Roll Call for members and establishment of a quorum.

Vice Chair Holt conducted a roll call vote and established that a quorum was present. He noted that Chairman Wong’s video camera was not working but that she would participate in the meeting.

Minutes of February 19, 2021 Commission meeting.

Commissioner Mann moved approval of the February 19, 2021 commission meeting minutes and Commissioner Garza seconded. Vice Chair Holt asked for objections and hearing none said the minutes are approved.

Public Comment. There was no public comment.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures. No conflicts were disclosed by the commissioners.

Review and approve acceptance of gifts and grants.

Jennifer Peters requested approval for a grant of $20,000 from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation to the Library Development and Networking division to purchase personal finance e-book collections.  The grant period concludes March 31, 2022. Commissioner Tocker moved to approve the grant and Commissioner Tegeler seconded. Vice Chair Holt asked for any objections to accepting the grant and hearing none stated that the grant was accepted unanimously.

Review and approve contracts, contract renewals and amendments.

Jennifer Peters said contract renewals for the coming year did not experience price increases and represent a cost avoidance for Texas libraries of an estimated $228 million. Most renewals are in the final year of multi-year contracts and that staff are preparing a large solicitation for new contracts for electronic resources for the coming year.  Vice Chair Holt asked about the timing and how the re-solicitation process is conducted. Ms. Peters said staff work with advisory groups on materials needed, reviewing a number of factors including usage and continuity issues for libraries and that all bid proposals are posted publicly.

Ms. Peters requested approval for the Cengage Learning electronic resource package, part of the TexQuest package for school libraries. The contract period runs from June 15, 2021 through June 14, 2022 in an amount not to exceed $1,500,000. Commissioner Mann moved approval and Commissioner Tocker seconded. Commissioner Givens asked staff to bring usage statistics and reasons for recommending renewal. He said he is fully in support of the renewal but wants to avoid the commission from rubber stamping approval of contracts without evidence of their value. Ms. Peters said she would provide that information to the commission. Vice Chair Holt asked if there were any objections to renewing the contract and hearing none stated that the contract was approved unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval for Cengage Learning Gale LegalForms in the amount of $390,000, EBSCO Information Services Legal Information Reference Center in the amount of $85,156, and ProQuest SciTech Premium Collection and eBook Central collections in the amount of $916,842, all part of the TexShare program. Contract periods for all are July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.  Commissioner Givens moved to approve the contracts and Commissioner Tegeler seconded. Vice Chair Holt asked if any commissioner wished to consider any contract separately and none were requested.

Responding to a question from Commissioner Givens about the number of bids received for each solicitation, Ms. Peters stated that staff are always hopeful to receive bids for quality products from new vendors but in fact the number of vendors providing such services is small. Commissioner Tegeler and Vice Chair Holt expressed concerns about the public using the legal forms without the benefit of professional legal advice and asked staff to obtain information about how lawyers are included in the list in the Cengage database. Mark Smith said the legal forms are not intended to replace legal advice and that it is a longstanding practice for libraries to provide such forms in paper as well as now electronically. Danielle Plumer said the resources are reviewed and providing them from authoritative sources helps prevent patrons from accessing forms on Google that might not be correct. Vice Chair Holt asked for a roll call vote which resulted in six votes for the motion and one (Chairman Wong) not voting due to technical issues.

Ms. Peters requested approval to extend contracts for Cengage Learning: Gale In Context: Science not to exceed $425,000 and TeachingBooks.net TeachingBooks and Book Connections not to exceed $581,696 each for the contract period June 15, 2021 to June 14, 2022. Commissioner Mann moved to approve the contracts and Commissioner Tocker seconded. Vice Chair Holt asked if any commissioners objected to the motion and hearing none declared the motion passed by a unanimous vote.

Sarah Swanson noted that Chairman Wong had resolved her technical issues and is now on camera to conduct the meeting. She and Vice Chair Holt agreed that he would complete Agenda Item 7.

Jennifer Peters requested renewal of Cengage Learning Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine, and Chilton Library resources in the amount of $1,320,740 for the contract period July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. Commissioner Mann moved to approve and Commissioner Tocker seconded. Vice Chair Holt asked if any commissioners objected to the motion and hearing none declared the motion passed by a unanimous vote.

Ms. Peters requested a renewal of a contract with Credo Reference, Ltd Complete Core Collection in the amount of $675,000 for the contract period July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.  Commissioner Tegeler moved to approve the contract renewal and Commissioner Tocker seconded. Commissioner Garza said he agreed with Commissioner Givens’ concerns expressed earlier in the meeting and asked that staff include usage and other benefits when contracts are brought before the commission in the future. In response to his request for an explanation of the procurement process, Donna Osborne and Sarah Swanson explained the state procurement process and laws governing the process and Danielle Plumer provided an overview of the lengthy process the agency employs to obtain bids, evaluate and select bids, and renewals.

Commissioner Garza thanked the staff for explaining the process to him. Mark Smith said if the commission would like to have a workshop on the purchasing process he would be happy to arrange that noting that the procurement process is a crucial area that agency staff work diligently to follow all laws and policies. Ms. Peters apologized for not including the usage statistics as she had done in the past and explained that she had discontinued providing that type of information because usage is not the only way staff evaluate products for contract renewal.  Responding to a question from Commissioner Givens, she noted that contracts have often not been renewed. Commissioner Tegeler recommended providing the background of the original contract for future renewals. After further discussion, Vice Chair Holt asked if any commissioner would like to vote no on this item and hearing none stated that the contract is renewed.

Ms. Peters requested approval to extend a contract for the EBSCO Information Services EBSCO eBooks Collections for TexQuest in the amount of $153,430 for the period of June 15, 2021 to June 14, 2022. Commissioner Tocker moved approval and Commissioner Tegeler seconded. Vice Chair Holt asked if there were any objections to approving the contract and hearing none stated that the contract is renewed.

Ms. Peters requested approval of the EBSCO Information Services eresource package for the TexShare Core collection in the amount not to exceed $5,100,206 for the contract period July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. She noted that this resource is the most heavily used in the academic community. Commissioner Tocker moved approval and Commissioner Tegeler seconded. Donna Osborne reminded the commission that because this contract exceeds $5 million, state law requires the contract be executed by the commission chair and not delegated to the director and librarian. Commissioner Tocker amended his motion to state that the commission authorize Chairman Wong to execute this contract; Commissioner Tegeler seconded. Vice Chair Holt asked for objections and hearing none stated that the motion passed.

Ms. Peters requested approval to renew a contract for Renewal of LearningExpress (an EBSCO company) LearningExpress Library and PrepSTEP™ High School edition, resources for TexShare and TexQuest in the amount of $1,008,356 for a contract period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. Commissioner Tocker moved to approve the renewal and Commissioner Mann seconded. Vice Chair Holt and Commissioner Tocker discussed the fact that protecting patrons’ privacy prevents libraries from collecting data that could ultimately assist TSLAC in informing the legislature of the product’s value. Vice Chair Holt noted that education is a core function of libraries and that demand will only increase. Danielle Plumer said that libraires do have anecdotal data that could be requested and that with Learning Express in particular there are some very heartwarming stories about it making a difference in patrons’ lives. Chairman Wong suggested that staff discuss with vendors to include some type of survey that could collect this type of data. Vice Chair Holt asked if there were any objections to approval of the contract and hearing none stated that the motion is approved. 

Ms. Peters requested approval to extend a contract for EBSCO’s LearningExpress PrepSTEP™ 2 and 4 Year College Edition resources for TexShare and TexQuest in the amount of $47,837. The extension would run from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. Commissioner Mann moved to approve and Commissioner Tocker seconded. Vice Chair Holt asked if there was discussion or any objection to approval and hearing none stated that the extension is approved.

Ms. Peters requested approval to renew a contract for a one-year period for Encyclopaedia Britannica School, Enciclopedia Moderna, and Britannica Escolar in the amount of $1 million for the period from June 15, 2021 to June 14, 2022. Commissioner Tocker moved to approve and Commissioner Mann seconded. After discussion, Vice Chair Holt asked for objections to the motion and hearing none stated that the motion passed.

Ms. Peters requested Renewal of Infobase Learn360 resource for TexQuest in the amount of $523,422.00 for a contract period from June 15, 2021 to June 14, 2022. Commissioner Tocker moved approval and Commissioner Mann seconded. After discussion, Vice Chair Holt asked if there were any objections to the motion and hearing none stated that the motion passed.

Ms. Peters requested Renewal of the ProQuest SIRS Discoverer resource package for the TexQuest program in the amount of $70,176.00 for the contract period of June 15, 2021 to June 14, 2022. Commissioner Tocker moved to approve the contract and Commissioner Tegeler seconded. Vice Chair Holt asked if there were any objections to the motion and hearing none stated that the motion passed.

Ms. Peters requested renewal of negotiated discounts for the School Select program in which participants of the TexQuest electronic resources program can enter into contracts with EBSCO, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Gale Cengage, and Infobase at negotiated rates. TSLAC’s only involvement is to negotiate the rates and include in contracts; no state funds are involved she said. Commissioner Tocker moved to approve and Commissioner Mann second. Vice Chair Holt asked if there were any objections to the motion and hearing none stated that the motion passed.

Vice Chair Holt turned the meeting over to Chairman Wong who noted the time at 10:32 a.m. and called for a short break. At 10:37 a.m. Chairman Wong reconvened the meeting and took up Agenda Item 14 Report on Agency Expenditures Summary during which Donna Osborne presented a report on agency expenditures. No action required.

Report and discussion regarding federal funding: American Rescue Plan Act and Build America’s Libraries.

Mark Smith reported that the American Rescue Plan Act approved by Congress in March includes $8,397,299 for Texas and presented information on TSLAC’s plans to allocate these funds. After discussion, Chairman Wong referred the discussion to the commission’s Libraries and Talking Book Committee to review and make recommendations to the full commission.

Legislative Session Update.

Mark Smith reported on progress of the agency’s budget during the 87^th Legislature as well as providing a list of bills staff are following. Director Smith thanked Commissioner Tegeler for his guidance and advice during the session. He also commended Gloria Meraz and other staff for their work monitoring legislative activities. Ms. Meraz said a bill regarding library construction grants appears to be moving forward. Commissioner Tegeler noted that Senate Nominations Committee had approved Commissioner Garza’s appointment to the commission. He also recommended commissioners contact their legislators and offer to be a resource to them. No action required.

Report of the Director and Librarian.

In addition to providing a written report to the commission, Mark Smith pointed out that absent any other direction from the state, the agency will move to a gradual reopening in July and that staff are standing by and ready to come back to the building on a regular basis. He said staff have been working throughout the pandemic in the building. No action required.

Review and approve FY 2022 records storage and imaging fee schedule.

Craig Kelso requested approval for the FY 2022 records storage and imaging fee schedule noting that all fees will remain the same as in FY 2021. Commissioner Mann moved approval and Commissioner Givens seconded. Hearing no objections, Chairman Wong stated that the motion passed unanimously.

Authorization to post in the Texas Register proposal of 13 TAC Chapter 7, Subchapter C (Standards and Procedures for Management of Electronic Records).

Craig Kelso requested authorization to post in the Texas Register proposed amendments and new rules to 13 TAC Chapter 7, Subchapter C (Standards and Procedures for Management of Electronic Records) for the purpose of receiving public comment. Vice Chair Holt moved approval and Commissioner Tegeler seconded. Hearing no objections, Chairman Wong stated that the motion passed unanimously.

Future Commission Meeting Dates

Previously the commission had set June 4 and August 6 as meeting dates and added November 5 for its fall meeting date.

Adjournment.

There being no further business before the commission and hearing no objections, Chairman Wong adjourned the meeting at 12:12 p.m.