Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Ames Public Library Board of Trustees Minutes of the Regular Meeting 05/24/2018 Ames Public Library Board of Trustees Minutes of the Regular Meeting May 24, 2018 The Ames Public Library (APL) Board of Trustees met in regular session on Thursday, May 24, 2018 in the Dale H. Ross Board Room, 515 Douglas Avenue, with Barchman, Glatz, Kluesner, Linch, Marshall, and Raman in attendance. Briese, Butler, and Wang were excused. Library Director Carey and Librarians Tracy Briseño, Cathy Cooney, Mary Logsdon, and Danielle Ziegler were also present. Call to Order: Board President Glatz called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Consent Agenda: Moved by Kluesner , seconded by Marshall, to approve the following items on the consent agenda: 1) Resolution accepting donations: a) In memory of Evon Bailey from Marlys Ladd ............................................... $10.00 2) Motion approving minutes of the Regular Meeting of April 19, 2018 3) Motion approving minutes of the Executive Committee meeting on April 24, 2018 4) Motion approving payment of claims from 4/1/18 – 4/30/18 Vote on Motion: 5-0. Approved unanimously. Resolution No. 2018-L015 adopted. Public Forum: None. Ames Public Library Friends Foundation (APLFF) Report: Trustee Glatz reported that APLFF’s fundraising has exceeded the budgeted goal. It was reported that in 2017 over $232,000 was raised and there were 775 donors. Glatz said the Board looked at a draft budget for next year, which included the Library’s wish list. A deficit is projected next year, but APLFF has strong reserves and the money is there for the benefit of the library, so the Board is willing to expend it as needed. Director Carey reported on the innovation projects that were funded and Glatz said the Board was pleased with them. The Teen Advisory Group is working on a disco event taking place June 1 and a 5K hero/villain running event in August, and elected new co- presidents. The Fundraising Committee reported that the last Author Café brought in nearly $4,000. The next one, on October 14, will feature two poets. Glatz added that the Library will be hosting a keynote event for a slam poetry conference on October 13 that will star Papi Slam. Carey added that a new director, Sharon Drake, was voted in and Steve Sullivan has taken over as President. The nominating committee is seeking to fill two positions. Administrative Staff Report: Carey spoke about personnel, including the retirement of Betty Young at the end of May; upcoming interviews for a half-time Customer Account Services Clerk and the new Community Engagement Specialist; and posting of the half- time Library Marketing Assistant position. In addition, Carey said that two Human Relations Interns were hired and interviews are being conducted for additional teen and youth services summer interns and for an intern to manage book sales and the book store. Carey reported that the research requirements have been completed for the original Small Talk grants, but some comparison studies are still going on. More participants than ever (18) have registered for the new sessions, even though they are no longer being compensated, and staff is happy to be able to talk about the program results, now that the potential of skewing the research no longer exists. Carey said the Small Talk staff has secured permission to use unspent grant money to purchase devices that could be checked out to library customers. She 2 is not yet sure how they would be used, but the Library will continue to have a relationship with the LENA Foundation. The anonymous grantor has also agreed to let APL continue on until all the grant funds are depleted, as long as some new information is being gathered. The Board expressed interest in knowing some of the research results. A reception was held on May 16, at which artist Stewart Buck gave a presentation about the pastel he created for the Heritage Room. He discussed his artistic process and included history of the Dinkey and Iowa State University in his presentation. Carey distributed fliers about the Summer Reading Program and spoke about the Summer Lunch Program. She said the Person In Charge (PIC) Team recently had a speaker who discussed human trafficking and taught the team how to observe and properly report issues. She said teenagers, recent immigrants and other vulnerable people are often present in libraries, and there has been an uptick in incidents recently. The Ames Police are very willing to help, if necessary, and Adult Services staff is developing a way to track and compare trends. Carey stated that a change of date for the August meeting will be requested next month because the regular meeting falls on the same day APLFF would like to hold its Pub Fiction event. The planning team feels it’s important to hold the event before ISU students are back and the third Thursday seems to be the optimum date. The 2016/17 Annual Report was distributed. Carey complimented Tracy Briseño and Jillian Ocken for pulling the data together into a pleasing design. Carey said that while the primary audience is Library stakeholders such as elected City and County Officials, the APLFF Development Director uses the brochure in discussions with potential donors and Carey herself uses it when making presentations in the community. Public Library Association (PLA) Conference Reports: Librarians Mary Logsdon, Danielle Ziegler, Tracy Briseño, and Cathy Cooney spoke about the PLA Conference that they attended in March. They met prior to departing to determine which events each of them would attend, looking for broad topics related to the Library’s strategic plan initiatives. During the conference, they also met daily to share ideas and reassess their plans. The four attended a variety of activities, vendor exhibits, program sessions, and ―spark talks‖—five-minute, fast-paced, elevator-speech type presentations. Each of the women spoke about some of the programs they attended, as well as some ideas and practices they brought back to implement at APL. All four of the librarians were pleased to find that APL is already doing many of the activities that were being promoted. They agreed that APL’s focus on community engagement and the partnerships established by both the Youth Services and Adult Services departments are on par with many of the best libraries. The librarians also shared information about new services and tools they learned about and that are now being implemented at APL or might be considered in the future. Collections Policy: Moved by Raman, seconded by Kluesner, to adopt a resolution approving revisions to the Collections Policy. Carey said only change proposed by staff was to remove the criteria that applied only to electronic resources, which is not as important now as it was when they first came out. Staff was asked how they determine which materials fit the public demand. The librarians explained that there is a review process in place. Staff members read review journals and 3 sometimes work with vendors who employ librarians who stay on top of what is coming out and has broad appeal. Requests from the public are evaluated to determine if the items should be purchased or obtained through interlibrary loan. Staff is able to analyze what materials are being sought and can see if searches are being conducted for items the Library doesn’t have. Hold reports are also generated weekly and more copies of materials are purchased if demand builds up to a certain level in the hold queue. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Approved unanimously. Resolution No. 2018-L016 adopted. Confidentiality and Library User Records: Carey stated that staff would like to make a few changes and will start looking at other libraries’ policies next week. The trustees were asked to let Carey know if they see anything that needs to be addressed. There was some discussion about photography in the Library. Carey explained that APL used to have a photo release form; however, legal counsel at the City discourages the practice because it might give persons a false sense of security. Staff members do keep aware of who is in the building and try to observe who may be taking photos. When asked about network security, Carey stated that the Library contracts with an outside firm that supports the Systems Administrator and they are vigilant in guarding against threats of intrusion. During discussion about how reading recommendations are made, Carey said that the catalog connects search parameters to various items in the collections, but searches are not tied back to individual customers. It was also noted that borrower records contain real time information about what a person has checked out, but the data is not retained after the items are returned. If items are not returned or there is illegal activity, however, confidentiality is not guaranteed while the Library attempts to recover materials or collect charges. Strategic Plan Review: Staff explained that to incorporate the suggestions offered by the Board in April, the Manager’s Team had:  extended the plan to cover 2016 through 2019;  added APL’s mission statement across the bottom of the front cover;  added a line which reads: ―Utilize best practices related to diversity, inclusion, and multiculturalism‖ on page three, in the list of actions that fall under all activities;  color coded the tasks, using green to signify that a task has been implemented (although work is not necessarily stopping) and if a task was considered, but ultimately decided against (and is therefore finished). Yellow shading indicates tasks that are in progress and red represents tasks that remain to be pursued. Briseño noted that 477 tasks were listed in the original plan. Of those, 206 (43%) have been completed and 174 (37%) are currently in progress, which means that 97 (20%) of them are left to be tackled in the upcoming year. Carey said that activities are shown in the Phases identified on pages 26-28. They were not color-coded because each activity contains a variety of tasks. She said some review and revision may be needed in that section and in the quarterly timeline. As a next step, it was agreed that staff should look at the things in red, decide which are not worth doing and which need additional resources, then prioritize them and assign them to the quarterly timeline in order to move forward in a strategic way. Moved by Barchman, seconded by Kluesner to table action on the Strategic Plan until next month, when additional details and wording for a motion will be provided. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Approved unanimously. 4 FY18 Budget Amendments: Moved by Marshall, seconded by Barchman, to adopt a resolution approving budget amendments in the amount of $33,575 for fiscal year 2017/18 as submitted by staff. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Approved unanimously. Resolution No. 2018-L017 adopted. Contract for Website Redesign: Moved by Linch, seconded by Barchman, to adopt a resolution approving the contract for Ames Public Library Website Redesign as presented by Library Market on May 9, 2018, in the amount of $29,000. Glatz noted that staff had been given the go-ahead to negotiate this contract and now an amount has been agreed on. Carey said the Legal Department approved the contract and the anticipated ―go-live date‖ is November 12. Vote on Motion: 5-0. (Unanimous approval.) Resolution No. 2018-L018 adopted. FY19 Request for APLFF Funding: Moved by Kluesner, seconded by Raman, to adopt a resolution requesting that Ames Public Library Friends Foundation provide funding in the amount of $168,200 for fiscal year 2018/19 for the following purposes:  Programming ............................................................................$56,700.00  Incentives and Promotions ....................................................... $1,000.00  Collections ................................................................................$31,500.00  Project Smyles ..........................................................................$36,000.00  Community Engagement Position ...........................................$33,000.00  Innovations ...............................................................................$10,000.00 Carey spoke about some of the new requests, noting that the APLFF Directors seemed pleased about the enhancements they are able to support. Carey was asked to express thanks to them on behalf of the Board. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Approved unanimously. Resolution No. 2018-L019 adopted. FY19 APLFF Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): Moved by Kluesner, seconded by Raman, to adopt a resolution approving the Memorandum of Understanding with Ames Public Library Friends Foundation for Fiscal Year 2018/19. Carey explained that the MOU is an annual contract that covers the cost of staff support, facilities, and communications--items APLFF would have to purchase if its operations were located elsewhere—to ensure that public funds are not spent on a private corporation. She said the cost is based on actual costs and staff time dedicated the previous year plus raises. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Approved unanimously. Resolution No. 2018-L020 adopted. FY19 OCLC Subscription Renewals: Moved by Barchman, seconded by Linch, to adopt a resolution approving renewal of OCLC Subscription Services for fiscal year 2018/19 in the amount of $31,206.94. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Approved unanimously. Resolution No. 2018-L021 adopted. 5 Trustee Comments: Trustees Marshall remarked that she was very pleased about a recent very nice and helpful call from a library employee named Joan. Glatz stated that he and Carey will be meeting with Brian Phillips to discuss the process of recruiting a new Library Director. He said trustee involvement will be needed and asked the trustees to let him know how much involvement they are willing or interested in having. Glatz said he hoped to have a timeline at next month’s meeting. Adjournment: Moved by Barchman, seconded by Marshall, to adjourn at 8:36 p.m. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion carried unanimously. The next regular meeting will be on Thursday, June 21, 2018, at 7:00 p.m., in the Dale H. Ross Board Room, Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Avenue.