June 13, 2014

June 13, 2014 hedgesst Mon, 08/11/2014 - 13:42

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

Minutes — June 13, 2014

1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER

The one hundred forty-fourth meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 13, 2014 by Board Chair Karen Davis at the OPLIN office in Columbus, Ohio.

Present were Board members: Don Barlow, Jill Billman-Royer, Susan Brown, Karen Davis, Cindy Lombardo, Michael Penrod, Sandi Plymire, and Becky Schultz.

Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Laura Solomon and Karl Jendretzky (OPLIN); Beverly Cain and David Namiotka (State Library); Doug Evans (Ohio Library Council), and Marty Beets.

2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Cindy Lombardo motioned to approve the agenda as presented; Susan Brown seconded. All aye.

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Karen Davis called for public participation.

Beverly Cain described activities at the State Library in preparation for the next round of Affordable Care Act enrollments.

Doug Evans provided an update on recent legislative actions affecting the Public Library Fund (PLF). A close estimate of the reductions to the PLF is being prepared by the Department of Taxation. Doug also reported on the resolution presented to Lynda Murray by the Ohio Senate.

As regards the Ohio Library Council's (OLC) federal ebook project, Doug described the June 2 field hearing in New York before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, which included some testimony about the problems of ebooks in libraries. The public awareness campaign will soon have a video and a website ready for use. Other state library associations are supportive.

4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of April 11 meeting

Karen Davis requested approval of the minutes of the April 11 Board meeting.

Susan Brown motioned to approve the minutes as presented; Jill Billman-Royer seconded. All aye.

5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS

In the absence of Jamie Pardee, Stephen Hedges presented the Financial Reports for Fiscal Years 2012 to 2015 as of May 31. Stephen called attention to items in the FY 2014 budget that were one-time expenses, including the payment to OLC supporting ebook awareness, the 6-month purchase of Mango Languages and NewsBank, and the payment in support of the Digitization Hubs project. He also informed the Board that he would renew the contract with Lorrie Germann for E-rate support, but with five times as many workshops for libraries next year, distributed around the state; OPLIN also plans to pay a little more than $800 to extend the State Library's Webex contract to provide more seats for online attendees. Regarding the Revenue/Cash Balance report, Stephen noted that an additional $165,000 in E-rate reimbursements has been received from vendors since the end date of the report, and another $400,000 in reimbursements is expected soon from another telecommunications vendor.

Don Barlow motioned to accept the Financial Reports; Sandi Plymire seconded. All aye.

6. OLD BUSINESS

6.1. Discuss firewall configuration on OPLIN routers

Stephen Hedges reminded the Board that after discussion of network security at the April planning meeting, he had promised the Board more information about firewall software on OPLIN routers. Karl Jendretzky now reported that firewall software is already available on OPLIN routers and is put into use as needed. In some cases this software on the router has been used to replace outdated firewall hardware in libraries. Karl felt that this ad hoc approach to using the firewall software was sufficient for now.

6.2. Approve Strategic Plan

Stephen Hedges provided a version of the 2014-2015 Strategic Plan for approval. Although the Board had requested no changes to the plan after the April planning meeting, Stephen made a few wording changes to bring some activities up to date, and now reviewed these minor changes with the Board.

Jill Billman-Royer motioned to approve the Strategic Plan as presented; Don Barlow seconded.

Recorded vote: Don Barlow, aye; Jill Billman-Royer, aye; Susan Brown, aye; Cindy Lombardo, aye; Michael Penrod, aye; Sandi Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Karen Davis, aye.

7. NEW BUSINESS

7.1. Discuss limits on the number of website kit customers

Stephen Hedges reported that after Laura Solomon had worked the entire Easter weekend doing website kit upgrades, they had a conversation and agreed that not many more website kit customers could be sustained. Stephen recounted several ways he and Laura had discussed to limit the number of website kit customers, mostly involving refusing new customers after a certain number of customers had been reached, or on a given date. Stephen and Laura asked for the Board's opinion as to whether to limit the number of customers, and if so, how should it be done.

Board members asked questions about the nature of the work involved in maintaining and creating website kits, and speculated about ways to get assistance for Laura, keeping in mind that OPLIN staff is limited to five by the state budget. They also discussed the possibility of limiting the service to libraries that meet certain qualifications, such as size; Laura responded that a large majority of current customers are smaller libraries.

Jill Billman-Royer expressed reservations about putting more resources into the website kits, and questioned whether it was in OPLIN's best interest to grow this service any bigger, returning the discussion to ways of limiting the number of customers. Doug Evans pointed out, however, that there is an obvious demand for this service which would then be unsatisfied.

Cindy Lombardo asked how important the service is to current customers. Michael Penrod responded that for Wood County, it was an affordable, trusted solution to a problem; Michael also pointed out that for library staff their website kit has become the most conspicuous of all the OPLIN service.

Stephen promised to explore some of the options mentioned for allowing the website kit service to grow further, and asked that the Board continue to think about the question of whether or not it should grow, and this item of business will be continued to the next meeting.

7.2. Discuss marketing and focus groups

Stephen Hedges called attention to an email from OPLINlist suggesting that the Ohio Web Library could benefit from professional marketing, and also reminded the Board of brief discussion at the planning meeting about doing focus group sessions, which were last done in 2010. There is a professional focus group company in the same building with OPLIN, and Stephen asked what they typically charge, which ranged from about $3.000 to $10,000, depending on the services requested.

Ensuing discussion touched on whether or not focus groups would be effective, whether a graduate student could do a market study, the typical Ohio Web Library user, the role of the librarians in marketing, and the intended goal of the marketing. Stephen also described the differences between the OPLIN, INFOhio, and OhioLINK interfaces and marketing for the Ohio Web Library collection.

In response to a question from Don Barlow about users, Stephen skipped ahead to agenda item 8.3. Database usage and ohioweblibrary.org analytics to add information to the discussion.

Stephen described some of the information he interpreted from the Google Analytics of ohioweblibrary.org. For a variety of reasons, Stephen surmises that a big majority of users of ohioweblibrary.org are inside library buildings. Many of those users seem to be using the site for longer periods since the March 1 upgrade.

Beverly Cain suggested that Stephen might contact Dr. Jeff Fruit from the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science to find a contact at KSU who could provide some advice on the best way for OPLIN to approach Ohio Web Library marketing. Stephen will do that and also more research and bring that information to the Board at the next meeting.

Item 8. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT, was postponed until after Item 8.2.

8.1. Technology Projects Manager report

Karl Jendretzky began his report by announcing a new 10 Gbps connection between Time Warner Cable and the OPLIN core, and also reported on pending 100 Mbps circuit upgrades at about 40 libraries. Karl provided details related to a major outage of the AT&T network on May 28. He reported that the SMS (text messaging) service now sends about 9,000 library notifications a week from 94 libraries, at a cost of about $5,500 a year. The OpenDNS service now has 92 library accounts.

8.2. Library Services Manager report

Laura Solomon noted that most of her report had been covered in the earlier discussion of website kits, but she did report on workshops she presented for the Southern Ontario Library Service.

8. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT

Stephen Hedges reported that he met with State CIO Stu Davis and other Office of Information Technology (OIT) management to talk about the OPLIN network within the broader context of the statewide network plans; there was no indication that anyone wants to change the OPLIN network. Stephen also reported on the progress of the DataOhio legislation, which has been amended to provide a bigger role for the State Library and has been passed by the House committee.

Stephen also reported on efforts to determine the nature of Ohio Means Jobs access to LearningExpress Library content, since there may be an opportunity to combine the content licensing and save some money. iLearn Ohio has also asked about access to LearningExpress Library, prompting Libraries Connect Ohio to work with legal counsel to develop procedures that must be followed in order to stay within the terms of LCO's licensing.

Finally, Stephen announced that the Digitization Hubs project was still moving forward in a timely manner, despite the fact that one of the major vendors has gone out of business. The partner libraries worked together smoothly to overcome this setback, with significant help from Joyce Dodrill, Cleveland Public Library's counsel. The meeting of the Ohio Digitization Interest Group at Columbus Metropolitan Library on July 22 will feature the CML Digitization Hub.

Regarding OPLIN office activities, Stephen highlighted Karl Jendretzky's on-site work at the Lima and Bellaire public libraries, Stephen's presentation of OPLIN information at the OLC New Directors workshop, and his presentation of the OPLIN resolution to Lynda Murray at her retirement reception.

8.3. Database usage and ohioweblibrary.org analytics

Stephen Hedges reported that two vendors have not yet provided May usage statistics, so he could not provide a complete database usage report, and the analytics of ohioweblibrary.org was previously discussed.

9. CHAIR'S REPORT

Chair Karen Davis recognized Don Barlow to offer the following resolution:

WHEREAS, Sandi Plymire has been a member of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees since June 2008, and

WHEREAS, she has freely and unselfishly given of her time and efforts to ensure the success of OPLIN by serving on the Board for six years, and

WHEREAS, she has provided superior leadership as the Chair of the OPLIN Board from July 2010 through June 2011, and

WHEREAS, she has unfailingly contributed her valuable opinions to OPLIN Board and OPLIN Executive Committee deliberations, and

WHEREAS, she has been a steadfast and active advocate for OPLIN throughout her tenure on the Board, and

WHEREAS, her service as the Director of the Muskingum County Public Library gave her a valuable perspective on OPLIN and its services to libraries,

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that on the 13th day of June, Two Thousand and Fourteen, the members of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Public Library Information Network recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions made to public libraries and library service by Sandi Plymire during her outstanding tenure with the Ohio Public Library Information Network, and

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

Michael Penrod seconded the resolution. All aye.

9.1. Executive session to consider the performance review and compensation of the director

Jill Billman-Royer motioned to enter executive session to consider the performance review and compensation of the director; Cindi Lombardo seconded.

Recorded vote: Don Barlow, aye; Jill Billman-Royer, aye; Susan Brown, aye; Cindy Lombardo, aye; Michael Penrod, aye; Sandi Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Karen Davis, aye.

The Board entered executive session at 11:38 a.m.

The Board returned from executive session at 11:55 a.m.

Chair Karen Davis offered the following resolution:

Pursuant to the duties and authorities assigned to the board under Ohio Revised Code 3375.66 section (A)(1), as confirmed by memo from the office of the Ohio Attorney General in June 2013, the board hereby fixes the compensation of the executive director of the network, Stephen Hedges, at $90,794 annually in recognition of constant exceptional performance during the six years since he last received an increase in compensation.

Don Barlow seconded the resolution.

Recorded vote: Don Barlow, aye; Jill Billman-Royer, aye; Susan Brown, aye; Cindy Lombardo, aye; Michael Penrod, aye; Sandi Plymire, aye; Becky Schultz, aye; and Karen Davis, aye.

10. ADJOURNMENT

On motion of Cindy Lombardo and second of Jill Billman-Royer the Board adjourned at 11:58 a.m.