Executive Committee Meeting Decisions & Action Items September 7, 2006 Seattle University A.A. Lemieux Library

Agenda

Brief topics and announcements

• Membership contacts: South Seattle Community College, Chemeketa Community College
• Council Mentors:
  • Susan Barnes Whyte for Drew Harrington (UP)
  • Vickie Hanawalt for Lynn Chmelir (Clark)
  • Dalia Hagan for Karen Clay (EOU)
• Summit Borrowing Day
• Alliance participation in ACRL meetings
  • Pack Forest, October 2007
  • Seattle, March 2009

ACTION: Helmer will contact Betsy Wilson (ACRL 2009 meeting chair) to offer Alliance assistance (e.g., reception, program, booth, PR, volunteers, etc.).

• CDMC Monographic Vendor project

  Summary of progress: CDMC-ST discussed Council's charge and formed a subgroup to work on a standard set of questions for vendors.

  Background: "The Orbis Cascade Alliance Council charges the Collection Development & Management Committee to initiate appropriate contacts with vendors, below the threshold of a formal RFP, that will result in a program of improved coordination for monograph selection within and among Alliance member libraries. Responses from each vendor will include their support for selection within a consortial environment, services, and pricing considerations. The Committee is expected to make a progress report to the Council's Executive Committee at or before its meeting on September 7, 2006, with a further progress report or proposal ready for the Council meeting in October 2006." -- Council minutes, July 2006

1. Council and Executive Committee Meetings | Council calendar

1.1 Current year
EC reviewed the calendar for the current year.
ACTION: Helmer will poll for EC's June meeting date.
ACTION: Popko and Barnes-Whyte will determine changes needed to the Executive Director evaluation schedule.

1.2 Establishing a pattern for future years

In July, Council decided to begin meeting three times per year instead of four. As a result, EC updated Council's meeting pattern as follows:

"Council meets on the second Thursday & Friday in March, January, April, July, and November October.  This schedule is revised as needed to avoid conflict with ALA."

ACTION: Helmer will update Council's calendar.

2. Committees
DECISION: EC identified appointments for vacancies on the Summit Borrowing Committee-ST and Summit Catalog Committee-ST.
ACTION: Helmer will contact directors and offer appointments to Steering Teams.

3. Alliance staffing update
Helmer reviewed his plans regarding a potential leave of absence for an Alliance staff member and consulted with EC on implications for project timing and resource allocation.

4. Strategic Agenda
EC spent the bulk of this meeting discussing Council retreat outcomes, Summit Catalog Committee's recent report, a draft NWDA Proposal and budget, Helmer's outline of Alliance projects and staff assignments, and other factors that inform the Alliance's strategic directions for the future. EC defined initiatives, assigned priorities, discussed alternative ways to pursue initiatives, and identified preferred approaches and associated resources needed. Resource discussions included member library staff, Alliance staff, and financial resources.

DECISION: EC developed an outline of a Strategic Agenda that will be developed further and forwarded for Council consideration in October:

DECISIONS: in the course of this discussion, EC also decided the following:

EC will recommend that SCC's charge include

• Open WorldCat link to Summit
• Google link to Summit (an effort currently in process)
• Prevention of duplicates or the mitigation of their impact on patron service

EC determined that the NWDA proposal and budget should include the following clarifications:

• MARC records for archival materials from non-Alliance participants in NWDA will not be included in the Summit catalog
• the NWDA Committee will report to Council as the governing body with decision-making authority

ACTIONS: Popko & Helmer will use the above outline to develop a Strategic Agenda and Summit Catalog Committee Charge for EC review and Council consideration in October.

5. Regional Library Services Center

5.1 August 28 RLSC Leadership Group meeting
EC discussed Linfield College's revised estimate of lease costs, findings from the Site Feasibility Study, and recent news from the collaborative fundraising effort.

ACTION: Popko will ask Deb Carver (RLSC Leadership Group chair) to prepare a brief written report as background for a Council update and discussion in October.

5.2 Draft MOU: review and revise
EC will consider this topic at a future meeting.

6. Accreditation Document Task Force Report (Popko)
Popko reported that the Task Force work is in progress. A report will be considered at EC's next meeting and then forwarded to Council.

7. Bylaws revisions | Current Bylaws
EC discussed various potential revisions to Bylaws. Most represent routine updating to reflect Council decisions made over the past two years.

7.1 Article I: Mission

Issue: the Alliance's mission statement was revised in 2004 but the Bylaws still include the previous statement.

DECISION: EC will recommend deletion of the mission statement from the Bylaws. Note: the mission statement will continue to be available on the Alliance web site.

7.2 Article II, Section 1: Voting on membership applications

Issue: Due to an oversight, Orbis Council's intent to change the requirement for a membership vote from majority to 2/3 was reflected in Membership Criteria but not changed in the Bylaws. The Alliance adopted the Orbis Bylaws and Membership Criteria at merger, thus inheriting the inconsistency. Council's July 2006 revision of Membership Criteria removed reference to the standard for membership votes but it is likely that Council intends that membership decisions require a 2/3 vote.

DECISION: EC will recommend the following revision:

"Adding member institutions. The Council reviews for approval all requests for membership, and may accept a request by majority two-thirds vote of the members present."

7.3 Article IV, Section 1: Council meeting frequency

Issue: In July 2006, Council approved EC's recommendation to meet three times per year. The Bylaws specify a minimum of four Council meetings per year.

DECISION: EC will recommend the following revision:

"Time and place. Regular meetings Meetings shall be held on at least a quarterly basis according to a schedule established in advance by Executive Committee at a location agreed upon by the member institutions. A special meeting of the member institutions may be called at any time by the Orbis Cascade Alliance Council chairperson or a majority of the Council members. At least five days prior to the date fixed for the holding of any Council meeting, notice shall be sent via electronic mail or U.S. Postal Service notifying members of time, place and information concerning the meeting."

7.4 Additional Revisions
EC discussion revealed other parts of the Bylaws that should be updated or clarified.

DECISION: The following examples were identified but EC did not have time to develop revised language:

Article II.1: expulsion due to breach of duties and according to 2/3 vote

Article IV: "proxy" in this context is ambiguous and could refer to a designated institutional representative or a vote assigned to another Council member. The article should be revised to clarify that the former meaning is intended. Definition of a quorum should follow the section on "who is entitled to vote."

Article VI: it might be more broadly useful, accurate, and forward looking to make reference to "national standards" rather than "MARC and AACR2."

ACTION: Hagan and Kopp will conduct a review of the Bylaws and related Alliance documents (e.g., MOU, Membership Criteria) and bring specific text to EC for discussion at the next meeting. A final set of proposed Bylaws amendments (including 7.1-7.3 above) will be forwarded to Council for revision and approval.

8. University of Washington & Cascadia Community College

Background:

At merger, Council decided to include Cascadia Community College in Summit Borrowing under the terms described below:

"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

DECISION: EC will recommend continuance of this arrangement in recognition of the pre-existing relationship between UW and CCC with the understanding that

• the Alliance policy of institutional membership is fundamental to the consortium and this unique arrangement does not set precedent
• this arrangement will be evaluated should the relationship between UW and CCC significantly change.
• Summit Borrowing privileges are limited to CCC patrons as defined by Alliance policy for community colleges.
• CCC's student FTE are included with UW's for the purposes of calculating annual membership fees.
• CCC is represented by UW in all Alliance Council and committee business.

ACTION: Helmer will draft a statement for review by Betsy Wilson and EC with the expectation that the final draft will be forwarded for approval by Council.

9. Policies governing the reserve
EC will consider this topic at a future meeting.

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

10. Assessment of Interest Groups

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: The following Alliance interest groups are inactive and should be discontinued:

• Data for Local Communities Interest Group
• Education and Curriculum Materials Interest Group
• Instruction Interest Group
• Music Interest Group
• Preservation Interest Group
• Reference Interest Group
• Science Interest Group

The Library Materials Exchange interest group (an email list used to offer discarded library materials) continues to be active and should be sustained.

ACTION: Helmer will post a message to each list seeking feedback on EC's intent to discontinue the interest group and shut down the email list. If members ask to continue an interest group then it will be sustained. EC will seek Council approval to discontinue interest groups that are no longer needed.

11. October 5-6, 2006 Council Meeting

Schedule

Council's meeting will begin on October 5 at noon and adjourn October 6 in time to allow Council members the opportunity to participate in the program organized by CDMC/ERC. [Note: a later decision revised Council's meeting schedule to October 5 from 11 am - 5pm]

ACTION: Helmer will provide an update for the CDMC/ERC planning group.

Agenda

1. Consent agenda
   • Council meeting schedule and pattern (# 1 above)
   • UW and Cascadia (#8 above)
   • Interest Groups (#10 above)
2. Strategic Agenda (#4 above), including
   • NWDA proposal
   • SCC charge
   • Alliance staffing recommendation
3. RLSC (#5 above)

Expanding Materials Available via Summit Borrowing

EC discussed ways to follow up on the motion approved in October 2005: "Council members make a commitment to talk with their staff about expanding the materials available for lending via Summit Borrowing." No actions were identified for the October meeting.

Background:

• SBC's recommendation "Encouraging the lending of more materials" from the July 2005 Council meeting,
• "In-House Loan Rule " from the October 2005 Council meeting, and
• reports from 11 Council members included in "Expanding Materials Available via Summit Borrowing" at the January 2006 Council meeting.