MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING
ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES
June 19, 2008
Call to order at 4:32 p.m. by vice president Stanke.
Present: Eckstein, Eisen, Englebert, Enos, Foth, Stanke, Werley
Absent: Fuchs
Also present: Director Saecker, J. Bongers (Head of Adult & Technical Services), K. Seefeldt (Administrative Assistant)
Authorization of Bills
1. Motion to authorize payment of the June list of bills from the 2008 budget by Werley, seconded by Eisen and carried unanimously.
Consent Business
2. Approve minutes from the Library Board meeting of May 15, 2008.
Motion
Motion to approve the minutes from the Library Board meeting of May 15, 2008 by Eisen, seconded by Enos, and carried unanimously.
Director's Report/Information Items
3. Statistics. Statistics continue to rise. May lending was up 23.6% overall from last year. Adult book circulation was up 10%, while children's books had an increase of 43.5%. Our efforts to provide creative programming continue to have a positive impact on circulation.
4. Anniversary. Ruth German, Technical Services librarian assistant, recently celebrated her 35th anniversary here at the library.
5. Donations. Fox River Valley Ice Hockey Officials donated $200 for meeting room use.
6. New Board Members. Mayor Merkes nominated John Nebel and Elizabeth Derouin to fill our Board vacancies.
7. Endowment Report. The Endowment report for the first quarter of 2008 was distributed to Board members. Director Saecker reported that she will investigate the pricing of a self-check machine when she attends the American Library Association Conference. The machine would relieve some of the workload the Circulation Department is experiencing due to the increase in circulation.
Helen Englebert joined the meeting at 4:39 p.m.
8. Sunday Hours. Circulation statistics for Sundays during the first 5 months of 2008 were distributed. Our average Sunday circulation was 692 with an average hourly circulation of 173 items. These statistics indicate that the community is responding well to Sunday service hours.
9. Department Head Exemption Letters. Exemption status letters have been sent to each of the department heads noting Administrative Exemption. The City has also been notified of this change. The exemptions will go into effect on July 1, 2008.
10. Picturing America. We received a federal grant for this program. The Library will receive copies of famous works of art and staff will design programming to promote an understanding of the artwork.
11. CCBC Advisory Board. Director Saecker has been asked to serve on the Cooperative Children's Book Center Advisory Board for a 3 year term.
12. Memorial Day Parade. Friends of the Library, library staff, and staff family members participated in the parade. Miron graciously provided a truck for us to use. We plan to take part in the parade again next year and may participate in other community events throughout the summer and fall.
13. Trustee Workshops. Winnefox Library System is offering a workshop for Trustees on Thursday, June 26 at 5:30 p.m. at Fond du Lac Public Library. Board members were encouraged to attend.
Discussion/Action Items
14. 2009 Holiday Closings. Director Saecker presented a proposed list of library holiday closing for 2009 for the Board's consideration. An explanation was provided for the three-day closings on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.
Motion
Motion to approve the list of holiday closings for 2009 as presented by Enos, seconded by Werley, and carried unanimously.
15. Board Nominating Committee. Werley, Stanke and Eisen volunteered to serve on the Nomination Committee for board officers. They will present their recommendations for the positions of president, vice president and secretary at the July meeting.
• Eisen shared an article entitled Libraries: Partners in Sustaining Communities, which had recently been published in Public Management Magazine. The role of public libraries outlined in the article mirrors our new long range plan vision and mission statements.
• Eisen also shared an article from the May 19th edition of the Post Crescent which featured a story on reading programs that will be available this summer at area libraries.
• Eisen asked Director Saecker to include Menasha Library Board's working relationship with the WLS Board as a future agenda item. He requested clarification of the responsibilities of citizen representatives on that Board.
• Eisen also requested that our newly adopted Long Range Plan be added as a future agenda item. He recommended that the Board review and discuss the document. Recommended revisions to the document include adding the names of the Long Range Planning Committee members and adding the date the document was adopted by the Library Board.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn the meeting at 4:59 p.m. by Werley, seconded by Englebert, and carried unanimously.
Future meeting dates
The next regular board meeting will be held in the Gegan Room on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 4:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Charlotte Foth, Secretary
Kris Seefeldt, recording secretary
