NOBLE

MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION MEETING

AT NOBLE

SEPTEMBER 22, 2005

 

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

 

CALL TO ORDER: Sue Koronowski called the meeting to order at 10:10.  Introductions were done.  Sue passed around a sign up sheet for anyone interested in going to lunch after the meeting to discuss any issues or topics.  This would be an informal meeting.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:  Ruth Urell made a motion to approve Minutes from the June 23, 2005 meeting.  Carol Gray seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT:  Ron presented the report.  He pointed out the MARC Records will now reflect actual usage on the report.  In prior years the figure presented was the Annual in Advance payment which decreased each month with ILL adjustments.  Linda Hummel-Shea made a motion to accept the report.  Martha Holden seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

MANAGERS’ REPORT:

Ron Gagnon –

·         Reported on FY 2005 usage statistics.  Circ was up 1.4%, resource sharing up 8.9%, direct patron holds and renewals via the Web up 23%, and EBSCO use up 6.3%.

·         NOBLE staff has been working with Executive Board reorganizing the Working Groups.  The Electronic Resources and Database Working Groups have merged and will be chaired by Jeff Klapes of Wakefield.  Collection Management Team will be chaired by Betty Dole of Salem State.  A new group was formed, Resource Sharing Working Group, chaired by Alyce Deveau of Swampscott.  Sue Koronowski sent a message to past participants to see if interested in continuing, as well as a general message for any new participants.  Ron is following up on responses.

·         Grant Update – Contracts for the hardware and software grants have been signed.  NOBLE was awarded $42,000 for the hardware grant, which is 75% of the costs to replace our Innovative Alpha main and training servers with Sun servers.  Innovative will deliver, install and migrate data on the training system, Sun will deliver and install the main server and Innovative will migrate the data remotely.  Since it is an LSTA grant we cannot order equipment until after October 1st, the beginning of the new Federal fiscal year.  Ron expects to send a purchase order on Monday, October 3rd.  There is a three month order period, therefore anticipate installation in early January.  Lorraine Jackson asked if the new server will resolve the slowness in Millennium.  Martha Driscoll explained the slow­ness is more a network problem.  One of our four Internet T-1’s is not up.  Equipment is still being upgraded and part of the process will be to set Millennium traffic as a priority.  Other libraries stated they are experiencing the same slowness.  Ron also stated that part of the problem could be older PCs at circ.  Newer high level PC’s are needed, therefore libraries also need to take that into consideration. 

Executive Board ratified acquiring the software package that was approved earlier this year: EDIFACT, Inventory Express, AirPAC, and a SIP2 license.  Funding will come from NOBLE’s capital fund since MBLC awarded NOBLE complete projected first year federated searching service costs in the grant due to experimental nature of project, freeing up NOBLE funds for the software.

·         Ron spoke at the statewide Delivery Summit meeting in Boylston.  The meeting included representa­tives from the MBLC, Regions, Networks, and some librarians.  Ron is also on the NMRLS Delivery Committee, which met a few weeks ago.  Ron expressed our displeasure with the service. Pick ups at NOBLE have been irregular and have not received any deliveries.  Libraries expressed the same problems.  Ron encouraged libraries to contact NMRLS directly.  To deal with the backlog, MVLC and NOBLE will generate a list of items that went “in transit” between February 1st – August 26th.  Libraries will have two weeks to check the list against what is on their shelves before NMRLS files a claim for reimbursement from the former vendor, C,D & L.  Deb Abraham added it was discussed at Delivery Summit ways to make delivery more efficient; such as using receipt printers and preprinted labels.  Carol asked how much of the problem is financial.  Deb stated costs have gone up and 25% of NMRLS budget is for delivery.  A discussion ensued.

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September 22, 2005

 

·         Our auditor, Bob Guimond, has begun the FY 2005 audit.

·         Ron is on a subcommittee of the MLA Legislative Committee looking at the issue of hiring a

       part-time lobbyist to represent libraries.

·         Ron and Elizabeth attended the September Commissioners meeting at their new office and the open house that followed.  NOBLE staff worked with Brian Donoghue over the summer coordinating the move of their data line. 

 

Elizabeth Thomsen –

·         Gave an update on federated searching.  Elizabeth and Ron talked with vendors the past several months evaluating their products.  At the point now want to get reference librarians involved.  Also need volunteers for usability studies.  Danvers and Reading have been doing preliminary studies on our EBSCO databases.  Also looking to work with library staff that is using Blackboard or other portal systems. 

·         Worked with Phillips to implement Assignment Calculator.  This is an open source program that was developed by the University of Minnesota.  The program, based on the beginning and ending dates of an assignment, calculates what step you should be in your assignment on a given date. 

·         Speaking at Libraries Information Technology Association (LITA) next weekend.

·         Ron and Elizabeth continue their participation in the Library Leadership Massachusetts group,  attending a meeting in Worcester.  The group is working on follow up activities for participants and for the Massachusetts library community.  Looking at a speaker series in moving libraries forward and being proactive in trends and technology.  NOBLE hosts a blog, “Our Future”, as a place to post news, stories, articles, information on looking forward, future technology.  Elizabeth is working with a team to implement this.  Ron wrote an explanation about the roles of networks.  Information will go out shortly.

·         Attended a meeting with MVLC and the region to discuss online audio book services and how it could be implemented in the networks and regions.  On September 30th NMRLS is holding meeting with vendors to present their products.

·         Reviewed meeting and training schedule. In September and October: Annual Create Lists and Annual Circ Review.  In November and December Intro to Create Lists and on November 29th “Keeping It All Together: Multipart Media Items”.   This meeting will discuss the on-going issue of how to handle keeping multipart media items together. Tech services and circ reps from every library should attend.

 

Ron stated that in our annual Salem Bid for this fiscal year we added a new service, Web Site Editing.  The charge to libraries is $50/hour.  Several libraries have expressed interest.

 

Martha Driscoll –

·         Reported on telecommunications upgrade at central site.  Our seven T-1 lines that connect NOBLE to the libraries were replaced with a T-3 line.  The new line doubles our previous bandwidth.  The new router and firewall were installed.  The prioritization needs to be set up as well installation of the Packet Shaper. 

·         Set up EZ Proxy server for Gordon and Merrimack Colleges.

·         Worked on special project for Wakefield upgrading their scats with precincts.

·         Loaded Northern Essex student patron load. 

·         A new feature of Millennium gives libraries the ability to print notices locally.  Working with Peabody library setting this up.

·         All four of our Internet lines went down last weekend.  Atrion contacted Verizon, who did not respond to the proper location.  Three lines are back up, one that appears not to be up.  During the outage Phillips was down and shouldn’t have been.  Martha will look into this, but feels there may be some routing issues.

·         On October 25th representatives from Envisionware will demonstrate their PC Reservation Software. 

 

 

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September 22, 2005

 

·         Sue Koronowski thanked Martha for the information for the ARIS reports. 

·         Sue asked to save energy costs is there a way to shut down the PC’s at night automatically.  Martha stated she’ll have George look into it, but believes at other libraries he has installed software on one management PC that will shut down computers.

 

FY 2007 BUDGET PRESENTATION:

Ron explained Executive Board approved the budget at their meeting last week.  The budget is presented today and will be voted on next month. Due to several factors there will be no increase in library assessments. Ron gave a presentation highlighting the key factors.

 

MBLC Funding Increase – Telecommunications and Virtual Catalog subsidies increased from $60,324 to $124,438, an increase of 106% from last fiscal year.

 

Cost Reductions -

·         Rent - Ron negotiated a new 5 year lease extension with our landlord, Flatley, effective June 1, 2006.  The annual cost is reduced by $10,000.  In addition Flatley will cover the costs to replace two aging HVAC units.  The new units will be more energy efficient; therefore will lower energy and maintenance costs. 

·         New Servers – The MBLC grant funded Innovative servers will lower hardware maintenance.

 

New Initiatives – With the cost reductions NOBLE is able to fund other initiatives.

·         Federated Searching – The grant covers the first half of the fiscal year costs.  NOBLE will be able to continue support of the project for the second of the fiscal year.

·         Additional III Software – Purchase approved software: AirPAC, EDIFACT, Inventory Express, and SIP2.

·         Bibliographic Database Enhancement Pilot – Table of Contents and/or Authority Control projects.

 

Energy Costs -

·         Although usage is down due to more efficient UPS and HVAC units there are concerns for rising costs, especially electricity. The cooling unit in the computer room needs to run constantly to maintain a controlled temperature.  This is always an area that is unpredictable and need to plan for.

 

Insurance –

·         Another area that is not a constant. The industry is in upheaval due to reductions in investment income.  Companies are more cautious about coverage.  With less competition rates have increased.

 

Ruth Urell asked what factors are used in the assessment formula.  Ron explained there are two portions that determine the assessment.  The first is a base fee that comprises the fixed costs in the budget and is distributed equally among members; the second portion is divided out by the libraries staff users and includes telecommunication maintenance, Internet, data lines, and Innopac maintenance.

 

The FY2007 Budget will be voted at the October Meeting of the Members.

 

SHARING LIBRARY INFORMATION: 

Elizabeth Thomsen discussed organizational projects she is working on.  One is gathering information about NOBLE members to be available for our libraries.  She passed around a preliminary handout she has received to date with library descriptions.  Once complete considering posting on the Staff Information System or make available for the public.

 

The other project is organizing library staff members.  Passed around a guideline depicting what NOBLE needs to know when new staff is hired or when there are changes in staff positions, names, etc.  Also if there are changes to library hours, days open etc.  When new staff is hired please contact Elizabeth for an introductory visit to NOBLE.  Reviewed the handout with what new staff should know.

 

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September 22, 2005

 

 

LIBRARY ELF:

Elizabeth explained that Library Elf is a free, web-based service which allows users to set up accounts, provide their library barcode numbers and PINS, and receive notices for overdues, holds, etc., via e-mail, text message or RSS from the Library Elf service. There is a link on the Staff Information System.  We've done some testing, and this service does seem to work with our system. It does raise issues in terms of confidentiality and security, therefore NOBLE is not actively promoting this service.

 

OTHER BUSINESS:

·         Carol Gray from Gloucester announced the search for a new director has been reopened.

·         Anna Langstaff announced the director search has reopened for Beverly as well.

 

ADJOURNMENT:

John Beauregard made a motion to adjourn.  Barbara Lachance seconded the motion.  The meeting adjourned at 12:20.

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Martha Holden

Secretary