CALL TO ORDER AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The regular meeting of the Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting was called to order by Dave Nelson.
Members present: Jerry Balm, Dick Hall, Ed Haskell, Tyler Hoecker, Betty Hutchins, 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's Services; Rebecca Splittstoesser, Head of Technical Services; Jean Jahn, Head of Automation 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 Items and President's Business respectively: Grant and Board Nominations.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Ed Haskell moved, Dick Hall second to approve the meeting minutes from August 18, 2004. Motion approved.
APPROVAL OF BILLS
Ed Haskell moved, Dick Hall second to approve the bills as submitted. Motion approved.
MONTHLY REPORT
The Library Board reviewed the August monthly report.
Dick Hall asked how long it takes from the time when a reserve is placed to the time of its distribution. Audrey will check into this. The decrease in the bookmobile circulation can be attributed to the bookmobile being off the road for 2 weeks in August due to repair work.
FOUNDATION REPORT
We received another $1,000 from the Jim and Judy Sloane Foundation to support the Storytime Kits. Nine speakers have committed to Wit, Wisdom and Wine. The goal is to have 12 speakers lined up by the end of the week. Tom is also working on sending out letters to businesses for underwriting support.
SELCO REPORT
We are still waiting on authentication to the American Business Directory. The paperwork was delivered to SELCO on the day it arrived. Audrey received an email from SELCO saying that they are running into technical problems. We received a copy of a letter from Minitex to SELCO regarding a last mile grant for delivery. In the letter, Minitex states that they expect RPL to receive daily delivery. We have not heard from SELCO.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Finance Committee: The City will review budgets in November. The Committee of the Whole has set the levy limit at $34.5 million, which is $1 million more than what was recommended. The Council feels this will give some flexibility. They may decide not to levy the entire amount. We will have the preliminary number in November. The Board discussed the issue of how to manage ever increasing circulation with limited resources and staff. They also discussed the idea of shipping reserves, with the patrons paying for shipping and handling costs via the online account. We first need the ability to make online payments. The City staff person in charge of this project is leaving the city.
Planning Committee: None.
Policy Committee: None.
Personnel Committee: None.
Youth Advisory Board: None. The next meeting is on Monday, 9/20/04.
BOARD NOMINATIONS
Dick and Naomi's terms will be expiring in January 2005. We will need to fill two positions within the Board: one city and one county representative. Please turn in suggestions to Dave Nelson.
MINNESOTA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
The Minnesota Library Association Conference is October 6-8 in Duluth. Information on the conference is available at www.mnlibraryassociation.org. The best price for registration is if the registration is in by September 15th. If you are interested in attending, please let Audrey know ASAP.
CERTIFICATION
Congratulations to Marge Brumm in the Reader's Services Division for completing the program of Minnesota Voluntary Certification for Library Employees. Certification involved covering 50 competencies and required 60 contact hours which does not include time required for assignment work. Competencies cover the areas of Philosophy, Public Services, Technical Services, and Technology. Marge will be recognized at the MLA Annual conference in Duluth on October 6th. She also received the Lerner scholarship, which pays part of MLA conference costs. The Board agreed to present a certificate of commendation to Marge.
EARLY LITERACY
Audrey has been invited to be a member of the First Steps Advisory Board. The first meeting is in late September. The library is starting to work with the curriculum "Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library". We are deciding how to fold the concepts into current library procedures and programs. Jill Kobler is attending the ALSC conference later this month where she will get training on this curriculum.
GRANTS
We received a $2,100 enhancement grant from the MLA Foundation to develop book discussion kits. We hope to make it easier for book discussion groups in the community as well as cut down on interlibrary loan. Please let Audrey know if you are interested in getting a copy of all the LSTA grants that were funded. SELCO has to sign off on our LSTA grants, which is all they do.
The Minnesota Library Council sunsetted itself on Monday
MLA
Audrey was elected as the 2005 MLA Vice-President/President Elect.
COLLECTION UPDATE
In our first two months, 803 people were sent to collections. This includes old accounts as well. So far $4,173.61 has been collected and $3,340.68 in materials have been returned. Dave asked how patrons have reacted to being sent to collections. A majority of the patrons have received it well. We are having to spend less staff time hunting down books and are getting better returns.
OTHER NEWS
Rebecca's position has been posted.
Audrey reported that the art print collection was weeded and some prints were sold at the Friends Garage sale. These were art prints that had not circulated for more than 5 years. The Friends are organizing another event in October to display the prints. Ed noted that staff should ensure that the "Blue Monday" picture if sold, should go at its market value of $350. He suggested using some of the pictures for the Wit, Wisdom and Wine silent auction.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Tonya Holt
Secretary
The next regular meeting of the Library Board will be Wednesday, October 20, 2004, at 4:30 pm in Meeting Room B on the second floor of the library.