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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-21-11 Library Board of Trustees Minutes Bozeman Public Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Library Board/Staff Conference Room Bozeman Public Library Wednesday, September 21, 2011 4:00 P.M. ATTENDANCE Present:Trustees: Ron Farmer, Chair; George Cole;Judy Mathre; Jacki McGuire; Paula Beswick, Foundation;John Gallagher, Friends; Lois Dissly and Terri Dood,Acting Co-Directors, CALLTO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 4:02 p.m. by Chair Farmer. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Cole moved to accept August 17, 2011 Library Board Minutes, Mathre seconded, and they were approved unanimously. CORRESPONDENCE The Library Board and staff received thank you notes from the three candidates for library director. Dood and Dissly also received a thank you letter from Margrit Firehammer on behalf of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) group for use of the Small Meeting Room. Beth Downs, one of the Library Assistant substitutes, resigned effective September 23. A check for the FY12 State Aid Per Capita Per Square Mile was received and sent to the City. A patron suggested the need for more bike racks. Another person wanted the option to have multiple cards for one account. A patron requested that the foreign films be labeled. A woman complained that nearly half of the Playaways she has checked out do not work properly. A dad said he enjoyed a walk with his kids because the Library didn't open until 10:00.Another patron said the Information Librarians were helpful but that there were problems with the software for placing holds. A family said that Ginny Cowan was always helpful. A patron asked for a chick lit section. A woman wanted to know why the handicapped parking places were not closer to the building especially those in front. The restroom doors need closers to prevent them from slamming according to a patron. Another patron complained about the new location of the public telephone. An email sent by a patron said the Sunday afternoon concert on the lawn was GREAT? Visitors to Bozeman complimented the Library as the 'nicest'they had ever visited. Six requests/suggestions were received for titles to add to the collection. Dood received an email of thanks for help with a catalog search problem. There were five incidents reported for September. The first involved the theft of the Library's laptop which was recovered; Dissly has been in contact with the police about it. The police also visited with a patron whose service dog barked in the Computer Lab and wandered around while its owner was on the computers. A child climbed up on one of the front pillars but climbed down when asked to do so. A small child ran into the metal 'daisy' statute in front of the Circulation Desk and cut his cheek. The cleaning crew reported finding several barcode labels and RFID tags torn out of items and stuck to the side of a table on the first floor. FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY REPORT John Gallagher reported that the Friends with help from Sharyn Anhalt and Kim Center have been working to clean up the financial books, a necessary step to preserve the group's 5013c status. The lease of the coffee shop is up November 6 and Gallagher hopes to meet with the Cargills soon to clear up some points of the lease before it is renewed. Board assistant,Jamie Johnston, is reviewing the Library's policy about volunteers to make certain that the Friend's policy agrees with it. The group will hold its annual fundraiser and meeting October 28 and new library director,Susan Gregory, will attend. Gallagher hopes to begin work soon on restructuring the Friends board. FOUNDATION REPORT One Book—One Bozeman author Aron Ralston's visit drew a crowd of over 4000 at MSU Convocation, including 1200+community members and his visit to the Library as part of the Art Opening Reception on Sept. 8 had about a 100 people for a Q and A session. Other programs with the theme Living Your Passion included a panel discussion with Loren Acton, Wade Cruzado, Betsy Quammen, and Kent Davis; a journaling/memoir writing workshop conducted by Al Kesselheim; an evening performance by Jake and Jeni Fleming for the Exploring the Arts series; a presentation by MSU's Engineers Without Borders; several showings of the film 127 Hours at MSU's Procrastinators Theater; book discussions for kids through adults; first grade camping adventure activities; a reception at Country Bookshelf featuring the Best of Show pieces from the photography show as part of the Art Walk; and the showing of the movie Soul Surfer. As of September 22, four"Living Your Passion" photographs have sold for a total of$10751 The Children's Festival of the Book will be held the weekend of November 5. A series of college prep classes will begin Sept. 28 with SAT Essay Writing. Don Loren Hardy, biographer of Sen.Alan Simpson,will present a program and book sale and signing on Sept. 29. Beyond Brokeback:Staged Reading with Music will be held Oct. 1; Beswick received a donation from HBO as thanks for sponsoring the program. Dancer Katherine Kramer will be the October Artist in Residence. Oct. 7 will be an opening art reception for the photography display by Sandee Barry Mills. Beswick reported that the flagpole has arrived and will be installed on Oct.8. She is finally moving forward on the art brochure; it will be an on-line, interactive piece. DIRECTOR'S REPORT The August Statistical Report showed circulation down by 4%. Door traffic was up by 5%. Database usage was down by nearly 45% but the change to a new vendor will provide an opportunity to promote all of the Library's databases. The FY11 year-end operating and maintenance budget was $2,638.19 in the red due to the expenses incurred by the Director's Search Committee.The remaining $243,722.10 will be moved to the Library's Depreciation Reserve Fund. For FY12 the Travel/Training account is$1,718.12 to the negative also because of the expenses for travel and meals for the director's search. Superintendent of Facilities James Goehrung met with representatives from Martel Construction, Architect Mark Headley, and representatives of the insurance company to discuss repairing and paying for repairs to the Library's roof. It will not be repaired until the spring of 2012, and responsibility for the repairs has not yet been determined. Catapalooza was August 24-26. The Library participated by issuing 141 cards to incoming students, faculty, and community members, as well as promoting One Book One Bozeman and other Library services. Mary Jo Stanislao coordinates Library participation in this annual event. This year several other City Departments also participated and magnets with City phone numbers were distributed.The Bozeman Sculpture Park Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Ice Cream Social was held on August 27 and attended by Dood and Dissly. Montana sculptor Patrick Zentz will kick off the BSP lecture series on Wednesday, September 21 at 7 p.m. Ken and Pat Hamlin have provided a display in the Montana Room on Granville Stuart, the person who organized the first meeting for librarians in Montana in the early 1900s.The Montana State Library has contracted with EBSCO Publishing to provide a suite of online information to libraries throughout the state.These online resources provide library patrons with remote access to the latest information from nearly 20,000 different periodicals. Library staff members have been attending webinars to learn more about the EBSCO databases and also HomeworkMT's online tutoring service. Public libraries in Gallatin County are conducting a survey of library services this month. Print copies of the survey have been available throughout the Library, and Hannah Vidrich, a library volunteer, used Survey Monkey to create an online survey for the Library's website. Pam Henley, Gail MacMillan and Dissly took adult-infant CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator) training on August 29. Friends purchased the AED for the Library last year. It is located near the west entrance to the Library.The MSU Freshman Convocation featuring Aron Ralston, author of Between a Rock and a Hard Place was September 7 at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. A variety of other One Book One Bozeman events are scheduled throughout September. Dood and Dissly attended the City Commission meeting on September 12. The Commission approved the FY2012 City budget. The FY2011 Library budget surplus of$243,722.10 has been moved to the Library depreciation reserve fund. City staff has requested a meeting to develop a plan for how these funds will be spent. Dissly attended HPO on September 13. The topics were the new Gradient Systems Energy Tracking Software, used to track use of energy, fuel, waste, and water use in City buildings, and also Laserfiche WebLink,which is used to search City documents on laserfiche on the City's website.September 14 was Montana Library Day, a celebration of Montana libraries and librarians. Coordinated by the Montana State Library, Montana librarians from all types of libraries collected statistics and stories to share about what they do in a day and how people benefit from libraries. Jim Harris took some wonderful photos of a day in the life of Bozeman patrons and librarians. Ron Farmer and Chris Kukulski announced to the Library staff on September 15 that the new Library Director will be Susan F. Gregory. She will start in November. Darlene Staffeldt retired from her position as Montana State Librarian on September 15, 2011. She had worked as a librarian for 35 years and had served as Montana State Librarian since October 2004.Terri Dood attended a retirement party for her. Beth Downs resigned her position as Library Assistant Substitute on August 25 to accept a position at the State Library in Helena. Interviews are in the process for a full-time library aide II position and a full-time librarian 1. Children's will be hiring a new substitute this fall.The new PlaySpace, a special area for parents and kids to play together with a focus on wooden blocks, opened in the Children's Room on Sunday,September 18. The project was funded by the Friends of the Library. Our Library will serve as a model for this idea, and grant funding has already been awarded to replicate this project in other Montana libraries. On September 19 the City Commission passed a motion authorizing city staff to complete steps necessary to transfer the 700 square foot portion of the city- owned property [on Library grounds] to Harrington's Inc. and to execute an appropriate associated maintenance agreement on City property for building maintenance.The Library is the recipient of five new Dell laptops that will be available within a few weeks for patrons to check out for in-house use. The laptops were acquired as part of the Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP). Dissly has been meeting with City IT to determine the need and strategy for a broadband upgrade. Four aging staff computers have been replaced by City IT. Christin, Stanislao, and Ginny Cowan have been going to Bozeman Public Schools open houses promoting Library services and issuing Library cards. Staff will be attending the Montana State Library Fall Workshops which will be in Bozeman September 23 and 24. Cindy Christin and Linda Clark will be presenting a workshop on block play. Missoula's WOW bus (Web on Wheels), purchased with BTOP funds, will be at the Library on September 23 for press tours. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: Dissly and Dood attended the City Commission meeting September in FINAL FY2012 BUDGET which the FY2012 Budget was approved with no changes to the Library's budget. They received a notice for a meeting with City Finance Director Anna Rosenberry to discuss the Library's Capital Fund October 12. Dood asked Rosenberry if the meeting date could be changed so the new library director could attend. Rosenberry said that would put the Library's CIP presentation to the City Commission into mid December. The Board agreed that the meeting ought to be changed so Susan Gregory can attend. BOARD MEMBERS'AND CITY REPORTS George Cole announced that he will be resigning from the Board because will be out of town for several months and would not be able to attend meetings and fully participate. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 5:37 p.m. The next meeting will be Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. in the Library Board/Staff Conference Room.