CALL TO ORDER AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The regular meeting of the Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting was called to order by Dick Hall.
Members present: Jerry Balm, Chris Colby, Betty Hutchins, Ed Haskell, Dick Hall, Tyler Hoecker, Tonya Holt, Naomi Lipsky, Steve McMaster and Dave Nelson.
Staff present: Audrey Betcher, Library Director; Tom Dyer, Head of Communications; Kim Edson, Head of Reader Services; Louise Moe, Head of Reference Services; Rebecca Splittstoesser, Head of Technical Services; Beth Warfield, Head of Children's Division; Purna Gurung, Office Services Coordinator.
Others present: Al Dollerschell and Sue McMillan, Friends of RPL and students from Mayo High School.
FRIENDS PRESENTATION
Sue McMillan, a member of the Friends, presented a check for $40,000 to the Rochester Public Library. This gift is the proceeds from Friends Bookstore for 2003. Dick Hall thanked the Friends for their continued support of the Library.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
The Nominating Committee recommends the following officers for the posts of President, Vice President and Secretary respectively:
Dave Nelson, President
Steve McMaster, Vice President
Tonya Holt, Secretary
The Board unanimously approved the nomination of the above officers for 2004.
At this point Dave Nelson took over the running of the meeting.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Naomi Lipsky moved, Ed Haskell second to approve the meeting minutes from December 17, 2003, as submitted. Motion approved.
APPROVAL OF BILLS
The Library is replacing the old media projector in the auditorium with a new ceiling mounted one. The Friends are no longer providing bags to patrons. Thus, the Library has bought the bags and will be selling them to patrons at 25 cents per bag to break even. We will also be replacing the carpet in the skyway which is very worn and stained with a carpet which resists wear and tear better and can be replaced in squares. The speaker fees for Rochester Reads are being underwritten by Yaggy Colby Associates and First Federal Bank.
Chris Colby moved, Steve McMaster second to approve the bills as submitted. Motion approved.
MONTHLY REPORT
Circulation has gone up by over 11% from 2002 to 2003. There is a larger increase in county registrations due to data cleanup. Email requests under the reference activity include email, walk-ins and phone. We have a mechanism in place for deleting old cards with no transaction activity. These records will be purged monthly. The decrease in self-check numbers can be attributed to the handling of DVDs which was changed because of theft. Patrons have to bring the empty DVD case to the public service desk to get the actual DVD. We are moving to a different system in February. DVDs will be kept on the shelves but will be locked with a "key." Patrons will have to bring it to the public service desk to get the DVD case unlocked with a "key." It won't increase our self-check numbers, but it will decrease the amount of staff processing. ILL requests to and from RPL have decreased which was expected with the computer changes. Patrons are using our collections better. We are still interlibrary loaning everything patrons request.
Ed Haskell moved, Naomi Lipsky second to approve the November and December monthly reports as submitted. Motion approved.
FOUNDATION REPORT
The Wit, Wisdom and Wine event held on January 17th was a success with 111 attendees. We raised $5,375 in tickets sales, $1,095 in donations from those unable to attend and $2,055 from the silent auction. Yaggy Colby and Davies Printing donated $2,000 in underwriting for the wine and printing respectively. The net proceeds after expenses for the event were $6,640. Naomi suggested that the invitations be mailed out earlier for next year's event. It was also suggested that each board member personally invite 5 guests to the event.
SELCO REPORT
The committee reviewing our request for access to the state-funded databases (American Business Directory and Gale Biography) has postponed a decision. Dick Hall reported there are differing opinions within the committee about our request. SELCO stated that RPL is not the only library that has been denied access to the databases. Audrey clarified that the other libraries mentioned were members of SELS (non paying high school libraries) and not SELCO members. The organization received $72,000 in state funds for the databases. SELCO is hiring a consultant to revisit their business model and completely review their fee structure.
It was decided that Audrey would draft a letter to SELCO from the Library Board president requesting that RPL's request be reviewed as part of SELCO's budget. Audrey will also prepare an internal document for the Board that lists the benefits that RPL gets from SELCO membership.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT
The committee assignments for 2004 were presented and approved accordingly:
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Ad Hoc Budget Committee: We expect to give back about $10,000 for 2003.
Nominating Committee: See Election of Officers
Planning Committee: Steve asked if the committee had captured the issues discussed at the December Board meeting. Naomi suggested that the word "Literature" in the mission statement be edited to make it more cutting-edge. Jerry went on record to say that he had no objections with the word. The Planning Committee has to discuss this issue before finalizing any changes. The Committee will meet in February before the Administrative Team works on the action plans.
Chris Colby moved, Ed Haskell second to officially approve the revised Strategic Plan as submitted. Motion approved.
Policy Committee: None
Personnel Committee: None
Youth Advisory Board: None
RECOMMENDATION FOR FOUNDATION DISBURSEMENT
The Foundation has allocated $19,542 for the library this year. All of the projects that the Administrative Team are recommending meet the goals established by the Foundation and will make a difference in the lives of the citizens of Olmsted County. AT recommends the disbursement for the following projects:
The Board discussed the Storytime Kits project at length. Audrey stated that the kits promote reading among children from birth to kindergarten and are very popular with family daycares who cannot bring children to the library due to insurance issues. SELCO has 125 of these kits on different topics which are booked well in advance. If RPL promoted SELCO's kits, their system could not meet the demand. This project has been on the table for many years but has not been funded due to the amount of staff time needed to create the kits. The Foundation funding would include some staff time for desk shifts so that the children's librarians can work on them. It was decided that AT would bring a sample of an actual story-time kit to the February Board meeting, after which the Board will make their decision.
Action tabled until the February 18th Board meeting.
OTHER NEWS
Audrey reported that volunteer hours for 2003 increased by 3% from last year. This number under-represents actual hours worked. We have also added $160,000 in donated materials from the community to our collections.
Respectfully submitted,
Tonya Holt
Secretary
The next regular meeting of the Library Board will be Wednesday, February 18, 2003, at 4:30 pm in Meeting Room B on the second floor of the library.