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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 09 19 2019 LABMinutes 09 19 2019 LAB Page 1 Library Advisory Board September 19, 2019 Assembly: The Library Advisory Board met in Regular Session on Thursday, September 19, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. at Main Library in Wilmington, NC. Board Members Brewington, Jan PRESENT Chadurjian, Denise EXCUSED Conlon, Dennis PRESENT Damutz, Amy EXCUSED Dodd, Scott PRESENT Guenther, Joy PRESENT Miles, Linda PRESENT Montwieler, Katherine PRESENT Shore, Sam PRESENT Smith, Ida PRESENT Smith, Paul PRESENT Zimmer, Ronna PRESENT Staff Members & Board Reps. Tom Brimberry (FOL Rep), Paige Owens (Library Director), Yvette Mays (Admin) Sam Shore convened the meeting at 2:00 p.m. Welcome Sam Shore welcomed the board and introduced 2 new members, Joy Guenther & Linda Miles Public Comment None Agenda Review Agenda was approved by consent. Approval of previous minutes The minutes from the past board meetings on 6/20/19 & 8/15/19 were sent to the board prior to the meeting for review. Motion: Dennis Conlon MOVED, SECONDED by Ronna Zimmer, to accept the minutes of the 6/20/19 & 8/15/19 meetings as written. Upon vote, the MOTION WAS CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Correspondence Paige Owens stated that the library did receive emails, Ask NHCPL online messages, and a hand- delivered letter from patrons regarding the closing of all libraries for Hurricane Dorian. Patrons were displeased that the sites closed prior to and not directly after the storm. Replies were sent back to all explaining that all county offices were closed and moved into full emergency operations. Staff are required to work 12hrs shifts in various duties. After the storm (Saturday & Sunday) employees are not allowed back into any county buildings until they have been cleared by Property Management. County Commissioner Kusek send a letter to Paige Owens stating that she had recently attended a meeting at the Pine Valley Library. After her meeting she walked thru the library and stated how wonderful it was to see so many people using the library in various ways. Minutes 09 19 2019 LAB Page 2 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. Response has been great with 24 participants and 10 on a waiting list. Plans for a 2nd walk are underway.  Book Sales: Fall book sale to begin September 20th at the Northeast Library. Friends preview is Friday from 5:30-9:00. General public on Saturday and Sunday next 2 weekends.  LEAD Awards: Annual program to award grants to librarians who submit funding requests for Leadership, Experimentation, Advocacy, Development. Budgeted $5,000 for projects submitted by librarians, such as supporting genealogy, literacy, computing, biking, continuing education, etc.  Article in upcoming NC Friends of Libraries newsletter and displays during national FOL week in October at Pine Valley and Northeast branches. Foundation Board Report Ronna Zimmer presented the following report:  The Fall luncheon will be held at Pine Valley Library on Thursday, October 24th, 11:30 – 1:00. The speaker will be Beverly Tetterton.  The board will be redirecting their fundraising focus to support children’s programming.  Please mark your calendars to save the date. Email invitations will be coming out. RSVP to Yvette Mays. 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: State Library News  We successfully submitted the annual Public Library Survey and application for state aid. The state’s public library funding is distributed by formula to qualifying libraries across the state. We received $196,000 last year.  I will be attending the new library directors workshop October 2-3 at the state library in Raleigh. Pine Valley Update  The HVAC contractor continues to adjust the airflow and settings to provide a comfortable environment in the children’s programming room, The Nest.  Reading area behind The Hub is being enhanced for use by older and low vision patrons. The executor of a trust is donating funds for this purpose. Funds will also be available for similar improvements at our other locations. Staffing Updates  Seven of nine casual part-time employees who started over the summer have completed training. Two had to move on due to changes in outside employment  A search continues for a children’s associate at the Northeast Library. This has been a challenging position to fill because of the special skills required.  I have met with Human Resources Chief Mark Francolini to discuss a four-part reorganization plan for library staff related to the loss of the assistant director position. County administration and Human Resources are working hard to achieve this. I hope to have their go-ahead in the next few weeks. Minutes 09 19 2019 LAB Page 3  I have met with our new Assistant County Manager, Tufanna Bradley-Thomas. The focus of her career has been community engagement. Her mother, Lynette Bradley, worked for the library in the 1990s. Tufanna is a great fit for the community-oriented county departments. Technology Updates  This month marks the ten-year anniversary of the switch to our current Integrated Library System (ILS), a product called TLC by The Library Corporation. In October, we will be changing from the county hosting the content to TLC hosting our database. This should make service and updates faster and easier.  Once we’re hosted by TLC, we will be upgrading their most recent version. This upgrade is a long overdue upgrade that will enable staff users throughout the library system to correct minor cataloging errors rather than referring them all to Margaret Miles in Tech Services.  Our CIO (Chief Information Officer) and several IT staff joined us for a meeting with the president of MDS (Marketing Data Solutions). MDS owns the Pharos software that controls time management and printing on our public access computers. Our current public printing options are complex and limited. We are hopeful that IT will be able to streamline some of the functions with an upgrade to our current Pharos system. New Business Board Rep needed to attend Foundation meetings. New member Linda Mills has graciously agreed to be the new representative. Old Business New Board Officers Nomination Sam Shore stated that following board members have expressed interest in the following positions: Chair – Denise Chadurjian Vice Chair – Jan Brewington Secretary – Amy Damutz With no other nominations were made. Motion: Dennis Conlon MOVED, SECONDED by Scott Dodd, to accept the nominated slate of officers. Upon vote, the MOTION WAS CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Closing Comments The board thanked Chair Sam Shore for leadership as Chair to the Board. Adjournment Meeting adjourned 2:40 p.m. Please note that the above minutes are not a verbatim record of the Library Advisory Board meeting.