Present: As attached.

1. CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME - Doug Rendell. Doug called the meeting to order at 10:05. Dee Hanley passed out a copy of a letter she sent to her State Representative in regard to supporting the $4 million increase in State Aid to Public Libraries. She briefly discussed the importance of this issue and urged everyone to contact his or her state representatives and senators for their support.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – Camilla Glynn made the motion to approve the minutes from the February 18th and March 18^th meetings. Linda Weinstein seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

3. TREASURER’S REPORT – Ronald Gagnon. In Tom Cesarz’s absence Ron presented the report. Ron pointed out that spending for Furniture and Equipment is at 10% but will be allocated with the purchase of additional tables and chairs for the renovated Meeting Room. Also waiting for HVAC Maintenance Contract and insurance renewals to come in. Advertising is higher than usual due to recent job openings. Some of the System Research & Development will be spent for new PC’s in the training room to learn the new system. We are three-quarters through the fiscal year and have spent 65%. John Beauregard made a motion to accept the report, Linda Weinstein seconded. Passed unanimously.

4. MANAGER’S REPORT – Ronald Gagnon. Ron reported haven’t heard any news on the grant yet. A full copy of the grant was distributed to all directors. The Negotiating Team began their work with an organizational meeting. NOBLE staff is working on an implementation plan. Ron reported that the renovations at central site are completed and the Meeting Room can now accommodate 75 people. NOBLE recently received $44,000 from MBLC for telecommunications equipment for new members, and $118,000 to subsidize our data line and Internet service. Also received 2^nd half of ILL funding, $42,500, from NMRLS. Ron reported haven’t heard anything on our e-rate appeal for data lines for the current and past fiscal years, expecting response in May. On April 6 Ron filed our e-rate request for fiscal year 2000 and we are seeking $70,000-$90,000 in subsidies for our voice lines, Internet, data lines and equipment.

Elizabeth Thomsen. Elizabeth reported that our new ILL Librarian, Marilyn Graves, would start on Monday, April 26^th. Tara Mansfield who started last month has been working 100% of her time in ILL to help during the transition. Once Marilyn gets established Tara will split her time between database work and ILL. In ILL operations Elizabeth reported that Martha Driscoll and Michele Morgan have completed the last items to get the ILL database to be accessible over the web. Also Elizabeth will be attending the Innovative Interfaces User’s Group meeting this weekend.

Martha Driscoll. Martha reported that Michele has been transitioning from the ILL department to technical assistant. Also Martha will be sending out statistics on "on shelf" items that haven’t circulated in different two year intervals, and statistics on patrons. She is still in the process of purging patrons who haven’t used their cards in four years. Patrons will not get purged if they owe any overdue materials or any fines. She has another set of statistics that indicates patrons who haven’t used their cards in four years and owe fines, which is broken down by different price amounts. Members can request reports and have additional items and/or patrons purged. Martha reported we had some networking problems with EBSCO that effected all of NOBLE. It involved some routing problems and was resolved yesterday afternoon. Ron passed around the NOBLE Member Directory for updating.

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5. REPORT ON NOMINATING COMMITTEE- Linda Weinstein. Linda reported that Deborah Abraham was nominated for vice president/president elect, and Sue Koronowski nominated for the clerk’s position. Both accepted the nominations. The nominations will be voted on at the May meeting.

6. OVERVIEW OF NEW III SYSTEM FUNCTIONS – Elizabeth Thomsen. First Ron passed around a bar chart on the projected Use of Staff Modules through 2004, which are the results of one of the three surveys that had to be completed for the grant. Elizabeth gave a presentation on an overview of III’s system functions. She discussed some general system information. The Millennium system that we are buying is a new line of client program on an existing system. This is a completely different system from Plus and we will be gaining a lot, but also losing a few things. She discussed that the III system doesn’t require barcodes, and the handling of patron addresses is different. The III system doesn’t operate in terms of agencies, but in locations and groups of locations. Elizabeth discussed what should be considered a separate location, and is going to make up a draft list of what a set of locations should be. Other functions that she discussed were circulation, and interlibrary loan and holds. Elizabeth explained that directors will be asked to name three trainers who will be responsible for training the whole library staff on the general system functions, as well as circulation. A Trainers Meeting will be scheduled for early September, followed by hands-on sessions in the training room. Also in the fall there will be a Tech Services meeting. Before we come up on the new system all libraries have to be trained on how to search the system for a matching record and add new items. In addition Elizabeth discussed WebCat, the new web catalog. There will be a catalog working group that will be looking at indexing and other catalog implementation issues. Also discussed were serials and acquisitions, reports, inventory, and materials booking. Elizabeth reported she would be putting this overview of the system on the Staff Information System with a schedule of training dates.

7. LOCAL TECHNOLOGY AND PERIPHERALS REVIEW – Martha Driscoll. Ron passed around two bar charts that are the results of the survey for the grant. The first chart is on PC and Terminal Evolution. He explained that there are 51% more PC’s on the network now then there were in November 1997. In terms of the processor type of the PC’s in use, the 486’s and lower processors declined 55%. Also the number of terminals in use declined 11% since November 1997. The second chart is Total Projected Library Workstations. Ron briefly explained the chart. Martha passed out a memo with minimum PC specifications and other equipment that are needed to support the new system. The minimum PC specifications for their JAVA client is a Pentium II, 266 MHz, with 96 MB of RAM. She also reviewed the following areas that libraries need to consider:

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Martha also passed out a memo on Group Laser Purchase for directors to fill out. AR&B can offer discount pricing on new laser readers. There was a brief discussion on managed versus unmanaged hubs, and ports.

8. FY2000-FY2002 TECHNOLOGY PLAN REVIEW and APPROVAL- Ronald Gagnon. Ron passed out an updated version of the Technology Plan. The reason for the plan is in order to receive e-rate funding at the federal level we must have an approved Technology Plan in place with the MA Board of Library Commissioners. The main focus is the implementation of a new system. Ron briefly discussed the various aspects in the Plan, which include improving our internal network, installing network firewall, and providing support. Also upgrading our Internet capacity. We signed a contract with a new Internet Service Provider, UMass, and will have an additional T1. Much of what is in the Plan came from the long-range plan that was approved in October. The complete Technology Plan can be viewed on the Staff Information System. A letter from MBLC dated March 10^th states need the approved Technology Plan by end of April. Linda Weinstein made a motion to approve noting that if any changes are needed this will be done at the appropriate time. Dee Hanley seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

9. ADJOURNMENT. Doug Rendell adjourned the meeting at 12:15.

Respectfully submitted,

Bonnie J. Strong