NOBLE

MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION MEETING

HOSTED BY BEVERLY PUBLIC LIBRARY AT MORAINE FARM

OCTOBER 18, 2001

 

Present: Twenty Members were represented at the meeting.  Attendance sheet is on record.

 

1. CALL TO ORDER /WELCOME - Deborah Abraham.  Deborah called the meeting to order at 10:00.  The facility manager from Project Adventure, operators of Moraine Farm, spoke about their organization and the facility. 

 

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES.  There was no discussion.  Camilla Glynn made a motion to accept the Minutes from the September 20th meeting, Alyce Deveau seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous.

 

3. TREASURER’S REPORT - Thomas Scully.  Tom reported that spending is on target for the year.  Tom Cesarz made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report, Marjorie Hill-Devine seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous.

 

4. MANAGER’S REPORT - Ron Gagnon. Ron reported he spoke at the Danvers Kiwanis and Elizabeth spoke at the ACRL meeting that was held at Salem State recently.  The FY 2001 audit is in process.  The grant application for the Digitization Project was filed the end of September.  NOBLE was awarded $18,735 to assist in the telecommunications cost to bring the three Lynn branches on-line for January 1st.  The lines are scheduled to be installed in December.  Ron, George and Martha visited the branches last week.  NOBLE hosted the Network Administrators meeting in September.  After the meeting two telecommunications vendors gave a presentation to the administrators, they were Dimension Data and Atrion.  In September there were some Internet connectivity problems with UMass.  They were upgrading their service and having some router problems.  As a result we will be getting a $1,000 credit for September.  Ron reported that plans for the acquisition module have begun.  We’ve been in touch with Innovative to schedule training for NOBLE staff.  More information will follow in the coming months.  Ron also reported there was a system security breach last month.  The system was breached using North Shore C.C. passwords.  The matter is being discussed with NOBLE’s attorney and is waiting for a response for a course of action.  As a result when the breach was discovered all the passwords had to be changed on short notice.

 

Elizabeth Thomsen.    Training - Two sessions of the Javascript workshop were held.  It was a basic hands-on session on how to use it.  She is almost ready to release the home study version of the program.  Tech Services training was held separately for OCLC libraries and Temp Record libraries.  She wants to continue these hands on sessions annually.  Web Catalog training was also held.  Some meetings coming up are Collection Management Meeting, three staff per library should attend.  Collection management and assessment will be reviewed as well as additional tools and other areas that are in development.  This meeting will be followed up in the spring with Collection Management Roundtables and Training Room Sessions.  Circulation Roundtable for public libraries will be held on October 25th and 31st, and on November 7th for the colleges.  These sessions are for discussion and to share ideas.  LocalTech Meeting on November 1st, NoveList Roundtable on November 8th for libraries who subscribe to NoveList, and several Create Lists Training sessions are scheduled later this fall, with a Help Session on October 26th. 

Development and Infrastructure - Elizabeth reported that improvements to the Staff Information System are under way. A site map and indexes will be added, as well as having documentation from training systems posted.  More work has been done to the calendar pages by adding all committee meetings and pop-up windows that provide further information.  Also staff has been working on writing scripts that run themselves to perform tasks during off-hours.  Elizabeth is in discussion with several libraries in regard to the RetroCon project and that is moving forward.  We will be hiring a part-time employee for cataloging. 

 

 

 

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Martha Driscoll.  Martha reported on the issue of security.  Passwords were changed recently for the MilCirc log in due to the security breach.  Passwords will be changed on a regular basis, possibly monthly.  She is recommending that libraries not have auto login to MilCirc.  Also changes to the firewall will be made to tighten security.  Martha is also going to create a script that runs once a month and sends to directors a list of e-mail accounts for their library.  This will help maintain a more accurate up to date list of accounts. The LocalTech Meeting will be held on November 1st.  Topics that will be discussed are Windows 2000 and the security features it has.  Also Martha will be showing the “Public Browser”, which is an Internet Explorer browser that was developed for libraries.  Library staff has control of the settings, patrons won’t be able to change any settings or options, or place bookmarks.  This can be used in place of the IKIOSK Winselect product, which we’ve been trying to phase out.  Martha also has been working with some libraries on “wireless” connections in their libraries.

 

On another matter Ron reported that we did receive the $37,000 credit check from Verizon that was for overpayments due to the system changeover.  That subsequently allowed us to file for the second half of e-rate reimbursements for FY 2001.

 

5. VOTE TO APPROVE FY 2003 BUDGET.  Deborah Abraham thanked Ron for his presentation of the budget at the September meeting.  Tom Scully made a motion to accept the budget, Tom Cesarz seconded the motion.  John Beauregard stated for record that the administration at Gordon College felt the increases were high over the past several years.  If the network costs continue to have a significant increase this may effect their operation budget and cause cuts in other areas.  Hugh Williams stated he would vote “yes” for the budget but felt we need to take a look at the formula that is used, CPI + 2%, to determine Member’s fees.  He felt the CPI, which is based on Boston residential housing, isn’t relevant to the operations of NOBLE.  Tom Scully felt that it was relevant because the library’s employees and vendors we deal with live in the area and have to maintain a standard of living.  Ron pointed out that the CPI also reflects the commercial real estate market.  There was no further discussion.  The Secretary took a roll call vote, a copy is attached.  Twenty members were represented at the meeting.  The vote was unanimous to approve the FY 2003 budget.

 

6. VIRUSES, PROTECTION AND E-MAIL – Martha Driscoll.  Martha discussed several ways for libraries to protect their PCs from viruses.  She is encouraging libraries to have current virus protection software on their PCs.  Also she is looking into virus protection products that can be installed on the server and will prevent the viruses from going out over the network. Webmail, which is now running, is another good way to avoid viruses.  You get a download prompt to save to disk when there is an attachment, unlike in Netscape when you click on the attachment it immediately opens.  These and other ways to protect PC’s from viruses will be discussed in more detail at the LocalTech Meeting. 

 

7. WORKING GROUP UPDATES –

 

Electronic Resources Working Group – Camilla Glynn reported the Committee met October 11th and discussed the project of cataloging web sites.  The participants in the project are North Shore CC, Gordon College, Salem State, and Elizabeth Thomsen and it is moving forward.  The Committee also discussed the financial issue facing netLibrary.  They are polling the Membership through the reference group and directors and are asking them to discuss if netLibrary records should be in the catalog, and if so whether they should be in individual library scopes or entire collection scopes.  A single response from each library is desired, and the response will be discussed at the next ERWG meeting on November 6th. 

 

Database Quality Working Group – Tom Scully stated there is nothing new to report at this time.  The Committee is scheduled to meet on October 30th. 

 

 

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Brochure Committee – Marjorie Hill-Devine reported the Committee chose a designer and has a concept for the brochure.  At the next meeting they will have a preliminary design and layouts to choose from.  The designer is Great Island. 

 

Holds Committee Working Group – Tom Cesarz reported the Committee met at the end of the summer and again at the end of September.  The Committee came up with two recommendations:

 

1)      Items can be placed on “display” status for a maximum of three months;

2)      Rather than utilizing e-mail requests for book group use of specific titles, that multiple holds be placed in order to obtain the copies.  The Committee is mandating this recommendation.

 

Since this a formal report from the Committee it requires a vote for approval.  John Beauregard made a motion that the vote wait until next month so he and directors can have the opportunity to discuss the recommendations with their staff.  Tom Cesarz seconded the motion, the vote was unanimous to table the matter to next month.

 

Deborah Abraham stated she is putting together a working group on wireless.  Some issues to discuss would be compatibility, security, and vendors.  Anyone interested should contact Debbie.

 

8. ADJOURNMENT.  The meeting was adjourned at 11:25.  

 

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Mary Rose Quinn

Secretary