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Home > About MSL > Library Commission > Minutes Sept.13, 2006

Maine Library Commission Minutes, September 13, 2006

The Maine Library Commission met at the Maine State Library on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2006 at 1:00 p.m.

Members present: Stephen Nichols, James Ritter, Karl Aromaa, Charles Campo, Suzanne Finn, Barbara Harness, Barbara McDade, Steve Podgajny, Joyce Rumery, Morehead Kennedy, Elizabeth Moran, Inese Gruber.

Members absent:  Elaine Albright, Glenna Nowell, Betty Fraser, Gretchen Asam.

Also in attendance:  Gary Nichols, Linda Lord, Karl Beiser, David Cheever, Benita Davis, Shirley Helfrich, Bonnie Dwyer.

  1. Approval of minutes, May 15, 2006:  Motion by: second by: Adopted Unanimously.  June 28, 2006: Motion by: second by: Adopted Unanimously.
  2. Announcements & Introductions:
    Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap was introduced as the Chair of the Maine State Cultural Building Task Force. (Human interest note: Before beginning his presentation, Secretary Dunlap announced that he once prepared hamburgers for Mike Kennedy while working in Northeast Harbor.)
  3. Maine State Cultural Building Task Force: Secretary Dunlap reported that the Task Force is weighing the pros and cons of several options regarding the current Cultural building: (1) expand, (2) renovate, (3) plan for a new facility, or (4) do nothing. The Task Force wants to do more than maintain the status quo because under the conditions in the current facility, occupying agencies under serve the public, e.g. the museum exhibits can’t be changed because there is no place to store them; there is no place for visual art; and the Archives and Library are out of space. Northeast Historic Films and the Maine Military Museum are among the agencies looking for space that might be included in a new cultural building. The estimated cost of a new facility is between $80,000,000 and $200,000,000. To renovate the existing building without increasing its footprint will cost approximately $40,000,000 and would not provide badly needed increased space. Financing sources being studies include: a bond package or bond packages and private donations.  Time lines and other logistics are being studied. The Task Force needs to report to the Legislature by the middle of January. Secretary Dunlap will provide agendas and minutes of Task Force meetings to all Commission members via Dave Cheever of the Cultural Affairs Council (who was praised by Gary Nichols for his work on this project). State Librarian Nichols and Commission members thanked the Secretary for his time and excellent report.
  4. Blaine House Conference on Libraries:  (See attached document from Steve Podgajny and Barbara McDade). Steve Podgajny reviewed the document he had prepared encouraging the Commission to support a Blaine House conference focused on public library issues. Gary Nichols stressed that we need to link this conference with the structural and funding issues facing Maine libraries. It was agreed that Special Libraries should be included as they face similar issues. After much discussion about encouraging the Department of Education to suggest a Blaine House Conference for school libraries, Chairman Nichols appointed Barbara McDade, Shirley Helfrich, and Steve Podgajny to organize and being working to plan this Conference for 2007. They will also invite 5 to 7 public library representatives to join the planning committee. Gary Nichols and Linda Lord from MSL will also work with the committee.
  5. Joint Legislative Committee: James Ritter presented the report of the Joint Legislative Committee.  (See attached document).  The report was very well received for its structure and content.
  6. Public Library Standards: Linda Lord, chairman of the MLA Standards Committee,  passed out drafts of the 2005 Maine Public Library Standards approved by the Maine Library Association Executive Board on July 6, 2006.  She explained that although the format and grammar are still being edited and typos are being corrected, the content will not change, and asked the Commission, on behalf of the Maine Library Association,  to study this document and offer a letter of support to be included with the Standards at its Nov. 1, 2006 meeting.
  7. Budget: Gail Waddell presented the overall MSL budget for the 2007 – 2008 biennium. 
  8. Cultural Affairs Council: David Cheever explained the legislative initiative of the CAC which include funding for New Century Grants and support for the work of the Maine State Cultural Building Task Force.  The stress on Maine’s creative economy will move forward regardless of election results in November.  The Maine Community Cultural Alliance, a 501 c (6) organization, has been resurrected to provide support for the work of the CAC. 
  9. Maine InfoNet Board: Karl Beiser, CEO of Maine InfoNet, reported that the InfoNet Board has met and chosen David Nutty of USM as its chair.  The Board is having a planning retreat at USM on Monday Sept 18 which will be facilitated by Arnold Hisrhown from NELINET.  Karl has spent his summer learning UM budgeting and other processes, developing an implementation plan for InfoNet at the request of the University to answer the question, “What would be accomplished if money were unlimited?”; training new staff member Deborah Hensler; serving on the Joint Legislative Committee, improving the Maine InfoNet web site, and seeking a replacement for his former position – among other tasks. 
    Future tasks include, but are in no way limited to: Reviewing and updating resource sharing polices through MaineCat; working on the MSL/Minerva/InfoNet Board relationships; dealing with data quality issues; and planning the addition of new MINEVA sites after the moratorium on new sites ends.
  10. Maine Library Commission Manual: Linda Lord will see that Commission members  receive the “Table of Contents” from the current Maine Library Commission handbook.  She, Dean Corner, and Gary Nichols will be reformatting, updating and revising this manual and input from Commission members about materials needed is critical.
  11. MSLN – Technology Plans and E-rate: Linda Lord reviewed the e-rate handout in the Commission packet.  Maine State Library staff  plays a critical role in training, technology plan approval and the federal e-rate application for MSLN sites (schools as well as libraries).  Janet McKenney, the new Learning and Technology Coordinator at MSL, has done a commendable job in training library staff how to prepare an e-rate acceptable technology plan.  This is staff and time intensive but very critical work for our libraries.  Linda also explained that the PUC is withdrawing from hands-on oversight of MSLN.  The resulting void will be filled by MSL and DOE.  The hope is to hire a Project Manager in the near future.
  12. LSTA Evaluation:  The Maine Library Commission serves as Maine’s LSTA Advisory Board.  Every five years, MSL is required to submit an LSTA evaluation report to the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.  The next report is due in March 2007 and six COSLINE states have contracted with Himmel and Wilson for consultant services in preparing the necessary report.  Maine Focus groups will be conducted by Himmel and Wilson staff  the week of Oct. 9 as follows:
    • Portland Public Library – Oct. 10 (Tuesday) 10-12 a.m.
    • Maine State Library – Oct. 11 (Wed.) 10-12 a.m.
    • Bangor Public Library – Oct. 12 (Thursday) 10-12 a.m.
    • Caribou Public Library – Oct. 13 (Friday) 10-12 a.m.
    • Public Library Directors will be invited to participate in these focus groups.
  13. Consultants’ Reports:
    • Shirley Helfrich, SMLD Regional Consultant reported on:
      • Reference Librarians Group Meetings.
      • Library of the Month (Fryburg).
      • New Library Directors’ Orientation.
      • Fall Council Meeting – Nov 3 – Theme, Gaming and New Technologies.
    • Bonnie Dwyer, CMLD Regional Consultant reported on:
      • Board focus on Marketing for 2006-2007 year.
      • CMLD exhibits at Literacy Fair, Senior Expo, Maine Adult Education Conference.
      • Library Mascot – Maine Coon Cat to be introduced in January at the Hall of Flags.
      • Fall Council Meeting – Nov. 2 – Theme, Organization
    • Benita Davis NMLD Regional Consultant reported on:
      • Marvel training
      • Individual library consulting needs (great)
      • Fall Council Meeting – Oct. 26 – no theme yet.
  14. Other business:  None
  15. Future Meeting Schedule:
    • All on Wednesdays at the Maine State Library Studio – 1:00 p.m.
      • Nov. 1, 2006
      • Jan, 10, 2007
      • March 7, 2007
      • May 9, 2007

Meeting adjourned at 3:50.

Respectfully submitted,
Linda Lord