ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES
AGENDA
4:00 p.m. Thursday, April 15, 2010
Gegan Room
(If Board Members cannot attend, please notify the Library Office)
CALL TO ORDER:
PUBLIC COMMENT:
AUTHORIZATION OF BILLS:
- List of bills for April 2010.
CONSENT BUSINESS (Motion to approve all unless separate consideration requested):
2. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting March 18, 2010.
3. Minutes. Acceptance of the Minutes of the Policies and Personnel Committee meeting on March 12, 2010.
INFORMATION ITEMS/DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
4. Statistics.
5. Retained Earnings in Endowment Report.
6. Battery Bill.
7. Library Budget Process.
8. Winter Reading Program for Teens and Adults.
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
- Roll Over Funds.
- Policy Correction, Chapter I.
- Policy Changes, Chapters 4 & 5.
- Trustee Essentials #16.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
13. ADJOURN
UPCOMING MEETINGS & ACTIVITIES
(Including requests for business items for future meetings)
· Library Board Meeting – May 20 at 4:00 pm
· Investment Committee Meeting – April 22 at 2:00 pm
· Finance Committee Meeting – April 26 at 9:00 am
· National Library Week – April 11-17
· Fox Cities Book Festival – April 11-18
· Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries Annual Meeting – April 28-30
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 – April 2010
1. Bills. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval of bills as presented for April 2010.
CONSENSUS ACTION ITEMS:
2. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting March 18, 2010. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve minutes of meeting.
3. Minutes. Minutes of the Policies and Personnel Committee meeting on March 12, 2010. REQUESTED ACTION: Accept minutes of committee meeting.
INFORMATION ITEMS:
4. Statistics. The library saw a reduction in overall usage at 2.8%. Adult usage increased by 2.4% over 2009 figures and children’s usage decreased of 8.9%.
After a second month showing a significant decrease in use of children’s materials, I looked back into some of our previous statistics. When 1000 Books started in 2008, we saw a 22% increase in children’s materials over 2007 during the month of March. This month’s 8.9% drop still has us well above 2007 numbers, so I expect we will see reductions in children’s materials throughout the year but that we will remain at a higher level than before the 1000 Books program began. I will be discussing ideas to bolster circulation with the Children’s Department.
5. Retained Earnings in Endowment Report. Trustee Eisen asked for clarification of this line of the Endowment report at the last meeting. This line is created automatically by the QuickBooks software. Because we do not do Retained Earnings, it has no impact on our funds. The negative number showed that we did not have any positive Retained Earnings remaining after the poor couple of interest earning years we have had.
6. Battery Bill. At the last meeting Trustee Eisen requested information on a bill from Interstate Battery of Green Bay. The $94.95 was for a battery for the back-up sump pump in the air handler room in the basement.
7. Library Budget Process. In my evaluation last year, interest was expressed in having the budget process reviewed in the spring. I have created a document that gives months of the year where budget steps usually occur. I emphasize that these are approximations. Some may happen slightly earlier or later depending on the year.
8. Winter Reading Program for Teens and Adults. The adult winter reading program was held during the month of February. There were weekly winners drawn from slips that any adult or teen checking out books could fill out. A total of 453 entries were counted this year. That is down from 578 slips last year.
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
9. Roll Over Funds. After consulting with the city comptroller, the library has a roll over amount of $25,068. It is this high because the city had asked us to try to be very conservative in our spending in 2009. That was before we knew of the roll-over law. My recommendation is that we spend $20,000 on two machines to help remedy a situation at our circulation desks where staff are complaining of shoulder and arm aches and fatigue from running items over the blocks that desensitize the items. 3M sells a machine that will allow us to eliminate that motion from the process. It is already in use at the Neenah Public Library. Their staff recommends the machine. I have spoken about this with City HR, and they believe that the situation is serious enough that it should be addressed before any workman’s compensation is warranted due to it. I would also propose that the remaining $5,068 be put into a capital fund for the library designated for a new roof. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve the roll over amount of $25,068 be used for two circulation machines and the remainder placed into a capital fund for a new roof.
10. Policy Correction, Chapter I. One of the changes recommended by Trustee Eisen at the board meeting in February turns out to be referencing the wrong statute. Chapter I, Section D needs to changed back to “residents of the county” rather than “residents of the towns adjacent to the city.” REQUESTED ACTION: Approve the correction to Chapter I.
11. Policy Changes, Chapters 4 & 5. The Policies and Personnel Committee met on March 12th and have some recommended changes to the library policies Chapters 4 and 5. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve changes to the library policies as recommended.
12. Trustee Essentials #16. Kathy Wicihowski will lead us through Trustee Essential #16 on public records law. Gary Wisneski will lead us in May through Essential #17.
