library of california
Gold Coast Library Network
Ventura + Santa Barbara + San Luis Obispo
Board of Directors
Minutes
October 25, 2001

Presiding: John Murray, Chair

Attendees:
Present at this meeting:
Carol Keator, Vice Chair
Bryan Thompson, Records and Correspondence Chair
Bettie Day, Library User Representative
Hiram Davis, Academic Libraries Representative
Terri Sheridan, Special Libraries Representative
Bill Stokes, School Libraries Representative
Annie Robb, Black Gold Cooperative Library System Representative

Also present:
Mary Lou Kravetz, Gold Coast Library Network Program Manager
Janice Webb, Gold Coast Library Network Technology Librarian

Not present:
Octavio Sifuentes, Finance Chair
Marcia Frasier, Public Libraries Representative
Sarah Pritchard, Resource Libraries Representative

1. CALL TO ORDER - The meeting of the Network Board was convened at 10:40 a.m. on October 25, 2001 at the McVeagh House, adjacent to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, by Chair John Murray.
2. ADOPTION OF AGENDA - Approval of new schedule for the Executive Services agreement was added as agenda item 4a. Moved, seconded (Keator, Davis) that the agenda be adopted as amended. There were no objections.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
   August 30, 2001- Item 3 in the minutes should be corrected to read Keator instead of Keater. Moved, seconded (Robb, Day) that the minutes be approved as amended. Motion passed unanimously.
4. FINANCIAL REPORT - The financial report shows that most of the money encumbered from last year has been expensed. The $30,000 in prior year encumbrances was set aside last year to pay rent and salaries. The budgeted amount for telephone is there to cover videoconferencing connection costs. Murray suggested that an inventory of compatible videoconferencing systems in the Network be created. Davis asked whether the financial report needed approval. It was explained that this report is informational only as the Board has already approved the budget upon which it is based
   • (added) APPROVAL OF SCHEDULE FROM EXECUTIVE SERVICES AGREEMENT - Kravetz explained that the Executive Services Agreement does not expire but that a new schedule 2 (based upon the budget for the new fiscal year) is created and needs to be approved at the annual meeting.

   It was questioned whether the annual meeting is scheduled too early to approve a schedule based upon a budget that is not firm. Keator suggested the annual meeting approval be based on a not to exceed amount then, if the budget needs amending, Network administrators will reallocate and send the amended budget to members. If the budget ends up being more than the not to exceed amount, the members would be asked for input on how to allocate the additional funds. Murray explained the LoC Board's calendar and how it relates to the Network's.

   Moved, seconded (Keator, Davis) to approve schedule 2 of the Executive Services Agreement for the 2001/02 fiscal year. Motion passed without opposition.

5. COMMITTEE REPORTS
   • The Membership Committee - Sheridan reported that the Membership Committee met last week (10/16/01), discussed a marketing proposal and decided to move forward on getting case studies from member libraries. School districts were identified and Carol Christiansen and Mary Lou did some marketing to schools. The Library of California law allows for the "or clause" on eligibility and it is up to the Network to interpret it. Barbara Jeffus says public schools need a media credentialed librarian to participate. Other Regions interpret the law more strictly than Gold Coast does. The law states that regions can set up their own membership criteria. The Membership Committee will look at the application process and criteria again to determine what standards the applicant needs to meet.

     Thompson asked what had happened to the idea of a tiered membership. Sheridan said the committee has to decide whether a library could join providing they meet criteria within a time limit imposed by the Network. Two applications presented to the committee were returned for additional information.

     Outreach methods for school libraries were discussed. Two methods, case studies and a community resources project being funded by UCSB, are currently being used for outreach to school libraries. Day suggested addressing the curriculum councilors in each county and asking to get on the agenda of one of their meetings. Thompson suggested we ask to be invited to teacher/staff orientation at the schools. Day suggested we create a "traveling program" to promote our Network to schools.

     Kravetz is working on procedures for the committee and guidelines for equivalent experience.

   • Training and Technical Assistance - Webb reported that the Training and Technical Assistance Committee held a meeting on October 4, 2001. The committee discussed the results of the survey and determined that the highest priority for training is a beginning HTML course. The course will be provided once in each county beginning in January 2002. A session is already scheduled at UCSB for March 20, 2002. The next highest rated courses were intermediate Internet research and intermediate marketing of library services. Kravetz mentioned that there is a $5,000 budget for training and the Network may be able to find trainers for these courses.

     Other methods of training delivery were discussed. It was determined that computer based training did not receive much positive response since it is difficult to learn at your own desk. Network training will focus on videoconferencing and face-to-face workshops and events.

     Videoconferencing was discussed at the meeting and it was mentioned that the medium does not seem to be being used to its full potential. The possibility of holding a workshop on how to present an effective videoconference was raised.

     The committee talked about grant funding and three possibilities were presented. The comparative rurality of the Network was discussed. Webb stated that the Network should be able to present itself as a rural region to qualify for the funding.

6. PROPOSAL TO UCSB COMMUNITY OUTREACH INITIATIVE - for a Community Resource Guide for teachers K-12 - A one-page proposal was written by Kravetz and Pritchard. Pritchard and Sheridan will visit with Joe Castro of UCSB to discuss the proposal. Kravetz is collecting resources for this project of outreach to schools. Davis mentioned LSTA grant for outreach. Murray thanked Kravetz and Pritchard for their work on proposal.
7. REPORT ON REGIONAL CONTACTS MEETING October 10, 2001
   1. Library of California booths at CLA and CSLA conferences
      Kravetz is signed up to work a booth at CLA and will attend CSLA.
      On November 4 at 10:30 a.m., Keator will be part of a panel called "State of the Network: Library of California."
   2. California Preservation Project - Gold Coast has offered to host a disaster recovery workshop, possibly with Region IV. Murray suggested California Lutheran University as a possible host site.
      
8. REFERENCE
   • Executive Director's report on LoC CLSA Reference Coordinators meeting - Segel attended Statewide Reference Issues meeting October 2, 2001. The purpose of the meeting was to begin planning Library of California Statewide reference service. The attendees were primarily CLSA system reference coordinators. The target date for developing the reference program is February 2003. Pritchard attended resource library meeting October 15, 2001.
   • Kravetz handed out a reference services report for the Gold Coast Library Network. Sheridan said there was a survey done that showed people would overwhelmingly like to see virtual reference to local resources. Keator said that the focus should be on other second level reference sources outside of the region but that 24/7 reference is not highest priority for Black Gold. A contract with an organization outside of the region is a possibility. Staff depth and workload is a concern if the work is done within the Network versus contracting with someone else. Region VII may be too small to do a virtual reference service on its own. Sheridan suggested email Q&A as an approach to virtual reference. Davis said the Network may be overwhelmed with questions and need to clarify what can be handled, take a look at what the major portion of the questions will be and add human interaction as an augmentation. Experts need to be identified but make sure they are not inundated with requests for information.
   • The Network should look to funding a source beyond FAQ at the library level (second level reference). Kravetz said Gold Coast Library Network could create a virtual reference tool of local resources with the community guide for K-12 teachers as a first part.
     
9. PROGRAM MANAGER'S REPORT - NetLibrary was discussed. Kravetz and Webb signed up for a trial of eBooks offered by BCR. Kravetz attended the InfoPeople conference on virtual reference. The conference focused primarily on 24/7.
10. TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIAN'S REPORT - Two new libraries have signed up for the Gale Group databases, which brings the total participants to 35. Four videoconferences were held and one cancelled due to the terrorist attacks. One conference was a a video author visit, a combination webcast/videoconference with Michael Chabon, one was a tour of the Library of Congress' exhibit on the Wizard of Oz. Michael Cart presented two staff development workshops in collection development - one for children's librarians and one for young adult librarians. The video author visits are being discontinued.
11. MEETING LOCATIONS FOR JANUARY - JUNE 2002 -
    • Dates were discussed. Stokes suggested changing times to afternoon. Kravetz will send a survey to Board for time, day of week and which week (ex: 3rd Thursday) and location to ask which days are bad for them. The 4th Thursday will be offered as a possible meeting date. The annual meeting will be held in April.

Elections for 2002-03 will be added to the next meeting's agenda

The meeting for December 6th has changed locations from Westmont to the University Club in Santa Barbara.

Sheridan announced that the museum automation system will go live in about two weeks. Webb and Sheridan will discuss how to put the system on Cat-A-Link Gold.

The meeting adjourned was adjourned at 12:24 p.m.

Recorded by Janice Webb

Signature of Approval:

John Murray, Chair

Bryan Thompson, Records & Correspondence Chair

Judith Segel, Chief Executive