NOBLE Executive Board Meeting

August 08, 2007

@ NOBLE

 

Attendees:

o        NOBLE Executive Director Ron Gagnon, Linda Hummel-Shea, Martha Holden, Doug Rendell, Karen Pangallo, Sue Koronowski, Lorraine Jackson, Mary Rose Quinn, Barbara LaChance

 

 

  1. Call to Order:

 

The regular meeting of the NOBLE Executive Board was called to order at 2:15 on August 8, 2007 at NOBLE by President Linda Hummel-Shea.

 

  1. Approval of Minutes

 

A motion to approve Minutes of the May 9, 2007 Executive Board meeting and the May 24, 2007 and June 14, 2007 special meetings was forwarded by Sue Koronowski, seconded by Doug Rendell, and unanimously approved.

           

  1. Vote to Accept Resignation of Mary Rose Quinn

 

Executive Board read Mary Rose Quinn’s letter of resignation as NOBLE Executive Board member and treasurer of NOBLE, effective August 8, 2007. Sue Koronowski moved with regret to accept Mary Rose’s resignation. The motion was seconded by Martha Holden and it was unanimously approved.

 

 

  1. Vote to Nominate Treasurer of Members Vote

 

Lorraine Jackson nominated Doug Rendell as treasurer. Martha Holden seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved. The Board discussed benefits and need for assistant treasurer. The Board unanimously agreed to not have an assistant treasurer at this time.

 

 

  1. Update/Discussion, Saugus Public Library

 

Mary Rose Quinn will be leaving her position as Director of Saugus Public Library as of Monday August 13, 2007.  The Board discussed what NOBLE can do to make a comment to Saugus or write a letter to the trustees in support for Mary Rose. Ron explained that NOBLE needs to be ready to explain to the Saugus trustees about simultaneous staff users and that any savings in reducing the number of simultaneous users won’t go into effect and won’t save money ($4000) until the following year. Saugus has signed its NOBLE contract but has not paid NOBLE bill as of 8/8/07. Ron made it clear that once the bill is paid, the Saugus collection will remain in NOBLE, circulation services will be provided, EBSCO will be available, acquisitions will be available (but there is NO money to buy books and materials) and the computer maintenance contract will still be in effect. Ron contemplated scenarios of NOBLE dealing with Saugus trustees and selectmen in the future. Regarding making a statement to Saugus Library Trustees, the region (NMRLS) can make more of a statement since trustees could decide to withdraw from NOBLE. Mary Rose answered questions and described the series of budgetary events that led to the current situation, its impact on staff, and the current use of volunteers. Volunteers can do limited library tasks (book cleaning) and aren’t working at the circulation desk because of patron privacy issues. MBLC has decertified the library and will pursue repayment of the loan for construction money used to build new library. State Aid hinges on number of hours library will be open in September (50.4 hours) and funding of library. Number of FTEs going from 4 to 3 in a few weeks. Saugus trustees looking to Chelsea and Medway for their library models. The Board discussed the effect this is having on property values and bond rating. 

 

 

  1. Treasurer’s Report

 

Doug Rendell distributed the Treasurer's Report as of June 30, 2007.  Ron commented on money for copier and why purchase has been held up; he is now waiting for the bill for the copier to arrive. Motion to approve the Treasurer's Report was forwarded by Sue Koronowski, seconded by Barbara LaChance, and unanimously approved. Ron discussed renewing CDs.  The balance is $579,641.11 at 4 ¼%. Ron suggested transferring the $23,633.79 in interest to the capital account. Motion to move the interest to the capital account was made by Doug Rendell, seconded by Martha Holden, and unanimously approved. The balance in the capital account is $929,737.96. The balance in the contingency fund is $675,000.

 

VII.    Director's Report           

 Following are items reported by Executive Director Ron Gagnon:

 

·         Ron and staff are considering throughput issues of Action Plan regarding new digital/metadata librarian. Ron will have the NOBLE Action Plan in to the MBLC by December. Education sessions on changes to the catalog will be held at Members meetings with 15 minute briefings on new technology.  NOBLE staff are all being briefed on this as well.

·         Ron is working on staff evaluations of his direct reports

·         George Lally & Marilyn Graves work areas were swapped to facilitate better communication and aesthetics

·         Ron worked with Paula to revise and distribute member contracts in July. First billing went out in first week of August.

·         Bluesocket wireless bills, for relevant libraries, were included in the NOBLE bills.

·         Ron attended the MBLC meeting on July 12.

·         Ron and Elizabeth Thomsen attended ALA in Washington DC and learned more about catalog front-end products such as Innovative’s Encore, TLC’s Aquabrowser, and Ex Libris’ Primo.

·         Elizabeth and Ron are speaking at the 2nd Annual Digital Library Conference, sponsored by the Digital Commonwealth, on October 25 at Holy Cross. NOBLE members can register using NOBLE corporate membership.  Mary Rose Quinn explained that Saugus digital genealogy and Civil War resources will still be available in digital format; print formats will be in a safe in Saugus.

·         Elizabeth has been visiting NOBLE libraries to update their EBSCO settings.

·         According to statistics on the Staff Information System, NOBLE use has increased across the board.

 

VIII.   Reauthorization of Working Groups

 

Ron distributed the list of the FY2007 Working Groups—Electronic Resources and Database Working Group, Resource Sharing Working Group, and the Collection Management Team. Ron stated that he has had 9 new volunteers for the groups and their names have been forwarded to Linda Hummel Shea for appointment. According to the by-laws, an Executive Board member needs to be on each group and we need one for the Electronic Resources and Database Working Group and the Collection Management Team. The motion by Doug Rendell to reauthorize the three working groups was seconded by Barbara LaChance and unanimously approved by the Board.

 

  1. Approval of FY2008 Executive and Members Schedule

 

The schedule of the Executive Board was amended and the first meeting in September will be on September 18, 2007. Barbara LaChance asked if a substitute could attend Executive Board meetings in lieu of the Executive member. Ron clarified that there can be no substitutes and only Executive Board members can participate in Executive Board meetings.

 

  1. Adjournment:

 

Motion to adjourn the meeting was forwarded by Martha Holden, seconded by Lorraine Jackson, and unanimously approved. Meeting was adjourned at 4:20p.m.

 

Minutes respectfully submitted by:

 

 

 

 

Karen Pangallo, Secretary