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Brief
topics and announcements
- Alliance representative to NW Academic Directors' Symposium planning group.
DECISION: EC will seek a volunteer when the planning group is ready to begin its work.
- Update on Alliance staffing: Staff retreat, Nancy Nathanson, Janet Crum.
- Executive Director evaluation timeline.
ACTION: in order to align the ED evaluation process with Council's decision to meet three times each year, EC will recommend that step 7 in the process document be updated to replace "Spring" with "next." This change will be included in Council's March consent agenda.
ACTION: Helmer will ask Greg Doyle to handle the ED evaluation poll for EC.
- Reminder: EC election process begins in February.
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| 1. |
Chemeketa Community College (Popko)
Thursday: EC reviewed the site visit schedule and application materials (Cover letter, Membership application form, Beach letter, Goulard letter), and developed questions for the application site visit.
Friday: EC conducted the membership application site visit and developed recommendations for Council consideration.
ACTION: Popko will report EC findings and recommendations to Council and a membership vote will be conducted in March.
EC discussed outstanding membership offers and identified the need for an updated sense of timing and progress.
ACTION: Helmer will seek an update from directors at Warner Pacific College and Concordia University
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| 2. |
Strategic Agenda (SA) (Popko)
EC reviewed the status of each Strategic Agenda initiative.
SA 1. Regional Library Services Center (RLSC)
See RLSC Leadership Group report
DECISION: EC will recommend that Council approve the RLSC Leadership Group recommendations and will emphasize recommendation #2: "encourage Council members that would like to discuss additional RLSC construction funding and
site alternatives to contact EC to informally convey
their interest by March 31, 2007."
ACTION: Helmer will ask Deb Carver (RLSC Leadership Group Chair) to include site implications of lottery bonds (e.g., can a facility financed with Oregon lottery bonds be constructed in Washington?) and UO's sense of RLSC as a development priority in her report to Council during the March meeting.
SA 2. Cooperative Collection Development
See update from Lynn Chmelir, CDMC Chair.
EC noted CDMC's continued good work and discussed the Committee's potential need for resources (staff time, consultants, funding, etc.).
DECISION:
Chmelir's report will be forwarded for Council consideration.
ACTION: Helmer will ask Chmelir to present her report in March.
SA 3.1 Shared Integrated Library System
See draft charge prepared by Kopp.
EC continued a long-running discussion about Council's intent as expressed at the retreat and how that intent might be reflected in a task force charge. EC preferred not to include a focused investigation ("Shared ILS") as part of a much broader charge and also rejected the idea of forming of two groups. After much discussion EC concluded that a better approach would be to convene a small group to discuss how the Alliance's mission and goals can be achieved through the application of technology.
DECISION: EC will forward the following recommendation for Council consideration in March:
The Alliance will organize a facilitated strategy session to be attended by Executive Committee, 6-10 key systems staff from member institutions, and the Digital Services Program Manager. The purpose of this symposium will be to discuss how the Alliance's mission and goals can be achieved through the analysis of academic libraries as a system and the application of appropriate technology at a collective level. Symposium participants will develop recommendations that show great promise for creating a significant and
tangible impact on service to students and faculty. Participants will submit a
report and recommendations for consideration by Council in November 2007.
Council members will recommend facilitators and key systems staff with final decisions made by EC. Participation will be selective, with an emphasis placed on assembling a small group of informed, innovative, and enthusiastic individuals.
SA 3.2 Summit Data Harvesting
Short update: SCC's Data Harvesting Working Group is actively pursuing this initiative.
SA 3.3 Summit Search Interface
Short update: SCC's Short Term Summit Search Interface Working Group and Next Generation Summit Search Interface Working Group are actively pursuing this initiative.
SA 4.1 Northwest Digital Archives
Helmer provided an update:
- Jodi Allison-Bunnell (NWDA Consortium Administrator) is starting to schedule training sessions for new participants: COCC, CWU, EWU, OHSU, OIT, PCC, WOU, and Willamette.
- Helmer has included NWDA in the draft Alliance budget for FY08 (agenda item 3 below) and is investigating options for recruiting an NWDA Program Manager to begin work in July 2007.
For additional background see the NWDA project site.
SA 4.2 LITA Institutional Repository Institute
Short update: on hold per EC decision based on LITA's current inability to offer IR institutes.
SA 4.3 Collaborate with Regional and National Organizations
See agenda items 4 and 5 below.
SA 5.1 New DS Program Manager Position
Helmer provided an update:
- search committee met via conference call on January 10 and narrowed the short list to three candidates for reference checks.
- interviews and presentations are planned for February or early March in the Portland or Vancouver area. Staff at member libraries will be invited to participate in presentations.
- Helmer asked EC to confirm the following decision making responsibilities: the search committee will evaluate candidates, seek input from those attending the presentations, and make recommendations to Helmer, who will make the hiring decision. Helmer will inform EC of the search process and his selection prior to making an offer. Any significant variance in duties or salary will be brought to EC for prior approval. EC confirmed this process.
DSPM Search Committee Members:
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- John F. Helmer, Chair
Executive Director, Orbis Cascade Alliance
- Andrea Peterson
Head of Library Systems, WWU
- Cindy Kaag
Interim Director of Libraries, WSU
- Greg Doyle
ER Program Manager, Orbis Cascade Alliance
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- Jim Kopp
Director, Watzek Library, Lewis & Clark
- Michelle Williams
Resource Sharing Assistant, Orbis Cascade Alliance
- Terry Reese
Cataloger for Networked Resources, Digital Production Unit Head, OSU
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Laine Stambaugh (UO Director of Library Human Resources) will join the committee on occasion as adviser and guide to process.
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ACTION: Helmer will provide an update to Council as part of the March meeting.
SA 5.2 New NWDA Program Manager Position
Helmer reported as part of SA4.1 above.
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| 3. |
Budget (Helmer)
EC reviewed the FY08 draft budget, including FY06 year-end income and expense statement, FY08 budget in brief and detailed form; Alliance membership fees; NWDA fees; and FY09 - FY10 budget projections. Discussions centered on the inherent risk of budgeting based on a prediction of membership growth, the desirability of presenting income and expense associated with each program, and the need to develop reserve policies.
DECISIONS:
Present the following documents for Council's March meeting
- FY06 final income and expense statement
- FY07 year-to-date income and expense report
- FY08 draft budget with EC recommendation to adopt
- FY04 -10 membership fee history and projections
Changes to FY08 Budget
- Present courier service as a separate program with its own fee structure (like NWDA)
- Include the addition of one new member. For EC discussion, also create a membership fee scenario based on no membership growth.
- Distribute membership fees as income in each program area.
Changes to FY04 -10 membership fee history and projections
- Include the addition of one new member in FY09 and one in FY10.
- Include carry forward and the reserve fund total in each fiscal year.
- For the purposes of comparing membership fees over time, adjust FY04-07 membership fees to remove courier fees.
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| 4. |
Washington Library and Media Directors' Council (LMDC) (Popko)
EC discussed Washington Community and Technical Colleges: 21st Century Libraries Project and reviewed the purpose of a joint meeting of Alliance and Library and Media Directors' Council executive committees planned for February 26. The concept for this meeting grew from discussions at the Northwest Academic Library Directors Symposium. Purpose of the meeting is to share information, better understand each organization's strategic plans, and explore opportunities for collaboration. EC expects to present an overview of the Alliance, review the Strategic Agenda, and provide information about the Alliance's ability to include LMDC institutions in the courier system and ER program. Helmer noted that the potential impact of LMDC's 21st Century Libraries Project on Alliance courier and ER programs in FY07-09 is quite large.
ACTION: Alliance staff will prepare courier information for LMDC.
DECISION: EC will make a similar effort to share information with the Oregon Community College Library Association.
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| 5. |
Membership and collaboration inquiries (Popko)
EC reviewed inquiries from Oregon State Library (OSL), Washington State Library (WSL), Northwest Nazarene University (NNU), and Pacific Lutheran University (PLU). In brief, OSL and WSL are interested in Summit participation without full governing membership in the Alliance, NNU has asked about the Alliance's interest in extending membership to include Idaho, and PLU has expressed an interest in a form of membership not predicated on participation in Summit. EC discussions revealed a predisposition toward exploring new collaborative models but a realization that Alliance resources for considering new initiatives are limited, current membership criteria were recently reaffirmed, and that the mission and strategic agenda of the Alliance should be our primary guides to action.
DECISION: Given that state libraries sponsor collaborative services such as statewide database purchasing and e-reference and have missions that include academic libraries, EC judged that these institutions fit Strategic Agenda 4.3 "Collaborate with Regional and National Organizations."
ACTION: Popko will write to WSL and OSL to suggest a joint meeting (ca. 90 min) of EC and the two state libraries to share information, better understand strategic plans, and explore opportunities for collaboration. Ideally, such a meeting might occur before or after EC's meeting with LMDC (i.e., February 26, 8-10am or 2-4pm, Olympia) or before Council's next meeting (i.e., March 1, 8-10am or 9-11am, Portland or Vancouver).
DECISION: Given that interests expressed by NNU and PLU are essentially requests by individual institutions to have the Alliance reconsider membership criteria, EC judged that these two requests should not be pursued at this time. This judgment is informed by the knowledge that membership criteria were confirmed by Council within the past 6 months. EC clearly sees merit in further discussions of membership criteria and consideration other collaborative models and expects to return to these topics in the future.
ACTION: Popko will send letters to directors at NNU and PLU declining further investigation at this time.
EC's consideration of Alliance membership and participation by non-members in Alliance programs lead to some discussion of governance models that might better serve an increasingly diverse organization. EC explored the potential for engaging a consultant to examine Alliance governance and suggest structural changes. Popko noted consultations by Arthur D. Little for OCLC as a potential model.
ACTION: As part of the March meeting, EC will seek Council feedback on the concept of engaging a consultant to examine Alliance governance.
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| 6. |
Bylaws revisions (Kopp)
Background
"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." -- Executive Committee Minutes, September 2006
Kopp reviewed potential bylaws revisions and notes based on discussion with Hagan. Some bylaws language may be too vague or use incorrect terminology (e.g., proxy vs. designee), other language is in need of more routine updating or clarification. EC members discussed these issues and their differing sense of the role and importance of bylaws. EC's general conclusion is that the bylaws should accurately represent current practice and be capable of addressing likely questions about process but should not be more prescriptive than the organization needs. EC discussed the advisability of waiting till after the March meeting to initiate an extensive revision vs. revising some aspects at Council's March meeting and initiating another revision later in the year. EC also considered the possibility of creating a standing subcommittee on governance.
DECISION:
EC will propose four amendments to bylaws for a vote at Council's March meeting:
- Delete mission as described in September EC meeting notes
- 2/3 vote on membership applications as described in September EC meeting notes
- Update Council meeting frequency as described in September EC meeting notes
- Replace "proxy" with "designee":
IV 2. Quorum. Presence in person, or by remote communication, or by proxy of members representing two thirds of the voting rights of this consortium shall constitute a quorum at any meeting of the member institutions.
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 designee 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 Designee participation and voting for more than a year must be approved by Council.
ACTION: Helmer will draft revised bylaws for EC review with a final version sent to Council at least 14 days prior to the March meeting.
ACTION: Hagan and Kopp will continue their review of Bylaws and bring further recommendations to EC with the goal of proposing one more set of revisions later in the year. |
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| 7. |
Accreditation
Document Task Force (Popko)
Popko presented a draft report prepared by the Accreditation Document Task Force. EC identified several aspects of the draft report that warranted a return to the Task Force for clarification or addition: A minor re-formatting or re-labeling to more clearly identify the components of the report; clearer identification of the portion(s) of the report that Council members will be asked to accept or approve at the March meeting; clarification of the number of titles in Summit and the percentage of unique titles; a clearer statement of each member's responsibility for and authority over local collection development decisions; removal of the Appendix that summarized the Council's July 2006 brainstorming and its replacement with a link to that text on the Alliance website; request that the TF include a
template identifying institution-specific data and suggesting how to link them to specific NWCCU standards.
ACTION: Popko will contact Marita Kunkel (Task Force chair) to encourage the Task Force to act on these suggestions in advance of its official report to Council.
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| 8. |
Policies governing
the reserve (Popko)
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
The group acknowledged EC's difficulty in addressing this topic.
DECISION: Popko volunteered to take the lead on an investigation of reserve policies and present EC with a proposal some time during FY08, during his service as past-chair.
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| 9. |
Council meetings (Popko)
Feedback on October Meeting
EC reviewed Council's feedback poll from the October 2006 Council meeting and discussed implications for future meetings. General conclusions were as follows
- Council meetings need not follow a fixed timeline and can be scheduled in a manner that occasionally takes advantage of other events. For example, the October meeting successfully allowed Council members to participate in a very strong joint program organized by CDMC and ERC.
- Council meetings can be one or two days in extent, depending on the agenda.
- For weightier topics, Council would like to have topics introduced on day one, potentially discussed informally during the evening, and decided on day two.
- Council members value topical discussion sessions but it is important to make sure such sessions are highly relevant to Council interests.
- Most Council members felt appropriately prepared for the adoption of a strategic agenda in October but others would have preferred a more thorough review of materials and alternatives considered by EC. For example, some felt that more analysis of budget implications and membership fees would have been helpful.
- The separate roles of Council and EC are still fairly new and may continue to evolve over time. EC noted the need to review and consider updates to Council and Executive Committee Responsibilities on an annual basis.
DECISION: EC will schedule schedule a review of Council and Executive Committee Responsibilities for a future EC meeting.
Discussion topics
EC discussed potential new discussion topics
- Digital Services Program Manager interview presentations
- State of cultural institutions in the Northwest, possibly including state historical societies & heads of special collections or archives
- Panel of Presidents, possibly including Colin Diver (Reed)
and briefly reviewed the list of prior suggestions
- Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD). Ed Fox, Virginia Tech. Topic suggested by Jim Morgan
- LOCKSS (for Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe), "open source, peer-to-peer software that functions as a persistent access preservation system." Victoria Reich, Director LOCKSS Program, Stanford University Libraries
- Virtual Storage System. Paul Gehrman, Vanderbilt University
- UW iSchool. Harry Bruce, Dean and Professor.
- Revision of accreditation standard
- Panel of deans from member institutions to advise Council concerning trends in higher education that inform future directions for the Alliance.
EC was most favorably inclined toward a panel of presidents or discussion of the state of cultural institutions in the Northwest but felt that scheduling difficulties would make it impossible to organize such a program for the next Council meeting. The group considered the possible need for a Council or EC subcommittee to plan discussion sessions.
DECISION: No discussion session will be planned for March. Kopp will take the lead in planning a program for Council's July meeting.
Agenda for March 2007 Council meeting
DECISION: EC set the following agenda for Council's March meeting
- Introductions
- Review of Agenda
- Consent Agenda: update ED evaluation
- Reports: Executive Committee, report to include seeking feedback on the concept of a governance consultant (Popko); Executive Director (Helmer)
- Bylaws: vote on amendments
- Delete mission
- 2/3 vote on membership applications
- Update Council meeting frequency
- Replace "proxy" with "designee"
- Membership vote: Chemeketa Community College
- Strategic Agenda
- SA 1. Regional Library Services Center (RLSC)
RLSC Leadership Group report (Deb Carver) and EC recommendation to approve.
- SA 2. Cooperative Collection Development
Update from Lynn Chmelir, CDMC Chair.
- SA 3.1 Shared Integrated Library System
EC recommendation for a facilitated event.
- SA 3.2 Summit Data Harvesting
Short update from Helmer.
- SA 3.3 Summit Search Interface
Short update from Helmer.
- SA 4.1 Northwest Digital Archives
Short update from Helmer; also included in the FY08 budget.
- SA 4.2 LITA Institutional Repository Institute
Short update from Bilyeu.
- SA 4.3 Collaborate with Regional and National Organizations
Update from Popko on LMDC, OSL, WSL, NNU, and PLU.
Discussion of next steps.
- SA 5.1 New DS Program Manager Position
Short update from Helmer.
- SA 5.2 New NWDA Program Manager Position
Short update from Helmer.
- Budget
- FY06 final income and expense statement
- FY07 year-to-date income and expense report
- FY08 draft budget with EC recommendation to adopt
- FY09-10 membership fee projections
- Reserve policies
- Vote on FY08 budget
- Accreditation: Accreditation Document Task Force report (Marita Kunkel)
- Announcements
- Northwest Central (Berniece Owen)
- other announcements
EC Conference Call
Given the extent of EC's agenda, the group decided to schedule a conference call for February 8, 9, 12, or 13.
ACTION: Alliance staff will poll for a conference call date and time.
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EC action items are written by John F. Helmer; revised and approved by Executive Committee.
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