Minutes of
March 13, 2002
In
Attendance: Deborah Abraham,
Doug Rendell, Linda Hummel-Shea, Marjorie Hill-Devine, Ron Gagnon, Tom Scully,
Tom Cesarz, Camilla Glynn Healey, Sue Koronowski, Mary Rose Quinn.
Call to order: Deborah Abraham called the meeting to order at 2:10 pm.
Minutes: Minutes of the January meeting were moved by Tom Cesarz, seconded by Camilla Glynn Healey, and approved unanimously as amended. The minutes of the November meeting were moved by Tom Cesarz, seconded by Camilla Glynn Healey, and approved unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report: Tom Scully distributed the Treasurer’s Report. There was a brief discussion concerning library payments and Net Lender offsets. A motion was made by Camilla Glynn Healey and seconded by Tom Cesarz to accept the Treasurer’s Report. The vote to accept the report was unanimous.
Executive Director’s Report: Ron reported that he has sent a letter of thanks to the Salem Evening News and the advertisers for the free ad that ran on Tuesday, March 5 about NOBLE.
Elizabeth has remodeled the website in conjunction with the new brochure and logo.
Imaging Project: Ron announced that the imaging project is underway. The new III software is significantly more expensive than the older version. The new Millennium Media Suite is $25,000. The price on the old product was $7,500. Additional costs include a workstation, a mid-level scanner, and a disk drive for the web server. The scanner will be able to scan larger documents and was more expensive than anticipated. However, the workstation was less costly and the total is within the budget. Tom Scully asked about the possibility of an upgrade to the higher priced product at a later date.
Member Services Construction: Ron signed a contract with Wallick Brothers of Danvers to remove the wall separating the Library office from Member Services. Work will start in a few weeks. In addition to the wall and electrical work, cabinets will be purchased to help with the organization of the space.
Functional Expert: Elizabeth has been chosen by the Innovative Users Group to be the Functional Expert for Cataloging, Database and Authority Control.
Meetings with NMRLS: Ron has met with NMRLS regarding imaging and with Larry Rundgren of MVLC about “Serials Solutions”. Serials Solutions and other similar products pull together all periodicals titles from GALE, EBSCO, etc. in a list so that we do not have to search through separate print and online lists for resources.
Funds: We have received NMRLS net lender funds for libraries. One library has already asked that the money be applied to next year’s bill.
Conferences: Ron and Elizabeth will be attending the Innovative Users Group meeting in Houston, April 27-30 and the ALA Conference in Atlanta, June 14-18.
Voice line problem: Construction in the adjacent offices caused a problem with NOBLE’s voice and fax lines. Workers cut the lines on Saturday February 16. The service was restored on Tuesday.
Catalog Improvements: Ron is investigating the costs and benefits of catalog improvements. These are enrichments and features which would allow us to include covers, author’s notes, and reviews in the catalog in addition to providing greater online integration of our catalog with other databases and search engines. The upgrade could be done immediately. The annual cost is about $17,000.
Personnel Issue: Ron distributed a chart with a cost comparison of Health Insurance providers. A review is necessary at this time due to an escalation of costs of approximately 20%. After a brief discussion it was agreed that NOBLE should switch from Harvard to Tufts. NOBLE is insured through an intermediary, Massachusetts Business Association since it is such a small group. The Personnel Committee approved the change in the handbook to reflect the new health insurer. Camilla moved, seconded by Marjorie, and approved unanimously by all present to change NOBLE”s health insurer from Harvard to Tufts on April 1st. Tom Scully moved, seconded by Tom Cesarz, and approved unanimously by all preset to update the hpersonnel handbook to reflect the change in health insurance providers.
Working Groups:
Database Quality Working Group: Tom Cesarz presented the recommendations of the Electronic Resources Working Group which were completed at their meeting of January 15, 2002.
A motion was made by Doug Rendell, seconded by Linda Hummel-Shea to adopt items one and two of the Database Quality Working Group’s recommendation. The vote was unanimous in favor.
Atrion changeover: Ron reviewed our telecommunications options with regard to the Dimension Data/ Atrion. Tom Scully made a motion seconded by Tom Cesarz, and approved by all present to swich our telecommunications vendor from Dimension Data to Atrion effective June 1st.
Strategic Planning Process: the following outline is the result of discussions at the Board meeting with regard to the Strategic Plan.
Needs Assessment Outline
For the
NOBLE Strategic Plan
March 14, 2002
Mission Statement - short and quotable.
.
Tom Scully made a motion seconded by Tom Cesarz to adjourn at 4:25 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Rose Quinn,
Secretary