COSELL BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

MINUTES

     Anaheim, CA

         July 13, 1998

I.          The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. by Chair Rosalie Sanderson.  Present -- Rosalie Sanderson, Pauline Aranas, Marguerite Most, Anne Klinefelter, Herb Cihak, Bill Beintema, Deborah Mayo Jefferies, Nancy Strohmeyer.

II.            Announcements --  Pauline Aranas is on the 1999 SEAALL Program Committee.  Rosalie attended the Consortia Council meeting.  We will likely set up links to all consortia home pages on the COSELL page.

III.        The minutes from the Board meeting in New Orleans on March 12 were approved.

IV.            Treasurer's Report by Bill Beintema handed out.

V.        Old and Continuing Business

A.            Consortium-Vendor Agreements

CIS B Rosalie Sanderson stated that problems arose after Scott Eller's accident.  David Braden told Rosalie that the President of CIS had stated that discounts for consortia had to be invoiced as one total invoice; it was up to the consortium to collect individual payments.  Rosalie had a quote from CIS that it would separately invoice, so they agreed to work it out.  Dexter Evans is contacting schools regarding invoices.  Should include a 50% discount to participants on paper CIS Index.

B.            COSELL Home Page

Pathfinder links were included if they existed.

C.            Membership Report

No new members.  The possibility of writing a brochure was discussed.  Formerly, COSELL sent out a packet of information to new schools or directors.  Rosalie will use the information on the home page to draft a letter regarding the benefits of COSELL membership to non-member directors.  Marguerite Most thought home page information would override the need for a brochure, and others agreed.

D.            Discussion and/or Proposal Regarding Board Responsibilities

Pauline Aranas is developing a strategic plan, round tables, etc.  She believes we need to develop more of a structure, though probably not a committee structure because of the cooperative nature of COSELL.  She thought it would be good to write an expanded definition of the officers' responsibilities to include those things which have become associated with the positions informally.  Also, terms need to be defined.  These things may involve a change to the bylaws, although strictly defining duties should be done through internal documents.

E.            COSELL grant

No applications.  Rosalie suggested dropping the grant this year.  Maybe could bring it back next year.

F.            COSELL Concentrations

List not on website yet.  Herb Cihak stated that eighteen responses had been received, which he thought had been added.  Ebba Jo Sexton was waiting for those not yet received, and had therefore not added those received.

G.            Foreign-International Collection Strength Project

Nothing new.

VI.       New Business

A.            State Internet Cooperative Project

University of Mississippi suggested project.  Rosalie asked them for more specifics, which resulted in the proposal by Anne Klingen.  Rosalie proposed creating a working group with charge from her memo.  Robert Vreeland had sent comments and concerns to Board regarding Klingen's proposal.  His suggestion of a fifty state grid with links to the information possible was generally considered a great idea.  The Council of Library Consortia was also interested in this idea.  They want to link to our product and extend it to their own consortium if possible.  Mark Folmsbee would be happy to help get it set up nationally.  Rosalie was unsure how to get it to that point.  She asked for input from Board on the concept.  Deborah Mayo Jefferies liked the ideas.  Marguerite Most thought we should just stick to the southeast area for now.  Folmsbee could be a consultant to the working group.  Board changed the original charge to the working group as follows:  (1) Develop a plan for COSELL libraries to cover US State Legal Sources for all COSELL states, dividing the responsibility among the participating libraries.  ... The working group should begin with the proposal submitted by Anne Klingen, alter or expand it as necessary, and have a draft plan to present to the COSELL Board by December 1, 1998.  (2) Explore possibility that project may be expanded to include contributions from other consortia.  The members of the working group are as stated with the addition of Mike Dahn from Stetson who developed SEAALL's web page.  After we have a draft plan, someone can contact the webmasters at each school for the final product.

B.            COSELL as good active citizen within SEAALL

Round table reports were very productive, and the ideas presented were forwarded to SEAALL.  Rosalie asked if the Board is interested in contributing financially to the SEAALL meeting.  Pauline thought we should because we should contribute to our organization.  The amount could depend on the SEAALL meeting budget.  A COSELL board member on the SEAALL Program Committee could always help funnel the money.  Herb Cihak suggested we should put an upper limit of $ 1,000 on the contribution.  Rosalie stated that some amount being given to SEAALL would be fair in return for the free use of the newsletter.  Marguerite Most moved that we should give $ 100 this year and Anne Klinefelter seconded.  Vote was unanimous for yes.  Discussion resulted in suggestion that next year we should consider making donation continuing.  Pauline moved to offer to co-sponsor a SEAALL program or institute in the 1999 meeting with up to $ 1,000 contributed.  Bill Beintema seconded, and the vote was unanimous for yes.

C.            Ideas for COSELL projects based on New Orleans round table initiatives

Rosalie asked the Board members to go over the Round Table discussions and decide if there are other ideas for projects we should consider.

VII.      The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.