CALL TO ORDER AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The regular meeting of the Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting was called to order by President Dave Nelson.
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; Louise Moe, Head of Reference Services; Rebecca Splittstoesser, Head of Technical Services; Purna Gurung, Office Services Coordinator.
Others present: Al Dollerschell, Friends of RPL.
CONSENSUS AGENDA
The following agenda item was added under Director's Information Item: Wireless Internet Access.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Ed Haskell moved, Betty Hutchins second to approve the meeting minutes from February 18, 2004, as submitted. Motion approved.
APPROVAL OF BILLS
Ed Haskell moved, Betty Hutchins second to approve the bills as submitted. Motion approved.
MONTHLY REPORT
Inter Library Loan (ILL) numbers are down. The decrease can be attributed to our collection being better utilized.
Ed Haskell moved, Betty Hutchins second to approve the February monthly report as submitted. Motion approved.
FOUNDATION REPORT
The Foundation is meeting on March 24th. This meeting will include training with Laurie Ward. There should be a report available for the April board meeting.
SELCO REPORT
None.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
As requested at the last meeting, a copy of the Responsibilities of Committees was submitted. It was last revised in September 2002.
Finance Committee: None
Planning Committee: Audrey and the Administrative Team met to work on the action plan this afternoon. Audrey is working on a draft of the action plan and will schedule a planning meeting before the next Board meeting.
Policy Committee: None
Personnel Committee: None
Youth Advisory Board: Tyler Hoecker reported that YA author, Dianne Gray, will be at the library on March 21. The YA Board is also organizing a Poetry Slam on April 22 for young adults to recite poems they wrote. Tyler passed around a copy of the flyer for the event. This flyer will also be put up around schools. Tom Dyer will work on a news release for this event.
BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF STANDALONE AUTOMATION
The Board asked for a list of benefits regarding standalone automation. We have compiled such a list, which is similar compared to what we expected during our discussions in 2002. Audrey is working on the costs analysis and has done some recalculation based on new circulation numbers. Dick Hall asked that political issues be added to the list as a drawback. Ed Haskell suggested that we give the document to City Council and the County Board. Jerry noted that the drawbacks were mostly internal. Audrey replied that the system has changed more of how staff works rather than patrons. Ed remarked that another benefit to the standalone system was that we avoided the problems SELCO faced after their conversion. There are also intangible cost savings. Audrey will revise the list for the April Board meeting.
MEMORIAL FUNDS
Back in 2000, the Library Board voted to move memorial funds from the City investments to the RPL Foundation. We waited for investment policies and procedures to be in place and for an investment company to be selected. Now that we've been through a cycle with those procedures and everything is working, we requested that the money be transferred from the City. A Request for Council Action (RCA) was sent to the City for the March 15th agenda. The RCA was approved.
Since the Library Action in 2000, we have received another estate gift, Lila Wilson, totaling approximately $78,900. This money is in the Gift Fund. We request that the Library Board approve the transfer of the Lila Wilson estate from RPL's Gift Fund to the RPL Foundation. Ed Haskell suggested that the Foundation may want the money in phases.
Ed Haskell moved, Dick Hall second the motion to transfer the Lila Wilson estate gift from the Gift Fund to the Rochester Public Library Foundation on a schedule directed by the Foundation Board. Motion approved.
ROCHESTER READS UPDATE
Carrie Farrow reported that Rochester Reads was very successful this year. The title circulated over 300 times. Sales of the three titles topped over 1,000 copies. The author events were attended by over 3,000 people. Carrie thanked Chris Colby and Yaggy Colby Associates for their financial support. Chris suggested that the Library send a thank you letter to Post Bulletin for their aggressive promotion of Rochester Reads. Tom Dyer will draft this letter. Carrie reported that the Rochester Reads Committee was considering reverting back to a community vote for next year's title. Jerry Balm inquired if County residents were involved. Carrie replied that the County had not been the promotional focus but that the Committee would consider this audience for the next year.
COLLECTIONS
We have begun sending out the warning letters, but have not sent anyone to collections yet. There is a minor software bug that needs to be fixed first. This will delay the original timeline by two to three weeks. We are still reviewing hardship cases and offering patrons the option of payment plans.
WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS
We are working on putting a wireless access point in the rotunda area of the Library so patrons can connect to the internet with their wireless devices. The access will not be encrypted, thus patrons will need to do their own encryption if they are worried about security. Patrons will need to sign up first before connecting to the internet. The infrastructure is already in place so only minimal investment is required. The internet access will be filtered and governed by our Internet Safety Policy. The City Attorney has reviewed and approved the acceptable use statement. We are planning to unveil this service during National Library week, if possible.
CITY E-MAIL RETENTION/TECHNOLOGY POLICY
Audrey reported that the City is instituting a New Technology Use Policy. City computers are meant for work use and staff are not supposed to load personal software on them. The Technology Policy includes an e-mail retention schedule, whereby City e-mail will be deleted after 60 days, starting in June 2004.
TOUR OF MATERIALS HANDLING AREA
Audrey Betcher and Carrie Farrow led interested Board members through a tour of the materials handling area.
Respectfully submitted,
Tonya Holt
Secretary
The next regular meeting of the Library Board will be Wednesday, April 21, 2004, at 4:30 pm in Meeting Room B on the second floor of the library.