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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-27-19 BPL Minutes FinalBozeman Public Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Bozeman Public Library—Board Room Wednesday, March 27th, 2019 Minutes Corrected April 18th, 2019 Attendance Board Chair John Gallagher; Trustees Ken Spencer, Kelley Dowdell, Jennifer Pawlak; Bozeman Public Library (BPL) Director Susan Gregory; BPL Department Heads Mary Jo Stanislao, Kit Stephenson, Lois Dissly; Administrative Assistant Lauranna Cossins; Volunteer Coordinator Miranda Hoffman; Bozeman Public Library Foundation Director Janay Johnson; City Commissioner Terry Cunningham. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Board Chair Gallagher at 4:00pm. Approval of the Minutes Trustee Dowdell moved to approve the minutes from the February 27th, 2019 meeting. Trustee Spencer seconded. The Board voted unanimously to approve the minutes. City Report City Commissioner Terry Cunningham reported that the Commission is working on the City’s strategic plan, and the future of the Library on the west side of town will be a part of this discussion. The City budgeting process has begun. The Library budget is currently part of the general fund, which includes police, parks, and other departments. Cunningham said there has been some discussion that there is a possibility that the Parks and Recreation Department budget will one day be moved to an assessment and no longer funded by the general fund, as it is currently. This might provide some relief on the general fund which could benefit the Library. Board Business Board Chair Gallagher brought up the topic of reducing the number of Board meetings per year. The statute that the Board follows says that the Board needs to meet at least six times per year, and that meetings should not be more than 90 days apart. Action Trustee Spencer moved that the Board of Trustees take a summer break in July and August and a holiday break in December. Trustee Pawlak seconded. The Board voted unanimously to take the months of July, August and December off from Board meetings. Correspondence Susan Gregory shared correspondence from the community. The Chronicle published a Sunday editorial about the Library’s SymBozium series and the importance of civil discourse. A patron wanted to let everyone know that the Montana poet laureate nomination form is now available. Someone would like a book return box on the west side of town. A patron wants the Library to be a fragrance free zone, starting with Library employees. Someone put a book on hold and has not heard about it. Someone else is concerned about people taking too much time at the DVD viewing stations. A patron requested more non-fiction large print books. Someone said the air freshener is very strong and unpleasant in the children’s library bathroom. Director and Staff Report Susan Gregory reported that she spoke to Mike Gray in Facilities and he said that next week his team plans to do a final review of the parking lot improvement plan, after which they will get the plans to the city engineer for review and approval. Once approved they will go to contractors for bidding. They hope to get bids back by the end of April. Friends of the Library President Pam Henley met with Gregory and Kit Stephenson on Monday to discuss the Library going fine free. The approximate revenue from daily fines is $41,000 per year and goes to the general fund. The Library will continue to contribute approximately $25,000 annually to the general fund from payments for lost materials, copies and other fees. The City Manager is supportive, understands that eliminating daily fines is a national library initiative and an effort to increase early literacy, and suggested that the Library make up half of the lost revenue in the first year of going fine free. The Friends and the Library had previously discussed decreasing the subscriptions line item in the Library’s FY20 budget request and asking the Friends to provide funds to pay for those materials. On Monday, Gregory proposed that the Library ask the Friends to fund its Lynda.com subscription ($13,000/year) as well as Kanopy, a movie/documentary streaming service that is new to the Library and costs $10,000 per year, which would allow the Library to reduce its budget request by $23,000. The funding of these two services is also a good marketing opportunity for the Friends. Patrons will still be required to return their library materials by a certain time or they will be contacted by someone from Unique Management, the library collection service employed by the Library. Patrons will continue to be responsible for paying for lost materials. The Board and staff discussed the start date for going fine free, and Mary Jo Stanislao said it would be nice to have the change go into effect before the start of the summer reading program. Trustee Dowdell asked about communicating the fine free message to the public. Stephenson said that she met with the City communications director to discuss strategies. The Library will likely issue a press release and promote the change through fliers or pamphlets at schools this spring and summer. Gregory added that the fine free change will be promoted on the Library website, social media, and monthly newsletter. Stanislao said that she would look at marketing tools from libraries such as Salt Lake City, which has already eliminated fines. Gregory reported that the door project in the lobby is moving along. Gregory, Stephenson, Nancy Hatfield, Cindy Christin and Foundation Director Janay Johnson represented the Library at the Bozeman Schools Foundation Spelling Bee fundraiser recently. Mary Jo Stanislao reported that new self-checkout machines, security gates, and a document station were installed last week. Josh Andrews and the installation consultant have worked hard to get things up and running. Lois Dissly reported that Beth Boyson is part of the MSC content management committee, which makes recommendations for circulation and cataloging policies for members of the Montana Shared Catalog. She said that Katie Biehl is the committee coordinator on the Montana Library 2 Go selection committee which manages e-book services for state libraries. Sarah Normandeau has implemented a new Interlibrary Loan tracking software called CLIO, which will be in use starting in April. Montana State University Library decided to drop out of the state wide courier service and mail materials, instead. The collection development team at BPL is evaluating some databases for possible subscriptions including Consumer Reports and databases for auto repair manuals. Kit Stephenson reported that interviews for the Head of Adult Programming and Outreach have taken place. In order to provide an office for the person who fills this position, the Bozeman Police substation will be moved to the upstairs mailroom, which will have a door installed. Assistant Director Stephenson will move into the old substation office, and the new Head of Adult Programming and Outreach will move into Stephenson’s current office. Stephenson said that 61 people showed up for a ladies’ nerf gun night, organized by Jessica Carlson. The age range of participants was 18-56. The event received a lot of positive feedback, with requests for more events like this for adults. SymBozium is Tuesday night at the Crawford Theater in the Emerson Cultural Center, and about 200 seats have already been reserved. The topic is “The Economics of Immigration: Boon or Bust?” The three panelists include Harvard Kennedy School economist George Borjas, Washington, DC-based international immigration attorney Andrew Greenfield and Montana State University professor of Latin American and Latino studies Bridget Kevane. Miranda Hoffman is the new Volunteer Coordinator. She told the Board that the annual volunteer brunch will take place May 1st. National Volunteer Week is April 7th-13th, during which her goal is to raise awareness of Library volunteers. Foundation Report Janay Johnson reported that Give Big Gallatin Valley is on May 3rd. The Foundation has a goal to get 100% participation from the Foundation, Friends and Library trustees. The Foundation’s theme this year is Readers are Leaders. She said that this year’s Library Gala will honor Bozeman School Superintendent Rob Watson, in recognition of his work in the area of early literacy. Regarding the Library master plan, Johnson said she would like to gather a small team of stakeholders to be part of a steering committee, and that Trustees would be encouraged to join. Johnson said the Foundation is going to produce a 3-minute video in time for the Gala. The idea is to develop three storylines from patrons’ personal experiences with the Library. They would like to include a volunteer, a family/child, and a senior citizen. She encouraged the Board to email her with ideas about this. Adjournment There being no further business, Board Chair Gallagher adjourned the meeting at 5:05pm.