Executive Committee Meeting
Action Items
May 25-26, 2006
Aurora, Oregon

Brief topics

• Membership contacts: Independent Colleges of Washington, Washington Library and Media Directors' Council.
  ACTION: Helmer will seek a copy of the LMDC's funding proposal for Alliance and/or Courier membership.

• Scheduling EC meetings in FY07. Council meetings are scheduled for
  • October 5-6, 2006
  • January 11-12, 2007 replaced with a Feb/March meeting, see 5 below
  • April 12-13, 2007 replaced with a Feb/March meeting, see 5 below
  • July 12-13, 2007
  ACTION: EC's next meeting will be September 7, 2006, 9 am - 4 pm, Seattle.
  ACTION: Helmer will poll to determine other EC meeting dates in FY07.

• Results of ERC's ebook survey and April 2006 ERC meeting discussion
  ACTION: Helmer will convey's EC sense of a continued interest in ebooks and the suggestion that ebooks form part of the agenda for the October ER & CDMC meeting.

• Potential for a Portico purchase
  DECISION: This topic will be scheduled for Council's July agenda.

• Acquisitions Institute
• OSL Statewide DB Licensing Project reserve
• NW Library Director's Symposium: November 8-9, 2006? (Fischer, chair)
• Accreditation Document Task Force (Kunkel, chair)
  DECISION: This topic will be scheduled for Council's July agenda.

Council Retreat

1.2 Retreat summary: review and finalize | Report
DECISION: EC agreed that, with minor revisions (below), the document is an accurate portrayal of the state of thinking when the retreat concluded. This document should be seen in that context and subsequent work by EC and Council will more definitively describe retreat outcomes and action items.
ACTION: Helmer will revise the draft summary as follows

• Although RLSC is clearly the Alliance's top development priority, the relative priority of other initiatives is less clear. As a result, numbers will be removed from the list of initiatives but the order will remain the same.
• Under Moving to the Network Level, "Such activities include" will be replaced by "Possible new initiatives include" and a final bullet for "article requesting" will be added.

EC members decided on actions related to existing initiatives (RLSC & Collection Development) and drafted potential new initiatives in keeping with strategic directions determined during Council's retreat.

1.3.1 Regional Library Services Center
DECISION: Dalia Hagan will replace John Popko on the RLSC Leadership Group.
ACTION: Helmer will ask Cindy Kaag if she can replace Tom Peischl on the RLSC Leadership Group.
DECISION: Council's July meeting should include

• a discussion of the concepts to be included in an MOU
• presentations by a few (3?) Council members from both depositing and non-depositing institutions describing their preparations for RLSC.

DECISION: EC noted that RLSC proforma financial statements are expected to be updated this summer and decided that these statements should be forwarded for Council consideration in October. Council's discussion will include the extent and timing of financial expectations for member institutions.

1.3.2 Cooperative Collection Development
DECISION: EC feels that the Collection Development and Management Committee is working very well and should be encouraged to continue their work. There is a sense among EC members that the committee will want to investigate an additional level of activity in 2007, perhaps moving from the "grassroots" activity currently underway to a more prescriptive agreement about shared collection responsibilities.
ACTION: Helmer will see that EC and the CDMC Steering Team have an opportunity to meet in late 2006 to discuss future directions for cooperative collection development.

Data Harvesting Summit
Note: this initiative arose at the retreat in connection with cooperative collection development and is also expected to be included in the forthcoming Summit Catalog Committee report.
Potential new initiative: Charge the Summit Catalog Committee with developing recommendations related to the extraction and analysis of data available in Summit.

1.3.3 Moving services to the network level
EC discussed the broad concept and felt that this overarching concept will inform all Alliance activities. The group also noted that while establishing a new service in a collaborative way is generally achievable, moving long-established activities to the network level can be very difficult. The general sense of the group is that the Alliance should do more in both areas. EC determined that areas of particular interest are

Shared Integrated Library System (ILS)
Potential new initiative: Form a Shared ILS Task Force to investigate opportunities, issues, potential costs and benefits of sharing an integrated library system. Kopp would be willing to help draft the charge and participate in such a task force. Membership would include selected staff and directors drawn from member libraries.

Leadership Development Program
EC developed the concept of a "Leadership Development Program" under which a variety of activities could be logically grouped:

Leadership Institute
At its October 2005 meeting, Council decided to investigate the potential for creating a leadership institute or bringing such a program to the northwest. Subsequent discussions lead by Karyle Butcher indicate that there is continuing interest but that a formal task force is needed to an initiative forward.
Potential new initiative: Form a Leadership Institute Task Force. EC feels that Deb Dancik would make a strong chair for such a task force. Membership would include selected staff and directors drawn from member libraries.

Information Literacy (1.3.5 below)
Potential new initiative: Form an Information Literacy Task Force. Membership would include selected staff and directors drawn from members libraries.

III Symposium (3.5 below)
EC feels that the Alliance should build on Council's January discussion with Jerry Kline as well as recent discussions with Mary Chevreau (III VP) concerning the need for venues to collaborate on ILS design and functionality.
Potential new initiative: EC and Alliance staff would work with III to create a "III Symposium." Purpose: discuss patron needs & expectations and the future of Millennium and INN-Reach. Audience: small group made up of senior library and III staff with skills related to system development & usability. Such an event would explicitly discourage sales presentations or discussion of bugs and service issues in favor of a more forward-looking agenda.

New Summit search interface (1.3.6 below)
Note: this initiative arose at the retreat and is also expected to be included in the forthcoming Summit Catalog Committee report.
Potential new initiative: Charge the Summit Catalog Committee with developing recommendations related to III and non-III capabilities for a new Summit search interface.

1.3.4 Infrastructure for Digital Initiatives
EC discussed the broad range of activities that might be included and determined that areas of particular interest are

Joint Task Force on Digital Assets Initiative
EC determined that the current Alliance & NWACC task force chaired by Kelley should be revitalized and provided with a new charge, membership, and deadline.
Potential new initiative: Kelley would propose a charge and revised membership for the Joint Task Force on Digital Assets Initiative.

NorthWest Digital Archives (NWDA)
EC noted that NWDA appears to be a very worthwhile project, worth sustaining, and possibly similar to the kind of initiative the Alliance would like to pursue. EC also observed that although Alliance members OSU and WSU serve a fiscal agent and technical home for the NWDA grant, only seven Alliance members participate in NWDA. It seems likely that a larger number of Alliance members would need to express an interest in participation if the Alliance is to play a stronger role.
ACTION: Helmer will invite Jodi Allison-Bunnell (NWDA Consortium Administrator) and Larry Landis (NWDA Consortium Director) to provide an NWDA presentation for Council on Thursday afternoon of the July meeting. On Friday, Council will determine the extent of interest in continuing to explore the Alliance's role.
Background: NWDA home | NWDA letter proposing collaboration | Purpose & Objectives
Potential new initiative: Serve as administrative home and fiscal agent to NorthWest Digital Archives.

LITA Regional Institute: Establishing an Institutional Repository
Potential new initiative: Work with LITA to bring a regional institute on Institutional Repositories to the northwest.

1.3.5 Information Literacy
DECISION: EC decided to include this initiative in the Leadership Development Program. See 1.3.3

1.3.6 New Summit search interface
DECISION: EC decided to include this initiative in the Leadership Development Program. See 1.3.3

Next Steps for New Initiatives

DECISION: EC noted that much discussion and refinement has taken place since Council's retreat and that there is clearly a need to discuss potential new initiatives, their relative priority, and the resources required to pursue each. EC decided on the following process:

July Council meeting: Council will discuss the retreat summary and Executive Committee's recommendations about how strategic directions can be pursued through specific actions (section 1.3 above). Council will also conduct a preliminary discussion of consortium and member library resources (staff and financial) needed if the Alliance is to pursue additional projects. Final decisions about most new initiatives will wait for the October meeting.

September EC meeting: EC will consider costs associated with new initiatives, Helmer will provide recommendations concerning consortium resources, and EC will prepare recommendations for Council on priorities and resources.

October Council meeting: Council will discuss, revise and act on EC recommendations.

Membership

2.1 Concordia University
ACTION: Barnes Whyte will provide a verbal report to Council in July.

Background

"Barnes Whyte will prepare a site visit summary report for Council consideration in July 2006." -- Executive Committee Minutes, March 2006

3.1 Short updates

• Server hardware upgrade
• Software and other work to be scheduled
  • Install latest software upgrade
  • Reindexing the database: moving from 32-bit to 64-bit indexing
• SCC's Summit & Google project (contact jfh for passworded access)
• Courier Symposium (Denver, September 2006)

3.2.1 Summit Catalog Committee recommendations
SCC's report was not ready for the EC meeting but will be available for consideration at Council's July meeting.
ACTION: Barnes Whyte will ask Mark Dahl (SCC chair) to estimate resources (direct financial costs, member library staff, consortium staff) required to pursue each recommendation.
ACTION: Helmer will invite Dahl to present SCC's report to Council in July.
ACTION: Helmer will institute the practice of having all committee reports delivered in time for EC consideration.
ACTION: Helmer will institute the practice of asking all committees to estimate resources required to pursue recommendations.

Background:

"Specific Tasks: deadline July 2006

1. Internet Search Engines
   Advise Council on the potential relationship between Summit and internet search engines and identify those actions that will promote patrons' ability to find materials owned by member libraries. e.g., how are patrons led from Google to Summit?
2. Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
   Advise Council on the potential impact of Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) on the Summit catalog.
3. Electronic Resources
   Advise Council on how member libraries are managing access to electronic resources and the potential impact of WebBridge, SFX, and similar linking products.
4. Propose specific topics for pursuit in the future."

-- Summit Catalog Committee charge

3.2.2 Duplicate records | Report
ACTION: Helmer will contact directors to discuss plans for reducing duplicate records and will report back to EC.

3.3.1 Summit Borrowing Committee recommendation | Report
The short loan rule is currently three days to the patron, with no renewal. SBC recommends a revision to allow one three-day renewal.
ACTION: The SBC recommendation will be forwarded with EC's recommendation to approve as part of Council's consent agenda in July. For more on the consent agenda, see section 5. Governance below.

3.3.2 Summit Borrowing turnaround time | Report
ACTION: Nathanson's recommendations will be forwarded with EC's recommendation to approve as part of Council's consent agenda in July. For more on the consent agenda, see section 5. Governance below.
ACTION: Helmer & Nathanson will plan events or other activities that honor and celebrate examples of excellence in Summit Borrowing.

3.3.3 Reimbursement for lost Summit Borrowing items | Report
DECISION: EC determined that this topic has been considered at sufficient length and does not warrant further work in light of current priorities and workload. The topic is removed from EC's agenda but may be reconsidered in the future.

Background:

"EC will consider reimbursement options for items that are expensive to replace." -- Council Minutes, October 2005

"EC members will read Nancy Nathanson's background report and take up this topic at another meeting." -- Executive Committee Minutes, March 2006

3.4 Courier | Courier transit time
EC applauded the excellent courier performance demonstrated in this study and conveyed their thanks to Nancy Nathanson and Michelle Williams for their efforts to design the study, analyze data, and prepare a transit time report.
ACTION: Helmer will include a summary in his July report to Council.

Membership criteria

EC reviewed and revised the draft prepared by Kopp & Popko.

ACTION: Popko will revise for Council consideration in July.
ACTION: Barnes Whyte & Kelley will draft a guide for institutions applying for Alliance membership.
ACTION: Helmer will revise the membership application so that applicants are instructed to reference membership criteria in their letter expressing interest.

Background:

"Membership Criteria Discussion: ... Barnes Whyte noted EC's decision to use the occasion of the current application to analyze membership criteria and the application process. Council's discussion imparts more importance to this issue and EC will actively consider these issues." -- Council Minutes, October 2005

"Kopp and Popko will incorporate Council's input in the next draft and Executive Committee will discuss further. Council will consider membership criteria at the April retreat and can expect to see a draft for revision and adoption in July." -- Council Minutes, January 2006

"Consideration of this topic was postponed." -- Executive Committee Minutes, March 2006

Governance

Council meeting frequency

EC concluded that most Council members would like to see meeting frequency reduced and additional steps taken to streamline more routine business.

DECISION: The January 2007 and April 2007 Council meetings are cancelled and will be replaced by a meeting in February or March.

ACTION: Helmer will poll Council to set a meeting on one of the following dates

• February 22-23
• March 1-2
• March 8-9
• March 15-16

Consent Agenda

EC discussed the advisability of employing a consent agenda. Examples:

• http://www.bloch.umkc.edu/mwcnl/board%20resources/Consent%20Agendas.pdf
• http://www.axi.ca/TCA/Sep2002/tca06-2.htm
• http://www.help4nonprofits.com/ConsentAgenda.htm
• https://www.boardsource.org/Knowledge.asp?ID=3.70
• http://www.navref.org/bestpractices/gov_bod_meetings_consent.htm
• http://garberconsulting.com/FAQ.htm#consentAgenda

DECISION: Council's agenda in July will include a consent agenda.

ACTION: Barnes Whyte will send an email message to Council that highlights this decision, describes how the consent agenda will work in July, and provides notice of the intent to include SBC's short-loan renewal recommendation and Nathanson's turnaround time recommendations on the July consent agenda.

Proxy Voting

EC discussed proxy voting and reviewed the applicable section of the Bylaws

"Article IV 3: Who is entitled to vote.  Every person participating in the meeting as a voting member or designated proxy is entitled to vote on all matters. Each member institution shall have one vote: the Director or Director designee, acting as proxy, from each member institution. The proxy may attend meetings and vote, under the direction and authority of the Council member and with approval of Council Chair, for no more than one year. Proxy participation and voting for more than a year must be approved by Council."

Some expressed concern about proxy voting on major issues. Do some issues require a vote of the director? The predominant sense of EC members is that proxy voting on a limited basis as described in the bylaws is appropriate but that the director's preparation of the proxy is of great importance.

ACTION: Helmer will draft a standard message for EC revision. Helmer will send this information to directors whenever they indicate that a proxy will attend a Council meeting.

Executive Committee size and responsibilities

DECISION: In late FY07, EC will review the status of changes made to Council meetings and discuss any potential changes to Executive Committee size and responsibilities.

EC Teleconferencing

ACTION: EC members will investigate availability of teleconference resources on their campuses.

Background:

"Council expressed a continuing interest in investigating teleconferencing options, especially for the January meeting. ICCL and OUS libraries all have teleconferencing equipment available. For Executive Committee's next meeting (March 11), ICCL and OUS will report back on options. Aspects to consider include system compatibility, need for and availability of a bridge for connecting several sites, scheduling, appropriate regional groupings, costs, and technical support staffing during a teleconference." -- Council Minutes, January 2005

"Council members will forward the names of teleconference staff to Helmer. EC will discuss Council meeting format and teleconference options." -- Council Minutes, October 2005

"EC came to a preliminary conclusion that the Alliance should hire a consultant with expertise in the management of non-profits to analyze the organization and recommend a governance structure. Such a consultation could also include an analysis of consortium staffing. Governance may be raised as an issue at the retreat but EC believes that it would be better to have the retreat focus on strategic planning and future directions for consortium activities.

ACTION: EC feels that videoconferencing would not work well for Council but might start with EC and/or steering teams. Kelley will investigate the ability of EWU staff to plan an approach to using video conference technology for some meetings. Helmer will send Kelley the name of the UO's teleconference expert." -- Executive Committee Minutes, March 2006

6.1 Budgeting without membership growth

ACTION: Topic removed from EC's current and future agendas.

Background

"In order to plan for the future, Executive Committee was asked to work with Helmer to create a conceptual budget based on no growth in membership." -- Council Minutes, April 2005

"Consideration of this topic was postponed." -- Executive Committee Minutes, March 2006

6.2 Policies governing the reserve

ACTION: This topic was deferred due to lack of time.

Background

"Council asked Executive Committee to review and propose policies for the management of reserve funds. Topics of interest include the amount and purpose of system reserve, expenditure of general reserve, and distribution of funds should Council decide to discontinue the consortium or change its legal status." -- Council Minutes, January 2005

"EC feels that the following types of reserve are needed: Contingency, Operating, Capital. For each, EC will define the following: Target amount, Purpose, Process for approving expenditures, Process for replenishing. ACTION: Kelley will investigate further and report back to EC." -- Executive Committee Minutes, March 2006

UW & Cascadia Community College

ACTION: This topic was deferred due to lack of time and the need for additional information.
ACTION: Popko will confer with Betsy Wilson.

Background

"Include Cascadia Community College for a two-year transition period and consider options by the end of that period ... CCC student FTE should be included in UW's FTE for the purpose of determining membership fees. Because this is a pre-existing arrangement in Cascade, it will be continued for now as the consortium mission, membership criteria, and policies evolve." -- Council Minutes, April 2003

Assessment of Interest Groups

ACTION: This topic was deferred due to lack of time.

Background

"Interest Groups are evaluated by Council every three years and will be sustained, discontinued, or revised as needed." -- Interest Group section of Committee Structure

DECISION: Council's July agenda will include the following topics. Each topic will be accompanied by a timeline and expected outcome.

Reports

Consent agenda

• Concept
• July consent agenda: SBC recommendation re. short-loan renewal & Nathanson recommendations re. turnaround time

Retreat

• summary
• potential new initiatives & discussion of member and consortium resources

SCC recommendations

Electronic Resources

• Program evaluation
• Portico

Breakout: two parallel sessions on Accreditation & Alliance Statistics

DECISION: Kunkel and Bilyeu will lead these breakout session.

RLSC

• Update
• MOU concepts
• Three directors discuss local preparation

ACTION: Barnes Whyte will invite Bryce Nelson, Deb Carver, and Béla Foltin to discuss local preparation.

Northwest Digital Archives

• Thursday presentation by Jodi Allison-Bunnell and Larry Landis
• Friday determination of extent of interest in pursuing Alliance's potential administrative role

Membership criteria: discuss, revise, and adopt

9.2 October 5-6, 2006
Consideration of the joint meeting of the Electronic Resources and Collection Development & Management Committees.

ACTION: This topic was deferred due to lack of time.

9.3 Potential Council discussion topics