MARINet Governing Board

Minutes (Approved)

Thursday, April 23, 1998

9:00 a.m.

Marin Civic Center, 410B

---

To: MARINet Board and Interested Parties

From: MARINet Staff

CC: Val Morehouse; Glade Van Loan

Date: 07/30/98

Re: 04/23/1998 Meeting at Marin Civic Center, 410B, 9 a.m. (Approved)

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).

Minutes for the March 26, 1998 meeting were approved as corrected. No copy of the Automation Update was distributed because MARINet is short staffed due to staff vacation. Board members requested a larger font on both publications.

 Technical Support Proposal

 Val Morehouse prepared parameters and background scenarios for MARINet's technical support needs in the coming year, based on Board discussions during the Retreat. Dave Hill of Marin County Information Services has the document and has been working with MARINet to develop a proposal for the Board. Since Dave was unable to attend today's meeting, Val will reschedule his presentation at the next meeting.

 Technology Inventory Status

MARINet will need the Technology Inventory from each library by May 1st. The information will be used to prepare a MARINet Technology Plan to be filed with the State Library in conjunction with E-Rate applications. In addition, MARINet will use the information for developing telecommunications changes associated with the replacement of the MARINet Central Processing Unit (CPU) in FY 1998-99. Val will present bids for CPU replacement at the next meeting. The Technology Inventory form distributed by Mark Parker at the State Library E-Rate workshop should help library staff gather information.

Board Retreat

 Vaughn Stratford is finishing notes from the Board Retreat and will distribute copies to all.

 

MARINet Committees

 Mary Richardson reported on the Board's committee "charge" letter, which has been sent. She will post it also on Chilnet and Refnet. The Adult Services Committee will be asked to review IAC vs. INN-VIEW indexes as soon as possible and report the findings. The INN-VIEW subscription is up for renewal at the end of summer.

 Audit Update

The Auditor has requested copies of the original MARINet Request-for-Proposal, Innovative's Response to the RFP, the formal MARINet system acceptance letter, and Innovative's "clarifications" on certain questions. Board members will look for document copies and send any to MARINet, as Val checked both MARINet and the Marin County Library files without finding copies. Board members could not recall a formal acceptance letter for the system, and stated that final payment on the contract implementation amount constituted acceptance.

 Questions like the above revealed weaknesses in MARINet's file organization. Val, with the help of Glade's sub Bernie Alie, have begun reorganization of the budget files into fiscal years, and the files on the automated system into finer categories to support retrieval on specific questions. An extensive re-creation of the orginal MARINet starting equipment inventory will be necessary when Glade returns from vacation.

 Designation of Fiscal Agent 

MARINet received a letter from the Auditor stating the requirement for formal designation of fiscal agent. Carol Starr moved and Anne Montgomery seconded the designation of Marin County Library as the fiscal agent for MARINet for FY97-98 and FY98-99. It was approved unanimously.

 Personnel Update

MARINet applied to Human Resources for a summer Student Intern for 10 hours per week. Carol Starr reported that the Marin County Board of Supervisors approved Glade Van Loan's reclassification from the Library Technician series to Computer Technician.

 Glade is on vacation until the end of April, and in consequence the MARINet office is backlogged. Bernie Alie has been substituting part time to help with printing and mailing of holds, overdues, etc., with files reorganization, and with phone calls to libraries during Fairfax's system problem, which required a system reboot.

 Val Morehouse will attend the Nashville Innovative Users Group Annual Conference in early May. The list of available workshops appears excellent.

 Fairfax System Problem

 Fairfax went down earlier in April, and a portion of its terminals refused to come back online after MARINet and Innovative worked on the problem. Diagnosis required four days of intensive work. During a Saturday callback for yet another swap of MICOM #3 at the central site, Val and the Innovative Tech discovered the existence of a bad board in Fairfax's remote Micom, since all of the "down" terminals were on one. On Monday, the Innovative Tech swapped out the remote Micom at Fairfax and all Fairfax's terminals came back online.

 San Anselmo Resolution Progress

 Marin County is the last political sub-division approval needed on San Anselmo's addition to the JPA. It is on the Board of Supervisor's Agenda.

 Budget Resolution for FY98-99 and other Bills

 Val stated that final contracts with Marin County which affect the salary and benefit lines in the FY98-99 budget, are still in negotiation; but, she has some dollars in that line to cover an increase. The line may need adjustment later if the increase comes in higher. She handed out a summary sheet with totals for each category. Mary Richardson moved and Debbie Mazzolini seconded a resolution accepting the FY 98-99 budget and cost formula as presented (total=$4421,035.88). Approval was unanimous and all Board members signed.

 Carol Starr presented a bill for Spanish Catalog translation from Victor Reyes. The Board directed MARINet to pay it from Contractual Services. 

MARINet has been working with Carol and with Joe Murphy to "add-on" contract dollars to pay Phil Youngholm for the last San Anselmo training ($738) and some additional tax code work, plus prep and workshops on Release 11. MARINet is scheduling the Release 11 implementation for the end of May. MARINet will be working with the County Library on a separate contract for training services for FY98-99 as part of the Board Retreat training goal.

 Information Sharing

Members shared information on Supersearch icons on Internet terminals and on Whistlestop Service. Val shared copies of the "5 Month Snapshot" document (including organization chart and mission statement), which she presented to the Board of Library Commissioners to explain MARINet's recent activities and short-term plans for the coming months.

 There will be no Board meeting in May due to conflicts with member vacations. The next meeting will be June 11th.

 Attachments:

 5 Month Snapshot and Mission Statement

 Bill for Victor Reyes translations

 Human Resources letter requesting reclass of Glade Van Loan and detailing fiscal impact.

 Auditor Memorandum concerning fiscal agent designation

 Fiscal Agent Resolution

 Budget and Cost Formula Resolution

 Summary totals for FY98-99 budget and cost formula sheet