Call to Order: This regularly scheduled meeting of the OSL Steering Committee was called to order by President Eileen Socha at 9:33 AM in the Ocean State Libraries Office.

Present were:  Shirley Long, Carol Brouwer, Prudence Fallon, Paula DiBiase, Eileen Socha, Ulla Virks, Amy Neilson, Leslie Page, Joan Gillespie.

Also Present: John Carney

Minutes of the May 14, 2009 Meeting: Voted to approve the minutes of April 16, 2009 on a motion Carol Brouwer, seconded by Shirley Long.

Treasurer’s Report: Shirley reported on a mistake in the report. The subtotal of Other Expenses in the column Actual Expenditures Year to date should be $712,381 and the Total of the column should be $1,430,660. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted.

Executive Director’s Report:

-OSL’s request to the Champlin Foundations, totaling $666,564, has been submitted.

-Program Registration has been ordered to take advantage of the half price sale. A request for reimbursement has been submitted to the Champlin Foundations.

-PCL has signed a membership agreement.

-the second round of Tech Access will be run by libraries receiving Gates Grant funded computers.

-Envisionware installation continues.

-Encore has been installed at the OSL office.

-Joan has signed the contract with Ebsco.

-RIDE will provide upgrades in bandwidth for some OSL libraries, they are not however the libraries that

OSL staff identified as those most in need of upgrades.

-a request was made to OSL to create decals that list all libraries at which OSL cardholders may use their cards.

-2 OSL libraries still owe late fees or membership fees. The Steering Committee agreed that the policy concerning late payments should be adhered to and the libraries should be notified of their payment responsibilities.

System Staff Report: Staff has been working on the Backstage cataloging project and the switchover of telecommunications service from Verizon to Cox Communications.

Karla Harry Commission Report: The Commission, now co-chaired by Senator David Bates and Representative Joy Hearne, met on 5/27/09. A Subcommittee on Public Library Structure and Funding was accepted. Three new committees were also approved: Committee to examine funding for public libraries, Committee to examine ways in which public libraries can work together to leverage savings, and Committee to review administrative structure.

Old Business:

a.) Amount of Bandwidth to allocate to PPL and PCL: A motion was made by Carol Brouwer, seconded by Prudence Fallon, to allocate bandwidth to Providence Public Library and Providence Community Library based upon their share of the membership fees to OSL. A vote was taken and the motion passed.

b.) Stimulus Grant status: OSL is partnering with community colleges and has come up with a request for $1.2 million if the Champlin Foundations will allow us to consider the money granted to OSL as matching funds. The request would include: replacing most routers, a new caching server, expanding the number of public use PCs, equipment to create training labs in four libraries that could be used to broadcast classes/ meetings over the web.

New Business: three ad hoc committees were formed:

a.)     Encore Installation Committee: John Carney will chair this committee.

            b.) Program Registration Committee: Eileen will recruit a chair for this committee.

            c.) Cataloging Policies Committee: Eileen will recruit a chair for this committee.

            d.) Ingram Offer to OSL: Joan distributed an offer she had received from Ingram. The Steering

            Committee agreed that the offer was not competitive.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:34 AM on a motion by Carol Brouwer.

Respectfully submitted:

Leslie A. Page, Secretary

Next Meeting: July 16, 2009 at 9:30 AM, at the OSL Offices.