MOBAC Reference Committee Meeting Minutes 2/25/2014

Present:

Mary Elturk (PGPL)

Kris Amaral (SPL)

Amy Chirman (MPC)

Frank Gravier (UCSC)

Be Astengo (MCFL)

Ann Jacobson (NPS)

Julie Richardson (SCPL)

Deborah Stephens (HCL)

Sarah Dahlen (CSUMB)

Proxies:

Mary Elturk for Jean Chapin (Harrison Memorial Library)

Kris Amaral for Jen Waterson (MIIS)

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 2:05 pm.

Approval of Minutes

The following committee member name corrections were requested: Heather Geddes (not Broere) and Deborah Stephens (not Stevens). With those changes, Minutes from the January 28, 2014 meeting at the Cesar Chavez branch of Salinas Public Library were approved (11/11, no abstentions or naes).

Public Comments

There were no public comments.

Reports

Administrative Council: Hasn’t met since last MOBAC Ref. meeting; nothing to report.

Tech Committee: Looking for co-sponsors for upcoming Tech workshop; ILL committee had talked of co-sponsoring up to $500.00 of their workshop budget. The number of speakers is still being determined, but more co-sponsor funding means more speakers. Workshop title: Intellectual Freedom and Patron Privacy. Keynote speaker: John Perry Barlow from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. One or two people from the ALA-OIF (Office for Intellectual Freedom) will speak, and there may also be a panel discussion. Workshop is happening on Friday, 5/2/2014, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Cabrillo College Library. Ashlee Wright (Harrison Memorial Library) will be sending out a workshop announcement. Kris Amaral stated that a survey will be sent out soliciting questions to be addressed by the workshop speakers. MOBAC members are encouraged to respond. Mr. Perry will discuss content that members want him to cover.

ILL Committee: No representative in attendance (Jean Chapin is at a meeting in Sacramento).

SPLAMBA: This committee is recruiting. Don Gardner (SPL) encourages male participants. This committee has changed its meeting schedule from monthly to every other month effective 2/2014. Admin. Council is on the same schedule as SPLAMBA.

The May 2014 workshop is in development, the topic is Bullying, and the speaker will be Frances "Pinkie" Weesner. The workshop will take place on Friday, 4/25/2014, 9 a.m. – noon at the Cesar Chavez branch of Salinas Public Library.

Ann Jacobson wanted to know why MOBAC committees are requested to schedule 1.5 years out. Many member libraries are not able to book their facilities that far in advance. Mary Elturk stated that this request comes from library Directors who want to be able to schedule attendance at their institution’s in-house meetings.

Old Business

Workshops:

Hidden Treasures: Mary Elturk passed around a sample flyer for input. Tentative workshop date options of Friday 3/14 or Friday 3/28, 2014. Discussion revealed that SCPL and MCFL members cannot attend on 3/28 due to other commitments. March 14 date was voted on and approved (11/11 votes, no abstentions or naes). It was suggested, discussed, and put forth for a vote to not record this workshop. The vote approved no recording of this workshop (11/11, no abstentions or naes). The workshop will take place at Watsonville Public Library, 9 a.m. – noon, Friday 3/14/14. Reference committee members will be asked to each bring some chocolate food and may request reimbursement from the committee budget if they provide a purchase receipt. Mary Elturk will provide chocolate croissants. Tea and coffee will be provided, as well.

Screencasting: Neither MPC nor NPS can host this workshop. Salinas PL/Cesar Chavez may be able to host on 5/16 and Be Astengo will check to see if MCFL/Marina can host on 5/30.. Sarah Dahlen and Kris Amaral will check facility availability and report back to the committee. Camtasia and SnagIt require a license and don’t migrate easily, so Amy Chirman is not able to present Camtasia and Ann Jacobson is not able to present SnagIt. Deborah Stephens will present about Active Presenter. Annette Marines (UCSC) will present about Guide on the Side. Heather Geddes (Watsonville PL) will present about YouTube.

MOBAC Strategic Planning: Be Astengo, Jean Chapin, and Mary Elturk will be attending on 5/28, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at MCFL, Marina branch.

New Business

Mary Elturk brought up the fact that the committee is currently without a Vice-Chair. Historically these positions have been filled in sequence from an alphabetical list of member libraries. This practice fell aside due to ongoing budget and staffing cuts across libraries. People have randomly volunteered since then. Be Astengo volunteered to be Vice-Chair for the remainder of the 2013/14 cycle but does not want to move into the Chair position in the next year. The committee members gratefully accepted Be’s offer. It was decided that the committee would discuss succession management further at the next meeting.

Mary Elturk asked if anyone objected to giving the committee’s remaining budget (approximately $300.00) to the Tech. committee for their upcoming workshop. Sarah Dahlen requested $50 to purchase a replacement carrying case for the set of MOBAC video recording equipment stored at CSUMB. The second set of MOBAC video recording equipment is stored at SCPL, Scotts Valley branch, under the care of librarian Sandi Imperio. A vote to fund the $50.00 purchase was proposed and approved (11/11, no abstentions or naes). Sarah will cost out the replacement and write up the purchase proposal.

Mary Elturk proposed that the Ref. committee give $100.00 to the Tech. committee at this time, to help fund housing for their upcoming workshop presenters (see Tech. committee report above). Ref. committee members approved the proposal with a vote of 11/11, no abstentions or naes. At the next Ref. committee meeting members will decide whether to make an additional donation to the Tech. committee. Deborah Stephens will also approach the ILL committee for a donation.

Ann Jacobson asked if the Ref. committee has to meet every month and always on Tuesdays. Mary Elturk confirmed that meeting length is two hours, not three hours. ILL committee meets quarterly, 2^nd Tuesday. General discussion reached consensus that monthly is useful due to important system information shares and the frequent need to discuss and prepare for workshops. Mary asked if committee members want the meeting start time to move to 1 pm. Frank Gravier stated that the 2 p.m. time was selected by past committee members who commute distances to the meetings, so that the meeting end coincides with workday end. This reduces commute time (one day-end commute instead of two) for committee members. No further change to the meeting schedule was proposed.

Reference Shares

Amy Chirman has a patron seeking photographic images of Fort Ord in the 1940s, and requested suggestions for where such images might be found. Be Astengo said that Fort Ord has its own museum and suggested the Seaside Historical Society. Sarah Dahlen suggested the DLI’s Chamberlin Library housed on the former Fort Ord land.

Sarah Dahlen shared that the Library of Congress THOMAS site is migrating soon to congress.gov, which is currently in beta (viewable at beta.congress.gov).

Deborah Stephens asked which member libraries are still purchasing print reference content, how weeded books are disposed of, and if anyone knew of discard disposal requirements in the California Education Code. General consensus that all except CSUMB still purchase print reference, though only in small amounts and all are moving away from doing so. Weeded books are sold directly to patrons (at MPC) or donated to charitable organizations (PGPL) such as Better World Books, which returns a percentage of profit to the donating library, which then defines the charitable organization(s) that will receive funds. Nobody had information about whether the Ed. Code has discard disposal requirements.

Be Astengo shared information about the upcoming History of Civil Liberties workshop happening at MCFL, Marina branch on Friday, March 7, 2014 from 5-7 p.m.

Kris Amaral spoke briefly about the OMNI mental health resource center in Salinas.

Ann Jacobson mentioned that she was happily using the Mango foreign language learning program which she had obtained from MPL. Mary Elturk and Be Astengo talked about libraries and patrons migrating to Duolingo since it is less expensive than Mango. Be said that Livemocha is no longer working with library organizations. Access to DLI foreign language learning resources was discussed as a good toolset to promote, though Amy Chirman had recently encountered password protected content. Mary Elturk had not, and would re-visit the site to confirm accessibility.

News from Libraries

News is not recorded.

Next Meeting

Tuesday, March 25, 2014. San Benito County Free Library, Hollister branch. 2-4 p.m.

Meeting adjourned, 4:15 p.m.