1. CALL TO ORDER
This regularly scheduled meeting of the CLAN Steering Committee meeting was called to order by Chair Kathryn Taylor at 9:40 A.M. at the Warwick Public Library.

Steering Committee members in attendance: Susan Aylward, Peter Bennett, Carol Brouwer, John Carney, Fran Farrell-Bergeron, Anne Parent, Pat Redfearn, Regina Slezak, Kathryn Taylor, Ulla Virks. Excused absence: Shirley Long, Doug Pearce

Also in attendance: Dan Austin, David Macksam, Cindy St. Amour, Elaine Clark

2. MINUTES OF JUNE 23 AND JUNE 30 STEERING COMMITTEE MEETINGS
VOTED unanimously to accept the minutes of the June 23, 2005 meeting as presented. (Ulla Virks, John Carney).

VOTED unanimously to accept the minutes of the June 30, 2005 meeting as presented. (Pat Redfearn, Ulla Virks).

3. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT (Peter Bennett)
MIGRATION UPDATE
Peter reported that the migration process has begun. CLAN has made the initial payment and Peter has been working with a senior data analyst at Innovative. This migration will be significantly different from the previous one largely because this will be an external migration (from one vendor to another vendor) rather than an internal one (within one vendor's system). This means that we are responsible for extracting the data in a format which meets the specifications of Innovative. Though this is more work, it means we have much more control over both the data and the process. Peter has done some test loads with Innovative and it all looks good. The bibliographic item and authority records are the first bunches of data that will be extracted.

Steering Committee members asked Peter what impact the migration process is likely to have on our daily operations in Horizon and he responded that there will be a minimal impact, if any. In an external migration, the new system is built on a new server. The only possible impact would be when the data is actually being extracted and Peter expects to do this during off hours when Horizon is not in use for daily operations.

The first major milestone will be to have the hardware installed and have a profile database of maybe 100,000 bibliographic item authority records ready and loaded for October 1st, which is the date of the first system administration training.

8e6 FILTERING SYSTEM
Peter continued his System Administrator's report with a discussion of 8e6, the filtering system available through RINET. He has looked at 8e6 and has found that it does everything Web Sense does, and easier. If we purchase our own box, at a fairly minimal cost, we would then be able to operate under the RINET license. It would be a savings for CLAN of $12,000 to $14,000 a year. Having our own box will make it easier for individual libraries to maintain their own local profiles. David Macksam asked if someone from RINET could attend the RILA Intellectual Freedom Committee meeting on August 19th to talk about 8e6 and filtering. Peter will contact RINET about this.

Further discussion ensued on filtering, CIPA compliance, and the ACLU report. Kathryn brought the discussion back to CLAN's role. CLAN provided a filtering system for the membership and created a minimum level that blocked sex, adult content, and nudity. This minimum level was based on the three categories that Peter had been told we needed to block in order to comply with CIPA. The Steering Committee continued to discuss each of these three categories as well as the ACLU report. Though members largely disagreed with the methodology used by the ACLU in making public its findings about filtering in RI libraries, the findings themselves were instructive in looking at filters, the content being blocked, and our own processes within CLAN regarding instructing the membership about what is being blocked.

After much additional discussion, the Steering Committee VOTED unanimously that CLAN establish a minimum standard of filtering for all CLAN libraries which blocks two categories of material: adult content and sex. (Fran Farrell-Bergeron, John Carney). Peter will adjust the individual library profiles of those libraries that had opted for the minimum level of blocking and will post a message on the CLAN message board, which instructs libraries about the procedure for requesting a higher level of blocking.

4. REPORTS OF CLAN STAFF
CINDY ST. AMOUR (Head of Data Processing)
Cindy St. Amour reported on the GALE databases and Dorey Conway's offer to arrange to have the Gale sales rep give a presentation on the statistics reports for use of the Gale databases and on the two new features of CLAN's Gale subscription-power searching and the subscription to the Virtual Reference Library. The Steering Committee agreed to accept Dorey's offer and Cindy will be in touch with her about having the Gale folks do a presentation at the September membership meeting.

Steering Committee members asked about recent HORIZON problems. Cindy and Peter explained the "scalability" problem with Horizon. We have filled up the database. Peter has done some things which should give us enough room to keep us going for another six months to get us to Innovative.

RICK PAYETTE (Technical Support Specialist)
Elaine Clark reported for Rick. She distributed copies of the Champlin Use of Funds Report that Rick had compiled. There is a balance of $82,620 from this year's grant, which CLAN is hoping to apply toward the migration. Peter and Rick will be meeting with the Champlin folks in August.

The Steering Committee discussed Champlin's new practice of not reporting individual libraries' shares of the Champlin grant for CLAN technology. The Steering Committee discussed CLAN's responsibility in making the PR announcement about the grants. It was decided that CLAN will handle its own press release about the Champlin grants from now on, announcing the amount received from The Champlin Foundations, and issuing a list of libraries and the amounts of the individual grants. Elaine will compile a list of local newspapers and the contact information so that the CLAN office can send the press releases to the local papers as well as the Providence Journal. She will send an e-mail to CLAN directors asking for the contact information for their local papers.

ELAINE CLARK (Administrative Assistant)
HEALTH INSURANCE FOR CLAN STAFF
Elaine reported on the rise in Blue Cross rates (28.5%) and her investigation into the rates for similar plans with United Health Care. Kathryn asked Elaine to complete her research into the issue, to make a recommendation in writing, and Kathryn will give her the go ahead to move forward with United if that is what she recommends.

The Steering Committee felt that the health insurance issue requires further discussion for long-term planning and this will be one of the issues that the Ad Hoc Committee on Personnel Policy adds to their agenda of items for discussion.

5. TREASURER'S REPORT
Shirley Long had sent a budget report to Kathryn, and it will be discussed at the next meeting.

Anne Parent reported that the grant has been put into motion for the $50,000 that OLIS will contribute toward CLAN's migration to Triple I. The contract has been signed and the money should be released in late August. The Steering Committee thanked Anne for her efforts, as she has been pushing on several fronts to get this grant approved as expeditiously as possible.

6. AD HOC COMMITTEE ON STANDARDIZATION
Chris LaRoux reported to Chair Kathryn Taylor that there were 33 responses to the committee's questionnaire. The committee expects to meet again on August 1st, when they should be able to wrap up their work.

7. AD HOC COMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL POLICY
Chair Kathryn Taylor reported that the committee had asked Elaine to write up CLAN's actual personnel practices as the first step in drafting terms of employment for CLAN employees and then looking at the job descriptions. UllaVirks, Dan Austin, Anne Parent, and Doug Pearce are serving on the committee with Kathryn Taylor.

8. QUESTION ON THE MOTION TO MIGRATE (Fran Farrell-Bergeron representing the Western Region)
Fran reported that one of her constituents asked to have the Steering Committee review the wording of the motion to migrate (May 12th membership meeting). Fran's constituent was concerned because she felt the wording of the motion did not clearly authorize migration. The Steering Committee discussed the issue in detail. Chair Kathryn Taylor asked Carol Brouwer who made the motion and Ulla Virks who seconded the motion their intent. Carol Brouwer reminded the Steering Committee that there had been so many prior meetings about Triple I and about the issue of migration, that the subtext was clearly migration. Both Carol and Ulla intended for the motion to authorize migration to Triple I. The Steering Committee reviewed the minutes of the meeting. The minutes clearly reflect a discussion about migration. The agenda item under which the vote was taken was listed as "Steering Committee Recommendation to Migrate to the Innovative Interfaces Platform." In discussing the issue, Steering Committee members felt unanimously that it is important for motions to represent the spirit of the vote. Regina Slezak pointed out that everyone she talked to after that meeting clearly thought they were voting to authorize migration.

After much discussion, the Steering Committee made the following statement: The Steering Committee acknowledges that the wording of the motion left it open to possible mis-interpretation, but reaffirms that the intent of the motion was to migrate to Triple I.

9. OTHER
HOLDS PROCEDURES
Pat Redfearn reported that someone on her staff discovered that her position in a holds list had changed because a staff member at another library shifted the hold queue.

NEW COMMITTEE FOR GROUP PURCHASES
John Carney (Northern Region representative), on behalf of Laura Marlane, asked if she could attend the August Steering Committee meeting to discuss forming a new committee for group purchases of databases. The Steering Committee will add Laura to the agenda.

This led to a related discussion of the Overdrive demo and the issue of how CLAN makes decisions about group purchasing of services. The Steering Committee felt strongly that we should be investigating more than one vendor of downloadable media. Regina Slezak pointed out a helpful article in Computers in Libraries which compared the major vendors of downloadable audio materials. The Committee wondered if Laura's committee for group purchases could take up this issue and arrange a demonstration from all the major vendors before CLAN makes a final decision. Kathryn Taylor suggested Chris LaRoux (since he is working with Overdrive on a group purchase) and Laura co-chair this ad hoc committee.

MIGRATION OF BIB RECORDS WITH NO ITEMS
Peter reported that Patience and the Database Management Committee have recommended that we do not migrate bib records that have no items attached. There was no objection from the Steering Committee to this recommendation.

10. ADJOURNED EXECUTIVE SESSION

VOTED unanimously to go into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters. (Regina Slezak, Fran Farrell-Bergeron).

The meeting was adjourned to Executive Session at 11:30 AM.

Next Steering Committee meeting will be Wednesday, August 17, 2005 at 9:30AM at the Warwick Public Library.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Aylward
Secretary