Executive Board Approves Increased Budgeting for Delivery Services and Other Documents for Approval by the Membership at the November 16th Annual Meeting
By Greg Pronevitz

The NMRLS Executive Board met jointly with the Budget Committee on October 20, 2005 at the Stevens Memorial Library in North Andover to deliberate on a number of action items.

• Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Revision One (current year) - After a discussion with Susan Grabski and Greg Pronevitz on delivery service negotiations and current service levels with Eastern Connection the Board approved the proposed budget revision. The cost for delivery contractor services increased by 49 percent to $403,000. The MBLC is providing $50,000 toward delivery services for each region this year from account 7000-9506. NMRLS is able to continue other ongoing services, including database titles at least through the end of this fiscal year because budget line 7000-9506 is also providing $72,000 to support the statewide Gale Group agreement. However, the delivery cost increases prevent us from restoring services cut after the 2003 budget reductions as we had hoped.
• The Fiscal Year 2007 Budget was approved with delivery contractor costs at the $422,000 level to cover anticipated costs. When this is combined with other delivery costs, e.g., staff time, it makes up 28 percent of the total NMRLS budget. We will monitor costs closely as we move toward this next fiscal year. There is a possibility that we may need to cut back in one or more service areas, e.g., cutbacks are possible in the areas of Specialized Legal Library after hours services and electronic databases.

The following items were for presentation to the membership at the November 16th Annual Meeting in Methuen.

• Fiscal Year 2007 Plan of Service was approved and it reflects the budgetary elements described above.
• Fiscal Year 2005 Annual Report and Auditor's Report.
• A slate of candidates for NMRLS Executive Board presented by the Board Development Committee.

The Strategic Plan: On August 19th, the Strategic Planning Committee had its final meeting (a joint meeting with members of the Executive Board, Committee Chairs, and staff). The Committee recommended a mission, vision statement, and nine ambitious goals for 2005-2010. The Plan was approved by the Executive Board at the October 20th meeting. However, steps toward implementation and their prioritization must be decided soon to meet the goals and allow NMRLS and the membership to attain our vision. We invite you to attend NMRLS Annual Meeting on November 16th in Methuen to assist in formulation of our implementation of this Plan - Click here to register now!

Please visit our Web site for a copy of the planning documents: http://www.nmrls.org/strategicplan/

• Strategic Plan 2005-2010
• Executive Summary
• Environmental Scan 2005