Minutes
November 9, 2010 Directors Association Meeting Mid Hudson Library System Auditorium
Meeting was called to order at 10:02 a.m. by J. Kelsall-Dempsey.
Present
Columbia County: Luisa Sabin-Kildiss , Chatham Public Library; Corey Fleming, Hudson; Julie H. Johnson, Kinderhook Memorial Library; Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Library; Elizabeth Powhida, Valatie Free Library
Dutchess County: Carol Rodriguez, Beekman Library; Terry Sennett, Clinton Community Library; Gloria Goverman, East Fishkill Public Library District; Matthew Pfisterer, Grinnell Library Association; Phyllis Keaton, Howland Public Library; Lisa Karim, LaGrange Association Library; Nancy Rogers, Millbrook Free Library; Joanne A. Meyer, Morton Memorial Library and Community House; Roger Cohn, NorthEast-Millerton Library; Daniela Pulice, Pleasant Valley Library; Tom Lawrence, Poughkeepsie Public Library District; Erica Freudenberger, Red Hook Public Library; Arlene Christensen, Stanford Free Library; Steven Cook, Starr Library
Greene County: Susan Ray, Catskill Public Library; Linda Deubert, Heermance Memorial Library
Putnam County: Carol Donick, Alice Curtis Desmond & Hamilton Fish Library; Gillian Thorpe, Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library; Frank Rees, Kent Public Library; Patricia Kaufman, Mahopac Public Library; Patti Haar, Patterson Library; Kathleen McLaughlin, Putnam Valley Free Library; Jeanne Buck, Reed Memorial Library
Ulster County: John Giralico, Elting Memorial Library; Julie Kelsall-Dempsey, Highland Public Library; Tracey Pause, Hurley Library; Margie Menard, Kingston Library; James Cosgrove, Marlboro Free Library; Barbara Schacker, Morton Memorial Library; Tracy Priest, Phoenicia Library; Laurel Coccio, Sarah Hull Hallock Free Library; Jody Ford, Stone Ridge Library; Faith Johnson, Town of Ulster Public Library; Kara Lustiber, West Hurley Public Library
Mid-Hudson Library System: Merribeth Advocate, Christina Ryan-Linder, Laurie Shedrick
Action Items
T. Lawrence moved that the minutes of the previous meeting be approved. S.Cook seconded and the motion passed.
Steering Committee Nominations: Moved by P. Haar, seconded by S. Cook.
Nominees are as follows: L. Deubert for Greene, T. Lawrence for Duchess, and C. Briggs for Columbia. No additional nominations. Motion passed
Proposed Meeting Dates for 2011: Moved by T. Lawrence, seconded by S.
Cook. Motion passed.
Approval of 2012 Fee Schedule: Moved by T. Lawrence, seconded by S.
Cook. Discussion: The DA is voting on this because the MHLS board wants input on how the fee schedule is constructed. MHLS has the right to pass on the delivery charges, but not to increase automation costs without one year’s notice. Merribeth suggested a committee to review systems services to assist during this transition time. People interested should contact her. It is not possible to vote on “pieces”
of the fee. This is why the Task Force has reviewed this so extensively. Motion passed.
Welcome to new director Susan Ray from Catskill.
MHLS Reports
MHLS Executive Director’s Report, Merribeth Advocate A written report was circulated in advance of the meeting.
Division of Library Development: DLD has laid off some staff already and is considering an additional 47 layoffs. Conversely, the research library is now open on Saturdays which engendered some bad press. They were able to do this by redistributing existing staff. Now that they are open on Saturdays, they are finding that this is their highest attendance day.
ELFA Bill: The legislators are not coming back on the 15th to vote on this. This has to do with the paper balloting and some ambiguity about who won certain elections. If the vote happens between now and the end of the calendar year, there is some chance funds will be sent out. If they don’t vote, this means the fund is gone, both for this year and permanently.
Adult & Family Literacy Grants: Links are available on the MHLS home page. Applications are due December 10th. The adult grant offers services to help on the job front. The family grant focuses on literacy services to parents and caregivers.
RCLS Migration: RCLS recently observed our system. They are also looking at Polaris, Innovative, and Circe. RCLS limits the number of holds per patron to 12.
Book Sale: Please advise the correctional facilities when they are held, as this book sales are an excellent resource for libraries with limited funds. T. Lawrence suggested that member libraries send dates to MHLS and to be posted on the calendar. ‘Book Sales of America’ is also a good resource.
Library Events: When sending event invitations, they should be extended to county representatives from the MHLS board. They would like the involvement.
HIP Project: The project is funded through Oasis. Since Bobbi is retiring, MHLS is looking at what direction the project will take in the future.
Ebooks: Ebooks seem to be operating well within the interface.
Navigation is on the left, ribbons are on right. There will be a ribbon identifying “NYT Bestsellers.” The choice of live dates should be communicated today and will be quite soon. The Compatible devices page states “For Library Staff Only.” This is because the information quickly becomes obsolete, since new devices are being created every day. Currently Overdrive is working on an app for phones and iPads.
Ebooks can be returned early, unlike audiobooks. We recently had 62 audiobook checkouts in one day, which is our highest checkout day ever for audiobooks. Ebooks will work on downloadable audiobook stations.
For no charge, we can have Project Gutenberg hooked up to Overdrive.
Merribeth will find out if these items would count as a free book.
Water coolers: MHLS has found that WB Mason offers the cheapest service with next day delivery and no rental on the water cooler itself.
MHLS Board Liaison Report,
No report. No meeting. The next meeting is 11/10.
Advisory Committee Reports
Central Library/Collection Development
No report. No meeting. The next meeting is in 2011.
Continuing Education/Professional Development, Merribeth Advocate A written report was circulated in advance of the meeting. Committee met on 10/18.
Webinars for specialized knowledge: MHLS will begin linking useful webinars to the online calendar.
Marketing and Program,
No report. No meeting. The next meeting is 12/10.
Resource Sharing
No report. No meeting. The next meeting is 11/19. Next week
Lunch: No longer provided. Please bring your own lunch if you are attending.
Special holds session: Please send suggestions to Laurie.
Millennium Due Date Reminders: The DA voted against these, because patrons can not opt out. Library Elf will do this. This can go on the agenda for resource sharing, but probably not until the next meeting.
Consultant Activities
Outreach & Education Coordinator, Merribeth Advocate A written report was circulated in advance of the meeting.
Coordinator for Library Growth & Sustainability, Rebekkah Smith Aldrich A written report was circulated in advance of the meeting.
Youth Services & Community Connections Coordinator, Christina Ryan- Linder A written report was circulated in advance of the meeting.
Schools and Organizations Working Together: The commitment from the state and youth services coordinators is threefold: 1. the state has committed to sent out information supporting the Summer Reading Program. 2. YS coordinators will create a video showing the valuable impact of school and public library partnerships on youth literacy. 3.
Youth organizations and library systems are committed to building stronger partnerships.
School attitudes are heavily influenced by the personality of the principal. During a NYLA education program a concern was raised about this. Reading teachers and ESL teachers tend to be hungry for this type of contact. Partnering on grants is also an effective way to elicit interest and support from the schools.
Thank you to Grinnell for demonstrating online registration at NYLA.
Automated Systems Manager, Laurie Shedrick A written report was circulated in advance of the meeting.
Teleforms: A Windows update has caused issues. Some calls are not going through and it is inconsistent from day to day. This must be watched closely until the issue is resolved. If Teleforms doesn’t work, bounced calls will be sent via email the next day. Libraries should be checking FTS email every day.
New Hillsdale Library: It is a gorgeous building and staff is very proud. We should all visit if in the neighborhood.
Custom Notices: Some progress has been made. PPLD notices are completed. The notice has a logo and can include any text. Changes to date due slips would be an Innovative enhancement and are on the list.
This would be a significant enhancement as receipt printing would need to be moved to Java.
Bibliographic Records for Next Year’s Periodicals: These were added today.
New Licenses: MHLS will be adding 10 more, which will cost $15,000.
This will come out of the capital fund, as it is a designated capital fund expense. We need these because we’re overbooked. Six libraries are on the waiting list for extra license and these six will be assigned. The others will float. Maintenance charges are already paid, since we have sold more licenses than we actually have.
Highland: Entering a misspelled patron name is causing Millennium to freeze and require a restart. So far no other libraries have reported seeing this.
SAM update: No other consortia of comparable size have upgraded and we want to wait until someone else does it first. A rep will come here to discuss 9.0 at a SAM users group before any upgrade will be made.
Laurie believes this will happen in the spring.
System Funding Task Force, Tom Lawrence
No report. No meeting.
Old Business
Holiday lunch: T. Lawrence will be taking RSVPs today, through the mail, and also through email.
New Proposed Business & Information
Electronic vs. Print DA Minutes, Agenda, and Attachments: The DA would prefer one or the other, as opposed to a combination of both. A page with links to everything would be easiest. All information would be condensed and the paper is being provided by member libraries, not MHLS. This would also decrease the time span between packet going out and the director receiving it. It was suggested that one email be sent which included all the links. The agenda could be a hotlink document.
Some directors use the pink notice as a reminder. It was suggested that a pink agenda be sent and everything else be provided via hotlinks on an emailed agenda. DA and committee meeting minutes will still go out to the list, but will also be hot linked. Next month we will try this.
Adjournment
T. Lawrence moved to adjourn the meeting. S. Cook seconded and the meeting was adjourned at11:20 am.
Respectfully Submitted:
Jeannie Bogino
New Lebanon Library