Document 09-18
Director’s Report
March 2009
Local and Statewide Funding Issues
NJLA has been successful thus far in opposing A3753 and it looks as if no action
will be taken on that legislation at this time. However, efforts to remove public
library funding protections are likely to continue. Local municipal budgets, while
not receiving large cuts from the Governor’s budget are still seriously stressed.
NJLA continues to look for ways to remove libraries from the cap.
The Governor’s budget calls for a cut to statewide library programs of almost
15%. Added with the cuts from previous years we have experienced a cut of
nearly 23% since 2007.
Federal Stimulus Funding
The NTIA and Department of Agriculture will be administering about 7.2 billion in
broadband stimulus funding. This program is potentially a terrific opportunity for
LMxAC libraries. I am working with the state library and some contacts I have in
Washington to best understand how we can merge our future
telecommunications needs with this program. I will be attending a meeting on
Monday March 30th at the state library and hope to learn more about their plans
at that time.
Unicorn Update
We have continued to train people on how to do their own bibliographic reports.
We are creating a reports list so that people can share questions/issues with
each other. So far 17 member libraries have sent staff to training.
This month we had a problem with hard drive errors but we isolated the problem
quickly and the drives were replaced by Sun. No downtime occurred as a result
of this problem.
Committee Update
I’ve attached a copy of the report from the Technology Committee. I am
reviewing their recommendations as a part of my 2010 budget preparation.
Document 09-18
Activity Report
In February we made 17 on site troubleshooting visits to 10 libraries. Other
measures of activity include:
System statistics for February 2009
1. New Items Added
2. Bib Records Added by LMxAC
3. New Bib Records Added (Total)
4. New User Records Added
5. Brief Record Upgraded to full MARC
6. Duplicate records merged
7. Inventory Reports
8. API Reports
25802
57
4738
4141
429
470
0
11
Meetings
I have participated in the following meetings:
InfoLink Planing Committee
Meeting with Assemblyman Prieto
Meeting with Rutgers Grad Student
CJRLC Confidentiality Workshop
Stimulus Funds Meeting
PPC Meeting
NTIA Teleconference on Broadband Funding
ALA Stimulus Conference Call
Libraries Change Lives Task Force
PPC Meeting
Department of Labor Meeting
Jersey Clicks Advisory Committee Meeting
Respectfully Submitted,
Eileen M. Palmer
Executive Director
Feb. 25
Feb. 25
Feb. 27
Mar. 3
Mar. 5
Mar. 6
Mar. 10
Mar. 12
Mar. 16
Mar. 16
Mar. 19
Mar. 25
Document 09-18
LMxAC Technology Committee Status & Recommendations:
The Technology committee has met on a number of occasions and discussed a variety of
subjects and how they relate to the mission statement set forth in the Strategic Plan. We
have come up with a number of possible topics and directions this committee can take.
We also realize that for this committee to be truly effective, the needs of the consortia
need to supersede the needs of any one library. Toward this goal, we feel the following
will help to make the most positive impact for the majority of the members and allow
LMxAC staff to be even more efficient in their support and growth of the consortia’s
infrastructure.

Implementation of a Helpdesk package that will allow all members to request help either
from a web page or via an email while also giving the Executive Director the ability to
produce more granular reports to aid in decision making process as it relates to services
and overall network health.

Utilize the consortium’s “group purchasing” power to purchase, install and then become
a central location for an Anti-Virus/Malware server that will provide updates to the
“Downstream” servers listed below. This could provide a reduced rate for each member
library while starting to standardize software packages as a means to help reduce the
number of software packages LMxAC staff need to be conversant with.

Distribution and installation of a “Low-end” server to each library that currently doesn’t
have one or whose is at “end of life”.
o
The question that will need to be answered prior to any deployment is,

Which server should we use?

1. Windows Server 2008 – This has strong usability amongst
most computer technicians but will add more than $500 to each
server purchased in software costs.

2. Linux Server, such as Ubuntu – This will require a steeper
learning curve but with the initial bonus of $0 added to the cost
of the server.
* This will require further analysis to choose the best fit for the entire
consortium.
o
Benefits of deploying a server to each member library:
1. DNS (Domain Name Services): this will help to reduce the amount of
bandwidth over the LMxAC network by keeping many of the internet
website requests within each library.
2. DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Allows new devices, once
connected to the network, to obtain an IP address with all necessary DNS
information and allow it to operate effectively on the network.
3. File and Print services: This will allow a central location for all staff files and
a central mode of backing up those files saving possible future expense for
data recovery of a failed hard drive.
Document 09-18
4. Downstream Anti-Virus/Malware server: Provide a central point of
distribution within each library for the dissemination of updates to each PC
nightly.

After reviewing the results of the Tech Survey, an overwhelming majority indicated that
staff training is highly desirable and they would be willing to send people to these
classes. We also know from the survey that at least half of the respondents provided
training to the public, so we should be able to utilize their training materials to help
conduct training for the rest of the members.

Since LMxAC’s telecommunications contract will expire in 2010, the Technology
Committee will look into the various offerings with an eye to getting better value for our
network dollars. Some vendors to investigate will be, Cable companies (Comcast, Opt
Online, Verizon FIOS), Traditional Telco providers such as (Verizon, AT&T et al). The
primary difference in these two offerings would be general access to the internet with an
eye to utilizing existing technologies of router to router VPN access from each member to
either LMxAC or the State Library network, versus a Point to point leased circuit as we
have now or Switched Ethernet solutions that PPL has implemented. An important issue
that we will need to be cognizant of is E-rate dollars. Leased circuits which all of our
member libraries are currently utilizing are reimbursable under E-rate while a cable
connection may not be eligible unless filtering is enabled. The key factors will be security
of the LMxAC network, ease of setup and ongoing maintenance, increased bandwidth
and hopefully reduction or at least preservation in costs to the member libraries. The
Committee will investigate available options, lay them out showing pros and cons then
present them to the Executive Director to consider for future direction.
In closing, there have been various topics presented at our meetings with the above
mentioned being the most important in enabling the consortium to move forward in
alignment with our Strategic Plan.