August 14, 2020

Minutes — August 14, 2020

The one hundred eighty-first meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 14, 2020 by Board Chair Travis McAfee at https://www.gotomeet.me/OPLIN/august-oplin-board-meeting.

Present were Board members: Angela Baldree, Travis Bautz, Jamie Black, Justin Bumbico, Roger Donaldson, Chris May, Travis McAfee, Hilary Prisbylla, Tara Sidwell, Garalynn Tomas, and Holly Varley. 

Also present were: Jessica Dooley, Karl Jendretzky, Laura Solomon, and Don Yarman (OPLIN); Stephanie Herriott, Wendy Knapp, and Jamie Pardee (State Library); and Jay Smith (Ohio Library Council).

The Nominations Committee proposed the following slate of officers: Chris May; Chair; Justin Bumbico, Vice Chair; Jeff Garringer, Secretary; Tara Sidwell, Treasurer. Travis Bautz seconded the nominations. There was no discussion, so the chair called for a vote on the nominations; all aye. The new Board Chair Chris May assumed control of the meeting.

Travis McAfee motioned to approve the agenda as presented; Angela Baldree seconded. There was no discussion, so the chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Following the pattern of holding OPLIN Board meetings at 10:00 a.m. on the second Friday of even-numbered months, Yarman presented the following meeting schedule:

• August 14, 2020 
• October 9, 2020 
• December 11, 2020 
• February 12, 2021
• April 9, 2021, 9:00 AM (planning meeting)
• June 11, 2021

Jamie Black motioned to approve the meeting schedule; Roger Donaldson seconded. There was no discussion, so the chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

The Chair called for public participation.

Wendy Knapp reported that the State Library’s CARES Act mini-grants were very popular, and applications for these grants had to be closed early. Library access to the Ryan Dowd webinars on service to the homeless have been supplemented with new material on library service during COVID-19. The State Library has cancelled all meetings in the building through the end of the year, and plans to begin offering curbside service in September. Because Knapp has not been able to go out and meet Ohio librarians face to face, she is starting to schedule virtual tours to learn more about Ohio library services. The State Library staff are completing their narratives in support of the state budget request due in September.

Jay Smith outlined upcoming OLC activity, including a webinar on OBM’s new grant portal for the $18.3 million in CARES Act public library assistance grants, a webinar with the Secretary of State’s office on voter registration, and virtual versions of the Trustees Dinners that were cancelled last spring. OLC has begun planning the “Road Ahead” tour, where OLC will meet virtually with library directors grouped by Senate district to discuss advocacy and important talking points for communicating with legislators during budget preparation this fall. Smith also discussed the change in leadership at the House, and some pieces of legislation that are relevant to library interests.

Garalynn Tomas motioned to approve the minutes of the June 12, 2020, meeting as presented; Jamie Black seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Jamie Pardee reviewed the completed financial reports for FY2020, noting that expenses totaled $4.9 million, leaving $35,000 left in the total appropriation. July numbers were not yet recorded in the report, so the budget estimates for FY2021 are unchanged, with expenses projected to exceed spending authority but remain well within cash reserves. In the budget process, Pardee explained that agencies submit a request for “Operating A” which is a reduction scenario, and “Operating B” for continuing priorities. Because OPLIN is not funded from general revenue, the Operating A request will be 100%, and Operating B will be a request for increased spending authority, as rising telecommunications costs, support for Lynda.com, and increasing maintenance costs have driven expenses higher. 

Justin Bumbico motioned to accept the financial reports; Holly Varley seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Juniper Hardware and Software Maintenance

Yarman explained that maintenance on network equipment previously had been purchased by OIT, but for current equipment, purchased nearly four years ago, OPLIN was asked to assume this cost. That original maintenance term has expired, and staff are working with Juniper and its vendor partners to price out continued maintenance on the equipment. Because the purchase will be more than $50,000, OPLIN will have to get approval from the Controlling Board for the purchase, as well as request additional spending authority to cover this unbudgeted expense. Yarman further explained that current budget directives only allow agencies to purchase maintenance for 12-month terms, so as it is currently understood, OPLIN is seeking quotes for twelve months backdated to when maintenance expired in January, and for on-going maintenance coverage January-December 2021. Yarman asked the Board to approve expenses up to $150,000 for the renewal of Juniper maintenance in this fiscal year.

Jendretzky added that vendors steeply discount the maintenance costs as more years are purchased, so while the maintenance originally cost about $53,000 a year for the initial three years, buying one year at a time will push the cost up to about $75,000 per year.

Black asked how stable the Juniper equipment is over a three year period; Jendretzky asserted that all the hardware in place he expects to still be operating in three years, and that the devices will last longer than that. The current devices have the capacity to handle growth in library network usage, and no library should outgrow the hardware OPLIN has installed for their location in the next three years.

The Board strongly endorsed a three year maintenance agreement for the network equipment.

Jamie Black motioned to approve up to $150,000 in expenses for the renewal of Juniper maintenance; Justin Bumbico seconded. There was no further discussion, so the Chair called for a roll call vote on the motion.

Recorded vote: Angela Baldree, aye; Travis Bautz, aye; Jamie Black, aye; Justin Bumbico, aye; Roger Donaldson, aye; Chris May, aye; Travis McAfee, aye; Hilary Prisbylla, aye; Tara Sidwell, aye; Garalyn Tomas, aye; Holly Varley, aye.

Yarman, Solomon, and Jendretzky delivered a presentation on OPLIN Services in FY2020. Yarman focused on how budget expenditures squared with the strategic plan, the status of contracts for subscription databases, and the usage trends of those databases over the fiscal year. Solomon reviewed the year’s work migrating Website Kits to Drupal 8, and discussed the next steps to Drupal 9. She also talked about projects that grew out of pandemic response, such as a library-contributed online programs database, Solomon’s popular library remote worker webinar, and a weekly series of short mini-webinars about Webkit features, including a new graphic resource site for Webkit customers. Jendretzky provided overviews of network bandwidth utilization and the distribution of circuits across vendors in Ohio, and gave details of how libraries are making use of services like Umbrella, SOCC Co-Location, Infosec IQ, and the SMS Gateway. Jendretzky also updated the Board about the causes of a hardware failure at the core that caused some libraries to lose internet on July 23, and the measures that were put in place so that when a related piece of equipment failed August 5, no libraries were affected.

FY2022-FY2023 Budget

Yarman expects expenses to be generally flat. The state will give guidance on how agencies should construct their salary and benefits budgets. Increases will be due to on-going maintenance cost of Juniper equipment, and possible expansion of the co-location space as more libraries move equipment there.

Yarman had nothing additional to report.

Solomon had nothing additional to report.

Jendretzky had nothing additional to report.

Nomination Committee appointment

May appointed Angela Baldree, Justin Bumbico, and Garalynn Tomas to the Nominations Committee for FY2021.

With no other business pending, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 11:40 a.m.