1.      CALL TO ORDER:  This regularly scheduled meeting of the OSL Steering Committee was called to order by President Susan Aylward at 9:35 AM in the Ocean State Libraries Office.

Present were:  Cheryl Abouelaziz, Susan Aylward, Becky Boragine, Joan Gillespie, Leslie McDonough, Laura Marlane, Amy Neilson, Leslie Page, Eileen Socha, and Ulla Virks. Absent: Jon Anderson, Howard Boksenbaum, and Shirley Long.

Also Present:  John Carney.

2.       MINUTES OF THE January 15, 2009 MEETING:

Voted to approve the January 15^th minutes on a motion by Eileen Socha, seconded by Leslie Page.

3.      TREASURERS REPORT: Shirley Long

No new report was presented.

4.      EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS REPORT: Joan Gillespie

Joan’s report addressed the following issues:

a.       Innovative:  III has asked OSL if we would be interested in purchasing their book jacket program from Content Café 2. OSL’s current vendor, Syndetics, is presently more expensive.  Joan will talk to Syndetics and get their best price, and will order the cheaper of the two products. 

b.      RINET:  Providence’s bandwidth will soon go directly to RINET.

c.       Providence Public Library: All of Providence’s routers need to be replaced prior to the switch over to Fibertech in July.     Ethernet cards could be purchased as a stop gap replacement, but the routers themselves are old. Ken is looking into purchasing some used routers.   This may be a request we ask Champlin to fund. 

5.      System Staff Reports: 

No new reports.

6.      Lib Futures Committee Report: Eileen Socha

The Commission charge has expired.  Representative Dennigan will be holding a meeting on March 11^th.

7.       Ad Hoc Database Review Committee Report:

Laura Marlane reported that two trials from EBSCO and Gale have been set up and will begin shortly.  There was a discussion regarding the AskRI contract with EBSCO and whether or not it was contingent on OSL’s repurchasing EBSCO.  It was felt that AskRI shouldn’t play a part in our decision of what OSL should buy.  Laura has also spoken with ProQuest about our contract. They have informed us that we are not receiving the same content because the Providence Journal is no longer providing them with the obituaries.

8.      Old Business:

a.       Developing a policy for OSL response to closing member libraries.

We are waiting on the lawyer’s opinion on whether or not OSL should reword any of its membership agreement.  Various options were discussed regarding what the policy regarding closing members should contain.  Based on today’s inputs, Joan will write up a draft to present to Steering next month for review and discussion.   A suggested fee to charge RI resident, non-OSL patrons for service annually is $100.

b.      Fee to serve out of state patrons

It was proposed that since $100 is the suggested fee for residents then $125 should be the fee for nonresidents.

9.       New Business:

a.       Lisa Davis’ new schedule

Lisa is scheduled to begin working 30 hours as of July 1^st.  Lately, her work load has required she work more hours than scheduled.  It would cost a maximum of $4200 for her to begin this schedule March 1^st.  A motion was made by Eileen Socha, seconded by Laura Marlane, to authorize Joan to increase Lisa Davis’ hours as of March 1^st.

b.      Review of OSL Loan Periods, fines, and policy on making changes
 A motion was made by Leslie McDonough, seconded by Ulla Virks, to reaffirm the policy already in effect relating to the creation of new loan rules, and fine categories. This policy is available and was sent to Directors months ago.  All existing loan rules and fine categories will be posted so libraries can see what is available.

c.       By-Laws: proposed amendments:   Postponed until March.

ADJOURNMENT:

The meeting was adjourned at 11:25AM

Respectfully submitted:

Becky A. Boragine, Secretary

Next Meeting:  Steering March 19, 2009 at 9:30 AM in the OSL Offices