Executive Committee Meeting - May 2008

DRAFT MINUTES

Present – Todd Digby – System Director; Stephen Elfstrand – Executive Director, PALS; Orrin Ausen – Bethany Lutheran College; Brittney Goodman – MSU Moorhead; Bill Dejohn – MINITEX; Cynthia Jorstad, Northland Community and Technical College; Michael Kirby, Dakota County Technical College; Vi Bergquist, St. Cloud Technical College; Robbie LaFleur, Legislative Reference Library; Donna Davis, Department of Revenue; Kathleen Ashe, Southwest Minnesota State University.

1. Introductions were done and sign-in sheet was distributed.
   
   
2. The agenda was accepted as is. (Robbie LaFleur; Brittney Goodman seconded. Motion carried).
   
   
3. The February minutes have been up on the web site. Motion to accept the minutes (Davis moved; Lafleur seconded. Minutes approved).
   
   
4. The Annual Meeting minutes will be posted on the web site tomorrow.
   
   
5. Elections - By acclamation we confirmed the following people for membership in the Executive Committee:
   Cynthia Jorstad moved to approve the slate of candidates for newly elected members of Executive Committee. Robbie Lafleur seconded. Candidates were accepted:
   • 2-year colleges: Larry M. Kellerman, Central Lakes College; Jan Carey, Hibbing Community College;
   • CALCO: Donna Davis, Minnesota Department; Alternate - Kathy Malec, MN Pollution Control Agency.
   • Special Libraries: Robert Horton, MN Historical Society; Robbie LaFleur, Legislative Reference Library; Alternate - Patricia Hoskins, Hill Reference Library.
   • Private Colleges; Kevin McGrew, St. Scholastica; Orrin Ausen, Bethany Lutheran; Alternate - Sharon Hoverson, Concordia, Moorhead.
   • Technical Colleges: Ann Nelson, Hennepin Technical College, Eden Prairie; Alternate - Karen Bronshteyn, Anoka Technical College
   • State Universities: David Barton, Metropolitan State University; Brittney Goodman, Minnesota State U. Moorhead; Alternate - open
   • K-12: Maureen Guentzel; Alternate - open
   We are still looking for an alternate for the State Universities.
   
   
6. Setting meeting dates for User Council and EC:
   Cynthia Jorstad moved that based on our discussion that "Executive Committee will start offering web meetings as an option for EC" -- the Sept. and April meetings will be web or in-person, the November and Feb. meetings will be web-only. Location of in-person meetings to be determined. Suggestion - St. Cloud be considered as one of the live meeting locations in hopes it will facilitate broader participation from consortium membership." Robbie LaFleur seconded with a friendly amendment that we "schedule the Sept. in Brooklyn Park and the April in St. Cloud."
   • Sept. 18 - in person - Hennepin Technical Brooklyn Park
   • Nov. 13 - web optional and in-person - Suggested Location - TBA
   • Feb. 12 - web only
   • April 16 -in person - Suggested Location - St. Cloud (combined with Annual Meeting - Annual meeting in the a.m. and joint UC/EC in the afternoon.)
     
     
   We decided we will go to one User Group meeting per year and it will be in the Fall. Those will be October 29th and 30th, 2008. It will set the stage for things that can happen during the rest of the year. The User Groups will have the option of holding a separate "work day." There will not be a User Group meeting in the Spring of 2009.
   
   We will need to do a joint User Council/ Executive Committee/Annual Meeting in the Spring - April 16th. We will do the morning for the Annual Meeting and a joint User Council/EC in the afternoon.
   
   
7. MnSCU Update - Todd Digby
   Digby reported on the MnSCU Library Advisory Council meeting. Will be looking at broader participation, allowing for the campus to elect its representative (does not have to be the "Director," but needs to be able to make decisions on behalf of the library). Looking at some collaborative technology projects.
   
   Reported briefly on the textbook rental project he is doing for MnSCU.
   
   
8. PALS Executive Director’s Report - Stephen Elfstrand
   Stephen distributed his Report of the Executive Director at the MnPALS Annual Meeting. In PALS Office staff news, Mike Barnett will be retiring; and Cathy Kolby will be changing positions at PALS.
   
   Stephen has had the Attorney General send a letter to Aleph that we cannot operate without a Maintenance Agreement. Digby and Elfstrand did meet with them. The terms of the contract show that they owe us for enough to pay for a year of support. We have not paid them maintenance in this academic year.
   
   The Version 18 upgrade is on track.
   
   PALS had an Equinox presentation yesterday. We will be able to see the whole Evergreen product session on the wiki. We will have a summary of strengths/weaknesses of the product on the wiki. We also have a summary document of Koha on the wiki.
   
   There will be a Discovery Tool Task Force meeting next week. We will be going to the VuFind as the next discovery tool user interface. All six million records have been loaded now.
   
   Elfstrand presented one idea -- whether it would be okay to offer a one-percent surcharge for support of the discovery tool - to PALS. Was thinking about it as an annual surcharge. Some questioned why there is a need for extra money (where is the extra money being used?). PALS is operating currently at an operational deficit. One way to increase the revenue - to charge for some non-Aleph-related services. We will be looking at some IT project money for next year.
   
   We have an agreement with a certain amount of money from MnSCU through 2009.
   
   We discussed wanting to see it as a one-time charge rather than a continuing surcharge. Should we do a combination - ask MnSCU for an increase and at the same time, increase the user fees. Or do you only want to offer it for schools that will pay?
   
   PALS is trying to find a model for funding of bigger projects, like an Open URL Server.
   
   Bill DeJohn brought up that we have already done ala carte pricing with PALS. We do have a history to look at. It can create unevenness (have’s and have not’s).
   
   The URL for the Discovery Tool has been sent out to the membership.
   
   EasyProxy server upgrades - If an institution wants to migrate from LibProxy to EasyProxy, send in a ticket.
   
   Elfstrand distributed a third quarter fiscal report. PALS is currently 137,720 down (but note that we are not paying the 150,000 maintenance fee to Aleph). We do have a healthy hardware reserve right now.
   
   One idea for revenue is to market the discovery tool to others, such as CLIC.
   
   LinkManager is a great deal under the PALS formula if you are small. Michael Kirby asked about open source link managers. Open Source would have to figure out what it costs to maintain the knowledge base, and it would also take time. Elfstrand will have PALS try to implement LinkManager for those who want it soon. The price for the LinkManager is not tied to WorldCat Local. Elfstrand will send out another call for input to the membership before he sends the list to OCLC for pricing.
   
   
9. User Council Report - Kathleen Ashe
   The dates for User Council meetings will only be once in the fall. The different subsystems decided they wanted to have one meeting a year and one work day. User group will be in the fall and the work day will be when the subgroups decided. The dates for the User Group meetings: be October 29th and 30th, 2008. Have not decided on location yet.
   
   The MnPALS Access Task Force has dissolved. As a reminder, at the November User Council meeting there was a motion that went forth that PALS contract with someone to look at the web OPAC and do some web design for the web OPAC interface, integrating with the discovery tool design (connection between the two pieces). The task force was not getting anywhere. A professional designer might be a better option.
   
   A motion: "In order to operationalize the strategic plan, the UC recommends that the EC create a task force: to establish processes:
   • to determine the needs of member libraries
   • to monitor future directions of technology to support library services of operations
   • to move forward" [We will discuss this under New Business]
     
     
   With the "move forward" some criteria would need to established (costs? Length of time to migrate from this to that?)
   
   
10. Old Business
    Communication Strategies and Policies
    Do we need a policy change regarding where to go to get information? Since this has been on the agenda we have narrowed this down to MnPALS Discuss and MnPALS Announce, along with the wiki and the forum. Which is the communication tool of choice for reporting system alerts, maintenance?
    
    All of the tools are useful. There was discussion that we would like to see e-mail archives, wiki, forum, all in one place. There is so much information out there and you have to search more than one place. Susan Dueis from PALS is chair of PALS’ communication group and they are looking at this.
    
    Underlying assumption that participation is through the forum and the wiki. Staying informed can do that with the Discuss and Announce lists. If you want to discuss something, put at the end of the e-mail, "go to the wiki" or "go to the forum."
    
    PALS should send out to the membership a reminder about what each communication tool does and where it is. Susan is working on a video tutorial on using the forum.
    
    Performance Reviews
    We have talked about this in previous meetings. What it comes down to is - what is the Executive Committee’s role in evaluating the performance of Elfstrand and Digby? We are an advisory group, not supervisory. Executive Committee members would be happy to give comments during the process if asked.
    
    Governance Structure
    We need statements of purposes and statements of reporting for User Council and Executive Council.
    
    Once changes were made to the documents, would this need to go to the annual meeting by all the members? Or could the Executive Committee do it? Just send it to the different entities for comments? We need to put a deadline on it and report back by the September 18th meeting. We will have agenda item on Sept. 18th meeting to act on suggested changes to the governance document.
    
    We brainstormed some bulleted points for the statement of purpose for the Governance Structure - Executive Committee. Michael Kirby will draft something and put it on the wiki.
    
    Orrin will communicate to the different groups with a deadline for reporting back, with a review at the September 18th.
    
    We discussed the categories of libraries currently part of the governance structure. State agencies and special libraries could be combined. Maybe have an "at large" category. Robbie LaFleur will draft up an idea with changes of membership categories and numbers of people.
    
    
11. Bill DeJohn - MINITEX
    In the mail you should be receiving a revised criteria for participation in MINITEX. It is clear as it relates to resource sharing. We will be working with Todd on the six campuses that do not meet the criteria.
    
    OCLC contracts - all those contracts were transferred to MINITEX. Those contracts will be going out to us for OCLC services - a five-year contract. Sign both copies and send it back. There will be a separate contract for state government libraries.
    
    There are arrangements for Koha and Equinox demonstrations in June.
    
    We have made it easier to access the ELM portal.
    
    WorldCat Local - U. of Washington - is extending to their ORBIS consortium group. They are changing their Z portal to a version of WorldCat local (WorldCat Navigator - Interlibrary Loan). We may eventually see something like this. It also talked about a new circulation gateway component. We do not know much about this. They may be linking to circulation availability for a local ILS.
    
    Research project calculator - please consider putting this out on your web pages. It’s not a library-tool, per se. It is less steps than the Assignment Calculator.
    
    
12. New Business:
    Thank you to all the past participants of the EC for their work, and welcome all the new members to the committee.
    
    Brief review of the annual meeting - We heard some good comments, but the timing was an issue (Spring break for some campuses).
    
    Stephen will send out another message encouraging participation and a decision regarding WorldCat Local and LinkManager.
    
    SOLR/VuFind - PALS office will keep us up to speed on that.
    
    We have already approved user fees for this year but we will need to discuss how we afford the research/discovery of new ideas.
    
    The recommendation from User Council to operationalize the Strategic Plan:
    "In order to operationalize the strategic plan, the UC recommends that the EC create a task force: to establish processes:
    • to determine the needs of member libraries
    • to monitor future directions of technology to support library services of operations
    • to move forward"
      
      
    This needs to be a diverse group of people, from DDC, PALS Staff, EC, User Groups.... A lot could be done via Webinars/Wikis, etc.
    
    The strategic planning groups have been on hiatus. This group would not be an overseer of the currently active task forces. This one would be one to get us to start using the strategic plan.
    
    The EC should come up with the guidelines/charge for the task force. We present them with their "task." We need to keep in mind that we are pulling people from different groups to get the right representation. Should we actually specify that we want a certain number of people from certain groups.
    
    There were doubts that the strategic plan is a document we really need to use as the guiding document for this task force.
    
    Before people volunteer, they will want to know a time frame, time commitment, etc.
    
    We could cover this as our main topic in September to come up with the parameters. Would we be able to send the parameters to User Group meetings? If we can come up with a tightly constructed charge in September, the group could be established by our November meeting. By the November meeting, TF is established with a first organizational meeting as part of the October user group meetings.
    
    

AGENDA

1. Introductions, sign-in sheet
   
   
2. Amend/Adopt Agenda
   
   
3. Approve minutes from February Meeting & Annual Meeting
   
   
4. Elections
   
   
5. 2008-09 Executive and Annual Meeting Dates
   
   
6. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Update - Todd Digby
   
   
7. PALS Executive Director’s Report - Stephen Elfstrand
   
   
8. User Council Report - Kathleen Ashe
   
   
9. Old Business:
   1. Communication Strategies & Policies
      • November 2007 Executive Committee Minutes has info on this.
   2. Performance Reviews
      • November 2007 Executive Committee Minutes has info on this.
   3. Governance Structure
      

• BREAK

10. New Business:
    1. Thank you to past years participants.
    2. Response to the WorldCat Local and Link Manager proposals
    3. SOLR/VuFind Discovery Tool
    4. Other?
       
       
11. Minitex Update - Bill DeJohn
    
    
12. Closing Remarks/Other
    
    
13. Adjourn