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Minutes 05 21 09 LAB1 Library Advisory Board May 21, 2009 Members Present: Rick Andrews, Mary Hatcher (Chair), Conrad Luhmann (Secretary), Frank Oddo, Jacqueline O’Grady (Vice-Chair), Gwen Rohler, Paul Walker Staff Members: Harry Tuchmayer, Tammy Baggett Friends of the Lib: Rita Lewis Absent Members: Excused: Kemp Burdette, Bettie Harrison, Tami Hinshaw, Eleanore Lipscomb-Warren, Marilyn McConnell Meeting began at 2:00 PM The meeting was called to order by the presiding officer, Mary Hatcher. Public Comment & Agenda review: No public comments this month. The May Agenda was approved. MINUTES The April 2009 Library Advisory Board Minutes were approved. CORRESPONDENCE Mr. Tuchmayer reported that the Library did receive numerous comment cards from patrons about the staff and they were all very positive. A patron sent a letter regarding how much she appreciated the staff at Myrtle Grove. All cards and letters were presented to the board for review. FRIENDS REPORT Rita Lewis, President of the Friends of the Library, reported that the? membership to the FOL had increased by 136 people during the Booksale. The Membership committee had placed information at all branch locations for patrons to sign up to become members, along with secure boxes where they could send in their dues. The Publicity committee did an amazing job getting the word out about the Booksale thru flyers, TV and ads. The Volunteer committee consisted of several new faces this year. Three charities came by after the sale to pick up leftover books. 1. Home of Hope India 2. A local Rotary club picked up military books for a library in the Pacific (Tarway Island) 2 3. Hardback fiction books were sent to Walter Reed Hospital in Alexandria FOL will have a Beach Reads sale on June 20th & July 18th at the Northeast branch. Paperbacks will be sold for 50¢ each. Dates for the Fall Booksale have been set for September 25 – October 1. June 9th the FOL will have a working meeting to create policies and procedures new committee chairs need to do their job. These guidelines will be written to assist those who follow in our footsteps and give them a starting point on how to hold the position. November 6th the Membership meeting will be held in the David Paynter Assembly room at the Northeast branch. Rita Lewis presented Harry Tuchmayer with a check from the Friends of the Library to the NHCPL in the amount of $55,000. This represents the money raised at the Spring Booksale. Eighteen FOL Booksale volunteers who helped during set up and the sale together contributed 744 hours. These individuals have received recognition letters from Harry Tuchmayer. NEW BUSINESS RECOMMENDED BUDGET Harry Tuchmayer reported that the Library had to cut $100,000 from next year’s requested budget. We lost the largest percentage from the personnel line through part time hours and furlough. 4.5% FTE (full-time equivalent) were lost as a result. Fortunately, no people were terminated. As a result we had adopted the cut in library hours. The library did get a small increase ($2,000) in training due to the new ILS system. Overall 4.8% of the Library budget was cut. On June 1st, the budget will be presented and public comments are welcome. On June 22nd, the Board of Commissioners will vote to pass the budget. INTERNET USER SURVEY Harry Tuchmayer reported that the Library added a survey to the adult public computers at all branches. This was a one page survey to find the purpose for using the public access computers. Some of the results were as follows: 50% for personal business 7% said they found a job using the library’s computers. 22% for homework 85% do not have a personal computer at home Mary Hatcher inquired if we have applied for any LSTA grants. Mr. Tuchmayer explained that we have applied for 2 grants. A Planning Grant to promote and use our new ILS features. No match is required. The second was an EZ Grant for computers. A small match is required for this one. Awards for these will come out in mid-June. 3 OLD BUSINESS LETTERS TO COMMISSIONERS Mary Hatcher read a draft letter that was written and submitted by Tami Hinshaw. The board discussed the letter and made changes. The board agreed to propose the letter and to have it sent to the NHC Board of Commissioners via email and postal mail. ILS IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE Harry Tuchmayer reported that all documents have been signed and we are moving ahead. As we move forward, we are working closely with IT. FOOD FOR FINES Harry Tuchmayer reported that this month the library is doing Food for Fines and it has been very successful. The program has encouraged those with overdue fines to come back to the library. We’ve also gotten many books back. So far, 165 boxes of food have been collected and sent to Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard. DIRECTORS REPORT A written report was not submitted by the director prior to this month’s meeting (It will be sent separately). Harry Tuchmayer did highlight the following items. The library has had a lot of very successful public programs this month. We have prepared a number of background documents needed by TLC to begin the implementation process. Be Creative at Your Library is the theme of this year’s Summer Reading program. We took advantage of an introductory offer by OCLC to set-up a digital content collection. Beverly Tetterton pulled five-hundred photos from our Star News photo archives. OCLC will scan these images and set-up a demo of this new product to showcase how it will work. TLC has rewritten their contract to include this feature. OTHER Mary Hatcher polled the board to see if they would be interested in holding the August meeting at the Northeast branch. No decision was made at this time. Ms. Hatcher also asked if there were any additional discussions to come before the board. Harry Tuchmayer stated that the Library has applied for some Summer Youth workers through a local program receiving stimulus money. Volunteers to assist as mentors are welcome. Meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, June 18th at 2:00 PM at the Main Branch.