February 23, 2004 Minutes
Board of Trustees
Fargo Public Library
Minutes of February 23, 2004
Present: Betty Kerns, Helen Levitt, Prakash Mathew, and Jean Rayl
Director: Charles Pace
Staff Representative: Nancy Giere
Staff members: Beth Postema and Ann Miller
Friends of the Library Representative: Bob Mason
Absent: Virginia Dambach
Order of Agenda
Jean Rayl moved to approve the order of the agenda, adding the final financial settlement with LSSI in Continuing Business. Prakash Mathew seconded the motion; the motion carried.
Minutes
Helen Levitt moved to approve the minutes of January 27, 2004 with corrections to the approval of agenda and date of last minutes approved. Prakash Mathew seconded the motion; the motion carried.
Staff Report
Nancy Giere reported that inventory is underway. Southpointe, bookmobile, and Outreach are complete. The main collection is next. Winter read-a-thon is coming to an end with prizes to be drawn the first part of March. The Hearts and Hugs program was successful with over 100 participants at Southpointe.
Ann Miller announced her resignation from the Community Relations Specialist position with a termination date in March.
Beth Postema reported on the Staff Development Team. Part of our charge is training and equipping staff to meet the day to day challenges at the library. Sergeant Joel Vettel of the Fargo Police Department talked about personal safety last month. Pat Wagner will present a workshop in March focusing on networking and marketing the library. We will also provide additional technology training with tips and tricks for various software packages to raise the level of technical competency of all staff. A training tip of the month has been incorporated into the monthly staff meetings. The orientation process and procedures along with exit procedures are continuing to be refined. Training checklists are on hold until the system migration process is complete.
Directors Report
Charles Pace reported the Adopt-A-Print program has been successful. We are collecting the money at this point. A reception will be held in April to thank the donors.
Work on Aleph is continuing with the inventory process at this time. This will provide for as clean of a database as possible for conversion. The first training sessions for the new system will be March 16-18 at North Dakota State University. The work of the funding allocation task force has been completed. The rates will increase 3% for 2005.
Team work plans for 2004 are attached. The goals for the teams are based on the overall goals of the library for this year.
The revised list of facilities plan options form the consultants arrived with the addition of the cooperative venture with Cass County. Focus groups will take place March 18-19.
The library hosted an Amish cooking program February 8. Advertising for this program was in the Food section of the Forum. On March 11 a documentary film dealing with legendary ice skating coach Nancy Burggraf will be presented by the Executive Producer, Merrie Sue Holtan.
Southpointe is averaging 400 customers per day. Many customers have expressed their appreciation of the Monday openings starting March 31. Story time has also been well received and many requests are being taken for this program.
The Young Adult Librarian position is still open. Interviews will take place in Seattle at the Public Library Association conference and applications are continuing to be evaluated.
Statistical Reports
The library added 166 new customers to our total number of registered borrowers in January for a total of 47,803. Attendance decreased slightly from last year. Internet increased by 22% and total circulation increased 9%. $7,312 in fines and fees were collected in January.
The 2003 final financial report was compiled from the October LSSI report and the December City of Fargo report. Insurance costs which are budgeted by the city accounted for over $19,000 in the cost overage for the year.
January reports from the City of Fargo were distributed. A spreadsheet will be compiled in the future to summarize the main library and Southpointe expenses.
Friends of the Fargo Public Library Report
Membership is up to 148 for the year. The next book sale will be April 23-24, with more advertising this time. The account balance is approximately $10,627. Funding requests included a CD rack for approximately $2,700. A sorting session will be held the first Monday of the month.
Continuing Business
A. Facilities Planning Process
The revised list of facilities plan options was distributed that reflected discussion from the last board meeting. The future of the bookmobile will also be discussed during the focus groups March 18-19. Board members are invited to observe the focus groups.
B. Final financial settlement with LSSI
The final financial settlement was distributed for discussion. We have compromised on several points to find a resolution. Jean Rayl moved to pay $2,586 as a final settlement with LSSI. Prakash Mathew seconded the motion; the motion carried.
New Business
A. Request to use Foundation funds for library card campaign
Helen Levitt moved to use $4,000 of the $4,565 Fargo Public Library Endowment Fund interest available for a library card campaign and the $565 remaining interest would go back into the fund to build the principal. Jean Rayl seconded the motion; the motion carried.
Public Comment
There is no public comment at this time.
Next Board Meeting
The next board meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 23, 2004 at 4:00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Monique Andresen