FY2009

FY2009 hedgesst Tue, 12/15/2009 - 16:08

June 12, 2009 Minutes

June 12, 2009 Minutes hedgesst Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:41

OHIO PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Minutes—June 12, 2009

1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER

The one hundred fourteenth meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 12, 2009 by Board Chair Gayle Patton at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.

Present were board members: Gary Branson, Holly Carroll, Karl Colon, Mary Pat Essman, Jim Kenzig, Gayle Patton, Sandi Plymire, and Mike Wantz.

Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Karl Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); Diane Fink (State Library); Lynda Murray (Ohio Library Council); and Don Barlow.

2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The Chair introduced Don Barlow, Director of Westerville Public Library, who will be a new Board member on July 1. Ben Chinni, Trustee of Euclid Public Library, will also join the Board on July 1.

The Chair called for public participation and there was none.

3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Gary Branson motioned to approve the agenda as presented; Holly Carroll seconded. All aye.

4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of April 10 Board Retreat

Mary Pat Essman motioned to approve the minutes of the April 10 board retreat; Jim Kenzig seconded. All aye.

5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS

Diane Fink presented four financial reports: Report A showing the budget and expenditures for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 as of May 31; Report B showing the revenue and cash balances for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 as of May 31; Report C showing the budgets for FY 2009, 2010 and 2011; and Report D showing projected revenue and cash balances through FY 2011.

Report A: Diane explained that there are two payrolls left in the current fiscal year, and taken together with some unemployment costs for a previous employee, these salary expenses are the largest unspent balances in the Administration budget. She also explained the small available balance for a consultant exists because the contract with Past, Present, and Future, for maintaining the ExploreOhio website, was suspended in April in accordance with the Governor's Executive Order. Purchase orders will be opened in the next few days to encumber the remaining balances in the Telecommunications budget. As a result of the Executive Order, there was a small decrease of about $5,400 in the overall budget.

Report B: Diane called attention to the recent receipts of E-rate reimbursements, which total more than they have in past years, because OPLIN is now applying for reimbursements every six months instead of annually. The result is our normal annual reimbursement and our first semi-annual reimbursement arrived at about the same time. This balance may be helpful with our cash flow as we begin the new fiscal year. Diane also noted the first receipts of revenue from the libraries doing the beta testing of the website kits.

Report C: This report shows the OPLIN budget as contained in the Executive Budget Recommendation, the House Recommendation, and the Senate Recommendation. Diane noted that all three recommendations are identical.

Report D: Diane pointed out the reduction in anticipated E-rate reimbursements in FY'11, due to the shift to semi-annual reimbursements. The projected cash balance at the end of FY'11 is only about $118,000.

Diane then reported on the details of the Governor's Executive Order mandating additional spending controls on state agencies. Restrictions on travel were increased, and all open purchase orders were reviewed; the purchase of telecommunications services was deemed to be "essential," so these purchase orders were not reduced. Agencies were required to submit plans to the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) for reducing their budgets by as much as 30%; OPLIN submitted a plan to reduce the OPLIN budget by about $24,000, including the already negotiated reduction in office rent. Diane also explained that all OPLIN employees must take ten unpaid furlough ("cost savings") days per year during the next two years, and salaries will be reduced accordingly.

Diane also reported on additional reductions to the State Library's operating (5%) and regional libraries' (30%) budgets as recommended by the Senate. Further reductions may occur in the Conference Committee. In response to a question about the cash flow in the new fiscal year, Diane explained that some of the OPLIN payments, particularly for databases, occur very early in the fiscal year; however, it is likely that OPLIN funds will be transferred from the Public Library Fund in small monthly amounts, so the E-rate balance may need to be used for these large, early payments.

Stephen Hedges expanded briefly on the budget reduction plan submitted to OBM, noting that the plan was written under the assumption that there was no good reason to hold onto Public Library Fund monies at a time when public libraries need the services that can be purchased with those funds; the funds cannot be returned to the libraries, they would just sit unused in the OPLIN account. Diane noted that we have not had any response from OBM to this plan.

Mike Wantz motioned to accept the Financial Reports; Holly Carroll seconded. All aye.

6. OLD BUSINESS

6.1. Discuss proposed FY'10-11 budget

Stephen Hedges asked Lynda Murray to report on the overall state budget situation before moving to a narrower discussion of the OPLIN budget.

Lynda began by noting the $2.3 billion difference between state revenue projections two years ago and now. For public libraries, the current projections for the revenues going into the Public Library Fund (PLF) are $365 million in calendar year 2009, $356 million in 2010, and $360 million in calendar year 2011. It is likely that some library systems will not be able to survive in their current form. About two-thirds of Ohio public libraries have no local levies and are almost entirely dependent on the PLF.

The current budget language diverts about $5 million per year from the PLF to pay for OPLIN and the Library for the Blind, then diverts $5 million from the General Revenue Fund (GRF) into the PLF to negate this reduction. The Ohio Library Council is quietly working to maintain this arrangement as the budget moves through the Conference Committee. If the language is maintained, the State Library and the Ohio Library Council will probably recommend to OBM that the diversion from the PLF happen monthly instead of in one lump.

Lynda noted that the revenue projections do not include any future federal stimulus money, which is an unknown amount at this point. She also feels that the budget eventually passed by the legislature will be a placeholder budget that will need to be revised downward in the near future. The eventual recovery is likely to be very slow.

Stephen Hedges reviewed some of the findings of the OPLIN Task Force on Governance and Funding, which was created when OPLIN funds were taken from the Library and Local Government Support Fund (LLGSF) in FY'02, FY'03, and FY'04. The two biggest funding issues at that time were the fact that the OPLIN funding was fixed instead of being a percentage of the LLGSF, and local libraries felt that they did not have as much control as they would like over the OPLIN budget. The Task Force did not propose any procedure for funding OPLIN as a percentage of the LLGSF, but it may be a good idea to pursue that once the current budget is set. OPLIN should also be mindful of spending funds in such a way that libraries see a strong return on their investment in OPLIN. Lynda noted that OPLIN funding will likely be just one of a number of issues which OLC will be discussing with its members in the near future.

Lynda Murray left the meeting at 10:51 a.m.

6.2. Discuss possible OPLIN services

During the April Board Retreat, several possible new services were mentioned, and OPLIN staff were asked to examine each service and estimate the resources needed to implement it. Stephen Hedges presented a list of these services with an estimate of the staff time and money needed as well as the amount of time needed to implement the service.

The services which received the most support during the ensuing discussion were creating and maintaining: a) a website that provides information on job searching, and; b) a portal to e-government forms and resources. There was also discussion of selling website kits to non-profit organizations other than public libraries.

The Board concurred that some services should be undertaken as soon as possible, others require more study and detailed proposals, and some should be postponed until a later date.

Undertake ASAP

Offer OPLIN email service using existing library domain names; a library could have staff email addresses like staffname@libraryname.org instead of staffname@oplin.org.
Continue to provide support for librarians in Second Life.

Prepare proposals

Survey the availability of job help websites and prepare a proposal for a job help website if there is a need.
Survey the availability of e-government websites and prepare a proposal for a portal to e-government resources and forms if there is a need.
Prepare a proposal for a text messaging service that would send library notices to mobile devices via SMS.

Postpone

Offer to assist libraries with finding and hiring technology staff for a fee; hold until economy is better.
Sell website kits to non-profit organizations; hold for further consideration once most public library website kits have been completed.

6.3. Set guidelines for Website Kits

Enough of the beta testers of the website kits have reached the final stages of creating their sites for OPLIN staff to project expected costs and revenues with a fair degree of accuracy, and it appears that we are recovering our costs for providing the service. One purpose of the beta testing was to test our pricing to make sure it was adequate to cover our costs; there was no intent to make any profit. Stephen Hedges proposed that the Dynamic Website Kits now move from beta testing to production and that the current pricing used for the beta testers be continued: $200 for website kit creation; $180 per year for website service; $300 for any special Drupal module; $150 per hour for limited custom design and graphics work; and $600 for on-site training of up to 20 library staff. Stephen also suggested that some website kit customers will want more custom features than OPLIN is willing to provide, and for such cases we should develop a partnership with other non-profit library entities that do full-scale website development, so we could pass the customer to them in return for a fee to cover our costs for work already done toward gathering customer design requirements.

Mike Wantz motioned that the Dynamic Website Kits move from beta testing to production; Jim Kenzig seconded.

Holly Carroll asked if the intent is still to just cover our costs and questioned whether the pricing is too low. Gary Branson also expressed a concern that ongoing support of kit users may be more demanding than we anticipate, but Laura Solomon said that has not yet been her experience with the alpha tester and the early beta testers.

The Chair called for a vote on the motion. All aye.

Gary Branson asked if the motion had included the pricing structure; he had understood that it did not, but others assumed that it had. The Board then agreed that the Director will periodically review the balance between revenue and costs and approach the Board for price changes when deemed appropriate.

7. NEW BUSINESS

7.1. OPLIN overtime on holidays

It has been the practice for the OPLIN Support Center to stay open on four state holidays when many libraries are open: Martin Luther King Day, President's Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans' Day. This results in about $2,500 per year in overtime costs for Support Center staff. The State Librarian has the authority to approve or deny overtime, and because of recent pressure on state agencies to eliminate or reduce overtime, Jo Budler asked the Board for their opinion as to whether this practice should be ended.

Stephen Hedges explained that whenever the Support Center is closed, on weekends and other holidays, calls to the Support Center are automatically redirected to the State of Ohio Network Operations Center.

Jim Kenzig asked for clarification as to how long any change in overtime practice would last. The consensus of the Board was that they would ask for re-consideration if it became evident that closing the Support Center was becoming a problem.

Sandi Plymire motioned that the OPLIN Support Center be closed on all state holidays until such time as this may become a problem for libraries; Holly Carroll seconded. All aye.

8. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT

Stephen Hedges reported that the replacement routers have started to arrive, beginning with the core router. Site routers are expected to start arriving very shortly. These routers should allow OPLIN to better handle quality-sensitive network services such as Voice-over-IP.

Stephen noted that he has been working with a group of librarians convened by the Ohio Library Council to develop a number of statewide proposals for using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for broadband stimulus. Efforts are underway to gather partners other than libraries for a number of projects which have been loosely defined. It is probable that the guidelines for grant applications will be released around the end of June, and applicants may have only 60 days to submit proposals.

Stephen reported that rumors are circulating that the Broadband Ohio network, which currently provides free transport of Ethernet traffic from remote areas of the state back to Columbus, will need to begin charging for this service due to budget pressures. Although nothing is official yet, it is possible that this change could cost OPLIN about $200,000 per year in additional telecommunications costs.

Stephen highlighted a meeting he attended in Washington DC on May 12, sponsored by the American Library Association and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on ARRA broadband stimulus funding.

8.1. Website Kits progress

Laura Solomon reported that six of the ten beta test libraries have received their kits and completed training in loading their content into the kit; three of those libraries are now using their websites "live" on the Internet. One library has asked to be removed from the beta test and placed on the waiting list after the kits go into production. That places three on the waiting list, and more libraries have begun to express interest.

8.2. Bandwidth report

Karl Jendretzky reported on the results of a test he constructed to sample the destination IP addresses of the OPLIN Internet traffic. Over 70% of the traffic goes to content delivery networks, groups of servers that move bandwidth-intensive applications, such as video, closer to the end user. Akamai is the largest such network, with many servers, and accounts for about 43% of the total bandwidth, but even more noteworthy was Eyewonder, whose two servers distribute Flash advertisements and accounted for 22% of the bandwidth, costing about $15,000 per month.

Karl suggested we may want to cache the Eyewonder servers instead of retrieving the content from the Internet. There was also some discussion of simply blocking these servers from the OPLIN network.

Karl also reported that the Office of Information Technology was intrigued by this data, and that we had also shared it with OARnet. We may be able to negotiate a a lower bandwidth cost if a significant number of the content delivery servers are accessible on Internet2.

8.3. Databases and Network Reports

8.3.1. Database usage

Laura Solomon noted the steep increase over the last two months in the number of documents retrieved. Most of that is due to increased usage of EBSCO by Cuyahoga County Public Library, but no one seems to know what would have caused that.

8.3.2. Support Center (April and May)

Karl Jendretzky reported that Support Center ticket flow was normal, with no significant issues, as reflected in his written report.

9. CHAIR'S REPORT

9.1. Director's Evaluation

Gayle Patton noted that all Board members had received a copy of the consolidated evaluation forms and comments regarding the performance of the Director, and that they were positive overall. All Board members completed evaluation forms, and none requested an Executive Session to discuss the evaluations. She thanked Bonnie Mathies for collecting all the forms and collating them.

9.2. Resolutions

Gayle Patton shared a few comments about the departing Board members. She noted that Bob Richmond had served two terms, had served as a Board officer, and brought the valuable perspective of a public library trustee. Mike Wantz has advanced his retirement date to early October, so he will not be joining the Board for a second term; Gayle thanked him for his participation in OPLIN affairs, including volunteering his library as the alpha tester for the Website Kits. Gayle praised Mary Pat Essman for her thoughtful observations, questions and comments; Mary Pat in turn praised the "fabulous" OPLIN staff.

Karl Colon motioned that the following three resolutions be inserted into the minutes as read; Gary Branson seconded.

WHEREAS, MARY PAT ESSMAN has been a member of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees since July 2006, and

WHEREAS she has generously contributed her efforts to ensure the success of OPLIN by serving on the Board for three years, and

WHEREAS her dedication and attention to the perspective of the public libraries have maintained OPLIN's integrity, and

WHEREAS she has served ably as the Vice-Chair of the OPLIN Board, and

WHEREAS her experience as Director of the Lane Public Library gave her a valuable point of view concerning OPLIN and its services to all Ohio public libraries,

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that on the 12th day of June, Two Thousand and Nine, the members of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Public Library Information Network recognize the significant contributions made to public libraries and library service by MARY PAT ESSMAN during her tenure with the Ohio Public Library Information Network, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board extends its most sincere thanks and appreciation to MARY PAT ESSMAN for her continued volunteer service as a member of that Board.

WHEREAS, BOB RICHMOND has been a member of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees since July 2002, and

WHEREAS he has freely and unselfishly given of his time and efforts to ensure the success of OPLIN by serving on the Board for seven years, and

WHEREAS he has demonstrated a firm sense of commitment and dedication to advancing public libraries in Ohio, and

WHEREAS his service as a trustee of the Canal Fulton Public Library gave him a unique perspective about OPLIN and its services to public libraries,

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that on the 12th day of June, Two Thousand and Nine, the members of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Public Library Information Network recognize the significant contributions made to public libraries and library service by BOB RICHMOND during his tenure with the Ohio Public Library Information Network, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board extends its most sincere thanks and appreciation to BOB RICHMOND for his continued volunteer service as a member of that Board.

WHEREAS, MIKE WANTZ has been a member of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees since July 2007, and

WHEREAS he has generously contributed his efforts to ensure the success of OPLIN by serving on the Board for two years, and

WHEREAS he has shared his valuable insights and wisdom to maintain the integrity of OPLIN, and

WHEREAS his experience as Director of the Perry County District Library gave him a diverse point of view concerning OPLIN and its services to all Ohio public libraries,

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that on the 12th day of June, Two Thousand and Nine, the members of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Public Library Information Network recognize the significant contributions made to public libraries and library service by MIKE WANTZ during his tenure with the Ohio Public Library Information Network, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board extends its most sincere thanks and appreciation to MIKE WANTZ for his continued volunteer service as a member of that Board.

The Chair called for a vote on the motion. All aye.

9.3. August meeting procedure

Gayle Patton suggested that discussion of filling Mike Wantz's seat on the Board be placed on the August meeting agenda. She informed the Board that she will open the August Board meeting and immediately ask that Jeff Wale, representing the Nominations Committee, propose the slate of Board officers for the 2010 fiscal year. Following the vote, she will pass the gavel to Karl Colon as the new Board chair.

10. ADJOURNMENT

Sandi Plymire motioned to adjourn the meeting at 12:06 p.m. Jim Kenzig seconded.

April 10, 2009 Minutes

April 10, 2009 Minutes hedgesst Mon, 06/15/2009 - 12:05

OHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
BOARD
RETREAT

Minutes—April
10, 2009

1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER

The one hundred thirteenth meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:01 a.m. on Friday, April 10, 2009 by Board Chair Gayle
Patton at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.

Present were board members: Gary Branson, Holly Carroll, Karl
Colon, Mary Pat
Essman, Jim Kenzig, Bonnie Mathies, Gayle Patton, Sandi Plymire, Bob
Richmond, Jeff Wale, and Mike Wantz.

Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Karl
Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); Diane
Fink, Jo Budler, and Missy Lodge (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio
Library Council).

2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The Chair called for public participation and there was none.

3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Gayle Patton explained that she and Stephen Hedges felt that
it would be best to start the strategic discussion in the morning while
everyone is fresh, and push the regular board meeting business items to
the end of the day.

Gary Branson motioned to
approve the agenda as presented; Mary Pat Essman seconded. All
aye.

4. STRATEGY DISCUSSION

Missy Lodge facilitated a discussion of OPLIN strategy,
touching on four main subject areas: the external environment, OPLIN
customers, OPLIN services, and marketing. OPLIN staff
provided background reports and additional supporting
information in the course of the discussion. Missy's notes from the
easels recorded the following discussion points:

External Environment

Libraries are valued more than other state agencies, but
the complexity of library funding is not understood
- more competition for state support
- being well-supported can be a double-edged sword, threat
- legislators increasingly look to local funding as a
  primary source of funding
- nobody is "raiding" public library funding, it reflects
  the economy
- freshmen legislators seem to understand library funding
Schools are more of an opportunity for partnering than a
threat
- schools value libraries
- library has to go to school system for partnering,
  school doesn't come
  to library
- an opportunity, but scaling down due to budget; but how
  will cutbacks affect the relationship?
- there is both need and opportunity, but budget reality
  sets in
- public library cannot assume role of school library
- have to watch we don't spread ourselves too
  thin—focus on libraries' core work
Still true that OPLIN is taken for granted—always
there, always free, and not understood
- libraries only care about OPLIN if things go wrong
- * part of marketing piece
- to many library staff, OPLIN is a "utility"
- CLEVNET and SEO dependent on OPLIN
  - what will we achieve by marketing to libraries?
  - marketing objective?
- Return On Investment study (marketing) — *
  important if funded
  through PLF
  - one was done in 2001 (OPLIN from LLGSF), used as
    communication tool
Library technology issues
- libraries need basic IT assistance
  - drain on OPLIN resources
- concern is not law enforcement but privacy, protecting
  private
  info, etc.
- if OPLIN funded from PLF does it change library
  expectations of OPLIN?
- ongoing discussion of core mission of libraries
  - shifting from books
  - shifting from traditional paradigm of telling
    people what's good for them
- libraries expect OPLIN to take care of things no matter
  funding
  source
  - if from PLF, heightened awareness but not a change
    in expectation
  - more concern in how money spent
- differentiate more between OLC and OPLIN?
  - not an issue
- no one blaming OPLIN for budget situation
- competing with Google
  - not a major issue, reference librarians use Ohio
    Web Library
  - a fear, but now realizing Google not as efficient
  - bigger issue for small libraries
- real competition is Google-like websites
- need statewide unified catalog search
- Google not competing with libraries, competing with
  books
- Google is a tool
- how is Google a threat to OPLIN?
  - takes away from database use
  - used instead of databases
  - databases cost a lot of money
  - are we justified in spending that money?

Customers

Where do customers of libraries fit in?
- at the public library level
Happier customers?
- more of everything at same cost
- opportunities to save money
- have OPLIN/state agencies break the ice/test the water
  for new things
  - helping see the future
- * job searching skills/employment databases
- tech support and web services
Do we need more bandwidth or better management when it gets
in library?

Services

Where funding comes from will impact services fee structure
If choose to make a service, then ad hoc committee
determines fee structure and model
Dynamic Website Kits
- show how much would cost on open market
- * is marketing because of word of mouth
  - break-even service
- new fee structure for July 1 based on beta tests
Custom OWL Search
- libraries could build but not maintain
- great idea but not practical
SMS messaging
- cost: phone $30 per month
- could host locally
- if libraries are our customers, how we use it with them?
Summer Reading Program management
- can provide more functionality

[The Board took a break for
lunch from 11:50 am to 12:10 pm.]

New Services

Managing e-gov. resources / portal
WiFi routers
- how deep to go
- more work than we know
Branch connections
Internal network trouble-shooting
- for fee
- would need to hire technician
Website evaluation
- possible because we have right staff
Accreditation for "2.0"
Assistance with continuing education for Second Life
Basic social media training package
Robust intranets
- shared content statewide
Custom email domains
Tech interview consultant
- OPLIN staff serve as head hunter
Job searching skills/database
Can not take on more
with
current staff and budget
Should we be polling
libraries?
How do new services tie
to mission?
Once budget is decided,
OPLIN staff take each service and indicate resources (staff and other)
it would take

Marketing

How do we know if new service wanted
How do we market it, roll it out
At what level market?
- push down to staff
How we market depends on what we want to achieve
- get libraries to "like OPLIN" vs. sale of product
Send something to all library staff on regular basis
Set up arrangement where someone at each system will push
it down
Follow model of OLC Director "This Week" message
Internship with marketing person
- KSU student?
Focus groups at OLC chapters 2010
Online survey

[The Board resumed regular
meeting agenda items at 1:14 pm.]

5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of February 13 meeting

Jeff Wale motioned to
approve the minutes from the February 13th meeting; Bob Richmond
seconded. All aye.

6. ACCEPTANCE OF THE
FINANCIAL REPORTS

Diane Fink presented four financial reports: Report A showing
the
budget and expenditures for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 as of March
31; Report B
showing the revenue and cash balances for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 as
of March 31; Report C
showing the budgets for FY 2009, 2010 and 2011; and Report D showing
projected revenue and cash balances through FY 2011.

Report A:
Diane reported that OPLIN has been assessed some unemployment costs for
a previous employ who has been laid off from the job she took after
leaving OPLIN; these charges have been added to the salary line in the
budget. She also noted that the re-negotiated OPLIN rent for the next
biennium should save about $10,000 each year. All charges for databases
have been paid for the year. OIT telecommunications charges have been
higher than anticipated, so some adjustment to those line items may be
required before the end of the fiscal year.

Diane pointed out that $979.90 in filtering funds are still
available, because several libraries paid for their filter maintenance
before the second round of filtering assistance grants was approved.
This late in the fiscal year, it is best to allow those funds to revert
to the state; since the funds are earmarked, they cannot be used for
another purpose. Diane noted that recent news has suggested that the
Office of Budget and Management (OBM) might announce another cut due to
flagging state revenues, but that is unlikely this late in the fiscal
year.

Diane noted that at the December 12 board meeting we had
discussed
the possibility of further cuts to the OPLIN budget, but when state
budget cuts were announced on December 19, the entire State Library
budget, including OPLIN, was exempted. There may be no further cuts
before the end of the biennium.

Report B:
Diane reported that we have received some E-rate reimbursements, but
some large refunds are still pending. The March 31 Fund 4S4 cash
balance is therefore only $337,375.

Report C:
Diane noted that there have been only minor changes in this report to
reflect small changes in FY 2009 line items. The currently expected
date for the Ohio House to release their version of the budget is April
20, at which point OPLIN funding may be changed to come from the
General Revenue Fund rather than the Public Library Fund.

Report D:
At
the proposed funding level, the cash balance should
be about $48,000 at the end of FY 2011.

Diane also reported that OBM is preparing for the possibility
of operating under an interim budget if the General Assembly does not
pass a biennium budget by June 30. She reported on the OCSEA labor
contract which will probably apply to all state employees. It is
unclear what is to be done with savings realized from ten days of
mandatory furlough for all employees. In response to a question, Diane
clarified that under the OCSEA agreement there will be no pay raises of
any kind for three years.

Holly Carroll motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Mike Wantz seconded. All aye.

Gayle Patton asked Stephen
Hedges to email the Board as soon as the Ohio House releases its
version of the budget to let everyone know how OPLIN is affected.

7. OLD BUSINESS

7.1. Report from Nominations
Committee

Mary Pat Essman thanked fellow committee members Bob Richmond
and Jeff Wale. OPLIN was fortunate to have quite a few people express
interest in joining the board. After discussing the candidates'
qualifications and the present board configuration, the committee would
like to recommend that OPLIN submit Don Barlow, Jason Buydos, Benjamin
Chinni and Jamie Mason to the State Library Board as the selected
candidates for the two upcoming board vacancies, with preference given
to Benjamin Chinni as a library trustee and Don Barlow as a
Columbus-area librarian.

Karl Colon motioned to
accept the recommendation of the Nominations Committee; Gary Branson
seconded. All aye.

Gayle Patton requested that the two candidates selected by the
State Library Board be invited to attend the June 12 OPLIN Board
meeting.

Mary Pat also reported that the committee had drawn up a
suggested slate of candidates for election to board offices at the
first meeting of the board following July 1. Those candidates are: Karl
Colon, Chair; Holly Carroll, Vice-Chair; Bonnie Mathies, Secretary; and
Gayle Patton, Treasurer.

8. NEW BUSINESS

[none]

9. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S
REPORT

Stephen Hedges noted
that most items in his report—the budget matters, the router
replacement project, and the federal stimulus funds—had been
discussed in the strategy discussion. He did point out that he had
enjoyed his involvement with the committee that reviewed the responses
to the State Library's RFP for an open source statewide resource
sharing system. The projected completion date for this project is
September 2010.

9.1. Outreach Report

Laura Solomon reported that she has been busy with online
classes, but also pointed out her presentation about the Ohio Web
Library federated search at the Computers In Libraries conference in
Washington DC. The attendees at her session seemed to
be favorably
impressed.

9.2. Databases
and Network Reports

9.2.1.
Database
usage

Laura Solomon explained that two vendors have had technical
problems and have not yet provided statistics for March, so this report
will be emailed to board members as soon as it is completed.

9.2.2. Support
Center (February and March)

Karl Jendretzky reported that Support Center ticket flow was
normal, as reflected in his written report. He did have to deal with a
major intrusion into our email system; a couple of user accounts were
compromised and used to send out spam. Karl was able to stop the
intrusion and has increased security to counteract similar intrusions
in the future.

10. CHAIR'S REPORT

10.1. Director's Evaluation

Gayle Patton informed the board that it was time to do Stephen
Hedges' annual evaluation. After consulting with Bonnie Mathies and
Stephen, she decided that the form used last year had been informative
for Stephen and fairly easy for Bonnie to collate, so the board will
use the same form this year. The form will be emailed to board members
as soon as possible following this meeting, and all responses are due
to be emailed to Bonnie by May 1. Results will be reported at the June
board meeting.

Stephen noted that he had asked Gayle about changing his title
to
"Director" instead of "Executive Director" as part of the evaluation
process. He felt that this title was more appropriate and more in line
with the titles of similar state employees. Gayle had responded that
the change did not require a formal board process and that he should
feel free to make the change.

11. ADJOURNMENT

Bob Richmond motioned to
adjourn the meeting at 1:40 p.m. Jim Kenzig seconded.

February 13, 2009 Minutes

February 13, 2009 Minutes hedgesst Mon, 04/13/2009 - 08:44

OHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Minutes
-- February 13, 2009

1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER

The one hundred twelfth meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 13, 2009 by Board Chair Gayle
Patton at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.

Present were board members: Gary Branson, Holly Carroll, Karl
Colon, Mary Pat
Essman, Jim Kenzig, Bonnie Mathies, Gayle Patton, Bob
Richmond, and Jeff Wale.

Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Karl
Jendretzky, Laura Solomon, and Vince Riley (OPLIN); Diane
Fink (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio Library Council).

2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The Chair called for public participation and there was none.

3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Gayle Patton noted that Lynda Murray (Ohio Library Council)
planned to join the meeting at about 11:30 with an update on the
proposed state biennium budget. She also asked that Item 9, "CHAIR'S
REPORT" be moved ahead of Item 4, "APPROVAL OF
THE MINUTES."

Mary Pat Essman motioned to
approve the agenda as amended; Holly Carroll seconded. All aye.

[9. CHAIR'S REPORT]

[9.1. Nominations Committee]

Gayle Patton announced that Jim Kenzig and Mike Wantz had
agreed to serve a second term on the board after their current terms
expire in June. Bob Richmond and Mary Pat Essman will be leaving the
board after their terms expire in June, creating two vacancies on the
board. Gayle appointed Bob, Mary Pat, and Jeff Wale to a Nominations
Committee and charged them to 1) recommend several candidates to fill
these vacancies, taking the needs of the board into consideration, and
2) recommend a slate of board officers for election after July 1. She
requested that the committee complete their work and report back to the
board at the April board meeting.

[9.2. Ohio Ethics Commission]

Gayle Patton reminded board members to submit their Financial
Disclosure Forms before the April 15 deadline, and that filing fees are
paid by
OPLIN.

[9.3. Board Retreat]

Gayle Patton asked Stephen Hedges to report on plans for the
OPLIN
Board retreat, which will be held April 10 from 9:00 to 3:00 at the
State Library. Missy Lodge is available to facilitate; the strategic
plan will be reviewed, but the majority of the
discussion will involve policy decisions based on the new budget. The
board requested that a facilitator be used for the
meeting.

4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of December 12 meeting

Gary Branson motioned to
approve the minutes from the December 12th meeting; Bob Richmond
seconded. All aye.

5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS

Diane Fink presented four financial reports: Report A showing
the
budget and expenditures for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 as of January
31; Report B
showing the revenue and cash balances for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 as
of January 31; Report C
showing the budgets for FY 2009, 2010 and 2011; and Report D showing
projected revenue and cash balances through FY 2011.

Report A:
Diane pointed out
the open encumbrance for the fourth quarter FY 2009 rent, noting that
OPLIN rent may change in the future, either because of a move to a new
location or a re-negotiation through the Department of Administrative
Services (DAS) of the rent at our current location. There is not enough
contiguous space in the State Library building to house OPLIN. The move
to the State of Ohio Computer Center (SOCC) could become unfeasible if
OPLIN
funding is taken from the Public Library Fund in the new budget. Karl
Colon suggested that we try to negotiate a reasonable rate at the SOCC
regardless of our funding source.

In the "Information Resources" section of the budget, there is
an
encumbrance for the OpenTranslators used by the Ohio Web Library
search; the company we originally contracted for this service has been
purchased by another company and OPLIN is in the process of revising
the contract and purchase order. In the "Filtering" section, Diane
reported that all the contracts for smaller filtering grants approved
at the December 12 meeting have been signed; the larger grants (over
$5,000) were just approved at the February 10 State Library Board
meeting.

Report B:
Diane noted that OPLIN has only received the E-rate reimbursement from
OIT, but the other reimbursements are expected soon. Approximately
$13,500 in refunds from canceled data circuits following upgrades also
appears here as revenue.

Report C:
Diane reminded the board that when budgets were submitted to the Office
of Budget and Management (OBM) last September all agencies submitted
budgets at 90% of adjusted fiscal year 2009 appropriations (Activity
A), but could also request an additional 5% for special needs (Activity
B). In the Governor's executive budget proposal, OPLIN is funded at the
95% level (Activity A and B), but funding comes from the Public Library
Fund rather than the General Revenue Fund. The additional Activity B
funds were requested to cover telecommunications costs. The filtering
funds were requested at the Activity A level, which would be $81,000
each year. A total of $3,702,150 would come from the Public Library
Fund, with an additional $2 million in spending authority for E-rate
reimbursements and other non-state revenue. The increases in
salaries/benefits shown for each year are due to anticipated increases
in benefit costs, not salary increases; the executive budget proposal
actually calls for pay reductions.

Report D:
This report has been revised to show the Public Library Fund as a
revenue source. At the proposed funding level, the cash balance should
be about $45,000 at the end of the biennium.

Karl Colon motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Jeff Wale seconded. All aye.

6. OLD BUSINESS

6.1. Approve Internet
filtering assistance grants (second round)

Stephen Hedges presented two spreadsheets with information
pertaining to the filtering assistance grants that will disburse the
remainder of the funds designated for this purpose. These grants are to
libraries requesting assistance with filtering maintenance and
licensing; libraries with the smallest amount of total revenue receive
the highest priority. Due to the delay in awarding these grants (as we
waited for news of more funding cuts), several libraries that would
otherwise qualify for grants, including two that were approved at the
last board meeting, have already purchased their filters and thus been
disqualified under the grant guidelines. The following libraries are
now
recommended for funding, which will complete the distribution of
$85,725:

Grand
Valley Public Library: $375.00
Sabina
Public Library: $169.90
Alexandria Public Library: $199.00
Mechanicsburg Public Library: $99.96
Wagnalls Memorial Library: $199.00
Henderson Memorial Library Association: $250.00
Plain City Public Library: $199.00
Delphos Public Library: $237.00
Harbor-Topky Memorial Library: $810.00
Kinsman Free Public Library: $675.00
Galion Public Library Association: $500.00
Mary L Cook Public Library: $795.00
Newton Falls Public Library: $1,125.00
Carnegie Public Library (East Liverpool): $800.00
Hubbard Public Library: $1,025.00
Rock Creek Public Library: $325.00
Perry Public Library: $450.00
McKinley Memorial Library: $1,000.00
Putnam County District Library: $1,120.00
Kent Free Library: $2,825.00
Ashtabula County District Library: $1,300.00
Reed Memorial Library: $1,550.00
Chillicothe
and Ross County Public Library: $964.00
Portsmouth Public Library: $563.26

Subtotal: $17,556.12
Total
with previous
grants: $85,725.00

Mary Pat Essman motioned to
approve the Internet filtering assistance grants as presented; Gary
Branson seconded.

Roll
call: Gary Branson, aye; Holly Carroll, aye; Karl Colon, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Bob Richmond, aye; Jeff Wale, aye.

7. NEW BUSINESS

7.1. Discuss Governor's
Executive Budget for FYs 2010 and 2011

Stephen Hedges called attention to several items of
information in
the board packets, including the pages from the Governor's proposed
budget which apply to the State Library, OPLIN, and the Public Library
Fund. The General Revenue Funds distributed to the State Library will
be about half what they have been in the past, due to taking the
funding for both OPLIN and the Library for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped (LBPH) from the Public Library Fund. Doug Evans reported
that the Ohio Library Council is currently trying to determine how this
change originated and will work to reverse it.

The first release of the proposed budget showed the Public
Library
Fund at over $464 million, which was a projected number from the last
biennium budget; in reality, the fund will probably have closer to $419
million in calendar year 2009, a reduction of about $30 million from
the previous year. The second release of the proposed budget shows the
Public Library Fund at $401 million in fiscal year 2010. Funding OPLIN
and the LBPH from the Public Library Fund would remove an additional $5
million from the fund each year.

Holly Carroll asked if there would be any impact on the State
Library if OLC succeeds in moving OPLIN and LBPH back into the General
Revenue Fund. Diane Fink replied that there would be no negative impact
to the State Library, though OPLIN and LBPH could be budgeted for less
money if their funding came from the GRF instead of the Public Library
Fund. Stephen noted that the source of the funding would also affect
the amount of rent OPLIN would pay if we were to move back to the SOCC.

Diane provided a synopsis of the history of budget reductions
for
all items in the State Library budget since fiscal year 2002. In FY
2002, 2003, and 2004 OPLIN was funded from the library fund rather than
the GRF. Since FY 2005, when OPLIN returned to the GRF, OPLIN funding
has been cut 21%. The State Library budget items still funded from the
GRF are only funded at the 90% (Activity A) level in the executive
budget proposal for FYs 2010-2011. Overall State Library staffing is
projected to be 74 positions by the end of FY 2011, down from 130 at
the beginning of FY 2002. (Diane also noted that $199,830.84 of the
$200,000 allocated to OPLIN
in the last capital budget for router replacement will be requested
from the Controlling Board on February 23.)

Stephen reported that the OLC Government Relations Committee
discussed the issue of OPLIN funding extensively and decided that OLC
must at least try to move OPLIN funding back into the GRF. At that
meeting Stephen also suggested that if OPLIN funding were to come from
the Public Library Fund, it might be possible to set the amount of
OPLIN funding as a percentage (less than 1%) of the PLF rather than a
fixed amount. Stephen felt that it was important for the OPLIN board to
choose a position on the funding source issue.

Karl Colon asked if it was really important for the board to
take a
position; the board's concern is with the amount of funding. not
necessarily the source of funding, and it may want to remain neutral
on this issue. Stephen replied that he needed guidance from the board
to handle requests for an official OPLIN reaction to the change in
funding source, and if the board decided to take no position, then he
could communicate that.

Jim Kenzig asked if there were advantages to one fund over the
other. Stephen replied that recently the General Revenue Fund has seen
greater reductions than the Public Library Fund; the GRF is subject to
state budget cuts, while the PLF decreases and increases in direct
proportion to general tax revenue.

Gary Branson said he feared that taking OPLIN funding from the
PLF
was a "slippery slope" and could lead to other statewide programs being
funded from the PLF; he felt that the Public Library Fund should be
used only for public libraries. Mary Pat Essman cautioned that this was
the viewpoint of a library director, whereas the viewpoint of an OPLIN
board member should be to secure the funding. She acknowledged,
however,
that the board must think of OPLIN's relationship with its public
library customers.

Jeff Wale recognized that the legislature might easily make a
connection
between the "Public Library Information Network" and the "Public
Library
Fund," but he suggested that, if OPLIN funding remained in the PLF, in
fairness the PLF should be increased to cover the cost of OPLIN.

Karl pointed out that historically the OPLIN-provided Internet
connections represented a commitment from the state to provide specific
support to public libraries; now, however, public libraries are being
asked to cover the cost of this commitment. Mary Pat responded that in
the current economy we can no longer depend on historical commitments.
Karl explained that the historical commitment might be used, however,
to argue that the PLF should be increased to cover OPLIN funding. Holly
speculated that the presence of OPLIN in the PLF might protect the fund
from a reduction in percentage. There was general agreement, however,
that OPLIN was moved into the PLF because sufficient funds might not be
available in the GRF, and finding funds to add to the PLF to cover
OPLIN costs would be difficult.

Mary Pat suggested that the best thing for the OPLIN board to
do
would be to work closely with the Ohio Library Council on this issue.
Doug Evans assured the board that the OLC Board would give strong
consideration to the position of the OPLIN board, because it would be
best if both boards sent a consistent message. He did not believe that
there would be excessive opposition to OPLIN funding coming from the
PLF, but he agreed with the OLC Government Relations Committee that we
at least have to ask that OPLIN move back into the GRF. He felt that
the more contentious issue this time is the proposal to also take
funding for the LBPH from the PLF.

The board then began to discuss the wording of a resolution,
starting with their intention to continue to provide the best services
possible to Ohio public libraries. Having the funds available to do
this is more important than the source of the funding.

At this point Karl Colon suggested that the discussion be
suspended
for a few minutes until Lynda Murray could join the meeting. The Chair
asked the Executive Director to present his report while the board
awaited
Lynda's arrival.

8. OPLIN EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR'S REPORT

Stephen Hedges reported that the International Coalition of
Library Consortia (ICOLC), of which OPLIN is a member, has released a
statement to information vendors concerning the "Global Economic Crisis
and Its Impact on Consortial Licenses" is an effort to keep database
prices in check. Response from vendors so far has been encouraging.

Stephen and Karl Jendretzky have begun meeting with OARnet to
explore the possibility of purchasing some Internet bandwidth through
them instead of through the Office of Information Technology (OIT).
This would not affect the router replacement project, since "last-mile"
network provisioning would still be handled by OIT. Purchasing
bandwidth from OARnet could open a
pathway for public libraries to access Internet2.

Stephen gave a brief update on what is known so far about the
broadband portions of the federal economic stimulus package. Little is
known at
the moment, but the Ohio Broadband Council will be watching closely as
details are released. Stephen also provided some background information
concerning the Connect Ohio eCommunity Leadership Team meetings around
the state. Connect Ohio has organized these teams in about half the
Ohio counties at this point, and is very interested in having libraries
involved with each team.

Stephen congratulated Laura Solomon for being awarded an
Alliance Virtual Library Golden Leaf award for her work in Second Life.

Finally, Stephen informed the board of his plans to begin
applying for E-rate discounts semi-annually instead of annually, and to
take some E-rate funds as discounts on telecommunications bills rather
than reimbursements. These suggestions came from Lorrie Germann, the
eTech Ohio E-rate consultant who now works with OPLIN under contract.
By changing our E-rate reimbursement practices, we can get much of our
E-rate funds into our budget sooner than we have in the past.

Lynda Murray joined the
meeting at 11:26 and the board resumed discussion of Item 7.1.

[7.1. Discuss Governor's
Executive Budget for FYs 2010 and 2011 -- resumed]

Lynda Murray told the board she believes that if OPLIN funds
are taken from public library funding again, that arrangement would
become permanent this time. On the other hand, she does not feel that
public libraries are comfortable with OPLIN funding dropping below the
current 95% of FY 2009 adjusted budget level, so moving OPLIN into the
GRF, but at a lower funding level, would not be a good outcome.

Lynda shared her assumption that the incorrect numbers for the
Public Library Fund in the original executive budget proposal ($464
million) led OBM to believe that excess funds were available to support
OPLIN and LBPH. She has been working with OBM to correct these numbers
before the actual budget bill is introduced, and also to
move OPLIN
and LBPH funding back into GRF in the budget bill, but she was not
optimistic that this would happen. She has also been meeting with
legislators and believes they are supportive of moving OPLIN and LBPH
back into the GRF.

Lynda asked that the board pass a resolution supporting moving
OPLIN funding back into GRF at the 95% level; she also suggested that
the resolution could ask for funding at the 100% level, though felt it
was unlikely that we would get 100%. In response to a question from the
board, she noted that her justification for moving OPLIN back to GRF
would be because the state had provided OPLIN as an incentive for
libraries to cooperate for the sake of efficiency, and taking OPLIN
funding from the PLF would remove that incentive. She also noted that
libraries had agreed to a percentage of general tax revenue with the
understanding that library funding would ebb and flow with the
economy without intervention from the legislature; removing
OPLIN and LBPH
from the PLF violates that understanding.

Lynda also clarified for the board that as proposed, the OPLIN
and LBPH funding would not ebb and flow along with the PLF, but would
remain fixed. From the OPLIN point of view, that and being sheltered
from OBM cuts to the GRF would provide a stable funding source, but
this arrangement is simply unfair to public libraries.

The Chair inquired if OLC would like to have a resolution from
the OPLIN board prior to the March 11 OLC Legislative Day, and Lynda
replied that that would be helpful. The resolution may need to be
revisited at the April 10 OPLIN board meeting, since budget
developments between this meeting and the April meeting may change our
situation.

Jim Kenzig pointed out that much of the board's discussion
indicated that PLF funding could be a good thing for OPLIN. Lynda and
Doug responded that it would be the position of the public library
community that OPLIN funding should nevertheless go back to GRF.

Karl Colon noted that if OPLIN funding were to remain in the
PLF, OPLIN would be in a perpetual funding struggle with its
constituents.
Lynda thought that there would never be an adversarial relationship
between OPLIN and public libraries, but the entire funding situation
would certainly be simpler if OPLIN were not funded from the PLF.

All agreed that further cuts to the OPLIN budget should be
avoided if at all possible, and that the cooperative nature of OPLIN be
noted in the resolution. Discussion of the wording of the resolution
followed.

Mary Pat Essman motioned to
approve the following resolution; Bob Richmond seconded. All aye.

"WHEREAS, the Ohio Public Library Information
Network (OPLIN) will continue to provide outstanding Internet service
to the Ohio public library community and its 8 million patrons, by
cooperatively purchasing broadband connections for the 251 public
libraries through State of Ohio purchase instruments;

"WHEREAS, the Ohio Public Library Information
Network will continue to collectively purchase authoritative online
information resources for use by all Ohioans through our ongoing
partnership with the academic libraries (OhioLINK), the school
libraries (INFOhio), and the State Library of Ohio;

"WHEREAS, the Ohio Public Library Information
Network recognizes that the public libraries of Ohio have now entered a
state of financial distress due to steeply declining revenues and would
be further damaged were the Ohio Legislature to draw the funding for
OPLIN from the already diminished Public Library Fund;

"BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of the Ohio
Public Library Information Network respectfully requests that the Ohio
General Assembly continue funding OPLIN from the General Revenue Fund,
as it has in previous bienniums, and that this funding be established
at 100% of adjusted fiscal year 2009 appropriations ($3,897,000)."

8.1. Website Kits progress

Laura Solomon reported that work has begun on the website kits
beta project. The ten test libraries have been selected, although two
have requested that they be the last to test due to internal scheduling
issues. Five of the website kits are already in progress. OPLIN has
started a waiting list of libraries that are interested in kits after
the beta testing is completed. So far the work has not been excessively
burdensome.

8.2. Outreach Report

Laura Solomon reported that her technology classes have been
busy, with most now taking place online. A list of classes taught and
upcoming events was presented to the board.

8.3. Databases
and Network Reports

8.3.1.
Database
usage

Laura Solomon noted that December usage was down, as it
traditionally is when schools are on break, but overall we are still
seeing significant increases in use of the databases.

8.3.2. Support
Center (December and January)

Karl Jendretzky reported that Support Center ticket flow was
normal, as reflected in his written report, with no unusual activity.

10. ADJOURNMENT

Gary Branson motioned to
adjourn the meeting at 12:03 p.m.

December 12, 2008 Minutes

December 12, 2008 Minutes hedgesst Thu, 02/19/2009 - 09:36

OHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Minutes
-- December 12, 2008

1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER

The one hundred eleventh meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:01 a.m. on Friday, December 12, 2008 by Board Chair Gayle
Patton at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.

Present were board members: Gary Branson, Karl Colon, Mary Pat
Essman, Jim Kenzig, Bonnie Mathies, Gayle Patton, Sandi Plymire, Bob
Richmond, Jeff Wale, and Mike Wantz.

Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Karl
Jendretzky, Laura Solomon, and Bobbi Galvin (OPLIN); Diane
Fink (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio Library Council).

2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The Chair called for public participation and there was none.

3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Bob Richmond motioned to
approve the agenda; Mary Pat Essman seconded. All aye.

4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of October 10 meeting

Gary Branson motioned to
approve the minutes from the October 10th meeting; Mary Pat
Essman seconded. All aye.

5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS

Diane Fink presented four financial reports: Report A showing
the
budget and expenditures for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 as of November
30; Report B
showing the revenue and cash balances for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 as
of November 30; Report C
showing the budgets for FY 2009, 2010 and 2011; and Report D showing
projected revenue and cash balances through FY 2011.

Report A:
Diane noted that November 30 was the last day to make payments against
FY 2008 purchase orders; two remaining purchase orders, one to Kent
State University and one to 361 Studios, were closed and the encumbered
$11,375 was returned to fund 4S4. The FY 2008 budget shows a reduction
of $433,000, which was the 10% cut mandated in February 2008.

For FY 2009, an additional 4.75% cut was implemented in
September, so this budget shows a current reduction of $618,000.
Another cut will certainly be forthcoming, but when and how much are
not yet known. The only open encumbrance in the Administration area of
the budget is the last six months of rent; our lease will end at the
end of the fiscal year and will be renegotiated by the Department of
Administrative Services (DAS) if OPLIN chooses to stay in the current
location. In the Information Resources area there is still an open
encumbrance for periodic payments toward the cost of the Libraries
Connect Ohio database subscriptions, and in the Support area there is
one encumbrance for Ohio Library Council conference support and a small
available balance. In the Telecommunications area, the purchase of a
spam filtering device was approved by the Office of Information
Technology (OIT) and that purchase has been completed.

Report B:
Diane explained that the large change in cash balance in Fund 4S4
between July 2007 (almost $1.4 million) and November 2008 ($240,000)
was due to a combination of large encumbrances disbursed after July 1
and slow receipt of E-rate reimbursements. She noted, however, that a
$378,000 E-rate reimbursement from OIT had been received the day before
the board meeting and more reimbursements should now begin to arrive.

Report C:
This report shows the current state of the FY 2009 budget and the OPLIN
budget request for the next biennium. State agencies were instructed to
prepare a biennium budget expecting 90% of the General Revenue Funds
(GRF)
allocated at the
beginning of FY 2009; agencies could also submit a request for 95%
funding instead if they could justify the request. Diane reported that
at this point, however, these budget levels will almost certainly be
reduced.

Report D:
Diane explained that this report on projected cash balances had been
updated to include the canceled FY 2008 purchase orders, a reduction
in the equipment budget, and receipt of some refunds from
telecommunications vendors resulting from circuit changes. The
estimated cash balance on June 30, 2011 now stands at about $40,000 if
OPLIN were to receive biennium GRF funding at the 95% level, but a
$350,000 deficit at the 90% funding level.

General
Information: Diane
noted that Gov. Strickland's December 1 press conference painted a very
bleak picture of the Ohio economy over the next three years. In her
opinion, this was an effort to educate the public about the need for
further budget cuts. Likewise the recent release of documents detailing
the
effect of a 25% cut to agency budgets (as compared to the 10% cut that
was stipulated for FY 2010-11 budget requests) was probably also a
means of preparing everyone for more cuts. Restrictions on hiring,
equipment purchases, and travel are still in effect.

Stephen Hedges presented a document detailing the effect of
past and
possible future budget cuts on the funds set aside for Internet
filtering assistance, which served as a simple model of the effect of
cuts on the entire OPLIN budget.

Mike Wantz asked if OPLIN might benefit from any federal funds
for broadband infrastructure improvement. Stephen
Hedges responded that he monitors federal grants and has yet to see
anything that would benefit OPLIN, but that may change with the new
federal administration. Mike also asked if the earmark of some state
funds for Internet filtering assistance was likely to continue. Stephen
and Diane responded that earmarks have so far been reduced in
proportion to the rest of the budget, and the funds have not been
released for other uses.

Karl Colon commended Diane and Stephen for presenting a clear
and straightforward assessment of the budget situation.

Mike Wantz motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Jim Kenzig seconded. All aye.

6. OLD BUSINESS

6.1. Approve Library Web
Site Services

Stephen Hedges presented a lengthy document describing the
proposed
web site services and how they would be operated, the fees which would
be charged to customers for the services, the marketing of the
services, potential risks, and estimated costs and revenues.
The
services would encompass development of a basic Drupal website for
libraries, installation of optional modules, hosting and maintenance of
the website, and training for library staff in using the content
management system. The cost of providing the services must be supported
by user fees. This document was prepared in response to a request from
the previous board meeting for a more detailed proposal.

Questions from the board centered on the pricing of the
services,
which was generally thought to be too low, and some board members also
commented on the difficulty of marketing the services. Jim Kenzig
pointed out that the cost of bandwidth had not been included in the
proposal. Jeff Wale asked if the goal was to create a strong revenue
stream or to improve library websites, which are two different
perspectives; he also questioned whether the cost of setting up the
websites was adequately covered by the proposed pricing. Karl Colon
noted that the projected profit was very modest, and even though the
service itself is valuable, the proposal did not remedy our budget
shortfall. Jeff suggested we charge a flat fee for initial
setup,
perhaps $500, and all other work be charged at an hourly fee to protect
our risk. Bob Richmond commented that it might be difficult to convince
libraries that their current websites fall short of accepted criteria,
presenting a marketing challenge. Gayle Patton speculated that some
small libraries might feel more comfortable with getting website help
from their regional system. Gayle also noted that offering this service
could be seen as a reversal of the trend of OPLIN "taking services
away" due to budget cuts. In response to a question, Mike Wantz
clarified that Perry County Public Library agreed to be the alpha
tester for the service because they were aware of the benefits of
moving to a more modern and manageable website, but they also found
that the staff time devoted to the project had actually increased the
technical knowledge of the staff. Doug Evans commented that Laura
Solomon and OPLIN are both well respected in the public library
community and predicted that the service would be popular. Jim
suggested that the plan be tried for six months. Mike suggested that
the initial cost for creating the sites be increased and that more
emphasis be placed on a flat development fee and less emphasis on an
hourly rate for custom work. Gayle requested a motion from the
floor.

Mary Pat Essman motioned to
approve the Library Web Site Services proposal as presented; Sandi
Plymire seconded.

Ensuing discussion revolved around refining the pricing. Bob
Richmond suggested that individual quotes could be prepared for each
potential customer. Mary Pat Essman felt that this would increase the
staff work without increasing revenue, and that the proposed pricing
was too low. In response to a question, Diane Fink noted that OPLIN
could use a contract based on the contract currently used for SEO
libraries, which clearly specifies the responsibilities of both
parties. Mike Wantz proposed that we add an initial website development
fee of $200 to the proposed pricing. Karl Jendretzky clarified that the
annual cost for "hosting" primarily covers maintenance of the site and
the supporting software. Jeff Wale liked the idea of running a
six-month beta test of the project limited to no more than a dozen
libraries. Diane suggested that it might be a good idea to end the test
with the end of the fiscal year. Karl Colon asked for reassurance that
the services would not take so much staff time that other OPLIN
services suffered. Bonnie Mathies reminded everyone that a good
evaluation of the impact of the project on libraries and their users
will be important.

Mary Pat Essman amended her
motion to approve the Library Web Site
Services proposal with the addition of a $200 initial website
development fee and that the proposal be tested until June 30, 2009
with a limited number of libraries to be determined by the Executive
Director, followed by an evaluation of the impact of the web site
services
on the participating libraries and their users.

Roll
call: Gary Branson, aye; Karl Colon, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Sandi Plymire, aye; Bob Richmond, aye; Jeff Wale, aye; Mike Wantz, aye.

7. NEW BUSINESS

7.1. Approve Internet
Filtering Assistance Grants

Stephen Hedges presented a list of Internet filtering
assistance requests that OPLIN received as well as a list of
recommended grant awards. He reminded the board that the original
$100,000 set aside in our FY 2008 budget for filtering had been reduced
by successive budget cuts to $85,725. Fifty-five libraries requested
assistance totaling just under $146,000, so funding recommendations are
made according to the priorities announced when the grants were
announced. Only one library submitted a first priority request for
installing a new filter. This request plus the second priority requests
for upgrades or improvements to existing filters totaled $78,428.88.
Third priority requests for filter maintenance and license renewals
made up the rest of the requests, and within this group requests from
libraries with less revenue were given higher priority, in accordance
with the announced guidelines.

In light of the possibility of additional budget reductions
soon to come, Stephen recommended that the first and second priority
requests be funded now for the amounts directly related to new filters
or filter upgrades ($78,428.88) and that additional grant awards be
tentatively funded up to the amount available after the next budget
reduction is announced. Karl Colon and Jim Kenzig asked if there were
time restrictions on funding the additional grants; could approval be
delayed as long as the next board meeting in February? Stephen replied
that the only restriction was the need to have grants over $5,000
approved by the State Library Board at their January 15-16 meeting, and
that did not affect any of the maintenance and renewal grants under
consideration.

Jeff Wale motioned to
recommend assistance grants totaling $78,428.88 for funding costs
related to new, upgraded, and improved filters to the State Library
Board and the State Librarian, and that additional grants
for filter
maintenance and license renewals be considered at the February 13 OPLIN
board meeting; Bob Richmond seconded.

Roll
call: Gary Branson, abstained; Karl Colon, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Sandi Plymire, aye; Bob Richmond, aye; Jeff Wale, aye; Michael Wantz,
aye.

Jeff Wale asked if there
had been any past discussion of implementing a central filter that
could be locally controlled, which seemed to him to be more efficient.
Stephen Hedges replied that this can be considered after new
routers are installed at the OPLIN Core; the current routers are not
sophisticated enough to allow such an installation.

8. OPLIN EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR'S REPORT

Stephen Hedges began his report by speculating on the future
of the OPLIN budget and measures that may have to be considered in the
future to balance it. An additional 5% cut to the OPLIN budget could
push our shortfall in the next biennium to over half a million dollars.
In the face of such a deficit, subscriptions to the Hannah and Gongwer
reports would have to be discontinued and we would probably have to
negotiate with EBSCO to remove OPLIN payments toward the statewide cost
of Consumer Health Complete. Stephen provided a synopsis of all the
payments OPLIN currently makes toward the cost of databases.

Another source of some savings would be moving the OPLIN
office. Stephen has been working with DAS to move the OPLIN office back
to the State of Ohio
Computer Center (SOCC) but was recently informed that the current
method of rent calculation at the SOCC may be changed in the next
biennium, negating the savings we expected. Stephen has also discussed
with Jo Budler the possibility of moving the OPLIN office into the
State Library building; Jo has offered space rent-free so long as the
state budget crisis continues. Such a move could save as much as
$54,000 per year.

Stephen reported that the router replacement project has been
delayed as OIT deals with
concerns raised by competing vendors over the process used to select
the
equipment. Karl Jendretzky and OIT staff believe they can address those
concerns and move ahead in time to request release of capital funds for
the project at the January 12 Controlling Board meeting.

In other items of interest, Stephen noted that Lorrie Germann
at eTech Ohio has been working on getting E-rate reimbursements for
last year's payments and preparing to submit applications for next
year's program. In the current year we have been approved for a maximum
of $1,262,000 in discounts. In Broadband Council news, OIT has released
an RFP for new "last-mile" connections statewide, with the goal being
the establishment of a contract mechanism for buying Ethernet, cable,
DSL, and wireless connections similar to the SOMACS contract for
purchasing T1 circuits. Such a contract could result in significant
cost savings for OPLIN. OPLIN has also implemented the new spam filter
for OPLIN email accounts and is pleased with the results. Laura Solomon
has created Facebook applications for the Ohio Web Library search and
the OPLIN about:books search.

8.1. Outreach Report

Stephen Hedges asked Laura Solomon to report on her activities
in support of the OPLIN Objective: Communicate information about
Internet technologies. Laura presented a list of classes taught and
events attended as well as highlighting some upcoming events,
particularly her presentation about the Ohio Web Library that was
accepted for the Computers in Libraries conference next year in
Washington DC. She also announced the upcoming OPLIN virtual Holiday
Party in Second Life on December 17.

8.2. Databases
and Network Reports

8.2.1.
Database
usage

Laura Solomon noted that the downtrend in document retrievals
has been reversed and we are also seeing a huge jump in searches
following implementation of the Ohio Web Library search.

8.2.2. Support
Center (October and November)

Karl Jendretzky reported that activity was normal, although
the reports look like an unusual number of circuits had interruptions
in November. In reality, a DS3 circuit carrying other smaller circuits
experienced a problem, resulting in a large number of ticket reports.

9. CHAIR'S REPORT

Gayle Patton offered no
report at this time.

10. ADJOURNMENT

Karl Colon motioned to
adjourn the meeting at 12:00 p.m. Jim Kenzig seconded.

October 10, 2008 Minutes

October 10, 2008 Minutes hedgesst Tue, 12/16/2008 - 14:41

OHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TENTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Minutes
-- October 10, 2008

1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER

The one hundred tenth meeting of the Ohio Public
Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
9:56 a.m. on Friday, October 10, 2008 by Board Chair Gayle
Patton
at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.

Present were board members: Gary Branson, Holly Carroll, Karl
Colon, Mary Pat
Essman, Jim Kenzig, Bonnie Mathies, Gayle Patton, Sandi Plymire, Bob
Richmond, and Michael Wantz.

Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Karl
Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); Diane
Fink (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio Library Council).

2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The Chair called for public participation. Doug Evans informed
the
Board that the Ohio Library Council had successfully completed its move
to Schrock Road and would be holding an open house in conjunction with
a retirement reception for Wayne Piper on November 14.

3. APPROVAL OF THE
AGENDA

Mary Pat Essman motioned
to
approve the agenda; Bob Richmond seconded. All aye.

4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of August 8
meeting

Bob Richmond noted that the Memorandum of Understanding with
eTech was incorrectly called a Memorandum of Agreement at one point in
the minutes.

Holly Carroll motioned to
approve the minutes from the August 8th meeting as corrected; Mary Pat
Essman
seconded. All aye.

5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS

Diane Fink presented four financial reports: Report A showing
financial status of Fiscal Year 2008 as of September 30; Report B
showing financial status of FY 2009 as of September 30; Report C
showing the budgets for FY 2009, 2010 and 2011; and Report D showing
projected revenue and cash balances through FY 2011.

Report A:
Diane pointed out that only two purchase orders remain open for FY
2008, one to Kent State University and one to 361 Studios. OPLIN does
not expect to receive any invoices against these purchase orders and
will check with the vendors to be certain they do not intend to invoice
against them. If there are outstanding invoices, they must be received
by the end of October. Diane reminded the Board that OPLIN funding had
been reduced by $433,000 (10%) in FY 2008.

Report B:
Diane reminded the Board that OPLIN funding was reduced an additional
4.75% on September 10; Report B shows the total amount of
both cuts as distributed throughout the budget. The only open
encumbrance listed in the Administration budget category is rent. OPLIN
staff and Diane are still working with the Department of Administrative
Services to determine if OPLIN can move back into the State of Ohio
Computer Center (SOCC) at the end of this fiscal year; if not, DAS will
need to negotiate a new biennium lease for OPLIN with our current
landlord. In the Information Resources category, about $1 million has
already been paid for the information databases for FY 2009, with about
$750,000 left to pay. In the Education, Training and Support
category, the OLC conference sponsorships are the only open encumbrance.

The amount budgeted for Network Upgrades in the
Telecommunications category has been reduced from $200,000 to a little
more than $19,000 since the last Board meeting. This was done to meet
the latest 4.75% funding cut. OPLIN had budgeted $200,000 in E-rate
funds to match $200,000 in Capital Budget funds for upgrading network
routers, but the Office of Budget and Management approved a plan to use
only Capital Budget funds for a partial upgrade and reallocate the
E-rate funds for other telecommunications costs. Diane noted that the
total funding reduction for FY 2009 is now $618,000, and the combined
reduction for FY 2008 and 2009 is a little over $1 million.

Report C:
Cash balance at the end of FY 2008 was about $1.3 million, but as of
September 30 the balance is only a little more than $420,000. E-rate
refunds should be arriving before the end of December to bring the
balance back up a bit.

Report D:For
the next
biennium, state agencies were instructed to prepare a
budget expecting 90% of the General Revenue Funds allocated at the
beginning of FY 2009; agencies could also submit a request for 95%
funding instead if they could justify the request. The instructions
also directed agencies to assume that salaries would be frozen through
the biennium, although personnel benefit costs would increase. OPLIN
has budgeted for only five employees and has assumed that rent will
increase a little if OPLIN does not move to the SOCC. The NoveList
subscription is dropped from the FY 2010-2011 budget. OPLIN requested
95% funding (an additional $195,000) in order to be able to pay
telecommunications bills through the biennium. Projecting the cash
balances, if OPLIN receives the 95% funding the balance at the end of
the biennium will be about $5,000; if OPLIN receives only 90% funding,
the balance will be a negative $380,000.

General
Information: The
State Library (including OPLIN) budget request for FY 2010-2011 was
submitted to OBM on September 15 and is now being reviewed. In January
OBM will release their budget recommendations and the Governor's budget
will probably be released to the legislature in February. Diane
reviewed the programs included in the State Library budget. Only about
half of the State Library's revenue currently comes from the General
Revenue Fund. Some Board members had questions about the next Gates
Foundation grant program, and Diane and Stephen shared what information
they had, although the program is only in the early planning stage.
Diane also explained the procedure for requesting the $200,000 in
Capital Budget funds from the Controlling Board, probably at their
November 17 meeting.

Karl Colon motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Holly Carroll seconded. All aye.

6. OLD BUSINESS

6.1. Approve Strategic Plan

Stephen Hedges requested approval of the Strategic Plan that
has been under review since the April Board retreat. Because of
uncertainties caused by the shifting financial environment,
Stephen made some of the language more conditional than it was
before and highlighted those changes in the document distributed to the
Board prior to the meeting. Stephen noted that the plan review will
begin again in about six months and recommended that the currently
proposed version of the plan be approved.

Karl Colon motioned to
approve the Strategic Plan; Jim Kenzig seconded.

Roll
call: Gary Branson, aye; Holly
Carroll, aye; Karl Colon, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Sandi Plymire, aye; Bob Richmond, aye; Michael Wantz, aye.

Gayle Patton requested that
the next two items of business be considered in the reverse order of
their appearance on the agenda.

6.2. Approve Custom Database
Search Installations

Stephen Hedges explained that the search software used on the
Ohio Web Library search page is also capable of accessing databases
which are purchased by individual libraries, and the page itself can be
modified to match the look of the other pages on an individual
library's web site. This creates the possibility of bringing revenue to
OPLIN for installing customized versions of the Ohio Web Library search
for individual libraries in return for a fee.

There would be some costs to OPLIN associated with such a
service. Some of the databases purchased by libraries support Z39.50
access; these databases could be added to a custom search at no cost to
OPLIN. Others that do not support Z39.50 require an OpenTranslator. It
currently costs OPLIN $350 to build an OpenTranslator and an additional
$1,050 per year to run it.

The proposed custom search service would be provided to
customer libraries in return for a set fee for each database "target"
that was added to the basic Ohio Web Library search. Stephen is
proposing that this fee be $475 per database target. Stephen provided a
document that included some information about which databases are most
commonly purchased by libraries and a list of non-metro libraries which
purchase five or more databases, to the best of our knowledge. Based on
this data, the expected costs, and the proposed pricing, Stephen
estimated a possible net income each year of about $45,000-$50,000 from
this service.

Karl Colon asked if any market research had been done to
assess the demand for such a service; Stephen replied that there has
been no such research. General discussion then explored the possible
advantages of such a service to a library. It became apparent that a
pilot project would be a good idea, so long as costs could be
controlled. Stephen suggested that the pilot project involve a very
limited number of libraries and use only database targets that are
Z39.50 accessible, and thus entail no monetary costs to OPLIN.

Holly Carroll motioned that
OPLIN staff conduct a small pilot project, involving three to five
libraries and only databases that are Z39.50 accessible, to determine
the feasibility of offering custom database search installations to
public libraries, and that the results of the project be reported to
the Board at the April retreat; Michael Wantz seconded.

Discussion: Bob Richmond asked about the costs currently paid
by libraries for searching their databases. Several Board members
explained that some libraries currently pay for federated
search software to make database access easier and to increase usage,
but searches done on the database vendors' web sites typically do not
involve any cost above and beyond the database subscription cost.

The Chair put the question
to a vote: All aye.

6.3. Approve Web Design
Services

Stephen Hedges noted that this possible fee-based service has
already had a small pilot with Perry County District Library. As
proposed, this service would: provide a library system with a basic,
"no-frills" web site structure, using the open source Drupal content
management software; provide initial graphical elements for the page
header; provide initial guidance for library staff in procedures for
adding their own content to the structure (requiring that at least one
librarian come to the OPLIN office for training); and host the site on
an OPLIN web server. This service as described would be free to the
library; however, many Drupal extensions are available that would
improve the website, and OPLIN could charge $700 each for installing
and configuring these modules for libraries.

While Board members agreed that there is a need to encourage
libraries to use better web sites, there was reluctance to take on the
additional work of building basic web sites without any additional
revenue received. Marketing the additional modules and ongoing
maintenance and support for the sites were also concerns. The
feasibility of the proposed charges was also discussed. Concerns were
raised about the impact on OPLIN staff and equipment. The point was
made that many libraries are accustomed to paying an outside
organization for any support work done on their web sites.

In response to a question from the Chair, it became clear that
most Board members were not comfortable with the proposed pricing for
the service and would like to see a revised proposal that
attached costs to the basic web design and technical support,
as well as to advanced web design services. A few libraries have
already expressed a strong interest in the web design services; the
Board speculated on the reaction of these potential customers
to a delay in offering the service. Stephen suggested that these
libraries could be asked for their reactions to a revised proposal
prior to the next Board meeting, and that these reactions could be
shared with the Board along with the revised proposal.

Karl Colon motioned to
postpone the question to the next meeting pending development of
additional
information from the OPLIN staff; Michael Wantz seconded. All aye.

7. NEW BUSINESS

7.1. Revise Router
Replacement Timeline

Stephen Hedges reminded the Board that the OPLIN budget had been cut an
additional 4.75% on September 10. The plan submitted to OBM for
accommodating this cut was to disregard our $200,000 E-rate match for
Capital Budget funds to replace end-of-life routers, and proceed with
replacing as many routers as we can with just the $200,000 from the
Capital Budget. The $200,000 in E-rate funds would be reallocated
toward paying telecommunications expenses. We have since received
approval from OBM for this plan, and intend to ask the Controlling
Board to release the capital funds to OPLIN sometime next month.

We plan to purchase Juniper routers instead of Cisco this time; quite a
few state agencies are switching to Juniper, including the new
Broadband Ohio network, and the Juniper software might be flexible
enough to allow us to do some centralized caching, etc. that we have
not been able to do with Cisco. Juniper is expensive equipment, but
Karl Jendretzky (OPLIN) and Terry Fouts from the Office of Information
Technology (OIT) have persuaded Juniper to offer us some very deep
discounts, bringing their prices in line with Cisco. OPLIN also has
some big Cisco 7200 routers that can be reused without any problem; the
Cisco 7200 is a very popular router in the telecommunications industry
and will not reach industry end-of-life in the foreseeable future.

Instead of replacing all the routers this fiscal year, as originally
planned, Stephen proposed the following:

replace the eight Cisco 7200 core routers that have G1
cards (at the SOCC) with two new Juniper M7i routers;
move the 7200+G1 core routers to the metro libraries,
replacing
current 7200s that do not have G1 cards (the G1 card allows the 7200 to
handle up to 500Mbps instead of 100 Mbps);
use the old metro 7200 routers for new DS3 circuits
(installed
wherever a library needs more than four T1 lines and Ethernet is not
available); and
buy as many new Juniper J2320 routers as we can afford,
which
should be enough to put new routers in every library that has either an
Ethernet circuit or more than one T1 line, with about 20 more routers
going to libraries that are getting close to filling their T1 lines.

The precise number of routers which can be purchased will depend on any
additional charges added by OIT for brokering the purchase and
deploying the new routers. The remaining routers would be replaced once
funds are again available, perhaps through a second capital budget
request.

Mary Pat Essman motioned to
reallocate
$200,000 in E-rate funds from the router replacement project to
telecommunications expenses and use the $200,000 from the capital
budget to purchase as many routers as possible; Gary Branson seconded.

8. OPLIN EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR'S REPORT

Stephen Hedges thanked the Board members who attended the
Stakeholders Meeting on September 12; he estimated that about 75 people
were in attendance. The news that NoveList will not be available
through OPLIN next fiscal year was the biggest announcement of the
meeting. Stephen met with representatives from EBSCO and OHIONET before
the Stakeholders Meeting and they have already begun working on
discounted pricing for libraries that want to purchase NoveList. Jay
Burton at the State Library is planning to offer training on other
readers advisory tools which librarians can use, and OPLIN staff have
developed an "About Books" web page which uses Google Book Search and
Google Custom Search to find information about books.

Stephen reported that the SOCC has informed DAS that they
should have an answer around November
1 to our request to move the OPLIN office back to the SOCC. He also
reported that Lorrie Germann's (eTech) E-rate workshops for this year
are now scheduled for November 4 and December 12 at the State Library
and by video conference to six remote sites.

Stephen also informed the Board that he has been working with
Connect Ohio to set up a pilot project for lending laptops from public
libraries. Library laptop lending is the third phase of the "No Child
Left Offline" project run by Connect Ohio and their parent
organization, Connected Nation. Stephen has proposed that the Stark
County District Library, the Portsmouth Public Library, and the Wood
County District Library participate in the pilot; once the pilot
libraries have been selected, they will deal directly with Connect Ohio.

8.1. Databases
and Network Reports

8.1.1.
Database
usage

Laura Solomon noted that there continues to be a large
increase
in the number of database searches as well as a noticeable increase in
documents retrieved since the introduction of the Ohio Web Library
search. She also reported that NewsBank search results are now
available through the EBSCO search interface.

8.1.2. Support
Center (August and September)

Karl Jendretzky reported that for a couple of libraries we are
ready to add a fourth T1 line; however, he is investigating the
possibility of purchasing DS3s locally (not from State contract), which
may be cheaper than four T1 circuits.

9. CHAIR'S REPORT

9.1 Establish FY 2009 Board
Meeting Schedule

Gayle Patton asked for approval of the Board schedule through
Fiscal Year 2009 as well as two meetings to start FY 2010. (Normal
meeting dates are the second Friday of even-numbered
months.) All meetings except the April Board Retreat begin at
10:00 AM and
will be held at the State Library of Ohio, 274 E. First Avenue,
Columbus unless otherwise noted.

August 8, 2008
October 10, 2008
December 12, 2008
February 13, 2009
April 10, 2009 (9:00 - 3:00 Board retreat)
June 12, 2009
August 14, 2009
October 9, 2009

Bonnie Mathies motioned
to approve the proposed meeting schedule; Bob Richmond seconded. All
aye.

9.2. Remarks

Gayle requested that
OPLIN staff prepare public relations plans for marketing any
fee-based
services to accompany future proposals for these services.

10. ADJOURNMENT

Bob Richmond motioned to
adjourn the meeting at 11:50 p.m. Jim Kenzig seconded.

August 8, 2008 Minutes

August 8, 2008 Minutes hedgesst Mon, 10/20/2008 - 11:14

OHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED NINTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Minutes
-- August 8, 2008

1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER

The one hundred ninth meeting of the Ohio Public
Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:01 a.m. on Friday, August 8, 2008 by Board Chair Gayle
Patton
at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.

Present were board members: Holly Carroll, Mary Pat
Essman, Jim Kenzig, Bonnie Mathies, Gayle Patton, Sandi Plymire, Jeff
Wale, and Michael Wantz.

Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Karl
Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); and Jo Budler and Diane
Fink (State Library).

Gayle Patton reiterated Mary Pat Essman's welcome to Holly
Carroll at the last board meeting and also welcomed new board member
Sandi Plymire.

2. NOMINATION and ELECTION
of BOARD OFFICERS

Gayle Patton noted that the current board officers are: Gayle
Patton, Chair; Mary Pat Essman, Vice-Chair; Bonnie Mathies, Secretary;
and Bob Richmond, Treasurer.

Jeff Wale motioned to
retain the current slate of officers; Michael Wantz seconded. All aye.

Gayle reminded the board that the Executive Committee is
composed of the board officers plus Karl Colon at large.

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The Chair called for public participation, and there
was
none.

4. APPROVAL OF THE
AGENDA

Holly Carroll motioned to
approve the agenda; Mary Pat Essman seconded. All aye.

5. EXECUTIVE SESSION

Jim Kenzig motioned to go
into Executive Session to discuss
personnel compensation; Mary Pat Essman seconded. Roll
call: Holly
Carroll, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Sandi Plymire, aye; Jeff
Wale, aye; Michael Wantz, aye.

The board entered Executive
Session at 10:06 a.m.

The board returned from
Executive Session at 10:17 a.m.

Mary Pat Essman motioned
that OPLIN Executive Director Stephen Hedges be given a 6% pay
increase, effective August 17, 2008, due to his good performance
reviews and because he has not received any pay increase since taking
the Executive Director position over two years ago. Jim Kenzig
seconded.
Roll call: Holly
Carroll, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Sandi Plymire, aye; Jeff
Wale, aye; Michael Wantz, aye.

Diane Fink informed the
board that the Governor has set a limit of 3.5% on pay increases for
administrative staff and would not approve a 6% increase. The
possibility of an exemption was discussed but rejected as unlikely. The
possibility of providing the raise in two increments, one now and
another after six months, was deemed more likely.

Mary Pat Essman amended her
previous motion to indicate that the board recommends a 6% increase for
the Executive Director but will only ask for a 3.5% increase at this
time due to the Governor's restrictions on pay increases for
administrative staff. Holly Carroll seconded. Roll call: Holly
Carroll, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Sandi Plymire, aye; Jeff
Wale, aye; Michael Wantz, aye.

Stephen Hedges thanked the
board for their support.

6. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of June 13
meeting

Holly Carroll motioned to
approve the minutes from the June 13th meeting; Jeff Wale
seconded. All aye.

7. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS

Diane Fink presented three packets of financial reports: one
with financial reports as of June 30, the end of fiscal year 2008; one
with financial reports as of July 31; and one with FY 2010-2011
biennial budget reports.

June 30
Financial Reports: Diane noted that even though the fiscal
year has ended, open encumbrances can still be paid until November. One
open encumbrance which we still expect to pay is for software
translators for the Ohio Web Library federated search, others are for
awaited telecommunications bills. The apparent large available balance
of about $1.5 million is only unused spending authority, not actual
funds. The remaining cash balance in Fund 4S4 (E-rate) at the end of FY
2008 will be about $1 million after encumbrances are paid. These
reports
also reflect the $433,000 budget reductions mandated by the Office of
Budget and Management (OBM) for both FY 2008 and FY 2009.

July 31
Financial Reports: Diane explained that the first report
in this packet shows FY 2008 after some encumbrances had been paid in
July, leaving only about $33,000 in encumbrances still open for FY 2008.

The amount budgeted for Rotunda in FY 2009 is much lower
because OPLIN switched from full access to Capital Connection for
libraries to email delivery of just the Hannah Report. Stephen Hedges
pointed out that most of the information resources in the budget are
databases purchased through Wright State University for the Libraries
Connect Ohio partnership (the Ohio Web Library collection), with the
notable exception of EBSCO NoveList. Diane noted that the $2.5 million
current available balance in General Revenue Funds (GRF) will go to
telecommunications costs, as will a large portion of the Fund 4S4
balance.

FY 2010-2011
Budget Reports: Diane explained that all state agencies
must submit a FY 2010-2011 biennial budget to OBM by September 15,
2008; these reports show the current draft of the OPLIN biennial
budget. Agencies have been instructed to prepare an "Activity A" budget
based on 90% of their reduced FY 2009 budget, but may also submit an
"Activity B" budget for a possible additional 5% in funding. In
addition, agencies must submit budget language; the OPLIN language will
be
much smaller this year, now that OPLIN is defined in permanent law
instead of the budget bill, but will include a suggested change to the
filtering allocation to allow more flexibility in how that money may be
used.

In the Administration area of the budget, OBM has instructed
agencies to assume that there will be
no personnel pay increases during the FY 2010-2011 biennium; the
increases in staff expenses reflected in the budget are due to
increases in the cost of employee benefits. The currently vacant staff
position will be removed from our budget request, leaving us with five
(5) requested staff. The budget assumes that OPLIN will not be moving
to the SOCC, since we have yet to receive approval for such a move.

In the area of Information Resources, no funds are budgeted
for the
purchase of EBSCO NoveList in FY 2010-2011, saving $197,000 each year.
In the area of Education, Training and Support, $50,000 has been
budgeted for E-rate consultants. In the area of Telecommunications,
OPLIN will be requesting $194,850 in "Activity B" funds each year to
support the network. The 4S4 Fund spending authority request will be
reduced from $3 million to $2 million; we have not used more than about
$1.4 million spending authority in any year since OPLIN stopped
offering group database purchasing. The filtering allocation will be
reduced from $90,000 in FY 2009 to $81,000 in FY 2010 and FY 2011.

Stephen Hedges addressed questions about network equipment
upgrades.
$200,000 has been budgeted for this is FY 2009, to which $200,000 in
capital budget funds will be added, which should allow us to upgrade
all the network routers during the current fiscal year. Board
discussion turned to the likelihood of other ways to generate revenue,
especially considering the reduced OPLIN staffing.

Diane Fink pointed out that if OPLIN staff is reduced to five,
the
NoveList subscription is dropped, E-rate reimbursements continue to
total about $1.2-$1.3 million per year, and OPLIN receives Activity B
funding for telecommunications from the state, our 4S4 Fund cash
balance at the end of FY 2011 will be under $100,000. If we do not
receive the Activity B funding, we will be almost $300,000 short of
balancing. All these numbers assume that FY 2009 funding will not be
reduced by OBM as a result of the currently weak statewide revenue
collections.

Bonnie Mathies motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Mary Pat Essman seconded. All aye.

8. OLD BUSINESS

8.1. Discuss draft of
Budget Balancing measures and Strategic Plan

Stephen Hedges presented a document to the board outlining
measures that could be taken to bring the budget into balance. Two
measures listed in the document have already been discussed, namely the
reduction to five OPLIN staff positions and the need to cancel the
NoveList subscription. In addition to these cost saving measures, the
document also contains some ideas for revenue generation, which also
appear now in the draft strategic plan.

Board discussion turned to NoveList, which is popular among
librarians. Ideas for replacing NoveList with non-commercial readers
advisory tools were discussed, as was a suggestion to organize a group
purchase of NoveList by the public libraries. OPLIN must certainly
communicate the decision to discontinue NoveList, as well as the budget
constraints which forced the decision, to libraries very soon, and
should include some ideas for dealing with the loss. Stephen will
provide NoveList usage statistics by libraries to the board for
information and will inform the "ETM" and Metro library directors of
this news in their meetings.

A discussion was started about possible products and services
which OPLIN might offer to libraries for a fee. The board expressed
concern with this change in the OPLIN business model, but did not
reject it. Again, the importance of communication with public libraries
was noted. Stephen will prepare a communication piece for the
September 12 OPLIN
Stakeholders Meeting, which he will share with the board for
information. The board agreed to then have a longer meeting than usual
on October 10 to allow ample time for discussion of budget concerns and
the strategic plan.

8.2. Approve Memorandum of
Understanding with eTech Ohio for
E-rate consulting services

Stephen Hedges presented a draft Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU)
with
eTech Ohio, which proposes separate annual prices for: 1) conducting
E-rate workshops for public libraries - $10,000; 2) providing E-rate
application assistance to public libraries - $15,000; and 3) preparing
and managing all OPLIN E-rate forms and applications - $20,000. The
question before the board was which of these services would be funded
by OPLIN and which would be funded by the State Library using possible
LSTA funds. Stephen pointed out that the total cost ($45,000) was less
than the amount budgeted for E-rate consulting for OPLIN alone, and
providing E-rate services for public libraries could be an opportunity
to remind libraries of the OPLIN telecommunications services for
libraries.

Several board members noted the importance of assisting
libraries
with E-rate applications. Jeff Wale asked if OPLIN could expect to gain
$50,000 in E-rate reimbursements because of the consultants' work;
Stephen answered that he knew of about $30,000 that was lost in the
current year just because of small clerical errors in the application
support materials.

Jeff Wale motioned to
approve the Memorandum of
Understanding with eTech Ohio for
E-rate consulting services, with OPLIN funding all three proposed
services; Michael Wantz seconded.

Discussion: Jeff Wale
suggested that eTech be asked to
include a public records statement in the MOU and that they explore
options for providing training and E-rate assistance online.

Roll
call: Holly
Carroll, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Sandi Plymire, aye; Jeff
Wale, aye; Michael Wantz, aye.

8.3. Approve OPLIN email
option

Stephen Hedges reported that the response from the Attorney
General's office to the board's question about ownership and privacy of
public library email records was that all emails relating to the
operation of a public library are public record, and access to those
records would not go through the private contractor, should OPLIN
decide to use a private email hosting service.

Karl Jendretzky has researched three options for improving the
spam filtering for oplin.org email accounts. One would be using "free"
Gmail hosting for all oplin.org email, which has very good spam
filtering, though this service is supported by advertising. The second
would be to pay for email hosting with spam filtering, the cheapest
service apparently being CudaMail at about $14,500 per year. The third
option would be to buy a spam filtering device, the cheapest option
apparently being Barracuda hardware at a cost of about $12,000 over
five years, assuming we can get state approval to purchase this
equipment. Cleveland Public Library and Cuyahoga County Public Library
both use Barracuda devices and are pleased with the performance. It was
suggested that we might be able to buy the device as part of the
network router upgrades.

Jim Kenzig motioned to
purchase a Barracuda spam filtering
device; Jeff Wale seconded. Roll
call: Holly
Carroll, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Sandi Plymire, aye; Jeff
Wale, aye; Michael Wantz, aye.

9. NEW BUSINESS

9.2. Approve pay increase
for Karl Jendretzky

Stephen Hedges referred to the Governor's recent memorandum
allowing up to 3.5% pay increases for administrative staff based on
good performance. The board had approved pay increases for all staff in
June 2007, but on the same day the Governor froze all administrative
salaries. Based on the 2007 board action, Stephen has processed a 3.5%
increase for Vince Riley. Bobbi Galvin recently received an increase
because of changed job duties and will not be eligible for another
increase for six months. Laura Solomon has satisfactorily concluded her
six month probation and would be eligible for an increase. Finally,
Karl Jendretzky was approved in 2007 for a 3% increase, but Stephen
would instead like the board to now approve a full 3.5% increase.

Several board members praised Karl's job performance.
Discussion turned to Laura Solomon and the advisability of increasing
her pay now. There was agreement that Laura has done a good job; given
the uncertainty as to how long pay increases may be permissible, the
board thought it would be wise to grant both Karl and Laura pay
increases now.

Holly Carroll motioned to
approve 3.5% salary increases for Karl
Jendretzky and Laura Solomon, effective August 17, 2008; Michael
Wantz seconded. Roll
call: Holly
Carroll, aye; Mary Pat
Essman, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Gayle Patton, aye;
Sandi Plymire, aye; Jeff
Wale, aye; Michael Wantz, aye.

9.3. Approve Internet
filtering assistance grants procedure

Stephen Hedges explained that the time of year has arrived
when OPLIN usually announces the availability of the funds allocated in
the budget for assisting libraries with the purchase of Internet
filtering measures. This year the allocation has been reduced to
$90,000. In the past these funds have always been distributed as grants
of no more than $10,000, and Stephen recommended that this procedure be
retained. Stephen noted, however, that OPLIN had been in discussion
with a vendor about the possibility of purchasing a statewide filter
that could be completely controlled by local libraries; although
technical problems ruled this out at this time, he is requesting a
change to the budget allocation language to make it possible to spend
the funds in this manner in the future if the technical problems are
solved and the board is in agreement.

Because of our experience with the late budget reduction last
fiscal year, which came after filtering grants had been distributed,
and also because of some streamlining still to be done in the
application process, Stephen recommended that the process move a little
slower than last year, so that grant contracts do not begin before
January 1, 2009, but that the procedure be otherwise the same.

Mary Pat Essman motioned to
approve the Internet filtering
assistance grants procedure as presented; Jim Kenzig seconded.

Discussion: Jeff Wale asked if delaying the grant disbursement
would create a problem
for libraries. Diane Fink noted that in most years contracts have not
started until January; last year was early.

The Chair called for a
vote. All aye.

10. OPLIN EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR'S REPORT

Stephen Hedges presented his Director's report. He highlighted
the launch of the new OPLIN web sites on July 1, which went quite
smoothly. Gayle Patton asked if there had been any feedback from the
library community in regard to the new Ohio Web Library search, and
OPLIN staff reported that responses have been primarily positive.
Stephen also mentioned that one librarian has created videos about the
new web sites, so OPLIN has added a "Community Toolbox" to the
oplin.org web site for collecting such library-generated tools.

10.1. Databases
and Network Reports

10.1.1.
Database
usage

Laura Solomon noted that there has been a very large increase
in the number of database searches as well as a sizable increase in
documents retrieved since the introduction of the Ohio Web Library
search.

10.1.2. Support
Center (June and July)

Karl Jendretzky reported that the circuit upgrades are
progressing, but most are now complete. Support Center workload has
been light, as is typical in the summer, despite the apparent number of
circuit problems; many outages are due to power issues caused by
thunderstorms.

11. CHAIR'S REPORT

Gayle stressed the importance of the upcoming October meeting
and strongly encouraged everyone to attend. Lunch arrangements will be
made to allow a longer meeting.

11. ADJOURNMENT

Jeff Wale motioned to
adjourn the meeting at 12:25 p.m. Jim Kenzig seconded.