Present: As attached.

1. CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME - Doug Rendell. Doug called the meeting to order at 10:05 and welcomed everyone.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES. Minutes were not available, will be voted on at the next meeting.

3. TREASURER’S REPORT – Thomas Cesarz. Tom reported we are 66 2/3 % through the year and are at 60% of the budget’s operating subtotal. The Internet usage expenditure has showed some increase recently, and the equipment upgrade money has not been allocated yet. John Beauregard moved to accept the treasurer’s report, Camilla Glynn seconded the motion. The vote passed unanimously.

4. MANAGER’S REPORT – Ronald Gagnon. Ron reported that the renovations in the meeting room are just about complete. Carpets will be installed in a couple of weeks, and painting will be finished soon. The meeting room was expanded to allow us to accommodate more people for the interest group meetings. Ron reported he is working on contracts for the e-rate discount for fiscal year 2000. Contracts that have to be renewed include cellular phone, network maintenance, and Internet Service Provider. Also, looking into changing our ISP. There is a non-profit ISP through U-Mass that reportedly offers good service and price. Ron and Dean met with Paul Kissman of MBLC last Friday to discuss our PC Support Program. This is required to get the funding going for the second fiscal year. Paul also went to Everett and met with Deborah Abraham. Everything is reportedly going well. Ron reported that Dean has been working on the centralized diagnostic server. Some hardware is being ordered and we have prototypes from Intel and Microsoft that he will be testing. Ron, Elizabeth, and Martha are continuing to meet with perspective new members. Earlier this month they met with staff at Bradford and Northern Essex. We received Letters of Intent from Bradford and Merrimack Colleges, and are expecting Northern Essex shortly. The letters will be included with the grant. In a related matter NOBLE was approved by the MBLC for funding to help subsidize the startup costs for the new members. $44,000 for telecommunications equipment needed to connect to NOBLE, and $15,000 for data conversion.

Elizabeth Thomsen. Elizabeth reported she has hired Marilyn Graves of Bradford College for the ILL Librarian position, and Tara Mansfield for the part-time bibliographic clerk position. She gave a brief description of their qualifications and background. Marilyn will begin on April 26^th, and Tara will begin on March 22^nd. Internet Interest Group meeting coming up on Tuesday. There will be presentations from Nancy George of SSC, Jeff Klapes of Wakefield, and Diane Young and Kathy Miksis of Reading. Elizabeth reported the collection assessment information being entered into the WLN Conspectus software is almost complete. Reports will be sent out based on this information. Also the colleges will be receiving shortly their WLN interlibrary college reports.

Martha Driscoll. Martha stated that when the new ILL Librarian starts Michele Morgan will take over the technical assistant position full time. Martha reported there was a disk drive failure in the college system two weeks ago. The system was down a day and a half. Marjorie asked if any of our backup tapes are stored off site. Martha stated yes and explained each week they are rotated off site.

5. SYSTEM SELECTION REPORT – Ronald Gagnon. Ron reviewed the system selection process. The RFP was sent to ten vendors. NOBLE received four responses and out of those four two vendors, III and Sirsi, were chosen for system demonstrations which took place on February 8^th and 12th. The SSWG met on February 23^rd to discuss the demonstrations and additional information that had been researched. It

was unanimously voted to recommend Innovative Interfaces, Inc. to Executive Board. Executive Board met on March 10^th and approved that recommendation. Ron stated the most important issue that distinguished III from Sirsi was their ability to handle consortia issues well. Martha explained further that

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one of the most important consortia issues was how the new system could handle our data conversion and have everything work well. Martha, Ron, and Elizabeth went to Regis College; they are part of a four

college consortia, to see Sirsi’s system. Martha reported that the ILL’s didn’t work correctly, and staff at Regis would have difficulties running reports and notices, among other problems. This was a small consortia and they were having issues. Sirsi doesn’t have experience with large consortia, III does. They will also be working with CW/MARS and Surburban Library Systems.

Elizabeth Thomsen. Elizabeth reported on the issues of the web catalog. One important issue was to have an open web catalog that can do things other than just search articles like EBSCO does. Would like to be able to link to more pages. Sirsi had no documentation to show their system does that, III does have an open web catalog. Their web catalog is more configurable than Sirsi. She recommended that people spend this time visiting III catalogs over the web. There is a selection page that has links to some of the catalogs. Ron brought up that III has done conversions from a Geac Plus system. And in III’s response to the RFP they included the SQL scripts that would be required to get the data out of the system. The other vendors stated they have done conversions from CLSI systems, but that is different than the Plus system. Tom asked if we have heard if Surburban is pleased with III. Ron stated they are still undergoing the process but everything is going well. Elizabeth commented that III knows that every consortia operates differently and they are willing to work with the needs of each.

Martha Driscoll. Martha discussed PC requirements and terminology for III Client Software. She passed around a handout and reviewed it. She discussed Java, staff client, web catalog, bandwidth, and NC (Network Computer). In regard to PC specifications Martha explained that III’s minimum requirement for running staff client is a Pentium II, 266 MHz, with 64 MB of RAM for circulation. And they are beta-testing serials and more RAM is advisable. Martha recommended the more RAM and faster CPU that can be purchased will mean a better performing and longer lasting PC. Martha stated that the $2,000

price point that was recommended in the President’s PC letter of November 1997 and updated in July 1998 today would purchase a Pentium III, 500 MHz, 64 MB RAM. She also stated that hub capacity needs to be taken into consideration. Terminals are connected to terminal servers and won’t accommodate PC’s. Each library will need to look into what they have for hub capacity now and what will be needed in the future to accommodate additional PC’s. She will be contacting DataComm for current pricing. There is also the issue of managed hubs, which are more expensive, versus unmanaged hubs. Libraries also need to take into consideration that the CLSI laser reader probably will not work. The A-R & B equipment is probably ok. For a laser to work on a PC it needs an additional piece of hardware which costs about $100 called a keyboard wedge. More information will be sent out. Martha also recommended that receipt printers will be handy to have for printing out due slips. She will be get pricing on this also. There was some discussion whether a 233 MHz PC would work with the new system. Martha explained that it would, but if going to purchase new PC’s then she recommended the 266MHz because of performance and will last longer. Will need the higher end PC especially with serials and acquisitions, and cataloging. She stated that the 233 MHz PC’s could be rotated out to the public

stations. Deborah Abraham asked if we could put it in writing explaining that the higher end PC’s

are required so she will have something to present to the cities for approval. Patrick Cloherty asked about hub costs and who is responsible. Ron stated that a meeting with DataComm is scheduled to discuss the issues of managed versus unmanaged hubs. Ron explained that during the telecommunication upgrade each library was given a 16 port hub and any expansion beyond that is the local library’s responsibility. The hubs that were given to each library are managed hubs. More information and recommendations on this issue will be forthcoming after the meeting with DataComm. Also Patrick asked about the internal cabling that will be required. Ron stated if you have recent cabling that meets the category 5 standard, then terminals and PC’s would run on that. Sue Koronowski mentioned she recently heard of a category 5E and Mickey Dygert mentioned a category 6. Martha will talk to DataComm about it.

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Elizabeth Thomsen. Elizabeth discussed what would be happening in each of the four phases of the Implementation Plan. Currently in Phase One, March-April 1999. Phase Two will take place during May-September 1999, Phase Three September-December 1999, and Phase Four January-March 2000. Elizabeth has posted the complete Implementation Plan on NOBLE’s Staff Information System.

6. VOTE TO APPROVE SUBMISSION OF GRANT – Ronald Gagnon. Ron stated that a copy of the current draft of the grant was sent via e-mail and posted as a file on the Staff Information System. Not all the Appendices were included but are available. The RFP is on the Staff Information System. One document not included were the library responses to the surveys. Ron passed those out at the meeting. A copy of the grant will be provided to each library director after it is submitted. Ron explained that included in the grant, as the basis of the cost, is the response to the RFP. Based on some of the options offered from III, as well as discussions with the libraries and the information from the surveys, the cost of the project is $1.6 million. This includes the system cost and $200,000 of subsidized funding for PC’s. Part of the costs will be funded from the grant and part from NOBLE’s Capital and Port accounts. Ron stated that based on the information from the surveys we would be able to downsize the system, which will in turn lower the cost. Initially it was estimated there would be 1,250 users and on III’s system the maximum amount of users for a single processor is 1,200. So in III’s response to the RFP they proposed two processors. Ron explained that after talking to new members and reviewing the results from the surveys the number of estimated users would be below 1,200. As a result this will save approximately $100,000. Ron will provide III with revised statistics before getting into the negotiating process. Doug has appointed a negotiating team consisting of Hugh Williams, Deborah Abraham, Camilla Glynn, Tom Scully, Doug Rendell, and Ron. In regard to PC funding, 40% of the cost will come from the libraries. It hasn’t been determined what basis will be used on how to distribute the PC’s to the libraries. A proposal will be developed and presented to Executive Board. Ron met with Rob Maier three times to go over the grant text and offer suggestions. The grant is due March 25^th. Ron went on to explain that in place of the signature page on the grant a vote is required. Ron included in the grant, Appendix E – Cooperative Group Vote and Letters of Support, a motion for submission of the grant. Tom Scully read the motion as follows:

Tom moved for approval, Camilla Glynn seconded. The vote was passed unanimously.

7. APPOINTMENT OF NOMINATING COMMITTEE – Doug Rendell. Doug appointed Dennis Kelley, who will be chairperson, Alyce Deveau, and Linda Weinstein for the Nominating Committee. The committee will be looking for a vice president and a clerk.

8. ADJOURNMENT. The meeting was adjourned at 11:45.