ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES
AGENDA
4:00 p.m. Thursday, November 19, 2009
Gegan Room
 (If Board Members cannot attend, please notify the Library Office)
 
CALL TO ORDER:
 
PUBLIC COMMENT:
 
AUTHORIZATION OF BILLS:
 
  1. List of bills for November 2009.
 
CONSENT BUSINESS (Motion to approve all unless separate consideration requested):
 
2.     Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting October 15, 2009.
 
INFORMATION ITEMS/DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
 
3.     Statistics.
4.     Endowment CD Renewal.
5.     Roberts Rules of Order.
6.     WLA Conference.
7.     Staff In-service.
8.     This Blog’s for You.
9.     Fox Valley Library Council.
 
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
 
  1. Floating Holiday Change.
  2. 2010 Budget.
  3. Trustee Essentials #12.
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS
           
13. ADJOURN
 
UPCOMING MEETINGS & ACTIVITIES
(Including requests for business items for future meetings)
·         Library Board Meeting – December 17 at 4:00 pm
·         Holiday Closings: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Day
 
Menasha aldermen may attend meetings of this body. A quorum of the Common Council, Board of Public Works, Administration Committee, or Personnel Committee may attend this meeting. No official action of any of those bodies will be taken.
 
ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY
 
DIRECTOR’S REPORT – November 2009
 
1.     Bills. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval of bills as presented for October 2009.
 
 
CONSENSUS ACTION ITEMS:
 
2.     Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting October 15, 2009. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval.
 
INFORMATION ITEMS:
 
 
3.     Statistics.  Statistics continue to look up. After quite an increase last year, the children’s usage is down slightly from 2008. The adult circulation on the other hand continues to climb with an 11% increase over last year when they had a similar increase of 14%. This results in a nice overall increase of 4.8% over 2008.
 
4.     Endowment CD Renewal. We rolled two CDs into a single large one for $10,886. First National Bank gave us a rate of 1.84 with an APY of 1.85. This completes our process of bundling smaller CDs into larger ones. We will now have single CDs coming due every other month, starting in January 2010.
 
5.     Roberts Rules of Order. To conclude our informational session on Roberts Rules of Order, Rick recommends the following link to a FAQ: http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html
 
6.     WLA Conference. The conference went really well. I presented three programs, Joe enjoyed being the head of technology, and there were several wonderful programs that really got us thinking. It was also a great opportunity to network with colleagues. I served as PR person for the conference and have been asked to head public library programs for the 2010 conference at the Dells. Board members who attended, what did you think?
 
7.     Staff In-service. The staff in-service was presented by Jeff Russell. It was on resiliency in the face of change. Jeff sent me a note after the session, saying that he was “impressed with the positive mindset of the group.” Something I am impressed with every day I work with this team of people. The session was well received by the staff, though several of us would have liked more concrete actions to take with us.
 
8.     This Blog’s for You. My Kids Lit blog was quoted in the School Library Journal cover story about children’s literature blogging. It is an honor to be included with these other bloggers. I have included copies of the article in your packet. It is also available here: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6703692.html You will find my quote on page 3.
 
9.     Fox Valley Library Council. Some of you may remember that I served as president of FVLC last year. I have now been asked to serve as a Director-at-large for the group which provides a place for librarians in all sorts of libraries from all across the Valley a chance to get together and attend educational workshops as well. This is a more permanent position than that of President and will last for as long as I’d like to serve. My particular focus will be Intellectual Freedom.
 
 
 
 
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
 
10. Floating Holiday Change. Looking more closely at the July 4th weekend next year, I would ask the Board to change the floating holiday assigned to Monday, July 5th into an assigned closing instead. If we do an assigned floating holiday, people still get the Sunday as a holiday which would be made up elsewhere in the month. Assigning a closing negates that and allows us to have the library closed and people to not earn the Sunday as a holiday. REQUESTED ACTION: Change July 5th, 2010 to an assigned closing.
 
11. 2010 Budget. I am writing this before I meet with the City Council because I have meetings all week following the budget hearing. So at this point, I am not sure what the Council will approve. If they make changes to the bottom line, the board will need to revisit the budget. 
 
12. Trustee Essentials #12. Kathy Wicihowski will lead us through Trustee Essential #12 on library standards. I will need a volunteer to lead the group on Trustee Essential #13 which is on library advocacy.