The Committee met at the Warwick Public Library.  Chair Kathryn Taylor convened the meeting at 9:50 AM.  Attendees:  Dan Austin, PRO; Peter Bennett, CLAN Systems and Network Administrator and Central Site Representative; Carol Brouwer, Vice Chair and NSM;  John Carney, Regional Representative and EPL; Laura Dixon, WWA; Leslie McDonough, Treasurer and SCI; Ginny Moses, Executive Director; Anne Parent, OLIS Representative; Rick Payette, Technical Support Specialist; Regina Slezak, Regional Representative and NPT; Cindy St. Amour, Head of Data Processing; Kathryn Taylor, Chair and WES; Ulla Virks, Regional Representative and CHA.

Committee members absent:  Susan Aylward, Secretary and NKI; Doug Pearce, Regional Representative and WAR.

The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as presented.

The report of the Organization Study Committee was accepted as presented.

Treasurer’s report:

Leslie McDonough took questions about the quarterly budget report.  Anne Parent asked for clarification concerning CLAN’s method of payment to Nelinet.  Peter Bennett explained that CLAN pays on a fixed fee basis rather than a per transaction basis to save money.

Anne asked how many records are cataloged per year.

Regina asked about CLAN fee payments and Ginny assured her they are current.

The Treasurer’s report was accepted as presented.

Regina and Kathryn want the CPA who performs CLAN’s annual audit to present his report to the Steering Committee rather than to the Treasurer and Executive Director. 

Ginny will talk with the CPA and discuss costs of his reporting to Steering, if any.

Regina and Ginny discussed the complexity of CLAN’s finances and Regina stated that she believes  the finances at NPT are equal in complexity to those of CLAN.

Systems and Network Administrator’s report of meeting with III representatives at ALA in Boston:

Peter Bennett and Dan Austin met with III representatives regarding InRhode and the possibility of CLAN and HELIN having a common user interface.  Also present were Kathryn Taylor, David Macksam (CRA), Regina Slezak, and Beth Perry (OLIS).  They discussed various methods of achieving the goal of a common user interface.  If CLAN stays with DYNIX we’d need to buy a separate server.  There would have to be regular batch updates, library staffs would have to monitor the servers, do separate pull lists and separate check in and check outs for InRhode items. 

Peter asked if it would all work better if CLAN changed to III to eliminate all the extra steps.  The cost would be somewhere around $500K to migrate to III.

If CLAN decides to migrate to III it would decrease the cost of doing InRhode.  Peter estimates that the entire project would cost about $600K to $700K.  Maybe Champlin Foundations would fund it all as a package. 

Ulla asked if this is inevitable anyway. 

Peter replied that it was not necessarily so.  If we wanted to do it all with DYNIX (URSA) we would have to wait since it is not ready now.

The decision would be up to the membership.  If the membership is interested, we could run it all by Champlin Foundations and see what they think.

The time frame would be:

Submit grant request in May 2005, get answer in November 2005.  If the answer is yes, get the money in December 2005 and have it rolling by April 2006.

Ann Parent is concerned that schools should be included in the common catalog.

Rick Payette pointed out that CLAN could not ask Champlin Foundations for money for schools.

Anne Parent wants CLAN to examine the entire issue and look at the big picture and all possible resources. She would be against the project if the schools were excluded.  There should be a way to use a combination of funds.

Kathryn Taylor noted that our primary commitment must be to CLAN, not the schools.

Peter Bennett is concerned that future DYNIX releases might mess up the interface with III.  Peter will get a timeline and updated costs from III.

Ulla asked if the Futures Committee is looking into the universal catalog idea and Anne Parent replied that the committee is not yet fully formed.

Anne said that there was concern expressed at the HELIN conference when the librarian from Maine spoke about the common catalog there that public libraries become net lenders and academic libraries become net borrowers.  Perhaps libraries could be compensated for net loans.  It was done that way in Massachusetts. 

Cindy noted that that is no longer the case.

Leslie McDonough suggested CLAN wait until the Futures Committee gets its recommendations in place.

Kathryn Taylor said that CLAN should lead the way.

Peter Bennett noted a timing issue:  our server is near EOL (end of life) and he had planned to ask the Champlin Foundations for a new one in 2006.  Should it be put off a year?

Anne Parent said CLAN should not hesitate.

Peter said III quoted the new server at about $30K, but he believes it will be closer to $60K-$80K.  He will have firmer figures for the February 10, 2005 membership meeting.

Executive Director’s report:

No questions on written report (see report on CLAN Message)

New part time cataloger has been hired and a start date is to be set ASAP.

See Peter’s report (on CLAN Message) for information on the pros and cons of switching from OSHEAN to RINET as our ISP.

A decision is needed ASAP to meet the erate deadline.

****MOTION made by Leslie McDonough, SECOND by Carol Brouwer, to change from OSHEAN to RINET for ISP.

Discussion ensued.  There would be no-cost anti-spam and intrusion detection through RINET, as well as filtering.

It was decided that the Steering Committee cannot vote to switch without the approval of the membership, but erate forms will be prepared in case we do make the change.

Filtering was discussed and Peter will provide details at the membership meeting.

****VOTE:  to authorize the change subject to the approval of the membership.

There were no questions for Cindy St. Amour on her report. (see CLAN Message)

Peter interjected that the news from the telecomm pool is good.  All libraries will have full T-1’s now.  If CLAN ever had to pay for these lines it would cost $33K per month, or more.  Thanks go to Bill Fiske.

Anne Parent asked who pays for this.

Peter told us the pool pays, with funds gathered from charges on consumer phone bills.

There were no questions for Rick Payette on his report (see CLAN Message)

Bylaws Committee report was presented by Regina Slezak: (The updated draft of the bylaws is included with this report on the CLAN Minutes and Reports site.  That version, as prepared by Regina Slezak, reflects changes made to the original draft as a result of Steering Committee discussion and input.).

Draft copy of Revised Bylaws [PDF]

The idea is to strengthen the powers of the Steering Committee, make its authority clear and make the organizational structure stronger.

Article VI, Section 1, Item B.  concerned Ginny Moses.  Anne Parent said the intent is not to have the Committee sign each check.  Dan Austin said the Committee might authorize the Executive Director to sign checks within a set of guidelines.

Leslie McDonough finds it to be micromanagement of the Executive Director. 

Dan Austin said that the Executive Director will not be expected to present a list of invoices to the Committee.  John Carney found it too vague.

Rick Payette expressed concern about purchases made by CLAN for libraries and Regina Slezak said the new bylaws would not affect that process. 

Discussion of further particulars ensued. 

****MOTION by Anne Parent, SECOND by Carol. Brouwer, to recommend the updated bylaws be approved by the membership, with changes as recommended by the Steering Committee.

Unanimously passed.

Meeting was adjourned at 11:43 AM by Chair Kathryn Taylor.  Next Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for April 28, 2005 at WAR.

Respectfully Submitted by Executive Director Ginny Moses for Secretary Susan Aylward.