October 26, 2006

The State Library Board met October 26, 2006 at the Miami Township Branch of the Dayton Metro Library, 2718 Lyons Road, Miamisburg, Ohio 45342.

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, October 26, 2006.  State Library Board members present were: Mr. David Miller; President, Dr. George W. Paulson; Vice-President, Ms. Ann Baines, Ms. Lucille Hastings, Ms. Jackie O'Brien and Ms. Jo Budler; Secretary.

Visitors present were: Stephen Hedges, OPLIN; Doug Evans, OLC; Tim Kambitsch and Mimi Morris, Dayton Metro Library.

State Library staff members present were: Ashlee Clark, Jim Buchman, Roger Verny, Diane Fink, Missy Lodge, and Bill Morris.

TOUR OF KIDS BOOKMOBILE

The meeting was preceded with a tour given by Mimi Morris, Assistant Director for Branch and Extension Services of the Dayton Metro Library.  The tour included the facility and the Kids’ Bookmobile, which was awarded $100,000 from a Full LSTA grant in SFY 2005 to go towards the purchase of the bookmobile.  Through generous local funding, the Kids’ Bookmobile was filled with materials and equipment and has successfully served the needs of children without easy access to a library.

Mr. David Miller thanked everyone from Dayton Metro Library for the extra effort in accommodating the State Library Board and staff.  He stated that the LSTA money was well spent on a program that reaches out to a public that wouldn’t otherwise have been reached for some time and is interested to see how it expands.

Ms. Baines commented that LSTA funds were a small part of the program’s success, and that the community involvement really added the value.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the September 26, 2006 Board meeting were approved by common consent.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There were no requests for public participation.

LSTA REPORT

Core Databases Promotion Grant
Mr. Roger Verny, Deputy State Librarian, gave the Board an overview of a grant proposal that is in formation for the promotion of the Libraries Connect Ohio (LCO) core databases.  To give some background, Mr. Verny explained that the Board had viewed the stats for the Chadwyck-Healey databases, more specifically the poetry and literature collections, and discovered that the usage had flat-lined.  Mr. Miller had mentioned promoting the collection to increase usage.  LCO discussed how to promote these databases and Terri Fredericka led the marketing staff of all partners to come up with a proposal.  LCO has $15,000 in savings and would be asking for an additional $10,000 to fund two programs.  The first would be to align the resources with the Ohio Academic Content Standards.  The second would be broader and would focus on a number of ways to promote all LCO databases.  An Awareness Campaign would be implemented and would include creating a set of promotional materials in print and electronic form that would be developed into a media kit.  It would also explore non-traditional ways of promotion such as how best to expose LCO-owned content to enhance visibility through commonly used web sites such as Google.

Ms. Baines asked if Google offered any assistance for non-profits.  Mr. Stephen Hedges, OPLIN Executive Director, replied that they do not.

Mr. Miller stated that he would like to see what “learning materials” means and would like to see the focus on reaching the non-traditional users.  Mr. Hedges said that OPLIN and OhioLINK have a greater interest in getting the databases into the result lists when a person does a search through Google.  Library users also discover resources through library catalogs so it would be useful to have records for electronic resources in libraries’ catalogs.

STATE LIBRARIAN'S REPORT

Consumer Advisory Committee Appointments
Mr. Jim Buchman, Head of Patron and Catalog Services, reminded the Board that last September the State Library Board reappointed all members of the Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) due to term lapses and being out of sequence.  Now, each October the Board will appoint members to the CAC.

Mr. Buchman informed the Board that the CAC By-Laws state that four organizations will have representatives on the Committee.  The National Federation of the Blind of Ohio recommends Annette Anderson, a user of Talking Book Services who resides in Cleveland, Ohio.  The American Council of the Blind of Ohio recommends Irwin Hott, a current Consumer Representative whose term expires in October 2006, to complete Mr. Elmer Fischer’s term, which will expire in October, 2008.  The CAC recommends Ken Campbell, a consultant with Ohio Americans with Disabilities Act, as the Physically Handicapped representative.  The By-Laws also state that four representatives shall be agency staff working with users of the program.  The CAC recommended Robin Finley, from the Ohio State School for the Blind, to replace Janelle Brown as an agency representative.

Mr. Buchman then presented the Board with three recommendations to fill one consumer representative seat.  The CAC did not have a recommendation because all three candidates were excellent choices.  Discussion ensued over which person would bring something different to the Committee.  The Board agreed that George Barnes would be the best candidate and that the other candidates should be thought of in the future.
 
Ms. Baines moved (M-59-06) that the following persons be appointed to the State Library’s Talking Book Consumer Advisory Committee for the terms outlined below:

Organization Representatives:

Agency Representative:

Consumer Representative:

Ms. O’Brien seconded the motion.  The motion passed with all members voting “yes”.

Board Nominations
Ms. Budler informed the Board that the State Library received several nominations of library directors for the State Library Board, but it is not entirely appropriate for library directors to serve on the State Library Board because the Board is a policy making entity.  The Board has historically been composed of library users and not professional librarians.  She commented that those directors who were nominated are being kept in mind for appointment to a possible State Library Advisory Council.

The Board discussed the nominations that they did receive and that the Ohio Department of Education is requiring two names be submitted for recommendation.  The Board discussed Carl Stitch, a former State Library Board Member, and Mary Vesper Schwetschenau, a current and past member of several Foundations, Boards, and Associations.  While Ms. Vesper Schwetschenau has been actively involved with her community, she has no experience with library boards or library issues.

Therefore, Ms. Baines moved (M-60-06) that Mr. Carl Stitch and Mary Vesper Schwetschenau be recommended to the State Board of Education for appointment to the State Library Board, with a strong recommendation for Mr. Carl Stitch.

Dr. Paulson seconded the motion.  The motion passed with all members voting “yes”.

Mr. Miller suggested several different options for the State Library Board including increasing the number of members and creating two standing committees.  He suggested that the Board could discuss this at the upcoming retreat in February.

NEW BUSINESS

SEO Annex
Ms. Budler presented a request from Chris Tucker, Head, SEO Library Center that the SEO Annex, which was the former SOLO Regional Library System building, be officially named the Ward Murrey Annex of the State Library of Ohio in honor of his visionary leadership.   Ms. Budler stated that the State Library checked with the Attorney General’s office and DAS/Real Estate to ensure that there are no problems with naming the building.

Dr. Paulson moved (M-61-06) that the SEO Annex be named the F. Ward Murrey Annex of the State Library of Ohio.

Ms. Hastings seconded the motion.  The motion passed with all members voting “yes”.

OPLIN Filtering Grants
Mr. Stephen Hedges, Executive Director, Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) updated the Board on the OPLIN Filtering Grant Program and presented several grants which were above $5,000 for approval.  He noted that in the biennial budget the legislature earmarked $100,000 in each year of the biennium to be used to assist libraries with Internet filtering.  At least 50% of the funds are required to be spent on the purchase of new filters each year.  Public libraries were eligible to apply for grants up to $10,000 dollars with first consideration given to new installations of filters.  Grant requests of more than $5,000 come before the State Library Board for approval.  OPLIN received 42 applications for a total request of $134,504.20.  Applications for new filtering received first priority, upgrades and expansions were the next priority and funding requests for maintenance received the third priority.  The OPLIN Board then recommended that $108,282.70 be awarded and that OPLIN pay for the amount above $100,000.

Ms. Baines moved (M-62-06) that fiscal year 2007 General Revenue Funds within ALI 350-400 (Ohio Public Library Information Network) in the amount of $48,550.70 be granted to the following public libraries for filtering grants from November 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007:

Ms. O’Brien seconded the motion.  The motion passed with all members voting “yes”.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further items for discussion, the Board adjourned by common consent at 2:40 p.m, Thursday, October 26th, 2006.

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