April 10, 2007
Members Present: Carol Brill, Leslie Christensen, Sally Drew, Karen Grothe, Peter Hamon, Leanne Hansen, Rita Magno, Mark Rozmarynowski (for Marc Boucher), Ed Van Gemert, Janet White (for Lisa Jewell)
Excused: Kathy Boguszewski, Carla Burmeister, Marc Boucher, Lisa Jewell
Others Present: Karen Boehning, Patrick Wilkinson, Kathy Schneider
Chairman Peter Hamon called the meeting to order at 10:00am.
Minutes and Introductions: Approval of minutes from November 17, 2006 was moved by Van Gemert, seconded by Grothe and passed by voice vote. Schneider explained that two items from the November minutes — the WHO grant and Ask Away — will be followed up on differently than determined in November. Board members introduced themselves.
Scenario Planning: The Board had extensive discussions on the scenarios. Three scenarios had been fleshed out previous to the meeting and another three have yet to be expanded upon. The Board made some suggestions regarding the completed scenarios and also discussed how to assign focus groups for all of the scenarios. It was decided to include the scenario regarding Google with the three completed scenarios for a focus group to work on first. The other two scenarios will be completed later. Nominations, including phone numbers and e-mail addresses, should be made by each Board member to Schneider by the end of April. The focus group will have the same constituency make-up as the Board to reflect WiLS membership. The focus group will then work in June. Van Gemert and Schneider will find a facilitator for the focus group. The ultimate goal is to include the results of the scenario planning in an overall strategic plan.
Nominations: The Nominations Committee of Van Gemert (Chair), Brill, and Hansen reported that Kathy Boguszewski agreed to be nominated for the position of vice-chair/chair-elect. No second was required for the Committee motion which was approved by the Board.
Priorities and Activities for FY08: A motion was made by Hansen to approve the WiLS Action Plan and seconded by White. Discussion included the use of Rapid ILL and a desire to learn more about it, worldcat.org and a coming test pilot, WHO's transition from demonstration to program, and the membership survey. Motion approved. (see 2008 Action Plan)
Action items from Finance Committee: The proposed fees structure for FY08 was approved as was the committee motion to purchase the Traverse Accounting Software. The software has modules designed specifically for OCLC billing and is also used by other OCLC networks.
Finance Report (July 2006 – February 2007): Budgeted interest income has already been exceeded. The budget is looking good for the year-to-date and is more accurate than previous year comparisons because of now having an in-house accountant.
Need for Additional Board Meetings: As WiLS becomes more complex, there's a tendency for the Board to have more work. Schneider asked the Board to consider having more meetings so there's less time between meetings. Van Gemert made a motion to add one meeting so there will be four Board meetings including the briefer one at WiLSWorld. Hansen seconded. Motion approved. Schneider will determine when to schedule the meetings.
Members Council Report: Wilkinson reported on his work on the task force that is studying how OCLC should handle the integration of electronic books into basic library services. He'll provide a report at the May WiLS Peer Council meeting as well as the WAAL Conference to get feedback. The report will also consider that types of services will be affected by digital books. There will be appendices.
Schneider reported that Wilkinson was reelected to OCLC Members Council for another term as the WiLS representative. WiLS is now down to one delegate with one alternate. The number of delegates vary depending on the amount of money spent on OCLC products so there's a possibility WiLS could again return to having two delegates. The alternate would be encouraged to attend the OCLC Council meetings since there are many meetings to cover and it's helpful for the alternate to have that background. The Board agreed that it would be valuable to have an alternate attend with the delegate and Schneider. It was agreed to ask Mary Bethke, the public library alternate to the WiLS Board, to be the alternate. If she is unwilling to accept, the Board will use the meeting at WiLSWorld to determine an alternate.
Boehning reported on her attendance at the meetings for the small and rural libraries as well as the cataloging and metadata interest group. Some of the attendees report having problems using OCLC records for cataloging. It might be possible to have a consultant group or best practices available for those who might have concerns about this issue.
WiLS Director's Report: A new half time academic staff employee was hired; her name is Sara Van Cleef. Schneider also reported more on the coming member survey, a proposal for a Midwest virtual network, and the summer WiLSWorld set for July 25-26.
Other Business: Suggested topics for the membership meeting at WiLSWorld included the scenario planning process, results of the membership survey, and an update on the action plan for this year. Schneider told the group to watch for advertising in national and regional magazines regarding OCLC networks. The ads stress the service aspects of networks. There was continued discussion about Google and how include this scenario. It was decided that Kathy's notes from the discussion can become a background paper for scenario number two (What if technical services and other operational activities in libraries move to the network level to achieve an economy of scale for reduced costs?)
The group accepted Van Gemert's motion to adjount at 2:45pm.
Respectfully submitted, Leanne Hansen, Secretary