FY2012
FY2012 hedgesstJune 8, 2012 Minutes
June 8, 2012 Minutes hedgesstOHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-SECOND REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes
— June 8, 2012
1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred thirty-second meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 8, 2012 by Board Chair Jeff Wale at the
State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members: Don Barlow, Jill Billman-Royer, Gary
Branson, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karen Davis, Jamie
Mason, Sandi Plymire, Becky Schultz, and Jeff Wale.
Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Laura Solomon, and Karl
Jendretzky (OPLIN);
and David Namiotka (State Library).
2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Jeff Wale requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Jason Buydos motioned to approve the
agenda as presented; Jill Billman-Royer seconded. All aye.
3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
David Namiotka answered a few questions about the transition of
statewide library deliveries from Pitt Ohio to Priority Dispatch.
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of April 13
meeting
Jeff Wale requested approval of the minutes of the April 13 Board
meeting.
Sandi Plymire motioned to approve the
minutes of the April 13 meeting as presented; Karen Davis
seconded. All aye.
5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS
In the absence of Jamie Pardee, Stephen Hedges presented the
Financial Reports as of May 31, 2012.
Report A covered fiscal years 2010 and 2011, both of which have now
been closed. In Report B for FY2012, Stephen reviewed the available
balances remaining as the end of the fiscal year approaches. He also
reported on budget items that will remain the same next year — Hannah
and Gongwer subscriptions, and the eTech contract for E-rate support —
and things that will change — the contract with Past, Present and
Future will not be renewed, and filtering grants have been discontinued
in favor of OpenDNS.
In Report C, Stephen called attention to the large cash balance as
of May 31 resulting from the receipt this fiscal year of E-rate
reimbursements that had previously been denied.
Gary Branson motioned to accept the
Financial Reports; Ben Chinni seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
6.1. OPLIN replacement cost calculator
Stephen Hedges provided the Board with a spreadsheet calculating how
much it would cost libraries to purchase the basic services currently
provided by OPLIN, as per the Board's request from the April meeting.
Stephen explained how the costs for Internet access and EBSCOhost were
determined; he also explained why calculating individual library costs
for NewsBank proved to be both very complex and speculative, so these
costs were not included in the spreadsheet.
Stephen suggested that this information was valuable for showing
some of the overall cost savings to libraries realized through OPLIN,
and also to answer queries from individual libraries. He did not feel
there was any value in generally publishing the spreadsheet, since only
a couple of libraries have questioned OPLIN's value.
After some discussion about the data in the spreadsheet, the
consensus of the Board was to use the information as needed when
communicating with library directors and legislators.
In response to a question about the status of OPLIN efforts to
coordinate services with OH-TECH, Stephen replied that the current plan
is to work closely with them as the next biennium budget is developed,
which should be starting soon.
6.2. Strategic Plan
Stephen Hedges presented the final draft of the Strategic Plan for
FY 2013-2014 and reviewed the major changes from the current plan. In
most cases, the changes were additions that recognize current aspects
of OPLIN and services to libraries that were not in previous plans.
There was discussion of the change to the objective, "Provide
Internet bandwidth to every OPLIN participant," which added language
about providing larger circuits at the request of a library. Since this
also would be part of a policy discussion under agenda item 6.4,
the Chair requested that item 6.4 be taken up at this point, being
relevant to the current discussion.
Item 6.4 was inserted at this point.
6.4 Extending OPLIN policy
Stephen Hedges presented proposed changes to the "Policy on
Extending OPLIN to Other Public
Institutions" that would allow libraries to share a larger OPLIN
circuit with other community organizations without restrictions, so
long as the library reimbursed OPLIN for 1) additional circuit capacity
beyond what OPLIN would normally provide to the library, and 2) the
additional Internet bandwidth used by the other organizations.
The Board extensively discussed the implications of such a change,
as well as the ability to verify that a library was not abusing the
policy. Jason Buydos noted that, while there currently is not a lot of interest in such shared
connections, if libraries begin planning to share their space with
other organizations, they are likely to offer to share Internet access,
too. Unless the internal library network was intentionally set up to
segregate Internet traffic, such sharing would be invisible to OPLIN.
The Board generally agreed that this proposed policy change deserved
very careful thought, since it affects aspects of public library
service that are evolving, and that some means of verification needed
to be incorporated. The Chair tabled this item for further discussion
at the next Board meeting.
Discussion now returned to Item 6.2.
6.2. Strategic Plan (resumed)
Discussion of the Strategic Plan resumed. In light of the prior
discussion, Jeff Wale asked Stephen Hedges if a delay or another draft
of the plan was needed. Stephen felt that there would be no problem
with simply removing the entire paragraph that dealt with over-sized
OPLIN connections from the plan, since that issue could be addressed in
the separate "Extending OPLIN" policy.
Stephen then completed the review of changes and additions, with no
further questions from the Board.
Ben Chinni motioned to approve the
Strategic Plan as presented and amended; Don Barlow seconded.
Recorded vote: Don Barlow, aye; Jill
Billman-Royer, aye; Gary
Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni, aye; Karen Davis, aye;
Jamie
Mason, aye; Sandi Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Jeff Wale, aye.
Discussion returned briefly to the
"Extending OPLIN" policy and how much enforcement might be necessary.
6.3. SMS proposal
Stephen Hedges reminded the Board of the problems with the text
messaging (SMS) service for libraries that were discussed at the April
meeting. At that meeting, the Board asked Stephen and Karl Jendretzky
to quickly investigate options for moving the messaging service to a
commercial plan and develop a procedure to recoup the cost from
libraries using the service.
A commercial service has been engaged that will cost OPLIN about
$3,300 per year at current messaging rates. Stephen presented a
proposed plan to sell blocks of messages to libraries; most libraries
would pay $24 for a block that would last them multiple
years. The entire system, except for invoicing the libraries, could be
automated.
Since the cost of the commercial service was lower than expected,
Jeff Wale asked if it would not be more sensible to avoid staff time
involved in invoicing libraries and simply cover the messaging cost
from the OPLIN budget. While other Board members agreed, some pointed
out that as usage of the service grows, OPLIN may want to revisit such
a practice.
Jason Buydos motioned to provide SMS
messaging as a free service to public libraries until the cost to OPLIN
reached $10,000 per year, at which point this decision would be
reconsidered by the Board; Don Barlow seconded.
Recorded vote: Don Barlow, aye; Jill
Billman-Royer, aye; Gary
Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni, aye; Karen Davis, aye;
Jamie
Mason, abstain; Sandi Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Jeff Wale,
aye.
7. NEW BUSINESS
7.1. Website Kits pricing
Stephen Hedges noted that is has always been the intention of OPLIN
to recoup the considerable staff costs involved in constructing and
maintaining the Website Kits for libraries. Based on the experience of
the past couple of years, it is clear that the current prices for
Website Kits are much too low to cover staff costs. Stephen presented
cost and revenue projections through fiscal year 2018 which projected
that OPLIN could cover staff costs by raising the price of the basic
kit from $300 to $795, and adding $40 per year to maintenance costs
until they reach $340 per year.
Board members expressed their belief that the Website Kits are a
great service, and will still be a bargain at the proposed new prices.
Don Barlow motioned to approve the
proposed price increase for Website Kits; Jill
Billman-Royer seconded.
Recorded vote: Don Barlow, aye; Jill
Billman-Royer, aye; Gary
Branson, abstain; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni, aye; Karen Davis, aye;
Jamie
Mason, aye; Sandi Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Jeff Wale, aye.
Board members noted that prices could go up in the future if
it is determined that this new pricing is still too low.
7.2. Digitization project
Stephen Hedges reported that he had a conversation with the
Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and the State Library
about expanding the Cincinnati Virtual Library project to include new
locations at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library and the Cleveland
Public Library. Stephen felt that this would be a good project for
OPLIN involvement, since it involves making electronic information
available online to the public, and he also noted that there may
be an opportunity to collaborate with the OhioLINK Digital Resource
Commons in this project. Jason Buydos explained the Cincinnati project
in detail and the developing plans to expand it to Toledo and
Cleveland, and eventually other locations, and answered many questions
from the Board.
Stephen asked the Board if they would entertain a proposal in the
future to use some E-rate reimbursement funds — probably about $250,000
to $300,000 — to match federal Library Services and Technology Act
(LSTA)
funds to support expansion of the Cincinnati digitization project. The
Board expressed great interest in entertaining such a proposal.
7.3. Draft "OPLIN overview"
Stephen Hedges presented a two-page summary of OPLIN and OPLIN
services for Board review; this was drafted in response to a request at
the April Board meeting. The Board was pleased with the document and
suggested no changes.
8. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Stephen Hedges reported on a productive meeting with John Conley,
Chief of P-20 Educational Technology at the Board of Regents, and Lynda
Murray to share information and ideas. All parties intend to stay in
touch during the process of developing the next biennial budget to
identify partnership opportunities. He also informed the Board about
the State Library award of LSTA funds to support the Ohio Web Library
collection for another year, and the development of another contract
with the eTech Commission for E-rate assistance to OPLIN and the public
libraries.
Regarding OPLIN office activities, Stephen highlighted his visits to
the Ohio Library Council (OLC) Legislative Day and the ETM Libraries
meeting at the West Chester library, Laura Solomon's presentations at
the OLC North and SE/Central Chapter Conferences, and Karl Jendretzky's
onsite work at Southwest Public Libraries.
8.1. Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky explained some of his work to rebuild the SMS
messaging software and the server that hosts the OPLIN listservs. He
has also reconfigured the email server used by public library staff to
increase security. The project to replace the routers at the libraries
is over half complete, although some shipping problems have caused
delays. There are now forty-seven libraries using the OpenDNS content
filtering service. Karl also reported that the Office of Information
Technology is planning to assign a very large block of the state's IPv6
addresses to OPLIN.
Item 8.3 was presented out of order.
8.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges reported that usage of the databases was stronger
than expected in May, although there was a slight decline compared to
last May if Ancestry Library Edition and Mango Language usage is not
included.
8.2. Library Services Manager report
Laura Solomon reported that forty-five libraries are actively using
Website Kits, ten more are waiting for libraries to complete their
training and content writing, and another ten are under construction. She plans to do some
major feature upgrades later this year, as well as an upgrade to the
next version of Drupal.
9. CHAIR'S REPORT
9.1. Board officers slate
Jeff Wale noted that there was no Nominating Committee needed this
year, so in its place the Executive Committee will propose the
following slate of Board officers for election at the August meeting:
Jamie Mason, Chair; Jason Buydos, Vice-Chair; Karl Colón, Secretary;
and Gary Branson, Treasurer.
9.2. Director's evaluation results
Jeff Wale asked Jamie Mason to report on the Director's evaluations
received from all the Board members. Jamie reported that in every area
and on every evaluation, the Director met or exceeded Board
expectations;
he also shared the general comments attached to the evaluations.
Jeff also noted that this has been the most volatile year in his
experience on the OPLIN Board, and he commended Stephen on his
leadership. Stephen likewise expressed his great appreciation for the
time and effort Jeff dedicated to OPLIN during a difficult year.
10. ADJOURNMENT
The Chair asked if there was any more
business. None appearing, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 11:58 a.m.
April 13, 2012 Minutes
April 13, 2012 Minutes hedgesst1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred thirty-first meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 9:02 a.m. on Friday, April 13, 2012 by Board Chair Jeff Wale at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members: Don Barlow, Jill Billman-Royer, Gary Branson, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karl Colón, Karen Davis, Jamie Mason, Sandi Plymire, Becky Schultz, and Jeff Wale.
Also present were: Stephen Hedges and Karl Jendretzky (OPLIN); Beverly Cain, Jamie Pardee, and David Namiotka (State Library); and Lynda Murray (Ohio Library Council).
2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Jeff Wale requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Karen Davis motioned to approve the agenda as presented; Karl Colón seconded. All aye.
3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Lynda Murray provided a brief report on current legislative issues of interest to libraries. She also reported that she has had some conversations about the Shared Services proposal to integrate OPLIN and OARnet, though she does not expect any serious discussions while the Mid Budget Review (MBR) is under discussion.
David Namiotka shared information on the process of transitioning statewide library deliveries from Pitt Ohio to Priority Dispatch, scheduled to take place this weekend.
Beverly Cain provided an update on staffing changes at the State Library. She also reported on the upcoming State Library Board retreat. The State Library Board is filling two vacancies on the Board resulting from resignations; Krista Taracuk (Worthington) has been appointed to fill Ward Murrey's seat, and Melissa Hendon Deter (Cincinnati) has been appointed to fill Lynn Grimshaw's seat.
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of February 10 meeting
Jeff Wale requested approval of the minutes of the February 10 Board meeting.
Jason Buydos motioned to approve the minutes of the February 10 meeting as presented; Sandi Plymire seconded. All aye.
Lynda Murray left the meeting at 9:20.
5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS
Jamie Pardee presented the Financial Reports as of March 31, 2012. Report A covered fiscal years 2010 and 2011, both of which have now been closed. In Report B for FY2012, Jamie reminded the Board that the Available Balance includes spending authority. Report C recorded the cash flow since July 2010 and reflected the cash balance as of January 2012. Stephen Hedges also called attention to the open encumbrance for network routers; that purchase has been delayed by AT&T concerns about E-rate. In response to a question from Don Barlow, Jamie reported that distributions from the Public Library Fund (PLF) to OPLIN occur monthly.
Gary Branson motioned to accept the Financial Reports; Don Barlow seconded. All aye.
6. DISCUSSION of Task Force on Stable Status of OPLIN (2001-2003)
Stephen shared information from the Task Force on the Stable Status of OPLIN which discussed funding and service alternatives about 10 years ago. At that time, the OPLIN Board took no action in response to a funding study commissioned from Levin, Driscoll & Fleeter, because it became clear that OPLIN funding would be taken from the General Revenue Fund (GRF) beginning in fiscal year 2005.
Jeff Wale discussed a conference call that took place between him, Stephen, two metropolitan library directors and their technology managers, concerning the disproportionate distribution of costs for OPLIN services and OPLIN policies restricting community Internet partnerships. Jeff also presented a spreadsheet he had developed to calculate Toledo library's "return on investment" in OPLIN. This spreadsheet accurately assessed what a library would have to spend individually to replace the statewide OPLIN services. Karl Colón suggested that the global spreadsheet the Board reviewed at last year's April retreat, which presented service costs, not replacement costs, should be re-done to reflect replacement costs. The value of OPLIN is that it saves the overall public library community money when compared to what it would cost them to buy the same services individually.
Beverly Cain cautioned that the OPLIN budget is actually part of the State Library budget, and as such, OPLIN funding is used as part of the state match for federal LSTA funds. Any measures the Board might consider that would reduce the OPLIN budget would likely reduce the LSTA funds which Ohio can retrieve from the federal budget.
Don Barlow noted that the real problem which needs to be resolved is moving OPLIN funding out of the PLF and back into the GRF. Jill Billman-Royer warned that there had not been enough discussion of the wider effects of potentially reducing the OPLIN budget, such as the effect on LSTA funding that Beverly had mentioned. Beverly also noted that she would be worried about the future of the Libraries Connect Ohio partnership if OPLIN database funding were to be cut.
Jeff Wale noted that the lengthy discussion to this point had identified one action item: the global spreadsheet of OPLIN value must be improved with accurate reimbursement costs, rather than the rough numbers previously used to evaluate service costs.
Karl Colón motioned that the Board reaffirm its support for drawing OPLIN funding from the General Revenue Fund (GRF) rather than the Public Library Fund (PLF), because funding OPLIN from the GRF has historically fostered exemplary statewide cooperation and proven to be very effective in reducing costs for public libraries' Internet connections and content, and returning OPLIN to the GRF would continue to foster cooperation among public libraries in the future.
The Board suspended the meeting for a break at 10:30 a.m. and resumed at 11:05.
The Chair asked Karl Colón to restate his motion, and he did.
Don Barlow seconded the motion. With the consent of Karl Colón, Gary Branson added a friendly amendment that GRF funding fosters cooperation among not only the public libraries, but cooperation with other agencies as well. All aye.
Discussion returned to a spreadsheet to be made public that would calculate each library's cost to replace OPLIN services. The Board asked that Stephen share a draft of such a spreadsheet with the entire Board.
7. DISCUSSION of Managed Wireless survey
Stephen Hedges shared the results of an online survey of 211 public library directors regarding wireless Internet in their buildings (current and future CLEVNET libraries were not included); the survey got a 64% response rate. He was surprised at the number of libraries (27) that already have outside contracts for management of their wireless network. Only eight libraries said they would be interested in managed wireless from OPLIN at about $40/month/access point, and those eight would only need about 32 access points. In Stephen's opinion, there is currently very little need for an OPLIN managed wireless service. After some discussion, the Board agreed.
8. DISCUSSION of Strategic Plan
Stephen Hedges presented the draft strategic plan that was tabled at the December Board meeting. Stephen highlighted several areas that need to be re-worded in light of developments since this draft was written. He also reviewed the changes previously proposed in December.
There was some discussion of the sentence, "If a library chooses to purchase a larger circuit than the one provided by OPLIN, OPLIN will endeavor to provide financial assistance up to the amount of the cost of a circuit meeting this benchmark." It was not clear exactly what this means or how it could be implemented. The consensus was that OPLIN would provide whatever size circuit a library requested if the library paid the additional cost over the price of the circuit OPLIN would have provided under current policy.
Discussion then turned to how a library could use the additional bandwidth they purchased; would it be subject to the restrictions in OPLIN policies? The feeling was that so long as technical means could segregate the additional data traffic, there was no need for it to comply with OPLIN policies. Stephen will re-word this section to clarify and then distribute the draft to the Board.
Further discussion of the strategic plan resulted in a decision to re-word the plans for backup storage space at the State of Ohio Computer Center. The Board asked that an objective be added to the Marketing goal relating to efforts to return OPLIN funding to the GRF. No other major changes were suggested. Stephen will prepare a revised draft of the complete plan for the June Board meeting.
The Board suspended the meeting for lunch at 11:40 and resumed at 12:05 p.m.
9. ETHICS TRAINING
Stephen Hedges distributed documents and discussed ethical restraints on the conduct of Board members. He began with the Governor's Executive Order 2011-03K and then spent some time reviewing the relevant sections of the Model Ethics Policy published by the Ohio Ethics Commission. He also distributed copies of the "Ohio Ethics Law and Related Statutes" published by the Ethics Commission, and finished by informing the Board of the many other informational materials available on the Ethics Commission website.
10. OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business to come before the Board.
11. NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business to come before the Board.
12. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Stephen Hedges provided updates on the Invitation to Negotiate for another year of a genealogy and a foreign language learning database, on the status of the OPLIN E-rate applications, and on the Information Technology consolidation efforts taking place in state government. If all goes as planned, this round of E-rate should result in only nine libraries still remaining on T1 circuits. He also reported that Laura Solomon has been selected as a participant in Library Leadership Ohio in July.
Regarding OPLIN office activities, Stephen highlighted Laura's presentations at Ohio Library Council (OLC) Chapter Conferences and his attendance at the Worthington Community Breakfast.
12.1. Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky reported that 43 libraries are now using the OpenDNS content filter and all is going well. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) has started the installation of the new Juniper routers at the libraries, while Karl has been building some new OPLIN servers from used parts.
Karl noted that he is having trouble with the SMS text messaging service, which seems to have become so busy that the SMS gateway services used by cellphone companies are starting to block messages as spam. He has worked extensively with AT&T on finding a solution, but there does not seem to be a way to make our current, inexpensive system work reliably at these volumes; the reliable solution is to send messages directly through a gateway service rather than through AT&T, which will be considerably more expensive.
Board discussion of this problem revealed that this service is fairly popular among the libraries, and also explored options for paying for more expensive service. There was also general agreement that the problem should be fixed quickly.
Don Barlow motioned that OPLIN staff find a workable solution to the SMS problem and take steps to pass the cost to libraries using the service by the beginning of June; Gary Branson seconded.
Roll call: Don Barlow, aye; Jill Billman-Royer, aye; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni, aye; Karl Colón, aye, Karen Davis, aye; Jamie Mason, abstain; Sandi Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Jeff Wale, aye.
The Board now returned to a discussion of how a library might use a larger Internet connection than the one provided by OPLIN to support community computing; this built on the morning discussion of the Strategic Plan. The discussion served to clarify that the Board would expect libraries using a larger connection for purposes outside of those approved by OPLIN policy to pay for not only the increased circuit cost, but also all additional Internet bandwidth used for those purposes.
12.2. Library Services Manager report
Since Laura Solomon was presenting a session at today's Ohio Library Council Northwest Chapter Conference and unable to attend the meeting, Stephen Hedges presented this report. There are currently 42 website kits in use, six more in the training and content buildings stages, and thirteen under construction. New semi-automated update procedures were used recently to upgrade all website kits with an improved text editor.
12.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges reported that usage of Ancestry Library Edition and Mango Languages continues to be strong, but also noted that usage of the other databases continues to decline slightly.
13. CHAIR'S REPORT
Jeff Wale began his report by asking the OPLIN Director to create a marketing fact sheet about what OPLIN is and what OPLIN does, to be distributed to public library directors. He also reminded the Board of the sensitivity and complexity of the OPLIN "return on investment" information.
13.1. Board recruitment
All four Board members serving terms that expire June 30 are eligible for re-appointment to the Board. All four expressed an interest in continuing to serve.
13.1. Director's evaluation
A sample of the evaluation form used to evaluate the OPLIN Director was distributed, and the evaluation procedure was discussed. Stephen Hedges will email the evaluation forms to all Board members; Jeff Wale assigned Jamie Mason to collect and collate them.
14. ADJOURNMENT
The Chair asked if there was any more business. None appearing, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 1:05 p.m.
February 10, 2012 Minutes
February 10, 2012 Minutes hedgesstOHIO PUBLIC LIBRARY
INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED THIRTIETH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes — February 10, 2012
1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred thirtieth meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 10, 2012 by Board Vice-Chair Jamie Mason at the
State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members: Don Barlow, Jill Billman-Royer, Gary
Branson, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karen Davis, Jamie
Mason, Sandi Plymire, and Becky Schultz.
Also present were: Stephen Hedges and Karl Jendretzky (OPLIN);
Beverly Cain, Jamie Pardee, and David Namiotka (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio Library Council).
2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Jamie Mason requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Jason Buydos motioned to approve the
agenda as presented; Becky Schultz seconded. All aye.
3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Jamie Mason asked all attendees to introduce themselves to Jamie Pardee, the new Head of Fiscal Services at the State Library.
Beverly Cain described the five-year evaluation of the State Library's
management of federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds
recently completed by Pelz Library Group, which was generally
favorable. This will become the foundation of a new LSTA five-year plan,
which is due for submission to the Institute of Museum and Library
Services (IMLS) in June. Some LSTA funds support the purchase of
databases by Libraries Connect Ohio (LCO), and the evaluation contained
some good data about libraries' use of, and need for, those databases.
David Namiotka provided an update on the RFP process for choosing a
new statewide delivery contractor, after Pitt Ohio opted out of their
contract. The proposals are due at the Department of Administrative
Services (DAS) on February 15. They hope to have the contract awarded
by February 24, and transition from the current service to the new
service in early March. There may be a day or two of no deliveries to
clear all materials from the current system. Monies paid by libraries
for Pitt Ohio service are held by the State Library and will be applied
to the new contract.
Doug Evans reported that the omnibus bill of library issues is
scheduled to be introduced in the very near future. The Ohio Library
Council (OLC) is monitoring release of information from the Governor's
Office regarding the Shared Services Report and the Mid-Budget Review.
Doug noted the Governor's announcement of an upgrade to state broadband
in his State of the State Address, which interests OLC. Finally, Doug
thanked the Board for Laura Solomon's webinar presentation the day
before on ADA issues for library websites; the webinar had over 75
participants. (Stephen Hedges noted that Laura had a high fever during
the webinar and was too ill today to attend the Board meeting.)
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of December
9 meeting
Jamie Mason requested approval of the minutes of the December 9
Board meeting.
Don Barlow motioned to approve the
minutes of the December 9 meeting as presented; Jill Billman-Royer seconded.
All aye.
5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS
Jamie Pardee presented the Financial Reports as of January 31,
2012. Report A covered fiscal years 2010 and 2011, both of which have
now been closed. In Report B for FY2012, Jamie pointed out that the
amount disbursed in the form of filtering grants plus the amount
disbursed to OpenDNS for the first six months of statewide filtering
fell short of the $81,000 earmark by $717.33, so a line was added to
the budget documents noting that this amount will be applied to the
costs associated with the OPLIN Director's coordination of the
filtering grants. Stephen Hedges informed the Board that the amount
distributed in grants was less than what the Board had authorized
because three grantees decided to use the statewide OpenDNS instead of
a local filter.
Gary Branson motioned to accept the
Financial Reports; Ben Chinni seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
6.1. Approve revisions to Policy on the Provision of Network Services by OPLIN to Public Libraries
Stephen Hedges reminded the Board that there was discussion at the
last meeting about revising the current OPLIN Policy on the Provision of Network Services,
since as written it would preclude the possibility of providing more than one
connection to a library system. The issue was ultimately tabled so the
Executive Committee could work with Stephen on further edits to the policy.
Stephen presented the proposed edits developed in conjunction with the Executive
Committee. These edits simplify the policy greatly, by adding some language
at the beginning of the policy which repeats the Ohio Revised Code description
of OPLIN's purpose, and by removing much of the language describing the
connections provided to libraries, since that can be determined by the Board
within the regularly-reviewed Strategic Plan or other Board actions.
Jason Buydos asked if the Governor's recent announcement of upgrades to the
OARnet system would impact this policy, and Stephen replied that the upgrades would
not have any direct effect on the OPLIN network.
Jason Buydos motioned to approve the policy as revised; Don Barlow seconded.
Roll call: Don Barlow, aye; Jill
Billman-Royer, aye; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni,
aye; Karen Davis, aye; Sandi Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Jamie Mason, aye.
6.2. Discuss 2012 Stakeholders Meeting
At the last Board meeting, Stephen Hedges had asked if the Board wanted to
continue holding annual Stakeholders Meetings, and the consensus was that
these were valuable meetings, especially if they could be held online.
Stephen provided some details about costs for the 2012 Stakeholders Meeting,
which would normally be held in September in conjunction with the OLC Expo. Room
setup and Internet costs for a meeting held both in-person and online would
be about $2,000, not including any software costs. Stephen reported that he
had been unable to find any cost-effective single-use webinar software options,
but had talked with eTech and OLC about the possibility of using software
they have licensed. Doug Evans reported that OLC was examining their license,
but thought content broadcast from the OLC Expo should be permissible.
Becky Schultz asked about attendance at in-person Stakeholders Meetings,
and Stephen reported that those held at OLC Expos general drew about 50 attendees,
while those held at OLC Conventions drew much fewer. Jill Billman-Royer asked if
online attendees would have an opportunity to interact with presenters, and Stephen
replied that most webinar software allowed interaction through a chat room. Doug
also noted that the online broadcast could be archived.
The consensus of the Board was to proceed with both an in-person and an online
Stakeholders Meeting at the 2012 OLC Expo.
6.3. Discuss managed wireless service
Stephen Hedges presented information following up on the previous Board
discussion about implementing a new service that would manage wireless
Internet access points that would be installed in libraries, owned,
and managed by an outside contractor through controlling
hardware at the OPLIN core; libraries would then be charged a
monthly fee per access point for managing wireless Internet
connectivity. At last month's meeting, the Board had asked Stephen to
survey libraries and determine interest in such a service.
Stephen reported that he had not done the survey, because in determining
potential cost to the library of such a service, it became apparent that
OPLIN would need to charge a fairly steep fee per access point to break
even. Stephen explained his methodology for determining the necessary fee,
and noted that he did not want to release this information to the library
community in the form of a survey if the Board felt the fee was too high.
Stephen also noted that CLEVNET already provides this type of service to
their members, and requested that the survey be withheld from their area.
Don Barlow felt that a survey was still valuable in order to gauge interest. Jason Buydos questioned what would happen to wireless access points if the contractor withdrew from the service. Stephen felt that such considerations could be included in an RFP, if there is sufficient interest to proceed, or even in contract negotiations. Jason added another consideration regarding how much control of library switches the contractor would need.
The consensus of the Board was that a survey worded in such a way that it did not raise the expectation that OPLIN would provide managed wireless service could gather valuable data. Stephen will share the draft of the survey text with the Board before he releases it.
6.4. Approve contracts with Time Warner Cable, IFN, and Horizon Telecomm
The final item of business pending from the last Board meeting dealt with quotes from several
telecommunications companies for Ethernet connections to libraries that
are currently served by T1 lines, but for which the Office of Information Technology (OIT) has not completed and/or begun negotiations for Ethernet services. OPLIN has the legal authority
to negotiate telecommunications contracts beyond those negotiated by
OIT, but has never yet done so. The Board had asked Stephen Hedges to provide more details about pricing and services, and also that he have the Attorney General's office review proposed contract language.
Stephen reported that he worked extensively with the Attorney General's office to develop language that could be added to any standard telecommunications contract to make it acceptable to OPLIN. He also provided a spreadsheet summarizing costs and services proposed under the contracts in question.
Don Barlow motioned to approve the contracts with Time Warner Cable, IFN, and Horizon Telecomm; Jason Buydos seconded. All aye.
7. NEW BUSINESS
7.1. Discuss agenda, date for April Board retreat
Stephen Hedges pointed out to the Board that April 13, the date for the Board retreat, is also the date for the OLC Northwest Chapter Conference. The consensus of the Board was that the Board retreat remain scheduled for April 13. Stephen also reminded the Board that the Strategic Plan and ethics training will be major items of business for the retreat, and also reviewed items that are regularly part of the Board retreat agenda. He asked that Board members send him any other items they would like to have on the agenda. The Board agreed to start the retreat at 9:00 rather than 10:00 AM.
8. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Stephen Hedges reported that the Libraries Connect Ohio (LCO) partners had met earlier in the week to talk about the rationale and process for buying Ohio Web Library databases, in preparation for soliciting bids at the end of this year for the next five-year database contracts. LCO may involve the review committee earlier in order to help develop the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN). Meanwhile, LCO has assembled a review team of librarians to review the responses to the current ITN for a genealogy and a foreign language database, with the intention of making selections in early April and requesting LSTA funding from the State Library Board on May 31.
Stephen participated in the Ohio Council of Library Information Service Organizations (OCLIS) meeting on December 19 to discuss the future of OCLIS. The organization had not met for quite some time, and the only activity in the bank account had been withdrawal of bank fees. The meeting attendees decided to close out all bank accounts and distribute the money remaining (approximately $685) in equal shares to Ohio Library Leadership and the Ohio Library Support Staff Institute (OLSSI).
Stephen will be meeting with Lynda Murray of OLC and NetWellness managers Dr. Susan Wentz (Case Western) and Dr. Phyllis Pirie (OSU) on February 16 to talk about health literacy initiatives. NetWellness has a grant from the National Library of Medicine to investigate how people search for and evaluate health-related information on the web.
Regarding OPLIN office activities, Stephen highlighted the E-rate
Form 471 workshop and his work on the Library Snapshot Day committee. He also pointed out that Karl Jendretzky had visited a number of libraries since the last meeting to work on technical issues, and also mentioned the website accessibility webinar Laura Solomon did for OLC.
8.1. Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky reported all of the new Juniper routers, except those to be purchased under E-rate, have arrived, and replacement of the old Cisco routers will soon begin. Karl also reported
on AT&T progress toward installing Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) circuits. He also informed the Board that he has implemented some software scripts that monitor the email server to prevent spamming activity. Finally, Karl reported that 24 libraries are currently in the process of implementing the new OpenDNS service.
8.2. Library Services Manager report
Since Laura Solomon was ill and unable to attend the meeting, Stephen Hedges presented this report. There are currently 38 website kits in use, seven more in the training and content buildings stages, and fourteen under construction. Core security updates are to be applied overnight next Sunday. Stephen reported that update procedures are being reviewed, since the original procedures assumed a much lower number of website kit customers.
8.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges presented database statistics, reminding the Board that the significant
drop in both searches and documents retrieved since October is a result of the fact that Biography Reference Bank was purchased by EBSCO, and usage is
now counted differently as a result of moving the database to EBSCO
servers.
9. CHAIR'S REPORT
Jamie Mason read a note received from Diane Fink thanking the Board for the resolution and gift presented to her at the last meeting. Diane also expressed her enjoyment of working with OPLIN since its beginning.
10. ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Sandi Plymire the Board adjourned at 11:33 a.m.
December 9, 2011 Minutes
December 9, 2011 Minutes hedgesstOHIO PUBLIC LIBRARY
INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes — December 9, 2011
1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred twenty-ninth meeting of the Ohio Public Library
Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at
10:00 a.m. on Friday, December 9, 2011 by Board Chair Jeff Wale at the
State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members: Don Barlow, Jill Billman-Royer, Gary
Branson, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karl Colón, Karen Davis, Jamie
Mason, Sandi Plymire, Becky Schultz, and Jeff Wale.
Also present were: Stephen Hedges and Karl Jendretzky (OPLIN);
Diane Fink, and David Namiotka (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio
Library Council).
2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Jeff Wale requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Don Barlow motioned to approve the
agenda as presented; Jamie Mason seconded. All aye.
3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Doug Evans again thanked the Board for their support of the Ohio
Library Council (OLC) Convention as the sponsor of the wi-fi Internet
connectivity. Doug also reported that the upcoming omnibus bill of
library issues has been drafted and is under review. Jeff Wale asked if
there were any developments regarding the OHTECH consortium, and both
Doug and Stephen Hedges reported that messages to the Chancellor and to
OARnet had not yet been returned. Doug further reported that libraries
had responded well to a survey from the Ohio Commission on Local
Government Reform and Collaboration, of which Lynda Murray is a member;
the commission is seeking good examples of local government
collaboration.
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of October
14 meeting
Jeff Wale requested approval of the minutes of the October 14
Board meeting.
Jason Buydos motioned to approve the
minutes of the October 14 meeting as presented; Karl Colón seconded.
All aye.
5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS
Diane Fink presented the Financial Reports as of November 30,
2011. Report A covered fiscal years 2010 and 2011, both of which have
now been closed, so there is no change from last meeting's report.
In Report B for FY2012, Diane pointed out that the budget for
salaries includes about $14,000 that should not be needed after the
Office of Budget and Management (OBM) decided to include the extra 27th
payroll for calendar 2011 in FY2011 instead of FY2012. She also noted
the disbursement to OLC for sponsorship of the Convention. Regarding
rent, Diane reported that there has been no recent activity from the
Department of Administrative Services (DAS) Real Estate division toward
moving the OPLIN Office into the State Library facility. Diane reminded
the Board that OPLIN now makes payments for the Ohio Web Library
databases quarterly instead of annually. She noted that
telecommunications expenses have been shifting away from AT&T to
Time Warner Cable as new circuits are installed. Looking at the
filtering earmark, Diane reported that only a few of the approved
grants have yet to be disbursed; she also called attention to the new
line item in this part of the budget for OpenDNS. Finally, she reported
that two purchase orders have been opened for new routers.
Report C showed the revenue/cash balance for FY2012. Diane
reported that monthly transfers of about $335,000 from the PLF happen
around the 10th of each month. She also called attention to the income
from website kits, and to refunds resulting from AT&T circuit
disconnections.
Diane reported that OBM released budget guidance for a capital
budget in November, but had required very quick responses to the call
for budget items, and had also made it clear that this capital budget
would be very limited. Neither OPLIN nor the State Library submitted
any capital budget requests. Diane attended a meeting November 2
regarding the upcoming Mid-Biennium Budget Review (MBR), where fiscal
officers were notified that the MBR would focus on cost savings and
streamlining government functions.
One recent development that could affect OPLIN employment is the
establishment of a Personnel Action Approval Request system in the
Governor's Office to better track approvals of unclassified employee
hires. Diane also noted the recent terms of employment negotiated with
OCSEA, which are traditionally extended to unclassified employees as
well.
Finally, Diane informed the Board of her intention to retire
after 32 years as a state employee, the last 28 years with the State
Library. Her retirement will take effect at the end of January. She
expressed her pleasure with being involved with the OPLIN Board since
its creation.
Gary Branson read the following resolution:
| WHEREAS, DIANE FINK has been engaged with the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees from their very first meeting on July 11,1995, and WHEREAS she helped the first OPLIN director set up the first OPLIN WHEREAS she has continuously been an indispensable asset to all four WHEREAS she has guided OPLIN through the intricacies of state WHEREAS she has devoted unwavering attention to every detail of the WHEREAS she has always quickly and efficiently resolved any and all WHEREAS she has constantly been a champion for OPLIN in dealings with WHEREAS the OPLIN Board and staff will deeply miss her outstanding NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that on the 9th day of December, Two BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board extends its most sincere thanks |
Jeff Wale presented Diane with a gift and expressed the Board's
gratitude for everything she has done for OPLIN through the years.
Gary Branson motioned to accept the
Financial Reports and the resolution honoring Diane; Jamie Mason
seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
6.1. Discuss revisions to Policy on the Provision of Network Services by OPLIN to Public Libraries
Stephen Hedges reported that he had met with the directors of the
metropolitan library systems to discuss the possibility of providing
redundant Internet connections to libraries that aggregate many library
buildings on their single OPLIN connection, a possible new service that
the OPLIN Board has discussed. The metro directors requested 3-year
data on the frequency and length of any failures of their OPLIN
connections, which Stephen provided to them after the meeting. The
general consensus of the group was that OPLIN outages do not occur
frequently enough to justify the expense of a redundant circuit;
however, individual metro directors expressed an interest in such a
service.
Since the current OPLIN Policy on the Provision of Network Services
as written would preclude the possibility of providing more than one
connection to a library system, Stephen presented the edits to the
policy that he had prepared for the last Board meeting. These edits
basically replaced "one connection" with "at least one connection" and
removed language intended to clarify exceptions to the one-connection
policy.
Jason Buydos asked why OPLIN has a one-connection policy; Stephen
responded that to his knowledge it is a historical artifact from the
earliest OPLIN practice of providing one T1 per library system, rather
than a response to library requests for multiple connections. Don
Barlow asked how this would affect libraries who might be considering
establishing community data centers; Stephen noted that OPLIN circuits
can connect at any location a library requests, but also cautioned that
they can only be used for library-related Internet traffic.
Jason expressed a concern that the edited policy would not prohibit
a library from requesting connections to branches, but Karl Colón
pointed out a clause in the policy that leaves the actual
implementation of the policy to the OPLIN director under procedures to
be reviewed by the Board. There was some discussion of the Central
Library Consortium/Wagnalls Library connection, but that request for
two connections to one building was ultimately denied because CLC is
technically not an OPLIN participant, not because of the one-connection
policy.
Jeff Wale thought the language could be clearer. Ensuing discussion
eventually changed "provide at least one broadband telecommunication
connection" to "provide telecommunication service" and removed
additional language from the first paragraph as a result of that change.
Jason Buydos motioned to approve the policy as revised; Karen Davis seconded.
Roll call: Don Barlow, aye; Jill
Billman-Royer, aye; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni,
aye; Karl Colón, aye; Karen Davis, aye; Jamie Mason, aye; Sandi
Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Jeff Wale, aye.
Don Barlow asked Gary Branson if he had reservations, since he
hesitated before voting. Gary noted that the policy as now worded,
particularly the mention of "significant financial support" for
telecommunications, may be too broad. Neither Stephen nor Diane Fink
could think of an instance where a library had requested such support,
and Karl Jendretzky noted that it was formerly intended to provide some
support to libraries that wanted to buy a larger connection than the
one provided by OPLIN. Some Board members were in favor of removing
this clause, but others noted that would not solve the problem of the
policy being over-broad.
Gary noted that this policy may actually be superseded by the
language of the Ohio Revised Code; however, a check of the Code
established that it did not address OPLIN telecommunications services.
There was general agreement among the Board that the wording of the
policy needed further work.
Gary Branson motioned to rescind the changes to the policy just approved; Ben Chinni seconded.
Roll call: Don Barlow, aye; Jill
Billman-Royer, aye; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni,
aye; Karl Colón, aye; Karen Davis, aye; Jamie Mason, aye; Sandi
Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Jeff Wale, aye.
The Chair tabled the issue to the next Board meeting and requested
that the Director work with the Executive Committee to develop revised
policy language.
7. NEW BUSINESS
7.1. Discuss RFP for language and genealogy databases (1 year)
Stephen Hedges reported to the Board that the one-year trial of
subscriptions to Mango Languages and Ancestry Library Edition has gone
well, so the Libraries Connect Ohio (LCO) partners are planning to
release a Request for Proposals (RFP) for one more year of a foreign
language and a genealogy database. If the bids are low enough, the
State Library believes there will be enough LSTA funding to satisfy a
request from LCO to purchase one-year subscriptions, after which
vendors could propose subscriptions as part of the general RFP for all
Ohio Web Library databases, anticipated for late next year.
7.2. Discuss E-Rate Technology Plan
Stephen Hedges distributed the OPLIN E-Rate Technology Plan for the
Board's information, which replaces the expiring three-year plan.
E-Rate rules have been changed this year, so technology plans are not
required for Priority 1 services, and required content of plans is
clearly specified. The presented plan follows those specifications and
revises the expiring plan, and positions OPLIN to be able to E-Rate
Priority 2 services during the next three years. Don Barlow asked if
individual libraries will be required to write their own technology
plans; Stephen noted that, in the past, libraries have been able to use
OPLIN's plan, but going forward most libraries will not need technology
plans for their E-Rate, and for libraries that intend to E-Rate
Priority 2 services, their Priority 2 needs would be very different
from OPLIN's, so the OPLIN plan would not be useful to them. Stephen
reported that this new plan has been approved by the State Library, and
will now be posted on the OPLIN website.
7.3. Discuss managed Wi-Fi services
Stephen Hedges reported that he and Karl Jendretzky had heard a
proposal from a vendor to implement a new service they are developing
that would manage wireless Internet access in libraries. The service
would install vendor-owned wireless access points in library buildings
and controlling hardware at the OPLIN core, and would then charge a
monthly fee per access point for managing wireless Internet
connectivity. This type of service appears to be eligible for E-Rate.
There seem to be very few companies offering such a service at the
moment, although it is rumored that the Office of Information
Technology (OIT) is considering such a service for state agencies. If
OPLIN were to contract for such a service, it would be very different
from current OPLIN services, and Stephen requested guidance from the
Board.
Jeff Wale asked if libraries had been surveyed for interest in this
service, and Stephen replied that the Board members were the first
people outside the OPLIN office to hear about this idea. Jeff felt, for
example, that another wireless option in his library would be confusing
to patrons, but other libraries might feel this would be a good service.
Ben Chinni asked who would pay for the service, and Stephen
suggested that OPLIN could calculate the actual cost after E-Rate and
charge that to the library, although the service could also be priced
to provide some income to OPLIN. Jason Buydos reminded the Board that
there have been previous discussions regarding increased OPLIN
involvement in local library networks, which this service would
provide, but OPLIN should be careful that this service has wide appeal
and that the vendor has the resources to support wide deployment.
Stephen noted that vendors will expect a guaranteed minimum number
of installs to support their business model, so a survey would be good
for that reason as well. Karl Jendretzky thought that low cost and
high-quality hardware would lead many libraries to consider this
service. There was general agreement that managing the demand for
wireless access will become more difficult for libraries in the near
future. Stephen suggested that OPLIN staff should compose a clear,
simple description of the service, calculate a general estimate of the
cost, and then survey the libraries for interest.
There was further speculation regarding the appeal for such a
service, particularly to larger libraries, but general agreement that a
survey was needed. Stephen will try to have survey results for the next
board meeting.
7.4. Discuss Strategic Plan FY 2012-2014 draft
Stephen Hedges reported that the current strategic plan had expired
in June, but he still found the format useful and had received approval
from the Executive Committee to prepare a new plan based on the old
one, rather than starting the Board process of developing an entirely
new plan. He presented a draft and reviewed major changes: adding
discussion of Board composition; adding a mention of providing routers;
adding content filtering to provided bandwidth; adding the offer to
libraries of rack space at the SOCC; making email service a separate
objective; and mentioning provided E-Rate workshops.
Since the proposed changes are coming late in the year, Jeff Wale
asked if there was any danger in waiting until the April Board retreat
to revise the plan, and Stephen replied that would not be a problem.
This discussion was therefore tabled until the April Board meeting.
7.5. Discuss future Stakeholders Meetings
Stephen Hedges reported on the recent Stakeholders Meeting and
provided an overview of how Stakeholders Meetings have been conducted
in the past, ranging from large all-day events to an online meeting the
year the OLC Convention was cancelled. He asked the Board to consider:
1) should OPLIN continue to hold Stakeholders Meetings; and 2) if so,
what should they accomplish?
Don Barlow felt it was valuable to do an annual report, ideally in
conjunction with OLC events. Karl Colón noted that attendance at the
online meeting a few years ago was greater than attendance at meetings
held during an OLC Convention, where Stakeholders must compete with
other programs. Jill Billman-Royer noted that, while an online meeting
could be archived for later viewing, a live, interactive online event
encouraged more participation than a simple video. Jason Buydos
suggested that an in-person meeting at an OLC event could also be
webcast.
Stephen summarized that the Board seemed in favor of holding annual
meetings, and found the online option attractive. Karl Colón suggested
that the Kent State University videoconference facilities at the State
Library might be available. Jason suggested distributing the annual
report prior to an online meeting. Stephen thanked the Board for their
ideas and will proceed with planning the next Stakeholders Meeting.
7.6. Approve contracts with Time Warner Cable, Com-Net, and Horizon Telecomm
Stephen Hedges reminded the Board that OPLIN has the legal authority
to negotiate telecommunications contracts beyond those negotiated by
OIT, but has never yet done so. He now has quotes from several
telecommunications companies for Ethernet connections to libraries that
are currently served by T1 lines, but OIT has not completed and/or
begun negotiations for these services; Stephen requested approval to
proceed with these contracts.
Karl Colón asked if the Attorney General's office should review the
contract language; Stephen reported that the language used was mostly
copied from existing OIT telecommunications contracts, and most of the
pricing corresponds to the pricing in OIT contracts. Jeff Wale asked if
Stephen was asking for permission to negotiate with these vendors;
Stephen replied that negotiations are completed, and he is asking for
approval to enter into contracts. Jeff asked for details of the
contracts, particularly pricing, and Stephen replied that he did not
have those details at hand. Discussion ensued about E-Rate deadlines
for signing contracts, how best to proceed, and whether or not the
Executive Committee could take action on the request without a formal
meeting.
Don Barlow motioned to authorize the
Director and the Executive Committee to negotiate and sign these
contracts within the parameters of the OPLIN budget.
Jason Buydos noted that, according to Stephen, there was enough time
to bring this issue to the February meeting for full Board approval,
without causing any E-Rate timing problems. He felt this would be the
better way to proceed. Karl Colón reminded the Board that this could be
a sensitive decision, since these would be the first OPLIN
telecommunications contracts not negotiated by OIT.
Don Barlow withdrew his motion.
The Chair tabled this item until the next meeting, when contracts
reviewed by the Attorney General's office will be presented for full
Board approval.
8. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Stephen Hedges reported that the OpenDNS contract has been signed,
and that a couple of libraries approved for filtering grants have opted
for the statewide OpenDNS service instead. He also reported that he has
notified the editors of the Explore Ohio website (Past, Present and
Future) that their contract will not be renewed next fiscal year; that
website is basically complete, and new additions and maintenance can
now be handled by OPLIN staff.
Regarding OPLIN office activities, Stephen highlighted the E-Rate
Form 470 workshop, and his attendance at the OHIONET Board meeting and
the opening of the remodeled Kent Branch of the Toledo-Lucas County
Public Library.
8.1. Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky reported on the progress of the Ethernet upgrade
project, which is nearing completion. The second and final wave of
Juniper routers has started to arrive, so the next project will be to
complete the replacement of the old Cisco routers. Karl also reported
that the SMS messaging service is experiencing occasional and unusual
message discards; AT&T Wireless is working closely with OPLIN to
identify and resolve the problem. In gathering data for AT&T, Karl
found that the service has been sending text messages to about 5,000
unique phone numbers.
8.2. Library Services Manager report
Stephen Hedges reported that Laura Solomon was not in good health at
the moment, so he presented this report. Since the beginning of
November, Laura has been building mobile versions of all the Dynamic
Website Kits, and that project is now complete. Laura will now resume
work on new website kits.
8.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges presented database statistics, noting a significant
drop in both searches and documents retrieved. The cause was a large
decrease in Biography Reference Bank usage statistics. This database
was recently purchased by EBSCO, and Stephen speculated that usage is
now counted differently as a result of moving the database to EBSCO
servers.
9. CHAIR'S REPORT
9.1. Ethics training
Jeff Wale called the Board's attention to ethics training DVDs that
were included in the Board packets. Stephen clarified that these DVDs
contain a recording of an ethics training session presented by Susan
Willeke of the Ohio Ethics Commission in December 2007. A Governor's
Executive Order requires all Board members to have ethics training each
calendar year. Next year, the training will probably take place at the
April Board retreat.
Jeff once again congratulated Diane on her retirement and wished her best of luck in the future.
12. ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Sandi Plymire the Board adjourned at 11:58 a.m.
October 14, 2011 Minutes
October 14, 2011 Minutes hedgesstOHIO PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes — October 14, 2011
1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred twenty-eighth meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, October 14, 2011 by Board Chair Jeff Wale at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members: Don Barlow, Jill Billman-Royer, Gary Branson, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karl Colón, Karen Davis, Jamie Mason, Becky Schultz, and Jeff Wale.
Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Laura Solomon, and Karl Jendretzky (OPLIN); Beverly Cain, Diane Fink, and David Namiotka (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio Library Council).
2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Jeff Wale requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Don Barlow motioned to approve the agenda as presented; Jason Buydos seconded. All aye.
3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Doug Evans thanked the Board for their support of the Ohio Library Council (OLC) Convention and Expo. OPLIN will be recognized as the sponsor of the wi-fi Internet connectivity in the OLC Living Room, as well as the Internet for the E-mail Cafe. Doug also reported on the OLC efforts to inform librarians of the proposed legislative changes to be included in an upcoming omnibus bill.
Beverly Cain reported on progress toward adding Westlake Public Library to the Search Ohio consortium. Search Ohio currently only includes libraries using Innovative Interfaces Inc. (III) library software; Westlake would be the first non-III library to join Search Ohio. Karl Colón mentioned that III has been working closely with Search Ohio libraries to develop the necessary technology, and that earlier work to connect Search Ohio with OhioLINK has been very successful. There was general agreement that this is a good example of collaboration between libraries.
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of August 12 meeting
Jeff Wale requested approval of the minutes of the August 12 Board meeting.
Jill Billman-Royer motioned to approve the minutes of the August 12 meeting as presented; Karen Davis seconded. All aye.
5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS
Diane Fink presented the Financial Reports as of September 30, 2011. In Report A, Diane pointed out that fiscal year 2010 has been closed, and no encumbrances for fiscal year 2011 were still open. State agencies have five months after the end of a fiscal year to close the year; Diane believes all outstanding expenses for FY2011 have now been paid. In response to a question about the Available Balance for FY2011, Diane clarified that this reflects budgeted spending authority for possible non-state income that was not used.
In Report B for FY2012, Diane pointed out the disbursement to OLC for sponsorship of the Convention and Expo. She also noted that the budget for salaries includes about $15,000 that should not be needed, since the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) decided to include the extra 27th payroll for calendar 2011 in FY2011 instead of the original plan to include it in FY2012. Diane reminded that OPLIN will make payments for the Ohio Web Library databases quarterly now instead of annually, since revenue from the Public Library Fund (PLF) will be received monthly. She called attention to the $45,000 which has been paid to eTech Ohio for E-Rate support, and the $81,000 which is available for filtering support. She also reported that purchase orders are being opened for the new routers, with 46 routers qualifying for an 80% E-Rate discount.
Report C showed the revenue/cash balance for FY2012. Diane pointed out that monthly transfers from the PLF began in August. She also called attention to the income from annual support fees for website kits.
Diane also mentioned that general state tax revenue is currently about 4% above the budgeted estimates.
Gary Branson motioned to accept the Financial Reports; Jamie Mason seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
6.1. Approve Internet filtering grants
Stephen Hedges presented a compilation of the applications received for Internet filtering assistance grants. Forty-five (45) requests covering 113 buildings and 3,027 workstations were received, totally $73,681.67; since this amount is less than the $81,000 earmarked in the OPLIN budget for filter support, Stephen recommended approval of all requests. Three requests were for new filters, four were for upgrades to current filters, and several requests were limited by the $4,500 maximum allowed by grant rules.
In response to questions about how the unused balance of the earmark would be used, and how approval of these grants might impact the next item on the agenda, "Approve proposed services," Stephen responded that it was his intention to use the balance toward the cost of a central filter beginning in January, one of the proposed services.
Jeff Wale asked that item 7.2 under new business, "Approve OpenDNS contract," be discussed now, since it was closely related to the approval of the filtering grants.
Discussion of Item 7.2, Approve OpenDNS contract, was taken up at this point in the meeting.
Stephen Hedges explained that it had come to his attention recently that the schools and libraries in Maine were sharing one statewide Internet content filtering solution provided by the OpenDNS company. He contacted the company and determined that this solution could work in Ohio, and arranged for a test of the filter. Tests conducted at the OPLIN office and at two public libraries indicated that OpenDNS, unlike previously evaluated statewide filtering solutions, could handle the requirements of the OPLIN network while allowing libraries full control of how, or if, the filter was implemented in their library, so Stephen began price negotiations with the company.
The proposed contract would allow OPLIN to begin adding libraries to a statewide OpenDNS master account beginning in January 2012, with a limit of 90 library system sub-accounts until July 2012, when 251 library system sub-accounts would be available. The cost for the first six months for 90 libraries would be $15,000; the annual cost thereafter for 251 libraries would be $43,925. Part of the cost for fiscal year 2012 could be covered by earmarked funds that are not used for filtering grants, while the cost in succeeding fiscal years could be covered entirely by earmarked funds.
Discussion returned to Item 6.1., Approve Internet filtering grants.
Stephen Hedges noted that, if the Board approved the OpenDNS contract, he intended to inform recipients of grants for new filters or filter upgrades that they had the option of being added to the statewide OpenDNS filter in January, if they chose to decline the grant and the work associated with installing new filtering hardware and software. This could potentially leave enough earmarked funds unused for grants to cover most of the FY2012 cost of the OpenDNS filter. There was some discussion of also suggesting this to libraries receiving grants for ongoing annual filtering costs; however, libraries and organizations serving libraries had already planned on receiving grants, and no appreciable extra work for the library would be involved in renewing their filter for another year, until all libraries could participate in the statewide filter.
Jason Buydos motioned to approve the FY2012 filtering grants as presented; Karl Colón seconded.
Roll call: Don Barlow, aye; Jill Billman-Royer, aye; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni, aye; Karl Colón, aye; Karen Davis, aye; Jamie Mason, temporarily absent; Becky Schultz, abstain; and Jeff Wale, aye.
6.2. Approve proposed services
Stephen Hedges began by presenting information about OH-TECH, the collection of consortia within the Board of Regents recently created to eliminate duplication of services, since developments related to OH-TECH could affect the environment for new services.
Stephen reported that Lynda Murray had contacted him in August, while the OH-TECH plan was still posted for comment, to ask if he thought it would be a good idea to talk to Chancellor Jim Petro about the possibility of OPLIN joining OH-TECH. Stephen thinks there may be an opportunity here to re-model and/or expand the OPLIN network infrastructure, and Lynda sees a possible opportunity to remove OPLIN funding from the PLF. Lynda has met with the Chancellor, and he is open to talking with us; he is interested in being helpful to public libraries, but he is not interested in adding OPLIN to OH-TECH unless OPLIN requests that.
Jeff Wale noted that OPLIN often works with three of the organizations that were considered in the original OH-TECH plan: OhioLINK, OARnet, and eTech Ohio. Karl Colón asked how OPLIN governance might be affected. Stephen replied that he has no answer for that, and has many questions himself. Lynda had hoped to have a second meeting arranged with the Chancellor, Stephen, and the OARnet director before this OPLIN Board meeting, but that did not happen, so at this point there is only an agreement to talk further at some point. Stephen felt that everyone involved with OH-TECH is currently occupied with internal re-alignment of services, and it may be a while before they are ready to talk about OPLIN. Doug Evans assured the Board that he understood from Lynda that nothing would be considered that did not have a clear advantage to the public libraries. The Board was in general agreement that they would like to have more information about the possibility of OPLIN joining OH-TECH.
Since nothing is expected to happen in regard to OH-TECH for months to come, if ever, Stephen felt that it was still appropriate for OPLIN to complete the process of developing new services that was begun in February with the Ad Hoc Committee on Services.
Stephen submitted three recommendations for possible new OPLIN services to libraries, based on the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Services and meetings with technology staff of major Ohio public libraries, and focusing on services which are financially feasible.
The first service would provide an additional circuit to some libraries to be used in the event their primary OPLIN-provided circuit experienced failure. Some library circuits carry traffic from many library locations, and there is a much larger disruption in overall library service if such a circuit fails than there would be if a circuit that carries traffic from only one library
building failed. This "additional circuit" service would be offered to libraries that aggregate traffic from at least 15 locations on their current OPLIN circuit, and would install a redundant circuit at OPLIN's cost that is at least one-fifth the size
of the library's primary circuit. Where possible, the redundant circuit would be provided by a different telecommunications vendor from the primary circuit, and would be installed at a different location from the primary circuit. OPLIN would also offer to pay the cost for a bridge circuit to connect the primary circuit to the redundant circuit when the two circuits are installed at different locations. The estimated cost per year: $55,000 after E-Rate.
The second service would allow libraries to place storage devices, backup servers, or disaster recovery equipment at the State of Ohio Computer Center (SOCC), sharing unused OPLIN-leased rack space at that high-security location, at no cost to the library. All
equipment would be provided and managed by the library; OPLIN would only provide secured space with reliable power and a connection to the OPLIN network core. The estimated cost per year: $12,000.
The third service would be a statewide Internet content filter, as previously discussed under Item 6.1.
There was general agreement that the statewide filter was a service OPLIN should offer, especially since the cost would be covered by a legislative earmark in the budget. Ben Chinni expressed concern that OPLIN could then know which libraries filter their Internet and which do not, but Stephen Hedges clarified that OPLIN already has this information from the E-Rate forms OPLIN requires from all libraries. There was some discussion about offering SOCC space to libraries, mostly in the form of speculation about how many libraries would use it, and for what, but there were no strong concerns over this service.
The proposed redundant circuits generated the most discussion. There were concerns about how this would be implemented at libraries, and discussion of possible technical problems. Stephen Hedges noted that this service would have to be implemented in close consultation with the libraries, and that there could not be a standard implementation. There were also concerns about the ongoing cost of the service. Diane Fink assured the Board that enough funds were available in this biennium, but could not speak to future biennium budgets.
Karl Colón motioned to approve the statewide Internet content filtering service and the offer of SOCC space for library equipment, but postpone action on the redundant circuit service pending further refinement; Karen Davis seconded.
Jason Buydos offered a friendly amendment to simultaneously approve the proposed contract with OpenDNS for statewide filtering and retain any unused funds from the filtering budget to cover costs associated with implementing and administering the statewide filter; Karl Colón and Karen Davis both consented to the amendment.
Stephen Hedges noted that he thought the offering of a general statewide filter available to all libraries should preclude the future offering of filtering grants to individual libraries, and there was general Board agreement with this point.
Roll call: Don Barlow, aye; Jill Billman-Royer, aye; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni, abstain; Karl Colón, aye; Karen Davis, aye; Jamie Mason, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Jeff Wale, aye.
7. NEW BUSINESS
7.1. Approve revisions to Policy on the Provision of Network Services by OPLIN to Public Libraries
Stephen Hedges reported that this Item was no longer needed, since it anticipated a need to amend the policy if redundant circuits were to be offered to libraries.
7.2. Approve OpenDNS contract
This item was discussed under Item 6.1 and approved under Item 6.2.
7.3. Rescind Electronic Resources Selection Policy
Stephen Hedges explained that in the process of reorganizing the OPLIN website, he discovered this extensive policy approved in 2000, which no longer conforms to the practice of selecting electronic resources since the establishment of Libraries Connect Ohio (LCO) in 2003. Since the LCO partnership began, electronic resources have been selected by a committee of librarians representing OPLIN, OhioLINK, and INFOhio. This policy should therefore be extensively re-written or simply rescinded.
Jason Buydos motioned to rescind the Electronic Resources Selection Policy; Gary Branson seconded.
Roll call: Don Barlow, aye; Jill Billman-Royer, aye; Gary Branson, aye; Jason Buydos, aye; Ben Chinni, aye; Karl Colón, aye; Karen Davis, aye; Jamie Mason, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Jeff Wale, aye.
8. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Stephen Hedges provided more information about the 80% E-Rate discount now available for 46 of the new routers; this resulted from an FCC reversal of funding denials previously issued by E-Rate. OPLIN has now implemented all the requirements of the Office of Information Technology's new "Enterprise Security Controls Framework" and Stephen can provide a copy of the implementation documentation to anyone who requests it. OPLIN staff completed a revision of the oplin.org website on September 8; while the site generally looks the same, the content was reorganized in an effort to make it easier for libraries to find the information they need. Finally, Stephen reminded the Board that the 2011 OPLIN Stakeholders Meeting will be held this year at the OLC Convention and Expo in Toledo, at 3:00 pm on Wednesday, October 26.
Regarding OPLIN office activities, Stephen highlighted meetings with library technology staff, Karl Jendretzky's work at library locations, and Laura Solomon's workshop presentation at the State Library.
8.1. Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky reported that the AT&T upgrades from old T1 circuits to new Ethernet connections have not been smooth, but Time Warner Cable has already completed 107 of their upgrades. He also reported that he has been spending a good deal of time getting quotes for the new Juniper routers so Diane Fink could open purchase orders. Finally, he noted that OPLIN now has the capacity to handle 4Gbps of Internet traffic at the network core, up from 2Gbps.
8.2. Library Services Manager report
Laura Solomon reported that there are 33 libraries currently using Dynamic Website Kits, with 6 more in the process of receiving training or entering their content, and another 12 in the construction phase, for a total of 51 website kit customers. She is still receiving frequent inquiries from potential new customers. In November and part of December, she will cease new work on website kits while OPLIN upgrades the kits to interface better with mobile Internet devices. For next year, she is offering libraries a Summer Reading Program page template that they can add to their website kit for $50.
8.3. Database usage
Stephen Hedges presented database statistics, noting the large increase for September, but also noting that without Ancestry Library Edition and Mango Languages, usage would have been flat compared to last September. Karl Colón commended Beverly Cain on the decision to fund those two new databases with LSTA funds.
9. CHAIR'S REPORT
Jeff Wale reminded the Board about the OLC Convention in Toledo, and called attention especially to the planned tour of the Kent Branch of the Toledo Public Library for Convention attendees.
12. ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Gary Branson the Board adjourned at 11:36 a.m.
August 12, 2011 Minutes
August 12, 2011 Minutes hedgesstOHIO PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SEVENTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes—August 12,
2011
1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred twenty-seventh meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 12, 2011 by outgoing Board Chair Sandi Plymire at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were Board members: Don Barlow, Jill Billman-Royer, Gary Branson, Jason Buydos, Ben Chinni, Karen Davis, Jamie Mason, Becky Schultz, Jeff Wale, and Sandi Plymire.
Also present were: Stephen Hedges, and Karl Jendretzky (OPLIN); Diane Fink and David Namiotka (State Library); and Doug Evans (Ohio Library Council).
Sandi welcomed new Board members Jill and Becky.
2. NOMINATION and ELECTION OF BOARD OFFICERS
Sandi Plymire reminded the Board of the report from the Nominations Committee that was presented at the June meeting, which included this ballot of nominations for Board officers: Jeff Wale, Chair; Jamie Mason, Vice-Chair; Karl Colón, Secretary; and Gary Branson, Treasurer. Sandi asked for additional nominations from the floor, and there were none.
Sandi Plymire asked for a show of hands in favor of approving the Nominations Committee's ballot of Board officers. Nine yes; none no.
Sandi passed the gavel to Jeff Wale, who then appointed Sandi to the at-large position on the Executive Committee. Jeff acknowledged the two new Board members and asked all attendees to introduce themselves.
3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Jeff Wale requested approval of the meeting agenda.
Don Barlow motioned to approve the agenda as presented; Jamie Mason seconded. All aye.
4. ESTABLISH BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE for FY 2012
Jeff Wale requested approval of the proposed schedule of Board meetings for fiscal year 2012 and the first two meetings of fiscal year 2013. All proposed meetings would be on the second Friday of even-numbered months, in accordance with past practice.
Jamie Mason motioned to approve the Board meeting schedule as presented; Sandi Plymire seconded. All aye.
5. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
There were no requests for public participation.
6. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of June 10 meeting
Jeff Wale requested approval of the minutes of the June 10 Board meeting.
Jason Buydos motioned to approve the minutes of the June 10 meeting as presented; Karen Davis seconded. All aye.
7. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS
Diane Fink presented three Financial Reports: a report on the FY2010-2011 biennial budget as of June 30, 2011; a report on the FY2012-2013 biennial budget status; and a report on the fiscal year 2012 budget as of July 31, 2011. For the benefit of new Board members, Diane also presented an overview of state budgeting procedures and the fiscal relationship between OPLIN and the State Library.
In the first report, Diane pointed out that fiscal year 2010 has been closed, and only a few encumbrances for fiscal year 2011 were still open and waiting for invoices as of June 30. Payroll costs included a 27th payroll that the state assigned to fiscal year 2011.
The report on the biennial budget status detailed the changes to the requested OPLIN biennial budget as it moved through the Executive, House, and Senate recommendations and reached final approval. The requested OPLIN budget was not changed in this process, with the exception of minor changes to the budget for employee/employer contributions to the retirement fund.
The report on the fiscal year 2012 budget as of July 31, 2011 included three sub-reports. Report A showed that several of the FY2011 open expenditures were closed after receipt of invoices in July. Report B for FY2012 showed initial fiscal year activity for rent and database payments. Diane noted that OPLIN will make payments for the Ohio Web Library databases quarterly now instead of annually, since revenue from the Public Library Fund (PLF) will be received monthly. Report C showed the revenue/cash balance for fiscal year 2012. Diane pointed out that no transfer from the PLF was received in July; those transfers will begin in August.
Diane also mentioned that it is now expected that there will be no action on the pending capital budget bill for FY2011-2012; OPLIN had submitted about $480,000 in requests for that budget in February 2010. The next opportunity for capital funds will likely come early in 2012 for FY2013-2014.
Gary Branson motioned to accept the Financial Reports; Karen Davis seconded. All aye.
8. OLD BUSINESS
8.1. Approve Internet filtering grant process
Stephen Hedges reminded the Board of discussion at the June meeting, when it was decided to continue distributing the $81,000 OPLIN budget earmark for filtering support as Internet filtering assistance grants. Stephen and Diane Fink proposed a simplified reporting process for grant recipients that is more closely aligned with the grant contracts, but all other grant parameters and procedures would remain as before. Stephen also reported that he had asked the state to investigate the possibility of establishing statewide contracts with filtering vendors, as the Board had requested; however, state contract personnel felt that they would not be able to negotiate anything better than the discounts several vendors already offer to public libraries.
Stephen also reported that he recently learned that Maine schools and libraries are using a central, statewide filter through OpenDNS. A preliminary inspection of the Maine implementation, discussions with OpenDNS, and information gathered from current Ohio customers of OpenDNS indicate this may be a viable central solution that would fit within the budget earmark. After discussion, the Board expressed interest in pursuing this option. Testing and purchasing paperwork will take a while, so this option is not feasible for this fiscal year, but might make it possible for OPLIN to offer free filtering to any Ohio public library next year. If the testing yields positive results, Stephen would want to share this information with libraries as soon as possible, so they can plan ahead.
Stephen reviewed the previous filtering grant process and the suggested changes, and requested approval to proceed as planned with another year of filtering grants.
Jason Buydos motioned to proceed with FY2012 filtering grants as planned; Sandi Plymire seconded. All aye.
8.2. Report from Ad Hoc Committee on Services
Jason Buydos reported that the committee was concerned that OPLIN funding taken from the PLF was disproportionately impacting the large metropolitan libraries when compared to the benefits they receive from OPLIN, so committee discussions had turned primarily to new services which would increase OPLIN benefits to those metro libraries. Several contemplated services from early discussions did not receive an enthusiastic response when feedback was solicited from some metro libraries. The service which the committee now recommended was a grant program to reimburse libraries for a portion of the cost of their branch Internet connections. Jason presented a spreadsheet demonstrating how such grants might be distributed to libraries if priority was given to branches in communities that qualify for high E-Rate discounts, branches which are open for a substantial number of hours each week, and library systems which operate a large number of branches in high-poverty communities.
Stephen Hedges clarified that this prioritization was his suggestion, and that the committee discussions had not reached this level of detail. The targeted amount of total reimbursement funds – $300,000 – was, however, discussed by the committee, and that figure came from the approximate annual cost of the NewsBank subscription. The committee had no desire to discontinue the NewsBank subscription, since that is heavily used by the metro libraries, but had speculated that it might be possible to pay that cost with federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the State Library.
Jeff Wale reported that most metro library directors are aware of the difference between what they now contribute to OPLIN funding and the value of the services they receive from OPLIN. He also noted that providing any support for the cost of branch connections would require a change to the current OPLIN policy of supporting one connection point per library system, but the metro libraries the committee consulted generally did not feel that the other proposed services – redundant connections to the library or offsite data storage – were as effective a use of OPLIN funds as some sort of support for branch connections would be.
Don Barlow pointed out that, had OPLIN funding remainded in the General Revenue Fund, the legislature might have made a larger reduction in the PLF to keep the state budget in balance, which would have resulted in the same negative financial impact for libraries without any of the current discussion regarding improvement of OPLIN services to libraries. He expressed support for the proposed reimbursement program, because it had the potential to benefit not only the metro libraries, but any library with branches in poor communities.
Diane Fink cautioned that the State Library is now receiving less LSTA money, so it might be difficult to find funds to pay for NewsBank. Stephen acknowledged that identifying a source (and amount) of funds would be a critical first step before this program could proceed.
Jamie Mason asked some questions about the return on investment spreadsheets which the Board had discussed in April. Discussion ensued about prioritizing branch support grants in ways that would have the biggest effect on changing the return on investment disparities.
There was also discussion of what actions the metro libraries might consider if OPLIN did nothing to improve the services provided to them. While it was generally agreed that it was unlikely any of them would actually want to harm OPLIN, Jill Billman-Royer pointed out that if talk of OPLIN "disparities" continues without any action from OPLIN to change this perception, then the reputation of OPLIN could be damaged in the library community.
Further discussion revolved around the reaction of other libraries if OPLIN developed a plan that only benefited metro libraries. Stephen Hedges pointed out that OPLIN intentionally sets the parameters of the filtering grants to the advantage of the small libraries and could set the parameters of a branch support grant program to intentionally benefit the large libraries. Diane Fink cautioned against calling it a "grant" program to avoid the need to get State Library Board approval for large disbursements and advised that the program could simply be a reimbursement for branch telecommunications costs.
Jeff Wale suggested that the Board reconsider this issue at the next meeting, after funds have been identified and other proposed parameters of the reimbursement have been developed, Jamie Mason also asked to see spreadsheets detailing how the proposed program would affect the libraries' return on investment. Stephen Hedges will also plan to attend the next meeting of the metro library directors to explain the ideas the Board is exploring.
Doug Evans also advised that any communications about the proposal should also make it very clear that the Board is not contemplating reducing any services to small and mid-sized libraries. He emphasized the importance of finding funds from some source that did not impact current OPLIN services. Ben Chinni questioned how it would look to legislators if OPLIN were able to find a significant source of "unused" funds within its budget.
9. NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business to come before the Board.
10. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Stephen Hedges reported that the original quotes OPLIN received from vendors for replacement site routers referenced a state contract that expired June 30 and was not renewed. Juniper Routers has decided to submit their own statewide contract, which is currently under legal review. He also briefly reported that the Office of Information Technology has issued a new "Enterprise Security Controls Framework" which replaces the suite of security policies that were used to develop the OPLIN Information Technology Security Management plan. For the most part, the provisions of the current plan cover the new framework requirements.
Stephen reported that the Department of Administrative Services continues to express an interest in the OPLIN office moving to the State Library before the next biennium budget. Staff at the State Library have discussed this among themselves and with Stephen, and have provided DAS Real Estate with building blueprints and assurance that OPLIN would be able to place some equipment in the State Library server room.
Stephen informed the Board that he is in the process of moving all database usage statistics to the oplin.org/statistics webpage with the goal of providing more detailed statistics to libraries and ceasing updates to the old "ODURT" (OPLIN Database Usage Reporting Tool) webpage after December. He asked that anyone let him know if it came to their attention that this would create problems.
Regarding OPLIN office activities, Stephen highlighted Karl Jendretzky's work at library locations and Laura Solomon's workshop presentations.
10.1. Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky reported that since early this year over seventy (70) libraries have been moved from old T1 circuits to new Ethernet connections, leaving about fifty to do. This project has also resulted in the reconfiguration of the Central Library Consortium (CLC) network, with all circuits now coming back to the OPLIN core instead of the CLC office in Lithopolis. He also reported that the new Zimbra webmail service has been running smoothly for two months, with no complaints.
Karl noted that the SMS gateway service for library text messages has been in service for a little over a year and has sent about 125,000 messages, while he expects to send about three times that many messages in the coming year.
10.2. Database usage
Stephen Hedges presented database statistics, noting that the addition of Ancestry Library Edition and Mango Languages had increased usage statistics considerably, but he also noted that without these two new databases, usage would have continued to decline slightly. Stephen also provided information on a Google Adwords campaign which he started for Ohio Web Library in mid-June. Costs are capped at $20 per day, and he is monitoring the analytics for the Ohio Web Library site to see if there is a noticeable increase in traffic. He will soon make a decision as to whether the Adwords campaign is cost-effective.
11. CHAIR'S REPORT
Jeff Wale complimented the work of his fellow members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Services.
12. ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Sandi Plymire the Board adjourned at 11:55 a.m.