OHIO 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.