[Eg-oversight-board] Agenda for tomorrow's EOB meeting

Thu Sep 22 16:19:53 EDT 2016

Reading.  And agreeing.  There were a lot of comments that were covered up
by laughter or speed talking.  I'm honestly a little tired of hearing about
how everything is because of a small staff.  It's the responsibility of an
organization to know their limitations, not to blame those they serve for
not making it easier nor use size as a reason for unsatisfactory
performance of agreed on services.  I think one question that we (I)
neglected to ask was if the individual working on the accounting software
has both an accounting and software background.  I'm not sure that it
really matters at this point, but I'd be curious to know.

On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 9:42 AM, Terran McCanna <
tmccanna at georgialibraries.org> wrote:

> Agreed. It looks like we don't have many viable alternatives, but the
> accounting practices are extremely concerning. They need to be more
> transparent, and we probably ought to keep our own running ledger to
> reconcile against theirs.
>
> Terran McCanna
> PINES Program Manager
> Georgia Public Library Service
> 1800 Century Place, Suite 150
> Atlanta, GA 30345
> 404-235-7138
> tmccanna at georgialibraries.org
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 8:31 AM, Tim Spindler <tjspindler at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Ron et al.,
>>
>> I think I missed the issue about paying interns.  That would be
>> disconcerting.
>>
>> I think it ended positively but I still have concerns about the
>> accounting practices and responsiveness.  I am hopeful that the changes
>> they are planning will be positive.
>>
>> Tim
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 3:49 PM, Gagnon, Ron <gagnon at noblenet.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Grace and all,
>>> Personally I was appalled that the SFC admitted they have to add pennies
>>> to keep track of payments to their interns!  Though I don't have a better
>>> alternative service to offer, I have serious concerns about them holding
>>> our money.
>>>
>>> Having been on the Massachusetts conference committee a few years ago, I
>>> feel that finding sponsors and vendors to underwrite the conference was one
>>> of the more difficult things, if only because it's something we never have
>>> to.  I know this was touched on today and progress is being made on some
>>> continuity, and that is good news.
>>>
>>> Ron
>>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 3:38 PM, Grace Dunbar <gdunbar at esilibrary.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>> I'm including a quick recap of takeaways from the SFC/EOB meeting today.
>>>> If anyone wants to chat about any of these at tomorrow's meeting,
>>>> please let me know and I'll add it to the agenda specifically.
>>>>
>>>> *SFC pointed out that they would be happy to transition us elsewhere if
>>>> we weren't happy.
>>>> *SFC reminded us that we can hire an outside firm to manage the
>>>> conference.
>>>> *SFC recently hired another person - 50% of his time will be dedicated
>>>> to the accounting software project.
>>>> *Member mailing lists are now monitored.
>>>> *Communication issues were discussed. The SFC provided more methods for
>>>> getting in touch with them. However issues of long (or no) response times
>>>> for emails was not satisfactorily resolved.
>>>> *Conference issues were discussed.  The two top issues for the SFC were
>>>> communication/consistency and invoicing.  Invoicing is a very real issue
>>>> and something the EOB conference committee should discuss to determine what
>>>> can be done to mitigate invoicing individuals for registrations.
>>>> *Communication and consistency year-to-year for the conference was
>>>> discussed at length.
>>>>
>>>> I have quite a bit of knowledge of the conference issues since prior to
>>>> the SFC, Equinox performed the fiduciary duties to the Evergreen community
>>>> pro bono.  Equinox signed the contracts with the venues, received money,
>>>> wrote the checks, balanced the ledger, etc.  When Evergreen moved to the
>>>> SFC, Equinox transferred those funds and that responsibility - however at
>>>> that point I began serving on the conference committees and have been
>>>> witness to every conference.
>>>>
>>>> My personal view is that of some of the reasons we're having trouble is
>>>> that the SFC projects up to that point didn't know how to run their own
>>>> conferences.  Therefore, the SFC was used to stepping in and handling it.
>>>> When they attempted that with our group there was some friction because we
>>>> have very capable people and our local committees have great local
>>>> connections.  Our conferences are unique.
>>>>
>>>> Because of this friction, our overall high level of competence, and
>>>> other factors, the SFC gave us perhaps more control over the conferences
>>>> than other member projects... but the expectations on both sides weren't
>>>> clearly defined which has led us to where we are now.  I think we're all
>>>> making good progress though, and this call was a step in the right
>>>> direction to get everyone's thoughts and needs out in the open.
>>>>
>>>> Lastly, I still have concerns about the accounting practices and
>>>> software.
>>>> I asked Galen to run the ledger for tomorrow's EOB meeting and it
>>>> appears that the NC check from the conference is *still* not in our ledger.
>>>> https://wiki.evergreen-ils.org/doku.php?id=governance:financ
>>>> ials:update_2016_09_21
>>>> I feel that there are problems with both the structure of the software
>>>> and the workflow process.
>>>>
>>>> Thoughts?
>>>>
>>>> Grace
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 11:50 AM, Sharon Herbert <
>>>> sharon.herbert at bc.libraries.coop> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Grace,
>>>>>
>>>>> I've added a few more potential grant opportunities to the spreadsheet
>>>>> that Kathy sent me - IMLS and Mellon grants look promising, but as we don't
>>>>> have access to these in Canada, board members may know more about the
>>>>> process and 501(3)(c) requirment, etc.
>>>>> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/132a10eZE7SOssSs_LdbZ
>>>>> 7JuY1u089h18FR2LhxxoVlg/edit?usp=sharing
>>>>>
>>>>> We can defer discussion on this until the next meeting if time is an
>>>>> issue; the agenda is pretty full already.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Sharon
>>>>> Quoting Grace Dunbar <gdunbar at esilibrary.com>:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi
>>>>>> Please let me know if there's anything I've missed for the agenda
>>>>>> tomorrow.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://wiki.evergreen-ils.org/doku.php?id=governance:minute
>>>>>> s:2016-9-22
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks!
>>>>>> Grace
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Grace Dunbar, Vice President
>>>>>> Equinox - Open Your Library
>>>>>> gdunbar at esilibrary.com
>>>>>> 1-877-OPEN-ILS  |  www.esilibrary.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Sharon Herbert
>>>>> Sitka Manager | BC Libraries Cooperative
>>>>> Toll-free: 1-855-383-5761 x1013 | Skype: sherbert42
>>>>> Email: sharon.herbert at bc.libraries.coop | Twitter @sherbertbc
>>>>> Website: http://bc.libraries.coop
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> eg-oversight-board mailing list
>>>>> eg-oversight-board at list.evergreen-ils.org
>>>>> http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/eg-ov
>>>>> ersight-board
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Grace Dunbar, Vice President
>>>> Equinox - Open Your Library
>>>> gdunbar at esilibrary.com
>>>> 1-877-OPEN-ILS  |  www.esilibrary.com
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Ronald A. Gagnon
>>> Executive Director
>>> North Of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE)
>>> Danvers, Massachusetts  01923
>>> 978-777-8844
>>> www.noblenet.org
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Tim Spindler
>> tjspindler at gmail.com
>>
>> *P**   Go Green - **Save a tree! Please don't print this e-mail unless
>> it's really necessary.*
>>
>>
>>
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