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, Steve McMaster, Tom Sherman, Judith Taylor, and Deborah Westerland.
Staff Present: Audrey Betcher, Library Director; Kim Edson, Head of Readers Services; Jean Jahn, Automation Services Manager; Louise Moe, Head of Reference Services; James Rentz, Head of Technical Services, Purna K Gurung, Administrative Services Coordinator.
Others Present: Al Dollerschell, Friend of RPL
AGENDA
"2007 Budget" was added under Informational Items of the Agenda.
CONSENSUS AGENDA
Audrey reported that we conducted a number of big purges in September. This cleanup has resulted in significant drops in the Holdings Report and the Registration Statistics. Reference statistics were not done by the time the report was printed but will be included in the original. Tom Sherman noted that Juvenile circulation is down. Audrey replied that part of the decrease is due to the LAS system. Children's has also moved some things around and this seems to have contributed to the lower circulation. We have a Merchandising Committee that is currently looking at ways to better market our collections.
Motion by Ed Haskell, seconded by Deborah Westerland to approve the minutes from September 20, 2006, the monthly bills, and the monthly report. Motion carried.
PRESIDENT'S BUSINESS
FOUNDATION REPORT
The Foundation hosted its first Donor Appreciation Lunch on September 21st, which was attended by approximately 100 people. The event was sponsored by Home Federal Savings Bank and Eagle Crest Capital Bank. Sekapp Orchard and Farms provided apples and Fall Harvest decorations. The key-note speaker was the Honorable Sandy Keith, former State Supreme Court Justice and current executive director of Rochester Downtown Alliance (RDA). He presented an update on RDA's efforts to renew the downtown area and shared his thoughts on why the library is an important asset to the community.
Speakers are lined up for the Wit Wisdom and Wine (WWW) fundraiser that will be help on Saturday, January 13th. Committed sponsors so far include Construction Partnerships and Yaggy Colby Associates. Rochester Reads 2007 Sponsors (so far) are Yaggy Colby Associates and McGough Construction (author visit). Kahler, PB, RCTC, Magic Media.
The Foundation Builder was sent out to donors on October 16th. An endowment drive letter will be sent in early November and WWW invitations will go out after Thanksgiving.
FRIENDS REPORT
Al Dollerschell reported that the Friends had a successful Fall sale. The Holiday Bake and Book sale will be held on December 3rd, 1.30PM-5PM in the auditorium. Al encouraged the Board to join the Friends and use the Friends site to purchase things on Amazon.
SELCO
Deborah Westerland reported that the next quarterly board meeting is scheduled for next week.
Audrey reported that MLA's draft platform includes a request for an annual increase of $5 million for Regional Library Basic System Support (RLBSS). The Regions are indicating that MnLINK has increased their delivery costs. In federated regions, a significant portion of the burden of MnLINK is falling on libraries, not just the regions. RPL has had to add 3 hours of ILL staff per day since going live on MnLINK. SELCO is asking its board members to lobby for support for this increase.
After discussing the proposed RLBSS funding increase, Washington County's Board has drafted a resolution stating that 75% of the additional funds need to pass directly to libraries in federated regions. Audrey asked if the Board wanted to endorse a similar statement. A discussion ensued.
Motion by Ed Haskell, seconded by Chris Colby to endorse the following resolution in support of RLBSS.
"In order to strengthen local delivery of public library services throughout Minnesota, the Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees supports an increase of $5,000,000 for Regional Public Library Basic System Support for a total annual appropriation of $13,570,000. This increase will assist local public libraries and regional public library systems meet the increased demands for staffing and support services, such as delivery, resulting from the success of the MnLINK system.
In federated library systems, 75% of this new funding must be passed directly through to local city and county public libraries. Distribution of this funding must be based on a city's or county's percentage of the total regional population. The remaining funding may be used at the regional level to maintain current cooperative service levels and to support increased costs for delivery. Because there has not been a significant funding increase for RLBSS since 1992, local property taxes have been forced to increase to support library services at the city and county level."
Motion carried.
Deborah Westerland asked about the next step. Audrey will work with Gary Neumann at the City level. She will also talk to the County, Association of Minnesota Counties, and the League of MN Cities.
At the SELCO Advisory Committee meeting on October 3rd, there was a long discussion about the possibility of SELCO and SELS merging. (It was on the Executive Committee's Agenda in September.) There was a general consensus that this was not a good idea. Reasons included that the missions are different, it confuses the funding streams, there is not enough state funding to significantly impact media centers, and public libraries would be at risk. There is a demonstrated need in school libraries. We should advocate for them but giving them money traditionally set aside for public libraries will not help in the long run. The Board noted that they are willing to write a letter to SELCO addressing our concerns about the proposed merger.
SELCO's board orientation for Jerry and Debbie is October 19th and they will bring this topic up at this meeting along with RLBSS funding and online databases.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Nominating Committee: Jerry will be recruiting volunteers for the Nominating Committee. The Committee will bring forth a slate of officers during the December meeting.
Policy: No report
Planning: The Planning Committee met on October 4th. Core Values and continued planning for future growth were discussed. Some revisions were made to the Core Values.
Kim Edson noted that the sentence "assisting school media centers as requested" is a little problematic for her as it does not provide the tools her staff needs to make decisions. A discussion ensued. Ed Haskell suggested that the words "as requested" be replaced with "where practicable".
Ed Haskell moved, Steve McMaster second to replace "as requested" with "where practicable." Motion carried.
The Board voted to approve the Core Values as amended.
Steve McMaster reported that the Committee was in the process of gathering data points for a couple of different alternatives (Branch, Add Third Floor, Other Delivery methods) for future growth. Chris Colby added that we want to be able to defend why we are pushing one option over the other. Audrey added that the options are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The Committee is investigating a pilot program for the outreach delivery option.
Tom Sherman added that the convenience of the new highway is a strong indicator in the argument for continued downtown growth. Audrey added that the survey results indicate that parking is perceived as a big issue. Perception and reality are two different issues. Audrey has forwarded on the comments about parking to Sandy Keith from RDA.
Tom asked if we needed feedback from City government before investigating the different options. Audrey replied that she will first work on updating the data analysis based on the Committee's input and will present the revised findings at the November Board meeting.
Tyler Hoecker asked if we have ever considered moving a library branch in a school. Audrey replied that differing missions and security are two major issues. It has been done in some places but a lot of issues need to be worked out first. One model is sharing space/infrastructure with another City department.
Personnel: Steve McMaster will be calling a meeting to discuss Audrey's Annual Evaluation.
Finance: No report
Young Adult: Tyler Hoecker reported that the Film Contest is coming along. They will be screening the top five films at Chateau Theater on January 8th. Please let Tyler know if you are interested in serving as a judge for the contest.
STRATEGIC UPDATE
CORE VALUES
See Planning Committee Report.
DIRECTOR'S INFORMATION ITEMS
2007 BUDGET
We have received a preliminary figure for the 2007 Budget from Stevan Kvenvold. The recommended figure of $5,530,000 is a 5.33% increase from 2007. We will need to cut about $120,000 from our proposed budget to get to this figure. Both our CIP requests are still in. The County's new fair share is about $900,000. A discussion ensued. The Administrative Team (AT) will meet to tweak the proposed budget. Audrey will e-mail the cuts AT recommends and the rationale behind them to the Finance Committee, who can then decide if a meeting is necessary before the November Board meeting.
DIVERSITY OF STAFF
Audrey briefly went through the worksheet that has RPL's staff breakdown by ethnicity, age and gender. There is a large difference in ethnicity between part-time and full-time staff. Ed Haskell commented that the figures would be more relevant if population breakdown from the County was included. Audrey will update the worksheet with County population figures and bring it back at the next Board meeting.
STATE ACTIVITY UPDATE
Audrey is still working on the state level.
MLA CONFERENCE REPORT
Staff reported about the 2006 MLA Conference. Graham Benoit from Owatonna Public Library was presented the President's Award by Audrey. There were a lot more national speakers this year. 100 more people attended the conference this year. One of the common themes of the conference was the importance of technology in libraries and the need to invest in IT personnel.
QUESTION TIME
Two finalists will be interviewed for the Web Librarian position.
Louise Moe was honored at Rotary on October 12th with an enrollment as a Paul Harris Fellow. Judith and Bill Taylor donated money to Rotary to bestow this honor. Fellowships are presented to people who contribute to the community and live lives of "service above self."
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned.
Deborah Westerland
Secretary
The next regular meeting of the Library Board will be Wednesday, November 16, 2006, at 4.30 p.m. in Meeting Room B.