Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tom Bunger, Lawrie Hamilton, Rita Lichtenberg, Antonia Matthew, Geoff McKim and Mercy Rodriguez.
President John Walsh called the meeting to order at 5:50 p.m.
John presented the Consent Agenda and asked for any questions, comments, or corrections.
Sara commented that she placed copies of the Personnel Report at each board member’s seat.
No corrections were found.
Fred moved to approve the Consent Agenda.
Steve seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
Sara presented the Director’s Report. She indicated it had been another busy month and reminded everyone that even though the current calendar month is April the report ended in March. Sara reported circulation statistics set an all time record for the library. During the previous week, the Circulation Department reported three days in a row where they checked out more than 9,000 items each day.
Sara gave an update on Collective Bargaining. She explained the collective bargaining information forums were attended by approximately 80 employees and from all reports they were informative meetings where lots of questions were asked and answered. Sara reported the election will be held next Tuesday.
Sara explained the library is in the midst of a Food for Fines event to celebrate National Library Week. Patrons may get $1 off their fines for each canned good they contribute. The canned goods will be donated to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.
The VITAL Quiz Bowl to support the library’s adult literacy program is scheduled for next week.
Steve asked if Sara would update the Board about the status of the Ellettsville project.
Sara reported she believes the plans should be back to the library by June. There will be opportunities for patron comments and staff comments. Then the architects will revise the plans. She anticipates bids in the fall and construction beginning in late 2008 or early 2009.
Steve asked what opportunities there would be for feedback.
Sara explained that she had discussed a model and the architects had suggested a virtual tour computer presentation for people to view and leave comments. In either case, the architects will make a presentation and the model/tour will be available for two weeks following, for those who cannot attend the presentation.
John said the director’s report is a really useful addition to the Board meetings and keeps Board members up to date about what is going on in the library.
John asked for questions or comments. He thanked Sara and the staff for their work.
Sara explained for the camera audience that the tax rate proposed for the Capital Projects Fund would be $7.09 not the higher figure printed in the paper.
Penny said the paper also mentioned extensive remodeling. Penny asked Sara to confirm that the Library is not building new facilities, just updating and refreshing.
Sara said that was correct.
Brief discussion followed regarding the A-V area, and the expansion of A-V materials in our collection. John added that AV was not 47% of our circulation some years ago as it is this year.
Fred found some notes from when he received his tax bill. The Library accounted for only 5% of total property taxes.
Steve moved to approve the Capital Projects Fund Plan.
Janice seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
Sara explained that the Library, as a public agency, needs Board approval to dispose of the 1988 CATS van, tag number 400197.
Penny moved to dispose of the obsolete CATS van, tag number 400197.
Fred seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
Sara explained she had no further updates, other than the information she presented in the director’s report.
Sue Sater gave a Powerpoint presentation about the volunteer procedures and volunteer statistics in the library.
David referred to the gift fund in the financial report. He knows the Board talked about selling those a long time ago and asked why the fund still existed.
Sara said she also remembered that discussion and will check on progress.
There was none.
Antonia Matthew addressed Sara with a question from her director’s report about the collection development analysis.
Sara explained that the Collection Services Department presented a spreadsheet to her yesterday, showing the average age of items in every area of the collection, average circulation and the number of items missing in each area. They and she have already noticed some interesting things in the data. They shared a research paper published in the 1990s by two IU SPEA professors that described a method for allocating collection funding. The spreadsheet data is one of four parts of the process. The Library has lost the capability to get that data, but the two professors who were involved in the project are willing to return and help the Library learn the process. They believe it will be very useful. In the article the researchers wrote that the process took four hours, so it sounded very efficient. The process sounded like it left plenty of room for the experts to interpret the data. Sara feels it has the potential to be a very powerful tool. It may not be in place in time for budget allocation this year.
Antonia doesn’t know if it can be ascertained that the library won’t lose the ability to buy from small publishers.
Sara said the process doesn’t determine what we have or where we buy it, but would provide data to inform allocation decisions.
Antonia said it seemed that the library has librarians here that have specialized skills to order versus ordering through a default process.
Sara explained a process she was involved in recently with the Mishawaka/South Bend library. They were still using the same time-consuming manual process she used at her branch library thirty years ago, and she felt that there must be a way to speed up and reduce redundancy. Centralized selection frees librarians to do more reader’s advisory work rather than reading reviews of items the library already knows it will purchase.
John said the theory is the library can take advantage of focusing on special needs of the community and patrons as the routine duties are shifted away from them.
Rita Lichtenberg said she voted early. She wondered if the library or the Indiana Room could act as a repository for information on candidates. She didn’t know if that would be too political for a public library.
Sara replied that we already provide some information in the Indiana Room, and had Pam Wasmer, who was present in the audience, to confirm that we do. Pam did confirm it. Sara said, in the past, CATS has also recorded candidate statements. In the last election, they only recorded candidates in contested elections, but other candidates missed the opportunity to share their platforms and CATS has committed to offering the opportunity to all candidates in the future.
Geoff McKim congratulated the Board and Library on the recently completed community survey, in which 96% of the respondents rated the library as important for the future of the community. He felt it was a tremendous and powerful testament to the hard work of the Board and the staff.
John thanked Geoff for his work with the Friends of the Library also.
The meeting adjourned at 6:26 pm.
Contact
Us Monroe County Public Library, Monroe County, Indiana ° (812)349-3050
Updated:
June 6, 2008
° http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/board/200804min.html
