the planning session report.  Simplification and enhancement of search, including the exploration of federated search, all as part of a universal portal, is definitely a direction to pursue.
The means by which SOLAR might be used to authenticate patrons in support of universal walk-in borrowing was discussed.  Policy issues will have to be enumerated and dealt with, and could be more involved that the mechanics.
Marvel was discussed.  A survey to determine library community preferences should be undertaken, but should focus on what we would do with increased funding rather than reshuffling among the titles that are currently heavily used.  The task of developing this process should be given to a committee.
As for digitization, the first step is a comprehensive survey to identify content.
The suggestion for developing a “Wikipedia of Maine” was briefly discussed. David suggested that Jonathan Williams be consulted for his perspective on this.
Whether and when to begin charging a Maine Info Net membership fee was discussed.  Any such fee should be “reasonable”. It was suggested that sometimes monetary contribution, even at a low level, encourages appreciation of a service.  Minerva is doing a survey of its membership to determine what it could bear in terms of increased Minerva fees.  The result may cast some light on an Info Net fee.  It was noted that there should be great clarity as to what a library gets for its money.
Gary suggested that some R&D is needed.  Cost for it could come from the relatively small amount of money a membership fee would generate.  Karl recommended that any fee be mentioned early and imposed late.

Submitted by
Linda Lord
Recording Secretary
(With additions by Karl Beiser)