Meeting was called to order at 2:47 P.M.
Members in attendance: Paul Polk, President; Laura Walters, Past President; Leslie Schoenherr, Vice President; Tom Viti, Treasurer; Jeanne Smyth, Clerk; Board members: Bobbi Miles, Cathy Lee, Tom Jewell and Judith Jackson. Also in attendance: Sunny Vandermark, Regional Administrator and Paul Kissman.
Paula Polk reported that delivery is improving. Eastern is working to resolve problems. Paula explained that it will take awhile to determine if items are lost or shelved in libraries. This will be a Minuteman issue. Paula added Eastern miscalculated the volume of items. Tom Jewell felt the Eastern is looking to do a good job. Bobbi Myles asked about the volume of items and Paula stated that in calculating volume, the vendor had calculated bins not items. Sunny said Eastern was given the correct numbers, but misunderstood the volume. Sunny added that 3 companies answered the bid with Eastern being the best hope. Sunny said Eastern will let us know in 2 weeks about a price increase. Currently, they receive $16.25 a stop. Paula suggested Sunny and the President of Minuteman meet.
The Board voted to create a Delivery Committee to work with Eastern and Minuteman. (Walters/Schoenherr).
Tom Jewell added changes to the Minuteman software could cut down delivery volume. Paula noted that the Central Region sorts items. Sunny is meeting with representatives from all Regions to discuss solutions. Tom Viti added that perhaps an outside consultant should be hired.
Tom presented the financial reports for June, July and August. Tom noted that the Budget Committee is looking to allow for flexibility in the budget process. This year there is a $37,412 increase. The Budget Committee recommends that some of these funds go into the supply account and travel funds. Rent for office space has decreased, allowing for increases in the Continuing Education Account, Summer Reading Account and $15,000 for Strategic Planning. The bottom line is $1,304,109. The Budget Committee felt these recommendations were safe. Tom stated that there is funding that can be used to resolve any agreed commitments with CD & L.
Approval July 13, 2005 Minutes
June 2005, July 2005, & August 2005 Expenditure Reports
Regional Administrator’s Report
The Consent Agenda was approved. (Schoenherr/Miles.)
Sunny reported on Supplemental Regional Reference. The MBLC will have a final hearing on Regional Reference Regulations. Sunny noted Metrowest has a good relationship with Newton, and the contract is in effect until 2007. Sunny presented the Plan of Service Goals for FY2007. Most of the changes occur on page 4, with changes in Continuing Education. Sunny will ask for final approval at the October meeting.
Tom Viti reported that the FY2007 budget is up in the air. The Personnel Committee will be meeting to discuss COLA. The Budget Committee will be looking at databases and capital expenditures to replace computers, purchase laptops, and fund MassCat. Tom stated that the staff is interested in purchasing laptops for training. Tom said that the 2007 Budget must be approved at the October Board meeting.
Sunny reported on the hearing at the Palmer Public Library. Rob Maier is looking for written comments on the proposal to reduce Regional Reference funding. Paul Kissman added that the contracting libraries have made a case for keeping the Regional Reference Centers to the MBLC. Laura Walters encouraged members to write to the MBLC. Tom Viti thought that each Region should be able to make decision for their own Region.
A motion to write the MBLC supporting Regulatory Changes in Regional Reference was approved. (Jewell/Walters)
Laura Walters reported that Bobbi Myles and Tom Jewell have agreed to remain on the Board. Laura said she has been successful in getting representatives for the Board, but still needs a lay representative. A final slate will be ready for the October meeting.
Paula Polk spoke about the Annual Meeting, noting that Beth has been working on getting a speaker for the meeting. Beth said that she was interested in getting someone to speak about gaming or video games, but scheduling has been difficult.
Sunny submitted her report to the Board. Sunny spoke about the availability of Verizon grants for some Metrowest libraries.
Paul encouraged members to send comments about Regional Reference to the MBLC. Paul noted the scheduling for Power Search Training. Tom Viti asked Paul about the Bond Bill, with Paul responding that more funds might be in the pipeline.
Judith Jackson asked about the location for the Annual Meeting. Paula added that a location has not been decided upon. Before concluding Rita showed the Board the design for the new Metrowest website.
Jeanne Smyth, Clerk
Over the summer there have been several new projects undertaken as part of MassCat. Rita Gavelis has taken on the primary lead for Metrowest MassCat participation including training with Nora Blake, MassCat Manager in mid-July. I have been involved in developing additional MassCat Public Relations Materials to encourage non-MassCat libraries to recognize the value of MassCat materials, including law, health, horticultural,
Many meetings on delivery were held, including meetings with the Metrowest Delivery Committee, Minuteman Library Network members including the Network Administrator. Judy and I made several visits to the CD&L sort facility to determine how delivery was going. In addition I looked for a new delivery provider, receiving bids from three delivery/courier companies and a disappointed no from a 4th company. Judy and I saw the sort facility from one of the three vendors, and I meet with a third vendor. Judy and I plus Paula Polk and Tom Jewell met with Eastern Connection in early August. Metrowest offered CD&L additional funding to hire temporary sorters to clean up the backlog of unsorted materials in delivery.
At the same time I was discussing the proposed delivery contract with our lawyer and being interviewed by newspapers concerning the impact of delivery and the temporary limits on reserving audiovisual materials. The Northeast Region was also pursuing the same delivery vendor. This provided Metrowest the opportunity to share legal fees and to meet with Eastern Connection and negotiate with CD&L about canceling the contract.
On Tuesday, August 23rd Metrowest signed a contract with Eastern Connection and notified CD&L that we wanted to end our relationship. This happened on Friday, August 26th. CD&L took all unsorted materials to Eastern Connection. Eastern Connection has been dealing with the volume since that time. There will be a delivery update at the September 14th Executive Board meeting.
I am on the planning committee for a delivery summit to be held on September 20th. Invited participants include library directors, network administrators and regional staff from all regions and networks. We will be looking at delivery today and in the future. Paula Polk is on one of the two panels.
Rita, Beth and I worked on the new design of the Metrowest web page. Rita is the lead person on the redesign. At the August staff meeting we discussed the resign with the entire staff and got their input. Like all automation projects the redesign is taking longer than anticipated. I have asked Rita to make a brief presentation of the overall new design at the Board meeting.
The Regional Administrators and MBLC liaisons meet on July 20 at Metrowest. We discussed the potential of additional regional funds from the MBLC line 9506.
Jim Scullin, the Metrowest Auditor spent most of July 21st at Metrowest working on the preliminary materials for the Metrowest FY2005 audit.
In between delivery meetings I managed to have time to do a site visit and provide long range planning assistance to the Mass Horticultural Society.
The Planning Committee for the MBLC funded Leadership Institute had a follow-up meeting on July 26th. We reviewed the evaluations of the participants and mentors for the Institute and began planning for additional activities for the Institute participants. As part of the follow-up we identified several participants to ask to make a brief (5 minute) presentation to the MBLC about the value of the Leadership Institute for them. At the September 8th MBLC Board meeting three participants made presentations, including two Metrowest participants, Stephanie St. Lawrence from the Tisch Library at Tufts University and Mia Escobar from the Cambridge Public Library. Bethan Steward from the Boston Public Library was the third presenter. I made a brief presentation about the Institute, thanking the Commissioners for funding the Institute and also for the additional funding for follow-up activities announced at the September 8th Board meeting. The Leadership participant presentations were articulate and personal. The Commissioners were impressed, making several positive statements about the ongoing value of the Institute and the leadership training provided.
There is also a group of Regional, MBLC, and Network administrators and staff, and Leadership Institute participants that have been meeting to develop ongoing leadership opportunities in the Commonwealth. The Group met at the Worcester Public Library on August 30th. Rita Gavelis was one of two facilitators for the meeting. Beth Gallaway assisted in the development of the agenda. It was an important meeting for future statewide projects that will be undertaken by the participants.
In preparation for working on the budget I revised the Metrowest Budget Manual and provided copies to the Budget Committee. The Budget Committee met August 10 and August 30 to discuss FY2006 budget revisions (based on the new Metrowest Bottom line of $1, 304,109) plus approximately $122,000 from MBLC line 9506. Please see the attached draft budget for FY2006. We will be discussing the preliminary FY2006 revision and impact on FY2007 at the Metrowest Executive Board Meeting on September 14, 2005.
On September 7th I attended the first of two regulatory hearings relative to the proposed changes in the regulations for the provision of regional reference service. The first meeting was held at the Weston Public Library. There were 18 people in attendance, including the directors of 2 regional reference providers: Jim Sutton from Memorial Hall Library in Andover (one trustee and 2 reference librarians), Leslie Morrissey from Falmouth Public Library (and one reference librarian), the acting Director from the Fitchburg Public Library and reference librarian (Fitchburg was a regional reference provider until several years ago for the Central Region) and the library director from the Reading Public Library, the Milford Public Library, four MBLC staff, the Regional Administrators from the Central Region, the Southeast Region, myself, and the Assistant Regional Administrator from the Northeast Region. Hearing the testimony was Rob Maier, Dianne Carty, and George Comeau, Secretary of the MBLC. At the September 8th MBLC Board Meeting Commissioner Comeau commented on the reasonable and informed comments made at the first hearing. He said that regional reference is a complicated issue; that the Commonwealth through the MBLC had invested in some of the libraries’ reference collections and services for over 30 years. He encouraged as many Commissioners as possible to attend the September 15th regulatory hearing at the Palmer Public Library. No Metrowest librarians attended the Weston hearing. The MBLC is seeking written comments about the proposed changes prior to September 21st.
I was able to attend approximately two-thirds of one day of a two-day workshop presented by Sandra Nelson on implementing a long range plan. Both Beth and Rita attended both days of the workshop. Long Range Planning is an important practice for libraries. Since Metrowest will be starting a new planning process this year, the training was valuable not just for Metrowest staff to assist our members in training, but also to better help us implement our own strategic plan.
Metrowest is one of three regions meeting with the MBLC and Verizon about possible grants to public libraries. I will not have full details until after the September 14th meeting.
I sent invoices to all non-school library participants in MassCat near the end of August. Invoices for school library participants will be mailed shortly.
Judy has been inputting data in the Regional values of service. This is a long term project with many data components. We plan to send out values of service information before the Annual Council of Members meeting in mid November.