Updated: 08/12/01
This site maintained by:
Rick Krumwiede
Terry Dawson
System and Resource Library Administrators Association of Wisconsin
Minutes of the May 31, 2001 meeting held in the WLA Conference Room, Madison, WI
A sign up sheet was passed and those indicating their presence include: Matthew Bollerman, Shannon Lang, John Nichols, Barb Dimick, Tom Strange, David Polodna, Ken Hall, Mary Bethke, Doris Nix, Joan Airoldi, Jim Zwadlo, Carol Gibson, Alan Engelbert, Jessica MacPhail, Mark Morse, David Weinhold, Larry Nix, Paul Nelson, Peter Hamon, Alan Zimmerman, Terry Dawson, Cal Potter, Rick Gustavson, Michael Tyree, Milton Mitchell, Sally Drew, Rick Krumwiede, Bob Bocher, Ruth Ann Montgomery, Kathy Schnieder, and Mark Merrifield (recording secretary).
I. Call to order: Chair Barb Dimick called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.
II. Quorum determination: The Chair determined that there was a quorum.
III. Introductions: The assembled cast of characters introduced themselves.
IV. Changes/Additions to the agenda: Sally Drew requested that item 15 (b) be moved to after item 8 (ALA Legislative Day).
V. A motion to approve the minutes of the February 22d meeting as posted on the website was approved. (Strange/Polodna)
VI. Treasurers Report: the report was approved without comments or questions. (Nichols/Airoldi)
VII. SRLAAW Representative to WILS: Kathy Schneider asked for a representative. Terry Dawson indicated a willingness to continue. Unanimous vote in favor of having Terry continue as representative.
VIII. Report on ALA Legislative Day in Washington, DC: Strange, Merrifield and Potter all commented on the activities in Washington. Nelson recommended that people should try to attend the Petri/Sensenbrenner town hall meetings to follow up on Federal legislative issues such as LSTA.
There followed a break to discuss the relative merits of having breadsticks with the pizza that was to be acquired for lunch.
IX. Delivery of Library Materials: Drew discussed the efforts of the advisory committee that has worked nearly a year to develop scenarios on how to charge for the service. Weinhold is chair of the committee, which met May 18. The committee is composed of members representing libraries, library systems, CESA's, and higher education. A cost scenario sheet was distributed and discussed. Various methods of determining a formula were discussed. Airoldi commented that Kathy Pletcher of UW Green Bay recommends equalizing a formula so that it doesn't need to be revisited all the time. Weinhold asked for SRLAAW to discuss the recommendations and if anyone else had other ideas, to present those for discussion as well. Bollerman asked if Reference and Loan was a part of the group, since no costs for that entity were shown. Drew indicated the costs would be the same for R & L, except for the purposes of this discussion only the systems were shown on the spreadsheet. Hall commented that the committee had done a great job. Motion made to support the proposal presented showing each system paying equally, and move on it even though there may still be some items to be worked out. (Hall/Dawson) There was further discussion of the issue. Engelbert stated his board would not be in favor of this proposal. Felt that the basis should be the same as revenues. Discussion by Hall and Gibson on population, size of system and net lender status. The question was raised on how to pay a "postalized" rate when there is no improvement in state aid. Nichols asked what would be the result if a group of systems could not afford to pay for delivery. Weinhold indicated that this would mean a loss of resource sharing capabilities. "Postalization" was a goal to reach. Hamon stated that the volume of delivery could not be managed in a three-day cycle. Krumwiede questioned the use of the term "postalize", since this normally refers to a per unit cost. Drew stated that for this study a per stop cost was factored. Potter stated the issue is whether the LSTA subsidy will continue. Action is necessary because the status quo is not an option. The group was then asked to vote on a motion to call the question. The group voted in favor. It was determined that there were 27 votes that were eligible to be counted. Motion to endorse the committee recommendations was taken up, and with 19 votes in favor, the motion carried. Mitchell suggested that the committee could meet again and may be able to come up with another solution based on the discussions today. Weinhold said it would be considered, except that time is short.
X. Legislative Update:
Nelson thanked everyone for following through on legislative alerts.
Joint Finance considered the DPI budget yesterday. A motion to increase
system aids did not come up, as the votes weren't there. It will go to
caucus.
- Resource Library contracts failed on a motion of 8-8.
- No movement on the Reference and Loan materials budget.
- Funding for UW libraries not taken up.
- Badgerlink a lose/win situation. No increase but also no assessment. Need to have an increase to cover increased cost. May be able to handle this in caucus. Funding for encyclopedias not moved forward.
- Funding for Newsline for the Blind passed.
- Trust fund borrowing provision passed.
- UCITA was not introduced and there is no activity on it.
- Senate Bill 60
(TEACH) passed (branch libraries can now be covered under the TEACH
subsidy.
Nelson stated there was good news on at least some of the "small stuff". Discussed "building a bridge" to Scott Jensen. WLA bid on an auction item which was lunch with Jensen. WLA won, and Nelson and Mike Gelhausen had lunch with him. Proposed that WLA partner with him on a project he wants for a Wisconsin book festival ($50,000 funding available). The group made a good impression on Jensen.
Potter stated that the Finance Committee votes along party lines. Need to make sure that Joint Finance supporters stay supporters during the caucus meetings. The Democrats don't want to cut education elements (including libraries). He outlined how the "structural deficit" can be eliminated, especially by raising "sin taxes" on beer and cigarettes. Urged everyone to keep contacting legislators over the next month.
Mitchell asked about the future of WATF. Potter replied that it was "back in business", although DPI will be getting $1.8 million from the fund. Approximately $13 million of the WATF funds (out of $23 million) have been reallocated for other purposes. There was further discussion of the future of WATF which is questionable.
Potter stated that
Joint Finance would finish next week. The caucuses will meet the second
week in June.
The group broke for lunch at 12:08 p.m. and reconvened again at 12:45.
An additional agenda item was inserted. Mitchell asked Zimmerman to review system populations and whether the proportion of system board members required by the standards currently in place would require any changes. Zimmerman stated that numbers could be run for any system.
XI. Agenda item deferred.
XII. Agenda item deferred.
XIII. Shared Electronic Services Committee report: Bollerman reported on the activities of the committee. Have been gathering data on what electronic resources libraries have, how much they pay and what is common in cooperative agreements. Looking at this committee as being modeled after the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium model. Eleven systems have responded with data. Schneider stated that the key is to work through the systems rather than on the individual library basis.
XIV. Electronic Statistics:
Zimmerman reported that there is no agreement at the federal level on
the "what
or how" of collecting statistics. In general, circulation statistics
are flat, although library visits are up 1-2%. The number of staff terminals
has increased, as well as public terminals. Nichols stated that there
is a lot going on and that system technology and/or IT staff should share
their knowledge. Krumwiede volunteered to host such a gathering, stating
that
it was an excellent way of sharing information
The agenda flip-flopped again.
XV. Location of August meeting: Eldred offered to host again. Huston offered to host in Milwaukee. Motion by Hall, seconded by Dawson that SRLAAW meet in Wausau in August and Milwaukee in the fall. E-mail will be sent out with dates.
XVI. Unifying Vision Reprise: Dawson stated that Krueger was in Italy (the group all said "awwwww"). The fifth recommendation had been for 24/7 reference and indicated that a committee would be formed to explore this. Potter pointed out that with the funding issue now critical, this was probably not a good time to bring this up. Krumwiede pointed out that there were several other issues still hanging. The third was minimum standards, and do we do anything now? The fourth was research and development and the same question is valid, do we do anything now? Dawson pointed out that the fourth issue was not dissimilar to the discussion Nichols had about having a meeting of IT people and sharing information. A forum for sharing "best practices" sponsored at OWLS could be coordinated by DLTCL (Nix). Krumwiede willing to have OWLS put up a listserv for best practices. (Bocher noted that he has maintained such a list for the past five years.) Information should be sent to OWLS on "How I do technology Good at my Library". Hall asked who would take up and lead on the issue of minimum standards. Potter pointed out that now was not a good time because of the primacy of the budget issue. Potter willing to sponsor a forum after the budget process is complete. Weinhold suggested item three be tabled until after the budget process. A vote was taken to table this item. Lang moved and MacPhail second a motion to support Krumwiede's idea for a summer meeting. Bocher discussed the LITAC plan per this issue. There will be a review of the state's technology plan on the LITAC September agenda. Hamon stated that Krumwiede's suggestion to meet was still valid, and was empowered by consensus to form a committee with perhaps SRLAAW funds being used. Following this discussion the vote was taken and the motion carried.
At this time there was official thanks given to Krumwiede and Dawson for their work on the SRLAAW web site and to Polodna for his handling of the lunch issue.
XVII. Direct Internet Connections for all Wisconsin Libraries: Potter discussed the $600k for REACH Wisconsin. The TEACH board went to Joint Finance to get approval of $500k for their part of the support. Bocher stated that there are 85 libraries with dial access that need to be encouraged to take advantage of this program. At present there are 45-48 libraries interested in the direct access option. TEACH board wanted libraries to look at other options for access such as cable and other technologies. However the issue is the 50% of libraries that don't want to participate due to the ongoing cost. Bocher encouraged systems to work with member libraries to try to help them with this issue. TEACH has also been apprised of the need systems have to upgrade WANS. COLAND wrote a letter several weeks ago supporting using funding for this purpose. Potter suggested an action item for SRLAAW to go to TEACH thanking them for supporting this issue and asking for their future financial support. Dimick will send out a letter on behalf of SRLAAW.
XVIII. DLTCL Reports:
a. LITAC/WISCAT: Bocher indicated that there were three vendors who made
proposals. LITAC reviewed the vendor information. The group reviewed WISCAT
issues as well as linked systems and authentication. A vendor for WISCAT
to be determined this afternoon. MacPhail asked (for Bellin) why LSTA
funding was still being spent on WISCAT. Bocher pointed out that LSTA
is for multitype purposes. DLTCL looks at the three vendors and their
Z39.50 capabilities in terms of the relation to the linked systems project.
Potter stated that there was likely to be a change in WISCAT. With 85
libraries not having direct access and about 2000 school libraries in
the state, there is still a need for WISCAT. Krumwiede stated that as
a member of the LITAC committee he feels confident that the issues and
concerns Bellin has are being raised and discussed.
c. LSTA: The 2002 information has been distributed and money has been
allocated. There will be $3.1 million in 2002. Grants are due September
6th with recommendations made after that. Hoping for increased federal
funding in 2002.
d. TEACH: Bocher stated that the loan program has been underutilized.
Funding has been reduced from $10 million to $3 million. The program has
not been made more flexible to allow for equipment purchases. TEACH is
under an audit from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Nichols asked if TEACH
is likely to require public libraries to filter as the schools are now
required to do. Bocher said likely not since the federal legislation in
place may be seen as enough by the state legislature. This will probably
not become an issue.
e. E-Rate: A FAQ on filtering was distributed. This will also be on the
IT Listserv. Bocher also willing to answer any questions that arise.
XIX. CIPA Update:
Hamon discussed the suit involving the South Central Library
System. FCC regulations could change to involve more in the area of telecommunications.
Recommendation: Do not definitively say you won't filter. The FCC may
work towards making telecommunications rebates covered by the requirements
regarding filtering. Bocher mentioned that the SLD website states what
the libraries need to do. For instance, the present SRLAAW meeting could
meet the requirements for a discussion of filtering. The laws currently
exempt telecommunications (POTS) from filtering.
Bollerman reported on netLibrary. Fourteen systems participating in the consortium. Himmel and Wilson will begin the evaluation next week. There will be a one-hour phone interview with a follow up questionnaire to the directors. There was discussion of a larger meeting in August to consider what the consortium should do next. Ongoing costs of the current project/new products to discuss/next steps for the consortium members. Perhaps there will be a meeting of the consortium members the day before the next SRLAAW meeting in Wausau.
The meeting fizzled by consensus at 2:25.
Barb Dimick will determine the date of the next meeting.
Mark Merrifield, Recorder
