Present: John Beauregard, Thomas Cesarz, Patrick Cloherty, Marjorie Hill-Devine, Doug Rendell, Tom Scully, Bonnie Strong and Executive Director Ron Gagnon.

1. CALL TO ORDER—President Doug Rendell called the meeting to order at 10:05 am.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES—Tom Cesarz moved that the minutes for December 9, 1998 be approved. Pat Cloherty seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

3. TREASURER’S REPORT—Tom Cesarz gave the Treasurer’s report, which was moved for acceptance by Camilla Glynn, seconded by John Beauregard and passed unanimously.

4. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT—Ron was working on a report to the MBLC for SACL to secure second year funding for the PC Support Program. Dean decided to purchase Intel’s LANDesk for the central server to assist with PC diagnostics and network management. The server hardware was obtained last month and Dean reviewed possible software and chose this product.

NOBLE is working with Data Comm Services to resolve some Y2K problems in some of the telecomm equipment. Ron came to agreement with DCS on the amount of money needed to bring the network up to standard; this will involve a visit to each site. Patrick Cloherty moved spending $14,000 from #65835, System Research and Development. Camilla Glynn seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

5. APPROVAL OF INNOVATIVE INTERFACES SYSTEM PURCHASE—Doug Rendell talked about the negotiating process with III. Members of the Negotiating Team included Deborah Abraham, Camilla Glynn, Tom Cesarz, Hugh Williams, Ron Gagnon, Elizabeth Thomsen and Martha Driscoll. They had a preliminary meeting April 13 to prepare. They made an important decision at this point—to leave $200,000 in the capital account. Doug described the day of face to face negotiations as well as the phone session he subsequently held with III. The final offer from III was $1,091,574.

There was a lengthy discussion regarding specifically how NOBLE would pay for the system. Camilla Glynn moved that NOBLE accept the Innovative Interfaces Inc. proposal. Marjorie Hill-Devine seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

6. APPROVAL OF NEW MEMBERS—Ron distributed a packet with material from three potential new members, including Bradford College, Merrimack College and Northern Essex Community College. Camilla Glynn moved to approve three new members for NOBLE. Tom Cesarz seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

7. NOBLE PC PROGRAM AND PC UPGRADE—Ron explained that NOBLE needed five new PCs for staff as well as twelve new PCs for the training room. A Notebook PC would also be purchased. He also proposed a method to offer subsidies to NOBLE members, per the condition of the grant. The number of subsidized PCs a library is eligible for will be related to the number of ports that library has. Ron proposed that funds for this portion of the system project come from the remainder of the money left in #65838, System Research and Development and from the PC Upgrade line in the FY 99 budget. Tom Cesarz moved that the PCs be purchased as described. Bonnie Strong seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Tom also moved that the formula for distributing the PCs is acceptable. Marjorie Hill-Devine seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

ADJOURNMENT—The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 noon.

Respectfully submitted,

Bonnie J. Strong

Secretary