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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 08 15 2019 LABMinutes 08 15 2019 LAB Page 1 Library Advisory Board August 15, 2019 Assembly: The Library Advisory Board met in Regular Session on Thursday, August 15, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. at Main Library in Wilmington, NC. Board Members Brewington, Jan EXCUSED Chadurjian, Denise EXCUSED Conlon, Dennis EXCUSED Damutz, Amy PRESENT Dodd, Scott ABSENT Montwieler, Katherine PRESENT Shore, Sam PRESENT Smith, Harriet EXCUSED Smith, Ida PRESENT Smith, Paul EXCUSED Walker, Bradford ABSENT Zimmer, Ronna PRESENT Staff Members & Board Reps. Tom Brimberry (FOL Rep), Paige Owens (Library Director) Sam Shore convened the meeting at 2:07 p.m. No Quorum Public Comment None Agenda Review Agenda was approved by consent. Approval of previous minutes The minutes from the last board meeting on June 20, 2019 were sent to the board prior to the meeting for review. No Quorum to vote on the 6/20/19 minutes. Will carry over to next meeting. Correspondence Paige Owens distributed the following:  Email from Cameron Art Museum thanking the Local History room staff for their research.  Email from McDowell County Library’s Director thanking the Pleasure Island staff.  Email from staff referring to a patron’s call in to thank the library for the services we offer and helping her mother with Aloha program.  Ms. Kelemen’s email & call regarding Library hours. She thought Pine Valley library hours had been reduced. It was explained to her that our hours are the same. Friends of the Library Report Report presented by Tom Brimberry.  Historic Downtown Walking Tour: A Walk thru time from the current downtown library to City Hall/Thalian Hall, Light Infantry building, St. John’s Masonic Lodge, and the Burgwin Wright house. Monday, September 23rd at 9:30. Invitations will be coming out soon. Price is $20.00 and includes lunch. Minutes 08 15 2019 LAB Page 2  StoryWalk: Major effort to re-establish children’s story walks at Downtown Story Park, Hugh McCrae Park playground, NHC Arboretum, Smith Creek Park and Lake Park in Pleasure Island/Carolina Beach. Margaret Miles with Paige’s staff has researched structures and recommends new color storyboard materials and framing. The Library Foundation paid for replacement posts and offers financial encouragement for expanded StoryWalks. FOL President, Barbara Honchell, leading the incorporation of two new stories into walks so a variety of stories are switched out and rotated. Volunteer teams will clean and change out stories. Additional locations for StoryWalks are a future possibility.  Rotary Partnership: 109 Williston middle school students were recognized with Rotary Club lunch, presentation and book sacks in prior school year. Partnership renewed and beginning with new school year.  Book Sales: Books carts at Northeast and Pleasure Island provided ongoing opportunities for patrons to donate and/or make a donation for books. $126,325 raised over past year in Fall 2018/Spring 2019/Summer Beach Reads book sales. Semi-annual NHC Fall book sale set to begin September 20th for FOL members.  LEAD Grants: Annual program to award grants to librarians who submit funding requests for Leadership, Experimentation, Advocacy, Development is slated to receive statewide recognition in NC Library publication. Foundation Board Report Ronna Zimmer presented the following report:  The board will be redirecting their fundraising focus to support children’s programming.  The Fall luncheon will be held at Pine Valley Library on Thursday, October 24th, 11:30 – 1:00. The speaker will be Beverly Tetterton. Director’s Report Paige Owens submitted the Director’s report to the board prior to the meeting. In addition to the report she reported the following: NHC News  The County, in collaboration with New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC), will be considering a resolution to explore new ownership opportunities for NHRMC at its September 3 meeting.  The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the resolution to explore redevelopment of the Government Center at the August 12 meeting. The county will send out a Request for Qualifications in the coming weeks to start the process. Project Grace Update  Paige has spoken with Jennifer Rigby about the project. At this time, it is being re-imagined. Cape Fear Museum may become an affiliate of the State and is undergoing a study at this time. Pine Valley Update  We have received many comment cards from the public. Cards from opening thru June were reviewed. The most frequent issue reported is materials on bottom shelves are hard to reach. The second issue was children’s program room was having HAVC problems. While this was under repair, programing was moved to the riser space in the children’s area. The parents loved this space and did not want to see story time moved back into the program room.  We are still working on placing final furnishings and completing punch list items. Minutes 08 15 2019 LAB Page 3 Staffing Updates  Major Summer Absences: Patricia Dew is on Army training deployment. Jimi Rider in Thailand.  Losses: Grant H., YA Associate moved to Atlanta. Shannon V. left for a new position at the Randall Library. (Search for new Children’s Associates yielded 104 applications.)  More Job Openings: Posting for 2 Circulation Assistants to replace one staff member who left and one who is retiring.  Nine new casual part-time employees have been hire and are/will be going thru training.  The County Manager’s office has named Tim Burgess the Deputy County Manager. His role will be filled by Tufanna Bradley-Thomas, NHC Community Affairs Coordinator, will be our newest Assistant County Manager beginning August 27. Tufanna will be responsible for the Library, as well as for Parks, Arboretum, Museum, Soil & Water, and Elections.  We are looking at restructuring within the library offices. There will be no Library Assistant Director position. Makerspace  Makerspaces are hands on learning spaces for kids and adults. 3Dprinters, robotics, jewelry making, sewing/knitting, painting, etc.  Leigh Thomas, NE Branch Manager, received an LSTA grant for 30,000 to allow her to revamp the story time room in the NE Children’s room into a Makerspace.  She will host a drop-in opening on August 22nd from 2-4pm to show off the new space and allow children to play with the new equipment. NCPLDA Paige Owens is now a member of the NC Public Library Director’s Association. She recently attended her first meeting in Lake Lure, NC. Updates from that meeting are as follows:  2020 Census will begin on April 1st. There is a big push for all libraries to help get the word out and assist the public. There will be no promotional funds to get the word out. All households will receive a postcard mailing with an online link. No paper forms. Paige will be speaking with the NHC Planning & Strategy Dept. to make plans for informing and assisting NHC residents.  Paige distributed a sampling of NC public library stats. The library is currently compiling FY 2019 stats for the state.  NC Budget. The state does not have a budget right now and will be using the same budget as last year. NCPLDA sponsors a lobbyist that is paid for by all NC Friends organizations. New Business Meeting Room Policy / Sales Under General Conditions of Use Not Allowed. We have added Sales. It now reads: Fundraising, Donations and Sales (except Friends of the Library, Library Foundation, Cape Fear Museum Associates, Airlie Foundation, Friends of the Arboretum, and/or Parks Conservancy Board) is not allowed in County meeting rooms. Minutes 08 15 2019 LAB Page 4 Nominating Process for New Officers Sam Shore stated that the board will be electing new officers for next year. Please let him know if you are interested in holding an office prior to the next meeting.  Ronna Zimmer and Katherine Montwieler have elected to stay with the board for a 2nd Term.  Brad Walker and Harriet Smith have both completed their 2nd Terms.  We will have 2 new board members at the next meeting. Old Business None. Adjournment Meeting adjourned 3:07 p.m. Please note that the above minutes are not a verbatim record of the Library Advisory Board meeting.