FALCONS Meeting Minutes
Date: May 18, 2012
Minutes: Motion to accept February’s minutes: Apalachin made a motion to accept the minutes, seconded by Cato and approved.
Present: Apalachin, Auburn, Aurora, Candor, Cato, Cortland, Homer, Lansing, Marathon, Newfield, Seneca Falls, TCPL, Union Springs, Trumansburg, Union Springs, Waverly, Weedsport and Kim, Eric, Robert, Marisa and Jan from FLLS.
Absent: Alternatives, Berkshire, Cincinnatus, Dryden, Fair Haven, Groton, Interlaken, McGraw, Ovid, Poplar Ridge, Lodi, Moravia, Newark Valley, Nichols, Owego, Port Byron, Spencer and Waterloo.
Announcements:
- Kim announced that the free direct access plan has been approved by the FLLS Board and now needs approval from the member library boards. This needs to be completed through the summer so the plan can be submitted to DLD by the end of September.
- Mail It services have been discontinued by FLLS. 99 patrons are affected and those names have been sent to the closest library in hopes the service can continue at a local level.
- Workshops for library staff and trustees will be held on sustainable funding in Seneca Falls on July 25th from 5-7pm and in the Borg Warner room of the Tompkins County Public Library on July 26th from 10-12 Noon.
- Marisa is leaving FLLS in July and moving to Albany to pursue her master’s degree.
- There is a new Director in Lodi and her name is Dora Minichello. Welcome!
- Molly, the Director in Trumansburg will be leaving on July 27th.
Old Business:
- An update on the common card was discussed. Tioga County is ready to go with their common card and will go live on June 1st. Spencer is on board with the common card also. Training on the patron merge functionality will be held in Waverly on Monday May 21st right after the EReader workshop. All Tioga County libraries are encouraged to attend since this is a vital component of the common card procedure.
- Linda Beins was absent so Jan gave her ILL update. Linda will be out of the office from June 1-6. Please only use lbeins@flls.org for ILL-related emails, such as renewal requests. ILL-L is no longer active. We had 100% response rate for the Delivery Service survey. Thank you for the feedback and the many kind comments. Please remember that you can always contact Linda B with any concerns or questions about the deliveries. Hand outs were given on the ILL Policies Survey. We need to distribute updated Member Library ILL Policies. Please make changes and return to Linda B. before June 1st. Return the spreadsheet, even if there aren’t any changes with the words “No Changes” clearly marked. Subscriptions to the three Do-It-Yourself databases (Auto Repair, Home Repair, and Hobbies & Crafts) will not be renewed in September.
- Marisa discussed cooperative Overdrive purchasing. If you are interested in designating a portion of your budget for eBooks, Rex can set up an account for you. Please contact Marisa if interested. Keep in mind that you will be purchasing for the System service. If you just want to contribute to the Overdrive fund, email Marisa with the amount you wish to contribute, what authors or titles you are interested in so we have an idea on specific authors and/or titles to purchase. After July, when Marisa is no longer here, contact Annette. The question was raised as to whether multiple copies of the same titles can be purchased and yes you can do that. Also someone asked what the general cost of an eBook was. They range from $2.99 to $30.00. Audiobooks are about the same cost as eBooks. A question was raised also when using the mobile app on an Android tablet you cannot see the digital downloads tab.
New Business:
- Wednesday June 6th we will be upgrading to the Polaris 4.1 version. Please use the offline mode if desired. The upgrade will be started early in the morning and we are hoping it will be finished by Noon. Please wait until you hear from the CNS department before trying to log into Polaris.
- A new version of Libdata will be coming this summer. There are currently 12 libraries using this PC management software. We had some custom programming done for and will need to see if any of that has to be recreated into the new version.
- Eric discussed the bulk computer purchase and an order form was handed out.$759 for a desktop with a 22” monitor, Windows 7 Professional, DVD burner and a 5 year warranty. Laptops will run $767.96 and include Windows 7, DVD burner, case, wireless capabilities, mouse and 5 year warranty. Cost in 2012 was about $684 so it’s gone up a bit. Deep Freeze will be $43.20 per public PC which replaces Steady State. Please indicate at the top of the form the number of PC’s ordered for staff and the number ordered for the public. For Symantec Antivirus; if you are buying a replacement computer, the license will transfer. If you are ordering a new computer we will need to bill you for Symantec. A question was raised about purchasing Microsoft Office. This is not included in the price of the PC because it will be more expensive if added to the bulk purchase then if purchased through TechSoup. The next version of Microsoft Office will be out by the end of this year which will allow you to upgrade to the new version free since purchases through TechSoup include software assurance. We can reuse the licenses of 2010 for the new purchase. If you have a version older that 2007 we recommend upgrading to the current version on the public PC’s. There is an option for a-la-cart items, such as; media card reader (though the tower would have to be larger). The desktop models do not have room in the front to have a CD/DVD player and a media card. An external media card reader is recommended. They run about $20 at Staples. In Lodi all the public PC’s are laptops and wireless. A question was raised asking if any library have laptops available for the public to check out. Seneca Falls and Apalachin do. Is Libdata available on wireless laptops? Yes. All bulk computer orders should be in by June 8th.
- Eric discussed the Symantec antivirus program. Version 11.x will incorrectly identify an attack on your network and can take your Internet connection offline. Older versions may not be updating and this is the time to upgrade them. 12.1 is the current version and a cd will be sent out by county. Install it on the public PC’s using the exec profile. If you have the current version of 12.1 there is no need to upgrade. The cd’s will be in delivery and include instructions.
- Rex is on vacation and unable to attend this meeting but produced a handout on the advance notice from Time Warner on possibly doing away with providing free internet service to public libraries. If the libraries have to pay, they could apply for e-rate but would then have to filter access to the internet. 7 mg is recommended. You can go as high as 10 mg but higher than 10 mg is not necessary.
Open Discussion:
Documentation and training videos are accessible by the member libraries on the Polaris Extranet. The URL is http://www.polarislibrary.com/extranet2/. The UserID is: FLLSStaff and the Password is:
Meeting adjourned:
Motion to adjourn by Seneca Falls, seconded by Candor, meeting adjourned at 11:25 am
Next Meeting:
Thursday August 16th from 9:30 to 11:30.