FY2011
FY2011 hedgesstJune 10, 2011 Minutes
June 10, 2011 Minutes hedgesstOHIO PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIXTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes—June 10,
2011
1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred twenty-sixth meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 10, 2011 by Board Chair Sandi Plymire at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members: Gary Branson, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karl Colón, Karen Davis, Jamie Mason, Bonnie Mathies, Jeff Wale, and Sandi Plymire.
Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Karl Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); Beverly Cain, Diane Fink, and David Namiotka (State Library); and Lynda Murray and Doug Evans (Ohio Library Council).
2.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Sandi Plymire requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Jeff Wale motioned to approve the agenda as presented; Gary Branson seconded. All aye.
3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The Chair recognized Lynda Murray.
Lynda reported that OLC expects there will be legislative tuning of the complex state budget over the next year as problems surface. An area of concern for libraries is the removal of the OPLIN and the Library for the Blind funding from the Public Library Fund (PLF) without any reimbursement from the General Revenue Fund (GRF); in the current biennium, funds from the GRF were transferred to the PLF to offset the OPLIN and the Library for the Blind deductions. Stephen Hedges and Lynda have discussed the possibility of making a technical change that would allow OPLIN funding to rise and fall with the amount of funds in the PLF, rather than being a fixed number, and so long as such a change is "budget-neutral" the legislature would likely to be willing to accommodate it. Lynda noted, however, that if the library community asks for such a change, they have in effect made a long-term commitment to continuing to fund OPLIN from the PLF.
Karl Colón pointed out that OPLIN has fixed costs associated with Internet connections, so funding could not fall below a certain level. Doug Evans reported that in his recent meetings with small libraries, they have expressed concerns about the reduction in their funding due to the OPLIN deduction, but also realize that they depend on OPLIN. Lynda agreed that the larger libraries are probably the ones with more reason to object to the OPLIN deduction. Jason Buydos remarked that a long-term commitment to funding OPLIN from the PLF might be a bigger problem for libraries than the amount of the OPLIN deduction. Other discussion focused on the need to uncouple the OPLIN deduction and the Library for the Blind deduction, since the latter is more objectionable to libraries; OPLIN is governed by a board of public librarians, unlike the Library for the Blind.
Karl Colón reminded everyone that OPLIN now has a committee exploring services that would provide additional benefits to libraries that may not feel they currently get a good return on their investment in OPLIN. Stephen Hedges pointed out that no funding change could be made quickly, and that he sensed the general attitude of the Board now was to aim for returning OPLIN funding to the GRF, however unlikely that may be at the moment.
[Lynda Murray left the meeting at 10:24.]
The Chair recognized Beverly Cain.
Beverly reported that the State Library Board has decided to use excess federal LSTA funds from FY 2010 to fund one-year pilot subscriptions to three databases—Mango Languages, Ancestry Library Edition, and the World Book Early World of Learning—at the suggestion of the LSTA Advisory Council. The pilot subscriptions will begin July 1. Stephen Hedges also reported that the State Library Board agreed to pay for a portion of the OPLIN contribution to the EBSCO subscription, thus freeing up funds to allow OPLIN to complete the router replacement project that was begun in 2008.
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of April 8 Board Retreat
Jason Buydos motioned to approve the minutes of the April 8 meeting; Karen Davis seconded. All aye.
5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS
Diane Fink presented the Financial Reports as of May 31, 2011.
Report A showed the budget and expenditures at the end of Fiscal Year 2010 (now closed) and Fiscal Year 2011 through May 31. In the FY 2011 budget, Diane reported that payroll numbers will increase slightly because the state has directed that the 27th payroll of this calendar year will shift from FY 2012 to FY 2011. Also in Administration expenses, the encumbered amount for equipment is set aside for purchasing eight routers using E-Rate discounts. Throughout the report, "available" balances actually represented unused spending authority. In Telecommunications expenses, some previously budgeted amounts for Office of Information Technology (OIT) expenses were shifted to circuit expenses due to a reduced billing rate from OIT. All FY 2011 filtering funds have now been disbursed to libraries.
Report B showed the revenue and cash balances from July 2009 through May 2011. The cash balance in the past year increased about $350,000, primarily due to additional E-Rate reimbursements as well as refunds from telecommunications vendors for disconnected circuits following upgrades.
Report C showed the projected budget and expenditures for Fiscal Year 2012. The payroll budget will change slightly depending on the final version of the state biennium budget. Rent is slightly less than the amount in the budget submitted last fall to the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) because the rent increase was not as large as projected at that time. The amount budgeted for Information Resources has been reduced by $243,455, because of the State Library Board grant reported earlier by Stephen Hedges, and a new budget line in that amount has been created for Equipment/Routers for Network. OPLIN had submitted a request for capital funds to complete the router replacement project in February 2010, but nothing has happened with that budget, and the opportunity to use LSTA funds provided a different way to secure the necessary funding. Stephen Hedges noted that this solution was suggested by the State Library, and the Board expressed their appreciation to Beverly Cain.
Diane also presented Biennial Budget Reports, which now included not only the Executive Recommendation, but also the House and Senate Recommendations. All three budget recommendations were identical. Diane noted that the State Library's budget was also consistent in all three recommendations. Jeff Wale commended Diane for her thorough report.
Gary Branson motioned to accept the Financial Reports; Jamie Mason seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business to come before the Board.
7. NEW BUSINESS
7.1. Policy on Public Library Use of OPLIN
Stephen Hedges presented a proposed new version of the Policy on Public Library Use of OPLIN. Some libraries are planning to provide wi-fi connectivity in public spaces in their communities, so Stephen reviewed this policy to be sure it would not conflict with such plans. He found that the wording of the policy in general, which was last edited ten years ago, was outdated, and now proposed extensive changes. Several Board members argued that the section encouraging libraries to use their connections for certain services was no longer needed, that the sections describing what they are and are not permitted to do were sufficient. It was also noted that extensive use of wi-fi outside the library would increase OPLIN costs. Jason Buydos pointed out that the language prohibiting libraries from charging fees for Internet services "of any kind" might prevent libraries from charging routine fees for interlibrary loan, so those three words were removed.
Jeff Wale motioned to approve the discussed changes to the Policy on Public Library Use of OPLIN; Jason Buydos seconded. All aye.
7.2. Disbursement of filtering support funds
Stephen Hedges reported that all indications are that there will be no change in the filtering earmark in the OPLIN budget in the next two years. He proposed changing the way funds are distributed, however, suggesting that the application process could be simplified and funds could be distributed to libraries based on the number of filtered computers they have, rather than through grants and the current grant guidelines. This would allow funds to flow to all libraries, rather than just libraries with low revenues. He estimated each library would get about $5 per computer.
Jeff Wale asked if filtered staff computers would be separated from public computers; Stephen replied that he thinks they should be handled together, noting that the Childrens Internet Protection Act requires libraries to filter both in order to get E-Rate funds. Doug Evans reported that a few smaller libraries had expressed concerns to him about continued support for their filtering. Jason Buydos speculated that OPLIN might identify one filtering vendor and pay the entire $81,000 earmark to them to provide filtering in libraries. Stephen noted that NEO-RLS currently offers filtering through one vendor.
Discussion turned to how deeply OPLIN would then have to be involved in implementing local filtering policies, and also how differences in the earmark and the cost of the filtering would be resolved. Jeff Wale pointed out that negotiating for filtering statewide could bring the cost down to $5 per computer, perhaps less. Diane Fink warned that any expenditure over $50,000 to one vendor would require special procedures, unless there is already a state contract with that vendor. Karl Colón suggested that getting a vendor on a state contract could take a year, so that might be something to explore for the future. Ben Chinni questioned why OPLIN would want to get involved in such complexities, when the current disbursement of the earmark seems to be satisfactory. Karl pointed out that negotiations that lead to a state contract(s) for filtering could reduce costs for all libraries.
Stephen suggested that for FY 2012 OPLIN simplify the application and reporting procedures, but continue to distribute the funds via the grant process currently used; the Board can formally approve this plan in August, but he can now tell inquiring libraries that the filtering program will continue essentially as before for another year. Meanwhile, he will work on establishing a statewide filtering contract for FY 2013. The Board was generally in agreement with this suggestion.
7.3. Review strategic plan
Stephen Hedges presented a few minor changes to the strategic plan based on discussions at the April Board Retreat. The most notable changes were minor shifts in the way OPLIN approaches marketing through social media, to reflect current best practices. Stephen noted that this is just a beginning, and that more changes are likely after the ad hoc committee on OPLIN services completes its work.
8. REPORT from AD HOC COMMITTEE ON SERVICES
Jason Buydos began his report by ceding the floor to Karl Colón.
Karl Colón motioned to commend the OPLIN staff on their excellent work throughout the year; Jason Buydos seconded. All aye.
Jason reported that the ad hoc committee had an initial meeting and have identified two areas of service which are promising: network consulting and technology purchasing consulting. Network consulting could fit within an existing goal in the strategic plan, but purchasing consulting might require a new goal. The committee will continue to meet and refine these areas of service, with the expectation that some of the new services will benefit libraries that may not be getting as much benefit as other libraries from current OPLIN services. Jamie Mason noted that some of these services might conflict with services already offered by the regional library systems and encouraged the committee to communicate with NEO-RLS in particular.
9. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Stephen Hedges reported that the final Biannual Report to the Leadership of the Ohio General Assembly was submitted at the end of April; as a result of a change to language in the new biennial budget, future reports on library Internet filtering will be produced upon request rather than on a regular biannual schedule. He also reported briefly on ALA Legislative Day and thanked Karl Colón for his testimony regarding OPLIN before the Ohio Senate Finance Committee while he was away in Washington. Stephen also thanked OLC for the opportunity to explain OPLIN at their New Directors workshop. Finally, he thanked Karl Jendretzky for his outstanding work implementing the new Zimbra email server.
Regarding OPLIN office activities, Stephen called attention to the many presentations Laura Solomon has been giving at workshops, and the May 26 State Library Board meeting where LSTA funds were awarded to the Ohio Web Library.
9.1. Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky provided details of changes to the OPLIN mail servers resulting from the Zimbra implementation. He reported on tests of a Cisco centralized filtering solution, which was not able to handle our needs. He also described the routers which OPLIN now plans to purchase to complete the upgrade project and speculated that the new equipment should be large enough to serve most libraries for the next decade; OPLIN will be purchasing these routers directly rather than through OIT. Karl also noted that the OPLIN core has now been completely moved to the new Juniper router, so OPLIN can now proceed with setting up quality-of-service for special network needs.
9.2. Library Services Manager report
Laura Solomon described the programs on social media she has been doing at OLC Chapter Conferences. Demand for Dynamic Website Kits continues to be strong, with nine new libraries signing on since the beginning of the year. She continues to make improvements and upgrades to the kits.
9.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges noted that the number of documents viewed decreased drastically in May. Following an EBSCO system upgrade in mid-April, Stephen noticed that the number of EBSCO articles viewed dropped significantly, and he speculated that over the past year, when OPLIN saw searches decline but article views increase, the EBSCO statistics may not have been accurate.
10. CHAIR'S REPORT
10.1. Nominations Committee report
Jeff Wale presented the report from the Nominations Committee. In response to a call for nominations, the committee received eleven excellent nominations. The committee felt that the Board needed more representation of library trustees, and perhaps had too much representation from library administrators. With this in mind, two candidates stood out: Jill Billman-Royer, a trustee at Southwest Public Libraries, and Rebecca Schultz, the Technology Coordinator at Portsmouth Public Library. Testing these candidates against the geographic and library size representation of the Board also indicated they would be good additions. Sandi Plymire noted that this group of candidates was the strongest she had seen.
The committee recommended that the State Library Board be asked to appoint Jill Billman-Royer to fill Jim Kenzig's unexpired term, to appoint Rebecca Schultz to fill Bonnie Mathies' expiring term, and to re-appoint Sandi Plymire to a second term. All aye.
The Nominations Committee also prepared a slate of candidates for Board officers for election at the upcoming August meeting. Candidates who are willing to serve are: Jeff Wale, Chair; Jamie Mason, Vice-Chair; Gary Branson, Treasurer; and Karl Colón, Secretary. Jeff indicated that he would appoint Sandi Plymire to the at-large position on the Executive Committee.
10.2. Director's evaluation
Sandi Plymire reported that all Board members had submitted evaluations of the OPLIN Director, which were collated by Bonnie Mathies. Stephen Hedges met or exceeded all expectations in all areas on all evaluations, and comments were positive; she shared a few of those comments. Stephen thanked the Board for their support.
10.3. Resolution honoring Bonnie Mathies
Sandi Plymire read the following resolution:
| WHEREAS, BONNIE MATHIES has been a member of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees since July 2004, and
WHEREAS she has freely and unselfishly given of her time and efforts to ensure the success of OPLIN by serving on the Board for SEVEN years, and WHEREAS she has served steadfastly as the Secretary of the OPLIN Board since July 2007, and WHEREAS she has consistently contributed her respected opinions to OPLIN Board and OPLIN Executive Committee deliberations, and WHEREAS she has been a dependable and active participant in Board activities, and WHEREAS her service as a trustee of the Washington-Centerville Public Library gave her an exceptional perspective on OPLIN and its services to libraries, and WHEREAS her service as an administrator of Wright State University, an OhioLINK institution, allowed her to contribute valuable information to Board discussions for the benefit of both OPLIN and OhioLINK, NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that on the 10th day of June, Two Thousand and Eleven, 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 BONNIE MATHIES during her outstanding tenure with the Ohio Public Library Information Network, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board extends its most sincere thanks and appreciation to BONNIE MATHIES for her continued volunteer service as a member of that Board. |
Karl Colón motioned to place the resolution in the minutes; Gary Branson seconded. All aye.
Bonnie noted that she has been involved with OhioLINK, OPLIN and INFOhio from the beginning of each organization, and while some issues have been resolved over the years, others continue to come up, so she will continue to take an interest in these organizations. She remarked that the people in all three organizations are passionate about libraries, and she felt such support of public information was very important.
11. ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Jeff Wale the Board adjourned at 12:04 p.m.
April 8, 2011 Minutes
April 8, 2011 Minutes hedgesstOHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIFTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Board Retreat
Minutes—April 8,
2011
1.
WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred twenty-fifth
meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
9:30 a.m. on Friday, April 8, 2011 by Board Chair Sandi
Plymire at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members:
Don Barlow, Gary Branson, Jason Buydos, Karl Colón, Karen
Davis, Jamie
Mason, Jeff Wale, and Sandi Plymire. Bonnie Mathies arrived at 10:30.
Also present were: Stephen
Hedges, Karl Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); Diane
Fink and
David Namiotka (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio
Library Council).
2.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Sandi Plymire requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Jason Buydos motioned to
approve the agenda as presented; Don Barlow seconded. All aye.
3.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The Chair recognized Doug Evans.
Doug provided an update on legislative activity related to public
libraries, particularly the next state
biennium budget. Funding for OPLIN and the Library for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped are currently slated to come out of the Public
Library
Fund (PLF), which would increase the anticipated cut in library funding
from 5% to about 6œ%. OPLIN has also suggested amendment language to
re-direct the filtering earmark in the OPLIN budget to e-government
support.
Karl Colón and Jeff Wale asked about S.B. 5, the "collective
bargaining" bill. Doug indicated that Ohio Library Council (OLC) believes the bill would not
apply to library employees who are not union members. He also reported
that it has been suggested that some
language may be moved into the budget bill to preclude a referendum.
Don Barlow asked about retirement system changes in the budget
legislation. Doug responded that PERS has indicated that the proposed
shift in employee/employer contributions would affect the solvency of
the retirement fund.
4.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of February 11 Meeting
Karl Colón motioned to
approve the minutes of the February 11 meeting; Karen Davis
seconded. All aye.
5.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE
FINANCIAL REPORTS
Diane Fink presented the Financial Reports as of March 31, 2011.
Report A showed the
budget and expenditures at the end of Fiscal Year 2010 and Fiscal Year
2011 through March 31. Fiscal Year 2010 is closed, but Diane
noted that FY 2009-2010 Capital Funds for purchasing routers have now
been transferred to the Office of Information Technology (OIT) for
router purchases in FY 2010, and that OPLIN submitted a request for
additional
Capital Funds in February 2010. In the FY 2011
budget, Diane highlighted the effect of furlough days on the OPLIN
payroll, and also noted the decrease in telecommunications costs
resulting from OIT's new rate structure this fiscal year. Report B
showed the
revenue and cash balances for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011. E-Rate
reimbursements for funding year 2005 continue to arrive, so the cash
balance at the end of March was about $2.3 million.
Stephen Hedges called attention to the budget item for filtering
grants and presented the proposed amendment to the budget bill language
which would re-purpose the current $81,000 annual earmark for filtering
support, using it to support e-government services instead. He also
reported that the OPLIN office is testing some Cisco hardware that
might be able to implement centralized filtering within the budget
constraints of the filtering earmark, should the amendment be
unsuccessful. Individual libraries should be able to configure the
filter for their own library; Board members cautioned that libraries
would also need to have the ability to deactivate the filter on
individual computers. If both the amendment and the central filter
testing are unsuccessful, Stephen would like to have a future
discussion about changing the way filtering funds are distributed to
libraries.
Diane reported that the Department of Administrative Services (DAS)
has opened negotiations with the OPLIN landlord for the next biennium
lease. Although OPLIN has budgeted for an increase, DAS is resisting
any increase and is suggesting that OPLIN move into the State Library.
This would appear to be more expensive for OPLIN than paying a slight
rent increase at the current location, so OPLIN has asked DAS to
proceed with negotiations with the landlord; however, Diane, Stephen,
and Beverly Cain met to discuss the situation and have decided to also
request that DAS conduct space planning with OPLIN and State Library
staff to develop contingency plans for moving OPLIN into the State
Library location.
Diane
also presented Biennial Budget Reports, which include the Executive
Budget amounts released by the Governor. The only difference between
the submitted budget and the Executive Budget is a small reduction in
payroll
expenses due to the proposed shift in employee/employer contributions
to
the retirement system. The House Budget is expected on May 5. The cash
balance at the end of the biennium, assuming OPLIN used the entire $2
million in spending authority, would be just over $100,000. Jeff Wale
asked how this cash balance compares to previous years. Diane noted
that the projected cash balance looks low because of the difference
between the requested $2 million in spending authority in each year and
the
estimated $1.3 million in E-Rate funds expected to be received,
creating an accounting deficit of $700,000 in each year. In reality,
the
cash balance at the end of the next biennium will probably be about the
same as at the end of the current biennium.
Diane reported on Beverly Cain's testimony before the Higher
Education Subcommittee of the House Finance and Appropriations
Committee on March 31; the proposed State Library budget is 7.7% less
than the current budget. She also reported briefly on the open Request
for Proposals to supply statewide delivery for library materials.
Jamie Mason motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Gary Branson seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
6.1. OPLIN "Return on Investment"
spreadsheet
Stephen Hedges recalled that he had presented a draft document
titled "OPLIN Value" at the last Board meeting. The document was
intended to demonstrate the "return
on
investment" libraries receive from OPLIN in return for taking OPLIN
funding
from the Public Library Fund (PLF). The consensus of the Board had been
that the document should be revised
and then presented again at this April Board retreat. After the
February meeting, however, the Executive Committee worked with Stephen
to prepare a revised document, "Benefits of Collaborative Purchasing,"
which was presented to the OLC Board at their meeting and then used at
the OLC Legislative Day on March 24.
Now Stephen presented the full spreadsheet used to prepare the
"Benefits" document. He pointed out that this detailed data revealed
some surprising facts about how little the information databases are
used by some libraries. The data also showed that the large libraries
have a negative return on investment in OPLIN, which can be explained
by the fact that the most expensive service OPLIN provides to libraries
is the Internet connections, and these can be provided much more
economically to large libraries as opposed to small libraries.
Therefore the small libraries tend to show a positive return on
investment in OPLIN, even if some of them do not use the database
services.
Don Barlow and others pointed out larger libraries accept that, in
many ways, smaller libraries need more in order to keep library
services equitable across the state. Karl Colón noted that the data in
the spreadsheet was very valuable for the OPLIN Board, but also
demonstrated that OPLIN should clearly not be marketed as an
"investment" for libraries, and for that reason funding for OPLIN
should ultimately come from the General Revenue Fund (GRF) rather than
the PLF.
The Board discussed the value of OPLIN services to libraries, beyond
the expected "utility" of providing basic Internet connections and
databases. Satisfying the demand for e-government services in libraries
is dependent on maintaining robust and secure Internet connections,
which is beyond the technical expertise of many libraries. Many
libraries are dependent on OPLIN email services. There is a need for
more library websites that provide good access to the databases, as the
website kits do. OPLIN services may be especially valuable to smaller
libraries, but the real value for all libraries is not so much as a
provider of Internet connections and databases as a provider of
services that sustain and support the connections and databases. Should
this
service extend to audits of libraries' internal networks, something
which OPLIN is uniquely qualified to do? What would that cost, keeping
in mind that it could be spread over an extended period?
7.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business to come before the Board.
[The Chair recessed the meeting from
11:45 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. for lunch.]
8.
REPORT and DISCUSSIONS
The next portion of the meeting included reports on the current
status of OPLIN services and discussion of future plans.
8.1. Internet connections
Karl Jendretzky presented a list of all libraries receiving fiber
Ethernet upgrades as a result of the OPLIN E-Rate RFP, and the few
libraries that must still depend on T1 circuits purchased under the
SOMACS contract. Stephen Hedges clarified that the SOMACS contract has
just been renewed (2 years) for the final time. Karl noted that
improvements to the OPLIN core are also underway. The remaining router
upgrades are also planned if funding can be found. Looking to the
future, the core may soon reach the point where purchasing 10 Gbps
hardware will be more economical that maintaining multiple 1 Gbps
pathways.
8.2. Databases
Stephen Hedges presented statistics of databases usage, which still
show continuing slight increases in the number of documents retrieved
despite slight decreases in the number of searches. Google analytics of
the ohioweblibrary.org site confirms slight decreases in the number of
visitors to the site. There was some discussion of the technical
barriers to seeing EBSCO articles in Google search results. Stephen
also reported on the breakdown of payments for the databases from the
Libraries Connect Ohio partners and noted that LCO would be requesting
federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the State
Library Board again in May. Diane Fink also reported generally on the
status of federal funding for the LSTA program.
8.3. Dynamic Website Kits
Laura Solomon presented extensive information about how the website
kits are designed and displayed some "before and after" examples of
library websites. She also explained some of the custom modules which
libraries have requested and the step-by-step process of designing a
website kit. Interest in the kits continues to be strong. Looking to
the future, Laura would like to focus more on developing sites that
work well on mobile devices, and on encouraging libraries to pay closer
attention to their website analytics. In response to Board questions,
Laura clarified that the website kits can only be hosted on OPLIN servers,
to control upgrade costs, and that about 15% of Ohio public libraries
are currently using website kits. Board members noted the low cost and
suggested that OPLIN might actively approach libraries with poor or no
websites about purchasing a website kit.
8.4. Technology projects
Karl Jendretzky reported that OPLIN currently operates 19 servers,
17 of which have been rebuilt within the last three years on old
hardware and moved to the State of Ohio Computer Center (SOCC). He
reported that the SMS (text messaging) service is currently generating
about 14,000 text messages for libraries each month and should be able
to handle as many as 400,000 messages a month. The OPLIN email service
is about to move to Zimbra now that the latest version (7.0.1) of that
software, which fixed some bugs, has been released. Karl and Terry
Fouts (OIT) are still exploring methods for performing thorough testing
of circuit performance at library sites. The Board asked what sort of
requests for networking assistance come from libraries; Karl replied
that most issues are internal to the library, since OPLIN now upgrades
connections before bandwidth limitations cause problems.
Jason Buydos motioned that the Chair
establish a committee to explore the direction of future OPLIN
services, including local technical support and other services; Karl
Colón seconded. All aye.
The Chair asked for volunteers, then
appointed Jason Buydos, Karl Colón, Jeff Wale, and Don Barlow to an
ad-hoc committee to explore future OPLIN services.
Looking to the future, Karl Jendretzky reported that he would like
to rebuild the system which authenticates users for database access. He
also noted that OPLIN needs to buy more routers to complete the
replacement of end-of-life routers still in use, and also needs to buy
some new server hardware for redundancy.
8.5. Technology leadership
Stephen Hedges presented the portion of the current strategic plan
dealing with technology leadership and detailed activities in support
of that goal. He suggested no changes to the strategic plan in this
area.
8.6. Marketing
Stephen Hedges presented the portion of the current strategic plan
dealing with marketing and detailed activities in support of that goal.
He suggested that it is time to do focus groups again; the Board
suggested that focus group questions could come from the ad-hoc
services committee. Stephen also suggested that the activity using
social media to publish information about OPLIN services be removed,
since this is not the most effective way to use social media. Likewise,
he suggested removal of the activity using the router replacement
project to provide information about OPLIN services, since OIT staff
handle the actual router replacement, not OPLIN staff. Karen Davis
asked how the order of libraries receiving replacement routers was
determined; Stephen replied that it was based on a combination of
bandwidth need and any guidelines which may be set by the funding
sources.
Stephen will make changes to the current strategic plan based on the
day's discussions, and present proposed changes at the June Board
meeting.
8.7. Activities calendar
Stephen Hedges reported on office activities, highlighting
budget-related meetings and Laura Solomon's presentation at the
Computers in Libraries conference in Washington DC.
9.
CHAIR'S REPORT
9.1. Board member recruitment
Sandi Plymire appointed Jeff Wale, Karen Davis, and Jamie Mason to a
nominating committee to recruit Board member candidates, noting that
the Board is losing two members, one of them a library trustee. The
committee is also charged with recruiting a slate of Board officers.
9.2. Director evaluation process
Bonnie Mathies volunteered to once again collect Board member's
evaluations of the OPLIN Director and collate them. Sandi Plymire asked
all Board members to send their evaluations to Bonnie by May 16. Sandi
encouraged Board members to include comments on their evaluations. The
Executive Committee will review the evaluations prior to the June Board
meeting and report to the full Board.
10. ADJOURNMENT
The Chair adjourned the meeting at 2:11
p.m.
February 11, 2011 Minutes
February 11, 2011 Minutes hedgesstOHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOURTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes—February 11,
2011
1.
WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred twenty-fourth
meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 11, 2011 by Board Chair Sandi
Plymire at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members:
Don Barlow, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karl Colón, Karen
Davis, Jim Kenzig, Jamie
Mason, Bonnie Mathies, and Sandi Plymire.
Also present were: Stephen
Hedges, Karl Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); Beverly Cain, Diane
Fink and
David Namiotka (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio
Library Council).
2.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Sandi Plymire requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Jason Buydos motioned to
approve the agenda as presented; Don Barlow seconded. All aye.
3.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The Chair recognized Doug Evans.
Doug noted that legislative activity related to public libraries had
been rare at the end of last year, but now there were a number of
pieces of legislation which the Ohio Library Council (OLC) is
monitoring, as well as watching for any news regarding the next state
budget. OLC Legislative Day is scheduled for March 24. Doug
particularly mentioned legislation affecting public employee retirement
and collective bargaining.
4.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of December 10 Meeting
Karen Davis motioned to
approve the minutes of the December 10 meeting after correction of a
typographical error; Jamie Mason
seconded. All aye.
5.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE
FINANCIAL REPORTS
Diane Fink presented the Financial Reports as of January 31, 2011.
Report A showed the
budget and expenditures at the end of Fiscal Year 2010 and Fiscal Year
2011 through January 31. Fiscal Year 2010 is now closed. In the FY 2011
budget, Diane noted open purchase orders for rent, staff travel, and
monthly consultant payments. Regarding telecommunications expenses, she
reported
that the Office of Information Technology (OIT) is behind on billing
for Internet access, but has also re-rated their services resulting in
lower costs for OPLIN. Diane noted that only two contracts for
filtering assistance grants are still outstanding. As of the end of
January, OPLIN has about $2.4 million in available spending authority.
Report B showed the
revenue and cash balances for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011. The $1.3
million cash balance at the end of FY 2010 rolled over to FY 2011. In
the last two months, a considerable amount was received from E-Rate
reimbursements for funding year 2005. Diane noted the transfer out for
the quarterly savings from Cost Savings Days. The cash balance
as of January 31 was a little more than $3 million.
Diane
also presented Biennial Budget Reports, which are unchanged since the
last Board meeting. Executive Budget amounts will appear on these
reports once that budget has been released by the Governor.
Diane reported on other general news from the Office of Budget
and Management (OBM). In early January OBM released the 10% of General
Revenue Funds for non-personnel costs which agencies had been
instructed to set aside (about $130,000 for the State Library, but
OPLIN was not affected); after the new Governor was inaugurated, this
release was rescinded. Governor Kasich has issued five Executive
Orders, one of which concerns ethics training and will probably affect
OPLIN Board members. In news affecting public libraries, Diane reported
that the State Library and OhioLINK are working toward issuing a
Request for Proposal for statewide delivery services, to take effect
July 1, 2011.
Bonnie Mathies motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Jim Kenzig seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business to come before the Board.
7.
NEW BUSINESS
7.1. OPLIN "Return on Investment" document
Stephen Hedges presented a draft document titled "OPLIN Value" and
explained that at a recent meeting of the OLC Government Relations
Committee it was suggested that it might be a good idea to have "return
on
investment" information prepared in the event that libraries question
the value they receive from OPLIN in return for taking OPLIN funding
from the Public Library Fund (PLF). The document considered the three
primary
services OPLIN buys for libraries—Internet connections, EBSCOhost, and
Ohio newspapers—and listed the Internet connections currently provided
to each library and the undiscounted cost of EBSCOhost for each
library. Stephen requested feedback from the Board, with the goal of
developing a document which could be provided to OLC to be used as
needed.
Karl Colón noted that the document did not provide the amount each
library contributed to OPLIN through the PLF, so it would be hard for a
library to calculate their return on investment. Jason Buydos
questioned if the document should not be addressed to legislators,
rather than public libraries. Jamie Mason suggested that the amount
OPLIN pays for each library's connection be added to the document;
Stephen noted that some libraries might be able to purchase connections
locally for less than what OPLIN pays under statewide contract pricing,
but Board members generally felt this would still be valuable
information. Doug Evans noted that legislators would probably want to
see the monetary value their local libraries receive from OPLIN.
Jason Buydos reminded Board members that nine southwest Ohio
libraries jointly produced an ROI document several years ago that was
very useful. Other Board members noted that their libraries have
produced ROI documents and/or website calculators and found them very
valuable.
The consensus of the Board was that the document should be revised
and then presented again at the April Board retreat.
7.2. E-Rate RFP responses
Stephen Hedges reported that in response to an RFP
(oplin.org/erate/RFP2010.html) issued in conjunction with an E-Rate
Form 470, OPLIN received quotes from ValTech Communications, Time
Warner Cable and AT&T for providing data circuits beginning July 1.
The AT&T quote proposed circuits for all OPLIN connections except
two which currently are served by DS3 circuits. The types of circuits
proposed included OPT-E-MAN Ethernet, Meet Point OPT-E-MAN using
combined services from AT&T and various other local exchange
carriers (LECs), Ethernet Virtual Private Lines (EVPL), Private Network
Transport, and T1 lines. The Time Warner Cable quote proposed
business-class Ethernet services for 176 OPLIN connections spread
across the state. The ValTech quote was general and did not propose
solutions for specific sites; the offering was limited to libraries
within the AT&T LEC territories.
Responses were scored by Stephen and Karl Jendretzky, with low cost
and Ethernet technology getting the highest scores. None of the
proposals to replace any of the 87 current OPLIN Ethernet connections
were feasible once the penalty cost of breaking current Ethernet
contracts was added to the proposal prices. Stephen explained the
scoring in detail. Overall, the scoring indicated that of the libraries
and regional library systems currently connected with T1 circuits, 126
should be moved to Time Warner Cable Ethernet circuits, fourteen should be
moved to AT&T EVPL circuits, and twenty-seven should remain on T1 circuits.
Stephen noted that this would be a major upgrade to the OPLIN network,
while the overall cost would be nearly the same as current cost.
Stephen requested that the Board authorize opening negotiations with
AT&T and Time Warner Cable based on this scoring with the goal of
making a final determination of which libraries should be switched to
their Ethernet services and securing those services beginning on or
about July 1, 2011.
Karl Colón motioned to authorize the
OPLIN Director to negotiate with AT&T and Time Warner Cable for new
Ethernet circuits; Jason Buydos seconded. All aye.
7.3. OLC Convention
Gold sponsorship
Stephen Hedges explained that OPLIN has sponsored Internet
connectivity at OLC Conventions in the past, most recently paying for
wireless Internet in the exhibit area, and he has been in touch with
Lori Hensley at OLC about similar sponsorship at the Convention this
October. He noted that the Convention will also be the venue for the
OPLIN Stakeholders meeting this year. Lori has determined that the cost
of wireless Internet in the exhibit area, as well as connectivity for
the E-mail Cafe, would probably be about $4,000, which would qualify
OPLIN to be recognized as a Gold Sponsor of the Convention. Stephen
asked for approval to sponsor Internet connectivity for the Convention
at the Gold Sponsorship level.
Don Barlow motioned to sponsor the
OLC Convention at the Gold level; Jason Buydos seconded. All aye with
the exception of Karl Colón and Jamie Mason, who abstained because they
are members of the OLC Convention Program Committee.
8.
OPLIN DIRECTOR'S
REPORT
Stephen Hedges called attention to the copies of the OPLIN Annual
Report which were included in the Board packets. He commended Amie
McReynolds for her good work on the Annual Report, despite the fact
that she is new to OPLIN and was learning about the organization while
creating the report. Also included in the packet was a "one-pager"
about OPLIN which Stephen provided to Lynda
Murray (OLC) which she can
leave with legislators as she visits them.
Stephen reported that on a couple of occasions during the past two
months, OPLIN
experienced some unexpected circuit outages that affected a number of
libraries, sometimes for extended periods of time. One outage was
prolonged enough to violate the Network Availability guarantee (99.99%)
of the AT&T Service Level Agreement with the state, so AT&T
will be refunding part of our circuit charges. OIT set up a meeting
with AT&T on December 21,
which Karl Jendretzky and Stephen attended, to determine the cause of
these
problems and steps which might prevent similar problems in the future.
Basically, the problems all seem to have been communication-related.
Stephen informed the Board that Karl Jendretzky has installed a new
and improved system for tracking trouble
tickets. In the course
of migrating tickets from the old system to the new system, he also
removed many tickets that could have been closed earlier. OPLIN will
now have monthly staff meetings to review all open tickets and
identify problems that need further attention.
Stephen reminded the Board that he has worked with Bill Morris
(State Library) to submit altered budget language to OBM that would
change the OPLIN report
to the leadership of the legislature and the Governor on filtering
activities in libraries from a bi-annual report to an on-demand report.
Stephen has also asked Lynda Murray to keep in mind, as she meets with
legislators,
that OPLIN would have no objection to the removal of the earmark in our
budget for support of filtering in libraries.
Stephen reported that OPLIN recently began the process of developing
smartphone apps for
the Find-A-Library service; instead of
apps, however, a modified version of the service was built so it now
performs well in any mobile device web
browser. This mobile-optimized version can be found at
http://oplin.org/labs/mobilefal.
It has been coded to bypass a display
problem on iPhone screens, and library phone numbers
can be called (if your device is a phone) just by touching the number.
You can also touch the library's address to launch Google maps, which
can then provide you with other information, such as driving
directions. Finally, you can touch on the library's web address to go
to the library website.
Looking at the calendar of OPLIN office activities, Stephen
highlighted his participation in an EBSCO focus group on December 9,
Karl Jendretzky's on-site networking help at Putnam County District
Library, and Laura Solomon's workshop presentation for NEO-RLS on
January 19. He also mentioned that Laura will be doing a presentation
at the Computers in Libraries conference in Washington DC in March.
8.1.
Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky reported that the Support Center has been very busy
since the beginning of the year with ordering upgrades and branch
connections for libraries. The Support Center has also had to deal with
a considerable number of e-mail accounts that have been compromised
through phishing attacks. Karl also reported that he is pleased with
the performance of the new ticketing system.
Karl mentioned that the SMS messaging system is now processing more
than 2,000 library text notices each week. He reported that the project
to upgrade the OPLIN webmail service to Zimbra software is ready to
move forward again, now that the latest major version of Zimbra was
released four days ago. So far, it looks like this version of Zimbra
will offer improved document sharing.
Finally, Karl reported that he and Terry Fouts (OIT) think they have
developed a way to load an entire operating system and network testing
software on a bootable flash drive, which can easily be sent out to
libraries. These would be an inexpensive replacement for the more
cumbersome testing pod currently being used to track down network
problems at library sites. A further refinement might be to implement
similar software over the network for remote testing.
8.2. Library Services
Manager report
Laura Solomon reported that three new kit websites have launched,
bringing the total to twenty-eight website kits completed and seven
more in process.
Laura also reported on an ongoing project to transition the old
"personal" OPLIN Facebook account to an "organization" account. When
OPLIN first established an account, there was no option for
organization accounts. Now she is asking people to "de-friend" the old
account and "like" the new account, so she can close the old one.
Laura mentioned her upcoming presentation at Computers in Libraries,
but also reported that she will be doing presentations at most of the
OLC Chapter Conferences following her return from CiL.
8.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges presented statistics of
database usage. He expressed some concern over the continuing trend
toward fewer searches and more article retrievals, which could mean
that fewer people are using the databases, even though those who do use
them seem to be finding more articles. OPLIN staff may try to use other
tools to determine if fewer people are using ohioweblibrary.org, for
example.
11.
CHAIR'S REPORT
Sandi Plymire read a resolution in honor of Jim Kenzig, who is
resigning from the OPLIN Board:
| WHEREAS, JAMES KENZIG has been a member of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees since July 2006, and WHEREAS he has freely and unselfishly given of his time and efforts to WHEREAS he has consistently contributed his respected and expert WHEREAS he has been a dependable and active participant in Board WHEREAS his service as an information technology manager for the NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that on the 11th day of February, Two BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board extends its most sincere thanks ATTESTED TO THIS DATE FOR THE OPLIN BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sandi Plymire, Chair; Bonnie Mathies, Secretary |
Sandi reminded Board members to be sure they submitted their
Financial Disclosure forms to the Ethics Commission before April 15.
She also reminded Board members that the next meeting on April 8 will
be the all-day Board retreat, and they should bring money for lunch.
Stephen will provide a menu at a later date.
12. ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Jim Kenzig
the Board adjourned at 11:17.
December 10, 2010 Minutes
December 10, 2010 Minutes hedgesstOHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THIRD REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes—December 10,
2010
1.
WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred twenty-third
meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:00 a.m. on Friday, December 10, 2010 by Board Chair Sandi
Plymire at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members:
Don Barlow, Gary Branson, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karl Colón, Karen
Davis, Jamie
Mason, and Sandi Plymire. Bonnie Mathies joined the meeting at 10:11
and Jeff Wale joined the meeting at 10:20.
Also present were: Stephen
Hedges, Karl Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); Diane Fink and
David Namiotka (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio
Library Council).
2.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Sandi Plymire requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Jason Buydos motioned to
approve the agenda as presented; Jamie Mason seconded. All aye.
3.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The Chair recognized Doug Evans.
Doug reported that OLC has been actively making contact with new
administration officials as they are appointed by governor-elect
Kasich. OLC continues to hear many rumors about changes which may be
coming in the new administration, but has not been able to confirm that
any changes have yet been discussed regarding public libraries. He
noted that tax revenues are currently running ahead of predictions, but
it is unknown what effect that may have on the next biennium budget. He
asked that Board members share any rumors or information they
might hear.
Don Barlow asked if there were any developments in the East Cleveland
Public Library effort to join with the Cuyahoga County Public Library;
Doug had nothing new to report in that regard. He did report, however,
that OLC has used an LSTA grant to engage Driscoll and Fleeter to
provide information to the State Library task force investigating
issues related to library mergers and consolidations.
4.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of October 8 Meeting
Don Barlow motioned to
approve the minutes of the October 8 meeting; Jason Buydos
seconded. All aye.
5.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE
FINANCIAL REPORTS
Diane Fink presented the Financial Reports as of November
30, 2010.
Report A showed the
budget and expenditures at the end of Fiscal Year 2010 and Fiscal Year
2011 through November 30. Two FY 2010 purchase orders had small
balances that were canceled as of November 30, the last day FY 2010
purchase orders could remain open. The total "available
balance" of $469,507 for FY 2010 actually represents the unused portion
of OPLIN's $2
million spending authority for potential non-state income. Diane noted
that one large
purchase order to the Office of Information Technology (OIT) for the
new Juniper routers is awaiting an invoice; these funds are available
from the last capital budget. OPLIN has another request for funds in
the current capital budget, but it is unknown when the legislature will
consider this budget.
Moving to the FY 2011 budget, Diane noted the expenditure for new
desktop computers to replace 7-year-old staff computers. She reported
that all fiscal year
funds going toward purchase of the information databases has been
distributed to Wright State University, and eTech
Ohio has been paid for E-Rate services and workshops. Diane pointed out
that no payments had yet been made to OIT as of November 30, but OPLIN
has since started to receive OIT invoices. She also noted that all the
filtering assistance grants approved at the last Board meeting have
been disbursed, with the exception of one library that requested a
delay until January 1.
Report B showed the
revenue and cash balances for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011. The $1.3
million cash balance at the end of FY 2010 rolled over to FY 2011.
Shortly after the beginning of FY 2011 a transfer of $3.7 million was
made from the Public Library Fund (PLF) to OPLIN, and additional
revenue has been received
from E-Rate reimbursements and web services for libraries. The cash balance
as of November 30 was a little more than $2.8 million.
Diane
also reviewed the FY 2012-13 budget request that was submitted to the
Office of Budget and Management (OBM) on November 1.
She mentioned the payroll
budgeting increase in FY 2012, when an extra pay cycle falls
within the fiscal year; the total budget request, however, is the same
as the current OPLIN budget. As funding recommendations are developed
by the Governor, the House, and the Senate, they will be added to the
report. Regarding future cash flow projections, Diane noted that OPLIN
should receive about $1 million in E-Rate reimbursements from 2005,
following approval of an appeal to the Federal Communications
Commission. If all spending authority is used, the projected cash
balance at the end of FY 2013 will be about $100,000.
After the OPLIN budget request was submitted to OBM on November 1,
as part of the State Library budget, it underwent a technical review by
OBM staff, then OBM requested additional copies to forward to
the legislature and governor-elect. An IT Plan was a
required component of the budget request; David Namiotka assisted in
the preparation of this plan. On December 1, OBM publicly released all
agency budget requests. OBM also requested and received a
brief summary of the State Library budget request, organizational
structure, and services for the governor-elect. Diane noted that the State Library and
OPLIN should be able to retain all staff at the requested budget level;
however, the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) has also encouraged
all unclassified staff to submit their resumes to the governor-elect's
fixohionow.com website.
Stephen Hedges called attention to the ever-decreasing cash balance
at the end of each fiscal year, with a projected balance of only
$100,000 at the end of the next biennium, and noted that this will need
to be a topic of discussion at the April Board retreat.
Gary Branson motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Karen Davis seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
6.1. Second round of Internet filtering
assistance grants
Stephen Hedges presented the applications
received from libraries for the second round of filtering grants. The
first round of grants was awarded at the last Board meeting, to help
libraries with the cost of installing new Internet content filters or
upgrading existing filters. This second round of grants will also
include renewal costs for existing filters. Forty-four (44) libraries
applied in the second round, bringing the total for both rounds to
fifty-three (53). (One library submitted separate applications in both
rounds.) $53,395.89 of the original $81,000 earmark is still available
after first-round awards; the total of the second-round requests,
however, was $79,313.09.
Because of the big difference between demand for assistance and
available funds, Stephen aggressively restricted his recommendations to
costs that are clearly for content filtering, removing requests for
funds to support server maintenance or security firewalls. Despite this
editing of the requests and the $4,500 maximum award per library
system, there are still three library systems (with relatively large
revenues) that would not receive any assistance in response to their
request; libraries with smaller total revenue receive a higher priority
for funding.
Stephen recommended that
the following requests, totaling $53,395.89, be funded:
| New install | ||
| Shaker Heights Public Library | SafeSquid Business Edition | $4,494.10 |
| Upgrades | ||
| London Public Library | SonicWall TZ 210 | $2,430.20 |
| Alexandria Public Library | WF300 Filter Appliance | $3,122.00 |
| Monroe County District Library | Cymphonix EX220 | $3,090.00 |
| Barnesville Hutton Memorial Library | Cymphonix EX220 | $3,090.00 |
| Cardington-Lincoln Public Library | SonicWall TotalSecure | $3,765.72 |
| Rock Creek Public Library | Websense filtering | $849.99 |
| Madison Public Library | Websense filtering | $1,225.00 |
| Renewals (in order from least to most total library revenue) |
||
| Grand Valley Public Library | Websense filtering | $250.00 |
| Sabina Public Library | Content Watch | $169.90 |
| Andover Public Library | Websense filtering | $200.00 |
| Mechanicsburg Public Library (already paid?) | ContentProtect Pro Suite | $0.00 |
| Wagnalls Memorial Library | 8e6 R3000 Filter Support | $199.00 |
| Kingsville Public Library | OpenDNS Enterprise | $849.99 |
| Henderson Memorial Library Association | Websense filtering | $250.00 |
| Union Township Public Library | CyberPatrol | $319.20 |
| Harbor-Topky Memorial Library | Websense filtering | $810.00 |
| Plain City Public Library | 8e6 R3000 Filter Support | $199.00 |
| Carnegie Public Library (East Liverpool) | Websense filtering | $400.00 |
| Newton Falls Public Library | Websense filtering | $1,125.00 |
| Hubbard Public Library | Websense filtering | $1,150.00 |
| Brown County Public Library | Websense filtering | $1,890.00 |
| Galion Public Library Association (quote pending) | Netsweeper | $600.00 |
| Canal Fulton Public Library | St. Bernard iPrism | $1,435.50 |
| Perry Public Library | Websense filtering | $510.00 |
| McKinley Memorial Library | Websense filtering | $1,000.00 |
| Kent Free Library | Websense filtering | $2,825.00 |
| Marysville Public Library | 8e6 R3000 Filter Support | $398.00 |
| Reed Memorial Library | Websense filtering | $1,550.00 |
| Ashtabula County District Library | Websense filtering | $1,550.00 |
| Pickaway County District Public Library | 8e6 R3000 Filter Support | $398.00 |
| Briggs Lawrence County Public Library | RPPro | $376.89 |
| Portage County District Library | Websense filtering | $2,500.00 |
| Portsmouth Public Library | Content Filtering Service | $1,347.85 |
| Twinsburg Public Library | St. Bernard iPrism | $2,133.00 |
| Grandview Heights Public Library | 8e6 R3000 Filter Support | $199.00 |
| Fairfield County District Library (second request) | 8e6 R3000 Filter Support | $0.00 |
| Putnam County District Library | CyberPatrol | $574.40 |
| Geauga County Public Library | Websense filtering | $3,500.00 |
| Westerville Public Library | Proventia appliance | $1,200.00 |
| Warren-Trumbull County Public Library | Websense filtering | $1,419.15 or balance available after other grant adjustments, up to $4,500 |
| Washington-Centerville Public Library | Websense filtering | $0.00 |
| Greene County Public Library | Websense filtering | $0.00 |
| Akron-Summit County Public Library | Websense filtering | $0.00 |
Stephen explained his reasoning for the requests not recommended for
funding. In the case of Galion Public Library Association, Stephen has
asked them to supply a vendor quote to complete their application; if
this quote is not forthcoming, their grant would not be awarded. Any
funds left over after award adjustments would be put toward the request
from Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, which was for $4,500.
Jeff Wale motioned to
approve the recommended filtering assistance grants as presented; Gary Branson seconded.
Roll call: Don Barlow, abstain; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye;
Ben Chinni, aye; Karl Colón, abstain; Karen
Davis, aye; Jamie Mason, aye; Bonnie Mathies, abstain; Jeff Wale, aye;
and
Sandi Plymire, aye.
Jeff Wale suggested that in future OPLIN should investigate the
possibility of installing a central filtering solution, rather than
distributing grants. Stephen and Karl Jendretzky briefly explained why
they have previously not been able to find an acceptable central
filter, but agreed to investigate again.
6.2. Gayle Patton resolution
Stephen Hedges noted that he had neglected to prepare a resolution
honoring Gayle Patton at her last Board meeting, and now proposed that
the following resolution be approved and read into the minutes:
| WHEREAS, GAYLE PATTON was a member of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees from July 2005 through September 2010, and WHEREAS she freely and unselfishly gave her time and efforts to ensure WHEREAS her dedication and attention to the perspective of the public WHEREAS she served ably as the Chair of the OPLIN Board for two years, WHEREAS her experience as Assistant Director of the Mansfield-Richland NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that on the 10th day of December, Two BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board extends its most sincere thanks |
Karl Colón motioned to
approve the resolution and place it into the minutes as read; Jason
Buydos seconded. All aye.
7.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business to come before the Board.
8.
OPLIN DIRECTOR'S
REPORT
Stephen Hedges reported that OPLIN has finally received E-Rate
funding
commitments for the current year (July 2010-June 2011). Along with the
regular Priority 1
funding for telecommunications and Internet access, OPLIN also received
some Priority 2 funding for eight new routers for libraries that
average 85% discount. Approval of the remaining routers OPLIN requested
(at 80% discount) and approval for maintenance agreements for all the
new routers is still pending, so this purchase will probably be delayed
until next spring. Lorrie Germann from eTech has hosted the first of
two E-Rate
workshops (on the Form 470) for libraries. Because there are so many
changes this year, as a result of
the FCC's recently-released Sixth Order, the normal E-Rate process will
be delayed for a few weeks, and Lorrie is consequently going to do the
second workshop (on the Form 471) in January instead of December.
Meanwhile, the OPLIN office is collecting the Letters of Agency and
Forms 479 which we must have from all OPLIN participants in order to
apply for discounts on the services provided to them. Unlike previous
years, OPLIN is no
longer bound to purchase telecommunications services from contracts
negotiated by OIT, so OPLIN released
an RFP to accompany our Form 470 to provide a detailed
description of our needs to inform this year's expanded potential field
of bidders.
Stephen has submitted the October OPLIN biannual report to the
Governor and legislative leadership, and posted a copy on the OPLIN
website. In the cover letter, he proposed to supply this report on
demand, rather than on a biannual schedule, starting in the next
biennium. To date, none of the recipients of the report has
asked to continue receiving the biannual report instead of on-demand
reports. Changes to the OPLIN budget language submitted by the State
Library would put the proposed change into law.
On November 30, Stephen attended a day-long brainstorming retreat
hosted by Horizon
Telcom, one of the major recipients of ARRA funding for broadband
middle-mile fiber installs, to look ahead to broadband development in
southeastern Ohio after the ARRA projects are complete. The meeting
included a wide range of representatives from schools, colleges,
hospitals, local governments, development agencies, and business
people. Most
attendees agreed that some form of loose organization should continue
after the ARRA projects in order to facilitate communication between
all the broadband stakeholders, and to minimize duplicative projects.
Looking at the calendar of OPLIN office activities, Stephen
highlighted his visits to the SEO office in Caldwell and the Pike
County library's Appreciation Day, Karl Jendretzky's trips to review
the networks at the Cincinnati and the Lane libraries, and Laura
Solomon's presentation to the Medina County library staff on Veteran's
Day. He also mentioned a visit to the OPLIN office by Tim Rogers,
Executive Director of North Carolina's NC LIVE consortium, and a
Libraries Connect Ohio presentation to the INFOhio board.
Don Barlow asked if the OLC Government Relations Committee had any
reaction to the proposed OPLIN budget continuing to come from the PLF.
Stephen answered that he had conveyed this information both to the
committee and to the OLC Board, and there was very little reaction from
either group.
Bonnie Mathies asked if Stephen had any information to share about
possible changes to OhioLINK. Stephen reported that Jeff Trzeciak did
not take the position of OhioLINK Executive Director as was expected,
so John Magill will continue as Interim Director until the end of the
fiscal year and David Penniman has been hired to assist with
operations; other than that he had no information.
8.1.
Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky reported that the SMS messaging system is now
handling almost 2,000 messages per week, and he calculates that it
could handle as many as 13,000 messages a day. Two-way messaging is
also now possible.
Karl has installed a new ticketing system for the OPLIN Support
Center, with more capabilities than the old system. The new system will
also allow OPLIN to shut down the last servers still running Windows
server software. Karl Colón asked how much OPLIN still pays in software
licensing fees, and Karl estimated that cost is now about $2,000
per year.
Karl also reported that about 30 circuit upgrades are currently in
process, which is normal. More total bandwidth is now available at the
OPLIN core for use by libraries, with total usage approaching 1.5 Gbps.
Karl is finding that the larger circuits at metro libraries are raising
some unexpected issues, because some local network equipment
(particularly firewalls) may not have the correct capabilities or
configuration to properly handle circuits larger than 100 Mbps. OPLIN
works with library staff to identify such problems. Karl also noted
that a pending circuit upgrade to Pickerington Public Library will test
a possible new network topology for the Central Library Consortium.
Finally, Karl reported that the Barracuda spam filtering device has
processed about 80 million e-mails over the last two years, blocking
about 90% as spam.
8.2. Library Services
Manager report
Laura Solomon reported that almost all website kit development was
put on hold in November so she could upgrade all kits from Drupal version 5 to
Drupal 6. Five libraries have received training on using their
new website kits, so they should be going into production soon, and three
more library website kits are now under construction. Laura has been
working on implementing an alpha-version Drupal module developed at
Worthington Libraries that integrates the Evanced event scheduling
software into Drupal; this will enable libraries that use Evanced to
manage their events in one place, rather than having to update their
website manually. Similarly, she and Stephen have met with staff from
BookLetters about smoother integration of BookLetters content into
website kits for those libraries that subscribe to BookLetters.
8.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges presented statistics of
database usage. The number of searches each month continues to
fluctuate, but document retrievals are still gradually increasing and
will soon reach half a million per month. Amie McReynolds recently
developed a brochure regarding the shortcut links OPLIN provides to
access the databases, such as "ohioweblibrary.org/tests," which are
easy to communicate to library users. One library suggested using the
Ohio Web Library business cards to write down shortcuts for library
users, and this suggestion has resulted in renewed demand for the cards.
11.
CHAIR'S REPORT
Sandi Plymire had nothing to report.
12. ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Jason Buydos
the Board adjourned at 11:12.
October 8, 2010 Minutes
October 8, 2010 Minutes hedgesstOHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SECOND REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes—October
8, 2010
1.
WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred twenty-second
meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:00 a.m. on Friday, October 8, 2010 by Board Chair Sandi
Plymire at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members:
Don Barlow, Gary Branson, Jason Buydos, Karen Davis, Jim Kenzig, Jamie
Mason, Sandi Plymire, and Jeff Wale.
Also present were: Stephen
Hedges, Karl Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); Beverly Cain and
Diane Fink (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio
Library Council).
2.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Sandi Plymire requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Jason Buydos motioned to
approve the agenda as presented; Don Barlow seconded. All aye.
3.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The Chair recognized Beverly Cain.
Beverly announced that Jeffrey Trzeciak, currently at
McMaster
University in Ontario, will start his duties as the new director of
OhioLINK on December 13. She noted that he has a background in Ohio,
having worked for the Dayton library and been a presenter at an OLC
conference. Beverly also reported that the last State Library Board
meeting awarded LSTA large-project grants, with interesting
presentations from the grant recipients. Stephen Hedges mentioned that
the State Library Board also appointed Karen Davis to the OPLIN Board;
Sandi Plymire welcomed Karen to the Board.
The Chair next recognized Doug Evans.
Doug reported that the OLC Board continues to work on a
revised
strategic plan, with the intention of completing their work at their
November meeting.
4.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of August 13 Meeting
Jeff Wale motioned to
approve the minutes of the August 13 meeting; Jamie Mason
seconded. All aye.
5.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE
FINANCIAL REPORTS
Diane Fink presented two sets of Financial Reports: one as of
September
30, 2010; the second the proposed Fiscal Years 2012-13 budget.
5.1. Reports as of September
30
Report A in the September 30 set of reports showed the
budget and expenditures at the end of Fiscal Year 2010 and the first
quarter of Fiscal Year 2011. A couple of FY 2010 purchase orders still
have small balances as we await invoices from the vendors; one large
purchase order to the Office of Information Technology (OIT) for the
new Juniper routers also is awaiting an invoice. The total "available
balance" of $468,699 represents the unused portion of OPLIN's $2
million spending authority for non-state income.
Looking
at the FY 2011 budget, Diane pointed out the purchase cost of the new
e-mail server and noted that OPLIN has also asked OIT for permission to
purchase four new desktop computers to replace 7-year-old computers.
Regarding information resources, Diane reported that all fiscal year
funds going toward purchase of the information databases has been
distributed to Wright State University for eventual dispersal to
vendors. She also noted that OPLIN continues to contract with eTech
Ohio for E-Rate services and workshops. The unplanned spending
authority for unexpected non-state revenues currently stands at
$426,385.
Report B showed the
revenue and cash balances for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011. The $1.3
million cash balance at the end of FY 2010 rolled over to FY 2011.
Shortly after the beginning of FY 2011 a transfer of $3.7 million was
made from the Public Library Fund (PLF) to OPLIN; simultaneously, the
Office of Budget and Management (OBM) transferred $5 million from the
General Revenue Fund (GRF) to the PLF to cover the deductions for OPLIN
and the Library for the Blind. After adding some revenue from received
E-Rate reimbursements and web services for libraries, and deducting
expenditures to date, the cash balance now stands at about $2.9 million.
Jeff
Wale asked about the status of the OPLIN appeal of our denied 2005-2006
E-Rate reimbursements; Stephen Hedges reported that the Funding
Commitment Decision Letters have now been received and OPLIN is in the
process of submitting invoices for the previously denied funds.
5.2. Proposed FY 2012-13
budget
Diane
reported that OBM has asked that "core
budget level" requests be submitted by November 1 at 5:00 p.m; the
OPLIN budget will be submitted as a "program" within the State
Library budget.
The Core Budget Level for agencies receiving GRF
funds is to be 90% of their FY 2011 budget; agencies such as OPLIN that
receive funding from other sources are not restricted. Diane reported
that the required State Library IT plan for OIT, which is part of the
overall budget submission and includes OPLIN IT planned expenditures,
was submitted on October 4. The November 2 election will determine the
timeline for the remainder of the budget process; if the current
Governor is re-elected, the Executive Budget will be released around
February 1, otherwise it will not be released until March.
Diane
presented the current version of the OPLIN budget that will be
submitted on November 1. She pointed out that payroll
budgeting increases noticeably for FY 2012, when Cost Savings Days are
scheduled to end, all state employees are scheduled to receive a
lump-sum payment for 32 hours salary, and an extra pay cycle falls
within the fiscal year. The Department of Administrative Services (DAS)
has
also advised OPLIN to budget for a small rent increase, since a large
decrease was negotiated at the beginning of the current biennium. The
budget also includes funds for a replacement server each year of the
biennium. In all other expenditure categories, the amounts budgeted
remain the same as the current budget. The projected revenue budget for
the current fiscal year includes an estimated E-Rate reimbursement of
$1 million from the successful appeal of the 2005-2006 E-Rate denial,
as well as $1.3 million for this year's E-Rate reimbursements and
$10,00 from web services; for the next biennium, the budget projects
that the $1.3 million and $10,000 income will continue each year.
Jeff
Wale inquired about the stability of the E-Rate reimbursements in the
future. Stephen Hedges replied that the FCC's Sixth Order, which was
released on September 28, contained some language that could possibily
be interpreted to mean that E-Rate reimbursements for
telecommunications expenses should be limited to libraries that are
CIPA compliant, which would reduce the amount of reimbursement OPLIN
receives. Stephen has discussed this with Lorrie Germann from eTech,
but at this point no one is certain how the FCC language is going to be
interpreted.
Gary Branson motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Jason Buydos seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
6.1. Final focus group report
Stephen Hedges reported that OPLIN staff gathered a lot of
good feedback from the library community at the OLC Expo on September
10, starting with the Stakeholders Meeting, then through
individual conversations at the OPLIN booth, and finally from a small
focus group conducted by Wayne Piper. The information gained from this
final focus group was similar to what we received from e-mail questions
and the previous online focus group, with the addition of feedback
indicating that some libraries would like to have more communication
from OPLIN about the status of their Internet connections. Stephen said
he plans to start automatically sending results of our quarterly
bandwidth usage assessment to all libraries in order to address this
concern. Focus group participants also voiced concerns about the
struggles libraries are having with providing e-books to patrons,
though they did not see this as an OPLIN problem. (This prompted a
brief discussion among those present about e-book problems and future
plans.)
Now that the focus groups are finished, Stephen reported that
he had no recommendations for further Board action. He noted that the
Board had already authorized the purchase of a new e-mail server and
replacement of the current e-mail software in response to focus group
feedback. Staff have made other small changes in response to feedback.
There was one piece of consistent feedback which the Board does not
have the financial means to address, that is the desire to have
genealogy and auto repair databases in the Ohio Web Library collection;
however, focus group participants all seemed to understand that this is
currently beyond OPLIN's means.
6.2. Award first round of
Internet filtering assistance grants
Stephen Hedges presented the first round of applications for
OPLIN grants to
assist libraries with the cost of installing new or improved Internet
content filters which were
collected online between August 26 and October 1. He recommended that
the following requests, totaling $27,604.11, be funded:
| Library | Request | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Licking County Library | New Cymphonix filtering solution to provide content filtering at all six Licking County Library locations |
$3,835.00 |
| Napoleon Public Library | New install of Website-Echo content filter for 39 staff and patron PCs |
$2,315.75 |
| Bristol Public Library | New Websense filtering software and server | $1,543.00 |
| Chillicothe and Ross County Public Library | Add SonicWall Security appliance for children's areas at the Main library and Northside Branch |
$1,496.21 |
| Logan County Libraries | Replace End of Life filtering server with Cymphonix EX310H |
$4,232.15 |
| Pickerington Public Library | Replace R3000 filter appliance with WF300 | $3,122.00 |
| Fairfield County District Library | Replace R3000 8e6 filter appliances at the Main Library and Northwest Branch that will be End of Life in January 2011 |
$4,500.00 |
| Nelsonville Public Library | Replace SonicWall with OpenDNS Enterprise content filtering service |
$1,350.00 |
| Lane Public Library | Upgrade from free version to Enterprise version of OpenDNS |
$1,600.00 |
| Rodman Public Library | Upgrade to SonicWall NSA 2400 Secure | $3,610.00 |
Stephen also recommended that OPLIN announce a second
round of funding with applications due December 1. The second round
would be for all types of applications, with new and improved
installations still getting top priority. The second round would
distribute the remaining funds in our filtering earmark, which will
currently be $53,395.89 after these awards are distributed.
Jim Kenzig motioned to
approve the recommended filtering assistance grants and proceed with a
second round
of grant applications; Jeff Wale seconded.
Roll call: Don Barlow, aye; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Karen
Davis, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Jamie Mason, aye; Jeff Wale, aye; and
Sandi Plymire, aye.
7.
NEW BUSINESS
7.1. Discuss connections to
libraries that consolidate
Stephen Hedges reminded the Board that there has been
increased discussion lately regarding consolidating library systems and
he felt it was a good time to start discussing what happens to the
OPLIN-provided Internet connection if one library decides to merge with
another. The current OPLIN policy provides for only one connection per
OPLIN participant.
The Board quickly came to a concensus that OPLIN should
disconnect its Internet connection from a library system that becomes a
part of another system. Further discussion raised questions about the
timing of the disconnection, since it could require some considerable
time for a local library to have their own Internet connection
installed to replace the OPLIN connection. There was also brief
discussion of the cost to OPLIN resulting from contract penalties when
a circuit is disconnected, as well as costs from likely circuit
upgrades after libraries merge.
Jason Buydos motioned that
OPLIN must disconnect the OPLIN-provided Internet connection in the
event that an OPLIN participant merges with another, but OPLIN will
maintain the existing connection for a period of 90 days after the
effective date of the merger or consolidation. Don Barlow seconded.
Jeff Wale questioned if 90 days was long enough; Jim Kenzig
suggested that a library could place a request with the OPLIN Board for
an additional 90-day extension if needed.
Jason Buydos amended his
motion to include a provision to maintain the connection for an
additional 90 days upon library request to the OPLIN Board. Don Barlow
agreed to the amendment.
Roll call: Don Barlow, aye; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Karen
Davis, aye; Jim Kenzig, aye; Jamie Mason, aye; Jeff Wale, aye; and
Sandi Plymire, aye.
8.
OPLIN DIRECTOR'S
REPORT
Stephen Hedges reported that there was considerable interest
at the Stakeholders Meeting in the transition to Zimbra software on the
OPLIN e-mail server. Later in the day, at the OPLIN booth at the OLC
Expo, many of the individual conversations were about the OPLIN SMS
messaging service for libraries.
Stephen reported on the October 1 Connect Ohio Technology
Association meeting and the subsequent information session for
potential partners in Connect Ohio's Every Community Online (ECO) ARRA
grant. This is the grant originally identified as OPAL II because it
was paired with the OPAL I
grant from the State Library, which was not funded; the State Library
received the official rejection letter yesterday. Stephen mentioned
that he is making contact with the major organizations that received
ARRA grants (Com Net,Horizon Telco, OneCommunity, and Zito
Media) for installing additional fiber-optic circuits around
the state, since those grants encourage connections to libraries.
Stephen
called Board attention to the presentations Laura Solomon did for
TechConnections and the University of Hawaii, and Karl Jendretzky's
after-hours move of critical OPLIN servers from the OPLIN office to the State of Ohio
Computer Center (SOCC).
Finally, Stephen mentioned a meeting he
and Doug Evans attended with Telisys, a telecommunications consulting
company that hopes to make its services available through the Sourcing
Office in Northeast Ohio.
8.1.
Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky reported on the process of moving the servers
to the
SOCC, which was made possible by a larger project to consolidate old routers
into the new Juniper router while securing a larger connection from the
OPLIN core to the Internet. When complete, this project will be a major
change for the OPLIN core and will provide access to 3 Gbps of Internet
access instead of our current 1 Gbps.
Karl reported on problems
he has encountered with the open source Zimbra software. The current
open source version fails under extreme loads, but the commercial
version does not. It appears that the open source Zimbra is usually one
version behind the commercial version, so he is investigating the cost
of the commercial version; if it is excessive, he expects to be able to
test the next open source version in a couple of months. The Board then
discussed approving an expenditure limit for commercial e-mail software
(Zimbra or another), but since such a purchase would have to go through
the state approval process, there will be time to consider a specific
proposal if necessary. Jeff Wale cautioned that Karl's work time should
be considered when comparing open source to commercial software.
In
the process of working on an Ohio Web Library phone app at Stephen's
request, Karl developed an Ohio Web Library API that can deliver the
search results in an XML format that can be included in any webpage. He
shared the screenshot of a sample of this API which has been installed
on the Stow-Monroe Falls library website and integrates Ohio Web
Library search results with Stow catalog search results. This feature
will be integrated into future Dynamic Website Kits.
Finally,
Karl shared usage statistics for the SMS messaging service. Usage
growth has been consistent, now reaching more than 150 messages a day,
and more libraries are using it all the time. The system has been
operating very smoothly; Karl calculates it could handle up to 12,000
messages a day.
8.2. Library Services
Manager report
Laura Solomon reported that twenty Website Kits are now in
active
use by libraries; nine more are at the stage where libraries are
entering their initial content; and four are currently in development.
In November all development work will temporarily cease while Laura
upgrades the Drupal version 5 sites to Drupal version 6. The Ohio Web
Library API will be added to all kits, as well as Facebook and
Foursquare buttons and a module that allows site users to share
content they like with others.
Laura explained that the
University of Hawaii class she taught was done through Second Life.
Unfortunately, Linden Labs has just decided to double the cost of
Second Life participation for educational institutions and non-profits;
as a result many of these institutions will probably leave Second Life,
and OPLIN will not plan on being active in Second Life after the change.
8.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges presented statistics of database usage. Jeff
Wale
asked if there was an explanation for the gradual decline in the number
of searches, and Stephen said he had none, but pointed out that
document retrievals were gradually increasing and are probably a better
measure of the value of the databases.
11.
CHAIR'S REPORT
Sandi Plymire had nothing to report.
12. ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Jim Kenzig
the Board adjourned at 11:46.
August 13, 2010 Minutes
August 13, 2010 Minutes hedgesstOHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIRST REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes—August
13, 2010
1.
WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred twenty-first
meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 13, 2010 by Board Chair Karl
Colón at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members:
Don Barlow, Gary Branson, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karl
Colón, Jim Kenzig, Gayle Patton, Sandi Plymire, and Jeff Wale. Board
member Bonnie Mathies arrived at 10:05.
Also present were: Stephen
Hedges, Karl Jendretzky, and Laura Solomon (OPLIN); Beverly Cain and
Diane
Fink (State Library); Lynda Murray (Ohio
Library Council); and Lynn Kenzig (guest).
2.
NOMINATION and ELECTION OF BOARD OFFICERS
Outgoing Chair Karl Colón recognized Gayle Patton, who
nominated
Gary Branson to replace her as Treasurer on the slate of officers
previously proposed by the Nominating Committee. Jeff Wale seconded the
nomination.
The Chair reviewed the proposed slate of officers: Sandi
Plymire,
Chair; Jeff Wale, Vice-Chair; Bonnie Mathies, Secretary; Gary Branson,
Treasurer.
Don Barlow motioned to
approve the proposed slate of Board officers; Jim Kenzig
seconded. All aye.
3.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
New Chair Sandi Plymire requested approval of the remainder of
the meeting agenda.
Gayle Patton motioned to
approve the agenda as presented; Jason Buydos seconded. All aye.
4.
ESTABLISH BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE FOR FY 2011
The Chair requested approval of the proposed meeting schedule
for the next 14 months:
- August 13, 2010
- October 8, 2010
- December 10, 2010
- February 11, 2011
- April 8, 2011 (Board Retreat)
- June 10, 2011
- August 12, 2011
- October 14, 2011
Don Barlow motioned to
approve the meeting schedule as presented; Jason Buydos seconded. All
aye.
5.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The Chair recognized Lynda Murray.
Lynda
reported that the Ohio Library Council Government Relations Committee
has been discussing preparations for what are expected to be difficult
budget negotiations in the coming months. One item to watch will be
whether or not the current $5 million transfer from the General Revenue
Fund to the Public Library Fund, reimbursing the cost of OPLIN and the
Library for the Blind, is continued in the new biennium. Lynda also
noted that many public libraries are now depending on local tax levies
for support, with perhaps as many as 60% of all public libraries having
local levies after the November election.
Karl Colón asked if OPLIN could do anything to help promote
the
message that statewide funding of libraries is important and should not
be replaced by reliance on local funding. Lynda replied that a message
is being crafted that will highlight specific services that libraries
can deliver statewide; one service will probably be health information,
and OPLIN can help by identifying good health information databases and
assisting with delivery of some services.
The Chair next recognized Beverly Cain.
Beverly reported that she is settling into her new job as
State
Librarian and will soon be starting to travel around the state and
visit libraries.
Lynda Murray left the
meeting at 10:13.
Karl Colón motioned that
Gayle Patton,
who is retiring effective October 1, be officially recognized for her
years of service as an OPLIN Board member and OPLIN Board Chair, with
wishes for all the best in the future; Gary Branson seconded. All aye.
6.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
of June 11 Meeting
Jim Kenzig motioned to
approve the minutes of the June 11 meeting; Jeff Wale
seconded. All aye.
7.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE
FINANCIAL REPORTS
Diane Fink presented two sets of Financial Reports: one as of
June
30, 2010; the second as of July 31, 2010. She explained that the first
set of reports reflected the status at the end of Fiscal Year 2010.
7.1. Reports as of June 30
Report A in the June 30 set of reports showed the
budget and expenditures for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009, which are
unchanged from the previous meeting since those fiscal years are
closed; this is the last time this report will be presented to the
Board. Report B showed the
budget and expenditures at the end of Fiscal Year 2010 as well as
the budgeted allotments for Fiscal Year 2011. All "Available Balances"
at the end of FY 2010 are unused spending authority and not funds that
will be returned to the state treasury. Diane pointed out open
encumbrances (as of June 30) for printing of Ohio Web Library
promotional cards, the monthly cost of Past, Present and Future
consulting, and telecommunications bills. Report C showed the
revenue and cash balances for Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010. At the end of
FY 2009 the cash balance was about $1.58 million; at the end of FY 2010
is was about $1.39 million.
7.2. Reports as of July 31
In the second set of reports, Report A still showed a few open
encumbrances for FY 2010, as invoices have not yet arrived for some
encumbrances. For FY 2011 (ending June 30, 2011), Diane reported that
each OPLIN staff will again have 10 Cost Savings (furlough) Days
removed from their salaries, as was the case in FY 2010, totaling just
under $15,000. Diane noted that Bobbi Galvin's open position has been
offered to a candidate, with the intention of the new employee starting
on August 30. (In response to a question from Gayle Patton, Stephen
Hedges reported that the candidate is Amie McReynolds from Springfield,
Ohio, a recent graduate of the Kent State University MLIS program.)
Diane also pointed out the open encumbrance of about $1.5 million to
Wright State University for eventual disbursement to database vendors,
and noted that that had been paid in August; she also called attention
to the completed payment of $45,000 to eTech Ohio for annual E-Rate
consulting.
In Report B, showing revenue and cash balances for FY 2010 and
FY
2011, Diane pointed out that the cash balance as of July 31 had
declined to about $1 million. She explained, however, that Office of
Budget and Management (OBM) cash transfers at the beginning of each
fiscal year move $5 million from the General Revenue Fund (GRF) into
the Public Library Fund (PLF), after which funds for the Library for
the Blind and for OPLIN are transferred out of the PLF. These transfers
had not taken place as of July 31, but were done in the first week of
August.
Diane then provided some general information about the status
of the
FY 2012-2013 biennium budgeting process. OBM has asked that "core
budget level" requests be submitted by November 1, with corresponding
Information Technology plans submitted to the Office of Information
Technology (OIT) about a month earlier. She has been attending a series
of meetings explaining how these components of the budget should be
written and submitted. The Core Budget Level for agencies receiving GRF
funds is to be 90% of their FY 2011 budget; agencies such as OPLIN that
receive funding from other sources are not restricted. As in the past,
the OPLIN budget will be submitted as a "program" within the State
Library budget. Diane also pointed out that payroll budgeting will be a
challenge for all agencies in FY 2012, when Cost Savings Days are
scheduled to end, all state employees are scheduled to receive a
lump-sum payment for 32 hours salary, and an extra pay cycle falls
within the fiscal year. The Department of Administrative Services has
also advised OPLIN to expect a small rent increase, since a large
decrease was negotiated at the beginning of the current biennium.
Diane
also reported that the purchase of a new e-mail server, as approved at
the last Board meeting, was also approved by OIT, and the server has
now been ordered, installed, and paid for.
Gayle Patton motioned to
accept the Financial Reports; Don Barlow seconded. All aye.
7.3. First draft of OPLIN
budget request
Stephen Hedges presented a draft of the narrative portion of
the OPLIN FY
2012-2013 budget request. He noted that the narrative explains that
OPLIN benefits all residents of Ohio and not just public libraries.
Stephen particularly requested discussion of the language at the end of
the narrative, which requests that OPLIN funding return to being drawn
from the General Revenue Fund rather than the Public Library Fund; such
a request also requires that OPLIN explain how it can accommodate the
10% budget cut that would automatically result from such a funding
transfer.
Several Board members noted that OPLIN passed a resolution
last year
in support of keeping OPLIN funding in the General Revenue Fund.
Repeating that request now at a cost of 10% of OPLIN funding would
reduce OPLIN's ability to serve public libraries. Several other members
speculated that even if OPLIN did return to the General Revenue Fund,
the $3.7 million currently coming from the Public Library Fund to
support OPLIN may not be restored to the PLF. Ensuing discussion
resulted in general agreement that while the Board still supports
returning OPLIN funding to the GRF, it is not wise to include this
position in our budget request.
8. OLD BUSINESS
8.1. Focus groups
Stephen Hedges reported on the results of the online focus
group on the
afternoon of 14 July 2010 involving seven librarians who were chosen
because they had responded well to previously e-mailed "Questions of
the Week." The TokBox web-based video conferencing service was used,
with Wayne Piper facilitating. Participants were asked three groups of
questions based on the earlier e-mail "Questions of the Week," now
posed once again in this format
where they could hear each other's answers.
Among the noteworthy new information from this focus group was
that
when they have a problem with their Internet connection, their first
response is
to check for in-house problems that they can solve before involving
OPLIN. Stephen plans to respond to this by communicating that OPLIN is
happy to be contacted at any point in their problem-solving process.
Several
Board members noted the lack of enthusiasm for the databases expressed
by focus group participants. Gayle Patton pointed out that the focus
group members represented primarily small libraries, which she had
assumed should have the most need for OPLIN-provided databases. There
was general discussion of the composition of the focus group and
speculation as to how well they represented all OPLIN participants. The
feedback from this group seems to indicate that there is a need for
more promotion of the databases, and possibly more training.
Wayne
Piper will be leading another, in-person focus group at the OLC Expo on
September 10, after which Stephen intends to develop a plan for
responding to the gathered information.
8.2. Accept revised
Strategic Plan
Stephen Hedges presented a clean copy of the Strategic Plan
incorporating all the revisions discussed in previous Board meetings.
Jason Buydos motioned to
accept the revised Strategic Plan; Don Barlow seconded. All aye.
9.
NEW BUSINESS
9.1. Discuss Internet
filtering assistance grants
Stephen Hedges announced that several libraries have already
been
inquiring about the annual process of distributing the funds set aside
in the OPLIN budget for assisting libraries with the cost of Internet
content filtering. Normally this is an item on the October Board
agenda, but Stephen suggested that the process start earlier this year,
with a first round of grants for libraries that want to install new
systems or upgrade existing systems, and a second round later for
libraries requesting assistance with filtering maintenance costs. This
method would also allow OPLIN to delay distribution of all set aside
funds in case the set aside is reduced by budget adjustments later in
the fiscal year. Otherwise he recommended that the parameters of the
grants remain the same as last year.
Gayle
Patton motioned that OPLIN announce a first round of filtering
assistance grants covering new and upgraded filters, to be followed by
a second round of grants for maintenance of filters, and that all other
parameters remain the same as last year; Karl Colón seconded.
All aye.
10.
OPLIN DIRECTOR'S
REPORT
Stephen Hedges reported two items of good news.
In February
2005, OPLIN was denied all E-Rate funds for the period July 2005
through June 2006 because our applications were post-marked one day
after the deadline. In 2006, Stephen filed an appeal of this denial
with the FCC, based on an FCC decision that granted leniency for such
"clerical" errors in Funding Year 2004. That appeal has now been
granted, and the status of our 2005 applications had been changed from
"Out of window" to "Initial review," just as if our applications had
been received on time five years ago. If we successfully move through
the review process, OPLIN could recover about $1 million of what we
spent on telecommunications in state Fiscal Year 2006.
The other
item of good news involved a decrease in our bandwidth costs. Following
the Department of Administrative Services opinion that OPLIN was not
obligated to purchase bandwidth and network services from OIT, OIT
managers made a two-option proposal to OPLIN. One option involved
trying again to get a new pricing structure approved for all OIT
customers, which would benefit OPLIN by distributing costs across all
state agencies more equitably, and could save OPLIN about $250,000 per
year after E-Rate. The second option involved moving the OPLIN
network outside the network used by other state agencies, with OIT and
OPLIN acting in partnership to buy bandwidth directly from the vendors.
While the second option was slightly cheaper, the first option offered
network redundancy that was not present in the second. We expressed a
preference for the first option, and OIT was subsequently able to get
this new pricing structure approved by OBM. This new pricing should
take effect no later than August 1.
Stephen explained one
recurring item on the list of office activities that involves online
meetings regarding development of a proposal to enhance federal library
statistics. The Gates foundation is leading an effort to submit a data
element proposal to the Institute of Museum and Library Services to add
a few basic measures of Internet usage to the Public Library Data set,
and Stephen is part of the large group that is working on this.
Stephen
also repeated the news that Amie McReynolds had accepted the offered
position
of Customer Relations and Support Staff and will begin her employment
with OPLIN on August 30.
Jason Buydos asked if Stephen had any
news regarding the Connect Ohio and State Library applications for ARRA
grants from the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration; Stephen replied that he had not, and was fairly certain
Connect Ohio has also heard nothing.
10.1.
Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky reported that the new e-mail server was
installed
about two weeks ago and is currently being configured and tested.
Writing user documentation for the new e-mail service will be the next
big task before it can be put into production. Karl also reported that
all of the new Juniper site routers have now been installed, and work
is progressing on moving the OPLIN core over to the new Juniper core
router. OIT is simultaneously building their own new core so they can
make more Internet access bandwidth available to OPLIN.
10.1.1. SMS service beta test
Karl Jendretzky announced that the testing of the messaging
system
that converts library e-mail notifications to cellphone text messages
is going well, with about 20 testers and a couple of libraries already
offering the service to patrons. The testing has resulted in several
small changes to the system as various problems have been revealed, but
now the system seems to be working quite well.
Gayle Patton asked
Karl when he expected to implement the new e-mail service, and he
replied that he felt confident it would be ready before the end of the
year.
Jeff Wale asked if Karl still planned to install connection
diagnostic tools on the Juniper routers. Karl reported that the Juniper
operating system is more tightly closed than he at first thought, and
he may not be able to install additional software on the routers.
10.2. Library Services
Manager report
Laura Solomon reported that she still is working on quite a
few
Dynamic Website Kits, but as of this week there are more webkits in
active use by libraries than there are webkits in development. The
newer webkits are based on Drupal version 6, and in November she will
cease work on new webkits to upgrade the old Drupal version 5 webkits
to version 6.
Jeff Wale asked if there would be a charge to the
libraries for this upgrade, and Stephen Hedges explained that such
upgrades are included in the annual maintenance charge that libraries
pay.
Gayle Patton asked Laura about the volunteer work she is doing
for Library Journal
on losinglibraries.org. Laura responded that the work can be depressing
at times.
10.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges explained an additional graph included in the
report
this time which shows database usage linearly over two years, while the
older graph shows the two years superimposed to compensate for seasonal
fluctuations. In general, searches are trending downward over the last
two years, but document retrievals are trending upward. Don Barlow
noted that the reduction in the number of hours some libraries are open
may be reflected in these statistics.
Jeff Wale asked if the
EBSCO statistics were now accurate, and Stephen reported that they had
been corrected for this two-year period to remove the high number of
searches caused by automated searching of library catalogs in those
libraries that subscribe to NoveList Select.
11.
CHAIR'S REPORT
11.1. New Board member
Sandi Plymire called attention to a document showing the
current demographics of the Board in regard to library size, library
location, and the Board member's position with the library. Based on
this data, the Executive Committee suggested that the best candidate
would represent a small library in either the northwest or the
southeast of the state. A separate document listed the characteristics
of the nominees resulting from the general call for Board candidates.
Three candidates had the desired characteristics; all candidates were
very well qualified.
Don Barlow motioned to
recommend Karen Davis to the State Library Board for appointment to
complete the unexpired term of Gayle Patton; Ben Chinni seconded. All
aye by show of hands.
12. ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Jason Buydos
the Board adjourned at 12:02.