June 12, 2020

Minutes — June 12, 2020

The one hundred eightieth meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 12, 2020 by Board Chair Travis McAfee online at https://www.gotomeet.me/OPLIN/june-oplin-board-meeting.

Present were Board members: Angela Baldree, Travis Bautz, Jamie Black, Roger Donaldson, Chris May, Travis McAfee, Hilary Prisbylla, Tara Sidwell, Garalynn Tomas, and Holly Varley. 

Also present were: Jessica Dooley, Laura Solomon, and Don Yarman (OPLIN); Wendy Knapp and Stephanie Herriott (State Library); and Michelle Francis and Jay Smith (Ohio Library Council).

Chris May motioned to approve the agenda as presented; Jamie Black seconded. There was no discussion, so the chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

The Chair called for public participation.

Michelle Francis discussed how OLC is assisting libraries in their reopening efforts, as well as fighting racism in their communities. All OLC events have been canceled or moved to virtual settings. Francis reported that, due to the deferral of income tax collection, the May PLF distribution was very low, but that is expected to be made up later in the summer; the June distribution was 14% below estimates. OBM predicts a $2.43 billion revenue shortfall in FY2021.

Jay Smith reviewed activity on key legislation of interest to libraries, including the passage of the capital reappropriation bill, residential broadband expansion, and fiscal officer succession guidelines.

The Chair welcomed new State Librarian Wendy Knapp, and congratulated her on her appointment.

Jamie Black motioned to approve the minutes of the April 10, 2020, meeting as presented; Holly Varley seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Don Yarman reviewed the financial reports, noting that OPLIN has received $1.9 million in E-rate refunds. OPLIN has not yet been billed by OIT for internet service, so those reimbursements as well as circuit costs for January-June will come in the next fiscal year. Expenses are on track for the end of the fiscal year, with the projected cash balance at $2.66 million. 

Garalynn Tomas motioned to accept the financial reports; Angela Baldree seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Yarman discussed the explosion of virtual meetings he has been participating in. At their meeting May 28, the State Library Board reappointed Tara Sidwell, Jamie Black, and Justin Bumbico to second terms on the OPLIN Board, and awarded LSTA funds to Libraries Connect Ohio for the statewide database collection. Yarman released an RFP for statewide genealogy resources, and received proposals from ProQuest to renew the current subscriptions (African-American Heritage, Ancestry Library Edition, Fold3, and HeritageQuest), and from EBSCO for MyHeritage. The Content Advisory Committee reviewed the proposals and recommended continuing the current subscriptions.

Yarman reported that a water supply line above the OPLIN suite leaked, and there was damage to the offices. The landlord is reviewing contractor proposals to replace missing ceiling tiles and repair damage to the walls where trim was pulled away to facilitate drying.

Yarman will work with the Executive Committee on plans for the August meeting, when he expects the Board will review the tactical plan, discuss the strategic plan, and review OPLIN’s budget submission for the next biennium.

Laura Solomon discussed the new design of the Ohio Web Library site, which alleviates accessibility problems from the previous version. Solomon also developed a site for librarians to submit and search for online programming ideas. This site differs from the State Library’s calendar of online programs, as the State Library’s site is patron-facing, and the online programming ideas database is designed for library staff use.

Of the eighty hosted Webkit sites, fifty have been migrated to Drupal 8 and are live to the public; another five sites are scheduled to go live in the next week. The last of the unmigrated Drupal 7 sites are ready to be sent to Braindunk for migration work. Solomon hopes to have all the sites live by September.

Karl Jendretzky is on vacation and presented a written report. Yarman highlighted Jendretzky’s work on the AT&T migration (moving circuits from the OARnet backbones handling library traffic to the SOCC and onto OPLIN’s own AT&T hub), and getting the new circuits and upgrades resulting from E-rate work ready for July. Yarman reported that the Cisco Umbrella (OpenDNS) renewal was taking longer than usual because of changes in how Cisco sells services (through resellers, not directly).

For the next fiscal year, the Nominations Committee proposed Chris May for Chair, Justin Bumbico for Vice Chair, Tara Sidwell for Treasurer, and Garalynn Tomas as Secretary. The Board will elect officers at the August meeting. The Chair said Yarman will send Director Evaluation forms to Board members, who can complete them and return to Chris May.

Jamie Black motioned to adjourn the meeting; Garalynn Tomas seconded. The Chair adjourned the meeting at 10:42 a.m.