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

Marjorie called the meeting to order at 2:04.

Doug moved the approval of the minutes of the April 12 Executive Board meeting, Dennis seconded. The minutes were approved.

The monthly Financial Report was presented and accepted.

NOBLE’s insurance agency has recommended that we combine our three policies, which will result in lowering both premiums and the deductible.

Dean attended MLA in April taking part in a presentation of the various PC Support Programs implemented statewide. He continues providing hands-on training for members and a session entitled, "Review of PC Security Products", at the end of May.

Leslie Inglis, of SSC, is working with Martha to prepare presentations on downloading statistics from Web Management Reports into Excel. Martha and Leslie will present these hands-on sessions in June.

NOBLE has just signed a contract that will provide $2500 from the Region to support ILL requests that incur a fee. There was a discussion about notifying patrons/library if there is a large number of requests that are expensive. The NMRLS ILL committee considered this issue, but it was decided that doing so could limit legitimate requests.

NOBLE is monitoring the activities of Net Library, a provider of electronic books, since they have recently signed contracts with III & EBSCO.

Dimension Data, formerly Data Com, is testing a device that monitors traffic levels throughout the day. This device is more sophisticated than the freeware program Martha demonstrated at the Members meeting in March and has been installed at Salem Public Library. Many libraries have reported slow transactions at circulation terminals at various times throughout the day. The GEAC system traffic was prioritized over Internet use because the terminals used a different protocol and this can no longer be done since all activity utilizes the web protocol simultaneously.

NOBLE received a threat from a MediaOne customer that NOBLE would be a target of a "denial of service" attack, an attempt to overload the system. NOBLE contacted MediaOne and they report that appropriate action has been taken.

Michael Colford, of Reading Public Library, has a feature article in the May 1 issue of Library Journal and writes their "Magazines" column.

Ron presented a detailed review of NOBLE’s options with regard to upgrading our telecommunications system. Competition in the local market has led to the ability to secure better services for less money. Ron has been carefully reviewing the price structure and the services of Digital Broadband, the provider selected for the non-profit Massachusetts Community Network as well as improving our contract with Bell Atlantic, our present provider. After carefully considering both cost and services, Ron recommended that we change our data line and Internet service to Bell Atlantic under the state contract. Our Internet service provider will change from UMass and be included in this package. There will be minimal savings from the present $215,188 to $209,610 with the new Bell Atlantic contract and includes a new line to the MBLC to circumvent state firewall issues which has limited their use of the new system. The upgrade is planned for July 1.

Tom Cesarz moved that Ron be authorized to proceed, Camilla Glynn seconded, the motion was approved.

Doug provided a review of sections with proposed changes.

On page 2, Sick leave conversion and buyback sections are new.

NOBLE is attempting to provide benefits to present employees and reward valued long term employees. As the committee reviewed other library's plans they observed a trend to reward employees for not using sick time. The benchmarks of 10 years and $2000 were included to minimize impact on budget.

It was recommended by Executive Board to raise the buyback amounts to:

10 years $2500, 15 years $5000, 20 years $7500 and raise the accrual limit to 150 days.

Vacation, page 5, the committee recommends an additional day of vacation be granted in years six through ten for the Executive Director, Member Services Manager and System Manager (for a maximum of five weeks), and for Technical Assistant, Database Assistant, Administrative Assistant, ILL Librarian and PC Support Specialist (for a maximum of four weeks).

Pat Cloherty moved that the recommendations be adopted as presented by the committee with the changes recommended by Executive Board, subject to the approval of legal council. Tom Cesarz seconded, the motion passed.

Network Transfer Guidelines were distributed and discussion included:

The clarification and explanation of item three, validated complaints; reports of network transfers will be reviewed and items considered for purchase and the need to check for requests minimum once a day

Changes/Additions

Add to #2- Return item promptly to the owning library after the original requesting patron has used it.

Since this policy is a guideline for transfers it, was suggested that the mention of III be deleted in introductory section. Section deleted.

Add "NOBLE will maintain and post a chart of local policies", as #4.

Discussion of system problems ensued. Lack of communication between libraries, NOBLE and III was cited as a major problem. Frustration with lack of answers and solutions to system problems were discussed.

Camilla Glynn moved that the Network Transfer Guidelines be accepted as amended, Pat Cloherty seconded, the motion passed.

There was a brief discussion of requiring all PC’s with an IP address to be included as a condition for participation.

Deborah Abraham moved to accept "FY 2001 General Guidelines for PC Support" as presented, Dennis Kelley seconded, motion passed.

Adjournment 5:15 Moved by Deborah Abraham, seconded by, Sue Koronowski.