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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-10-08 MinutesFayetteville Public Library Board of Trustees Special Meeting Thursday, October 8, 1998 Minutes Trustees present were M. Thomas, S. Singleton, M. Lawrence, M. Roberts, M. Goff, L. Brewer, L. Gottsponer. Staff present were L. Schaper, C. Rew. Also present were visitors: Keith Davenport of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Carl Koffler of the Washington County Library Board, and ORL's Talking Books librarian, Rachel Ames. I. The meeting was brought to order at 4:08 p.m. II. M. Thomas explained the reason for the meeting. He had attended the Springdale Library Board meeting the previous day. The SPL Board unanimously passed a motion to recommend to the Washington County Library Board that Washington County separate from the Ozarks Regional Library System and form a Washington County Library system. After much discussion, the following motion was made by M. Roberts: It Is recommended that the Washington County Library Board proceed with negotiations to separate Washington and Crawford County Libraries, with an objective to operate as a Washington County Library Network, including the rural libraries of Washington County. Crawford County and Rogers will be encouraged to participate as contract members. M. Goff seconded the motion. Additional discussion followed. M. Thomas called the vote and all voted aye. III. Other discussion included the issue brought forward by C. Koffier at the SPL Board meeting regarding the policy of the urban libraries to disallow holds of new materials by other libraries. He had heard from some rural librarians that this was a problem for them. SPL Initiated this practice first, then RPL, then FPL. The result is, for example, Fayetteville Public Library new books can onty be reserved by Fayetteville customers. If on the shelf, anyone can check them out. L. Schaper has no problem easing these restrictions if SPL followed suit and improved selection procedures were put into place by ORL for the rural libraries. Schaper does not want to have its new books raided by other libraries and then not have them available to Fayetteville citizens. IV. A short discussion about the Talking Books operation took place with M. Thomas and L. Schaper explaining the recent action taken by the ORLS Board. The ORLS Board unanimously passed a motion to have a letter sent to the State Library demanding that full funding for Talking Books be provided or ORLS will send the service to the centralized Talking Books in Little Rock. L. Schaper explained that the service serves 16 counties and that about $109K Is received from the State for this service (the funding is based on $.20 per capita in the 16 counties). The operation costs about $150K with the overage coming from the Crawford and Washington County milages. The cheap rent at FPL is another subsidy. At this point , Rachel Ames, Talking Books Librarian rapidly entered the room. She said she had been listening to the meeting through the wall and proceeded to tell us her views on the Talking Books situation. She said she was on her way to the Quorum Court to share her views with them. V. A short discussion about the lease agreement with ORLS ensued. L. Schaper provided an overview of the lease components she has been working on with M. Lawrence. The current rent, $4.75, does not reflect the true building costs and needs to be increased.- The proposed amount is $8/sq. foot including all janitorial, building maintenance, capital • Improvements etc. She is proposing that the lease for the high speed line currently paid for by ORLS be taken over by FPL and provided as building infrastructure. • VI. S. Singleton moved to adjourn at 5:30 p.m. M. Roberts seconded the motion and all voted aye.