Session 07-10 a Regular Meeting of the Library
Advisory Board was called to order on
PRESENT: BOARDMEMBER
MARTIN, WAGNER, HAWFIELD, KEFFER, FAULKNER
BOARDMEMBER
LORD
ABSENT: BOARDMEMBER
SEAMAN (EXCUSED)
STAFF: LIBRARY
DIRECTOR HILL
DEPUTY
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The agenda was approved by consensus of the Board.
PUBLIC COMMENTS REGARDING ITEMS ON THE
AGENDA
None.
RECONSIDERATION
There were no items for reconsideration.
APPOVAL OF THE MINUTES
A. Minutes of the
LORD/FAULKNER - MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES.
Boardmember Keffer stated under Pending Business,
Item B, that it should read “Boardmember Keffer mentioned she received a
complaint that the Library’s new acquisition shelf contained predominantly
mysteries and techno thrillers” is more
in the spirit of what was meant.
There was no further discussion.
The minutes as amended were approved by consensus of
the Board.
VISITORS
A.
Friends Report
– Boardmember Nancy Lord
Boardmember
Lord attended the November meeting but was unable to stay for the duration.
Library Director Hill handed out the copies of the survey, the Friends would
like to see a question regarding their membership on the survey and Library
Director Hill will report more on that request. The Coordinator for the
Friends, Jonni Roos will be stopping by this evening after
LIBRARY
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
A Director’s Report for December 2007
Library
Director Hill hoped that the Boardmembers found it interesting reading. She
inquired if there were any questions or comments.
Chair
Hawfield relayed interest and questions he has received regarding the library
landscaping and what is being done to address the problem. Boardmember Wagoner
commented that it was one aspect of the original budget that was deleted.
Boardmember Lord asked for information regarding the capital budget, the amount
in the budget and how that process will work. Chair Hawfield asked where he would find the
original Library budget to see what was deleted from the budget. He has been
asked on a number of occasions and feels it would be nice to have that
information.
Boardmember
Keffer asked if it was possible to save information onto disks from the library
computers. Library Director Hill stated that the public computers have been
stripped of all peripherals due to the concerns regarding security issues. She
is aware that some Libraries do sell blank CD’s for copying their work to but with
the new wireless system installed patrons are able to use their personal
laptops with less interruption in internet access. There has been discussion about
having stand alone computers for word processing with no connection to the
internet. Boardmember Wagoner asked about the possibility of having older
laptops that patrons could sign out to use, these would only have the basic
programs like Microsoft word. She also commented that her students have been
using “gmail” where you can send yourself the documents as an attachment
through email.
Chair
Hawfield asked for clarification on curb extensions, Boardmember Wagoner
explained that these are used as a traffic calming device which narrows the
entrance/roadways so pedestrians have less space to cross and makes them more
visible to traffic.
Library
Director Hill addressed Boardmember Keffers’ request for more information on
the instructional
Boardmembers
held a brief discussion regarding the award given to ECIHyer for the Library.
B.
Monthly
Statistics
Library
Director Hill commented on the monthly statistics for attendance, interlibrary
loans, internet use, new cards, volunteer hours, story hour and revenue. The
most important things to look at are the overall attendance and revenue. She
commented that this is the time of year most things are pretty quiet.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS
A.
Artwork Selection Committee
Report – Boardmember Eileen Faulkner
1. Special
Exhibits Loan Agreement
Boardmember
Faulkner stated the Committee will not be meeting in December. There will hopefully
be a new member from the Friends soon. During the last meeting it was finalized
with the
The
Boardmembers reviewed the Special Exhibit/Artwork Loan Agreement documents.
Boardmember
Faulkner explained that they were anticipating delivery of a display cabinet
from the Friends so the ability to display school art projects can be arranged.
The Committee was working on the requirements to get this going. They have
obtained guidelines used by other Public Libraries and are going to format the
necessary documents for the Homer Library using these as examples. Boardmember
Faulkner passed around a sample document that was a call for artwork from the
Community for donations so the committee can start a selection process; it was
in draft form and will, when it is finalized, submit copies for review. The
tentative schedule for completion is February or March 2008; it is depending on
the approval from the attorney on the forms; the display location has been
selected and there will need to be advertising. Library Director Hill gave some
details on the display location selected and the reasons. Chair Hawfield
offered to contact the State Conservator when he visits Homer he can stop by
the Library with his equipment and give an evaluation regarding sunlight, etc.
free of charge. Further discussion regarding the type of glass and glazing used
when the Library was constructed ensued.
There
was no further discussion.
PUBLIC
HEARING
None.
PENDING
BUSINESS
A.
Planning for
the Future – December 2007 – Survey Draft
Chair
Hawfield opened discussion on the Survey Draft, he received emailed comments
from Boardmember Seaman, copies were distributed.
Boardmembers
took a few moments to review the draft Survey.
Chair
Hawfield commented he wants to put this into an action mode. Boardmember Lord
inquired what was going to be done with the survey. She did have a few concerns
regarding distribution and costs related to the survey. Chair Hawfield inquired
if there was any opportunity of the City making copies. Library Director Hill
will check that possibility. He outlined steps that will need to be done once
the content of the survey is agreed upon. Deputy City Clerk Krause volunteered
her time to reformat the survey.
Discussion
ensued on the format for the survey which contained the following:
1.
More white
space
2.
Questions all
on one page not broken between pages
3.
Inviting
appearance
4.
Easier to read
5.
Use categories
for the questions
Boardmember
Keffer suggested the following:
1.
Add Literary
Fiction to question #5
2.
Add or replace
satisfactory with “good” for question #6.
3.
Add a question
related to temperature to #6.
4.
Change the
wording of question #2 delete “aspects of the library”.
Library
Director Hill explained that this is the result of reviewing several samples of
surveys. Boardmember Wagoner commented that the term “Satisfactory” should be
changed to “Good” since Satisfactory was so “middle of the road” and there was
already the “don’t know/don’t use” column. Put question #2 towards the end of
the survey.
The
Boardmembers discussed rearranging the order of the questions.
Boardmember
Wagoner left at
Library
Director Hill stated that the Friends would like to add two possible questions
to the survey and submitted the questions they would like asked. The
Boardmembers discussed a clearer explanation on the second question submitted
regarding programs offered.
Boardmember
Lord questioned the relevance and necessity of questions 10-12 regarding gender,
age group and education of respondents. Boardmember Faulkner wanted to keep in
the age group as that information would offer more validity to certain
questions on the surveys. She proceeded to give examples. It was agreed to leave
the question regarding age and that the Friends questions would then be added
to the survey.
The
group then proceeded to discuss details regarding who would be gathering the
statistics; distribution; news and radio advertisements; offering a drawing to
entice a higher response from the community; drop boxes at specific locations;
extent of student involvement; prizes for the drawing.
Boardmember
Lord will send notification, something more than a letter, an informative piece
to the newspaper when closer to finalizing the survey. Chair Hawfield offered
to make a radio announcement.
Chair
Hawfield elaborated on a grant program for Community Service that was brought
up by Library Director Hill for students’ participation. He also mentioned an
additional funding program that may work.
B.
New Library –
Comments, Responses, Issues, and Challenges
Chair
Hawfield asked Jonni Roos to introduce herself, welcomed Jonni and invited her
to attend any meeting of the Library Board that her schedule permitted.
Chair
Hawfield noted that he spoke with City Manager Wrede regarding the RFP for the
He
has spoken with Ron Keffer regarding a Student Member. There is a potential
volunteer but nothing is firm.
Chair
Hawfield conversed with Councilmember Novak regarding the issue of extending the
library hours. He was of the opinion that Councilmember Novak wanted the hours
extended as soon as possible and he said to put something in the budget.
Councilmember Novak expressed his thanks for addressing this issue in such a
timely manner.
There
was a brief discussion regarding some possible solutions to extending the hours
at minimal costs and how one could calculate that dollar figure. It was noted
that the library was open 2704 total hours per year. Boardmembers gave Library
Director Hill different ways to calculate the costs for staffing, etc. Chair
Hawfield will continue to confer with Councilmember Novak regarding input on
the hours.
Chair
Hawfield brought Councilmember Wythe’s comments regarding the energy expense of
the library during the Climate Action Plan presentation. It was agreed to
solicit more information regarding her comments and reason behind them.
Boardmember
Lord wanted to briefly discuss the Budget and inquired if support was needed at
the next meeting, if anything has been cut or indications that the submitted
budget was in jeopardy. Chair Hawfield commented on his observations from
attending the last Council meeting and worksession that there were no issues on
the budget other than Water and Sewer Rates. Library Director Hill will check
on amendments to the budget and report to Chair Hawfield if there are any to
the Library budget.
There
was a brief discussion on the changes in the Library Director, City Clerk and
Planning from Divisions to departments which would mean a title and pay
increase for Library Director Hill. Boardmember Lord stated that it has been
mentioned before and that Library Director Hill is head of a Department and
should be treated accordingly.
There
was no further discussion.
None.
COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
None.
COMMENTS
FROM
Library Director Hill
attended the day long training seminar that also addressed the Open Meetings
Act. It may be available online and she urged the Boardmembers to review the
information as it was very helpful and informative. Boardmember Keffer did
attend the morning session.
Deputy City Clerk Krause
had no comments.
COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD
Boardmember Keffer “jokingly” commented that there should be an amnesty day to return
overdue books.
Boardmember Lord will not be at the January meeting.
Boardmember Faulkner had no comments.
Boardmember Martin had no comment.
COMMENTS OF THE CHAIR
Chair Hawfield thanked everyone for there their work. He appreciated all the work
and efforts that Boardmember Faulkner was doing on the Art Selection Committee.
He thanked Deputy Clerk Krause for volunteering to work on the Survey. He noted
to the board that the next meeting was scheduled for January 8th and
it will be in the Conference Room upstairs.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business
to come before the Board, Chair Hawfield adjourned the meeting at
Renee
Krause, Deputy City Clerk I
Approved: