HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board - Minutes - 06/10/2004LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING - JUNE 10, 2004
6:00 P.M. 11
Council Liaison: Marty Tharp Staff Liaison: Brenda Carps
(Phone 221-6670)
Chairperson: Ralph Olson
A regular meeting of the Library Board was held on June 10, 2004 in the Ben Delatour Room of
the Main Library at 201 Peterson Street. The following Library Board members were present:
Bob Bums, Rudy Maes, Don Oehlerts, Ralph Olson, Melissa Pattison and Joan Scheuerman.
Library Board Members Absent:
City Staff Members Present:
Guest
Mary Robertson
Brenda Cams and Marjorie Teklits
Jean Blalock, League of Women Voters
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Chairperson Ralph Olson. Joan Scheuerman
moved to approve the minutes of the May 13, 2004 meeting; Don Oehlerts seconded the motion,
and it was unanimously approved.
Corresaondenee:
A collection of thank you letters from a second grade class at Lopez Elementary School were
shared with the Board. The conference room at the Library was made available to them during a
field trip on a stormy day in May so they could have their lunches in a dry, warm place instead of
outdoors. Joan will try to use a few of the letters in the Board's next quarterly newsletter.
The second issue of the Board's quarterly newsletter has been distributed to Council members
and extra copies made available for the public in both libraries.
Copies of the June 5 h "Thumbs Down" submission to The Coloradoan regarding a customer's
displeasure about the city using late fines paid to the library as general funds were included in
the packet. As Board members agreed with the customer, Ralph Olson moved that the Library
Board should write a letter proposing late fees be returned to the library; Rudy Maes seconded
the motion and it was unanimously approved.
Reports/Presentations:
a. Director - Brenda Cams
Regarding the book budget, Brenda clarified that after reviewing monies spent for the
first six months of the year, $100,000 has been reallocated for the purchase of books and
materials, so even though the overall budget has decreased in recent years, the outlook is
not as bad as first estimated. Only $15,000 will be left for emergencies, and there will
not be any money available to update the appearance of the library. Brenda said staff has
appreciated the Board's responsiveness to advocating for an increased materials budget.
Parts of Harmony Library were remodeled to address noise and safety issues. Shelving
was moved, media moved into the Children's area, the play area moved, and isles
arranged in such a way as to reduce running.
Copies of part of Boulder Library's Master Plan dealing with funding issues were shared.
Although some of the information is dated and deals with their point of view, Don
wanted to share it as it is similar to issues the Fort Collins Public Library is working with,
and it appears that others are also having difficulties finding a successful solution.
Next week, City Council members are planning to discuss the potentials a Lifestyle
center on Ziegler and Harmony Roads might offer; this could include space for a library
branch.
City staff are trying to ascertain what the Hospital System is offering, expected costs, and
other specifics regarding a library branch in partnership with them.
Brenda prepared a matrix on the various library funding options and how they relate to
each other for a follow-up Library Taskforce meeting. Participants will be asked to bring
details about their capital needs and budgets to a meeting tentatively scheduled for July
12`".
The Summer Reading Programs (SRP) have had a good start. 700 teens have registered
online and approximately 2,000 children have signed up, exceeding the numbers to -date
last year. Sending fliers home with kids through the school has helped promote the
programs a great deal. Brenda encouraged Board members to sign up for the Adult SRP.
Melissa asked how the programs are funded this year; Brenda said funds are provided by
the Friends of the Library, however, Readers to the Rescue traditionally has been
supported by other donors.
b. Friends of the Library
As Lil Price was not in attendance, her report will be postponed to a future meeting.
C. Public Relations - Joan Scheuerman
Joan submitted a Soapbox article to The Coloradoan about interesting library facts; she
also invited people to call Wayne if they have an extra $10 they would like to donate to
the Trust for the Library. She is also gathering information about possible grants and
information for the next quarterly newsletter from the Board (Example: What does it cost
a day to run the library?)
Ralph said the Editor of The Coloradoan has invited Board members to join their
Editorial Board meeting next Wednesday, June 161h. Their Board will form an editorial
opinion for the newspaper based on the Library Board's views. Library Board members
suggested potential topics: a southeast branch; the vision for the next ten years including
a downtown main library; the technology budget; the bilingual outreach position; how
they see the library's need to expand to the north as the population grows; the average age
of library materials; the library is the most heavily used facility; and why we see
ourselves as an essential community service. Ralph suggested providing The
Coloradoan's Editorial Board with copies of the first two newsletters produced by the
Library Board as they contain statistics and information that may be of interest to them.
Bob asked, what is the top priority? Ralph said to get more funding for the library.
Regarding the outreach position, Ralph said the library is a heavily used resource which
needs to address special needs. Bob asked how many Spanish-speaking staff are
available, and Brenda said that, although some staff members recently completed basic
Spanish-speaking classes, we dons have enough to fully staff the desks to accommodate
Spanish-speaking customers. There was 1.75 FfE positions before the budget reductions
and now there is only a .75 position. Bob asked if the library has a storytime in Spanish
and Brenda said the .75 position does it at the library as well as elsewhere in the
community.
Bob said we are here (in Fort Collins) because of the quality of life and the library is the
very essence of that quality of life; this is the message to get across to The Coloradoan's
Editorial Board.
(Note: Due to a scheduling conflict, the meeting with Editorial Board at The Coloradoan
on June 160' will be postponed to a later date.)
d. Library Trust -
As Wayne Givens was unable to attend tonight's meeting, his report will be postponed to
a future meeting. Brenda did mention that the Trust is just finishing up a mass mailing
soliciting donations to over 4,000 residents in Fort Collins.
e. Emerging Trends - Bob Burns
The Association for Library Trustees and Advocacy (ALTA) division within the
American Library Association (ALA) is working with the ALA's Public Information and
Washington offices to build a national network of advocates to speak out for America's
libraries. A recent development in this effort is the proposed ALA/ALTA Public
Advocate Membership, designed to support ALA's advocacy mission and to serve as
local -level advocates. Public advocate members would have access to new resources for
use at the local level including a quarterly e-news-letter, databases of best practices and
key messages and an online toolkit of materials --all designed to give everyday citizens
who support libraries the opportunity to get information about and become involved in
Other:
their community's library issues. For updates on this proposed new membership, visit
www.ala.org/alta. In addition, ALTA has a large educational effort at the annual meeting
the end of this month in Orlando, Florida (June 24-29). Bob has a list of conference and
pre -conference events if anyone would like to see it.
ALA has launched a library funding website to show state -by -state budget -cuts
searchable by type of library, name or city. It also includes links to library funding
coverage in American Libraries with a "tell your story" component of the website telling
how funding issues have impacted communities with stories to share with legislators,
decision -makers and the media. The site is www.a1a.or0ihraryfundjng/.
A proposed Intelligence Authorization Bill for fiscal 2005 would make it a crime to
disclose requests for information. It would allow the FBI to enforce a national security
letter, an attempt to make the security net even tighter.
Reviews of the new Seattle Public Library which opened last month, appears in the May
28th Christian Science Monitor and the May 161h New York Times. Supporters persisted
with their vision and raised over $80 million. The facility is 100,000 s.f. larger than the
building it replaced and occupies a full city block. It is truly a staff designed library with
WI-Fi hot spots to connect laptops to the Internet, acoustic sound domes allowing music
to be played loud without disturbing others, and microchips in each library item which
allow computers to sort and transport them to their locations. Copies of the articles will
be made for Board members.
Don said he researched citizen control over public libraries, and this system has been
around over 100 years. Most libraries operate the same way, with an appointed Board.
The original idea was a corporate structure (Carnegie).
Guest Jean Blaylock said she was impressed with how Board members are on top of the
issues.
Bob Burns moved to adjourn the meeting; Don Oehlerts seconded the motion, and it was
unanimously approved.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Marjor
ie Teklits
Administrative Secretary