1. CALL TO ORDER
This regularly scheduled meeting of the CLAN Steering Committee meeting was called to order by Chair Kathryn Taylor at 9:45 A.M. at the Warwick Public Library.

Steering Committee members in attendance: Dan Austin, Susan Aylward, Carol Brouwer, John Carney, Fran Farrell-Bergeron, Shirley Long, Doug Pearce, Pat Redfearn, Regina Slezak, Kathryn Taylor, Ulla Virks. Excused absence: Anne Parent

Also in attendance: Elaine Clark (CLAN), Paul Holliday (CRA), Donna Longo DiMichele (DSL) representing Anne Parent, David Macksam (CRA), Rick Payette (CLAN), Karen Taylor (EGR)

2. MINUTES OF DECEMBER 1 and DECEMBER 22 STEERING COMMITTEE MEETINGS
VOTED unanimously to accept the minutes of the December 1 and December 22, 2005 meetings as presented. (Ulla Virks, Doug Pearce).

3. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT (Peter Bennett written report)
Peter reported in writing that the Millennium dataload which took place over the holidays went well. RINET and Atrion have solved the technical issues with the 8e6 filtering system, paving the way for us to begin running that system once the equipment is in place, probably by the end of January. Peter and Cindy have been working with the Circ Heads on the patron data migration and setup issues. The old group transit function that we used to have with Dynix may be possible with Innovative and Peter and the Circ Heads are exploring the option. It is a separate module, which will cost additional money. The LION Consortium in Connecticut is in negotiations with Innovative (they are a Dynix customer). Peter is also working on increasing our network security, limiting outside access to the CLAN network to a minimum.

Dan Austin discussed the date of going live with the new system, which had been scheduled for the week of March 20th. At a previous meeting, the Steering Committee expressed an interest in having that date changed because that is the week of the PLA conference in Boston. There are scheduling issues with Innovative, principally the availability of our migration team, which prevent a lot of flexibility in the migration schedule. Peter is exploring whether the date can be shifted to the following week, March 27th.

Shirley Long asked about the license issue with Innovative, which had come up at an LIT forum meeting. Rick explained that Innovative works differently than Horizon in that each module takes a license and CLAN pays for a certain number of licenses. CLAN has purchased 470 licenses, based on Peter's estimation of system usage at peak times. Each library will have an allocation of a certain number of those licenses, also based on historic usage of the system. If one computer is logged into both the circulation and the cataloging module, that computer is using two licenses. Peter feels that the 470 licenses are more than adequate and he will be letting each of us know our license allocations soon. If it turns out that this number of licenses turns out to be a problem, we can get more licenses.

The OPAC licenses work in a different way, so the 470 licenses CLAN-wide are for the staff modules. The patron computers are not part of this equation.

4. CLAN STAFF REPORTS
Rick highlighted two items in his report-the Champlin-funded computers have been ordered and should be arriving in libraries next week and he has created a bootable DVD ghosting image of each computer, which significantly reduces setup time. He encourages libraries to request this DVD.

Elaine reported that she has copies of the annual report from Bank of America on file in the office if anyone is interested in looking at them.

5. TRAINING UPDATE
Susan Aylward read the report from Mary Skaba, Circ Heads Chair, which summarized the Circ Heads Committee efforts-to-date and the future plans for Circulation Training.

Kathryn and Regina presented information from the RIC Committee on the training RFQ and the OPAC recommendations that the committee has been discussing. The Minuteman network has responded to the RFQ for training, but does not have the same version of Millennium that we will have; NOBLE has trainers, but cannot fit us into their schedule at this time; Bob Aspri from HELIN is interested in helping us. The Committee report, released just prior to the Steering Committee meeting outlines 10 recommendations for modifying the "out-of-the-box" OPAC. Rick needs to look at the recommendations to see if the changes are do-able. Appearance changes in the OPAC can affect the future functionality of the OPAC when new software versions the OPAC are released, so this is a major consideration. There is also some question about patron PINS, with some libraries strongly opposed to having them, and some libraries very much in favor of having them to preserve patron privacy. Peter needs to explain this issue to the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee decided to hold a special meeting on February 2, 2005 to discuss the recommendations of the RIC Committee and to look at the PIN issue.

6. TREASURER'S REPORT
The Steering Committee reviewed the Treasurer's budget-to-date reported dated July through December 2005. Doug Pearce thanked Shirley Long for presenting such effective and timely reports on CLAN's financial position.

7. CLAN NAME CHANGE
The Steering Committee continued its discussion, begun at the previous meeting, of a possible name change for CLAN, to something that would not be offensive to many of our patrons and that would provide better name recognition for the network as an entity. The Committee felt generally that this was a good time to make a change, with a new Executive Director coming on board, and a new software system being implemented. Several possible names were discussed RIPLUS, RICLAS, RIPLAN.

A MOTION was made by Shirley Long, seconded by Ulla Virks that the Steering Committee recommend to the membership that CLAN change its name. The vote was nine in favor (Aylward, Carney, Farrell-Bergeron, Long, Pearce, Redfearn, Slezak, Taylor, Virks); one opposed (Brouwer).

8. BYLAWS CHANGE-ASSISTANT TREASURER POSITION
The Committee discussed creating an assistant treasurer position, on the recommendation of CLAN's accountant, for the purpose of check signing.

A MOTION was made by Fran Farrell-Bergeron, seconded by Carol Brouwer to create an assistant treasurer position for the purpose of check signing, to be filled by the director of the library in which CLAN's administrative offices are housed. The vote was nine in favor (Aylward, Brouwer, Carney, Farrell-Bergeron, Long, Redfearn, Slezak, Taylor, Virks); one abstention (Pearce).

This involves a bylaws change, a motion for which will appear on the agenda of the February CLAN membership meeting.

9. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SEARCH
Dan Austin will prepare and post the job advertisement. The deadline for applications will be March 1st.

10. OTHER
The Steering Committee discussed CLAN-wide publicity about the migration. It was decided that individual libraries can handle part of this on the local level, but that we also need to do something as a network. Kathryn suggested that it would be a good opportunity to tie the migration to Champlin's role in the funding process. She will work on arranging for this publicity to appear a week before the migration, or the week that it happens.

Kathryn reported that Ginny did not pursue COBRA benefits.

11. ADJOURNMENT
A MOTION was made by Doug Pearce, seconded by Shirley Long to adjourn at 11:15 AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Aylward
Secretary

Next Steering Committee meeting, February 2, 2006, 9:30AM, Warwick Public Library
Next quarterly membership meeting, February 9, 2006, 9:30AM, Warwick Public Library