MARINet Governing Board
Minutes (Approved)
- Thursday, December 18, 1997
- 9:00 a.m.
Marin Civic Center, Conference Rm. #410B
Attending:
Board Members---Mary Richardson, MARINet Chair (Sausalito Public Library); Debbie Mazzolini , MARINet Board Secretary (Belvedere-Tiburon Public Library); Anne Montgomery (Mill Valley Public Library); Vaughn Stratford (San Rafael Public Library); Carol Starr, Marin County Free Library); Sara Loyster (San Anselmo Public Library). Staff---Val Morehouse (MARINet Systems Administrator).
Recognition of Guests, Agenda, Minutes, & Automation Update:
There were no guests present for the meeting. The Board reviewed the agenda and added Marin County Foundation under old business, and Cataloging under new business. Minutes of the November meeting were approved as presented, and will be distributed to interested parties, in addition to being placed on the web. Val Morehouse provided the Board with printed copies of the monthly MARINet Automation Update
.MALC-MARINet Partners Project:
The MALC-MARINet Partners Project has been activated in both online catalogs. Val Morehouse reported that Carl Bengston of Dominican had found the switch back to the home catalog to be a problem. Val described how to navigate between catalogs by using the short title or "browse" screen. The Board suggested that Innovative be queried concerning adding a "time out" function to PARTNERS, which would return to the home system after a certain length of time without keystrokes. Costs for the North Bay Cooperative (NBC) delivery service have been obtained, and copies sent to MALC and to the Larkspur Public Library as requested at the November Board meeting. Additional copies can be obtained from MARINet
TALX Database Upgrade Project:
TALX has output "no hits" files to the TALX server, which have been downloaded and spot checked for quality. TALX had agreed to split the 260 and 300 collation fields on records which contained enough information to do so. This was done, but the sub-fielding within the 260 and 300 was missing and the indicators were incorrect. Morehouse queried the Board about whether they wished TALX to re-run the records and fix them. The Board directed Val to contact TALX, inform them of the problem and request that they be redone. In the meantime TALX has just downloaded the "hits" to their server. Phil Youngholm has volunteered to work with these records after hours so that the download into Innopac does not cause disruption of other functions due to the number of records to be handled. Spot checks will need to be done first; but Phil is on vacation until approximately Jan. 5th. Val requested permission from TALX to keep the records on their server until we could deal with them after the holidays.
MARINet Move:
The move is scheduled for January 9th. Val Morehouse reported that preparations to move the MARINet central computer and components from the fourth floor to a clean telecommunications room on the first floor of the Civic Center, are continuing. Complicating planning was the Technical Services move and the changeover of remaining County ports to logins, and the move of County Technical Services. MARINet's current office space is located in the middle of the construction area, as is the current computer room. Val has hired an Innovative technician for one day to help with the move and the equipment reconfigurations. Innovative has not given MARINet the name of that technician. Phone lines will be moved, as will the data circuits from Pac Bell and GTE. Val will figure out a plan to move the terminals now on three Lantronix to two Lantronix. This will require movement of some dialin lines as well. Information services with contribute an empty rack they have and MARINet will purchase another to hold the equipment vertically in the new location. Additional electrical power is required. A meeting with Information Services, Telecommunications, and MARINet is planned to go over all the steps. Glade Van Loan and Val with code equipment to be moved and label connections to make reassembly of the system easier.
EMAIL Proposal & Spanish OPAC Screens:
The new email accounts were ordered and installed The Spanish OPAC Screens have been installed and MARINet is collecting data on setup errors where English has not been translated. These will be sent to Innovative to fix.
Telecommunications Grant Application & MARIN Community Foundation
After some discussion, the Board decided to table work on the telecommunications grant application, placing it on the agenda for the February retreat. They also discussed the MARIN Community Foundation Grant. Val Morehouse was not familiar with the terms of this grant, so the Board tabled this until Val could research it.
Board Retreat
The Board considered their agenda for the retreat, adding CPU replacement planning , and broadening the Training Plan for MARINet staff to include communications. They confirmed a focus on the Technology Plan required for telecommunications grants. Val suggested to the Board that a white paper on staff training from Phil Youngholm would facilitate their work. Board members asked Val follow-up on this idea with Phil. The Board then tabled two more agenda items: Staff training for new members, and Consortium plan for ongoing staff training for member libraries, rolling these into the Training item for the retreat. Morehouse reported that the bill for Green Gulch was received and had just been submitted for payment To jump start work on the retreat, Val brought drafts of proposed MARINet mission statements for Board reaction, and Deb Mazzolini added another. A lively discussion ensued, with Vaughn Stratford strongly supporting a minority report. The Board will revisit the mission statement at the retreat.
Bills, Audit, Etc.:
There were no exceptional bills. MARINet will meet with Jerry Banique, the auditor for the MARINet audit, during the afternoon after the Board meeting. MARINet has received a long questionnaire on funds handling which will need to be answered. Audit testing is scheduled for Dec.19-31, 1997. Val gave a rough of the budget to Board members. Current figures for personnel classes will not be available from the County until after Jan. 15th, so personnel amounts are not yet accurate. Missed budget items such as the authority file subscription have been added. Maintenance has increased to reflect the amount on bills already received, and maintenance on added purchases such as the Spanish catalog, etc., which MARINet has been tracking. . San Anselmo has not been figured into the operating budget mix yet, which should bring individual contribution s for current members down. Val presented a ballpark figure for replacement of the CPU vs. upgrade for additional users, since adding San Anselmo's 5 new licenses brings the system within 1 license of current capacity. The sinking fund contains money for system replacement. After exploring the timeline for San Anselmo and Mill Valley, the Board directed Morehouse to add one increment to the current CPU; but to further develop a CPU replacement proposal for the retreat Morehouse asked Board members if they wished to select a date for the statistical sampling to be used to calculate the formula. Since there was not preference, MARINet will do this in January after the move is complete. The Board discussed whether or not to devote a specific meeting to budget. February 13th was selected.
San Anselmo Intent Letter:
The Board received and discussed the letter from Sara Loyster stating San Anselmo's intent to join MARINet as a full member. Since it was unclear how the Joint Powers Agreement should be revised to admit San Anselmo, members asked County Librarian Carol Starr to approach County Counsel with this problem and report back on a course of action. The Board acting as a committee of the whole then voted unanimously to admit San Anselmo with the following resolution:
The MARINet Governing Board accepts the request of the San Anselmo Public Library to join MARINet as a fully participating member for the initial capital outlay cost of $35,000, plus annual operating costs thereafter, which will be calculated based on the MARINet cost sharing formula for full member libraries.
MARINet will prepare the resolution on letterhead for Board signatures.
Cataloging Software:
Deb Mazzolini reported on her discussion with Innovative of cataloging export software which is Z39.50 compliant, allowing searches of other library catalogs, capturing and downloading of MARC records to the Innovative system. A discussion of legalities involved followed. Deb stated that her impression was that Innovative had contracted with these libraries for this service. Members wondered if OCLC was the initial source, since OCLC has copyrighted the OCLC database. There was considerable interest in the details, and the Board requested MARINet to follow-up with Innovative to obtain more information.
Information Sharing:
Personnel Update:
Val Morehouse reported that Glade Van Loan has scheduled some vacation during the week between Christmas and the first week of January. Val Morehouse will be handling all MARINet business, including system backups during that time., except for the printing. A substitute has been hired from the County library staff to help by printing bills and overdues and preparing the mailings. Val obtained forms from Human Resources to work on Glade Van Loan's reclassification, but this will wait until she returns from vacation.
Mill Valley Closings:
Anne Montgomery reported on the Mill Valley building project which will include closing the Children's collection for three weeks in Jan-Feb, and overall closing in summer.
San Anselmo Children's Librarian
:Sara reported that DeAnn Tabuchi will join the San Anselmo staff in January.
The meeting was adjourned after confirming future meeting dates.
Next Meeting Dates:
Jan. 15, 1998 - 9 AM - Belvedere-Tiberon, changed to Sausalito Public Library
Feb. 5, 1998 - 9 AM, Board Retreat - Green Gulch
Feb. 13, 1998 - 9-12 Noon, Marin Civic Center, Rm. 410B (BUDGET).
Attachments:
MARINet Automation Update Jan. 14, 1998
Second revision of proposed Mission Statements.
FAQ "Frequently Asked Questions" - Board Meetings and Minutes.
FAQ "Frequently Asked Questions" - Training.
Second revision of proposed Mission Statements
VERSION #1
The mission of the Marin Automated Resources and Information Network (MARINet), a consortium of public libraries, is to support members' use of information technology to fulfill their missions of serving the public.
VERSION #2
The mission of the Marin Automated Resources and Information Network (MARINet), a consortium of public libraries, is to enable member libraries to use information technology to fulfill their missions of serving the public.