NOBLE Executive Board meeting
December 7, 2005
@ NOBLE
In
Attendance: Dennis
Kelley, Deb Abraham, Mary Rose Quinn, Sue Koronowski, Elisabeth Tully, Barbara
LaChance, Linda Hummel-Shea, Martha Holden , Representing NOBLE- Executive
Director Ron Gagnon, Elizabeth Thomsen, Martha Driscoll.
Call
to Order: Sue
Koronowski called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m.
Approval
of Minutes: Motion
to approve Minutes of November 2, 2005 Executive Board meeting forwarded by Deb
Abraham, seconded by Elisabeth Tully and unanimously approved. .
Treasurer’s
Report: The
Treasurer’s Report was distributed for Executive Board approval. NOBLE is on target for this point in the
fiscal year. Barbara LaChance forwarded
a Motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report.
Motion was seconded by Linda Hummel-Shea and unanimously approved.
v
Ron
addresses the issue of continued Internet slowness in libraries. Atrion discovered the problem to be with a
router that had been assigned more volume than it could handle. The new UMASS line will use different
technology that should alleviate the problem.
The new technology is an Ethernet connection on a single line that will
replace the four T1 lines that currently come in from Tier 3. The Ethernet line will connect directly to
the switch through the firewall without going through a router. The router currently separates NOBLE traffic
from other network traffic, but the firewall will provide basically the same
function. Atrion will continue to
monitor the lines and will work with UMASS if any problems arise.
The new ISP change to UMASS is expected to take
place next week. No “downtime” is
anticipated, but if there is any problem it not affect Millennium but Internet
access only. EBSCO and NMRLS have been contacted
and informed about the new public IP addresses as the databases are affected by
the change.
v
NOBLE’s
server replacement is scheduled to take place in January. Innovative has not yet scheduled a specific
date. There will be some downtime
affecting libraries during the replacement of the server, but it should be
brief, and hopefully will be scheduled early in the morning. NOBLE received grant funds for server
replacement and federated searching.
v
Ron
reported that Elizabeth Thomsen is scheduling federated searching demos for
mid- January. Innovative’s Metafind,
WebFeat and the Serial Solutions
product will be available for demo at that time. WebFeat appears to be less useful for networks because the
product cannot be customized as well as comparable products. BPL uses WebFeat with mixed results. Elizabeth reported that each has different
strengths – Innovative is a company we have good experience working with; Serial
Solutions has an established product. Elizabeth also mentioned Index Data, an
open source product, worth considering because we would actually own the
product.
v
Ron
reported that he attended a Network Administrators meeting in Worcester on
November 22. At that meeting he and
Martha spoke about Bluesocket implementation.
There was also a discussion about packet shaping and network
issues. A representative from UMASS was
present to discuss UMASS’ work regarding Internet 2.
v
The
NMRLS Delivery Committee met on December 1.
The committee created new delivery slips, copies of which were
distributed to those present. The new
slips are based on location identification by a numbering system as opposed to
library name. It is hoped that this
will streamline the sorting process. It
was agreed that Region currently does not purchase enough truck capacity to
handle the volume of ILL traffic, resulting in delivery delays and the tying up
of items in the system for an lengthy time.
The committee worries that libraries will be reluctant to lend their materials
in this situation. The committee is
also discussing the issue of media damage to items in transit.
v
Ron
met with a representative of AdTech to discuss improvements to the training
room. He is waiting for pricing on a
ceiling mounted projector and sound system for the room.
v
NOBLE
purchased a new PC to use as a proxy server, but has not yet implemented
it. Several libraries are piloting the
program at this time. Lynn received
funding for wireless implementation and will be working with Atrion to
implement wireless after Jan. 1.
v
MBLC
approved NOBLE’s 3-year technology plan.
Deadline for filing Form 470 and 471 for e-rate funding is February 16.
v
Elizabeth,
Marilyn and Ron attended MLA Technology Day as part of the 21st
Century Literacies Conference in Lowell last month. They also went to the NMRLS Annual meeting in Methuen. Ron attended an MLA workshop on federated
searching.
Bylaw
Review: NOBLE bylaws as written do
not address the issue of an Executive Board member who is no longer serving as
Director of a NOBLE library. Ron consulted
with NOBLE’s Attorney Rod Hoffman who had worked on the bylaws in 1996. NMRLS
recently revised their bylaws to address this issue but after reviewing these,
Ron felt NOBLE needed more options than NMRLS allowed. Ron felt NOBLE should consider offering more
flexibility for leaves and transfers from one library to another NOBLE
library. Ron recommended that NOBLE’s
Executive Board retain the option to vote to allow a person in certain
situations to continue his or her Executive Board membership. Ron distributed language drafted by Attorney
Rod Hoffman to address these issues.
These consist of revisions to the bylaws in Sections 4.11 and 5.10. Copy of document distributed by Ron is
attached hereto and made a part hereof.
After
discussion of language, Linda Hummel-Shea forwarded a Motion to approve the
change of Sections 4.11 and 5.10 of the NOBLE Bylaws as recommended by
counsel. The Motion was seconded by
Elisabeth Tully and unanimously approved.
Regional
Delivery Label Grant: The MBLC is interested in providing grant funding for the creation of a
delivery labeling model that can be implemented statewide. The next III release will provide a better
mechanism for labeling for the lender library but not for the return of items
by the borrowing library. The
subsequent release has more capabilities for customization. We need to integrate the label numbering
system into the Innovative product. Ron
queried the Executive Board on their interest in participating in the grant
program at this time. He recommended
authorizing NOBLE to work with NMRLS on the grant request. The request will come before the entire
Board before final approval. Another
alternative to trying to configure the Innovative product is to implement a
third party software program that can provide this service. Elizabeth Thomsen will continue to explore
NOBLE’s options.
A
Motion to authorize NOBLE staff to work with NMRLS on the grant was forwarded
by Mary Rose Quinn, seconded by Deb Abraham, and unanimously approved.
Confidentiality
Policy:
The
Executive Board had reviewed sample draft confidentiality policies distributed
by Ron prior to the meeting. Ron had
included a NOBLE draft that will be reviewed by Atty. Rod Hoffman. Atty.
Hoffman will work with the NOBLE Executive Board to develop procedures to deal
with governmental requests. As Doug Rendell’s participation is instrumental to
the discussion given his past experience in working on the original
confidentiality policy and his recent research on behalf of the Board, it was agreed
that this initial discussion would not result in definitive action or
approval. Ron discussed the issues that
make the creation of an effective confidential policy complicated, particularly
the polarity of users regarding issues of privacy. Many of the recently available technological opportunities have
privacy implications, including “underdue” notices, Library Elf, and software
that requires 3rd party log in to validate customer
information.
Elizabeth
Thomsen reported that confidentiality issues were addressed at the Annual Circ
Review. A discussion ensued concerning
practical everyday issues such as the use of shredders for disposal of paper,
and NOBLE’s practice of not using the
actual patron database for training
purposes. It was agreed that NOBLE
libraries could benefit from training of desk staff on general issues of
confidentiality. Software vendors who
work with NOBLE and individual libraries will also be required to sign off on
NOBLE’s Confidentiality Policy so that they will have an obligation to meet
NOBLE standards of confidentiality regardless of the vendors’ own internal
policies.
Working
Group Update:
Ron
reported that all working groups met last week and are making good
progress. The Electronic Resources and
Database Working Group attended NOBLE’s “Keeping It All Together” session and
used information gathered at that event to endorse four policies two days
later. The Resource Sharing Working
Group met on November 28 to identify issues to be addressed in January and
February. In January they will be
working on customer database and registration policies and in February, they
will address college/ public registration.
The Collection Management Working Group is working on identifying
strengths in different libraries, and also working on Dewey/LC correlations.
Adjournment.-
4:55p.m.
Respectfully
submitted:
Martha
Holden, Secretary