ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES
AGENDA
4:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Gegan Room
(If Board Members cannot attend, please notify the Library Office)
CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL:
PUBLIC COMMENT:
AUTHORIZATION OF BILLS:
1. Lists of bills for May 2007.
CONSENT BUSINESS (Motion to approve all unless separate consideration requested):
2. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting April 17, 2007.
3. Minutes. Minutes of Building and Grounds meeting May 8, 2007.
INFORMATION ITEMS/DIRECTOR'S REPORT:
4. Statistics.
5. Signage
6. New Website
7. FVLC
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
8. Adult Services Department Head
9. Act 150 & Act 420
10. NOVUS - Online Agenda & Minutes System
11. Library Hours
12. Board/Staff Social
13. ADJOURN
UPCOMING MEETINGS & ACTIVITIES
(Including requests for business items for future meetings)
• Library Board Meeting - June 19 at 4:00 pm.
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 - MAY 2007
1. Bills. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval of bills as presented for May 2007.
CONSENSUS ACTION ITEMS:
2. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting April 17, 2007. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval.
3. Minutes. Minutes of Building & Grounds meeting May 8, 2007. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval.
INFORMATION ITEMS:
4. Statistics. Circulation has returned to a positive increase. Adult lending increased by 10.7% overall, with an increase of over 10% in books alone. Children's lending also increased by 4% with an increase of over 6% in books. Our overall increase was 7.5%, which rivals the increases we were seeing last year.
5. Signage. The Building and Grounds Committee met on May 8th to talk about the library's new sign. We received figures we requested from Orde Sign about the cost of the sign itself vs. the cost of the Message Center component. We found that out of the $20,000+ cost of the sign, two thirds of the cost was the Message Center. It is the consensus of the committee that we move ahead with a sign without the Message Center. We have asked Orde to create designs without the Message Center. Along with this decision, the committee is looking at background colors for the lettering part of the sign. We were also happy to hear that city staff may be able to help us with the sign foundation and wiring as well. Adam is working to bring us an estimate for costs.
6. New Website. Our new website is nearing completion. It has been quite a learning curve using the new platform, but I think the added functionality is worth it. Our website now has distinct children's and teen sections as well as opportunities for patrons to contribute comments and reviews. Our events calendar is interactive and patrons can register for programs online. There are so many changes it is hard to list them all. The URL for the new site is beta.menashalibrary.org. We plan a soft debut in mid-May and then will move completely to the new site in June when its URL will be www.menashalibrary.org. The staff has worked very hard on the new site, and I want to thank them for all of the effort and time they have put in.
7. FVLC. I am now the President-Elect of the Fox Valley Library Council. This Council works with the larger Fox Valley, including all of Winnefox's service area, and supports libraries of all types: public, academic and school, so it is a very interesting mix of people who contribute to its success. I am honored to be a part of it.
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
8. Adult Services Department Head. It is my great pleasure to announce that the hiring committee (made up of myself and the Adult Services staff) was unanimous in our decision. I have offered the position to Joe Bongers, who currently works in the Reference Department at the Neenah Public Library. Having grown up in Menasha, he brings knowledge of the community, skill with technology, a warm, friendly demeanor and reference know-how to the position. He will start on Salary Step 5 on the Librarian III Supervisor scale and has received a bump in his vacation to compensate for his years as a professional librarian. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve the hiring of Joe Bongers as Adult Services Department Head starting at Salary Step 5 of the Librarian III Supervisor scale with an increase in vacation level.
9. Act 150 & Act 420. I am pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached between all of the libraries in Winnebago County and the Outagamie Waupaca Library System. As discussed at last month's meeting, it is in our own financial interest to work with OWLS rather than billing them, because we have more to lose than gain. Because all of the libraries are willing to work together, we can formally agree to not bill OWLS counties for their usage as long as they do not bill Winnebago County for ours. REQUESTED ACTION: Continue to support the existing agreement between OWLS and Winnebago County.
10. NOVUS. Several months ago, Kris and I went to training to start using the new agenda and minutes software the City was purchasing. I went in with enthusiasm that quickly dimmed when I saw how cumbersome the software is. Luckily, the library has another option that offers similar functionality. Over the last nine months, we have been working on our new website. Thanks to the new platform (Drupal), our entire site is keyword searchable, allowing patrons and citizens to search our minutes and agendas and view them in their entirety. My recommendation is that we not struggle with the NOVUS software as the City staff has been doing, but move ahead with our minutes and agendas as an integrated part of our library website. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve the library using our own website rather than NOVUS to make minutes and agendas available to the public.
11. Library Hours. I have been examining our usage patterns over the last few months. Our early morning usage from 8:30 to 9:00 is limited, representing an average of only 1% of the daily circ. Otherwise, the circulation is fairly evenly spread out over the course of the day, even in our final half hour from 8:00 to 8:30 pm. It averages about 8.6% of circ each hour. If a change is to be made, it should be to open later in the mornings. Unfortunately, a decrease in funding caused Sunday hours to be cut and we received yet another reduction in City funding last year. I don't believe it would be wise to reduce our weekday hours to return Sunday hours without funding being restored. I will continue to keep an eye on our usage as summer begins, because usage patterns often change with the seasons. I would also recommend that our Long Range Planning Committee make this a focus of the upcoming plan, learning from the community what hours they want to see at the library.
12. Board & Staff Social. I have had staff mention to me that they don't know Board members well. I'd like to try to bridge that gap with a social for both library staff members and Board members. According to Kris, this used to be done annually so that everyone could mingle and get to know one another in a less formal atmosphere. I'd like to start that tradition again. We were thinking appetizers and drinks on the deck at Naut's Landing.
