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Home My WebLink About2007-10-17 MinutesFayetteville Public Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting • October 17, 2007 MINUTES Prepared by S. Terry, Communications Manager Board Members present: D. Ferritor, M. Hunt, E. Jordan, M. Malone, D. Marr, and B. Schaffer. Absent: L. Brewer. Staff present: K. Rago, C. Rew, L. Schaper, S. Terry and S. Thorup. Press: D. Begley and A. Wallworth. The Board of Trustees meeting was called to order at 4:08 p.m. by D. Ferritor. 1. Approval of minutes. M. Malone moved to approve the minutes from the Aug. 20 meeting. B. Schaffer seconded. All ayes. 2. Library Reports. 1.) L. Schaper noted key upcoming events, including Anthony Bourdain's visit on Friday, Gathering of the Groups on Nov. 13, silent auction and book sale on Dec. 1 & 2 and Friends annual meeting Dec. 13. 2.) K. Rago talked about plans for the Bourdain events. 280 tickets have been sold to -date, and Theo's is sponsoring the food for the event. 3.) Schaper said use of the remote returns have increased six fold since going online in May. Over 3,000 items were returned via remote return in August. 4.) Schaper presented the 2007 copy of The Wanderer, a youth literary magazine published by the library each year. 5.) Schaper demonstrated the latest a -book reader from Sony. 6.) Schaper discussed Ozark Writers Live, which the library hosted in September in conjunction with the Fayetteville Arts Festival. More than 200 people participated in this event, which brought authors from throughout the region to the library to talk about the influence of the Ozarks on their writing. 7.) Schaper said Reading Roadshow has expanded to Children's House and Richardson Center. 8.) Schaper noted the library has partnered and begun hosting Opti -Learn, a peer tutoring program. 9.) Schaper said the library now has 119 Playaways available. Playaways are pre -loaded audio books on MP3s. 10.) Schaper said the library has begun implementing a Community Development Block Grant called "The More You Know" to work with at -risk teens. 3. Statistical and Financial Report. 1.) Schaper said the library is projected to hit 975,000 check outs this year. The library is projected to check out 1 million items in 2008. 2.) Schaper said the library is still trying to figure out the library's collection size number because Polaris now includes periodicals in its count. 3.) D. Marr requested to have Onew cardholders tracked by age and zip code. 4.) C. Rew noted all figures are running on target. Several tractor bills will come due in the next two to three months. 5.) C. Rew said the library's auditor costs will increase aout 30 percent in 2008 and about 15 percent in future years. 4. Friends. 1.) K. Rago noted the Friends hosted a Central High event in September with about 140 in attendance. 2) K. Rago said Friends have been working on reviewing their bylaws. 3.) K. Rago also said the Friends is preparing for its annual silent auction and book sale Dec. 1 & 2. 5. Foundation. 1.) K. Rago said the Foundation has collected about $13,000 in Anthony Bourdain tickets and book sales thus far. 2.) Rago said the Foundation is working on certifying $230,000 for the National Endowment for the Humanities grant 3.) Rago submitted a grant application to the Walker Foundation for the NEH grant. 6. Old business: A.) Working group recommendations: status. The Friends board approved the items recommended by the working group except term limits for officers and automatic lifetime memberships for those who join the Roberta Fulbright Society. B.) 2008 Budget - The City Council is struggling with how they will resolve the projected budget shortfall in 2008. No updates on the library's 2008 budget have occurred. 7. New business. A.) Staff presentation: FPL's emergency procedures, presented by Sam Palmer, Manager of Facilities, and Laura Cleveland, Youth Librarian and Chair of the Safety Committee. Palmer said the library has a safety committee and noted that each staff member keeps a card with them that has colored -coded emergency procedures. Cleveland noted some of the events the safety team is responsible for protecting the library, staff and patrons and outlined some of the steps the safety committee has performed throughout the library to keep it safe. B.) Nominating Committee - D. Ferritor said the library trustees need to form three committees: audit, nominating and working group. Ferritor.said he will assign members from the board of trustees to the committees. He also said he would appoint board members to sit in on Foundation and Friends board meetings. C.) Future items: Schaper asked permission to bring forward new library policies for board action on environmental sustainability and employee/ volunteer screening and a revision to the extended sick leave policy. She would also like to bring the executive director's job description back to the board for review. D. Ferritor asked that all policies include best practices as well as what the benchmark libraries are doing. 8. D. Marr moved to adjourn; B. Schaffer seconded. All voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 5:24 p.m.