Maine Library Commission Minutes, April 26, 2011

The Maine Library Commission met at the Maine State Library on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 1:08 pm.

Members present: Karen Baldacci, Kathy Brunjes, Charlie Campo, Beth Edmonds, Inese Gruber, Mike Kennedy, Molly Larson, Joyce Rumery, Art Turley.

Members absent: Debe Averill, Liz Doucett, Barbara McDade, Steve Podgajny, Jamie Ritter, Dick Thompson.

Also present: Linda Lord, Dean Corner, Pam Goucher, Valerie Osborne (via ATM), Stephanie Zurinski.

Minutes

On a motion by Brunjes and a second by Campo, the minutes for March 31, 2011 were unanimously approved.

State Librarian’s Report

  • Legislation: National Library Legislative Day sponsored by the American Library Association is May 10. Joyce Rumery, Brian Sylvester (Maine Library Association legislative liaison) and James Jackson Sanborn (Maine InfoNet) are attending along with Linda.
    • LD 1033, an Act to Support Resource Sharing among Libraries, will have its hearing on Friday, April 29. Barbara McDade and Brian Sylvester are testifying; Pam Turner, director of Baxter Library in Gorham, hopes to attend the hearing.
  • Staffing: The vacant Library Division Director and Librarian I (rewritten to provide interlibrary loan back-up and responsibility for subscriptions and continuations) positions are eligible to be filled according to the Director of the Budget Service Center. Of the five other vacancies, MSL has asked to fill three positions: Librarian III (Southern Maine Library District consultant), Planning and Research Associate II (rewritten so that this person will assist with the technology needs of libraries), and Office Associate II (rewritten so that this person will provide back-up to the MSL web coordinator).
    • Most of these positions will provide relief to the Library Development staff (Janet McKenney, Valerie Osborne, Stephanie Zurinski, and Ellen Wood) who have taken on additional duties because of position vacancies.
  • Friends of the Maine State Library: The IRS forms for 501c3 status have been received. The complexity of the process will require the assistance of a lawyer. It is hoped that 501c3 status will be achieved by the fall. Board officers will be elected soon.
    • Representatives Lovejoy and Richardson distributed Friends membership forms in the Legislature and we have received $175 from five legislators.
  • Hallowell Paintings: Paintings and drawings of George Hallowell were left to MSL upon his death. They were to be “deposited” at MSL according to his instructions but there was no explicit statement that MSL had ownership of them.
    • MSL has not been able to display or care for the paintings.
    • A Hallowell heir interested in the disposition of the paintings visited MSL to photograph many works. She contacted the Bowdoin College Museum of Art to see if it would be interested in housing, displaying and maintaining these art works.
    • The State’s Attorney General’s office suggested that MSL make a permanent loan to Bowdoin. We are waiting to hear back from Bowdoin about this arrangement. MSL will confer with the AG’s office about approaching the Hallowell heirs for a written, formal approval of the disposition of the paintings.
  • Maine Reads : MSL is supporting the Maine Reads Community Literacy project which supplies grants to public and school libraries and literacy programs. Karen Baldacci is the driving force and catalyst behind this program.
  • Maine Health Management Coalition: This organization seeks to maximize improvement in the value of health care services delivered to MHMC members’ employees and dependents. MHMC is interested in promoting health literacy resources to the public through the libraries receiving videoconferencing equipment through the BTOP grant.
  • Libraries’ Annual Reports: 263 of 267 libraries submitted annual reports. The four who did not are not MSLN-connected libraries.
  • Leadership Maine: Linda attended a session sponsored by the Maine Development Foundation about its leadership program. She has submitted an application to participated.
  • LSTA: Initial budget figures from the Institute of Museum and Library Services indicates that MSL will receive about $75,000 less than in the past year.

Maine InfoNet

James Jackson Sanborn submitted a written report with highlights including the installation of a new MaineCat server and Amazon will be working with Overdrive to allow the downloading of Overdrive e-books onto Kindle readers.

Consultants

  • Stephanie Zurinski reported for Ellen Wood that the Food for Fines campaign (5/9-5/14) has attracted sixty libraries. Ellen is also working with Pam Goucher and school librarians to provide a webinar on e-books for school libraries.
  • A survey is being conducted to evaluate Snapshot Day and the publication generated from it.
  • Librarians were surveyed and many have expressed interest in leadership training.
  • A New Director’s Institute will be held in early June with an emphasis on how to navigate the MSL website.
  • The fall district council meetings will focus on e-books and several nationally recognized speakers will be on the program.

Janet McKenney submitted a written report on the status of the BTOP grant contract and the RFP for payroll services.

Other Business

Molly Larson attended a Recycling and Solid Waste Conference at the organizer’s invitation to demonstrate the value of the MARVEL databases. Some State employees were duly impressed by MARVEL and suggested that a link to it should appear on state department websites.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 2:27 pm.

Next Meeting

The next Commission meeting is on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 1:00 pm at MSL.

Respectfully submitted,

Dean Corner