Minutes – February 14, 2025

Welcome and Call to Order

The two hundred third meeting of the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Board of Trustees was called to order at 10:01 ᴀ.ᴍ. on Friday, February 14, 2025, by Board Chair Roger Donaldson at the OPLIN office in Columbus, Ohio.

Present were Board members: Ben Bolbach, Michael Butler, Roger Donaldson, Jenny Eyink, Bill Lane, CJ Stephens, and Shawn Walsh.

Attending virtually via Zoom: Jessica Dooley, Laura Solomon, and Derek Zoladz (OPLIN); Eric Maynard and Jamie Pardee (State Library).

Approval of the Agenda

Michael Butler moved to approve the agenda as presented; Ben Bolbach seconded. There was no discussion, so the chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Public Participation

There was no public participation.

Approval of the Minutes

CJ Stephens moved to approve the minutes of the October 11, 2024 meeting as presented; Bill Lane seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Acceptance of the Financial Reports

Jamie Pardee said that budget and expenditures for FY 25 as of the end of January are on target.  The outstanding encumbrances in Administration are for staff travel and building rent.  The remaining $500,000 showing for Libraries Connect databases under Information Resources has been paid out.  Telecommunications expenses are on target.

Revenue/cash balance for FY 25 started with a beginning balance of $1,437,426 and the cash balance at the end of June is estimated to be $1,369,755, a decrease of about $67,000. Pardee said she always estimates expenses a little high to make sure the budget will cover everything.

In summary, everything is looking good and on track.

Michael Butler moved to accept the financial reports; Ben Bolbach seconded. There was no discussion, so the Chair called for a vote on the motion; all aye.

Unfinished Business

Northstar Renewal

Yarman reviewed the funding history of the Northstar Digital Literacy resource in Ohio libraries, outlining how a combination of OPLIN and federal funds have supported the resource statewide since October 2022. Currently, OPLIN has paid for a subscription for 114 libraries through March 30. Plans are underway to continue offering Northstar through public libraries as part of Broadband Ohio's "Statewide Web-Based Digital Skills Program," the RFP for which was released February 6, with proposals due March 5, but funding for this and Broadband Ohio's other projects is currently uncertain. 

Yarman held a meeting with libraries to outline the funding situation and discuss their experiences with Northstar and other digital literacy resources. Many libraries shared that Northstar does not meet their communities' needs, which are more basic. Other libraries felt the value was in the class curriculum and the ability to proctor assessments, but allowed that that was a more staff-intensive activity. Jenn Slone of Chillicothe discussed her experiences with using PLA's DigitalLearn resource, which she felt aligned more closely with library needs.

Ben Bolbach asked whether OPLIN had access to Northstar usage stats, or whether libraries had to self-report their usage. Yarman replied that the vendor provides a usage dashboard so OPLIN can evaluate which libraries make the most use of Northstar. There are libraries that are using Northstar who have not informed OPLIN that they are "live," which caused a mismatch between OPLIN's list of the 114 "live" libraries and the 137 that Northstar temporarily deactivated under the current agreement.
 

New Business

Virtual Meetings Policy

HB 257 authorizing certain public bodies to meet virtually passed in the last General Assembly and was signed by the Governor on January 31. It goes into effect April 9, 2025. To meet virtually, public bodies must pass policies in accordance with new language in Sec 121.221 of the Ohio Revised Code. Yarman presented a draft policy for discussion. Yarman clarified that the "major nonroutine expenditure" threshold of $100,000 applies to the requirement to meet in person; the Board would still approve any nonroutine expenditure, but could do so remotely if the cost didn't exceed $100,000. Board members agreed the policy could be sent to the Assistant Attorney General for comment, and the Board would consider approval at the April meeting.
 

OPLIN Staff Reports

OPLIN Director's Report

Don Yarman outlined the various challenges to E-Rate and the Universal Service Fund covered in a recent webinar from COSLA, including disagreements over funding sources, program expansion, and challenges to the program's constitutionality and management structure. E-Rate refunds make up about a third of OPLIN’s revenue. While the loss of E-Rate is an existential threat to the future of OPLIN’s services, Yarman doesn't believe that any group—Congress, the FCC, or the courts—want to see it completely go away. He is cooperating fully with all the efforts of COSLA, SHLB, and ALA to ensure the future of this vital program.

Digital Resources Manager’s Report

Christine Morris was unable to attend. The Board did not have questions about her written report.

Library Services Manager’s Report

Laura Solomon reported that her entire attention for the past two months has been on installing new Webkit templates, estimating that OPLIN has billed libraries over $40,000 for the work (at $350 to $500 each). Of the 111 Webkit libraries, only 16 have no plans to move to the new template.

Technology Projects Manager’s Report

Jessica Dooley said that libraries have been notified of OPLIN's planned circuit upgrades and were very appreciative. Those upgrades and the branch project represent a significant increase in the bandwidth OPLIN delivers to libraries, and planning is underway to support that increased capacity. Since all awards for the NTIA's Digital Inclusion grant have been paused indefinitely, OPLIN must assume that its application will not be awarded, and act accordingly as staff plan the network infrastructure. 

O-PCI has received guidance from the State of Ohio to prioritize scheduling libraries, and to provide libraries with training even if a county government opts out of participating. They've also launched a self-guided portal that organizations can access immediately, providing actionable steps to remediate critical security vulnerabilities.

Dooley also reported that traffic from AI bots to OPLIN's public-facing websites has increased substantially, and she has taken measures to limit their crawl rates. Ben Bolbach asked whether the sites are hosted on prem or in the cloud, and Dooley answered that OPLIN has a micro-cache in AWS in front of OPLIN's servers in the SOCC.

Chair's Report

Roger Donaldson reminded Board members to file their financial disclosure forms with the Ohio Ethics Commission and to complete the 2025 training webinar. He asked Yarman to outline the Board nominations process, and Yarman said he would soon post a call for nominees. Yarman also outlined that the April board meeting is typically a longer meeting for the Board to review the Services Plan; OPLIN's Strategic Plan expires in June, and Yarman is looking for an outside discussion leader to help the Board decide how they'd like to proceed.

Adjournment

With no other business pending, CJ Stephens moved to adjourn; Ben Bolbach seconded. The Chair adjourned the meeting at 11:00 ᴀ.ᴍ.