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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Ames Public Library Board of Trustees Minutes of the Regular Meeting 01/18/2018 Ames Public Library Board of Trustees Minutes of the Regular Meeting January 18, 2018 The Ames Public Library (APL) Board of Trustees met in regular session on Thursday, January 18, 2018, in the Dale H. Ross Board Room, 515 Douglas Avenue, with Barchman, Briese, Butler, Glatz, Kluesner, Linch, Marshall, and Rohret in attendance. Acker was excused. Library Director Carey was also present. Call to Order: Board Vice President Glatz called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The Board had been listening to an online keynote address by Lance Werner on The Value of Personal Relationships in Advocacy, which was offered by the State Library of Iowa as a trustee training opportunity. He asked whether the trustees would like to continue listening, but a show of hands indicated unanimous agreement to exit the session and commence with the evening’s business. Consent Agenda: Moved by Linch, seconded by Butler, to approve the following items on the consent agenda: 1) Resolution approving donations from: a) From Dale & Arlene Christensen ............................................................. $40.00 b) From Worldly Goods for Project Smyles .............................................. $261.75 c) From Ames Coin Club for books on coin collecting ............................ $350.00 d) In memory of Marilyn Jorgensen from Annie Nordaas .......................... $50.00 2) Motion approving minutes of the regular meeting of December 21, 2017 3) Motion approving payment of claims 12/1/2017 – 12/31/2017 Vote on Motion: 7-0. Carried unanimously. Resolution No. 2018-L001 adopted. Public Forum: None. Second Quarter FY18 Financial Reports: Trustee Briese stated that the committee looked at operational expenditures, which are trending as expected, and discussed how best to bring information to the rest of the Board. Trustee Kluesner noted that the committee looks at the reports on a detailed level, but is interested in finding out if there are any “best practices” in library reporting that provide the Board with adequate information to fulfill its responsibilities without being overwhelmed with everything that is reviewed at the committee level. Trustee Glatz said that he does look at the reports and would appreciate having notes from the committee, either verbally or on the document, that indicate the most significant aspects or any matters that may be worthy of attention. Briese noted that many of the reports are prepared by the City, which houses the financial system, and said the committee also talked about the possibility of including something about the City’s role in managing the finances and the relationship between the two bodies in a future board education session. Carey said that she attended a Story County Community Foundation presentation which featured a Certified Public Accountant who talked about financial reports. She asked about best practices for sharing information with boards. The recommendation is to have a Budget and Finance Committee that does the “deep dive” and then “reports light” to the rest of the board on a regular basis. The other suggestion is to have periodic education sessions. She acknowledged that there is a delicate balance; the trustees are fiscal stewards for the Library, but the Library has the full backing of the City, which has a lot of checks and balances in place. 2 The question is how much to share before people’s eyes glaze over while ensuring that everyone feels comfortable doing the job they’ve been asked to do. Future Needs Fund: Kluesner spoke about the various funds the library keeps track of, and said the committee proposes setting aside some funds that have been donated without specific requests for future needs. Moved by the Budget and Finance Committee to adopt a resolution establishing a Future Needs Fund in the Donations Account by consolidating:  $90,476 in unrestricted bequest funds accumulated over many years, with  $38,395 in unspent funds from the $1,000,000 pledged to the Library Renewal Project on July 21, 2011, and  $49,655 received from the estate of Mary Beth Henney in 2016. The Future Needs Fund thus established in the amount of $178,526 shall be reserved for future purposes. Expenditure will require a vote of the Board. When asked if this option would change any possibilities for investing the funds, Carey replied in the negative—funds that have been received by the Library are held for the Library’s use and invested by the City. Some donations, however, are made to the Ames Public Library Friends Foundation (APLFF), which has the ability to invest differently. Kluesner pointed out that the three small funds (Tommy Feinberg Memorial Fund, Ruth Shaw Gilman Children’s Literature Endowment, and Gladys Smith Endowment) are kept separate because their use is restricted. He said the committee has asked for some documentation on what stands behind those and may consult with the City Attorney to see if they can be managed differently. In the meantime, the committee would like to simplify matters by consolidating these donations, which are all unrestricted. Carey added that she believes there is merit in treating an unrestricted gift of significant size differently; people don’t expect it to be frittered away and setting it aside for something bigger is a nice way to honor it. Vote on Motion: 7-0. Approved unanimously. Resolution No. 2018-L002 adopted. Ames Public Library Friends Foundation (APLFF) Report: Library Director Carey stated that the board heard from all committees; looked at the Library Board’s request for reallocation of current year funding, and accepted it; and discussed the April 15 Author Café, where Rehka Basu and Kathie Obradovich will interview each other. Carey said that fundraising going well, despite a glitch that delayed the mailing, and the goal for the budget has been met. APLFF is moving forward with updates to its website. Carey stated that some directors’ terms will be expiring soon and invited the trustees to make recommendations for persons to fill the positions. Director Evaluation Committee: Trustee Rohret said the committee met last week to prepare for the process and plans to send out questionnaires to get feedback this month. He asked if there were any objections to using an electronic survey and there were not. Rohret said that the committee expects to keep all the questions used previously, but would like to add questions for non-library staff to capture more information about the job itself and the Director’s different spheres of responsibility. It was noted that the Director’s General Job Duties, which is a policy document, is a different document than the job description used for recruiting. Briese asked if there is an evaluation as part of the City of Ames process that incorporates the general duties. Carey said there is not; the City process looks at the Excellence Through People 3 values: customer service, fiscal stewardship, human resource management, relationships within the organization, etc. It is more general and has no relationship to individual job descriptions. Administrative Staff Report: Carey said that Mayor Haila will be is looking for new members to serve on City boards and commissions and would be interested in knowing if the trustees have any recommendations for new Library Board members. Three terms expire this year; two trustees are eligible for reappointment. Carey spoke next about staffing. Employees in new positions include:  Ray Johnson, who was recently hired as a Librarian in Adult Services and has stepped in to help analyze database usage;  Nathaniel Pleasants, formerly a half-time Clerk, who has accepted a three-quarter-time Library Assistant position; and  Amy Boldman, who moved up from half-time Clerk to half-time Library Assistant. Carey said recruitment will now begin to fill the two vacated Clerk positions. There are also openings for Library Aides, Project Smiles Presenters, Small Talk Parent Educators, and the Small Talk Childcare position, which is being revised. The Library’s budget is moving through the City process and Carey said she had word that the City Manager approved the addition of a half-time Marketing Assistant position, effective July 1, 2018. Staff is now working to get everything in order so a new person can start at that time. Carey stated that there will be several programs at Iowa State University this semester that APLFF is co-sponsoring with the Committee on Lectures.  Bryan Stevenson will present on campus on January 29; a discussion of his work Just Mercy will be held at APL on January 24.  Winona LaDuke will talk about food security on Wednesday, March 28.  Roxane Gaye will appear on Thursday, April 5. Along with her presentation, the APL Program Team is planning a daylong symposium called Talk Feminism. Carey said that Nikki Port, from the ISU Office of Diversity, will moderate a panel that includes Kirsten Anderson, the woman who filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the Iowa State Senate; Monic Behnken, a member of the Ames School Board; and Mindy McGuinness, a Young Adult author who will also be making presentations in the Ames schools and for teens at the Library. Additional panelists are being sought.  Paolo Bacigalupi, is scheduled on Tuesday, April 17. His presentation, Writing Science Fiction Thrillers in The Age of Climate Change, is eagerly anticipated by the teens and the Teen Librarian. Carey said APL is also working on partnering with other Central Iowa libraries to bring in children’s picture book author Patricia Polacco and a there are a lot of activities coming up for Black History Month. Staff Development Day is being planned for Monday, February 19, when the Library will be closed to the public, but staff reports for duty. She outlined the day’s schedule and invited the trustees to attend. Carey said APL has been hosting a lot of libraries making site visits--representatives from both Ankeny and Sioux City visited recently. Staff is working on making the summer free lunch program even better next summer, and the Ames Police Department is interested in 4 collaborating on some activities. That department very much understands how literacy impacts success in later life and has a lot of shared goals with the Library. The Person in Charge (PIC) Group had a presentation earlier in the day on library service to homeless populations, which Librarian Cathy Cooney will present to the Board next month. She said staff will move forward with some of the recommendations that came out of the morning’s conversations. Circulation statistics for December 2017 were down 6.5% as compared to December 2016. Carey said the change was almost all attributable to fewer check-outs of media (DVDs and audiobooks) and the difference isn’t made up for by the electronic versions of those formats. Circulation for this fiscal year is down 2% overall, but program statistics still look very good. Glatz remarked that streaming services are in direct competition with the media categories. When asked how Hoopla was doing, Carey said that it’s doing so well that the budget request for next year was increased for it. She said it doesn’t offer the hottest new things, but people are finding out about it. There is a usage cap on it at this point, since it’s a “pay as you go” and “pay per circ” service and the price varies depending on an item’s popularity. Eventually, it may be possible to loosen up the limit on how much each person can check out. Board Education: Glatz invited discussion about the State Library’s continuing education presentation, The Value of Personal Relationships in Advocacy. Carey said that she attends Ames Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours and Legislative Update Luncheons on a regular basis and City Council Meetings on occasion. She said she would be happy to have any of the trustees accompany her; she finds these to be good ways to keep in contact with elected officials and develop relationships. When asked if she saw a role for the trustees, Carey recommended that they express thanks for the support the Library has received from the County Board of Supervisors, City management and City Council. Fortunately, she said, there are no burning issues requiring library advocacy at the state level right now, but it never hurts to thank those officials, as well. Circulation and Customer Accounts Policy: Moved by Barchman , seconded by Rohret, to adopt a resolution approving revisions to the Circulation and Customer Accounts Policy as presented/ amended. Vote on Motion (as presented): 8-0. Approved unanimously. Resolution No. 2018- L003 adopted. Library Fines and Charges: Moved by Marshall, seconded by Briese, to retain Library Fines and Charges without changes. Vote on Motion: 8-0 (unanimous). Appointment of Nominating Committee: Glatz said that Acker and Butler will comprise this year’s committee. They will present a slate of candidates for office at the February meeting so that new officers may be elected and installed in March. Trustee Comments: Kluesner stated that his family and grandchildren recently spent time in the Youth Department, attended a storytime, and played at the Wow Wall. He said it was very enjoyable and he extended kudos to the staff. Butler said her granddaughter also exclaimed over the Wow Wall and remarked on how fascinating all children find the Little Theater. 5 Glatz said he hoped the trustees had gained something from the video presentation at 6:30. Adjournment: Moved by Butler, seconded by Rohret, to adjourn at 7:48 p.m. Vote on Motion: 7-0 (unanimous). The next regular meeting will be on Thursday, February 15, 2018, at 7:00 p.m., in the Dale H. Ross Board Room, Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Avenue.