Document #06-81

LIBRARIES OF MIDDLESEX AUTOMATION CONSORTIUM

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

LMxAC OFFICE

November 30, 2006

MINUTES

 

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mary Faith Chmiel – Spotswood

Margery Cyr – Old Bridge

Irene Goldberg - Monroe

Joe Lyons - Sayreville

Lewis Ostar - Middlesex College Library

Anne Roman – Piscataway

 

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:

Robert Belvin - New Brunswick

 

LMxAC STAFF PRESENT:

Eileen M. Palmer

Elisa Bash

 

The meeting was called to order at 10:10am by Vice President Mary Faith Chmiel.

 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Eileen M. Palmer added the discussion of the 2007-2010 Technology Plan to the agenda under New Business. Margery Cyr moved to approve the agenda of the November 30, 2006 Executive Board Meeting as amended. (Document #06-73). Irene Goldberg seconded the motion. All members were in favor. The motion carried.

 

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING:

Irene Goldberg moved to approve the minutes of the October 19, 2006 LMxAC Executive Board meeting. (Document #06-74). Mary Faith Chmiel seconded the motion. All members were in favor.  The motion carried.

 

TREASURER'S REPORT:

Lewis Ostar presented the detailed Financial Statements for October, 2006. (Document #06-75). Eileen reviewed the revenue and expenditure accounts with the Board. She explained positive and negative aspects of the financial statement. In the Revenue accounts, Interest Earned and Hub Library Grant accounts were above the amounts anticipated in the budget. In the Expenditure accounts, the increase to the ISP; Consulting Services; and Bib Service Fees (Palinet) accounts were additional costs that had not been anticipated with in this budget year. She also explained the transfer of funds from the Cash Management accounts to cover non-budgeted expenses like the Listen NJ project.

The report was reviewed and filed for audit.

 

FINANCIAL POSITION STATEMENT

Balance as of 10/31/06:

Accounts Receivable                                                                   $   235,822.35

Checking                                                                                     $    119,539.97

Cash Management                                                                       $    554,651.86

Development Fund                                                                      $    310,504.25

Cash Assets Total:                                                                       $ 1,220,518.43

Liabilities:

Accounts Payable 11/30/06                                                         $      65,355.04

 

APPROVAL OF BILL LIST: (Document #06-76) Margery Cyr moved to approve the Bill List for November 30, 2006.  Irene Goldberg seconded the motion. All members were in favor.  The motion carried.

 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT: (Document #06-77)

Eileen M. Palmer presented her report to the Executive Board and discussed several issues including: a report on Membership Visits; report on the Software Upgrade and Enhancements; Activity Report; and Meetings. In the Membership Visits report, Eileen mentioned that the visits to member libraries are going well and she hopes to visit the remaining libraries before the end of December. In the Unicorn Software Upgrade report, she noted that preparation has already begun for the upgrade process scheduled for the weekend of December 16. She explained that an attached memo to her report gives full details about the upgrade project. This memo will be distributed to all member libraries. She reported that she received an additional SirsiDynix report created by Michael Koehn of BCCLS. She distributed the LMxAC Reciprocal Summary Report to Board members. This report analyzes the system wide borrowing and loaning patterns among our member libraries during the month of October 2006.  The Board agreed to offer this report to the members after a few months’ data had been accumulated and the report could be presented in context. Eileen spoke about her meeting with other Consortia Directors in an effort to work together to share information about joint projects such as reciprocal borrowing as well as common SirsiDynix issues and future shared development projects.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

TRANSITION PROCESS – FINAL PHASE- Anne Roman evaluated the service of the Support Center and Barbara Miller’s performance. Anne felt the transition process went very smoothly. The Board offered Eileen the opportunity to use special services provided by the Support Center if she felt the need to use these services. The Board agreed to wrap up the process but may revisit the use of the Support Center and Barbara Miller’s services for facilitating a Board retreat.

 

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE APPROVAL AND PAYMENT POLICIES (Document#06-78)

Eileen reported that she has reviewed our current bill paying practices. She surveyed several colleagues and other consortia about their practices. She discovered that there were no written policies at any of the locations surveyed. She will need more time and would like to put together written internal control policy and procedures. She will work with Elisa Bash, LMxAC Bookkeeper, on creating a prospective vendor list for approval of anticipated monthly bill payments. Eileen mentioned that she is looking into a new credit card for LMxAC. She met with Lucy Biller, PNC Bank manager, and spoke about obtaining a new credit card that does not affect the personal credit rating of LMxAC employees.

 

UNICORN UPGRADE

Eileen summarized the process in upgrading to Unicorn GL3.1 software. She will be sending an email to all libraries explaining the timeline of this process and important procedures for the member libraries to follow during the weekend of the upgrade.  The upgrade is scheduled for the weekend of December 16. Unicorn and iBistro will be down from Saturday evening at 5pm until Sunday morning. Full functionality of the system is expected back by Monday morning, December 18. She explained that libraries will receive release notes and copies of the new client software on CD with complete instructions on uploading the software onto workstations. The length of time for uploading each workstation is expected to be about 15 minutes. Ann Macdonald will schedule technicians, Mike Bagileo and Steve Rossa to help those libraries in need of assistance with completing this software upgrade.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

LMxAC TECHNOLOGY PLAN:

Eileen distributed a draft Technology Plan for 2007-2010 that would be presented to the New Jersey State Library. She may need to modify its format to meet the requirements of the State Library. Eileen noted that it is a good planning document. She asked the Board to review the plan and vote on its final approval at next month’s Executive Board meeting.

 

NJSL PROPOSED REGULATION REGARDING LIBRARY APPROPRIATIONS – LETTER OF SUPPORT (Document#06-79) Anne Roman mentioned that the State Library has received some negative comments about the proposed regulations on appropriations to municipalities and libraries. She felt it was important to send some positive feedback to the State Library and show that we support these proposed regulations. The Board members agreed to send a letter of support to Norma Blake, State Librarian and Victoria Roche, Library Development at the New Jersey State Library.  The Board members also encourage the LMX group to send a letter of support.

 

2007 – 2008 BUDGET APPROVAL (Document#06-72R)

The Board members spoke about the presentation of the draft budget to members at the October General Membership meeting. The member libraries had not given any negative feedback to the proposed increases in Assessments. The proposed transfer of funds from reserves helped ease the burden on the membership. The Board had accepted the final revision of the 2007/2008 Budget and Assessment and recommended it be forward to the members for approval at the December 15, 2006 General Membership meeting.

 

CENTRAL SEARCH IMPLEMENTATION

Eileen reported to the Board that she was awaiting pricing information from SirsiDynix for the ongoing costs for the Central Search product. Serial Solutions, the third party vendor working with SirsiDynix on the Central Search product was not prepared to offer consortia pricing. The ongoing costs are expected to be much higher than anticipated. The contract originally signed between the County and SirsiDynix was for the Single search but SirsiDynix made the change to implement the Central Search product. Eileen recommended finding out which member libraries want to implement this product. If costs are too high, other products should be investigated. Eileen recommended waiting for the pricing before seeking other options. The Board agreed with Eileen to wait for the final pricing quote on this product.

 

OTHER:

HOLIDAY LUNCH FOR LMXAC STAFF: Eileen announced to the Board that the LMxAC Staff will hold its holiday luncheon at LouCas Restaurant on December 21, 2006 at 1:30pm. Eileen asked the Board, if the office could be closed the rest of the day to allow the staff to go home after the luncheon. Margery Cyr moved to approve the closing of the LMxAC Office on the afternoon of December 21, 2006. Joe Lyons seconded the motion. All members were in favor. The motion carried.

 

COMMUNICATIONS: Communication included an updated LMxAC Executive Board Address/Phone List.

 

ADJOURNMENT:

Margery Cyr moved to adjourn the meeting. Mary Faith Chmiel seconded the motion. All members were in favor. The motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 12:10pm. The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, December 15, 2006, at 1:00pm at the Monroe Township Library.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Margery Cyr

Recording Secretary