Present: As attached.

1. CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME – Douglas Rendell. Doug called the meeting to order at 10:10. Tom Cesarz talked briefly about the library renovations.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES. Minutes from April’s meeting were not completed.

3. TREASURER’S REPORT – Thomas Cesarz. Tom reported we are 80% through the fiscal year and spending is at 74%. Job advertisement stands out at 228% due to the recent job openings. Deborah Abraham moved a motion for approval. Linda Weinstein seconded the motion, vote passed unanimously.

4. MANAGER’S REPORT – Ronald Gagnon. Doug stated first that in Bonnie Strong’s absence Camilla Glynn would fill in as acting secretary. Ron reported that the decision on our e-rate appeal ruled in our favor. The funding is for our data lines and goes back to January 1998 through June 1999. Also Ron sent a report to MBLC to secure the second round of funding for the PC Support Program. Dean Baumeister has been working on the central management server, and has chosen Intel’s LANDesk Management software for the server. This will allow him from central site to download software, change settings or configurations, and remotely maintain and troubleshoot PC’s for members without always having to make a site visit. Also Ron reported the Y2K issue with our telecommunications network has been resolved with Data Comm. The routers that were previously purchased were not Y2K guaranteed, and when the Y2K software came out it required more memory space in the routers. To install more memory in the routers will involve a site visit from Data Comm’s technicians. Normally this would cost $1,200 per site, but the cost was negotiated down to $450 per site. This will be funded from the System Development money that is in the budget. The visits will be scheduled during the summer. Ron reminded everyone the Introduction Meeting to Millennium would be held on Thursday, June 10^th, 9:30-12:30, at Gordon College. Ron, Elizabeth, and Martha will be meeting with representatives from the three new members on June 4^th as an introduction to NOBLE. Ron talked about the information that Dean sent out about PC purchases through the "Big Buy" Program that the state’s information technology division is running. Ron passed around a fact sheet on the PC NOBLE is recommending. It’s a Dell Pentium II, 400 MHz, 128 MB RAM, and a 17-inch monitor for $1,278. NOBLE will be purchasing approximately 18 PC’s to replace the ones in the training room and for NOBLE staff whose PC’s don’t meet III’s minimum standards. Also NOBLE would purchase the PC’s for members at the $1,278 price and resell them at 40% of that price, approximately a little over $500. This concept will have to be looked into further by individual cities or towns. As far as how the PC’s would be distributed among members Ron recommended at Executive Board that the distribution be based on the number of ports that members are paying NOBLE for. In the grant we had proposed purchasing 125 PC’s to be distributed among members. Ron passed around a handout on the Proposed PC Distribution. A form will go out to members as to whether they want to participate in the purchase. Based on the information given Doug asked for a show of hands how many libraries thought whether or not it would be a problem purchasing the PC’s through NOBLE.

Elizabeth Thomsen. Elizabeth reported on the III User’s Group Conference that she attended last month. There were over 1,000 attendees. She passed out a copy of a page from the Staff Information System that everyone should be aware of and knows how to find. This is where all documentation, training materials, and handouts from sessions will be. Elizabeth suggested that directors should be thinking about whom they want to select for trainers. They will be asked to be designated after the June 10^th Introduction Meeting. The trainers will be responsible for all the general aspects of the system, as well as the specific aspects of circulation. They will not be responsible for serials, acquisitions, or tech services. NOBLE staff will be working on decisions that will have to be made, and the implementation page that Elizabeth did at the end of March will be revised before June 10^th so people know what to expect and when.

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On June 8^th there is an E-Mail Trainers meeting. Elizabeth and Martha are working on some new features for e-mail and re-doing the E-Mail Policy Manual. The manual should be ready by this summer and everyone who has an existing or gets a new e-mail account will be given a manual. She mentioned a recent article in the Boston Herald about the misuse of e-mail by public employees. Pat Cloherty brought up a ruling the Secretary of State recently made that public employee’s e-mail messages are to be archived as public records. This does not bind NOBLE, but directors who are on Executive Board are public employees and there is some concern if this will affect them. Ron stated he received a fax about the law and is looking into it further with our attorney, Rod Hoffman. Ron will send out a copy to directors once he receives a complete copy. Elizabeth mentioned that all messages to the E-mail Trainers list are archived on the Staff Information System.

Martha Driscoll. Martha met with our new Internet Service Provider, U Mass, and spoke with Data Comm about switching over from UUNET to U Mass. This will take place the first week of July. There will be two T-1’s installed mid-June and some new equipment beginning of July. We have to give back our IP numbers to UUNET so this will require a change over of IP numbers for all PC’s and network equipment. Martha also reported that the web server, the NT workstation, would be upgraded to a Year 2000 compliant release. She also has received a good response from everyone on laser readers and will be getting some pricing for group purchases.

5. VOTE FOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CLERK. Doug Rendell reported that at last month’s meeting the Nominating Committee proposed Sue Koronowski for clerk and Deborah Abraham for vice president/president elect as officers for NOBLE. Camilla Glynn as acting secretary made a motion to cast one vote to approve the nominations. All were in favor the vote was unanimous.

6. VOTE OF APPROVAL OF NEW MEMBERS – Ronald Gagnon. Ron discussed the three academic colleges seeking to join NOBLE; Bradford College, Merrimack College, and Northern Essex Community College. He passed around copies of their letters of application along with New Member Statistics on each of their library holdings. One common issue all three shares is they have aging systems. Also they want a more equal and cost effective relationship, which they can get from NOBLE, as oppose to buying their own system. They have agreed to pay $2,750/port for the start up costs, which will go into our capital account. Based on the figures provided this will total $112,000. Merrimack and Northern Essex are on DRA systems, and Bradford is on a Geac Advance system, which is not Year 2000 compliant. Ron briefly discussed some background information on the three colleges. Bradford College has had a large turnover in administration. A new director, Anne Pound, has been hired and will start June 1^st. She comes from Lasell College, who is a long time and active participate of MinuteMan. Merrimack College has an aging DRA Classic system that is run by their college IT people. They feel they are not getting the reports and statistics they want. They have a new director, Barbara Lachance. Northern Essex also has an aging DRA system. But they share their system with UMass at Lowell and this has been an unequal partnership. Linda Shea is the director there. Ron mentioned that Gordon-Conwell was unable to come up with their share of capital at this point. Ron reported that the MBLC and the Northeast Region would be contributing to the costs to get the new members databases into NOBLE. Ron stated we received $44,707 from the MBLC on behalf of the new libraries for the telecommunications equipment needed to accommodate them. Also we received from the MBLC $15,000 to assist the retrospective conversion costs for changing their files to ours. The individual libraries will be responsible for the remainder. The Northeast Region will also be funding $15,000 per library to get them on our network. Tom Scully made a motion to grant admission to Bradford College, Merrimack College, and Northern Essex Community College. Camilla Glynn seconded the motion. All were in favor, approved unanimously.

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7. NEW SYSTEM PROJECT UPDATE: GRANT, III CONTRACT – Douglas Rendell. Doug briefly outlined the work the Negotiating Committee did in finalizing a contract with III. The committee first met on April 13^th at the Peabody Institute Library in Danvers to discuss how they would proceed with III. One issue that was decided was to leave $200,000 in our capital equipment item. Doug and Ron then met on May 11^th to establish an agenda for a negotiating session that would take place on May 12^th with III. The Negotiating Committee met with III on May 12^th and went over the original proposal and discussed NOBLE’s needs. At the end of the meeting the cost that III presented was more than we could afford. Ron and Doug agreed to have a phone conference the next morning. The costs started out at $1.3 million and at the end of the conference a contract price of $1,091,574 was settled on. The recommendation of the Negotiating Committee was discussed at Executive Board yesterday and the vote was in favor of the offer. Ron stated that our attorney Rod Hoffman has been talking with their contract manager working out some of the contractual details. A new version will be sent. Ron also reported that Doug dropped off signed contracts to the MBLC today. The first $300,000 of the funding we are receiving is state money and will get this fiscal year. The rest will come from the LSTA funds that are currently in hand by the MBLC. This won’t be voted on by the Commissioners until the first week of August. Doug signed the contract for $380,000 in LSTA funds. In NOBLE’s capital and port accounts there is $600,000. Out of that will come our 40% portion of the project costs, which is $400,000, leaving the $200,000 as previously mentioned. Ron reported that in next years budget we will have in capital an additional $90,000 in e-rate funding from the current and past years, as well as $112,000 from new members.

8. ADJOURNMENT. Doug Rendell adjourned the meeting at 11:50.

Respectfully submitted,

Camilla Glynn

Acting Secretary