April 22, 2022

Minutes —April 22, 2022

The one hundred ninetieth meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:02 a.m. on Friday, April 22, 2022 by Board Chair Tara Sidwell at https://www.gotomeet.me/OPLIN/april-2022-oplin-board-meeting.

Present were Board members: Angela Baldree, Travis Bautz, Jamie Black, Ben Bolbach, Roger Donaldson, Bill Lane, Holly Richards, and Garalynn Tomas. 

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

Jamie Black moved to approve the agenda as presented; Ben Bolbach seconded. There was no discussion, so the chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

The Chair called for public participation.

Michelle Francis outlined recent OLC events, including the Fiscal Officer Conference, the series of Trustee Dinners that is starting, and the upcoming Cybersecurity webinar. Jay Smith informed the Board that OLC’s recent Legislative Day drew over 220 attendees, and had a positive response from legislators. The general assembly is currently on break and will return in May to complete the Capital Budget.

Wendy Knapp discussed the transition in delivery service companies, and announced that LSTA coordinator Cindy Boyden would be leaving the State Library for a position with IMLS. The State Library is completing their next five-year plan, due to IMLS by June 30. 

Garalynn Tomas moved to approve the minutes of the February 11, 2022 meeting as presented; Travis Bautz seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Don Yarman reviewed the financial reports, noting that three-fourths of the way through the fiscal year, three-fourths of the administrative budget has been spent. Yarman and State Library fiscal services staff do not anticipate a need to go to the Controlling Board to ask for an increase in spending authority for the current fiscal year. Looking ahead to the budget for next fiscal year, Yarman anticipated the budgeted amounts for Juniper maintenance and Trumpia SMS credits will not be needed, and the cost of Cisco Umbrella licenses will be lower. Pending Board approval, the budget for SOCC Co-Location will need to be increased.

Ben Bolbach asked what level of Juniper maintenance OPLIN purchases. Yarman said that OPLIN carries software maintenance for access to updates, and hardware replacement; Jessica Dooley added that there OPLIN’s inventory includes working spares hardware, so faulty hardware can be replaced immediately without waiting for an exchange of hardware shipments with Juniper. 

Jamie Black moved to accept the financial reports; Holly Richards seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Expand Co-Location Space

The current Co-Location Space in the State of Ohio Computer Center has capacity for 8 network racks. These are occupied by:

1. OPLIN equipment
2. Columbus Metropolitan Library (rental and power billed to library)
3. CLEVNET
4. CLEVNET
5. Cleveland Public Library (rental and power billed to library)
6. Shared Rack – Consortia
   1. CLC
   2. SEO
7. Shared Rack – Individual Libraries (billed to library per U occupied)
   1. Greene County
   2. Worthington
   3. Euclid
   4. Lorain
   5. Cincinnati
8.  Cuyahoga County Public Library (rental and power billed to library)

As it is OPLIN’s practice to leave some room for tenants to expand, the current space is nearly full. Additional libraries (Medina, Toledo) and consortia (SearchOhio) have inquired about moving services into the space. OIT has set prices at $300 per month for empty rack footprint, $500 per month when a rack is installed. The immediate cost for expansion would then be $28,800, but OIT has offered OPLIN the same space for the cost of one occupied rack and two vacant rack spaces, or $13,200 per year. Based on the costs for current space, Yarman proposed increasing the budget for Co-Location to $18,200.

Jamie Black asked how OPLIN marketsthe service. SOCC Co-Location is regularly featured in rotating promotions via social media and listserv footers. Special attention is given to talk about the service at tech events, meeting with consortia and groups of library IT staff. 

Bill Lane moved to approve the expansion of the Co-Location Space; Ben Bolbach seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Yarman briefly reviewed the existing plan, noting that the strategic priorities remain relevant and have proved sufficient, and that the legacy service plan lists services that are core to what OPLIN provides operationally (internet access, databases), with additional services in palace to support core services (network evaluation, E-rate workshops, filtering solution, Co-Location). Yarman does not believe there are services listed that should be discontinued, but noted that providing digital literacy training resources (i.e. Northstar) is not listed on the current plan, as Northstar content is very different than the collection of research databases.

Holly Richards asked whether Northstar could fit into the services if a priority or strategy were reworded. As offering Northstar is something that assists public libraries with digital literacy training, Christine Morris suggested adding that to the fourth strategy statement: “Offer to assist Ohio public library systems with digital communications and digital literacy training.” Yarman will make these changes to bring the plan to the June meeting for discussion and possible approval.

Yarman reiterated from his written report that Dooley is performing well in her new role as OPLIN’s Technology Projects Manager. Yarman and Dooley plan to meet to create the job description to backfill her previous position of Infrastructure Specialist. Yarman and Morris’s meetings with vendors at the PLA Conference in Portland, OR, were positive, and noted he was pleased how much of the conference program focused on digital equity and the role public libraries can play.

Morris echoed the positive response to PLA’s digital equity content. She has been holding follow-up conversations with vendors she met at the conference, clarifying what OPLIN and its partners will be looking for in the coming months as the “Intent to Negotiate” for statewide database subscriptions is released. The Libraries Connect Ohio partners are recruiting their committees to review vendor responses to the ITN, and the joint meeting to discuss is scheduled for November 15.  The website www.digitalskillsohio.org, a generic portal to Northstar resources, will soon be added to the Ohio Web Library site. 

Several new features have been released for Website kits, including new options for arranging content, even offering different layouts on different pages within the site. Solomon recently attended two virtual conferences: Computers in Libraries (its third virtual year) and axe-con (an accessibility conference, geared to the digital industry in general).

Dooley noted that simultaneous with Karl Jendretzky leaving OPLIN, OIT engineer Terry Fouts who has supported OPLIN since the network’s inception has also retired. Two engineers have been assigned to support OPLIN’s needs. Dooley has recently accompanied one of them, Mike Horsely, on trips to libraries to replace the last of the old OPLIN routers that need to be upgraded to the current Juniper hardware. Dooley repeated that the Co-Location space is completely subscribed, with Cincinnati installing equipment using VLAN stacking completed by Jendretzky, and Cuyahoga County using a similar configuration created by Dooley. Dooley also was able to attend a virtual conference: the UseNix Site Reliability Engineering conference.

Sidwell noted that the Nominations Committee would be meeting after the Board meeting to select new Board members they will ask the State Library Board to appoint to the OPLIN Board.

With no other business pending, Travis Bautz moved to adjourn the meeting; Jamie Black seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair adjourned the meeting at 11:00 a.m.