Maine InfoNet Board Minutes, July 22, 2009
The Maine InfoNet Board met at the University of Maine in Orono on July 22, 2009 at 1:10pm.
Members present: Richard Boulet, Director, Blue Hill Public Library; Cora Damon, Librarian, Maine General Medical Center; Judith Frost, Director of Library Services, CMCC; Clem Guthro, Director, Colby College Libraries; Linda Lord, Deputy State Librarian/Acting State Librarian; Barbara McDade, Director, Bangor Public Library; David Nutty, Director of Libraries at USM; Elizabeth Reisz, Director of Library Media Services, York Schools; Joyce Rumery, Dean of Libraries at UM.
InfoNet staff present: James Jackson Sanborn, Executive Director; Nelson Eubanks; Marilyn Lutz; Tim Pellet; Alisia Revitt.
Members absent: Ralph Caruso, CIO University of Maine System; Steve Podgajny, Director, Portland Public Library; Richard Thompson, Chief Information Officer, State of Maine.
Minutes:
On a motion by Clem, seconded by Joyce, the minutes of the June 24, 2009 were unanimously approved as corrected.
State Wide Delivery Service:
NCS, new state delivery service vendor, is unable to honor their contract. They will deliver backlog of materials in the warehouses by July 28. A new vendor has been found and hopefully service will be re-instated by mid August. URSUS has not taken any technical action to suspend borrowing. Lending and borrowing is being handled through postal delivery. Minerva turned off web-based requesting July 16. Instructions have been posted on how to handle backlog of items waiting to be picked up, and on how to place local holds. MaineCat web-based requesting has also been turned off, affecting SOLAR and stand-alone libraries. Recommend that requesting not be turned back on for one week after the backlog in warehouses has been delivered. The collapse of delivery service demonstrates its importance in the state as a cooperative system. Press coverage reinforced its value.
Executive Director Report
Position most recently vacated has been renamed Library Systems Manager. Posting is imminent. Search Committee will be James, Rich, David and Judith.
Received approval to expand the offices into the adjourning apartment to create a conference room and additional work space for staff and student or temporary workers.
Service updates:
Audiobooks: Portland Public Library will purchase additional titles at their expense that will be made available to all member libraries. Increase use of iPods has created more support requests because of technical hurtles. James and Barbara will work on promotion for the service.
Minerva: Minerva Board is working on creating a new organizational structure and is developing a new agreement to participate. Current language is outdated and not consistent for all member libraries.
SOLAR: librarian at the Seacoast Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport has expressed interest in using SOLAR on a limited basis as a reference only collection. Rich expressed concern about allowing a new member even on a limited basis. James will follow up with board after further discussion with the requesting library. MIN staff are about to do a test batch upload of Koha records from Blue Hill.
Regional Library System: Northeastern Maine Library District is working on a new technology plan that would encompass all the libraries in the district as a model for all three library districts. Barbara recommended that MIN be involved. Clem suggested that we consider inviting the district consultants to be a part of the board since they are so knowledgeable about what is happening in the field. Linda suggested we might consider Janet McKenney as a representative of the consultants who has considerable technology experience with libraries across the state.
Collection Summit follow up
Clem reviewed the collated notes from the Summit and has drafted a recommendation for getting constituencies together again to discuss several topics in greater depth. The proposal needs more development before presentation to potential donor. MLA will be holding a fall conference October 30. Would it make sense to hold a followup to the Summit in conjunction with that meeting? Steve also suggested a meeting on the future of government documents which could be included as part as a followup to the Summit.
Website discussion follow up
David learned at ALA that the content management system we have been considering, Drupal, is an excellent product but requires considerable technical expertise. An alternative is WordPress which is less complex and more manageable. We need to look more carefully at available tools.
501c3 update
Barbara, Steve and James need to develop a list of what it is we want to accomplish and some questions to ask a legal consultant.
Staff Comments
Need to explore open source alternatives as the wave of the future. Established ILS vendors are resistant to integration of open source such as Koha. Management would be much easier if we could standardize loan rules. Minerva is looking at piloting standardized loan rules for academic libraries. Need to reactivate effort to simplify loan rules across Minerva. Marilyn is just beginning to work on an NTIA state broadband data and development program grant application for building broadband network and computer information centers. Program would involve public libraries, but needs more of a community slant.
Other business
Need to include SOLAR and MSLN on future agenda.
Adjourned at 3:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Elizabeth Reisz, Recording Secretary
