MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 

LINCOLN TRAIL LIBRARIES SYSTEM

 

 

 

DATE:          February 24, 2003

 

TIME:          7:00 P.M.

 

PLACE:        LTLS HEADQUARTERS, CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

                        Carolyn Adkins, President......................................... Charleston

                        Nina Pals, Vice President.......................................... Altamont

                        Garold Eaglin, Secretary........................................... Marshall

                        Jim Eldridge, Treasurer........................................... Rantoul

                        Laura Barnes............................................................. Champaign

                        Russ Dankert............................................................. Champaign

                        Paula Kaufman........................................................... Urbana

                        Cheryl Kurtenbach.................................................... Melvin

                        Susan McKinney......................................................... St. Joseph

                        Barb Turner.............................................................. Rantoul

 

MEMBERS NOT PRESENT:

                       

                        Sharron Kreider........................................................ Ashkum

                        Richard Lutz.............................................................. Mansfield

                        Shelley Siuts.............................................................. Tolono

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

                        LTLS Staff.................................................................. Champaign

                              Jan Ison, Executive Director

                              Pat Boze, Consultant

                              Kim Fraser, Business Manager

                              Donna Schaal, Consultant

                              Joe Sciacca, Consultant

                              Merdy Smith, Consultant

                              Karen Wilkinson, Communications Manager

 

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE LTLS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

February 24, 2003

 

 

President Carolyn Adkins called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.  She welcomed Illinois State Library staff members Anne Craig and Mike Ragen.  Roll call was taken with ten members present, three absent.

 

The following Consent Agenda was presented:

 

A.              Approval of Minutes of the December 16, 2002 Meeting

B.             Approval of Treasurer¹s Report

€Schedules of Checks

437     Check Nos. 44086 through 44134

437.1  Check Nos. 30013 through 30074

€Schedules of Activity

437.2  Illinois Funds-Money Market Fund

437.3  The Illinois Funds-Prime Fund

437.4  BankIllinois Grant Account

€Investment Report

€Petty Cash Report as of January 10, 2003

 

€Schedules of Checks

438     Check Nos. 44135 through 44243

438.1  Check Nos. 30075 through 30135

€Schedules of Activity

438.2  Illinois Funds-Money Market Fund

438.3  The Illinois Funds-Prime Fund

438.4  BankIllinois Grant Account

€Investment Report

€Petty Cash Report as of February 13, 2003

 

C.         Approval of Staff Recommendation

            €Action Item No. 2003-13 Fund Transfer

 

D.         Approval of Membership Committee Recommendation

€Action item No. 2003-14 Membership Application ­ Membership Status

Change ­ Rossville-Alvin CUSD #7

€ Action item No. 2003-15 Membership Review ­ Continued Eligibility

€ Action item No. 2003-16 Membership Review ­ Continued Eligibility

 with Concerns

€ Action item No. 2003-17 Membership Status Change ­

Georgetown-Ridge Farm CUSD #4

           

Ms. Kaufman moved to approve the Consent Agenda; Ms. Pals seconded the motion.  A roll call vote was taken:

 

Yes ­ Barnes, Dankert, Eaglin, Eldridge, Kaufman, Kurtenbach, McKinney, Pals, Turner, Adkins.  No - None.

 

PRESIDENT'S REPORT ­ Carolyn Adkins

 

Ms. Adkins reported that there has been a sexual abuse case within the Tuscola School District.  Subsequently, she received complaints from parents about some books in the library on related topics.

 

DIRECTOR'S REPORT - Jan Ison

 

Ms. Ison highlighted several items from the Executive Director¹s and Consultants¹ reports.  She explained Project12, the LSTA funded project to develop professionally designed marketing materials promoting the cooperative services offered by Illinois libraries.  She showed the Board posters featuring four messages also used on screen savers, bookmarks, table tents, and cards.  Training will be offered to librarians on how to download the items from the Project12 website and customize them for their libraries.  The kick-off for use of these materials is planned for National Library Week.

 

Ms. Ison showed the Board the twelve advocacy cards that have been developed, each with a local story and supporting facts, for distribution monthly to state and federal legislators statewide.  LTLS will host ³The ABC¹s & 123¹s of Legislative Advocacy² on March 12, 2003.  She reported that she attended ALA Midwinter Conference where budget problems and the USA Patriots Act were key issues.  Ms. Ison said that LTLS is moving toward completion of the Request for Upgrade to Horizon.

 

Pat Boze reported that LINC Pac is being implemented for 45 LINC libraries.  This product takes the place of Pac for Windows and is a web-based catalog.

 

Ms. Ison gave the board information on six bills currently before the General Assembly.    She also called the Board¹s attention to a Project Update on the Universal Service Discount Program that has provided funds to LTLS, schools, and public libraries for telecommunication services, Internet access, and internal connections.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS - none

 

ILLINOIS STATE LIBRARY REPORT ­ Mike Ragen

 

Mr. Ragen announced that the ³On the Front Lines Conference² will be held at the University of Illinois-Springfield on March 17-19, 2003.  This conference offers information and programs for front line staff at all types of libraries.

 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS - none

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

Ms. Ison presented the following staff action item:

 

€ Action Item 2003-18 Board Meeting Schedule Change

 

Staff recommends that a regular meeting of the Board of Directors be held on Monday, April 21, 2003, and that Board members make library visits during the month of May. The original schedule calls for library visits during April and a regular meeting on May 19, 2003.  The meeting in May will not be held.

 

Mr. Eaglin moved to approve the action item; Ms. McKinney seconded the motion.  The Board was unanimously in favor of the recommendation.

 

Announcements

 

Ms. Ison suggested that meetings of the Budget/Finance Committee be held on March 10, 2003 and

April 14, 2003 at 6:30 p.m.  Committee members were requested to notify Ms. Ison of their availability on those dates.

 

DISCUSSION/PLANNING

 

Anne Craig and Mike Ragen from the Illinois State Library gave a PowerPoint presentation on the zIllane (Illinois Library Resources and Automation in the Networked Environment) study and then asked for input to help the Illinois State Library prior to applying any of the study¹s recommendations.  The Board¹s comments are attached.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Ms. Barnes moved to adjourn the meeting; Ms. Kaufman seconded the motion.  All were in favor of the motion, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

 

 

Approved by the Lincoln Trail Libraries System Board of Directors on Monday, March 17, 2003.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                               

Carolyn Adkins, President                                 Garold Eaglin, Secretary

ZILLANE FORUM

Board Meeting ­ February 24, 2003

 

Board Comments

 

*Was there a reference to combining library automation systems? 

*Issue of delivery - if it gets too far away, gets harder to get materials in a timely fashion

*Multitype resource sharing is the backbone of everything - makes us all able to offer quality service to patrons.  Ex: 4th grade class, studying African-American music, no way I could have enough for all the kids - by sharing we can pull in everything we need.  It's so wonderful to see how happy the kids are when they get something we order - the kids are so impressed

*[People in Illinois] tend to take multitype sharing for granted, I come from a state where it wasn't in place, it's really difficult to get materials in that state

*I don't even think about where things are coming from

*UI is a huge borrower, patrons don't think anything about [not] requesting an item if it's not on the shelf

*A library is a library is a libraryŠcan get items from other libraries that we wouldn't be expected to buy

*I don't even think of state lines

*I just sent a book from our little school library to U of MT today!

*Need to think about how we deliver non-returnables on statewide basis (articles, things that don't have to be returned)

*Need to be able to download it and print it, use it as we need it

*Besides automation, the next best thing that's happened to my library is FS - saves us lots of money on electronic resources

*PDR, other online health resources also wonderful

*People in my building use FS at their desk, without my even knowing it!

*I'm now doing ILL through OCLC for my PE teacher

*Couple of concerns - how much did we pay for the state report and how many libraries could we have automated with that money?  I am concerned that we take some Texas person's viewpoint when the money could have been spent locally

*There is a big difference between what goes on in LTLS and statewide

*Concerns about adding another bureaucratic layer to do the fiscal accounting that may be required

*Let's look to the future, full text, etc., where we want to go

*We've already crossed the 'oclc' bridge and dealt with that

*I don't understand the different ways of accounting problem - I come from a school system and, in the end, everyone wound up spending a certain amount per child

*What we're seeing is 'in-kind' system money that isn't allocated the same way

*We do a program budget but not everyone reports the same kind of expenses to the program

*Definitions could help clean up some of the confusion (pre-online vs. online, union list vs. holdings)

*Don't get so concerned or hung up so much on 'widgets' that we forget about service

*If we're going to have the same formulas, then definitions need to be there (ex: define circ)

*If members want to figure out how to share costs, they should be able to work that out - it's their money

*Most important piece is getting libraries to participate - didn't realize so many left yet to automate

*I don't understand why large libraries in suburban areas have standalones

*Good for large libraries to see that small libraries can't afford this

*Comes down to librarians promoting access and getting on the online catalog and giving service - have to push it

*Why is it advantageous to be standalone?

*They feel like they are adequate for their patrons

*Need to get cooperation into library school curriculum

*Our ILL stats tell a lot of stories - people can get it so quickly

*There are libraries that don't ILL to people who pay 'card fees' - how can you run a library like that?

*With tough budget constraints, how are we going to bring libraries online?

*If you can sharpen your fingernails, hang on - it will change

*Dr. Moen didn't recognize or make recommendations that use of L&L automation funds was good and needed to continue

*Identify affordability as one of the barriers

*We've had libraries say we can't afford it, then they did it, once they do it, their patrons won't let them give it up

*Had [system consultant] come and do presentation to school board, helped convinced them

*I share circ statistics with faculty, show principal what's come in, kids are excited about stuff coming in

*Kids come back from college and say they used this at school (online catalog)

*No way we would be able to afford it [automation], feel guilty because able to use but can't pay back