Present: Leslie Schoenherr, President; Paula Polk, Past President; Cathy Lee, Treasurer; Bobbie Myles, Clerk; Tom Jewell; Jeanne Smyth; Beth Galloway
Meeting called to order at 2:45PM
Motion to approve the consent agenda: Paula Polk/Cathy Lee
Like Leslie, Bobbie grew up in Wayland and applied for work at the local public library. Unlike Leslie, she didn’t get a job in Wayland. A few years later she began working in libraries while in college. Bobbie has worked in a variety of public libraries (large, medium, and small) and two software companies. She has a MBA and has been director at Lincoln for three years.
Raw data was collected during the June sessions. MMRLS staff pulled the information together in time for the August sessions. The August sessions refined the plans and developed new mission and vision statements.
Beth asked for feedback about the draft FY2007-2011 Strategic Plan. Board members remarked that many of the goals have the top priority of ten. Some of these tasks last for a brief duration, however, so the amount of top priority work is not as great as it seems. The Executive Board encouraged the MMRLS staff to reduce the number of priority ten items.
The vision “Metrowest is known as the go-to resource for academic, public, school and special member libraries,” should be reflected in the priorities. Tom suggested a two-tier approach to the goals, where tier two is maintenance of effort. Some goals are things we do well and are important. Other goals are new directions for MMRLS. Highlight promoting the value of the MMRLS.
Leslie suggested that MMRLS board members review the priorities. Tom described a three tier prioritization system to us. Tier one: bulk of time and energy of staff will be spent on these goals. Continuing education is an example of a tier one goal. Tier two items are important priorities that are maintenance level of effort i.e. things are under control.) Tier three is for everything else. Example of a tier three priority ten is the regional reference service. Board members will use a table created by Beth to assign tiers and priorities to the goals by 9/22.
The deadline for finishing this strategic plan is for the November annual meeting.
Cathy explained that Metrowest needs to prepare a revised budget because an additional $74,825 was received in its FY2007 budget. The revised FY2007 budget includes increases in the benefits line (due to life insurance costs, health insurance costs, state and unemployment insurance), lease, telephone, and travel. The additional money makes it possible to fully fund delivery and have some database funds.
Motion to approve the FY2007 budget revisions presented by Cathy Lee:Tom Jewell/Paula Polk – Approved
Cathy gave an overview of the FY2008 budget, which is in the preliminary stages. As of now there is no funding for databases due to the projected cost of delivery. In FY2008 the Budget Committee anticipates at least a $39,581 increase in delivery costs to $555,996. Operating expenses show zero increases. The reference contract with the Newton Free Library has a 2% increase while the ILL contract with Wellesley Free Library has a small decrease. Personnel costs reflect the Personnel Committee’s recommendations (a 2% COLA and up to a 3% merit increase) plus the projected increase in health insurance costs.
“The Metrowest FY2008 Plan of Service Goals” document follows the state’s mandates. It contains Metrowest’s mission statement, seven goals and their related tasks for FY2008:
There are differences between the FY2008 Plan of Service document and the FY2007-FY2011 Strategic Plan document. The strategic plan has not been approved so some items that appear in the strategic plan are not in the FY2008 plan of service.
In Paul Kissman’s absence, we read his regional liaison report. The MBLC has created a new Public Relations Advisory Committee with the following charge: “As a standing committee of the Board, the Committee will consider the current public relations and marketing environment of Massachusetts libraries and develop and maintain a 3-year public relations and marketing plan for recommendation to the Board of Library Commissioners.”
At its July meeting the Board awarded 86 LSTA grants to 75 public, academic, school and special libraries, regional library systems and library networks. Awards totaled $1,324,370 and will begin on October 1, 2006.
Several changes to the MBLC took place in July. Vicki L. Kaufman of Melrose was appointed to the Board replacing Elia Marnik of Reading. Officers for FY2007 were elected: Dr. Em Claire Knowles of Medford, Chair; George Comeau, Esq., of Canton, Vice Chair; and Katherine Dibble of Roslindale, Secretary.
Paul’s report also included news about three upcoming workshops: “Friends Sharing with Friends,” “Conducting an Annual Appeal,” and “Trustee Orientations.”
Meeting adjourned at 4:00.
NEXT EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING: October 11, 2006
Respectfully submitted,
Bobbie Myles
Clerk
The most important activity of the summer was the work on the new Strategic Plan. Following the Future Search on June 29th and 30th, and the meeting with the planning committee on June 31st, our Vision Statement was revised. Staff prepared a draft strategic plan. Becky Schreiber met with the Planning Committee on August 29th and 30th to review the draft strategic plan. During the two days we further revised the Vision Statement, revised the draft goals and objectives, and then set priorities and level of effort for the goals and objectives. Becky helped with revising our Mission Statement. The draft Strategic Plan was made available on the web site on Wednesday, August 30th.
In your packet is a copy of the draft Strategic Plan for your consideration. Please note that the priority and level of effort for the goals and objectives is available on Executive Board copies. Staff has identified some activities that will allow us to meet the Goals and Objectives. They will be working on additional activities during the next several weeks. We look forward to your comments and suggestions. Members of the Strategic Planning Committee will review the process for you at the September 13th Board Meeting. It is our intention to present a final Strategic Plan to the members at the November Annual Meeting.
The Regional Administrators are investigating the possibility of hiring a consultant to review the statewide delivery system. In preparation for an RFP we are interviewing a number of delivery companies. The purpose of the interviews to is to sure we are using the same language that delivery companies use, to understand the volume of items that can be held on different sized vehicles, the sort process, and staffing needs.
I am attending the national delivery meeting in Denver on September 14th and 15th. I will report on the results at the October Metrowest Executive Board meeting. In addition, the Statewide Delivery Committee is having what is likely to be the final meeting in early October. At that meeting we will finalize the ‘Best Practices’ document.
Invoices for MassCat fees have been sent to all non-school members. Many payments have been received already. School invoices will be sent in mid-September. The MassCat Steering Committee has implemented an ILL pilot project to increase the number of ILLs provided through MassCat. I will provide details about the pilot project at the October Executive Board meeting.
The Budget Committee met in August to prepare a revised FY2007 Budget and a draft of the FY2008 Budget. At the September 7, 2006 MBLC Board meeting I learned that the MBLC will refund Metrowest $33,333 toward the NewsBank contract that we paid at the end of FY2006. The money may be used for databases. A separate report for the reimbursement will be required at the end of FY2007.
For FY2007 Metrowest received an additional $74,825 toward its bottom line. There were no changes in the contracts with Newton and Wellesley. Please see Budget Committee notes in the packet for detailed recommendations.
There is a draft Plan of Service included in the packet. I updated several of the goals to more accurately reflect the draft Strategic Plan. Although it includes activities from the draft Strategic Plan, we are required to follow a certain format so it might be difficult to pull them out. Please give any comments to Beth and we will revise for the October Board meeting.
We have begun planning for the Library Leadership Massachusetts ’07 Institute. I will be the Grant Manager again. At the September 7, 2006 MBLC Board meeting $50,000 was approved for the Institute. I will be developing the proposal (with input from the Institute Planning Committee) during the next month. We plan to use participants from the early Institute to help us develop the ’07 Institute.
At the September 7th MBLC meeting the Commissioners approved the appointment of Nancy Rey, Director of the Haverhill Public Library as the new Deputy Director/Head of Library Development. They also discussed the Draft FY2008 Legislative Agenda.