February 19, 2002 Minutes

Board of Trustees
Fargo Public Library
Minutes of February 19, 2002

Present: Board Members Virginia Dambach, Ryn Pitts, Betty Kerns, Jean Rayl and Prakash Mathew
Library Director Charles Pace
Staff Members: Edie Discher, Sandy Boutain and Friends Liaison Bob Mason
Guests: Tom Hehman Director of East Coast Library Services and Library Systems

Order of Agenda
Betty Kerns made the motion to approve the order of agenda. Prakash Mathew seconded the motion; the motion carried.

Minutes
There are no additions to the minutes at this time.

Introduction of guests: Tom Hehman
Tom Hehman is the Director of the East Coast Library Services and Library Systems.

Staff Reports

Edie Discher reported on behalf of the Technology team. The Technology team has a long list of goals that will need to be implemented in the year of 2002.

  • Purchase new wands and accessories; the price of the wands several years ago were around $40 and today the price is $170 and up. The increase is due to the fact that over time our scanning systems have out-dated, and we will have to purchase new wands, power wedges, and cables for the scanning system.
     
  • Update of all staff computers to Internet Explore 6.0 has become a very big issue. The operating system that we have on many of these computers is Windows 95. In order to update to Internet Explorer 6.0 it is required to have Windows 98 operating system for compatibility. Many of the web sites today require at least Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher to even view the site. We currently have Internet Explorer 4.0 on many of the computers. The web sites today are coded with newer scripting languages that require the most recent version of Internet Explorer to operate correctly.
     
  • We have an in-house technical support person that acts as a liaison between the library and the City It Department. Major technical problems that need to have administrative approval in order to be fixed are called into the It help desk by one person instead of individual staff members.
     
  • Our 3M security gates are in need of major repair. We are finding empty compact disc cases on the shelves. The Technology and Facilities teams will be working on getting the security gates repaired, as well as getting new security gates in place at the branch storefront.
     
  • Implementing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant for the adult room and the training lab center will be one of the major concerns. As part of the Gates Grant we will also be getting a content server. As time progresses we plan on purchasing a software package that will allow us to use the Content Server for Internet access management. LSTA funding will help cover the cost of purchasing additional furniture for the Gates Computer training lab center.
     
  • Improving Internet connectivity speed for public computers. We are currently on CableOne service for connection, but as we added more computers we are noticing much slower speed. Our future goals will be to increase the Internet speed, as we look at different options, possibly DSL service with wider bandwidth.
     
  • Developing a computer replacement plan. We are currently looking at replacing some of our staff machines with new ones and using the computers that we replaced for Internet terminals. Charles Pace met with Ron Gronneberg on several occasions about funding for a replacement plan. There is never an answer of just how much funding the Library would receive.
     
  • Working with the IT department to determine a new cell-phone contract. The bookmobile received a new laptop this past summer. The new laptop has solved many problems for the Bookmobile. At this time we will stay with the current service until problems start to occur again.

LSSI Management Report
The RFP for the ODIN system replacement has been completed and sent out. Over the next several months, the ODIN steering committee will be evaluating the proposals received back from the vendors. There will be several sites set up around the state for librarians to look at and evaluate the various automation systems. They hope to have a final recommendation ready by the summer. The ODIN steering committee is putting in place work teams for final testing of this product.

The Training classes for the Young Adult Center are set to begin on February 19. These classes will meet for four weeks, twice a week. Each class will accommodate up to eight students. We are also looking at adding additional trainers for the Young Adult Center center. The display shelving has been cleared to make room for the $3,000 of new materials to be ordered.

We have decided to extend the naming contest for the branch library until March 1. So far, we have not received any proposals that have really impressed us, but they are continuing to come in.

Dan Haglund is teaching a series of classes on researching family history via the Internet. Dan has over 15 years of experience as a family history researcher. Classes began on February 4 , with 37 in attendance; attendance at the second session was about 30.

We have been meeting with Richard Moorhead to discuss the implementation for the finish-out of the storefront. We have made strong progress in our design process. Most of the decisions regarding basic layout, circulation desk, type of shelving and color scheme, etc. have been made. The major decisions still to be made include the exact lay out of the children’s story-time area and the types of furniture that will be used. Richard is going to present us with several designs possible for the children’s area and we will have the opportunity to select one. The RFP’s for the opening day collection have gone out and we expect to have the responses back by March 4. This should give us a much better idea as to the time line we are looking at for completion of this project.

The book drop will possibly be relocated on the east side of the building, adjacent to the water bill payment center. Hopefully, this will make it easier for our customers to return books and other materials without becoming trapped in the parking lot.

Statistical Reports

A. Revised end of year financial report
The revised year-end statistics report that there were several invoices that were either lost or not received by LSSI. In terms of the other statistics, our circulation is doing very well. Total print circulation is up 17 % over the same time a year ago. Total non-print is up 44%, and the over all the circulation is up 22%.

B. January statistics
The final January report was not available at this time as we are still waiting for the final budget break down of each line item.

Friends of Fargo Public Library Report
At the meeting on February 12, we were concerned about the amount of space that we lost due to the new computer center being located in the mezzanine area. We also will have to develop our own financial reports. National Library week will be the week of April 15. We have received a funding request from the staff for the amount of $1,500 for the children’s area at the new storefront library. This amount will be used to purchase children’s furniture. The July book sale will be rescheduled until a later date. In December, we had 53 members coming in with $1,700 in dues. As of February 11, we had 141 new members bringing the amount up to $4,500.

Continuing Business

A. LSSI contract evaluation-Prakash Mathew
Prakash Mathew conducted the evaluation for LSSI. This evaluation will be attached to the board minutes package.

B. Gates grants update
On February 21, Charles Pace and Sandy Boutain will be attending a workshop “Before your Computers Arrive”. We are hoping to gather more information about the computer training lab at that time.

New Business

Approval of branch hours
This will be discussed at a later meeting, as we would like to have additional input from the community area.

B. Approval of team work plans 2002
The board members felt that they should not have to place a motion on this action. In the future, team plans will just be added to the board packet for future reference.

C. Approval of Board Handbook
Prakash Mathew made the motion to approve the Board Handbook. Betty Kerns seconded the motion: the motion carried.

Public Comment
There was no public comment at this time.

Next Board Meeting
The next board meeting will be held on March 19, at 4:00 p.m. in the meeting room.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Sandy Boutain