Central New York Library Resources Council Executive Committee April 13, 2011 3:00 p.m. CLRC Present: Debby Emerson, CLRC Executive Director; Robert O’Boyle (Onondaga Community College), Vice President; Kathy Corcoran (Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute), Member-at-Large; Ron Foster (SUNYIT), Secretary. Action Items . Send financial reports to the board for approval. . Send bylaws changes to the board for approval. . Notify the board of the change in CLRC’s office hours . Bring to the board the issue of Central New York Heritage joining New York Heritage. Debby called the meeting to order at 3:13. . Minutes of February 16, 2011 Meeting: . The minutes were approved as amended. M(Foster)/S/Approved unanimously. . Financial Reports: . Not all the money allocated for salaries and benefits will be spent because the Executive Director, Assistant Director and Project Assistant positions were vacant part of this year. . Debby recommended the financial reports be forwarded to the board for approval. M(O’Boyle)/S/Approved unanimously. . Executive Director’s Report . The group discussed the possibility of sending out the Executive Director’s Report as a pdf. Debby agreed to consider the idea. . Library Advocacy Day was held in Albany in March. Approximately 30 people went via CLRC’s bus, and more went separately. The entire office participated. The trip was very well organized, and they received very positive feedback. The meetings with legislators and their aides went well; there were full contingents at each appointment (because of good planning), and this organization was appreciated by the legislators. Debby believes the endeavor was effective, e.g., the governor proposed a 10% cut but the legislature ended up passing only a 6.5% cut, which is especially good considering the current New York State budget situation. Debby observed that it was important to talk to the governor’s representatives in the summer or early fall, i.e., before he sets the budget. She believes it is better to be proactive. . Debby is working on the budget. There will probably be an across-the-board 6.5% cut. Supplemental funding is now annual and automatic. For the last two years, we have had extra funding through Senator Valesky’s member item, but that money will not be available this year. . State Budget Update . The group discussed the New York State budget situation and the impact of rising gas prices on travel reimbursement for the medical circuit librarian, Angela Thor. . Special Projects Assistants . Two Special Projects Assistants have been hired: Katie O’Connell and Claire Enkosky. Katie started Monday; she works 17 hours per week and has digitization skills. She will be working on a marketing plan and project: a contest to make an advocacy video. The situation worked out well because the positions are paid internships through Syracuse University, which also benefits. They will work through the end of the summer. . Route 13 Agreement . The Route 13 Agreement is a partnership between CLRC and two other consortia that allows the partners to provide member libraries with access to FirstSearch and Wilson Full Text. One consortium has dropped out, so there is a concern about the viability of the Agreement. The cost of FirstSearch is skyrocketing. OCLC has said they will allow us to continue our subscription at the same cost. Wilson will no longer be a part of the package, and members will need to subscribe to it separately; the total cost will work out to be about the same. . NewsBank Subscription . CLRC charges back to members part of the cost of the NewsBank subscription. The quote has been lowered slightly. The decision has not yet been made, and it is unclear, if we will continue to offer NewsBank. There may be a need to survey members. NewsBank is used more than Wilson Full Text. (RBDB funding is controlled by the Automation Committee; they felt the Library Resources and Services Committee should decide; LRS suggested a survey of members.) NewsBank costs around $81,000; about $60,000 is paid through RBDB and the remainder through chargebacks to members, around $20,000. The new quote is for $77,000. (Wilson costs around $30,000). Once a decision has been made, there will be a need to publicize the availability of the database(s) better. . Archival Services Committee and Resource Sharing Committee . Bylaws changes are needed to change the mission statement of the Archival Services Committee and the name of the Bibliographic Services Committee. A bylaws change requires a majority of board members voting at a board meeting on the issue. A motion was offered to forward these changes to the Board. M(O’Boyle)/S/Approved unanimously. . CLRC Office Hours . Debby would like to change CLRC’s office hours from Labor Day to the end of summer. She researched the office hours of similar organizations, and her proposal is in line with others’. The Executive Committee discussed and approved the change and asked Debby to notify the Board. . NY Heritage . There is a question on whether Central New York Heritage (CNY Heritage) should join the larger New York Heritage program. Representatives from CLRC, Fayetteville Free Library, Liverpool Public Library and Syracuse University met to discuss the matter. There was a concern about offending SU, who had been doing CNY Heritage a favor by hosting the site; it is clear there are no hard feelings. There will be a benefit to users if the project is made part of a large whole. CNY Heritage will retain its identity and will still have a landing page. The Digitization Committee voted electronically to migrate to New York Heritage. The Executive Committee asked Debbie to bring the matter to the Board. M(Corcoran)/S/Approved unanimously. . Merger of LRS and Automation Committees . Debby invited members of the Automation Committee to attend a meeting of the Library Resources and Services Committee. The two groups cover a lot of the same issues. There is a question on whether they should merge. The Automation Committee controls RBDB, but most of the money is spent on items recommended by LRS. . Other . There are two open spots on the Board. A report is coming from the Nominating Committee. . Approval of Board Agenda . Debby asked that the agenda of next week’s Board meeting be approved. M(O’Boyle)/S/Approved unanimously. . Adjournment . The meeting was adjourned at 4:05. M(Foster)/S/Approved unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Ron Foster, Secretary SUNYIT