Minutes 021909
Library Advisory Board February 19, 2009 Members Present: Bettie Harrison, Mary Hatcher, Tami Hinshaw, Eleanore Lipscomb-Warren, Marilyn McConnell, Jacqueline O’Grady, Paul Walker Staff
Members: Harry Tuchmayer Asst. County Mgr.: absent Friends of the Lib: absent Absent Members: Richard Andrews, Kemp Burdette, Conrad Luhmann, Frank Oddo, Gwen Rohler Meeting began at
2:30 PM Public Comment & Agenda review: No public comments this month. The February Agenda was approved. MINUTES: January 2009 Library Advisory Board Minutes were approved. CORRESPONDENCE:
The County Manager’s office received a complaint about the Library’s paperback gift books. The gentleman who sent in the complaint is blind and he was told that the Library was giving
away valuable books. This however is not the case. The Library does have a paperback exchange program which is basically “give one, take one, share one”. These books are all paperbacks
that are donated to the Library. Harry Tuchmayer did send a letter to the County Manager’s office so that they could follow up with the person who sent in the complaint to explain to
him how this program actually works. The Star News has continued to run several articles concerning Libraries. Various articles have featured the economic situation and how Libraries
can assist the public through job searches and internet access. The Star News is also hosting a Blog in which the Local History room was featured in one of the sessions. FRIENDS REPORT:
Rita Lewis has just been appointed as President of the Friends of the Library following Janet Milligan’s resignation. Unfortunately, Rita was unable to attend this meeting due to other
obligations, but she did send in her report through Harry Tuchmayer. Mr. Tuchmayer shared that the Friends are working on the following projects:
Membership is the focus for this year. The Booksale Committee just held a meeting and is actively working on the Spring Booksale which will be held April 24-30th. They will be accepting
credit cards at the sale this year and this process will also allow them to accept additional donated funds. The Friend will be manning a table at the mall for “Read Across America”
where they will be selling children’s books. NEW BUSINESS LIBRARY DAY February 25th is Library Day in Raleigh. This is an opportunity for the Director and Board to meet with our local
legislature to lobby for funding. We will meet at the Government Center at 7AM that morning to drive to Raleigh and will head back around 2:30PM. Talking Points will be provided on subjects
such as State Aid & Stimulus Packages. Those planning to make the trip are: Harry Tuchmayer, Tammy Baggett, Jacqueline O’Grady, Mary Hatcher, and Eleanore Lipscomb-Warren. We will make
appointments to meet with Carolyn Justice, Sandra Spaulding Hughes, Daniel McComas and Julia Boseman. MEETING TIME Mary Hatcher polled the Board to see what times would work best. It
was determined that early mornings did not work well for all present at the meeting. The Board did decide to move the meeting time up 30 minutes and will begin meetings at 2:00 PM. OLD
BUSINESS UPDATE ON THE JOHN BUL DAU FOUNDATION EVENT The community’s response to this event was very receptive. The event was sold out and the 3rd balcony had to be opened to accommodate
the need. John Bul Dau visited Hoggard High School prior to the night’s event and spoke to 130 kids. The Foundation alone took in $5,995.00 from member ticket/book sales before the event.
Thalian Hall ticket sells took in $2,100. All 130 books at the event were sold. The Foundation took in $9,688.50 total. $8,000 had been gifted from a previous year to be spent on Events.
The speaker cost for John Bul Dau was $8,000. The Hilton did not charge us for his stay and volunteers transported him to the various events and paid for his meals. The Friends covered
the the cost of the Reception. ILS REVIEW UPDATE The Library has completed three vendors meetings for the RFP (Request for Proposal) for the new ILS program. The 3 vendors were Polaris,
Innovative and TLC. After the staff has completed the evaluations, we will begin negotiations. Each company has their own exceptional features, all of which are better than the system
we are currently using. The highlights of the evaluations are that a new system will provide us with a better public access catalog, a system that is easier to operate, move materials
more efficiently
throughout the system and a Digital Content Management system for local history archiving. We have $180,000 to spend on the new system. $100,000 of this money will come from a Grant
and $80,000 from the County. The Library will have to negotiate the price to meet our budget requirements. FY 2009/2010 BUDGET UPDATE County-wide Budget Cuts The County is 3 million
dollars short for this budget year. In order to make up the cost, cuts to the budget are being made across the board to all departments. 85% of the County’s budget is mandated (required).
Of that, the Library received 1.3% of the total County operating budget. With that 1.3%, here are just a few of the services that the Library provides; 1 million people assisted, 200,000
people use the public access computers, over half a million Reference transactions. Bruce Shell announced earlier this week that the County will have to implement the following budget
cuts to meet the shortfall for this budget year (through June 30th): Early Retirement Incentive Plan (ERIP) In an effort to reduce the number of involuntary terminations which may
be required, an Early Retirement Incentive Plan (ERIP) will be offered. Those employees with 20 years of service or more will qualify for upgraded incentive packages. Involuntary Reduction-in-Force
(RIF) Plan The extent of the RIF plan will be influenced by the participation in the early retirement incentive plan. The RIF plan will be communicated March 9, 2009. Furlough a minimum
of 40 hours in the remainder of FY 2009 ALL full-time employees must take off a minimum of 40 hours unpaid before June 15, 2009 (pay period 26). Sixteen (16) hours of this time will
be for County offices closing on Easter Monday, April 13, 2009, and Friday, May 22, 2009 (Memorial Day weekend). The other 24 hours may be taken as the employee sees fit. However, employees
may not use paid personal or sick leave as a substitution for furlough days. Part-time employees will have their time prorated to determine their individual furlough hours. Harry Tuchmayer
asked the Board if the Library could also be closed on the weekend days during the mandatory Furlough closings weekends around Easter and Memorial Day. This would allow the Library to
save significantly on Part time hours. After discussions were held, the Board did pass the motion and approved the closing of the library during these two weekends..
Suspend 3.0769* hours of personal leave accrual per pay period for the remainder of FY 2009 This measure will reduce the County’s personal leave liability. With approval by the Board
of County Commissioners, the suspension will be in effect eight (8) pay periods from February 24, 2009 (pay period 19) through June 15, 2009 (pay period 26). In addition to the above
cuts, each department had to cut their operating budget. The Library will be cutting $35,000 from the Book and Supply Budget. DIRECTORS REPORT: Harry Tuchmayer distributed the February’s
Director’s report. In addition to the report, Mr. Tuchmayer highlighted the following topics: The Library has just purchased 5 Credit Card machines for all branches. We plan to begin
accepting credit card payments for fines as soon as late March. Food For Fines – The NHCPL’s Food for Fines Proposal/Action Plan was presented to the Board. The concept is that food
would be donated in place of the patrons paying for Library fines. The goal is to encourage those patrons with long overdue fines to clear their accounts. Since we are about to convert
over to a new ILS system this would prevent us from having to transfer over old debts/records. The downfall is that approx. $9,000 would be lost in fine if every single person paid for
their fines with food. Harry Tuchmayer will look into an estimated cost savings by not having to have the staff transfer the data. The Food Banks have requested that we begin this event
in May when their supplies are at their lowest. Not only would Food for Fines assist the Library, it would be a wonderful community goodwill tool. Harry Tuchmayer asked the Board to
add this item to the Agenda for March for a vote by the Board. A copy of the Proposal will be attached to the minutes The Director’s complete monthly report will be attached to the minutes.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR Library Day – February 25th Meeting adjourned at 3:45 p.m. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, March 19 at the Main Branch at 2:00 PM