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Min - Library Board - 2008 - 10/07 - RegularALLEN PUBLIC LIBRARY REGULAR MEETING October 7, 2008 Present Donald Wing, Board Chair Board members Donna Drews Various Mary Jane Hamilton Mark Carpenter Geoffrey Smith City Statt: None Guests: None Call to Order and Announce a Quorum is Present With a quorum of the Board members present, the Regular Meeting of the Allen Public Library was called to order by Board Chair, Donald Wing, at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday October 7, 2008 in the Board Room of the Allen Public Library, 300 North Allen Drive, Allen, Texas. 1. Citizen's Comments. There were no Citizen Comments 2. Elect Officers. The board tabled the election of Officers until the November meeting as all of the Library Board members were not present 3. Approve Minutes of August 5, 2008 Special Called Meeting. Motion: Upon A motion made by Board Member, Mary Jane Hamilton, and a second by Board Member, Donna Drews Various, the Board voted (5) for and none (0) opposed to approve the August 5, 2008 minutes with a correction on the name of visitor Jack Carpenter to Mark Carpenter ALLEN PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 7, 2008 PAGE 2 4. Review August and September Monthly Statistics and Suggestion Forms. The Library Board reviewed the Monthly Statistics and Jeff reported that September has the year end totals. Circulation was up 5% over 2007 The foot traffic was up 2.3% and reference requests 3 4%. The program attendance was down some due to the changes in the schools. However in September the program attendance increased up to 300 more than last year. Another reason was our Children's Manager retired just before the summer programs began. We expect to have more programs in 2009 with a higher program attendance. The library in 2008 had 6,626 new patrons get library cards. We have in total patrons over 52,000 card holders which equal about two thirds of the Allen population Board member, Geoffrey Smith asked Jeff several questions about the Allen Public Library Statistics and if the numbers included Plano on number of items checked out The Statistics Report is only for Allen We have a courier service that comes from Plano three times a week to bring books that patrons have requested from Plano and also Plano picks up books from Allen that have been requested by Plano patrons. Mark also asked about how we go about removing old, damaged and/or out dated materials and Jeff explained the system of weeding books from our collection. The board had received a report on the Kiosk in the library Director, Jeff Timbs told them we had received notice from the Dallas Morning News that they would no longer continue to support the Kiosk after a specific date. They had been paying fifty dollars a month for the phone line and also For the maintenance and materials cost. Jeff thinks the futurejob listings will come from Career Builders. We will have to decide if we want to pick up the costs on this. Board member, Don Wing brought up the Elf Program and how it seemed to be increasing in users The Elf Program per Jeff is a free program that notifies patrons of books due and it can send an email, or send text messages to them. A patron signs up one time and gives all of their information and account number to use the program. It has been successful for the different libraries. There have been hints that the company that provides the Elf Program might start charging in the future. They support the program by charging for adds that pop up on the screen when patrons check their emails etc. We have 2 links from our library website patrons can go to for enrolling in the program and also we have an an electronic newsletter they can go to for information on library events and programs We will include in the newsletter mainly library events but will also include some of the Friends activities such as the Chocolate Frenzy, ALLen Reads, etc. The Board read the Suggestion forms and comments. A patron suggested having monitors throughout the library so you would not have to stay to one spot to check for your computer time coining up. This has been discussed internally per Jeff of putting monitors in several different places upstairs but Israel the libraries IT person moved to Austin and has not been replaced. Internet use is down some but Jett thinks that is due to having Wireless in the library. A patron wanted a sign placed in the study group rooms telling other patrons to be quiet. Our librarians do have to periodically play noise police at times as we have even had people trying to dance in the study groups rooms. 5. Orientation for New Board Members. Director, Jeff Timbs showed two videos for the new board members orientation. One was on the fortieth anniversary of the library which included the founders and history which is interesting. Ruth Pringle was interviewed on it and she is one of the founders of the library along with sonic of the others involved in starting up the library. The second video is on this past years programs and events. ALLEN PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 7, 2008 PAGE Something that will be premiered at the Friend's Chocolate Frenzy will be a video that Kevin and Tom have been working on of the history of the Friend's group 25 year anniversary and how it started Barbara Buehler will be one of the people interviewed and she was one of many they will be talking to that were instrumental in helping the Friends get started. 6. Briefing on Budget. Library Director, Jeff Timbs reported to the board the new budget allows a slight increase in our book budget, audio, databases and periodicals. It basically keeps up with inflation. The library will be getting two new part-time employees the first of January One in the Children's Department and one Auditorium Assistant The library has added two new databases, the Learning Express and Texas Legal Forms. The Learning Express has to do with tests such as the SAT, GED, and GRE. The Texas Legal Forms has to do with specific forms for Texas. You can get to these through the library web site. The budget is up a little bit but overall is flat due to the economy Allen is in better shape than most of the other cities but still has to be conservative. 7. Discuss Library Board Meetings for FY 08/09. Jeff told the board that several other boards in the city have started bimonthly and/or quarterly board meetings. The subject of the Library Board was brought up at the last board meeting to think about possibly voting on changing the Library Board meetings to bimonthly instead of monthly. Board member, Donna Drew, Various said we want to keep the channel of communication open in case of needing to meet for an emergency or something that could not wait. Jeff told the Library Board his goal for the future was to have them get involved in developing a Strategic Plan for the board and also to develop a Comprehensive Policy Manual for the library This has been worked on some by Barbara Buehler and other staff members but have never been fully developed. Jeff suggested putting together a committee of 3 people to work on this to form a draft of these two plans and report back to the board their suggestions. Motion: Upon A motion made by Board Member, Donna Draws Various, and a second by Board Member, Mary Jane Hamilton , the Board voted (5) for and none (0) opposed to table the discussion and voting on the Library Board meeting schedule. 8. Items of Interest. Don Wing reminded the board about the Friends Chocolate Frenzy in October and also the Boaid Dinner in December. Both functions will be held at the Senior Center. Donna commented about the Board Dinner being a pretty big event with the City Council and a lot of the City Staff attending. '1 hey usually will have someone like the High School Show Choir. The board discussed the Friend's organization. How it has become a National Organization and how much it supports the library. One of the big programs they support is the Day of the Book/Day of the Child in April each year. The Library Board wants to have a joint meeting with some of the Friend's Board members and talk about the library and related topics. Don Wing also mentioned to the new board members about some of the other organizations they will be hearing about such as the Northeast Texas Library Systems and also the Friend's of the Library Endowment Fund that has Just been established and is still getting off the ground 'fhe library acquisition fund which was a part of the City has now been separated from the City and turned over to ALLEN PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 7, 2008 PAGE J the Endowment Fund to manage, grow and use for library needs, materials etc The Endowment fund has a total of $179,856 85 in the account. 9. Calendar. • Friend's Chocolate Frenzy — October Library Board Meeting— November 11, 2008 10. Adjourn Motion: Upon A motion made by Board Member, Donna Drews Various, and a second by Board Member, Mary ]ane Hamilton, the Board voted (5) for and none (0) opposed to adjourn the library board meeting at 8:55 PM. These minutes read and approved this 11th day of November, 2008. APPROVED: Donald Donald Wing, Chairperson I Ii111111813 Se Lary