The regular meeting of the Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees was called to order by President Paul Barton. Also attending were Dick Hall, Ed Haskell, Frank Iossi, Ann Larson, Susan Lee, Naomi Lipsky, and Jeanne Parker.
Absent with notification: Amit Raikar.
Staff Present: Audrey Betcher, Acting Library Director; Kim Edson, Head of Extension Services; Jean Jahn, Head of Automation; Judy Kereakos, Acting Assistant Director; Louise Moe, Head of Information Services; Kathy Olson, Administrative Assistant; Rebecca Splittstoesser, Head of Technical Services; and Gina Westra, Reference Librarian.
Ed Haskell moved, Jeanne Parker second to approve the meeting minutes from April 12, 2000. Motion approved.
There were no unusual bills.
Circulation and door counts are up slightly from this same period last year.
The Committee has had an informal meeting with John Hunziker and will meet with several other Council members to discuss the proposed study. The study will be discussed by the City Council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on May 15. The Board will need to meet with the consultant for a half day work session to ensure that the vision for the future is clear.
Jeanne Parker stated that she has been unable to attend the last several Foundation Board meetings due to conflicts and requests that she be replaced.
Frank Iossi moved, Ed Haskell second to appoint Ann Larson to replace Jeanne Parker as a Library Board representative on the Foundation Board. Motion approved.
Dick Hall stated that SELCO is about to start evaluating their long range plan. Dick Hall, Audrey Betcher, and Judy Harris will represent Rochester Public Library and Olmsted County on the committee. SELCO has contracted for a facilitator to assist in the process. SELCO is also in the process of studying Interlibrary loan. In the past couple of weeks there have been several resignations from SELCO's data processing staff.
After conversations with City Attorney Terry Adkins and Bruce Pomerantz, it has been determined that the grant agreement will need City Council approval, since the City owns the building. Once the contract has been signed, work should begin in a couple of weeks.
The Board discussed adding language about not heating baby bottles for patrons and deleting the language on patron behavior since that is covered in the Code of Conduct.
Jeanne Parker moved, Ann Larson second to approve striking language on patron behavior and adding language regarding heating baby bottles to the Patron Assistance Policy. Motion approved.
Since it is difficult to spend any money remaining in the budget at the end of the year on materials due to timeframes, Audrey has increased the amount allocated for materials at this time with the understanding that the additional allocations will be paid from the operating budget if funds are available at the end of the year or from the Gift Fund. The additional allocations target areas of the collection that need assistance. By allocating the funds at this time, it provides for even ordering and avoids staff work flow problems.
The next public survey date is May 11. Staff is exploring ways to use the patron information on the back sheet to notify people of upcoming events or other items in which they show an interest. We think this will be easy to do via email, but don't want to limit ourselves to only email. The information provided could also possibly be used for focus groups with the organizational study consultant.
Plans are to do five more surveys this year on different days of the week, all hours the library is open.
Audrey reviewed an incident which happened in the library on a Sunday afternoon involving a homeless person in which words were exchanged between the homeless person and several other patrons. It is not a violation of the Code of Conduct to sleep in the library. In this case the issue was use of profanity and confrontational behavior.
Legislation was recently passed that libraries must use filtering technology or other means to limit pornography. We do have procedures in place to deal with this issue and the preliminary opinion from the City Attorney is that our current procedures should satisfy the legislative intent.
Staff updated the Board on workshops and meetings attended at the recent Public Library Association Conference in Charlotte, NC.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Lee
Secretary
The next regular Board meeting will be Wednesday, June 14, 2000, at 4:30 p.m. in Meeting Room B on the second floor of the library.