Minerva Users Council Executive Board, September 9, 2009

10:05 am – Meeting called to order by Steve Norman.

In attendance were board members: Jay Scherma, Martha Ott, Karen LaForgia, Steve Norman, Cindy White, Liz Doucett, Shelly Davis, and Janet Blood (via telephone). Also attending were: Alisia Revitt , Maine InfoNet; Dean Corner, Maine State Library; Judy Frost, Minerva representative to the Maine InfoNet Board; and Cyndi Burne, Topsham Public Library and Circulation Standards committee chair.

The minutes of the August meeting were accepted.

Reports

Maine InfoNet CEO

James submitted a written report, read by Alisia. Telephone screenings for the newly opened position will commence tomorrow. A new intern will be starting shortly to assist with tickets, training, and the website. (She is a student studying systems librarianship.) There will be a meeting on September 22 to continue talks on creating a 501c3 organization – specifically related to Maine InfoNet, but also mentioning Minerva. The delivery system is up again and requesting is back. There may be some language added to the MARVEL! page along the lines of “paid for by…” Also, there may be something added to indicate where users are originating. Ursus has upgraded to Millennium version 2009. Minerva will update later in the year – users must be using the most up-to-date software clients. Relating to the Maine Download Library, there are now 1,062 audio titles. There have been 16,700 checkouts – 748 in the past week. 51% of the collection is checked out at any one time, and there are only four titles that have never been checked out.

Minerva Technical

Alisia reported that the requesting re-start went remarkably well – thanks to staff at all the libraries involved. She will run another sweep to try and catch stuck holds. MaineCat has been clogged due to very heavy requesting.

Delivery (Old Business)

Dean reported that RMC has not done terribly well in the southern part of the state. The operations manager quit and the previous staffer came back. There have been some bumps, but the situation should improve. The company has purchased trucks and hired staff.

Maine InfoNet Representative

Judy reported that a number of people will be involved in revamping the Minerva “Agreement to Participate” – James, Linda Lord, Nancy Crowell, and others. It is difficult to know what to do about the libraries that have not paid their dues. There are only a few, and the second billing notice will go out soon. It was noted that demanding payment is not punitive; but is a matter of fairness to all other members. A review of the Nonpayment Policy revealed that the overdue notice goes out by September 15 and may be followed by telephone calls. System passwords are suspended November 1st and a fee equal to 10% of the annual dues will then be required to lift the suspension. On or after December 31, non-paying libraries may have their membership revoked. Judy noted that the Maine InfoNet (MIN) board will support our decisions.

There will be some work done on the Maine InfoNet website – it will be transferred from Maine.gov. Work continues on the creation of a 501c3 entity and they will keep Minerva in mind. The MIN board is also looking at Solar and how to provide better service to make it the “last piece” of MaineCat.

Jay mentioned that as there is no Maine Libraries Conference this year, perhaps Maine InfoNet could sponsor a workshop series on III Millennium. Judy will bring his suggestion to the MIN board which has been considering ways to bring libraries together, utilizing momentum from the Collection Development Summit. Judy will also see if minutes from that meeting can be published on the web.

Finance

Jay announced that we are solvent, even with the $2,000 emergency delivery payment. We have a new account representative at NELINET, Susan Abbot. Our previous representative left and we were not informed. Liz made a motion and Karen seconded to authorize Jay and Steve to hire a new financial officer. The motion passed unanimously.

Circulation Standards Committee

Cyndi Burne reported that not all libraries are using the price field to reflect the retail cost of materials – some leave it blank, other use a default amount. This will make it difficult to use that field in settling-up among libraries. The matter will be brought to the cataloging standards committee. A circulation listserv is ready to go. She will come back in November with recommendations from the Circulation Standards committee.

Cataloging Standards Committee

The committee submitted a written report. The committee will meet on September 15 and will finalize their recommendations on standardizing codes. They will also review how meeting attendance is shaping up. They have one vacant position on their committee.

Statistics

No report

Membership

The committee will meet on September 14 (subject to change.)

Old Business

Financial Officer

See above.

Minerva Bags

Bags are ready for pick-up. An attempt will be made to bring them to the Users Council meeting for dispersal.

Delivery

See above.

Nonprofit Status

See above.

Agreement to Participate

See above.

Library Thing

Steve has corresponded with Tim Spaulding. Gale now owns LibraryThing. He noted that LibraryThing would not answer the readers’ history privacy issue – we would still be open to Patriot Act National Security Letters. It is more of a discovery tool.
New Business

Users Council meeting

Set for Wednesday, November 4, at 10:00 am in Topsham. There will not be an executive board meeting on November 11 (Veteran’s Day). Regarding the 2010 membership fee, Jay made a motion and Cindy seconded that Steve will put out a notice to the Minerva list that it will remain the same as 2009. The motion passed unanimously.

Unique Management Collection Agency

Raised by the Auburn librarian. This is a kinder, gentler collection agency that works with many libraries with much success. However, our libraries are quite diverse, and the issue of how we would sign a contract given our uncertain status as an organization is daunting. The discussion was dropped.