Pioneer Consortium

Draft minutes of the November 7, 2014 Pioneer Consortium Executive Council meeting

The meeting of the Pioneer Consortium Executive Council was held Friday, November 7, 2014 by teleconference. Vice President Laureen Riedesel called the meeting to order at 2:02 p.m. The meeting was conducted in compliance with the Nebraska Open Meetings Law. Member libraries received notices and copies of the agenda on November 5, 2014 to post locally.

Attendance

Voting members present were Vice President Laureen Riedesel, Beatrice Public Library; Treasurer, Allison Peyton, Holdrege Area Public Library; Immediate Past President Pat Leach, Lincoln City Libraries; and Secretary Claire Bushong, Valley Public Library. President Robin Reed Brooks Clark, Sump Memorial Library, Papillion, was absent. Also in attendance was Richard Miller of the Nebraska Library Commission; Steve Fosselman, Grand Island Public Library (Business/Financial Agent); and Monica Tidyman, Stromsburg Public Library.

Minutes

The minutes of the September 19, 2014 meeting were approved by all voting members who attended that meeting (moved by Leach, seconded by Peyton).

The Treasurer’s report showed a beginning cash balance of $78,391.89 and ending cash balance of $77,742.61. Steve Fosselman noted that the transition from the City of Lincoln to the City of Grand Island had gone smoothly and he commended Paul Jones for his work on this. Pioneer will be ready to send out the first billing through Grand Island to Axtell Public Library, as they have completed migration, and will be paying that same amount to PTFS for their charges. The report was accepted by all voting members (moved by Leach, seconded by Bushong).

Steve Fosselman had no additional information to add as Business/Financial Agent.

Committee Reports

Membership (Steve Fosselman)

Axtell Public Library, as previously noted, has completed migration. There are no new libraries currently pending, although Steve is working with Andrew Sherman to generate strategies for a goal of nine new libraries. He said that Sara Lee in Central City is providing help in contacting prospective libraries.

There was no Technical Committee report. The Contingency Committee has not met, so there was no report from that committee.

New Business

Steve Fosselman reported that he and Andrew Sherman had attended a meeting of Pioneer/SELS/CLIC consortia in October. The meeting was held in Madison, but they attended via remote connection. He reported that Sherm also provided some continuing education to the group. As PTFS is proceeding with fusing Liblime products through WALDO there is potential for benefits to consortia libraries as well as questions about how the consortia will share the costs. He directed attention to the Outstanding Development line on page 3 of the treasurer’s report ($18,775.00) and said that, although exact costs are still not known, he believes Pioneer to be in a good position. He said he thought that something would be presented to the consortia before the end of the year. Richard Miller noted that Sherm had shared his enthusiasm for the potential for improvements. Laureen quoted from the September technical committee report that they were targeting a winter production time.

Public Participation

Richard Miller read a portion of the draft Grant Agreement (new agreement between the Nebraska Library Commission and the Systems to go into effect January 1, 2015), noting that the commission is clearly taking a stand in support of Pioneer by this language:

The System agrees to fulfill the following obligations for a term of two years commencing July 1, 2015 and ending June 30, 2017.

 

1. Develop and execute a two-year service plan in consultation with the Commission, in which the System indicates how it will fulfill the obligations of this agreement. The plan shall include but not be limited to:
   1. Training and consulting with libraries on strategic planning
   2. Training and consulting with libraries on public library accreditation

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

viii.    Training and promotion of the Pioneer Consortium ILS

1. Training and promotion related to the statewide databases licensed by the Commission

Richard reported that Denise Harders, Republican Valley system director, trained at the Holdrege Public Library in Pioneer cataloging so she could then train the Blue Hill staff.

Members of the Executive Council expressed sorrow on news of the death of Judy Grandstaff and their support for the staff of the Blue Hill Public Library. Richard will share Judy’s obituary with Executive Council members to share as appropriate, and Steve said that he and Sherm will include a tribute to her in the Pioneer blog.

Pat Leach reported that Lincoln City Libraries is interviewing ILS companies next week and will share information about RFP later.

Monica Tidyman said that Sherm had been in Stromsburg and spent a day training the staff on generating reports, etc., and that he had been very helpful.

Claire asked about the outreach with Pioneer ribbons at the NLA conference. Richard reported that ribbons had been handed out to Pioneer members. Laureen said we should begin thinking now about how to plan for a more obvious presence at next year’s conference.

The next meeting is scheduled for December 19, 2014 at 2:00 by teleconference.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:40 p.m.