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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board - Minutes - 02/13/2003Council Liaison: Marty Tharp II Staff Liaison: Brenda Cams (Phone 221-6670) Chairperson: Mary Robertson (Phone: 407-7066) A regular meeting of the Library Board was held on February 13, 2003 in the Ben Delatour Room of the Main Library at 201 Peterson Street. The following Library Board members were present: Bob Burns, Rudy Maes, Donald Oehlerts, Ralph Olson, Melissa Pattison, Mary Robertson, and Joan Scheuerman.. City Staff Members Present: Brenda Cams, Marty Heffernan, Ken Waido, and Marjorie Teklits Friends of the Library Liaison: Sharon Bleicher The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by the Chairperson, Mary Robertson. Rudy Maes moved to approve the minutes of the January 9, 2003 meeting; Bob Burns seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved. Ken Waido, Chief Planner for the City's Advance Planning department, gave a presentation to Library Board members entitled "City Plan 101." He explained that the City Plan was originally adopted in 1977 and revised in 1997. He talked about where the City currently is in the process to build upon and update City Plan and the Transportation Master Plan. Bob Burns asked if the City Plan has been coordinated in any way with a County plan, and Ken said that the City does communicate with the County and that there is an intergovernmental agreement in place which deals with road building standards, boundaries, etc. Library Board members thanked Ken for his interesting and informative presentation. Correspondence Copies of the February 12th memo from John Fischbach to City Advisory Boards and Commissions requesting their input for the City Budget Preparation for fiscal years 2004 and 2005 were distributed. The Board was reminded that their input is due by April 281h Reports/Presentations a. Director — Brenda Carns Brenda shared a draft copy of the Library's updated Policy Manual. Although it is still being revised, it is expected to go through the approval process in the near future. The policies contained in the manual were developed by staff based on past practices. Librarian Becky Sheller will be joining the Adult Services area next month; she has an extensive background in collection development and reference and will be a valuable addition to staff. The Gates Computer Lab at the Main Library will be one of five locations in the city to offer tax assistance to Spanish speakers, lower income residents and senior citizens. By partnering with the American Association of Retired Persons, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites will be located throughout the community and open during different hours each day. The Library's Outreach Coordinator has been working with Hispanic community leaders to find bilingual volunteers and to spread the word of this service to the Hispanic community. Customers love the new, more user-friendly, self checkout machines. They were used for 47% of the check-outs at the Main Library and 43% of the check-outs at Harmony Library just yesterday. Self service holds at Harmony Library have been further enhanced to simply use customer initials for identification. This method not only protects the intellectual freedom aspect but saves paper and staff time in preparing reserved items. The service will eventually be available at the Main Library. As LINC (Library Information Networking a Community) school library sites have not been funded yet for this summer, more involvement with other city departments is planned to fill the void. This includes tours for children in places like the cemetery, fire stations and the Environmental Learning Center. Children's staff will also be working on making a "kit" available to help schools and other interested groups provide their own Summer Reading Programs that can dovetail with the Library's. The goal is to provide encouragement for summer reading to just as many children as past years but in new ways that are still possible despite constraints of budget and staffing. Circulation at the Library increased 6.7% last year, a percentage which is higher than the City's growth rate. b. Friends of the Library - Sharon Bleicher Sharon mentioned that the Friends Board is interested in receiving presentations from key Library staff, similar to those planned for future Library Board meetings. Marge will set up a schedule with the Library Management Team. b. Committee Reports: Centennial Celebration - Melissa Pattison Melissa met with members of the Library's Programming Team about Centennial Celebration plans and is planning to meet with them each month. The celebration will start in mid -May with the launch of the Summer Reading Program and culminate in mid - November. She reported that the Programming Team has excellent ideas, and plans for the program are very exciting. Emerging Library Trends - Bob Burns, JoanScheuerman Bob reported that he and Joan have been reviewing various journals, magazines and indices as well as doing computer research on current developments in library trend's and source materials. They are planning to target the following three areas for their reports -- funding, privacy, and community outreach --and asked for feedback from the Board as to other areas of interest to them. Joan stated that the privacy issue should be a priority. In that regard, Bob and Joan are planning to preview a new video entitled "Safeguarding Our Patron's Privacy; What Every Librarian Needs to Know About the Patriot Act" and report their findings to the Board. Bob said the American Library Association has a tremendous lobby in Washington and he provided a sheet of information on how to contact their offices. The Emerging Trends committee will be scheduled to provide regular reports at Board meetings in March, June, September and December. Public Relations Committee - Ralph Olson, Joan Scheuerman Ralph shared his draft memo to Council Members regarding the results of the Library Board sponsored survey on library use and asked Board members for their comments. He also passed around drafts of the bookmarks which will be given out to customers. Although the project took a little longer than expected, it will be started once again as compatible software is now available; the first four bookmarks will be used as prototypes. Joan submitted her Soapbox article regarding the Board survey to the Coloradoan, but it hasn't been published as yet. She passed around a sign-up sheet for Board members to sign up for future articles. OLD BUSINESS a. Nominating Committee - Joan Scheuerman, Melissa Pattison The committee for the election of Library Board officers nominated Mary Robertson as Chairperson and Ralph Olson and Rudy Maes as Co -Vice -Chairpersons. The Board voted on the nominations which were unanimously approved. b. Larimer County Funding - Marty Heffernan The City Attorney's Office has been exploring County funding for library services and has come up with a workable option that would not affect uniform taxation issues. The County could create a library district in the unincorporated areas and tax themselves, the money to be returned to existing libraries. Frank Lancaster is agreeable to the concept which would require the County to set up a Board of Trustees having authority over the district. One hundred signatures would be required to get this issue on the November ballot. The County has asked the City to take the lead by coordinating with other libraries and creating the ballot language. Melissa Pattison was concerned that existing library funding from the City would be reduced if County funding was approved. Marty said that existing funding for the library would most likely be protected with the exception of a faltering economy situation. He also said that how the revenue from the tax would be shared with other libraries would have to be worked out as well as a lot of other details. The hard part would be to develop an effective campaign to convince County residents to tax themselves. Bob Burns said he would like to see a timeline of events needed to get the issue on the November ballot. Joan Scheuerman asked if there are any other libraries in the state which charge fees for library cards, and Brenda said Boulder is considering it but hasn't started as yet. NEW BUSINESS a. Summer Reading Program Promotion The Poudre School District has decided to not allow the distribution of fliers to students in the schools as has been done in the past. Instead, groups providing summer activities for children junior high school age and below are offered the option of briefly listing their programs in a guide which will be distributed to students in March. Ad space can also be purchased in the guide for $1,000/page. As a result, Summer Reading Program publicity will be shaped very differently this year, and staff will be watching to see what effect this change will have in overall participation. The Library so strongly supports kids reading through the summer, and this decision by the School District is preventing the Library from getting information about the program to families. Joan Scheuerman suggested getting the word out about the Summer Reading Program to Parent Teacher Organizations; they might be able to distribute the information through 4 their newsletters. Brenda said it might help but it would only reach a limited group, and the bottom line is that the avenue used to promote the program for so many years is no longer available. Marty Heffernan said the education component, benefits of the Summer Reading Program to school students, and the closeness in missions of the School District and the Library need to be emphasized. Mary Robertson said that, as a parent, she receives information packets containing a multitude of fliers at home every week, but if the schools could make a non-profit distinction, the packages would be reduced to a more manageable size; it makes sense that the schools emphasize information of benefit to the families they serve. Ralph Olson suggested including information about the program in Utility Bills as another way to get the word out. Marty Heffernan said it seems reasonable to ask the School District to distinguish between distributing information for non -profits and those promoting education over for - profit organizations. Mary said to let her know if the Library Board can help in any way. b. Possible Expansion Partnership - Marty Heffernan Brenda and Marty recently met with the Poudre Valley Health System (PVHS) to explore the concept of a library partnership. I seems they own land on the Harmony Campus site which they are interested in developing in phases, and the medical community would like to see a library/wellness center where people can learn about their illnesses and learn about their health. Such a concept would be ideal for the HealthAware collection which is currently housed at the Main Library. The city would be interested in a 10,000 s.f. space with a future expansion capability which would satisfy the Library's goal of a 20,000 s.f. southeast branch. Because it is not an existing building, we would have the ability to design it specifically with future expansion in mind. Impact fee funds would be available to help, however, operation and maintenance funds are not presently available. Self -checkout machines would require less staff to operate the facility. There would be the capability of sharing meeting rooms at the facility. Since PVHS owns the land, there wouldn't be a need to purchase land. The meeting with PVHS was conceptual in nature, and Marty will keep the Board informed of any future developments. The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ,a y 7, Marjorie Teklits Administrative Secretary