HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board - Minutes - 11/13/2003LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING - NOVEMBER 13, 2003
Council Liaison: Marty Tharp Acting Staff Liaison: Brenda Cams
(Phone 221-6670)
Chairperson: Mary Robertson -11
(Phone: 407-7066)
A regular meeting of the Library Board was held on November 13, 2003 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, Melissa Pattison, Mary Robertson, and Joan
Scheuerman.
Library Board Member Absent: Ralph Olson
City Staff Members Present: Brenda Cams, Linda Williams, and Marjorie Teklits
Friends of the Library Liaison: Lillys Price
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 October 9, 2003 meeting; Don Oehlerts seconded the
motion, and it was unanimously approved.
Correspondence:
There was no correspondence to be read at tonight's meeting.
Reports/Presentations:
a. Director - Brenda Cams
The Day of the Dead celebration on October 31 and November 1 was a huge success with
approximately 800 attending the event. It is hoped that funding will allow continuation
of the program next year.
Channel 27 has been airing a panel discussion hosted by the League of Women Voters
about the Patriot Act. Catherine Murry -Rust (Dean of CSU Libraries), and an attorney
from the ACLU were among the panel members.
The Library received a $12,000 grant from a private foundation for children's and teen
educational materials; the application was prepared by Marian Sawyer and Rebecca
Sheller, two Collection Development Librarians.
Brenda thanked the Board for their support with 2004/05 budget issues.
b. Friends of the Library - Lil Price
Librarian Becky Sheller gave a book talk at the Friends of the Library meeting this past
week which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. At the meeting, the Friends received the
Library's prioritized funding requests for next year and they will review it for
consideration at their January meeting.
C. Staff Presentation: Technical Services - Linda Williams, Lead Librarian
Technical Services, also known as the backroom of the library, has been located in leased
office space on Mountain and Remington for the last five years because of overcrowded
conditions at the Main Library. The rented office space provides more room than was
available at the Main Library, however, staff are isolated to some extent and need to
frequently walk back and forth when needed at the Main Library.
Staffing consists of 3.5 full -time -equivalent employees, 2 half-time hourly employees and
approximately 24 hours per week of volunteer assistance. After a Collection
Development team makes selections, Technical Services staff place orders, receive
materials and enter records in the online catalog. They also check -in periodicals and
papers, issue by issue, create item records and prepare materials for circulation. This
includes adhering spine labels, property stamping, security strips and sometimes
laminating materials with plastic to extend their useful life.
Over 21,000 bibliographic items were added to the collection this year, and this equates
to about 2,000 records (2,500 to 3,000 items) each month. Technical Services is
dependent on the twice -daily courier service between the Main and Harmony Libraries to
bring them items in need of repair and to return newly processed items to the two
libraries.
Ongoing projects include upgrading of substandard records in the catalog and relabeling
parts of the collection with labels that provide more information.
Melissa Pattison asked what would improve if Tech Services were located at the Main
Library. Linda said staff would feel more connected to the library and its customers.
Also, it would be easier to work on the collection if they were in the same building
whereas now reserves have to be placed on items and then the items have to be sent back.
If they were located on site, this work could be completed in one day rather than waiting
for the courier's 24 hour turnaround. When Tech Services was located at the Main
Library, some staff were utilized on the public service desks when needed, but this is not
an option any more. Another improvement would be computer response time; since Tech
Services is totally computer dependent and lines between the two facilities are not the
best, response time on OWL (Online Web Library) is slower.
Bob Bums asked how many square feet Technical Services occupies at the Remington
location. Brenda said the main floor has approximately 2,200 square feet consisting of a
staff work area, volunteer work area, two offices, a supply room and lunch room.
Linda completed her presentation by inviting Board members to visit Technical Services
for a first hand look at this behind -the -scenes department.
d. Emerging Trends - Bob Burns
Bob shared an article from the October 28 edition of the Wall Street Journal, 'Patriot Act
Riles An Unlikely Group: Nation's Librarians." He said the Patriot Act, Section 215 in
particular, is very much in public concern, and librarians across the nation are taking a
real role in defending the right of free speech. He added that it is good most libraries
across the country, including the Fort Collins Public Library, are doing all the right things
as far as deleting records as soon as library materials are returned.
e. Public Relations - Joan Scheuerman
Although a formal report was not given, Melissa thought she might pursue a Soapbox
article on library censorship. Rudy suggested an article on the vacant Bilingual Library
Assistant position, and they will plan to discuss it further.
Brenda has asked staff to update statistical information contained in the draft newsletter
originated by the Board for Council, perhaps the Library Trust, as well as other interested
parties. Mary said the Library Trust is looking at ways to increase their fundraising
activities and to increase awareness of funding issues. The Trust created a brochure to
use as a handout, and she suggested having them available at the Library and other sites
to help generate more community interest about fundraising events which may be
planned.
a. City Plan - Mary Robertson
Mary participated in a Council -appointed Citizen Advisory Committee to review and
make suggestions of new ideas for an update to City Plan. She distributed copies of a
draft of Appendix D and reviewed the items with the Board which deal with the City's
Future Size and Character; specifically: The Region and the Economy, Open Space and
Community Separators, Transportation, Development/Redevelopment Patterns, and
Neighborhoods and Housing. Mary said the document contains a lot of issues, some of
which could affect library services, and is a challenge to the community. She asked
Board members to send her email with their feedback on the document.
b. Work Plan - Mary Robertson
Mary asked for ideas of what the Board wants to accomplish in the next year. Some
suggestions were:
to continue to work on expanded funding for library services;
to continue the Board's position in support of a New Main Library;
to explore options to provide key library services in underserved parts of the City;
to encourage the City to look for additional partnerships to underwrite costs of
extending quality library services in the southeast;
Melissa said she is interested in exploring ways to investigate and support staff with grant
opportunities. Joan would like to explore funding issues for library systems across the
country and philosophies for expansion.
C. December Meeting - Board Members
After briefly discussing plans and schedules for December, it was decided not to meet
next month. Joan Scheuerman moved to cancel the December 1 lch meeting; Don
Oehlerts seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mat]one Teklits
Administrative Secretary