Sage Library System User Council
Regular Meeting minutes
Tuesday, November 18, 2014,
Minutes prepared by Perry Stokes, Sage Chair
Present: Karen Clay (EOU), Mary Finney (Pendleton PL), Cheryl Hancock (Harney CPL), Amy Hutchinson (Lake Count LD), Darlyne Johnson (Ontario LD), Debbie Lind (Wallowa Public Library), Beth Longwell (Sage staff), MaryLou Martin (Sherman CPL), Ryan McGinnis (LaGrande PL), Brent Mills (Sage staff), Buzzy Nielsen (Hood River CLD), Mary Nixon (UCSLD), Dea Nowell (UCSLD), Maggie Pando (The Dalles Wasco CL), Denine Rautenstrauch (Enterprise PL), David Sale (Sage staff), Sarah Samuels (Hood River CLD), Linda Stahl (Planetree HRC), Perry Stokes (Baker CLD), Delia Wallis (Hermiston SD), Ann Zuehlke (Hood River HS ).
I. Opening comments & roll call- Stokes
Chair Stokes called to order at 10.31 am and noted attendees participating by GoToMeeting and phone.
II. Additions/deletions from the agenda (ACTION)- Stokes
There were no additions or changes.
III. Approval of September 16 2014 minutes- Stokes
Ryan McGinnis moved to approve the minutes; Mary Finney seconded. Motion passed.
IV. Open forum for the general membership- Stokes
There were no comments.
V. Reports
i. Sage staff Longwell/Mills
Beth reported developing a new support ticket system that will enhance project management abilities and allow searching of submitted tickets. A new domain & web-hosting service were purchased toward the goal of crafting a new Drupal-based website which will be a combination of the Sage Wiki, Plinkit & blog content. The new site will also allow implementation of more advanced modules such as a learning management system for training purposes. Brent added that it will also provide a more robust & centralized chat forum.
ii. Budget Committee / Financial report- Clay/Longwell/Stokes
Karen reported the Budget Committee has met a couple of times to prepare a draft budget. The working draft is currently posted on the Sage Wiki under Budget Committee. The budget has a different look than previous due to the fiscal agent change. Looking at expenses that must be covered from membership dues, notable changes include: Beth’s salary is adjusted back to full time following her drop to 0.75 FTE for 6 months of the current fiscal year; Equinox support cost is reduced now that Brent and Beth have assumed more of that system support & development work; travel funds are reduced due to Brent & Beth visiting Sage sites closest to their home bases rather than traveling from one central location; telecommunications is down due to the switch from TelSpan long-distance phone conferencing to the more economical GoToMeeting which uses computers & VOIP. Courier expenses are rising due to decreasing LSTA grant support; the LSTA grant will be used to cover the Orbis-Cascade flat fee & Sage membership fees will fund the various other courier contracts. Buzzy Nielsen and Denean Rautenstrauch recently joined the Budget Committee.
The Committee has been discussing ways to cover projected expenses and concluded that approximately a 6% minimum increase of member fees is required. They are also exploring different fee structures, examining models used by other library consortia. All Sage members are encouraged to review the Draft Budget and provide feedback. Nielsen inquired about why the LSTA courier grant appears to be missing from the draft budget. Stokes explained that the draft budget is incomplete at this stage. The displayed figures are focused on projecting expenses that must be covered by Sage in order to estimate what membership fees will be.
Mary Nixon asked for details about the alternate pricing options on the draft budget. Stokes said they represent brainstorming of different approaches. Instead using the tier structure, we might assess a particular amount per person in the library’s service area. In the case of Baker, for example, $0.75 per person charge would be multiplied by by Baker County population of around 16,000 resulting in a BCLD member fee of $12,000. Different rates could be used for member types, such as $2.00 per person for academic libraries, and base membership prices of $1,250 for public libraries, $2,500 for school libraries. The advantage of this approach would be increased fairness and logic, evening out some of the large fee jumps between the tier groups. When a library is near the border of a tier group, it is difficult to justify why their costs are significantly different from a library with about the same population but that is just classified in a different tier. The primary disadvantage is that making the structural change would involve significant increases for some members (20 – 60% for most of the largest libraries ). For that reason, the new structure is not being proposed for implementation in the coming fiscal year and an across-the-board percentage increase will be used. Karen noted that no community colleges appeared to be present at this meeting and suggested they be contacted directly for input about the alternate pricing options (BMCC is about the same, 12% increase for TVCC). Stokes noted that a revision to the current budget is required, so the Financial Report would be addressed as part of New Business.
iii. Cataloging Committee- Samuels/Sale
Sarah Samuels reported the Committee has been meeting monthly to help coordinate the Sage Cataloging grant project. For reporting purposes, the grant needs establishment of various benchmark baselines in order to determine if project goals are met. These include how much time catalogers are spending correcting record errors and customer satisfaction. David Sale, the Sage grant project cataloger, has begun working on training and discussions are ongoing about cleanup needs & strategies and how the Committee can best provide David with leadership and oversight.
One of the primary projects involves implementing tiered cataloging logins that reflect the cataloger levels. Logins will have permissions that correspond to training. Beth and Brent are working on getting those set up. Training opportunities will be provided for the Sage membership to participate in and achieve certification at the level they need.
A subscription RDA toolkit is being explored. It’s not set up for use by the general consortium. Trial accounts are being used currently. Beth and Brent have implemented a new subscription to increase the display of images in the OPAC. Standards are being crafted for the cataloging with Parts function.
David and Beth are planning a Cataloger’s Roundtable in Baker City on December 2. Mentors are expected to participate but all catalogers are welcome. A remote attendance option will be provided.
David suggested a motion be made to approve the draft Catalog User Survey. Stokes asked if there was a recommendation from the Cataloging Committee to approve the survey. Sale said that to his understanding that was the case. Samuels asked for clarification on the final version of the survey Sale was referring to. He provided a link to the survey for review.
Amy said she appreciated that the survey was concise and recommended inclusion of a small catalog image to help visually orient users to the topic. Stokes asked if there was a link from the survey to the catalog. Sale said not currently. Nixon asked if a print version could be produced. Sale said the web survey could be printed as needed but he could also produce a Word doc version. Buzzy said a Word doc version would be helpful to get all content on a single page. Stokes noted no comments about the question content. Nixon asked if this was the final survey recommended by the Cataloging Committee; Sale said yes. Stokes invited a motion to approve with the suggested changes to include a catalog image, link and produce a print version.
Nixon made a point-of-order that the recommendation for approval needs to come from the Cataloging Commitee Chair. Samuels said the Committee had been working closely with Sale on the survey but did not recall a formal vote for recommendation on the final version. She offered to have the Cataloging Committee review. & approve the survey at its December meeting. Sale apologized for any chain-of-command error. He believed he had Committee direction to present the survey to the User Council at this meeting and would defer to the designated Committee representative to present the approved survey at the next User Council meeting. Samuels and Stokes voiced support for that plan.
iv. Circulation Committee [inactive]
No report. No new Chair has been found.
v. Courier Committee- Clay/Longwell
Beth said the Courier Committee had not met recently. Karen confirmed. Beth reported some courier changes : Fossil is moved to beneath Gilliam County to utilize a person who travels weekly between Condon & Fossil. This may allow them to stop using Stamps.com. Beth is looking at whether surplus LSTA funds can be used to purchase courier bags. She is still determining the number of bags required to meet current and growth needs.
Buzzy reported delivery inconsistencies experienced by Hood River recently after a change in the personnel used by Senvoy. Some days the courier is extremely low and others appear to be an accumulation of three days of material. Beth clarified that it is not weather related; Buzzy confirmed.
There are indications that boxes are being opened for no apparent reason. Maggie Pando reported a similar instance of being told there was no courier material on one of their busiest regular days. She wonders if they are on the correct routes. Buzzy has reported it to Senvoy.
Beth recommended being proactive and that any problems be reported to Senvoy; she may also notify Orbis-Cascade. Buzzy said he already sent an email. Buzzy recommended the Courier Committee discuss the possibility of including a “sent date” on bags or items.
vi. Development Committee- Mills
Brent said work has been focused on aggregating everything onto the new Drupal site. The test server now has a trial version of the catalog featuring a cover image slider. There was discussion about how to populate the slider. The links are styled as buttons rather than text links, which may help with mobile device use. Beth added that a subscription for additional images was purchased with Baker & Taylor. This year the funds will come from the Development allocation. She feels it is a significant improvement well worth the expenditure. Mary Finney asked if the map would continue to be available. Beth said it was always intened to just be a place-taker in that space but could be retained and put under a link if the Council would like. On discussion, there was consensus to retain the map under the About link.
Stokes asked Beth to discuss ways to populate the items featured in the slider. Beth said the images are populated with record id numbers collected by a report. Featured items could be newly added items or recently checked in items. Buzzy asked if the slider could be dynamically populated. Brent said he was working on that. Beth said the slider could be updated daily or weekly and invited feedback. Sale suggested featuring Summer Reading Program items or holidays.
vii. Governance Committee- Baldo
No report.
viii. Special committees
None.
VI. Previous business
i. Teleconference subscription (GoToMeeting/ReadyTalk)- Stokes
Stokes said that after the Development Committee experienced some technical difficulties with Google Hangouts, they decided to look at fee-based web conferencing software. Two were available through TechSoup – GoToMeeting and ReadyTalk. GoToMeeting was significantly more economical with a $234 Annual Plan (+$10 TechSoup admin fee) compared to $600 for ReadyTalk. The subscription provides 1 organizer seat with 25 attendees; it started Nov 7, 2014 and extends through Nov 7, 2015. As of late October, the Telecommunications budget line was already 76% spent due to continued use of TelSpan so Stokes made the purchase. Beth commented that GoToMeeting was a great improvement. Stokes added that it also allows the meeting to be recorded for archival purposes or providing access to members not able to attend.
ii. Sage IGA progress report- Longwell
Beth said that while progress has been made, the rate of return has not yet reached 100%. An updated spreadsheet is posted on the Sage Wiki. The majority of missing IGA’s are from ILL libraries. She suspects contact information may have changed and direct phone calls may be necessary. Stokes supported making phone calls to the remainder.
Amy Hutchinson asked if final copies including Sage signatures are to be returned to the member libraries. Beth confirmed and offered to send Amy a signed copy by email. Amy said that would work fine.
iii. Circ login permissions- Longwell/Mills
Brent continues to work on separating circulation and cataloging permissions. Starting in a couple of weeks, they plan to roll the new profiles out site-by-site rather than Sage-wide. Stokes asked if the“beta sites” were volunteering or being selected on a schedule. Beth said she did not consider them “beta sites”; testing has been completed with Hood River and CGCC so the roll-out should be straightforward. Sites will be contacted to schedule the permissions changes.
iv. Increase checkout limits- Longwell/Mills
Brent said a survey was conducted but based on IP data some libraries appeared to have voted multiple times A total of 37 responses were submitted, 40% approved the change, 51% said no, 8% were “other.” Basically, the response was 15 yes, 19 no. Buzzy said that the survey was vulnerable to being skewed in favor of larger libraries that may have had multiple staff submitting responses. Brent said a follow-up survey may be necessary stipulating that only one vote per library is allowed. Finney said the survey was simple and she would readily re-do it. Stokes asked if there was a mechanism to issue a response credential or limit responses in some way. Buzzy said a limit per IP address may be a premium feature of SurveyMonkey. Finney recommended a field for responders to identify which library they are representing. Brent agreed to include that element.
v. Sage logo redesign project- Mills
Brent shared a link to the latest new logo revisions tailored to Sage member feedback. There are different iterations of colors, fonts and look of the sage leaf. Buzzy asked if the pantone palette pack could be shared; Brent said yes. Stokes asked for a recommendation for revisions or a motion to adopt one of the presented designs. McGinnis moved to adopt image #3; Anne Zuehlke seconded. In discussion, Brent asked if Sage could compensate the designer. Buzzy asked if $200 would be suitable; Stokes said that crowd-sourcing logo design sites he and Brent explored were charging $200-$300 for basic designs. McGinnis revised his motion to adopt image #3 and pay the designer $200; Zuehlke seconded. Motion passed.
VII. New business
i. OPAC changes- Longwell
This topic was discussed previously. Beth asked if any objected to changing the menu links from text to buttons. None objected; McGinnis supported the change as being more mobile and touchscreen userfriendly.
Hutchinson commented that in regards to the update frequency of the cover image slider, monthly would likely suit her patrons. Beth said she was leaning towards weekly. Discussion continued about how to select featured items. Buzzy and Ryan recommended items be both recently checked in and newly added to Sage within past 2-3 months. Beth said the query would also need to confirm a jacket image was available.
Hutchinson asked if the slider could be scoped to items only available in a particular library’s collection. Brent said it would be technically possible but a custom template would be required for that scoped library. Buzzy asked if the slider could be embedded into libraries’ webpages; Brent said yes. Dea asked if the header could read “Featured items in Sage;” Beth said yes.
Stokes asked about the timeline for launch of the slider. Brent said it could be launched fairly quickly.
Stokes said it appeared all are in favor of proceeding with the new slider design and moving the map to the About tab. Beth said she and Brent would work accomplishing the change as soon as possible and announce the change via the Sage listserv.
ii. Resource sharing outside of Sage/EOIN alternatives- Longwell
Use of EOIN for ILL services has been discontinued. Beth has contacted OCLC for pricing options. She is seeking more details on the subscription requirements. Meanwhile she has compiled a list of all Orbis-Cascade libraries with ILL contact info and will post it on the Sage Wiki so libraries can coordinate ILL exchange directly with the source.
iii. FY14-15 budget revision- Stokes
Stokes presented a spreadsheet with the current fiscal year original budget, expenditures to date and proposed revisions.
Under Resources, cash on hand was originally projected at $70,283 for the carryover but ended up being $95,000 + $7,100. The revised total of $102,200 is an increase of $31,917. Membership dues revenue requires a slight increase of $1,260 to match actual receipts. In sum, total resources need to increase by $33,177 to a total of $414,021.
Buzzy asked if a the Baker board would be okay with doing a Budget Hearing to implement these changes. Stokes said BCLD commonly revises its budget at the end of the fiscal year. Generally, the changes are below the threshold requiring a Budget Hearing and only a Resolution is needed but they would not mind having a supplemental Budget Hearing if necessary. Buzzy reported the Budget Hearing requirement as being $5,000 or 10% of the total. The total proposed fund change amounts to just under 9%, so a Budget Hearing shouldn’t be necessary.
Under Requirements, the original budget contained an error in Personnel calculating Beth to work at 0.8 FTE (32 hours/week) for the full year. In actuality, the plan was for just 6 months at the reduced number of hours and a return to full-time in January. That adjustment amounts to an increase of $5,516 for salary. In addition, under benefits Beth has selected the Family level of health insurance coverage; it was originally budget at employee-only. Per BCLD policy a subsidy of 50% for family coverage is provided by the employer; so, with adjustments to PERS & other lines due to the hours change the total benefits increase required is $4,656.
Under Materials & Services, Telecommunications needs to increase to cover both the TelSpan expenses to date plus the GoToMeeting subscription; under Technology, the Equinox subcategory can be reduced by $7,500 from $10,000 down to $2,500 due to less Equinox support needed. With the $2,000 of Development funds, that brings the total Technology category to $4,500. A combination of the Resources increase, Personnel increases and Materials & Services decrease amount to a total resources increase of $30,356. That sum is proposed to be added to the Unappropriated Ending Fund Balance bringing it up from $52,500 to $82,856. The total Sage fund budget increases from $380,844 to $414,021. Stokes said the surplus funds could be allocated toward Capital Outlay or Contingency, if the Council wished.
There was no discussion or questions. Zuehlke moved to approve the proposed changes; McGinnis seconded. Motion passed.
VIII. Agenda items for next meeting- Stokes
• Buzzy said he would discuss the Evergreen Conference.
• Karen suggested an update on resource-sharing with EOU since the ILS migration is scheduled to happen in December.
• Stokes suggested a GoToMeeting usage policy be crafted to define parameters of authorized use. Currently, use is assumed to be authorized for Sage administrative purposes and Sage partners such as the Ready2Learn Project. A policy may be needed to clarify whether Sage members could use GoToMeeting for things such as internal communications by a district or academic member.
IX. Review of task assignments- Stokes
• Buzzy will continue to notify Senvoy about problems experienced.
• Stokes will post a recording of the meeting on the Sage Wiki.
X. Adjournment- Stokes
The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:04 pm.