OHIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY INFORMATION NETWORK (OPLIN)
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH REGULAR MEETING of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes
-- June 13, 2008
1. WELCOME and CALL TO ORDER
The one hundred eighth 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, 2008 by Board Vice-Chair Mary Pat Essman
at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio.
Present were board members: Holly Carroll, Terry Casey, Karl
Colon, Mary Pat
Essman, Bonnie Mathies, Jeff
Wale, and Michael Wantz.
Also present were: Stephen Hedges, Karl
Jendretzky, Laura Solomon, and
Bobbi Galvin (OPLIN); Diane
Fink and Jeff Jones (State Library); and
Doug Evans (Ohio Library
Council).
2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The Vice-Chair called for public participation, and there was
none.
3. APPROVAL OF THE
AGENDA
Mary Pat Essman announced that the New Business item "Approve
contracting for E-rate consulting services" would be a discussion
rather than a vote, and that the Executive Session to discuss the
evaluation of the Executive Director would be moved to the end of the
agenda.
Terry Casey motioned to
approve the agenda; Karl Colon seconded. All aye.
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of April 11
meeting
Jeff Wale asked that the
portion of the minutes dealing with the discussion of Board candidate
recommendations to the State Library Board be amended to reflect that
geographical location of the candidates and whether or not candidates
were library staff or trustees were considered to be important factors,
but not as important as the experience and abilities of the candidates.
Terry Casey motioned to
approve the minutes from the April 11th meeting as amended; Michael
Wantz
seconded. All aye.
Mary Pat Essman noted that the minutes included a request from
Terry Casey to research any restrictions on how E-rate reimbursements
could be spent. Stephen Hedges reported that his research indicated
there are no restrictions.
5. ACCEPTANCE OF THE FINANCE REPORT
Diane Fink gave a detailed finance report, updated as of May
31.
Report A covered budget and expenditures for the fiscal years
in the previous
biennium
(FY
2006-2007), listing open encumbrances, disbursements, and available
balances. There are no open encumbrances for these fiscal years.
Report B covered budget and expenditures in the current
biennium
(FY 2008-2009). This report included a column showing the
allocation of the 10% budget reduction mandated by the Office of
Budget and Management (OBM), totaling $433,000 each year.
Diane first
presented information about FY 2008. In the "Information Resources"
section, Diane clarified the
budgets for WebFeat and CARE Affiliates, noting that CARE will be
replacing WebFeat as part of the move to Ohio Web Library. She also
noted that the $1,550,350 available balance is all unused spending
authority rather than actual funds.
In the "Education, Training, and Support" section, Diane noted
that Kent State University has not yet completed the OPLIN web site
review, even though the contract expires June 30. Stephen Hedges
speculated that they may not complete the work, nor ask for payment.
Jeff Wale indicated that he thought it was important that KSU complete
their work on this contract and provide a report to OPLIN.
In the "Telecommunications" section, Jeff Wale noted that no
funds were budgeted for Network Upgrades and asked about the router
upgrade project. Diane explained that the freeze on equipment purchases
had prevented OPLIN from purchasing new routers this fiscal year;
however, $200,000 in funds have been allocated to the router
replacement project in the state's new
capital budget, and OPLIN has promised to match those funds with up to
$200,000 from OPLIN, which should allow OPLIN to begin purchasing
routers once the capital budget bill takes effect. Karl Jendretzky also
pointed out that OPLIN has been able to temporarily upgrade some of the
larger routers in the network without purchasing new equipment.
Turning to FY 2009, Diane pointed out some changes to the
Information Resources budget caused by the new Ohio Web Library
collection of databases beginning July 1. She also noted that the
E-rate Consultant line under "Education, Training, and Support" was an
estimated amount that will change once those plans are finalized.
Lastly, she reminded the Board that the Filtering line item is a
legislative earmark in our budget and cannot be eliminated, only
reduced in proportion to our overall budget.
Reports C and D covered projected revenue and cash balances
in Fund 4S4 for FY 2007, FY 2008, and FY 2009. In response to a
question about earned interest on the cash balance, Diane explained
that state agencies, including the State Library, typically are not
permitted to earn interest.
Diane Fink then provided a brief overview of the budget
development process for FY 2010-2011. She announced that Russ Keller is
the State Library's newly appointed analyst from the Office of Budget
and Management.
Jeff Wale thanked Diane for her excellent report.
Terry Casey motioned to
accept the Finance Report; Jeff Wale seconded. All aye.
6. OLD BUSINESS
Mary Pat Essman welcomed Holly Carroll to the Board.
6.1. Discuss draft of
Strategic Plan
Stephen Hedges asked the Board if the draft he provided of the
new strategic plan captured the discussion from the Board retreat, and
whether they had any concerns with the draft in general.
While the Board felt the draft adequately captured the Board
retreat
discussion, several members noted that the plan did not mention funding
concerns. In a climate of major budget reductions, the plan should
note that funding cuts may limit the OPLIN ability to carry out some
objectives. The plan should express the Board prioritization of some
objectives as being more "core" than others, and possibly emphasize the
role these core objectives might play in assisting the economic
development of the state. Some activities might also need to be
considered as possible sources of additional revenue in the future.
Regarding the new marketing goal in the plan, it was suggested
that
making use of partnerships and collaborations to market OPLIN be
specifically addressed in the plan.
Stephen will incorporate these suggestions into the next draft
of the plan, to be prepared for the August Board meeting.
7. NEW BUSINESS
7.1. Discuss contracting for
E-rate consulting services
Stephen Hedges began this discussion by presenting some
background information. E-rate refunds are a very important
component of the OPLIN budget and
staff spend a lot of time working on applications,
answering audit questions, and tracking bills. As much as 10%
of the Director's time may be devoted to E-rate. Nevertheless, small
errors continue to occur which result in losing some discounts each
year.
Dan Farslow, who handled the E-rate applications for the Ohio
schools
for many years and also contracted with the State Library to do E-rate
workshops for public libraries, recently retired from state employment
(eTech Ohio); Dan had often offered advice to OPLIN. Roger Verny, Diane
Fink, and Stephen viewed Dan's departure as a good opportunity to
explore the possibility of hiring professional E-rate consultants to
handle Dan's public library work and the OPLIN E-rate applications.
Roger
prepared a draft RFP for managing all OPLIN E-rate-related needs,
conducting
E-rate applications workshops for public libraries, and coordinating
E-rate activities for libraries statewide.
Prior to this Board meeting, where Stephen had originally
intended to ask the Board if they supported releasing the RFP, the
State Library and OPLIN were contacted by eTech Ohio to discuss having
eTech handle the items in the RFP. Jo Budler and Stephen met with David
Barber (eTech Interim Director) and Elizabeth Wallace, and felt that
the eTech offer is promising, pending more details.
The Board generally felt that outsourcing the OPLIN E-rate
applications could increase the OPLIN E-rate reimbursements and would
free up significant staff time. They speculated about the possibility
of offering E-rate assistance to individual libraries for a fee, though
wary of being responsible for errors. Several Board members noted that
it is very important for libraries to have access to reliable
e-rate advice. The consensus of the Board was that the Executive
Director should continue to pursue acquiring dependable E-rate
consulting services.
7.2. Discuss transferring
OPLIN email to gmail.com
Stephen Hedges explained that the OPLIN mail server hardware
is out of warranty, spam in oplin.org email accounts is a growing
annoyance,
and because of the limited
amount of space for each email account, library staff that
do not regularly "clean out" their old emails are routinely locked out
of their account and must call the OPLIN Support Center to fix the
situation. Email trouble calls currently make up almost half the calls
received by the Support Center.
One possible way to remedy all of these problems would be
to move
the
oplin.org email service to Gmail (Google Mail). Karl Jendretzky
clarified some of the technical and financial issues involved in such a
move. Karl also shared information he had collected about other ways of
handling the spam problem.
The Board was uncomfortable with the ads in free Gmail,
although
those that currently use Gmail admitted that they seldom notice the
ads. There were also concerns about ownership, protection, and
management of library email data. The Board asked OPLIN staff to gather
more details about improving OPLIN email service, ideally without
moving the email to an outside server. The Board also asked the
Executive Director to ask for a legal opinion regarding confidentiality
of
library email data.
7.3. Discuss proposed move
to SOCC
Stephen Hedges presented information about possibly moving
OPLIN back to the State of Ohio Computer Center (SOCC) in July 2009.
SOCC rental fees are based on the percentage of an agency's budget that
comes from the General Revenue Fund; if an agency is funded 100% by the
GRF, SOCC space rental is discounted 100% (free). When OPLIN funding
was taken from the Library and Local Government Support Fund (LLGSF)
for three years, instead of from the GRF, OPLIN had to pay 100% of the
SOCC rental fee and it was much cheaper to move to a new location. Now,
OPLIN could save about $34,000 each year by moving back to the SOCC.
Stephen has not yet been able to open a dialog with the SOCC
Site Manager to discuss details. The Board felt that it would be good
for OPLIN to return to the SOCC, so Stephen will keep pursuing this
effort.
8. OPLIN EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Stephen Hedges presented his Director's report. He highlighted
the OPLIN funding in the Capital Budget bill, the upcoming launch of
the new Ohio Web Library page, and the work being done to develop
website hosting packages for public libraries.
8.1. Databases
and Network Reports
8.4.1. Database
changes
Laura Solomon presented a synopsis of the changes to the
database collection taking effect on July 1.
8.4.2. Database
usage
Laura Solomon reported on database searches and noted the
normal decrease in usage in the month of May.
8.4.3. Support
Center (April and May)
Karl Jendretzky reported that the number of work
orders did not include circuit upgrades that are still in progress. The
latest sampling of library bandwidth usage identified several libraries
qualifying for new upgrades to their circuits, and several others that
already qualify for a second upgrade.
9. CHAIR'S REPORT
9.1. Establish board terms
Mary Pat Essman asked the Board to draw lots to determine
their terms on the Board, as specified in the new Ohio Revised Code
language defining OPLIN (ORC Sec. 3375.64). The Board members drew
lots, with the following results:
Terms expiring June 2008 (3): Terry Casey, Bonnie Mathies, and
Gayle Patton.
Terms expiring June 2009 (4): Mary Pat Essman, Jim Kenzig, Bob
Richmond, and Michael Wantz.
Terms expiring June 2010 (4): Gary Branson, Holly Carroll,
Karl Colon, and Jeff Wale.
9.2. Resolution
Bonnie Mathies read the following proposed resolution:
WHEREAS TERRY CASEY
has been a member of the Ohio Public Library Information Network
(OPLIN) Board of Trustees since July 2002, and
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WHEREAS he has
freely and unselfishly given of his time and efforts to ensure the
success of OPLIN by serving on the Board for six years, and
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WHEREAS he
generously volunteered his time and skills toward supporting the
creation of OPLIN while he was a member of the Ohio Library Council
Board of Trustees, and
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WHEREAS his
political insights have guided OPLIN through good times as well as
turbulent times, and
WHEREAS he has
consistently demonstrated a deep interest in the Ohio public library
community and its uses of the World Wide Web,
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NOW, THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED that on the 13th day of June, Two-Thousand and Eight, the
members of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Public Library Information
Network recognize the significant contributions made to public
libraries and library service by TERRY CASEY during his tenure with the
Ohio Public Library Information Network, and
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Board extends its most sincere thanks and
appreciation to TERRY CASEY for his continued volunteer service as a
member of that Board.
Karl Colon motioned to
adopt the resolution as recommended. Michael Wantz seconded. All aye.
10. EXECUTIVE SESSION
Holly Carroll motioned that
the Board go into Executive Session to discuss the performance
evaluation of the Executive Director. Jeff Wale seconded. Roll call:
Michael Wantz, aye; Jeff Wale, aye; Bonnie Mathies, aye; Karl Colon,
aye; Holly Carroll, aye; Terry Casey, aye; Mary Pat Essman, aye.
The Board entered Executive
Session at 11:55 a.m.
The Board returned from
Executive Session at 12:17 p.m.
Mary Pat Essman thanked
Stephen Hedges for doing a good job and informed him that the Board
Chair would contact him to share details of his evaluation.
11. ADJOURNMENT
Terry Casey motioned to
adjourn the meeting at 12:19 p.m.