Present: Doug Rendell, Pat Cloherty, Deborah Abraham, Camilla Glynn, Tom Cesarz, Marjorie Hill-Devine, Alyce Deveau, Elizabeth Thomsen, Ron Gagnon, Dennis Kelley, Sue Koronowski

Called to order by Marjorie at 2:05.

The minutes of past meetings were presented and reviewed. Deborah moved that they be accepted as amended, Camilla seconded, motion passed.

Financial Report was presented. Camilla moved to accept, Deborah seconded.

EBSCO is implementing updates to the databases, especially in the EBSCO Administration module and will be at NOBLE on April 25 to demonstrate. Attendance is encouraged.

Dean will be speaking at MLA on the implementation of the NOBLE PC Support Specialist program. He will be part of a panel making presentations on the various programs developed statewide as a result of the MBLC grant program.

MVLC has chosen Epixtech as their new system. Their needs are very different than ours and they were not looking for some of the modules we required. OCLN is presently beginning their selection process.

North Suburban (Chicago), a Geac Plus customer considering Innovative among other vendors will be visiting us on May 5.

We are still waiting on HVAC system quotes.

Dean has scheduled two informational sessions, "Making the most of WinU", and "Improving PC Performance." Both will be held in the training room with sign-ups required.

Deborah asked when the acquisitions module will be available. It is estimated that training will take place in the fall, with a January implementation.

The upgrade to release 2000 has been delayed by one week in order to utilize the very latest release of software. Software will now be loaded Tuesday night, April 18.

On March 24, III connected to our system to set up the file structure for serials and acquisitions. Salem State College will be beta site. At the same time, the network was upgraded to 100 Mbit.

The remaining unresolved issues with III have been escalated to the VP level.

III called Monday morning regarding the indexing issue and spoke to Elizabeth, they spoke to Ron that same afternoon and our concerns seem to be receiving more attention. As a result of these discussions we will receive more training at III’s expense, additionally they were willing to expedite our access to the new release since it should solve some of the problems we are having. A conference call which will include the head of III’s help desk, the head of implementation services and the executive VP of operations has been scheduled and NOBLE staff will also be meeting with them at users group in Philadelphia in late April.

Elizabeth held a "Linking Into the Web Catalog" session and has scheduled a number of "Create Lists" sessions for May.

Doug Rendell presented personnel Committee report. The Committee has been charged with reviewing the NOBLE benefit plan that has not been updated in about five years

There was a discussion about the possibility of sick leave changes. Dennis Kelley asked if buy back options had been considered, and it was agreed that the Personnel Committee would consider the possibility.

The rational for reducing from five to three the number of sick days taken before doctor’s certification can be required was discussed.

A change from 50% to 60% of medical insurance premiums paid by NOBLE is proposed. Disability and dental care options are not new, just new to handbook.

Pre tax accounts being looked at.

Dennis asked if alternatives to ADP as payroll service had ever been considered.

Life insurance now is a group plan with easier enrollment.

Ron explained that vacation was previously determined by individual position, now three levels are in place. The Personnel Committee will look into adding days to executive level based on longevity.

MCN has been awarded the contract to provide statewide Internet access and initially schools will be the priority. MCN did not apply for e-rate funding for libraries, so we would not be eligible for the $400 rate. Privacy/confidentiality issues are also a consideration.

Bell Atlantic has proposed a similarly price program and our e rate can be applied to their $400 proposed rate. Two years remains on our contract with Bell Atlantic. The Bell Atlantic proposal includes Internet service, which is presently being provided by UMass. Ron will continue to look into the issue. Filtering and privacy are issues being looked into.

There could be fee from DataComm to upgrade connections to member libraries. Branches would be upgraded to fractional T1 and Main libraries from fractional to full T1. Upgrading these lines would be partial solution to afternoon slowdowns.

OCLC Coop Online Resource Catalog (CORK) is a group working to catalog Internet resources. Camilla described the project and her involvement. Elizabeth has been working with her to determine the technical implications to NOBLE. A SSC cataloger expressed interest in the project to utilize the OPAC as gateway to all library resources. Camilla chaired a committee at SSC and when OCLC made it financially feasible the Committee voted to join CORK as a pilot project for one year. They will not download any records into NOBLE catalog.

A group of college, public, government and special libraries will contribute by recommending web sites.

An interesting discussion surrounding these issues ensued. The sheer number of potential Internet citations, accuracy of web addresses, who is selecting and evaluation methods and the effect these issues will have on the NOBLE Catalog.

Doug moved that NOBLE examine the definition of collection in light of electronic and Internet resources, Pat seconded, the motion passed.

There was a discussion of the possible make up of the committee. It seemed logical that reference, CATWG, public service, administrators and catalogers should be included.

Now that the grant program is concluding, there was a discussion about the parameters of the program with respect to local vs. PC support responsibilities. The matter will be considered at a later date.

Motion to adjourn by Deborah, seconded by Sue, the meeting adjourned at 5:15.