In attendance: Nancy Crowell, Kevin Davis, Shelly Davis, Janet Elvidge, Steve Norman, James Jackson Sanborn (remote), Alisia Revitt (remote), Liz Soares, Amber Tatnall (remote), Lynn Uhlman, Cindy White

The meeting was called to order at approximately 10:02 pm.

1. Review and acceptance of the minutes of the July 20 meeting – Shelly Davis made a motion to approve the minutes as amended (Janet Blood changed to Janet Elvidge under item #2), Liz Soares seconded, and the minutes were approved by the board.
2. Old business
   • Review of Minerva policies – Steve Norman reported that Pam Turner and Kevin Davis have completed this task. Steve thanked them for all their hard work.
   • Open lending/collection development issues – James Jackson Sanborn raised the issue of libraries setting items’ status to non-requestable in MaineCat. Ten libraries have significant chunks of their collections set to this status. The largest category is DVDs. Lynn Uhlman asked if perhaps libraries were not aware that they were doing this and James responded no. Kevin wondered if this had ever been discussed at the board level. After some discussion, it was decided that Steve Norman and James Jackson Sanborn would talk to the libraries involved.
   • Minerva strategic planning – Steve Norman reported that the notes from the planning session with Jane Haskell have been sent out to attendees. He asked for feedback about how to share with the full Minerva membership. It was decided to wait to share the information regarding strategic planning until the October Users Council meeting. Steve thanked all who participated in the process.
3. New business
   • Minerva mission statement – Per the action steps developed at the strategic planning session on August 2 Steve Norman and Cindy White took a second look at the proposed mission statement (Minerva provides the structure, systems, and support for member libraries to enhance services to library users through collaboration.) and did not feel any changes were necessary. The board looked at the statement and decided to revise it as follows: Minerva provides the structure, systems, and support for member libraries to enhance services to library patrons through collaboration. Nancy Crowell made a motion that the board endorse this statement and recommend sending it to the Users Council at the fall meeting. Janet Elvidge seconded this motion and the board approved it.
   • Updating Memorandum of Understanding – Steve Norman explained that the MOU was last signed in 2007 by Amy Averre, Karl Beiser, and Gary Nichols. As a point of clarification, it was noted that the Memorandum of Participation (MOP) is the document needed for individual members of Minerva to join, while the existing MOU outlines the relationship between Minerva, Maine InfoNet and MSL and describes Minerva’s governance. A small group, consisting of James Jackson Sanborn, Judy Frost and Steve Norman, was formed to investigate the next steps for updating the MOU.
   • Possible new committees – The strategic planning process resulted in a recommendation for some new Minerva committees and an action step of setting up these committees at the next board meeting. Steve Norman asked for and received volunteers to chair the following committees: Financial Feasibility Committee (Amber Tatnall), Communication/Marketing Committee (Liz Soares), and Innovation Committee (Tim McFadden or Shelly Davis).
   • Plan for Fall Users Council Meeting – Steve Norman asked for suggestions for a date and place for the fall Users Council meeting. It was decided to try for October at Topsham Public Library. We felt an all-day program with lunch would attract the most people.
4. Reports
   • Maine InfoNet – James Jackson Sanborn reported that MSL Outreach has been merged with URSUS. MILS, the III system for small libraries, has its second beta library joining, and setup is beginning on a third. InfoNet is working on documentation for MILS libraries and will present a program at the Maine Library Association conference. Bangor Public Library has decided to fund Novelist Select for URSUS.
   • Maine InfoNet Representative – no report.
   • Minerva Technical – Alisia Revitt reported on upgrades to Minerva/Sierra. The most recent fixed some of the problems with lists but a lot of libraries had to reinstall software. III is now issuing upgrades quarterly and Minerva staff have decided to wait a month after each release before installing the upgrade. Lynn Uhlman reported that there is a patch for the issue with billed items now returned not being cleared. The booking function is still in process. There will be statistics/create lists training at the MLA conference if you missed the recent session.
5. Committee Reports
   • Membership Committee – no report, however, Pam Turner would like to know if there are any potential new members. James Jackson Sanborn said there are none right now, but it is a good idea to open up the group to 1 or 2 new members. He suggested Pam contact him. He also noted that there will be a program on MILS at MLA in November.
   • Circulation Standards – no report.
   • Cataloging Standards – The committee sent a written report. Nancy Crowell made a motion to accept the recommendation regarding Thomas College from the Cataloging Standards report “that all DVDs in list #1be merged with existing DVD bibliographic records and corrections be made to include adding all information required in the 2field, and removing instructions to the cataloger in the 6XX and 7XX fields”, Liz Soares seconded the motion, and the board approved. Steve Norman will convey this information to Thomas College.
6. Adjournment – The meeting was adjourned at 11:am.

Next board meeting scheduled for November 4, 2015.

Respectfully submitted,

Cindy White