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Home > Minerva > Governance > Users' Council > Semi-Annual Meeting, May 17, 2006

Full Minerva Users Council Semi-Annual Meeting, May 17, 2006

Draft Meeting Minutes

Wednesday May 17, 2006 – 10:00a.m. To 12:30

Maine State Library Studio, Augusta, ME, via ATM Bangor High School and Yarmouth High School.

In attendance:

MSL: Jessica Thomas, Stephen LaRochelle, Lyn Smith, Jennifer Lewis, Karl Beiser, Dean Corner, Pat Brunell, Cindy Mitchell, Ann Siekman, Nancy Brown, Cyndi Burne, Janet Bolduc, Jay Scherma, Nikki Maounis, Karl Aromaa, Cora Damon, Patty Friedman, Anna Romer, Karen Reilly, Vicky Smith, Betsy Pohl, Pam Gormley, Anne Phillips, Deb Hensler, Lea Girardin, Karen Jones, Sarah Sugden, Martha Ott, Barbara Harness and Marian Peterson.

YarmouthHigh School: Carin Dunay, Emily Graham and Lynda Sudlow.

Bangor High School: Amy Averre, Laurie McQuarrie, Sue Jagels, Sara White, Julie Russell, Nancy Howland, Peggy O’Kane, and Anne Romans.

Review and approve minutes from the last meeting, December 14, 2005

The minutes from December 14, 2005 were approved as written.

Remarks by Gary Nichols and Dean Corner

Gary wasn’t able to make it so Karl Beiser spoke on his behalf.  Essentially, Gary is willing to work with us any way we want and he will be as flexible as possible to help us get what we want.

Reports

Minerva update (Karl Beiser)

  • As of May 1st, Karl is working in his new position for Maine InfoNet.  John has been working on a contractual basis and deals with whatever Karl sends to him.  Deb Hensler from the RockportPublic Library was hired in John’s old position and will begin Minerva work on May 30th.  Karl will help train her.  She does not have any contact info yet, but when she does, it will be distributed.  The State Library is going to fill Karl’s position and hope to have someone begin in July or August.
  • Libraries experienced a "disruption" in service last Monday during the Agency Model software upgrade.  Since then, statistics have been a bit messed up due to some communication flaws within Innovative during the upgrade.  Karl has an archived file that holds the daily counts that are missing.  If your library needs these, please request them from Karl.  The cumulative stats will be compiled for April and Karl will put out an e-mail when they are complete.  A question about how good the statistics through Telnet was raised.  Karl said that the stats that have always been there are probably good though Innovative is not updating the Telnet side anymore so new tables will not be trustworthy.  Much of the new stuff will need to be "discovered" by experience, as Innovative does not put out a list of such things.  One part of Karl’s new job is to set new objectives for wireless, Minerva, Solar, etc. and to work more with statistics.
  • Karl is "Christening" the new MaineCat statewide catalog, which was formally Maine InfoNet statewide catalog.  InfoNet now refers to the agency that manages it along with other entities in the state.  The agency software is now implemented.  Evidence of it is in the larger statistical matrix involving 100 or so libraries rather than 10.  Formatting of the charts is still a problem, but we will have better, more detailed statistics in the long run.  Things across systems can now be routed by library with more detail.
  • There are still 4-5 cases of new mailbags at the State Library that can be taken today.  If you are not in the Augusta area and would like some, call David Warren at 287-5620 and he will send them out to you.

Finance Committee report (Cora Damon)

The Finance Committee submitted a written report.  On the report, Cora noted that the figure under “Syndetics” should be $19,182.98.

  • Expenditures: Syndetics, mailbags, CD&L cost support.  Not sure of what the CD&L costs will be for next year now that they count totes at $2.50 each along with the initial $6.50 per day.
  • Under consideration: $60,000 for the catalog clean up estimate.  How to subsidize CD&L?  What staffing needs do we have?  What kind of cost changes come about as a result of Linda Bill’s recommendations?
  • Income and expenses tally: Essentially our income is $41,000 ahead of expenses.  Catalog clean up is still under discussion and not figured into the expenses for the coming year yet.  Be advised these figures do not include any staff, hardware or telecommunications costs.  If these were figured in, the expenses for Minerva would be much higher.
  • The Finance Committee needs members.  Please see Cora if you are interested.

Borrowing/Lending Committee report (Martha Ott)

The Borrowing and Lending Committee did not submit a formal report, but had a few points to bring up:

  • Martha wanted to remind people that since the new mailbags are here, Minerva libraries can now use them to send items going to other libraries on the CD&L delivery that are non-Minerva libraries such as SOLAR and URSUS.
  • Martha also wanted to open the floor for comments on the "great settle up" that is going on so they will have feedback for the next round whenever that might be.  Some comments were:
    • Some libraries need to have Federal IDs on the invoices if they could please put them in.
    • Academic libraries wish the process could be more frequent as it is difficult for them to know if their students fall into this category and there are things they can do to “encourage” them to bring in the money for the books such as block course registration, no release of transcripts or don’t give a diploma before they leave the campus.
    • A reminder was put out for libraries to check their shelves for the books and make sure the book you are billing is actually yours.
    • Others thought the process went well and were glad to have it done.
    • What will happen with InfoNet books?  Karl will be working on better means of communicating between the InfoNet entities on these types of things.

Statistics Committee report (Steve LaRochelle)

There was no formal report from this group.

PR/Education Committee report

This committee has not met recently and did not submit a report.  Amy Averre said  Amber Tatnall will no longer be chairing this group.  Natalie Hutchinson from St. Josephs will be the new chair.  This committee also needs more members if anyone is interested.  We hope to be hearing from this committee at the next meeting.

Old Business

Planning/Governance

Betsy Pohl spoke on behalf of the new committee that is working to come up with a plan for Minerva based on Linda Bills recommendations.  The committee members are: Amber Tatnall, Sarah Sugden, Jay Scherma, Judy Frost, Betsy Pohl and Cora Damon.  They first met on March 20 and realized it was a very large project and that they couldn’t do much without Gary Nichols to help clarify the relationship Minerva has with the Maine State Library.  They did meet with Gary on April 26th and discussed their concerns such as questions about the future and how staffing for Minerva will evolve.  Gary said that we will need to be flexible with all the transitions that are going on.  We can be thinking of policy areas we want to gain control of and retain for ourselves.  They might include our expectations of Minerva members, the agreement to participate, and/or finances.  They will be looking at contracting our finances to a different financial agent so our money isn’t as “vulnerable” as it is now.  Maybe we can become incorporated as a 501c3.  Ultimately, they hope to come up with a plan-to-plan that will be a facilitated process that includes everyone.  No timetable as of yet.  If anyone has any thoughts, please pass them along to one of the committee members.

Delivery Service Update

Dean Corner gave a brief update on where we stand with CD&L.  The state library has submitted an RFP and they hope to receive several responses from other delivery companies with a variety of pricing options and a list of areas served so a contract can be discussed.  The RFP will include the URSUS, Bates, Colby, and Bowdoin libraries, too if possible.  Concerns that got voiced included the need to find a company that will do a flat rate (though it may not be cheaper, it may be more manageable than a "per tote" format), and possible compensation from Minerva to libraries who are turning out to be net lenders.

Catalog cleanup

The Cataloging committee met several times with Karl, Bonnie, Linda and several vendors to discuss the catalog clean up task.  Electronic Scriptorium said we would need to do the authority clean up first, which has already been paid for.  They couldn’t give us an accurate figure, as they would need to do a sample of our catalog, so they estimated around $60,000.  They are still waiting to hear from a LSSI which is a second vendor working on a quote.  No vote will be taken at this time.  Concern was raised again about how important it will be for us to have policies in place to keep the data clean once we put all this money into it.  Maybe we could consider centralized cataloging again.  It was suggested once again that we really do need to make a priority list and then look at our staffing issues and how we want to accomplish these things.  Maybe we can consider outsourcing for some of the stuff.  Positions on this committee have changed but no member list was read.  E-mail Amy Averre if you are interested in serving on this committee or if you want to see the vendor report.

Other

What is the status of trainings and tutorials?  There hasn’t been much movement on the training issue.  The PR committee was addressing training issues and possibly some online tutorials.  Karl said there are some tutorials available on request at http://csdirect.iii.com if you are interested.  Karl will be looking into training Minerva members in statistics as a part of his new position.  He also reminded us that we do have a credit with Innovative for some in depth training on whatever we want.  Maybe we can utilize a “train the trainer” model.

New Business

Introduction to the new Maine InfoNet

Karl spoke about the changes with Maine InfoNet.  His objectives in his new position are to coordinate, promote, support and facilitate existing electronic resources in the state.  Under this umbrella is the walk in wireless initiative, delivery service, MARVEL, Minerva, URSUS, SOLAR, and other digital library initiatives.  Karl is interested in hearing your ideas on what libraries in Maine might achieve.  He will be working with legislation, and facilitating people to work together on various projects.  InfoNet is now at a semi-formal structure.  A new board is forming with representatives from each InfoNet entity of which Minerva will need to nominate someone to serve.  The old InfoNet committee is now dissolved.  The new one will have bylaws, goals and objectives.  Karl reports to Gary Nichols from the Maine State Library and Joyce Rumery from the University of Maine system.

Results of elections of new Board members

Jennifer Lewis reported election results:

  • There were 19 total ballots received.
  • For the school library seat…Karen LaForgia from the Upper Kennebec Valley Schools, SAD 13 received 16 votes and will be taking Jennifer Lewis’ seat.
  • For the Academic library seat…Amy Averre from Husson College received 17 votes and will be staying on for another term.
  • For the public library seat…Pam Turner from Baxter memorial Library received 16 votes and will be filling Sarah Sugden’s seat.
  • Steve Norman from Belfast Free Library was a write in for the public library seat and received one vote.

New members will be expected to fill their new positions at the June meeting of the Minerva Executive Committee on June 21st.  Another call was put out to consider helping with these committees and to be active and vote.

Other

Some parting thoughts:

  • A new library noticed in the minutes that someone was supposed to contact them about the changes.  Nobody formally did.  She had no idea we were in such a state of flux.
  • Maybe we can have everyone look over Linda’s report again and we can survey everyone for a new list of priorities.
  • We were urged to stand back for a minute and look at the big picture.  Minerva is an important part of the whole state structure and our disorganization has marginalized us in this process.  Maybe 1 representative to the new InfoNet board isn’t enough.  We are now at a point where we can formalize what we want us to be.

Adjournment

Respectfully submitted 5/19/06 by Jennifer Lewis, Secretary

 

Members of the Minerva Users Council Executive Committee 2005-2006:

Public Libraries

Academic Libraries

Special Libraries