October 11, 2019

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

Minutes — October 11, 2019

1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER

The one hundred seventy-sixth meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:03 a.m. on Friday, October 11, 2019 by Board Chair Travis McAfee at the OPLIN office in Columbus, Ohio.

Present were Board members: Travis Bautz, Jamie Black, Justin Bumbico, Chris May, Travis McAfee, Hilary Prisbylla, Tara Sidwell, and Holly Varley. 

Also present were: Karl Jendretzky and Don Yarman (OPLIN); Marissa Moore and Jamie Pardee (State Library); and Michelle Francis (Ohio Library Council).

ACTION ITEMS

2. NOMINATION and ELECTION OF SECRETARY

Jamie Black nominated Garalynn Tomas to fill the open office of secretary; Chris May seconded. There was no discussion, so the chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Justin Bumbico motioned to approve the agenda as presented; Travis Bautz seconded. There was no discussion, so the chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The Chair called for public participation.

Michelle Francis thanked the Board for OPLIN’s sponsorship and participation at the Ohio Library Council Convention two weeks previous. Francis outlined upcoming OLC events, workshops, and webinars, and discussed OLC’s efforts to support the American Library Association’s “#eBooksForAll” campaign (ebooksforall.org), and encourage Macmillan and other publishers to engage libraries in more productive conversations about their licensing terms. The Public Library Fund came in above estimates, and Francis expects the fund will end calendar year 2019 over $400 million, a ten year high. Francis also discussed “First Amendment Audits,” which involve individuals filming activities inside libraries, disturbances with signature gatherers and groups opposing them, and public library involvement with the upcoming 2020 census.

Jamie Pardee introduced Marissa Moore, the State Library’s intern. Beverly Cain is expected to return from medical leave within two weeks.

5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of the August 9 meeting

Jamie Black motioned to approve the minutes of the August 9, 2019, meeting as presented; Tara Sidwell seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

6. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS

Jamie Pardee noted that OPLIN started the fiscal year July 1 with a cash balance of almost $2.7 million, with an estimated cash balance of $2.26 million after projected revenue and expenses for fiscal year 2020. OPLIN has received $95,000 in E-rate reimbursements. There is a new line item on the revenue report showing receipts for SOCC co-location. Administrative expenditures are on target for four months into the fiscal year, and information resources have all been paid for. The reports show $93,000 negative balance in spending authority; there is cash to cover projected expenses, but it may be necessary to ask the Controlling Board to increase authority to spend into the cash balance. 
 
Chris May motioned to accept the financial reports; Holly Varley seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

7. OLD BUSINESS -- none

8. NEW BUSINESS -- none

REPORTS

8. OPLIN DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Don Yarman reviewed the recent timeline of events for the migration of lyndaLibrary to the LinkedIn Learning platform, resulting in the vendor “pause.” Yarman finds the pause very encouraging, as there are signs that vendor is considering alternatives to requiring LinkedIn social media accounts for library patron access to the Lynda video training, as well as the use of personal LinkedIn accounts for library staff to manage the service. There is no word on how long the pause will last, but LinkedIn did ask for clarification on whether those libraries who elected not to migrate to LinkedIn Learning should still have access to the legacy lyndaLibrary platform after December 31.

Those libraries that indicated they would not move to the LinkedIn Learning platform offered a few different reasons: most cited the intrusion into patron privacy, and a few others objected to the requirement for staff to use personal LinkedIn accounts for library administrative purposes; one library objected to the requirement for patrons to use PINs as part of the authentication requirement.

As Jamie Pardee reported, OPLIN received the E-rate reimbursements for circuit costs January-June and for the internet bandwidth costs paid to OIT.  Only one funding commitment—for internet service—for the current service year has been received; no circuit cost reimbursements have been approved, as reviewers are late in completing consortia reviews. OPLIN’s E-rate workshop/webinar has been scheduled for October 28.

Yarman reported that statewide database usage is trending downward in the first months of the fiscal year, which is certainly due to a drop in promotional activities since the spring. Hannah Simpson, a library science student with a background in marketing, will be interning for OPLIN in the winter, and one of her duties will be to develop marketing packages for the databases to help libraries promote their use. Lynda.com has the highest use of any single resource, followed closely by Ancestry, which has the lowest cost-per-use of the statewide databases. All databases except for Transparent Language have been incorporated into the new automated stats reporting tool. 

8.1. Library Services Manager report
Laura Solomon was not able to attend the meeting. Yarman reported that 28 of 39 eligible libraries have converted to the new storyblock layout, which facilitates their site migration to Drupal 8. The Drupal 8 migration project is slightly behind schedule; the paradigm sites, Wood County and Tuscarawas County libraries, are live on their D8 sites, and 8 more sites are in progress. Staff do not anticipate a problem catching up with the project timeline and meeting the grant deadline of September 30, 2020.

8.2. Technology Projects Manager report
Karl Jendretzky added that while the Drupal 8 migration is behind schedule, OPLIN and Braindunk are scrutinizing sites closely to catch all bugs, and the fixes identified now will carry forward to smooth migration of the remaining sites. 

Jendretzky reported that AT&T has finished migrating moving the Cleveland Public Library branch circuits to their new head-end at the SOCC, and will begin moving the remaining CLEVNET libraries with AT&T circuits, allowing us to disconnect the legacy AT&T head-end in Cleveland.

Spectrum has released new pricing, and Jendretzky anticipates putting all OPLIN’s current Spectrum circuits on the fall 470 to take advantage of the new costs. Libraries may be able to piggy-back onto OPLIN’s large order to get Spectrum fiber built to their hard-to-hit branches. Michelle Francis spoke about ConnectOhio’s contract with the state to improve rural connectivity mapping, and asked OPLIN to distribute the survey to libraries. The survey is more focused on schools and households, with the library section of the survey not yet activated, and Jendretzky confirmed that every library system except one had fiber. Total aggregate bandwidth from libraries is approaching 9.5 Gbps during the afternoon peak, which is less than half of OPLIN’s available bandwidth; Jendretzky sees no bottlenecks, and no big hardware purchases are looming. 

Jendretzky is shuffling existing hardware in the SOCC to improve circuit redundancy and reliability for the CLC and SEO consortia. He discussed the ability to do direct cabling and route mapping to make connections between consortia and their member libraries (for example, Worthington to the CLC, Euclid to CLEVNET). Jendretzky also outlined construction at the SOCC which will result in better perimeter security and control over loading dock access.

Jendretzky discussed development work on the new OPLIN Database Usage Reporting Tool. It presents interesting challenges, as each vendor delivers different numbers in substantially different ways. Oxford presents a particular problem, as the reports are inconsistent, and it is difficult to build automation to parse the data. It’s a satisfying challenge, involving anticipating how OPLIN and libraries will want to make use of the data in the future.

In other service news, five additional libraries have signed up for InfosecIQ accounts, which OPLIN will offer for another year; payment has been delayed by the state’s assurance processes. The SMS Gateway began using a new phone number (instead of a short code) September 3, alleviating a message error that had begun plaguing libraries this summer as their messages were caught in spam traps by some providers. Jendretzky anticipates OPLIN will transmit 1.6 million text messages in 2019, up from 1.54 million in 2018, and 1.38 million in 2017—steady, manageable growth. OPLIN’s message credit balance is 4.2 million, so no need to purchase new credits for two years. OpenDNS continues to serve libraries’ needs without difficulty.

9. CHAIR'S REPORT

9.1. Nominations Committee appointments
Travis McAfee appointed Jamie Black, Justin Bumbico, and Tara Sidwell to the nominations committee. The committee will identify a replacement for Jeff Garringer, who retired from the Pickaway County District Library and resigned from the OPLIN Board in August. 

Jamie Black motioned to authorize the nominations committee to submit its recommendation for OPLIN Board appointments to the State Library Board; Holly Varley seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

10. ADJOURNMENT
With no other business pending, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 11:05 a.m.