NOBLE MINUTES

MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION MEETING

AT NOBLE

SEPTEMBER 30, 2004

PRESENT: Twenty-one libraries were represented at the meeting, attendance sheet attached.

CALL TO ORDER: Mary Rose Quinn called the meeting to order at 10:00.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Dennis Kelley moved to approve the Minutes from the June 24, 2004 meeting. Linda Hummel-Shea seconded the motion. The Minutes were approved by unanimous vote.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Tom Scully reported at one quarter into the fiscal year spending is on target. Deborah Abraham moved to accept the report. Robert Rice seconded the motion. The motion passed by unanimous vote.

MANAGER’S REPORT:

Ronald Gagnon

· The FY ’06 budget, as well as the telecommunications project, have been priorities. Also reviewing annual objectives for the FY ‘06 Action Plan, which will be presented for approval at the November meeting.

· CD Swap Day went well, with thirteen public libraries represented. Helen Freeman complimented NOBLE staff on organizing the event.

· LSTA Grant Update – Part of the grant will be to replace our aging five-year-old Innovative server in FY ‘06. It does not meet the requirements of Release 2005, which is due out summer 2005. In addition this will also be an opportunity to purchase additional software. At the October Members meeting there will be a presentation of software options and enhancements. The meeting will be extended to 1:00. The meeting format will be open discussion and libraries are encouraged to bring staff that can provide input. The results will be discussed at November’s Executive Board meeting.

Elizabeth Thomsen

· Continue to work on changing and updating the Staff Information System.

· EBSCO – With the new release the ability to do persistent links in the format we need has been added.

· NOBLE hosted a “Share, Compare, and Prepare Day” with the other III Massachusetts Consortia, CLAMS, C/W MARS, and Minuteman. The purpose was to discuss and share ideas as well as to prepare for the III Consortia Partners Meeting.

· Training – The training and meeting schedule for September-January is on the Staff Information System. There are several “themes” for training and meetings. Libraries are encouraged to send their designated reps to the Create Lists, Collection Management, and Statistics meetings.

Martha Driscoll

· Telecommunication Upgrade – Over the summer Martha and George Lally have been setting up VLAN’s at libraries that received their new routers and switches. Six libraries have their VLAN’s set up. Atrion installed the equipment at 23 libraries in April and June. Ron discussed briefly the purpose of the upgrade and the grant process. Martha explained the old Bay Networks router at central site is incompatible with the new Cisco routers being installed at the libraries; therefore the traffic cannot be prioritized for those libraries. When the new router is installed at central site, Millennium traffic can be prioritized over Internet traffic as before.

· Training – Martha and George held PC Basics and Windows XP training in August and September. A web site, www.techsoup.com, is a site that libraries can purchase software licenses inexpensively. There’s a link on the Local Tech page on the Staff Information System.

· Working on writing scripts to automate book lists for libraries.

· SPAM – Filtering continues to be successful. Receiving approximately 100,000 messages each month and 50% are spam.

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September 30, 2004

RESIGNATION OF CLERK: Kimberly Lynn resigned her position as clerk/secretary of NOBLE. Tom Scully moved to accept Kimberly Lynn’s resignation, Martha Holden seconded the motion. The vote passed by unanimous vote. Deborah Abraham suggested forwarding a congratulatory letter to Kim on her new position.

VOTE TO FILL CLERK POSITION: Executive Board nominated Martha Holden to serve as secretary/clerk for the remainder of the term for FY 2005. Mary Rose Quinn thanked Martha for accepting the nomination. Linda Hummel-Shea moved to accept Executive Board’s nomination of Martha Holden as secretary/clerk of NOBLE. Tom Scully seconded the motion. The nomination was approved by unanimous vote.

FY 2006 BUDGET PRESENTATION – By Ron Gagnon:

An info packet was available in early September. Executive Board approved the budget earlier this month. It is presented to Members in September with the vote being held at the October Member’s meeting. Executive Board also made revisions to the FY 2005 budget, which will allow us to double our Internet bandwidth, upgrade a server, and continue funding Brightmail Anti-Spam software.

On average the FY 2006 budget contains a 1.9% increase for libraries. This is below the CPI-U Boston inflation rate of 2.9%. Ron reviewed how this was accomplished:

- Reduce contribution to capital fund.

- Eliminate margins.

- Additional simultaneous users.

- Projected increase of $20,000 from MBLC for Telecommunications and Resource Sharing.

Service and Support – A pie graph was presented depicting costs. Personnel, Data Lines, Innopac Maintenance, and Occupancy costs are the largest part of the budget. With the increase of our Internet bandwidth in FY ’05, the costs will also increase in FY 2006.

Telecommunication Improvements –

· Upgrading library connectivity to one T-3 line at central site for servers and Internet is currently being reviewed.

· Replacing our Innovative server, which is five years old and not capable of handling the 2005 Innovative software upgrade.

FY 2006 Library Assessments – The Base Fee for libraries is $25,916 and the Per User cost is $1,117. The result is an average increase of 1.9% for most libraries. Libraries with a higher increase, have added simultaneous users from FY 2005.

Line Item Summary Review (see packet previously sent for detailed information):

65100 – WAGES, SALARY AND PAYROLL

Increase due to annual step raises, as well as increase from 5% to 6% in to employee’s retirement accounts. Also reflects medical and dental insurance increases.

65200 – OFFICE AND ADMINISTRATION

Slight increase due to rising costs of commercial liability and office insurance.

65250 – OCCUPANCY COSTS

Reflects contractual increase in our lease for FY ’06 and as well rising utilities costs.

65400 – CATALOG

The cost decreased due to a $10,000 savings in FY 2004 that will be applied to FY 2006.

65600 – PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Anticipate a possible increase in audit fees due to the LSTA grant requirements.

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September 30, 2004

65700 – CONTINUING EDUCATION

Conferences are a large part of NOBLE’s training. These costs have decreased slightly.

65800 - EQUIPMENT UPGRADE

These costs are upgrades for staff PCs. Since Brightmail was bought out by Symantec, which participates in the state software contract, the license cost will be significantly reduced. The new web server will be funded in FY 2005, therefore that cost will decrease in FY 2006.

CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION

The capital contribution is slightly reduced from $102,730 in FY 2005 to $100,000 in FY 2006. Our capital fund has approximately $600,000 and the contingency fund $575,000.

REIMBURSEMENTS

Reviewed the reimbursements that are subtracted from the budget subtotal. That figure is divided by the number of members to get the base fee of $25,916 for FY 2006.

COSTS DISTRIBUTED PER STAFF USER

The Central Innopac Maintenance, Data Lines, Internet, and Telecomm Maintenance costs are used in the formula to determine the per staff user costs. Federal (for public libraries) and MBLC subsidies and any prior year surplus offset these costs. The per staff user cost for FY 2006 $1,117.

INNOVATIVE UPDATE - CONSORTIUM PARTNERS MEETING:

Ron and Elizabeth participated in the meeting earlier this week in Grand Rapids, Mich. Ron is on the Steering Committee. Elizabeth reported highlights from the meeting:

· The main issue for consortia is holds. Innovative is working towards resolving the holds issue by committing to rewrite the software, and by forming a Steering Committee to plan another Consortium Partners Meeting.

· A Holds Task Force was created with representatives from each consortium to express their concerns and keep communication open.

· In Release 2005 Innovative has committed to having the first manifestation of a new Holds package. One enhancement will be to have location based priority table for requests and holds.

Mary Rose Quinn added these changes would not be taking place without the expertise and dedicated work of NOBLE staff.

NEW BUSINESS:

· Alyce Deveau is on a NMRLS Committee for the under 25,000 population libraries and is looking for volunteers.

· Mary Rose Quinn announced that Saugus hired Jean Hlady as the new assistant director. Elizabeth Thomsen added when new staff is hired to contact NOBLE for an introduction.

· Nadine Mitchell reported Lynn is without telephone service.

· Barbara Lachance announced their library has staffed vacant positions.

ADJOURNMENT: Alyce Deveau moved to adjourn the meeting at 12:00. Michael Blake seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted by,

Martha Holden

Secretary