October 23, 2015 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick
Call to Order – Steve Norman called the meeting to order at 10:20 am. (There were some technical difficulties getting the projection working.)
Welcome and Introduction – Steve welcomed attendees who then introduced themselves. Cindy White, secretary, circulated an attendance sheet for all to sign. (Attendance sheet is appended to these minutes.)
Review and approval of the minutes from June 18, 2015 Users Council meeting – Steve reported that this agenda item would need to be tabled as these minutes could not be located. However, he did note that most of this meeting was dedicated to a discussion of the SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) process.
Old Business
Minerva policies review – Steve Norman reported that Pam Turner and Kevin Davis have completed this process and Steve needs to post the results on the Minerva website. We will be putting a procedure in place for systematically tracking policies.
New Business
Strategic Planning and moving forward – Steve Norman reviewed the process that has been underway regarding strategic planning. At the spring Users Council, there was a discussion of the SWOT process led by Amber Tatnall. The data generated was sent to Minerva members via a Survey Monkey assessment. Steve distributed the results of this survey. Jane Haskell, a strategic planning consultant, worked with the executive board at the July 7, 2015 meeting and again at an August 21 planning retreat. These efforts resulted in a proposed Minerva Mission Statement and some planned action steps for the board.
Minerva Mission Statement – Steve Norman presented the proposed Minerva Mission Statement:
Minerva provides the structure, systems, and support for member libraries to enhance services to library patrons through collaboration.
Nancy Crowell made a motion to accept the Mission Statement as proposed, Liz Doucette seconded, and the Users Council voted to accept it.
New committees: Innovation, Communications/Marketing, Financial Feasibility – Steve Norman explained that the strategic planning process resulted in a recommendation to form these three new committees. More information will be forthcoming and members are needed.
Memorandum of Understanding – Judy Frost is working with a small group on revising the Memorandum of Understanding. The document currently in place dates from 2007 and needs to be updated.
Reports
Minerva Executive Board (Steve Norman) – Steve had no official report.
Maine InfoNet Director (James Jackson Sanborn) – James reported that the sales tax exemption is now on the books as of October 2015. III has been sold to a venture capital firm from UT; there has been a CEO change and there is an interim CEO. Bangor Public Library will be closed from Nov. 16 until early Jan. 2016. They will still be accepting returns and maintaining delivery one day per week. Maine Shared Collections is now being billed through InfoNet. MSL Outreach is now in URSUS. SMS text messaging for notices will be available in a week; this is a patron opt-in.
Maine InfoNet Representative (Judy Frost) – Judy stated Maine InfoNet has a strategic planning group and also has a membership committee. Both will be meeting next week. She is looking for feedback regarding membership models. Maine InfoNet, unlike Minerva, has no contingency fund, so needs to consider different membership models in terms of finances.
Minerva Technical (Alisia Revitt and Lynn Uhlman) – Alisia reported that there will be a Sierra update on Nov. 11 and it will require a short period of downtime. It will include the fix for removing fines. If your system is behind a locked firewall, you will need admin rights in order to install java/jar files. Lynn Uhlman gave a passionate plea for all libraries to run daily notices, particularly paging slips and clearing the hold shelf. The problems with stuck holds are caused by daily tasks not being done by some libraries and causing the sytem to get “gummed up.”
Finance and Budget (Amber Tatnall) –Amber reported that the budget is in order and all bills are paid. She has renewed the RDA Toolkit, paid Jane Haskell, purchased Novelist Select. She has also working on creating the Financial Feasibility Committee, which she will chair, and switched funds to the 503(c).
Committee Reports
Circulation (James Rathbun) – James reported that the Circulation Committee has worked on generic logins for Sierra circulation. Also they have worked to educate libraries regarding the Request Items with Title-Level Holds option which was enabled last summer.
Cataloging (Katherine Morgan) – Katherine reported that the next Cataloging Roundtable is Nov. 6 and reminded people of the attendance requirements. A standard for on-order records was developed. A copy of her report is appended.
Membership (Pam Turner) – Pam was unable to attend but informed Steve that she is
resigning as chair. Steve noted that he wanted to publicly thank Pam for all the work she has done for Minerva over the years.
Other – Jay Scherma stated that he felt the Minerva executive board should examine the issue of codes (number and distribution) during 2016. He made a motion that this be done and Susan Preece seconded. Alisia Revitt commented that she is curious what would the consequences be if a library doesn’t want to changed its codes. A voice vote was held and the motion passed.
Adjournment – The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucinda (Cindy) White
__________________________________________________________________
The morning’s User Council Meeting was followed by a catered lunch, then an afternoon program:
Minerva Libraries Showcase 1:00-2:30
Ellen Dyer – Disaster Planning from Maine’s Cultural Emergency Resource Coalition (CERC)
Sarah Sugden – Waterville Public Library’s Workforce Development Initiative
Peggy O’Kane and Adam Fisher – Digital Maine Project: Saving Yesterday for Tomorrow
