1. CALL TO ORDER
This regularly scheduled meeting of the CLAN Steering Committee was called to order by Vice President Regina Slezak at 9:40 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, Anne Parent, Pat Redfearn, Regina Slezak, Ulla Virks. Excused absence: Kathryn Taylor

Also in attendance: Peter Bennett (System Administrator); Cindy St. Amour (Head of Data Processing); Elaine Clark (CLAN), Rick Payette (CLAN); Debbie Barchi (BAR); Laura Marlane (CFA and Group Purchasing Committee representative)

2. MINUTES OF JANUARY 12 and FEBRUARY 2 STEERING COMMITTEE MEETINGS
VOTED unanimously to accept the minutes of the January 12 and February 2, 2006 meetings as presented. (Ulla Virks, John Carney).

3. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT (Peter Bennett)
Peter reported that the migration is progressing well. There have been some small glitches with the data loads, all of which have been or are being resolved. There were a couple of issues with the OPAC and holds, one of which has been resolved, the other, which takes you to the item selection screen when placing a hold, is in the process of being resolved by the Millennium folks.

The SIP 2 licenses have been loaded and Rick and Peter are looking at the self-check issues. Self-check may not be available on Day 1 post-migration. The Patron API Interface has also been installed. Peter and Rick report that this is going to make Cybrarian and other programs like it, which require patron authentication, much easier.

Teleforms (the Millennium equivalent of Telecirc) will not be available for a week to 10 days after we come up. Patron notices will be generated to e-mail and regular mail for that time period.

Peter has tested the circulation extraction and it all looks very good. He will begin the circulation extraction gap load on Sunday the 26th as soon as libraries close.

We will be down all day on Monday the 27th. We will be on the Migration Circulation telnet application that day, which will give us the capability for CHECKOUT ONLY. Rick will be posting instructions about this application and how to get into it a little closer to D-Day. Peter believes that we will be able to enter patron registrations on that Monday in Millennium, but we will have to switch into the Migration Circulation application if we want to check anything out to those new patrons. The final word on this and instructions will be posted in the week prior to Monday the 27th.

The Horizon OPAC (HIP) will be coming down on Sunday at the close of business-never to return. If you have links to HIP on your online catalog, they will no longer work when Peter brings HIP down on Sunday evening. Rick will be posting suggestions about how and when to change or disable your links. The new OPAC should be available for searching on Monday; however, the request features will be disabled. Patrons will not be able to place holds on Monday.

There was a great deal of discussion about how best to communicate problems-member libraries to CLAN systems staff communication and systems staff to member libraries communication. The Steering Committee discussed the possibility of ways for Data Processing staff to create some sort of broadcast message-banner along the bottom of the screen; e-mail message; posting on the message board; recorded message on the phones in Data Processing-to alert libraries that there is, indeed a problem, and that they are working on it. We do not yet have the capability for the banner message; the Providence phone system may or may not be capable of easily accommodating a recorded message like the one they use at the electric company when there is a problem; and the posting on the message board only works if member libraries monitor the message board regularly and if connectivity has not been lost. CLAN is not blessed with an overabundance of staff who can stop and create the message to be sent to member libraries. Often, the Data Processing folks are trying to solve the problem and it seems a better use of their time to be doing that rather than creating messages to be sent out. Everyone agreed that this is an important issue and one that we need to continue to work on until we find a workable solution.

In the meantime, when we come up on Millennium, problems can be sent via an e-mail message to Cindy St. Amour, cstamour@provlib.org with as much detail as possible. She will forward them, as necessary to Peter. Problems of great magnitude should be reported via telephone to Data Processing 455-8086 with subsequent e-mails to Cindy.

4. CLAN STAFF REPORTS
Rick Payette-Rick reported that in April the CLAN message system will switch to a new server (mid-late April). The message boards and CLAN e-mail will be down for a half-day or one day to make this change. The new mail system will have a superior interface. Outlook Web Access looks almost like Outlook.

Cindy St. Amour-Cindy talked a bit about Teleforms and the generic messages that the system will provide. Regina Slezak asked Susan Aylward to come up with a draft generic message for the overdues and the holds, which she will send around to the Steering Committee for their consideration.

Elaine Clark-Kathryn had asked the CLAN staff if they had any suggestions on improving the physical work environment in the CLAN office to get the space ready for a new executive director. Elaine reported on the suggestions, which included clearing away Ginny's personal belongings; purchasing new chairs for the conference area; and purchasing some new cubicle screens for the executive director's office area. The Steering Committee felt that it would be good to wait until the new executive director has been hired to make most of the changes in the work environment. However, they did agree that Ginny's personal belongings should be cleared away. Elaine will send an e-mail to Ginny giving her until March 30th to come and collect her items. If she does not take care of it by the 30th, Elaine will pack her items and they will be stored, temporarily, in the maintenance area of the Warwick Library.

5. CHAMPLIN GRANT PREPARATIONS
Rick Payette reported on the upcoming Champlin Grant preparations. He distributed a packet that included: a timeline; a draft copy of the form that will be distributed to the membership; and a draft of the letter to Champlin that outlined the Consortium request for funds for the cost of the migration and for funds for the BlueSecure network management system for wireless access by library patrons; the individual library requests for technology items that libraries selected from a list prepared by CLAN staff; and the funds carried forward that were unspent this year from the individual library requests.

Anne Parent expressed concern about the funds carried forward, suggesting there was some ambiguity and perhaps some mixed messages in there being a balance of unspent funds from this year's grant when libraries' individual requests for some CLAN-related technology items were not funded and when there was such a need for funds for the migration that OLIS put up significant funds towards that project. Rick explained that funds carried forward are from the individual library CLAN requests; not the consortium request for funds for the migration. The reason for the excess funds is that the predictability of pricing 10 months from the actual purchase is not an exact science. Last year, the pricing for workstations turned out to be higher than predicted, so some libraries actually received a higher value of items from the Champlin grant. The price on network servers was not as high as the estimates, so other libraries received a lower value of items from the Champlin grant. The Champlin grant process is not unlike the grant-in-aid process in terms of expending the funds; it is just the timing that is slightly different. Where grant-in-aid funds have to be expended within a fiscal year timeframe and changes in how the funds are spent have to be submitted to OLIS for approval prior to re-allocation, the Champlin funds can be carried over to the next fiscal year, but they still have to be approved for re-allocation just the same as grant-in-aid funds do-hence their going back into the pot as "unexpended" and coming back out applied to the next year's funding request.

6. TREASURER'S REPORT
Shirley Long distributed the Treasurer's report for the period July through February 2006.

7. CHECK SIGNING AUTHORITY
Regina Slezak and Susan Aylward reported on the bylaws implications of establishing an ex-officio Asst. Treasurer position to be held by the director of the library housing CLAN's offices for the purpose of signing checks. They expressed two concerns: the lack of any elected officer with check signing authority; and the implication that the asst. treasurer as ex-officio precludes the possibility of the director of the housing library ever holding an elected office in the organization. There was discussion about the logistics of the officers having check signing authority and the convenience of having the check signer on site. The Steering Committee felt generally that it would not be an undue burden for an officer to make a plan to go to the CLAN office to sign checks between Steering Committee meetings if it was required because of the absence of the executive director. VOTED to authorize the CLAN President and Treasurer to be check signers on the CLAN accounts and for the change to take effect after the May annual meeting. (Susan Aylward, Fran Farrell-Bergeron)

8. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SEARCH
President Kathryn Taylor asked Vice President Regina Slezak to report that we have received a number of applications for the Executive Director position. The Personnel Committee is reviewing them and is in the process of scheduling interviews.

9. CLAN NAME CHANGE
Debbie Barchi suggested that the Steering Committee might want to form a small subcommittee to come up with a new name. Regina Slezak appointed Fran Farrell-Bergeron to chair the committee and asked Debbie Barchi to work with Fran to come up with a recommendation of a new name for the membership to consider at the May annual meeting.

10. OTHER
Laura Marlane reported on the recommendation of the group purchasing committee to accept the offer from EBSCO for a three-year pricing package for their Premier Package and its contents. Laura reported that committee members had done extensive testing of both the EBSCO and the GALE package and that in the end, the decision came down to the superior customer service that EBSCO is offering. Over the three-year period, the pricing works out to be an average of $212,500 for each year. VOTED to accept the recommendation of the Group Purchasing Committee to accept the proposal from EBSCO for their database package.

Fran Farrell-Bergeron expressed her profound displeasure that CLAN member libraries are not standardizing their fines. She is particularly vexed that some libraries will continue to have grace periods. She does not feel that enough libraries are making sacrifices for the common good and she resents that her library is making great sacrifices in now allowing all of its materials to be available for systemwide holds and she would like to see a similar level of commitment and sacrifice from all other CLAN libraries. Other members of the Steering Committee reminded Fran that this was discussed at length at the September membership meeting and the general consensus of the membership was that fines is a local policy issue that is decided by Boards of Trustees, over which the CLAN membership does not have jurisdiction. And, it was also pointed out that we have made tremendous progress on standardization with regard to loan periods and systemwide borrowing, an area in which all CLAN members have had to make sacrifices for the common good.

11. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Aylward
Secretary

Next Steering Committee meeting, April 27, 2006, 9:30AM, Warwick Public Library
Next quarterly membership meeting, May 11, 2006, 9:30AM, North Kingstown Free Library