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MOUNTAIN LIBRARY NETWORK
EXECUTIVE BOARD
December 11, 2003
Call to order
The meeting was called to order by Acting Chair, Ann
Farr. In attendance were Ann Farr, Nancy Moore, Judy Gunsaulis, Myra
Ziegler , Suzette Lowe, Emily Seese, Brian Raitz, Danny McMillion,
Cherie Davis, Phyllis Auvil, Stephen Rowe, and Karen Goff representing
the WV Library Commission.
Minutes
Nancy Moore moved that the minutes of the November 6,
2003 General Membership meeting be approved. Cherie Davis seconded.
Motion carried.
The question arose about the membership status of War
Library who has not submitted a membership agreement. Karen Goff stated
that the WV Library Commission will contact War and impress upon them
the importance of signing the agreement and turning it in to the
executive board.
Election of Officers
Suzette Lowe moved and Nancy Moore seconded the motion
that due to the timing of the first election the term of the first
executive board will run from December 2003 to July 2005. It was agreed
by consensus.
Nancy Moore moved, with Cherie Davis seconding, that
Judy Gunsaulis be elected Chair of the MLN Executive Board. Judy was
elected by acclamation.
Phyllis Auvil moved, with Cherie Davis, seconding that
Ann Farr be elected Chair-Elect. Cheri Davis, with Nancy Moore
seconding, moved that the vote be by acclamation. Motion carried.
Nancy Moore moved, with Emily Seese seconding, that
Suzette Lowe be elected Secretary. Emily Seese, with Cherie Davis
seconding, moved that the vote be acclamation. Motion carried.
The question arose concerning membership on the board of
small and medium library representatives. The members elected from the
small and medium libraries were asked to decide between them which
member would serve until May 2005 and which until May 2006. They will
report their decision at the January meeting of the Executive Board.
Old Business
Current State of Conversion/Migration
Brian Raitz reported the following :
The data clean up and system migration is on schedule so
far. He reported that to date there have been no surprises.
Edmund Rose of GIS has several reports ready
including a call number report for every data base which Brian
will send to individual libraries. Brian and Christy will look at
the MARC tags the MLN wants to use prior to migration. Individual
libraries will be contacted. Holding tags (845 field) will move to
the 945 field.
Brian will talk to Heather Campbell, cataloger for
the WV Library Commission, concerning use of uniform MARC tags.
Subject headings that are not correct LC subjects,
but which individual libraries have used in the past, will be
moved to the searchable item field.
The number of brief records still in the data base
: 85,000 out of 943,000. About 40% of those have control numbers
Migration/cleanup is on schedule.
Innovative has contacted Brian about another piece
of software that needs to be purchased for the server : an $800 C
compiler software. The WV Library Commission will pay for it
Migration schedule : December 2003/January 1, 2004
– it will take 30 days to load data. Training will begin in
February 2004 on actual library data.
Training : Brian is in the process of compiling a
list of all the libraries’ staff that need particular training
and passwords. Innovative has assigned another trainer so that 30
people can attend training rather than the original number of 15.
In February 2004, systems training will begin.
Those attending will be a mixture of reference librarians,
catalogers, and technical personnel. The first session will
include fields of the database that will be searchable and OPAC
design and training.
Indexing Training Participants (Tentative) :
Christy Carver, Heather Campbell, Virginia Rubenstein, Kimberly
Moore, Danny McMillion, Eva McGuire
OPAC training participants (Tentative) : Doug
Moore, Lynn Pauley, Kay McCoy, Eva McGuire
Technical staff : Larry Arnold, Harlan White, Cris
Spradling, and Carl Hackworth
Future training sessions include :
February 3, 4 & 5, 2004 : Web OPAC, Profile
Evaluation of Database, Systems administration, and Circulation
parameters profiling discussion.
March 30 & 31, 2004 : Cataloging
April 13 & 14, 2004 : Circulation
A request was made for more detail as to what each
training session will address. It was suggested that Judy call
Karen Arnett of Kanawha County Library to act as consultant.
Danny McMillion announced that she would like
Johnnie King to be trained in circulation on the new system. After
she is trained Danny is willing to loan her to any of the
libraries in the southern region to serve as a circulation trainer
for library staff. Raleigh County Public Library is willing to pay
all costs incurred up to $10,000.
Patron Cards
Suzette Lowe reported that 90% of the libraries in the
MLN have verbally agreed to use the universal MLN patron card. A few
libraries have not responded as of this meeting. Each library will
have a unique patron library card number that will not duplicate any
other library. Patron numbers will be 14 digits. Item bar codes will
also be unique 14 digit numbers. Suzette will contact Innovative to
see if there are any special requirements for the software. Suzette
was to meet with J.D. Waggoner, WVLC Executive Secretary, to discuss
and decide the issue of patron and item barcode ranges. Member
libraries are interested in ordering approximately 190,000 cards.
Suzette hopes to decide by mid January on the appearance. The bid
process will take a considerable amount of time and we will need the
finished product by May.
It was the consensus of the Board that Larry Arnold be
asked to experiment with colors for the logo which will go on the
patron cards, the MLN webpage, and any official letterheads.
New Business
Possible New Members
On December 3, 2003, Judy Gunsaulis, along with J. D.
Waggoner and Denise Ash of the WV Library Commission, attended a
meeting at which various community colleges discussed a new proposed
facility in southern West Virginia. This facility would incorporate an
electronic library serving various colleges in the region. The
colleges, including Marshall Graduate Center, Southern Community
College, are interested in joining the MLN.
Possible issues include :
What databases would Marshall Graduate Center and
the other colleges bring to the MLN and would the public libraries
be allowed to use them?
How can new members be added after the MLN has
purchased licenses?
What would be the expense of adding more simultaneous
users?
The size of the MLN would be increasing – is this
feasible?
The executive board membership might have to be
adjusted to give more representation to the colleges/universities.
Will colleges and universities be willing to
follow the by-laws and rules of the MLN?
The positive aspects include :
This would be of use to public library patrons,
many of whom attend the schools in question
Database sharing if the colleges/universities allow
Vendor negotiation is easier with more libraries
Grant writing would be easier due to the broad
consortium and expertise the colleges would provide.
The MLN bylaws state that if an institution wishes to
join the MLN they submit an application. The issue is then brought
before the executive committee for a vote to admit them. Innovative says
they are willing and able to add or delete scopes, but we are currently
limited to 170 users. That may effect the growth of the Mountain Library
Network. If an institution decides they want to join, they need to send
a formal letter of application with a proposal for membership. The
compatibility of their existing software and hardware will need to be
investigated at their expense. Anyone interested in joining the MLN will
need to work in close contact with Innovative, WVLC, and the MLN.
The question arose concerning addressing, in the MLN
by-laws, the cost of adding new libraries to the network. The consensus
of the Board was that the decision will be made on a case by case basis.
It was the consensus of the board that Chair Judy
Gunsaulis contact the interested colleges concerning a formal letter of
application. The MLN Executive Board is open to the proposition of
adding more libraries with the understanding that any new members must
abide by the rules and by-laws of the MLN, that any cost would be
covered by the incoming library, and that all decision would be
contingent on the hardware and software capabilities.
Committees
It was the consensus of the Board that the Circulation
and Cataloging Committees propose a final document for approval at the
next Executive Board meeting in January 2004. Danny McMillion suggested
that there be a way of amending the cataloging and circulation policy.
All approved policy documents will be published and put
on the MLN website.
Nancy Moore moved, with Emily Seese seconding, that the
Cataloging Committee and Circulation Committee be standing committees.
Motion carried.
Suggestions for members of the two committees should be
made to Chair Judy Gunsaulis by January 26th, 2004.
The next meetings of the Executive Board will be January
26, 2004 and February 24, 2004 at the WV Library Commission in
Charleston.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m.
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