HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Ames Public Library Board of Trustees Minutes of the Regular Meeting 03/07/2013Ames Public Library Board of Trustees
Meeting Minutes
March 7, 2013
The Ames Public Library (APL) Board of Trustees met on Thursday, March 7, 2013, in the City
Council Chambers, 515 Clark Avenue, with Acker, Budd, Campbell, Meier, Rawlins, Schill, and
Stow in attendance. Trustees Bradley and Manus were excused. Interim Director Carey was
also present.
Call to Order: Board President Stow called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m., noting that the
February 21 meeting had been postponed because of weather.
Consent Agenda: Moved by Acker, seconded by Budd, to adopt a resolution approving the
consent agenda:
1) Donations
a) From Stacy Egland, in-kind donation of a gift card .............................................. $50.00
b) From Matt and Shelly Meinhard for the library collection .................................... $70.00
c) From Thelma and Marvin Miller ............................................................................ $500.00
d) From Linn and Ann Wilbur ...................................................................................... $50.00
e) From Worldly Goods for Project Smyles ............................................................. $261.60
f) In honor of Jerri Heid, from the Ames Chapter #733 of Women of the Moose .... $50.00
g) In memory of Leonard E. Bergman from Alan and Connie Bergman ................ $100.00
h) In memory of Katie Finn Milleman from Vikki Morain ........................................... $20.00
2) Minutes of the regular meeting of January 17, 2013
3) Claims Report 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013
Vote on Motion: 6-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted.
Public Forum: None.
Activity Reports:
Staff Report - Interim Library Director Carey updated the Board on staff changes at the library,
noting that Emilyn Linden was hired to fill the vacant Librarian position and will start March 18,
and Library Assistant Barb Cobb submitted her resignation and will retire at the end of April.
A successful Staff Development Day was held February 18. Staff learned a lot and enjoyed the
opportunity for fellowship. Carey thanked Trustee Meier for presenting the library years of
service awards over the lunch hour.
Carey was a presenter at an Iowa Library Association Leadership Development Day in
February, along with former APL Director Gina Milsap, on the topic of community engagement.
Another former APL Director, Sally Reid, invited Carey to be on a panel discussing the
effectiveness of Friends and Foundations at the 2013 American Library Association Conference.
A suggestion made by Trustee Acker to use flags at the crosswalk in front of the library entrance
has been implemented. Carey said the flags draw attention to the crosswalk, even when they
are not in use.
Carey complimented Network Services Administrator Mark Harris for his continuing attempts to
resolve problems with the self-check machines. She said the vendor is supposed to present
potential solutions next Tuesday. Responding to an inquiry from Trustee Stow, Carey confirmed
that the library has not paid for the equipment.
Agenda Item 2
The co-sponsorship arrangement between APL and Des Moines Area Community College
(DMACC) for an adult literacy program is being discontinued. Carey said that DMACC has
provided the paid staff person and APL has provided all other support for at least 20 years.
DMACC is now withdrawing its support, but literacy pairs currently have work in progress. Carey
has determined that the coordinator’s hours can be worked into APL staffing levels, so the
coordinator, Melinda Thach, will continue on. She will also look at tailoring the program to meet
needs of this community.
The library is starting to offer more of its programming again. Chinese, Japanese, Russian,
Arabic, and German story times are taking place at the library on Saturdays, and on the first
Friday evening in March nearly 200 people attended “Bookland,”an after-hours program for ESL
learners. Although space is limited in the temporary location, APL has been able to
accommodate these programs. Carey mentioned three programs taking place off-site in the
current week—fifth grade Battle of the Books at Ames Middle School, Ames Reads Leopold at
the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and International Women’s Day at Somerset Clubhouse.
She said it was exciting to be able to continue offering these programs by having APL partners
host them. Carey added that the Teen Advisory Group has been having a lot of fun under Tanvi
Rostogi’s leadership and has decided to meet twice a month.
Trustee Rawlins asked if any thought had been given to putting additional book drops in front of
the temporary library. She has seen three or four cars lined up at a time and felt that might be a
safety concern. Stow said he had heard others mention that problem. Carey said that when the
issues of placement, getting materials into the building, staffing levels, and snow removal were
considered, there did not appear to be an easy way to manage remote book drops. She
expressed willingness to look into the matter further.
Ames Public Library Friends Foundation (APLFF) Report - Trustee Acker said the APLFF
adopted a Conflict of Interest Policy, Volunteer Confidentiality Policy, Endowment Funding
Policy, and a Donor Bill of Rights during its meeting on February 14.
Library Building Project Update:
Narrative Report – Carey invited the Library Board to participate in a walk-through of the 515
Douglas construction site at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 21. Staff will also be invited.
The Building Project Committee met a few weeks ago and decided to pay for photo
documentation throughout the construction phase, in lieu of receiving as-built drawings at the
end of the project. Carey explained that the documentation would allow a person to click on the
architectural drawings in the years to come and see a photo of the interior of the wall before the
sheetrock was installed. The library will receive a complete set of drawings with the contractor’s
notations when construction was done, anyway, but would not pay to have them digitized.
The Building Project Committee also talked about putting up some signage for the jobsite and
directed Carey to order one or two informational signs about the project and the temporary
location.
Carey said the City Council held a discussion about the construction staging area last month
because the First United Methodist Church had expressed some concerns about its location.
The Council determined that the City parking lot west of the library and south of the former rain
garden was the best location, but some mesh cover will be placed on the north side of the fence
in order to improve the aesthetics when the site is seen from the church.
Agenda Item 2
Carey showed some photos of work that has been done at the library since December on
hazardous materials abatement and interior demolition. She noted that the Samuels Group is
being very careful and doing an excellent job of recycling almost everything being removed.
Project Cost Summary – Carey stated that the cost of construction documentation ($25,000)
has been added back into the summary. An amount was included in the purchase order, but it
had not been shown in the cost summary recently. Other changes include a reduction to $5,000
for the cost of moving to the temporary facility and an increase in the amount of cash on hand,
which includes a recent transfer of $50,000 from the APLFF.
Acker asked how the photo documentation process worked and wondered if it would be as
comprehensive as necessary. Carey said the company will come in every two weeks and take
photos of each wall from the same angle in order to document progress, and a comprehensive
shoot will be done before the sheetrock goes up. Stow said that the Building Project Committee
reviewed some information and felt photographic documentation would make it easier to locate
and resolve problems that might arise down the road. Carey said the architects, the construction
advisor, and the library’s building maintenance supervisor all support the purchase of
photographic documentation. Carey said that the library’s network services administrator
believes the software being used will be supported in the future. Dean McCormack also
provided positive feedback and indicated that the methodology is being used at Iowa State.
Library Renovation Project Financial Report – Carey pointed out that the Kinney-Lindstrom
grant is now included in the report.
Policy Review:
Director Performance Evaluation - Moved by Campbell, seconded by Acker, to adopt a
resolution approving changes to the Director Performance Evaluation Policy,
effective April 1, 2013, as presented/amended.
Stow acknowledged the persons involved in the review of this policy and invited questions.
Rawlins noticed that the revised policy allowed each Director Evaluation Committee (DEC) to
develop its own method; she wondered about the rationale for that and about how consistency
would be possible from year to year. Trustee Meier said the committee looked into what other
libraries do, and many of them let their evaluation committees determine the process; there is a
basic guide in the Trustee handbook issued by the State Library. Carey added that APL itself
has used a variety of methods in the past—small group discussions, interviews, and written
tools, for example—and it seemed reasonable to let each DEC determine which method it felt
was most appropriate.
Vote on Resolution as presented: 6-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution
declared adopted.
Bylaws, Library Board of Trustees - Moved by Acker, seconded by Schill, to adopt a
resolution approving changes to the Bylaws, Board of Trustees, as
presented/amended.
Stow again acknowledged the ad hoc committee that had worked on this. Rawlins mentioned
that she had suggested one more update that pertained to paragraph 3 in Article II. Stow said
staff was working on it and would bring the changes back at another meeting.
Vote on Resolution as presented: 6-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution
adopted.
Agenda Item 2
Donations - Moved by Meier, seconded by Campbell, to adopt a resolution approving
changes to the Donations Policy as presented/amended.
Carey said that when the Friends Foundation was working its policy on volunteer confidentiality,
staff realized that the library’s policies only addressed confidentiality with respect to borrower
records, so an update was needed to cover donations.
Vote on Resolution: 6-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted.
Meeting Rooms - Moved by Acker, seconded by Meier, to adopt a resolution suspending
the Meeting Rooms Policy while operations are conducted from the temporary
premises at 620 Lincoln Way.
Carey said the library is making space available, to the extent possible, for programs it
sponsors, but cannot accommodate other community groups’ programs or meetings right now.
Vote on Resolution: 6-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted.
Nominating Committee Report: On behalf of the committee (herself and Rawlins), Meier
presented the slate for the upcoming election: Kevin Stow for President, Al Campbell for
Vice President, and Jane Acker for Secretary. All three have accepted nomination.
Trustee Comments:
Meier said that the best thing about presenting the years of service awards was being able to
express the Board’s appreciation to the library staff for all the work accomplished this year.
Rawlins stated that she and her husband recently gave a tour of Ames to an ISU recruit, and
they were happy to be able to give a high recommendation for the library, in spite of the fact that
it is in a temporary space. She thanked Carey and the library staff for making that possible.
Campbell thanked Carey for her ongoing work and Thompson for her assistance with the
bylaws review.
Budd expressed thanks to APL’s staff and leaders; he has been hearing good things from
community and seeing many smiles in the library these days.
Acker thanked the members of the circulation staff, who consistently exhibit kindness and
patience as they continue to deal with equipment problems.
Stow said he appreciated the slide show and looks forward to the opportunity to tour the
construction zone. He noted that Sam Schill’s term of service will up at the end of March and a
new trustee will join the Board in April. He also announced that Laura Rawlins and her husband
will be moving this summer, so the May meeting will be her last.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned by consensus at 7:45 p.m.
The next regular meeting will be on Thursday, March 21, 2013, at 7:00 p.m., in the City Council
Chambers, 515 Clark Avenue.
____________________________________
___________________________________
Karen C. Thompson, Administrative Assistant Laura Rawlins, Secretary of the Board
Agenda Item 2