CALL TO ORDER AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The regular meeting of the Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees was called to order by President Jerry Balm.
Members Present: Jerry Balm, Chris Colby, Ed Haskell, Tyler Hoecker, Judith Taylor and Debbie Westerland.
Staff Present: Audrey Betcher, Library Director; Kim Edson, Head of Readers Services; Carrie Farrow, Communications Manager; Jean Jahn, Automation Services Manager; Purna K Gurung, Administrative Services Coordinator.
Others Present: Al Dollerschell, Friends of RPL and Hannah Lipsky, Mayo High School Student.
AGENDA
Motion by Ed Haskell, seconded by Debbie Westerland to move up the action items on the agenda. Motion carried.
CONSENSUS AGENDA
Motion by Chris Colby, seconded by Ed Haskell to approve the minutes from April 19, 2006, the monthly bills, and the monthly report. Motion carried.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Finance: Has not met.
Policy: The Policy Committee has meet via e-mail and recommends the following changes to the meeting room policy.
Meeting Room A and B
Auditorium
The Library Board unanimously voted to approve the staff recommended changes brought forth by the Policy Committee.
Personnel: Has not met.
Planning: The Planning Committee met to review the 2007 Action Plans, the Strategic Plan, and the work proposed by MS&R. All are covered under other agenda items.
GOAT (Group of Advising Teens): Tyler Hoecker reported that 62 people attended the fencing program organized by RPL. GOAT is working on organizing an acting clinic and directing workshop to tie in with the summer reading program theme of "books into movies". They are also planning a short film contest. The top 5 winners will have their short films screened at Chateau. The theater has also donated movie passes for prizes. Tyler stated that a friend from school commented on how he was able to get books on bonsai trees from the library.
BUILDING STUDY
The Planning Committee has reviewed the agreement with MS&R and recommends approving it. The revised agreement has sufficient granularity in terms of costing to allow for funding analysis. It also better defines the project scope and breaks the short-term and long-term solutions into two phases. A discussion ensued.
Debbie Westerland noted that at the 5/15/06 Committee of the Whole meeting, City Council talked about the long skyway and a possible coffee shop.
The Library Board unanimously voted to approve the signing of the revised MS&R agreement.
STRATEGIC UPDATE
The Planning Committee went over the proposed 2007 Action Plans and the Strategic Plan. The Administrative Team has been using these documents as guidelines to budget for 2007.
The Board discussed the revisions. Jerry Balm stressed the need for more quantitative measurements. Ed Haskell replied that the Planning Committee welcomes suggestions from the Board. Judith Taylor inquired if there should be a separate goal that outlines the types of holdings needed to serve this particular community. Ed agreed that an explicitly stated selection policy tailored to Rochester was a good idea. Audrey stated that one of the goals in the plan is to update the collection development policy by the end of 2006. She also noted that getting the sorting system implemented means less time is available for RFID exploration. The Board agreed on the importance of continuing numerical comparison with peer libraries. Ed suggested importing data from the PLDS report into Excel for analysis. Jerry noted that he would like more time to review the plans.
The Library Board approved remanding the plans back to the Planning Committee for further review and approved the existing documents as a working prototype to enable AT to use them for budgeting purposes.
FOUNDATION REPORT
The Foundation met in April. They are still encouraging members to invite people to the library tours. The Endowment Fund has exceeded the $700,000 mark. They are also on target to make the Mayo match. The library annual report is being mailed to contributors.
BOB SUPALLA/RICHARD BEDARD
Bob Supalla, RPL's former Head of Maintenance passed away recently. His family has instructed memorials to be sent to library. Richard Bedard, an RPL employee, passed away in April.
FRIENDS REPORT
None.
SELCO
Debbie Westerland has sent a letter to the County Board indicating her interest in being the County's representative to the SELCO Board. Since she has not heard back from the County, she will call Ken.
Audrey has asked Ann for regular meetings between the two of them to improve communication. The first meeting is scheduled for June 5th.
We still need to find a replacement for Dick Hall by July. A discussion ensued. Jerry Balm volunteered to serve as the City's representative. He will not be able to attend the July meeting but will ask Dick Hall to serve as his alternate. Audrey will e-mail the Board about the logistics after checking the SELCO by-laws.
Motion by Ed Haskell, seconded by Debbie Westland that Jerry Balm serve as the library's representative on the SELCO Board and have Dick Hall sit in as an alternate during July's meeting, if Jerry is unable to attend. Motion carried.
Debbie reported on the last SELCO Board meeting she attended. Topics included SELCO Strategic Plan, County funding, PR/Marketing & Advocacy Committees, Downloadable Audio books, SELCO blog and Northfield Public Library's letter to SELCO's Board.
MnLINK
Greg Suave is heading up this implementation. We are projected to be up on MnLINK this summer. There are big ramifications for both staff and public.
REFERENCE POSITION
The Reference position has been posted. Interviews will be conducted over the next couple of weeks.
OTHER
Audrey passed around copies of the sorting system memo sent to Steve Kvenvold, RPL's annual report and the powerpoint presentation she made at the 5/15/06 Committee of the Whole meeting held at the Library. Debbie Westerland noted that at this meeting, City Council talked about the challenges of the long skyway. There was also interest in a possible coffee shop.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Debbie Westerland
Secretary
The next regular meeting of the Library Board will be Wednesday, June 21, 2006, at 4.30 p.m. in Meeting Room B.