Library Board May 2010 Minutes
MINUTES
Of the
Temple Public Library
Board of Trustees
May 18, 2010
The Temple Public Library Board of Trustees conducted the Regular Quarterly Board Meeting on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 12:00 p.m. in the Board Room on the 3rd floor of the Library Building at 100 West Adams Avenue, Temple, Texas.
Present
Trustees
Twila Coley Sammy Ragsdale Denise Karimkhani
Susan Corman Margarita Stefano-Rios
Sammie Marshall Don Nelson
Guests
Judy Duer, Library Director
Judy Stover, Staff
Absent
Ron Heuss Dean Mohlstrom
The agenda for this meeting was posted on the bulletin board at the Temple Public Library on May 11, 2010 at 4:10 p.m. in compliance with the Open Meetings Law.
The following is a summary of the proceedings of this meeting. It is not intended to be a verbatim transcript.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order 12:00 p.m. by Twila Coley, President, who presided over the meeting.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes were corrected deleting Sylvia Chesser from the minutes. She was included in the absent column in error. It was actually Denise Karimkhani who was absent last meeting. Sammie Marshall made a motion to approve the minutes with the corrections as noted. Don Nelson seconded the motion. Motion approved.
“Friends” Report:
There was no representative of the “Friends” present.
Patron Conduct Policy Revision
Due to an incident where a disruptive patron was banned from the library and subsequently protested the decision, Judy’s supervisor, Assistant City Manager Kim Foutz asked that there be some clarifications added to the Patron Conduct Policy. The two changes were to add computers to the list of devices which should not be played loudly enough to disturb other patrons, and to clarify who has the authority to ban problem patrons. The following statement was added to the policy: “Repeated failure to observe these rules may lead to revocation of library privileges by the Library Director or the staff member in charge at the time of the incident”. Don Nelson moved to approve additions to the policy and Twila Coley seconded the motion. Motion approved.
Library Systems Act
Judy updated the Board on changes to the Library Systems Act. One of the more significant ones is that library systems, which had previously only involved public libraries, will now include school and academic libraries. Because of this change, CTLS has revised the bylaws which leaves potential for a lot of new members with no additional funding, although at this point it is hard to predict how many will actually choose to join the system. The overall effect on our library is unknown. As we are one of the larger libraries and have better support through our City, we do not take advantage of as many services as the smaller libraries do. However, one of the benefits we do take advantage of is the continuing education workshops. It is also a great communication tool.
Texas Libraries Snapshot survey
A range of days was suggested by the State Library for libraries to pick one day to keep track of certain statistics and investigate why patrons had come to the library on that day. We chose May 6th. Judy discussed the statistics for that day with the Board and provided a copy of the statistics reported to the State Library along with a page of comments taken from the patron surveys. The comments were all very positive.
Library Director’s Report
Budget Request: The 2010/2011 budget was passed out for the Board members to review. The budget is very similar to last year’s budget. Any increase above $500 had to be shown on a separate page and will be evaluated for inclusion by the City Manager and Finance Director. Currently staffing is still frozen. A comparison sheet was included for the 2008/2009 time frame. Departments were asked not to increase their budgets but to continue services at the current level.
Denise questioned Judy about the cooperation from the City in the library processes. There were also questions about the ebook. There was a lengthy discussion on the ebook situation and the readers. Technology is a judgment call since it is changing so quickly. Denise advised that they surveyed their students and it was a 50% each way for printed books vs. ebooks when it came to academic texts.
Judy was asked by Don Nelson how much money was made on the late fees. Judy reported that it is around $40,000 per year. The fees go into the City’s general fund. However, as Judy pointed out, the expenses of the library largely outweigh the revenues so she has no complaints about the fines going into the general fund (which is the source of the library’s budget). Denise also asked about fine complaints. Our library doesn’t have many patrons that complain about the fines. She advised that the college students complain constantly about the fines charged.
The renovation is continuing as evidenced by jack hammering in the background. The move was accomplished with staff moving the books and and shelving vendors moving the shelving. There was no problem with the books, but the AV was more difficult because we were moving it to a new type of shelving and so it was hard to guess capacity. Eventually it was all sorted out though.
Don Nelson asked Judy about having a redbox here at the library. Judy advised him of a grant that she has applied for would purchase something similar that provides for DVD checkouts as well as self-check for other types of materials. It is basically an anti theft device.
Once the renovation is complete, Judy is hoping to have a grand opening with maybe some local authors as part of the program.
Susan Corman asked about whether we do anything about school tours. Judy said yes, when teachers request it. Primarily it seems to happen in the spring. It seems that lately we hear that it is too expensive to get the bus to bring children to the library. Susan said it isn’t that expensive, and she can tell the young teachers how to get it funded. She and Judy will get together to see if more tours can be organized. Judy is also interested in having a library card campaign to get school children cards. Susan may be able to help with that also. Margarita Stefano-Rios is also interested in this subject.
No further business was opened for discussion.
Motion to adjourn made by Twila Coley and seconded by Sammie Marshall.
The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.
The next meeting will be July 13, 2010. (This is a week before the regularly scheduled meeting, and is due to Judy Duer’s vacation which will occur the week of the 19th.)
Respectfully submitted,
Sammy Ragsdale, Secretary
