December 17, 2002 Minutes
Board of Trustees
Fargo Public Library
Minutes of December 17, 2002
Present: Board Members Betty Kerns, Prakash Mathew, Virginia Dambach, and Helen Levitt
Library Director Charles Pace
Staff Members: Monique Andresen, Beth Postema, Karen Kohoutek
Friends Liaison: Bob Mason
Order of Agenda
Prakash Mathew made the motion to approve the order of agenda. Helen Levitt seconded the motion; the motion carried.
Minutes
There are no additions to the minutes at this time. Helen Levitt moved to approve the minutes of November 19. Virginia Dambach seconded the motion; the motion carried.
Staff Reports
Year-end team reports were distributed with no verbal report at this time.
LSSI Management Report
Charles Pace is working with Jim Chattin, Director of Devils Lake Public Library, on the revision of the state library handbook. They are concentrating on the sections involving technology standards.
Betty Kerns and Charles Pace discussed with West Fargo the creation of a joint library card for the two library systems. After further discussions with ODIN, West Fargo Public Library decided not to proceed at this time, due to policy questions and revisions this would have necessitated.
A grant proposal was submitted involving the three area colleges, West Fargo Public, Fargo Public, and Moorhead Public libraries. If the grant proposal were fully funded, Fargo Public Library would receive $10,000 for training, staff development, programming, and materials in the areas of human rights and multiculturalism.
Library Newsletter:
Diane Briggs has been busy as Mrs. Claus throughout December, making visits all around Fargo. This is her seventh year and visited an estimated 1,000 people last year.
Sixty-five people attended the Trim a Tree program at the main library and 26 people were at the Southpointe Branch.
Storefront Library Status:
The Southpointe Branch permanent exterior sign was installed and the electrician will wire it soon to be illuminated at night. Interior banner signs also will be installed in the next few weeks. Another Internet workstation was added to make three Internet terminals and a catalog terminal. This is the maximum the facility can support with its current configuration.
Staff News and Reports:
Sally Fairfield resigned effective December 15.
Statistical Reports
The October financial Expense Summary was distributed. The November report is not available at this time. The budget is 18% unexpended as of the end of October.
Total circulation year to date increased 13% from last year. Interlibrary Loan increased 5% year to date from last year. We added 14% more items compared to year to date last year. Items withdrawn decreased due to weeding projects completed previously. Total print increased 9% and non-print increased 29% compared to year to date last year. Door count increased 25% from November last year.
Friends of Fargo Public Library Report
The Friends of the Fargo Public Library discussed the mission statement as well as the purpose statement. Work on these statements will take place at the next meeting.
There was some discussion of changing printers, but printing will stay with Interstate Printing for the newsletters.
Fundraising ideas were discussed such as t-shirts and tote bags. The Friends are checking with the Moorhead Library, which has an ongoing fundraising program for the Friends group there.
They also talked about creating a Friends web site. The library web site promotes Friends activities to the extent that it would be unnecessary to have a separate site.
After the loss of the deposit box and the money inside, the coffee for the public is terminated. Coffee may still be provided for special events.
Funding requests included a dishwasher for the meeting room kitchen estimated at $400 and dishes and serving ware estimated at $300. Both requests were approved.
As of December 9, the Friends received 63 memberships, including 9 new households and 60 prospective volunteers.
The book sale raised approximately $1,600 and 10 new memberships. Many shelves are currently bare. The moved shelves helped with the browsing area and added extra shelf space. The Friends group needs to reevaluate the bag sale. In the future, they may limit the number of bags, raise the price, or eliminate it altogether.
Continuing Business
A. LSSI Contract Renewal
Appreciation was expressed to Virginia Dambach and Jean Rayl for working on the several drafts and meetings that took place between the city attorney and LSSI representatives. Virginia Dambach moved to adopt the LSSI contract as written. Prakash Mathew seconded the motion; the motion carried.
B. Board Development Report
Charles Pace researched training and development for the Board of Directors. His contact in St Paul, who concentrates on fundraising aspects, referred him to Ellen Miller. She is the president of the state of Kansas Trustees Association. Her sessions would review the five year plan and how we can best fulfill and complete our goals in that plan. This will lead to budget preparation for 2004. A 3 to 3 ½ hour session could be scheduled immediately after a short Board meeting. She proposed three sessions estimated at approximately $5,000 consulting fee plus travel expenses.
The North Dakota State Library may also have funding available for Board training. Charles Pace will check into funding sources as well as other consultants.
New Business
A. Proposal to add report from staff representative to permanent agenda
Edie Discher will no longer be the staff representative as she has been the representative for two years. Starting in January, Nancy Giere will be the new staff representative. The staff representative report would include information such as the following. Janet Deane resigned effective December 15. Karen Kohoutek received her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University Moorhead.
Helen Levitt moved to add a report from the staff representative to the permanent agenda. Prakash Mathew seconded the motion; the motion carried.
B. Computer Lab Policy
Prakash Mathew moved to approve the Computer Lab Policy as written. Virginia Dambach seconded the motion; the motion carried.
Public Comment
Friends of the Fargo Public Library is officially a 501(c ) 3 organization, which may be beneficial when seeking grants that the library would not qualify as a part of the city. The invitation is extended to partner for grant opportunities that otherwise may be missed.
Beth Postema attended a Patriot Act Workshop. Discussion will continue how this Patriot Act may affect the library. New policies may need to be in place.
The John Cotton Dana Award application was submitted last week. Thank you Ann Miller for the time she spent on the application process.
The piano will be tuned January 7.
Next Board Meeting
Virginia Dambach moved to change the bylaws to include the meeting time from the third Tuesday to the fourth Tuesday of the month. Prakash Mathew seconded the motion; this constitutes the first reading of the proposed change to the bylaws.
The next board meeting will be held Tuesday, January 28, 2003, at 4:00 p.m. in the meeting room.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Monique Andresen