Board members present: Gail Haar, Marin County Free Library; Anne Montgomery, Mill Valley Public Library; Mary Richardson, Sausalito Public Library; Vaughn Stratford, San Rafael Public Library.
MARINet Governing Board
Minutes (Approved)
- Thursday, March 20, 1997
- 9:15 a.m.-12:00 noon
Room 410C (former Room 403C), Marin County Civic Center
Others present: Deborah Mazzolini, Belvedere-Tiburon Community Library; Philip Youngholm, MARINet Project Manager; Larry Smith, Marin County Free Library Commission.
- Approve minutes of meeting of February 20, 1997
The Board approved the minutes of February 20, 1997, as submitted.
- Adoption of agenda
The following additions to the agenda were adopted:
Spanish-language OPAC screens (Gail Haar)
Common Internet access policy (Anne Montgomery)
- Time for public questions and comment
No members of the public were present at the time this item was reached.
- Funding source for ISBN re-index
The Board approved the expenditure of $775.00 from the current year's budget for the re-index of ISBN's approved at the meeting of February 20, 1997.
- Operating system upgrade
The Project Manager informed the Board that it would be desirable to upgrade the operating system on the DEC Alpha. The existing operating system is several versions old and is less secure than more recent versions. The upgrade would be performed by Innovative Interfaces at no charge, but would require the system to be down for one day. The Board agreed that the upgrade should be performed, but at a time when it would be least disruptive to the public and staff. The Project Manager will proceed to make arrangements.
- MARINet remote access for public
After discussion, the Board agreed that the MARINet staff should not provide general support to the public for dial-in and Internet access. The Board decided to charge the Adult Services Committee with developing a list of volunteers who would be willing to help members of the public with basic dial-in and Internet procedures. Support from MARINet is to be limited to determining whether there is any problem with MARINet's equipment. If members of the public who call the MARINet Office for help are unfamiliar with their own equipment, they will be referred to the list of volunteers.
The Board approved the County-produced flyer without adding the MARINet telephone number for support.
- Technical services
Mary Richardson reported, on behalf of Sausalito and Belvedere-Tiburon, that they are leaning towards Ingram for ongoing acquisitions. The Board gave the two libraries approval to load Ingram bibliographic records into the system. Mary Richardson will call a meeting of acquisitions staff at all libraries when it seems desirable to share experiences.
- Effect on MARINet of possible move of County Administration and Technical Services
Gail Haar reported that it is likely that County Technical Services will move out of the Civic Center within a few months, and the County Library will take advantage of this move to consolidate Library Administration into a smaller area, giving up some space to the County. It would be desirable to include the current computer room in this remodeling for a number of reasons--it is much larger than it needs to be for the current equipment; it lacks professional housing for the equipment (racks and cable management); and it has an antiquated air conditioning system. Since County Information Services has offered to house the INNOPAC central hardware in its computer room (Civic Center Room 104), this seems a logical time to move the central hardware.
The Board approved spending $3,600 from this year's budget for the move. This is the amount estimated by County Information Services to buy the necessary racks and other equipment, and perform the move. This would be paid for mostly by savings in the Project Manager's salary. Anything over and above these savings is to be taken from the Contingency budget.
- Patron-placed holds
The Project Manager reported that patron-placed holds have been received very well by both patrons and staff. The official introduction of the service on March 4 went very smoothly.
Gail Haar reported that the County will be increasing its internal delivery services to two per day plus Saturday for the regional libraries, and daily for the smaller branches.
- Staffing
There was nothing to report regarding the staffing plan.
- Joint Powers Agreement
Vaughn Stratford led a discussion of the latest draft of the Joint Powers Agreement. He will incorporate the changes in another draft that each jurisdiction will send to its counsel for review.
12. Spanish-language OPAC screens
Gail Haar reported that the County and San Rafael are planning to combine funds to purchase the Spanish-language OPAC from Innovative Interfaces. The Board agreed that MARINet as a whole will pay the Innovative maintenance costs on this product, and that it will be available to any library that wishes to use it. (Spanish can be made the default language on any public terminal, and any terminal, whether English or Spanish, can switch to the other language with one keystroke.)
13. Common Internet access policy
The Board agreed to postpone this discussion to a future meeting.