Present: Marjorie Hill-Devine, Deborah Abraham, Tom Scully, Pat Cloherty, Camilla Glynn, Dennis Kelley, Ron Gagnon, and Mary Rose Quinn

Ron distributed draft copies of the 2002 budget which included explanations of the changes in revenue, expenses, personnel, and other related costs from 2001 to 2002. He also provided the Board with charts detailing the 2000, 2001, and 2002 budgets and charts comparing other networks’ budgets and salaries with NOBLE’s.

The meeting began with an update from Ron on the current 2001 Fiscal Year Budget. Ron reviewed NOBLE’s equipment needs which include a new mail server, web server and a telephone system. He recommended adjustments to the 2001 budget to address these needs without changing the overall bottom line. In addition to the web server and the phone system, the group discussed MARC record costs, authority control expenses, EBSCO subscription fees, and additional library memberships. Pat Cloherty made a motion to accept the changes Ron proposed to the 2001 budget for the purpose of addressing NOBLE’s immediate equipment requirements. Tom Scully seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

Ron began the review of the 2002 budget with the wages, salary and insurance increases. Wages have increased 5%. The insurance increase represents an additional staff member selecting the family plan and a change from 50% to 60% for NOBLE’s contribution to the plan. There was some discussion of how many of the staff participate in the insurance plan.

Pat Cloherty noted that he had conceptual problems with the 2002 budget regarding the CPI plus 2%. Both he and Tom Scully noted that there was very little room in the proposed budget for unexpected expenses. Marjorie Hill-Devine recommended an increase in the printing line in order to produce a new brochure to publicize NOBLE’s services and to encourage new membership in the Network. Dennis Kelley pointed out that the Bradford College closing had cost the remaining members nothing for FY 2001. The group discussed the impact of the closing on the 2002 budget and how the problem could be addressed. Tom Scully agreed with both Pat and Dennis and suggested that the Board had to rethink the budget formula for members. There was discussion about how tight the draft budget was and that no new initiatives would be possible without additional funds. Discussion also focused on possible new members and the creation of a category for Associate Membership. A sub-committee was established to look into new membership possibilities. Ron responded to the question concerning why costs to individual members did not decrease when new members were added. He explained that the new members were added at the same time NOBLE was migrating to a new, more costly system and expanding its services. The new memberships allowed NOBLE to keep the cost increases to other libraries to a minimum. The group had concerns about how to encourage new memberships and how to handle the Bradford situation and possible other "Bradfords" in the future. There was consensus among the group that a clearer understanding was needed as to how the base budget costs were determined and how member libraries were assessed. The group also agreed that the base assessment should be determined by dividing the costs by the number of libraries. In order to soften the impact of Bradford’s closing, the Board discussed using NOBLE capital budget funds to give members a $500 credit on their base assessment. It was pointed out that libraries received a $1,000 credit in FY 2001, with NOBLE absorbing the entire cost of Bradford’s bill, using $27,000 in capital funds.

Tom Scully made a motion that the base 2002 budget would be calculated by determining the cost of running NOBLE in 2001, dividing that figure by the number of member libraries, and adding CPI plus 2%. For 2002, each library would receive a $500 credit toward their assessment from the capital budget. The motion was seconded by Pat Cloherty and was approved unanimously.

Marjorie Hill-Devine asked that $6,000 be put in the printing line to cover the cost of a new NOBLE brochure. A sub-committee was formed to develop the brochure and other publicity for the network. Camilla Glynn asked that Ron look at the budget line for MARC records and budget monies for a half-time cataloguer in light of the recommendations of the Electronic Resources Working Group. Ron was also reviewing the costs associated with utilities and insurance.

Marjorie asked Camilla to update the Board on the progress of the Electronic Resources Working Group. Camilla gave a summary of the meetings and distributed examples of policies and sample records. There was some discussion about the types of resources which would be included in the database and about whose responsibility it was to maintain and update the information in the catalog.

Dennis Kelley made a motion to adjourn at 12:10 pm, seconded by Mary Rose Quinn, and agreed to unanimously by the Board.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Rose Quinn, Secretary

NOBLE Executive Board