MARINet Governing Board

Minutes (Approved)

Thursday, June 11, 1998
1:30-3:30 p.m.

Belvedere-Tiburon Library Founders Room

From: MARINet Staff

CC: Val Morehouse; Glade Van Loan

Date: July 16, 1998

Re: 06/11/1998 Meeting at Belvedere-Tiburon Library Founders Room, 1:30-3:30 p.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). Guest--David Hill (Marin County Information Services).

 

Minutes for the April 23, 1998 meeting were approved. Val distributed a copy of the Automation Update which included MARINet activities through May 14th. No Board meeting was held in May due an anticipated lack of a quorum related to Board Member vacations. The June Board meeting location was moved to Belvedere-Tiburon in order for the Board to attend the annual author luncheon in support of the Belvedere-Tiburon Library before the meeting. Vaughn Stratford needed to leave early due to a schedule conflict.

Technical Support Proposal Draft

 Guest Dave Hill presented a draft list of possible support services that Information Services could contract to provide to MARINet, including such possibilities as staffing for increased support hours, weekend network coverage (beeper), helpdesk triage for PC and network related needs, access to automated problem tracking software for the MARINet office, support for standard setups, migration to newer telecommunications technology and equipment through MIDAS, and a provision for individual libraries to contract separately for special projects. Dave also briefed the Board on links to other information resources such as The Virtual Library, which he demonstrated using visuals from the California Room scanned into the software. The Board will need to consider which package of Information Services support items would best address MARINet's need within the Year One budget. Val Morehouse passed out a June 20, 1997 County Library memo concerning technical support procedures that provided a working definition for an emergency situation requiring technical support:

"Failure of either dumb terminals or PC's used for public service by staff (i.e. a circulation check out station and peripheral equipment, a reference terminal, either a dumb terminal or an Internet station and attached printers); or, failure of a network or a number of terminals at one time…"

Audit Update

 As of June 10th, the MARINet 4-year audit is not finished. Glade Van Loan finished a recreated "starting" equipment inventory which was given to the Auditor. Val Morehouse had received a letter prepared by the Auditor of MARINet representations, together with his attached adjusting entries. He requested that Systems Administrator Val Morehouse and Board Chair Mary Richardson sign and return the letter to him. The necessary signatures were obtained; and Val will return the letter to the Auditor.

Budget Status: sinking fund, etc. 

Val Morehouse presented a worksheet detailing the amount available in the sinking fund to support the planned replacement of the CPU. $31,551 is budgeted for this fiscal year for contribution to the sinking fund. In addition, at the beginning of the year the sinking fund opened with a $139,135 balance. As of June 10th, an additional $6529 interest showed on MARS reports. Belvedere-Tiburon paid $750 early in the year in license surcharges destined for the sinking fund; and MARINet expects $3000 more in license surcharges outstanding. Thus, there will be enough sinking fund money available to purchase a CPU with a RAID backup, and keep a fund balance for necessary telecommunications upgrades as the network changes and the MICOMS are retired.

 Training Contract

 A letter containing Phil Youngholm's new hourly rate was provided in the Board documents. It outlines his change to "consultant" status rather than special appointment, and his requirements for workshop setup. MARINet can expect to purchase circa 200 training hours for staff, some of which must be used for prep and planning meetings. Carol Starr proposed using some money for follow-up phone calls from staff after a workshop; but the other members of the Board were not in favor. Carol will designate county dollars for that purpose for her staff. MARINet has been working with the County Library (Joe Murphy) to develop a contract for training services, which must go to the Board of Supervisors.

Release 11 Software Upgrade

 MARINet brought Innovative's Release 11 (revision K) software into the main computer via ftp on May 19th. On May 27th staff took down the system for a morning in order to complete the software maintenance. During the next two days, staff activated selected Release 11 functions and called the Innovative helpdesk to "turn on" certain other functions requiring intervention by Innovative rather than local staff. MARINet staff began identifying software glitches immediately. Most difficult has been the "holds" problem, which manifests in various ways. This "call" has been escalated from the Innovative helpdesk to the Innovative software department for resolution.

 Technology Inventory Status

 Val reminded Board members that MARINet will need the Technology Inventory from those libraries who have not copied one to MARINet. The information will be used to prepare a MARINet Technology Plan to be filed with the State Library and for MARINet's systems planning.

 Proposal and Vote to Reindex WORD Index

 Val Morehouse proposed that the Board approve the reindexing of the WORD (keyword) index to include the summary notes field. This would add natural language terms to the search mix and provide catalogers with additional flexible access points. Val will check the status of the 505 to see if it needs adding also. Board members suggested looking into the 740 as well before issuing the reindexing order. Since the WORD index already exists, the cost will be only $1500. The Board members voted unanimously to reindex the WORD index. Vaughn Stratford was absent for the vote due to a schedule conflict. 

Proposals and Vote on CPU Replacement 

Val Morehouse presented two proposals for CPU replacement to Board members. The sinking fund contains enough money for either configuration. Val explained that the one proposal contained provision for a redundant disk array (RAID), designed to provide more immediate recovery from a major system crash---much faster than could be achieved by reloading backup tapes after a crash. After discussion, the Board members voted unanimously to purchase the new CPU with the RAID technology, contingent upon confirmation from Innovative that the new CPU has sufficient growth capacity for adding users. Vaughn Stratford was absent for the vote due to a schedule conflict. The earliest expected install date would be October unless another user cancels. Val has requested that MARINet be on a waiting list for any such cancellation. 

MARINet Report Generation

 Carol Starr proposed that MARINet add system-wide preparation of a particular circulation report to MARINet tasks. Due to the number of County branches, it becomes involved for the county to compile and print the report, since doing so requires that the compiler log in and out branch-by-branch. After discussion the other MARINet libraries said that they would rather continue printing their own report.

SuperSearch

 The Board discussed the status of the latest version of SuperSearch. The consensus was that SuperSearch was not ready for public use until certain glitches are fixed. The Board felt that staff would require retraining on the new version closer to the time the MARINet libraries decide to introduce it to the public. At that time, the Board will approach Super-search to schedule additional training.

 One-eighth Cent Sales Tax

 Carol Starr presented background documents to the Board concerning the 1/8 cent sales tax and its effect of library revenue. Due to time constraints and Vaughn Stratford's schedule conflict, the topic was tabled for discussion at the next meeting.

Tabled for Consideration at Next Meeting

Also tabled until the next meeting were agenda items "Scheduling of MARC Loads", and "Non-restricted Review Files".

The next meeting will be July 16th, 1998 at San Rafael, Falkirk.

 Attachments:

 Letter from Phil Youngholm concerning status of proposed training contract.

 Year-end sinking fund projections.

 

 

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