Skip Maine state header navigation

Agencies | Online Services | Help

Skip First Level Navigation | Skip All Navigation

Home > About InfoNet > Board > Meetings >Jan. 23, 2008

Maine InfoNet Board Minutes, Jan. 23, 2008

Maine InfoNet Board Meeting
Jan. 23, 2008
Maine State Library Conference Room
1:30 – 3:30 p.m.

Attendance

Members Present:  Steve Podgajny, Director, Portland Public Library; Richard Boulet, Director, Blue Hill Public Library; Barbara McDade, Interim InfoNet CEO and Director, Bangor Public Library; Sue Jagels, Director Eastern Maine Medical Center Health Science Library; Elizabeth Reisz, Library Supervisor, York School Department; Joyce Rumery, Dean of Libraries at UM; David Nutty, Director of Libraries at USM; Clem Guthro, Director Miller Library, Colby College; Judy Frost, CMCC; Gary Nichols, Maine State Librarian; Linda Lord (non member – recording secretary).

InfoNet staff present: Deborah Hensler, Marilyn Lutz, Jonathan Williams, Timothy Pellet.

Members Absent: Ralph Caruso, CIO University of Maine System; Richard Thompson, CIO for State of Maine.

Visitor: Dawna Leavitt, Maine State Library

  1. Approve minutes of December Meeting:  The minutes were approved as amended.
  2. Meet with Maine InfoNet staff
    1. Update on CEO Search – Joyce Rumery reported that the position of CEO was offered to two candidates (one at a time) but not accepted.  The “deal breaker” was “spousal hire”.  Response to salary being offered was positive.  The Board spent weeks in negotiation with the two top candidates.  This plus the holiday season is why the search took so long.  Both candidates were enthusiastic about the position, the staff, and the InfoNet vision. The search is being extended.  Joyce is placing ads.  March 3 is the first review date. David Nutty is considering “what ifs” if this temporary condition continues.  The position will now be advertized as “Executive Director”.  This term fits better than CEO which is more a business related term.  Steve P and Gary N referred to InfoNet as a cooperative program of UMS and MSL. 
    2. Conversation with Staff on questions or other issues –
      1. Jonathan W responded that the search itself was as good as it could be. The process was open and allowed all staff to talk to candidates.  He suggested that in the future the InfoNet staff should be in one place at one time rather than meeting the candidates on two days with only part of the staff present each day. Marilyn L commented that the staff-candidates meeting dates should be published a.s.a.p. and that 1 ½ hours to meet with the candidates was just about right.  She reminded the Board to work interviews around the IUG conference in late April. She agreed that candidates need to give a formal presentation (15 minutes).  Rich B recommended consolidating interviews to 1 ½ days.  Barbara M shared that meeting the candidates for dinner in Portland and then having meetings and dinners in Augusta and Bangor gives the candidates a sense of the size of the state.  Deb H suggested posting the position ad on the IUG list.  Marilyn L asked about location plans for the InfoNet staff.  Joyce R replied that she had not heard from the CFO at UM.  Marilyn asked about a budget and followed-up with, “How can we grow without a budget?”  Joyce replied that the Chancellor had mentioned it. The budget formula was based on reality in the UM Strategic Plan.  Because of the current state budget situation, Joyce does not envision increased funding coming to any of the University System sites.  David N said that funding sources mentioned by CEO candidates were: grants, a membership fee structure, and legislative strategies.  Judy F, “We are stable but flat; that didn’t scare off any candidates.”
      2. Open Source was discussed along with the need for a programmer if InfoNet moves in that direction in the future.
      3. David Nutty asked the staff what the Board can do for them. Marilyn L asked for the web site to be pared down to vision, mission, goals and objectives.  She has received a Scope of Purpose from a marketer and will forward this to David.
      4. Jonathan asked for a greater level of transparency.  Need to be more informed about Board goals, priorities etc.
      5. Gary N asked if the web site could be improved immediately. The answer was “yes” but can’t link InfoNet and MARVEL.  Need a branding to link the components.
      6. Another view offered is that “What InfoNet is is fuzzy.”  Providing a definition in the short term would help with the Administrative Director search.
        The four main components of InfoNet are: (1) ILS, (2) MARVEL, (3) Union Catalog, and (4) Digital Library.
      7. David would like to know the staff’s perception of the InfoNet vision, mission, goals and objectives.  Marilyn replied that the staff would like to work on this.
  3. Presentation by Marilyn Lutz - Marilyn went though a PowerPoint presentation entitled, “Building a Cultural Heritage Collaboration: Registry of Maine Digital Collections”.  There is an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Digitization grant (due March 18, 2008) that might fund this. Marilyn explained that in a depository metadata and digital content are in one place.  In a registry metadata goes to the item level.  Marilyn answered many question about potential registry contents.  The Board concluded that much more work needs to be done to get all potential participants to agree to take part. To get vision planted and trust built up will take longer than the six weeks between now and March 18.  Marilyn agreed to pull together key players such as the Maine State Archives, the Maine State Library, Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby.
  4. The Budget Report – A pithy report was given stating that InfoNet is still in the black.
  5. CEO Report - Barbara M presented a written report and said that the Minerva Executive Board would approve the Minerva By-Law changes at its Feb. Meeting for vote by the Membership in March.
  6. Discussion of Solar Summit -  Passed over
  7. Board Priorities for next six months – (1) Hire Executive Director; (2) blend silo-ed organizations (e.g. MINERVA, MARVEL), (3) meet with staff every other month (4) achieve a joint understanding of InfoNet’s vision, mission, goals and objectives.
  8. Board Retreat – Need to allocate 4-5 hours – The Board’s mission and vision statements need to be reviewed and reacted to by Board and staff.  The Board agreed to accept Clem’s offer to hold the retreat at Colby’s Miller Library on March 26.
  9. Other business – Search process – Committee of the Board as a whole will serve as the search committee.  Joyce, Clem, David, Judy and Barbara will be at all meetings. Liz, Rich, Sue and Gary will be at most meetings.  Dick T., Ralph and Steve, P will participate as they can.

Judy moved and Joyce seconded for adjournment at 4:00 p.m.  Unanimous vote.

Respectfully submitted

Linda Lord, Recording Secretary