Minerva Executive Board 11/9/11

Minerva Executive Board Meeting

Maine State Library Studio

 

Nov. 9, 2011

 

In attendance: Kevin Davis, Shelly Davis, Judy Frost, Pam Gormley, James Jackson Sanborn, Nikki Maounis, Steve Norman, Betsy Pohl, Cindy White

 

o Call to Order – Kevin Davis, chair, called the meeting to order at 10:10 am.  Technical difficulties kept Gail Roy from attending from Northern Maine Community College.

 

o Acceptance of Minutes of the September 14, 2011 Meeting – minutes were approved as written.

o New Business

  • Mobile app for the OPAC – Members have asked if there is a mobile app for the catalog.  James Jackson Sanborn explained that there are two options.  The first is AirPAC from Innovative Interfaces.  The price he was quoted earlier in 2011 was [not public info. for more, consult James Jackson Sanborn].  The second option is LibraryAnywhere from LibraryThing by Bowker.  The pricing for this option is [not public info. for more, consult James Jackson Sanborn].  The URSUS libraries are going forward with LibraryAnywhere but the pricing is cheaper for them since it is based on the number of physical locations. The Board agreed that this is something we want to investigate further.   James offered to get current pricing for both products.  Board members were encouraged to look at sites that are using these two mobile apps.
  • Changes to membership costs – Some libraries need to budget for FY13 and beyond.  James anticipates a 3% increase in price from III.  We are not sure who has taken over the responsibility for the state-wide delivery service now that Dean Corner has retired.  The RFP goes out sometime in the spring.
  • Additional scopes – Carin Dunay had reported from the cataloging committee that there was interest in adding a scope for “just books.”  James noted that 2 additional scopes are about to be purchased:  one for Augusta schools and another for McArthur.  Since III charges around $3000 for 1-99 scopes, now would be a good time to add any additional scopes for the group as a whole.  Steve Norman made a motion that James implement a “just books” scope with the cost for all three new scopes split three ways among Augusta schools, McArthur, and all Minerva libraries.  Betsy Pohl seconded, and the motion passed.
  • Nikki Maounis brought 2 new items to the board.  The first was the need for new bags.  We believe the board last approved a purchase of bags in 2009 and Martha Ott made the arrangements.  Nikki made a motion to spend $3000 on the purchase of bags, this was seconded and passed.  Nikki will investigate purchasing new bags.
  • Nikki brought a second new item to the board which was a request from a Minerva library director to revisit the policy for loaning new materials.  An extensive discussion about open borrowing followed.  Some of the points were:  this is an educational issue for local patrons, the board needs to do a better job of communicating the benefits of open borrowing to Minerva members, the Circulation Committee could be used to provide some history and statistics regarding the issue.  Kevin suggested we set aside some time for this at the spring Users Council.  Steve Norman suggested that we refer the issue to the Circulation Committee and put it on the agenda for future meetings of the Executive Board so we can continue the discussion.

 

o Old Business

  • Agreement to Participate (Steve Norman) – The Executive Board has approved the current draft and the Maine InfoNet Board will be looking at it today.  Linda Lord has forwarded it to the Attorney General’s office for review.  Steve hopes to get the draft out to Minerva users two weeks before the Users Council.  Betsy Pohl noted that people should be encouraged to read it before the meeting and come prepared to discuss it.

o Reports

 

  • Maine InfoNet Representative (Judy Frost) – Maine InfoNet is not going to move to Sierra.  They will be looking at alternatives if, at some point, they have to move away from III.
  • Maine InfoNet/Minerva Technical (James Jackson Sanborn – James explained that we need to find a product which would be the equivalent of III’s INN-Reach and would integrate all MaineCat participants.  This needs to be both technically and financially feasible.  Sierra does not fit the bill since it would cost $96,000 for early migration and it is beta software.  James noted that “for $96,000 we need transformative change.”

New invoices for the Download Library will be going out around the end of November.  Schools are still not able to join.  There are now 6,431 items (ebooks and audiobooks).  Some libraries are starting with Overdrive’s Library Advantage program.  This enables them to create their own custom collection for a cost of around $1000 per library.  Interested libraries may contact James for more information.

  • Finance (Nikki Maounis) – Nikki’s report was sent by email.
  • Circulation Standards Committee  – no report.
  • Cataloging Standards Committee (Katherine Morgan)  – report sent by email.
  • Membership Committee  – no report.
  • Statistics Committee – no report.

 

o Other – The next board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2012.  The Users Council meeting is scheduled for Dec. 7, 2011 at Topsham Public Library.

 

o Adjournment – Nikki made a motion to adjourn, Betsy seconded and the meeting adjourned at 12:15 pm.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Cindy White