DRA GOVERNING BOARD MEETING

May 2, 2002

Decatur Public Library

Meeting called to order:        9:30 A.M. by Chair, Shelley Koehler

Present: Shelley Koehler, Lee Ann Fisher, Susan Full, Pat Burg, Paul Johnson, Cindy Bowman, Nancy Peterson, and Betty Lou Hicks

Minutes of April 4 meeting: approved as corrected. Betty Lou will see that the April 4 minutes are sent to be posted on the RPLS web site.  Susan Full will send the February 18 minutes for posting.

Committee Reports:

Database Standards – no report

Finance – no report

Policy – no report

Technology – Surveys have been distributed and May 1 was the deadline for returning, but the Committee will allow returns for a few days.  The Committee is to meet on May 9 to review and summarize the results.  Pat Burg reiterated that she has a time line in mind and will be discussing it with the Committee as to how to proceed to find a new vendor for the automation system, but everything will hinge on the outcome of the MOEN study sponsored by the Illinois State Library.

RPLS Report:

Paul Johnson reported that the dedupe program has been tested in small batches with coordination among Patsy, Lincoln Library-Springfield, Decatur Public Library and Terry.  The group agreed things looked satisfactory and thus this A.M. the dedupe program is being run at RPLS.

Paul also reported on a memo which had been received concerning the proposed reduction in appropriation for the Illinois Century Network.  If this happens the DRA User’s Group will need to pay more for the connection.  Paul urged everyone to write their legislators asking to maintain the level of funding.

Paul reported that the Web 2 training session had been held on April 25 and 26.  DPL and Lincoln Public Springfield have permission to rework their Web2 interface.  Helen Flynn of St. Theresa High School who chaired the original Web 2 committee will be asked to help determine how other libraries can get their Web 2 interface changed.  The Board requested that Matt Wilkerson join them to answer some questions the Board had concerning this Web 2 training.  Questions asked of Matt: “Can we limit to just our own holdings?” and “Can we limit by group, i.e. Museum has 3 agency holdings and they would like to see all their holdings at one time, not search per holding agency?”  Matt said DRA was to get Terry an answer to the first question.  He did not feel we could do the second question at all.  He wanted to be able to do the same thing as the Museum was requesting for DPL and had been told this was not possible.

Paul also reported that the Live ‘n Learn Grant had been awarded and orders were being placed for equipment.  The schools in the Grant were asked how they could receive training before school ends this year so as to be able to work during the summer on their projects.  The Board agreed that since so many of the schools were really part of a District which already had a school in DRA, we would allow mentor training by the other school librarian or perhaps another librarian in the area to get them started.  We would encourage these new schools to attend the training, but formal training may not be available when it is needed to begin the process.  For the schools who are truly new to the system, Paul will try to find a mentor in the vicinity of the school to help with the understanding that these librarians will also need to go through training and get properly certified.

Unfinished Business:

Training by Kovacs is paid for through November, then what happens.  This topic had been approached before but no decision made.  The Board would like the Training Committee in cooperation with the Database Committee to determine a plan of action.  The Board would like a report at its June Board Meeting if possible.  Shelley will contact the two committees and ask that they meet on this issue.  Shelley mentioned that there were to be train the trainer classes by Kovacs, but these had not been held. 

Next Board Meeting:

To be held at Decatur Public Library at 9:30A.M. on Thursday, June 6.