NOBLE Executive Board meeting

October 12, 2005

@ NOBLE

 

In Attendance: Dennis Kelley, Linda Hummel-Shea, Doug Rendell, Sue Koronowski, Martha Holden,  Elisabeth Tully and NOBLE Executive Director Ron Gagnon. 

 

Call to Order: Sue Koronowski called the meeting to order at 2:10 p.m.

 

Approval of Minutes: Minutes of September meeting are not yet available.

 

Treasurer’s Report: Expenditures to date are on target for the fiscal year.  Bob Guimond is nearly finished preparing this year’s audit.  Some of the expenditure figures will be reduced as they reflect FY05 expenditures paid at the start of FY06.  Motion to approve by Doug Rendell; seconded by Dennis Kelley, and unanimously approved.

 

Executive Director’s Report

 

v      Flatley’s property at Cherry Hill including NOBLE facilities are being sold to National Development.  Pricing and terms of lease will remain the same.  NOBLE representatives will sign an affidavit representing that there are no outstanding obligations owed to NOBLE by National Development on behalf of Flatley.

v      NOBLE ordered servers and software for upgrade.  Servers will be installed in January.  After servers are installed and Millennium 2005 upgrade is implemented and is operating smoothly, the software will gradually be implemented.  The Packet Shaper software is in but has not yet been implemented.  The Packet Shaper will organize traffic and create a separate and  prioritized path over the network for Millennium traffic.

v      Verizon is no longer a dealer for Level 3 our current ISP, and our current contract expires in December.  Ron is meeting with UMASS representatives on Friday and expects to have a proposal from Verizon as well.  Any change will involve a change in IP addresses, but the internal network will not be affected so individual PCs in libraries will not have to change numbers.

v      Ron attended audiobooks presentation in Reading last Friday.  Products offered by Overdrive and Recorded Books both have technical issues involving cataloging and authentication as well as patron, price and end user device issues.  Ron stressed that libraries keep NOBLE informed if they consider implementation as there are network implications to consider.

v      Elizabeth Thomsen spoke at LITA in San Jose last week.  She also has speaking engagements at NELA on Monday and at the Mid-Atlantic IUG on October 21.

v      Ron is working on MLA Legislative Committee and on Government Relations Subcommittee, which is considering hiring a lobbyist for libraries.  Lobbyist would be funded by new MLA initiatives.  It is recommended that MLA recruit a former legislator who is a lobbyist as former legislators are allowed on the floor during legislative sessions.  If hired, the lobbyist would report to the Committee and to the President of MLA.

v      The MBLC will be finalizing the FY07 budget initiative at their next meeting.  The Commissioners are considering requesting a 75% increase in funding for networks.  The MBLC is developing a three-year plan.  The MBLC hopes to increase funding of Line 9506 from $2m to $6m over the next few years.

v      The audit is nearly complete with no major issues.  NOBLE is awaiting inventory and lawyer sign-off.

v      NOBLE recently completed annual circ review sessions with representative from all but one NOBLE library represented.  The process was moved from spring to fall to better correlate with the school year.  The sessions focus on resolving resource sharing issues.

v      NOBLE will host an Envisionware informational session on October 25.  Envisionware offers a PC reservation and print management product that may be implemented by individual libraries or by NOBLE as a menu service.  The reservation and print management features are available individually as well.

v      Recent staff changes include the resignation of copy-cataloger Margot Isabelle who is moving to Hull and the addition of web editing service as an added cost menu service by Kevin Grocki of the Salem Public Library.  Kevin will be providing this service as a NOBLE employee.

v      Martha and Michele attended the quarterly Virtual Catalog Users Group meeting last week at C/W MARS.  The current interface will remain stable for at least a year as the new Dynix URSA system implementation continues to be delayed.

v      The November meeting schedule will be shifted slightly earlier due to conflict with MLA’s 21st Century Literacies meeting.  The Member’s meeting will be held on Thursday November 10 and the Executive Board meeting will be held on Wednesday November 2.

v      Commissioner Michelle Mann of the MBLC, a Beverly Library supporter, has resigned from the Commission.

v      Delivery issues continue to be a concern.  A system-wide check of the in-transit items list showed that many of the items though to be in transit were in fact on the shelves of NOBLE libraries, though not necessarily at the appropriate libraries.  NOBLE will continue to facilitate the reporting of missing items for member libraries.

v      The Chairs of NOBLE working groups will be contacting members shortly to begin working on their projects for the upcoming year.

 

Transfer of Funds: Ron requested that the Board approve the transfer of $15,303 from capital to operating funds to cover the cost of replacing twelve training room PCs with new PCs and flat screen monitors.  The capital funds for this purchase were derived from NMRLS facility rental contracts.  Ron also requested transfers of $12,932.50 from capital to cover the cost of the final payment of the central site telecomm upgrade and $3,962.70 for NOBLE’s share of the PacketShaper.  A Gates Foundation grant paid for 2/3 of the PacketShaper and NOBLE’s share was paid from operating funds last year, though a transfer from capital to cover the expenditure was never made. 

 

Linda Hummel-Shea forwarded a Motion to approve the transfer of $32,198.20 from capital funds to operating funds as outlined above.  The Motion was seconded by Dennis Kelley and unanimously approved.

   

FY 2007-9 Technology Plan:  Ron asked for Board approval or comments regarding the NOBLE 3-year Technology Plan.  Upon approval, Ron will send it to Paul Kissman of the MBLC for final approval.  The Plan includes a provision for new servers toward the end of the planning period.  It also includes a provision for the next generation of  “smart” security software.  The Plan also calls for the upgrade of NOBLE telephone equipment.  Linda Hummel-Shea praised the thoroughness of the Technology Plan.  Dennis Kelley forwarded a Motion to approve the FY 2007-9 NOBLE Technology Plan.  Motion was seconded by Elisabeth Tully and unanimously approved.

 

New Business: Board members briefly discussed MLA’s and individual libraries’ role in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.  Board members expressed a variety of opinions regarding appropriate and meaningful contributions.

 

 

Adjournment.

 

Respectfully submitted:

 

 

Martha Holden, Secretary