Library Board

April 16, 2012 Board Member Schmiechel called the meeting to order at 10:13 a.m. in the library board room with the following members present: Courtney Fedde, Connie Schmeichel, Sheila Sookram and Jenice Wolfe. Also present was Director Janet Davenport. Members absent: Larry Jirsak. The meeting was preceded by publicized notice in the Fremont Tribune and Radio KHUB and the agenda displayed in the municipal building, the Keene Memorial Library, Fremont Police Station and the Dodge County Courthouse and distributed and emailed to the Library Board members on April 10, 2012 and is open to the public. A copy of the open meeting law is posted continually for public inspection and is located near the entrance to the Board Room. Moved by Board Member Wolfe and seconded by Board Member Fedde to approve the legality of the meeting. Carried. Board Member Fedde moved to approve the minutes for both regular meetings on February 20 and March 19, 2012. Board Member Wolfe seconded the motion. Carried. Unfinished Business – Board Member Wolfe brought up the topic of learn to read programs for adults. There have been calls for this and it was discussed at previous board meetings and she would like it brought back to the Board for discussion. Ms. Wolfe would be interested in volunteering in such a program, but a coordinator would have to be established. Ms. Davenport indicated she would review the topic and provide information at the May board meeting New Business – Review of Library Fines and Fees and Unique Management Service: In response to a question raised by a Board Member reviewing the statistical report at the March meeting, Ms. Davenport provided an overview of the fees collected in 2010-2011 totaling $32,724, The current numbers of items overdue or lost, 1,412, and the Value of the overdue and lost items, $42,752. Use of the library specific collection service Unique Management was also summarized. Summer Reading Club Plans: The Summer Reading Program flyer was distributed to the Board to review. Director’s Report: Numerous activities have been underway at the Keene Memorial Library in the past 4 weeks. Public Library Association Conference: I attended the Public Library Association conference in Philadelphia March 13 – 17. Since our previous meeting was my first day back at Keene, I had not prepared a formal report my observations. My various activities and knowledge gained were as follows: Make your Library a Community Leader: Community Building through Civic Dialogue was a day and half program. Libraries are becoming involved in the civic reflection movement as a tool to make their communities aware of libraries and to come into and be involved in their libraries as well as providing a forum for community discussion and growth. The workshop provided a background in the civic reflection concept as well as training and hands on practice in the facilitation of discussion activities.  A panel on Social Media and your Marketing Strategy presented several perspectives on using the new interactive web services to communicate to library customers. Creative Funding: How to Afford the Services Your Community Wants looked at ways to build unique funding sources and justify library needs in the current tight economic environment. Saying Yes to the Community presented the Durham Count (NC) Library’s strategic planning activity in a community based planning process. Dancing with Elephants was a panel presentation that discussed how three libraries continued to provide services while faced with significant budget costs. The Elusive Non User looked at how to identify non users and solicit information from them regarding their potential interest in library use. Fundraising: The Shape of Things to Come presented information on grant s and funding sources from the Director of the ALA Development office and included a group discussion on fundraising issues. The exhibits area provided access to information on a wide array of products available to the library community. My specific interests were social media products, innovate youth furnishings and database information which could be of use to the library. General Report: Laura England–Biggs represented Keene Memorial Library at the May Museum for two days of school tours to introduce the young people to the history of the library as well as introducing some current information for them to be aware of. Kelly Olson, Library Assistant III attended the Computers in Libraries Conference in Washington D C, March 21-23. He returned with new ideas and information on new products which can be used to improve the Keene Library use of computer technology. After receiving over 60 applications and interviewing 10 candidates for a part time library aide position a selection was made. Tracy Parr began at the library on Monday April 9. She will work with check in/checkout and shelve materials as well as assisting with adult services area programs. The library is now at our full staff allocation after going for many months with one or more position vacant. The second “Rotary Reads” event was a success with many children in attendance. A surprise reader was the Cat in the Hat who came and red his story to the excited audience. The Cat was a great guest and bore a striking resemblance to Charlie Diers. A Central Community College student, Connie Agadorf spent an hour with me discussing library collection development as a part of her class work. Sarah Parker, a Fremont High School senior, is doing a school to career job shadowing activity. She has been shadowing various members of the staff as she learns about the various duties and activities in the library. She hopes to pursue a library education and career in the future. I attended the United Way Community Service Array event on Friday March 30. This activity worked to identify and prioritize community services and responses that support members of the community and address needs of underprivileged and challenged individuals. The emphasis is on early childhood development and youth. Turning the Page 2.0 is an online workshop presented by PLA to train library leaders and staff in advocacy issues. I am participating in this six week program. I also attended the Fremont Area community Foundation’s Strong Nonprofits Program on Effective Leadership. It a well spent day as the program focused on the roles of boards and directors and the importance of having a strategic plan to define the organizations goals and work. This provided much for me to think about the Keene Library will soon be going into a strategic planning process.  Laura England-Biggs and I have met with representatives of Baker and Taylor and worked by phone with Brodart and OCLC. We believe the outsourced cataloging issues have now been resolved. Test orders are in process and we are awaiting the results. The library’s wireless equipment has been upgraded to a professional grade system. The new system should allow better connectivity and has software capabilities to manage they system. Funding for the upgrade came from the Friends of Keene Memorial Library, A Trust (a separate entity from the Friends of the Library group) and the library budget for software we no longer wish to acquire. I worked with the Friends of the Keene Memorial Library to complete the Keno Matching Funds Grant request due on April 1. We are waiting to hear the outcome of this grant process. Funds the landscape renovation and for children’s area furnishings were requested. Keene Memorial Library celebrated “National Library Week” the week of April 8-14. A “Cookie Kickoff” event on Monday April 9 featured cookies for visitors, face painting and balloons for visitors and the first of daily afterschool story times for the week. First Lady Sally Ganem was our guest reader and entertained the group with reading stories and talking about life in the Governor’s Mansion. Readers for the remainder of the week included Kevin Eairleywine, City Council Member and Fremont Public Schools administrator, John Schmitz, Fremont Parks and Recreation Director, Jeff Hoffmann, President of the Friends of the Keene Memorial Library and Director of the John C. Fremont Days. Other activities were a library/movie trivia contest daily on the library’s blog, create your own book mark contest and Music in the Library on Saturday with an Elvis impersonator and small orchestra groups from the Fremont Schools. Numerous local businesses provided resources and prizes for this event. What Lies Ahead The budget process should begin in late April or May. The city IT department has already sought input on our technology needs for the next fiscal year, 2012-2013, and the new Planning Director is beginning work on a capital budgeting process. The garage door will be replaced and an automatic opener added. The current door is heavy, manually raised and has fraying wires. It is a safety concern budgeted for in this current year’s budget. RFP’s have been sent and an architectural firm will be hired to draw up plans and manage our roof replacement project, also a current budget year expense. City IT is working on bringing fiber connectivity into the library. This should improve our network speeds substantially. A site visit was made last week and a 3-4 week out installation was discussed. Strategic Planning lies ahead in our near future. The Friends of the Keene Memorial Library, A Trust, will provide funding for a consultant to work through this process which should include a wide group of participants representing the community, the Board, The Friends of the Library, City Administration and Library Staff. Following is the report of the Library Director for March, 2012: March March Year to Date Year to Date 2012 2011 2011-12 2010-11 No. of items issued: 11,544 13,921 71,661 77,880 Attendance: 9,968 11,095 57,522 60,712 Days Open: 31 31 Av. Daily Circulation: 372 449 Av. Daily Attendance: 322 358 Reference Questions: 583 373 3,032 2,286 Magazine Articles Accessed: 55 21 Database Searches: 433 425 2,255 2,699 Overdrive (downloadable bks) 332 134 1,737 1,181 Interlibrary Loans: 125 120 645 648 Borrowed 12 9 50 84 Lent 113 111 595 564 Meeting Held: 81 107 479 421 Internet/Computer Use: 2,316 2,833 15,136 15,531 Items Added: 228 Items Discarded: 48 Vol. in Collection: 94,277 Friends of the Library’s Report – No report With no further business, Board Member Fedde made a motion to adjourn at 10:53 a.m. Board Member Wolfe seconded. Carried (Signed) by Janet Davenport, Library Director