Meeting Minutes

Location: Topsham Public Library

In attendance: Karen LaForgia, Steve Norman, Jay Scherma, Nelson Eubanks, Betty Hughes, Ann Siekman, Kevin Davis, Marian Peterson, Karen Valley, Shelly Davis, Colleen Crowley, Sally Leahey, Dora St. Martin, Anne Phillips, Janet Blood, Cindy White, Amy Averre, Wendy Hysko, Laurie McQuarrie, Martha Ott, Cyndi Burne, Susan Preece, Debbie Lozito, Kathy Malloy, Candy Emlen, Jennifer Lewis, Melora Ranney Norman, James Jackson Sanborn, Tim Pellet, Sarah Sugden, Peggy Malley, Karl Aromaa, Patty Friedman, Nikki Maounis, Lisa Gallant, Marian Dalton, Rebecca Francis, Karen Jones, E. Marilyn Sotirelis, Steve Russo, Den Hensler, Cindy Jackson-Dareny, Ellen Conway, Carin Dunay, Nancy Crowell, Pam turner, Judy Frost

10:01 Meeting called to order

Welcome ~ Pam Turner

Acceptance of Minutes
Motion made: Nancy Crowell
Second: Steve Norman
Passed

Reports

Minerva Executive Board – Pam Turner:

Board has been very busy with III negotiations.  All are welcome to attend executive meetings.

Maine InfoNet – James Jackson Sanborn:

• III contract is close to being finalized.  Contract is a combined contract for Ursus, Solar, and Minerva.
• Vacant InfoNet systems position was subject to hiring freeze in effect for this calendar year.  InfoNet is in the process of hiring a part-time student position to help Deb with projects.
• InfoNet downloadable project is going forward with a tentative go-live January date. Recently awarded a $4,000 grant to purchase content.
• Investigating making Maine InfoNet a 5013C agency to be eligible for grants and more flexibility as an organization
• Funding to host a statewide collection development workshop/study and/or survey to streamline collection development
• Investigating open source ILS systems and their inclusion in InfoNet

Minerva Technical – Deb Hensler:

• Upgrade to release 2007 in late summer – has not happened due to lack of staff, technical reasons.  Upgrade should happen in January
• General system issues – statistics issues noticed by Kevin Davis sent to help desk.  The faster these issues are reported, the better chance of recovering actual numbers.
• Support system in place, seems to be working really well.  Any questions related to using Millennium should be sent to the help desk.
• Standards that are not being followed when entering patron names into the system become an issue when patrons try to access Marvel and downloadable audio books.

Finance – Jay Scherma:

• Passed out copy of November reports (see attached)
• Excess funds have been tapped repeatedly to update software, delivery, bags, etc.  At end of fiscal 2008, funds were gone.  There are no reserves left in Minerva funds.
• New contract with III does have yearly escalator clause at 8% or CPI for San Francisco, whichever is lower
• Pam Gormley is our financial officer and she is responsible for keeping Minerva’s books.

New Business – Pam Turner

Annual membership fee increase

Through long discussions at executive board meetings, board felt a $1,000 increase would be necessary.  At last meeting, the board was informed that there would be a $750.00 increase bringing annual cost of being part of Minerva to $3750.00.  Libraries should plan on a 4-8% increase for the July 2010 fiscal year.  Van delivery and Syndetics are also part of Minerva fees.

Van delivery contract is up in May or June.  We do not have a firm idea of van delivery increases at this time.  A possible increase could be $14.50 per library per day.  With gas prices coming down, that figure could change.

Streamlining rules due to staff shortage

Lending rules could be streamlined to 5 or 6 profiles to streamline maintenance. Currently we have 471 loan rules in our system. If libraries change their rules to match existing Minerva loan rules, it makes it easier for patrons.

To see current loan rules, go to:

Millennium Circulation – admin – parameters – circulation – loan rules – then Minerva

Each type of library (public, school, special, academic) should have appropriate loan rules.

Committees have been working on recommended loan rules to be presented to member libraries.  We have to streamline rules due to limited staffing.

Book budgets and our new economic reality

Users Agreement to Participate states that:

 

Recognizing that Minerva resources cannot substitute for the building of a strong local collection, libraries will maintain a commitment to local collection development as evidenced by maintenance of the library’s acquisitions budget at or above the most recent three-year acquisitions budget average. Should a special circumstance arise, a library will furnish a statement describing the nature of the special circumstance.

 

This statement can be used to justify need and protect budgets to boards.

Pam Turner excused herself, Steve Norman, Vice Chair took over.

Committee Reports

Membership – Pam Turner

Circulation – Kevin Davis:

Issues committee has been working on:

• Respect for records, both patron and items.
• Best practices on notices, patron records

Cataloging – Carin Dunay

Cataloging committee has sent several policies to board for approval:

• Attendance at cataloging meetings is required at 3 per year.  DVD’s of meetings are available for libraries unable to attend due to hardships.  If library does not meet requirements, their ability to create/import new records will be turned off.
• Standardization for acceptable records.
• 791 field – There is an application to use this field which needs to be sent to committee for approval.
• Blue Ray will be cataloged as DVD, put note in 538 that it is Blue Ray.

Statistics – Will meet after holidays

Other

Steve Norman – Executive Board has been considering different models for membership fee structures.  Several different formulas have been explored using a tiered system.  Initial discussions began in Membership committee meetings, and then continued in Executive Board meetings.  Population, material budget, collection size, and circulation have been some of the variables that have been explored thus far.

Cindy White mentioned the possibility of reducing services (delivery, Syndetics) has also been discussed to curb expenses.

Sarah Sugden suggested seriously looking at our modules, scopes and bundled features for ways to reduce costs. Surveying patrons to see what features they love and which they can do without might provide direction for a long-term plan for Minerva.

Motion to adjourn meeting: Nancy Crowell
Meeting adjourned at 12: 16

Respectfully Submitted,
Karen LaForgia