HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-01-18 MinutesFayetteville Public Library
Board of Trustees Regular Meeting
January 10, 2010
Minutes
Prepared by $. Terry. Communications Manager
Board Members present: L. Brewer, S. Clark, D. Ferritor, M. Malone, B. Schaffer. Absent: M. Hunt and E.
Jordan. Staff present: S. Foley, M. Raine, C. Raw, S. Terry and S. Thorup. Press: S. Descant, Northwest
Arkansas Times.
1. The Board of Trustees meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m. by L. Brewer.
11. Approval of minutes. S. Clark made a motion to approve minutes from the October 19
meeting. All voted aye.
111. Reports. A.) Management reports — S. Thorup announced that M. Raine is serving as interim
Director of Operations until a full time person is hired. M. Raine announced the Text -a -Librarian
service, which allows patrons to text questions from their cell phones. The texts will be answered
by librarians. Raine also said the library has added 10 laptops for home check out. Raine said the
library will switch from NetUbrary to Overdrive in February, which will make it easier to download
audiobooks. Raine noted the library Is kicking off the 41° annual Cover to Cover Reading Festival
on February 6. S. Foley said the library has recently added "Donate Now" buttons to the website
as well as a feature that allows people to join Friends of the Library online. Foley said the
Foundation mailed out its first fundraising piece in fall 2009, which raised a significant amount of
money. The first fundraising piece of 2010 will be mailed February 25. Foley said the Wal-Mart
Foundation, the Walker Foundation and the Care Foundation have all recently made donations to
the library to fund programming. Foley said the library has met the NEH Challenge Grant of
$435,000 that is due January 31, 2010. Performance Measures — S. Thorup noted that the
library checked out more than 1 million items in 2009 for the second year in a row. Thorup said
the 68 percent of check outs in December were done with the self check machines — the highest
number recorded. Also, cardholders were up more than 10 percent in 2009. The library is at the
highest number of cardholders it has ever had. Thorup also noted the held item service increased
almost 19 percent in 2009. B.) Financial Report — C. Raw said the executive director typically
moves funds around in December If they have not been expended. Raw said 46 percent of the
year end expenditures were for materials in 2009.
IV. Unfinished Business. A.) Space Study Report Memo — S. Thorup noted that the study was
Initiated last year to address crowding in the Young Adult section. The building's original architect
Jeff Scherer with Meyer, Scherer & Rackcastle was hired to do an overall building study. M.
Raine mentioned that the space study pointed to several areas that need to be addressed,
including enlarging the computer lab, making the service desks more customer -friendly and
creating a more appealing entrance from the parking garage. The main reason for the study was
to address crowding in the teen area. Raine said the teen collection continues to grow. Teens
need space to collaborate more effectively, to access technology and to house books — their
Interest in reading Is growing. Thorup suggested hiring MS&R to create a detailed plan for
enlarging the teen area, which is proposed to be moved to the first floor ellipse area. Moving the
Young Adult section would create a vacancy on the second floor and displace a portion of the
media / magazine section on the first floor. Thorup asked for permission to hire MS&R to develop
plans for how to rearrange the space. Money for the space study could come from The Dr. and
Mrs. Harry C. Otwell Fund, this fund was received from the Dr. and Mrs. Harry C. Otwell estate in
1997, with no expenditures made from it to date, approximately $250,000 is currently available for
expenditure. When plans for rearranging the building are ready, they would be brought to the
board and the public. This item was tabled until the next Board meeting.
V. New business. A.) 2010 Objectives — S. Thorup said the 2010 objectives were created through a
manager -led SWOT analysis with the entire staff. Thorup said her focus is improving the
collections and Increasing material per capita spending for collections. Thorup also emphasized
creating more original'content for the library's website and progress toward sustainable funding
via the NEH Challenge Grant. B.) 2010 Budget Approval: C. Rew said city sales tax has been
down and the City Council has voted to freeze wages, which both effect FPL. Funding for salaries
largely remained the same. The items that Increased in 2010 budget were utilities and
preventative maintenance. Raw said she has concerns about the state aid amount and the city
sales lax numbers and continues to monitor those. M. Malone moved to approve. All voted
aye. C.) Policy Revision: JC: 2010 Closed Days — M. Raine said the library would like to close
Presidents' Day, Monday, February 15 for staff training, including departmental goal setting and a
speaker to talk to the entire staff. The library also requested closing early at 4 pm on Tuesday,
April 20 to set up for the author Sapphire's talk, which will begin at 7 pm in the media / magazine
section, D. Ferritor moved to approve. All voted aye. D.) 2009.2010 Budget Roll Forward: C.
Row requested to roll forward $52,623 for purchases made, but not received in 2009 and $65,360
for the solar test bed grant that was not expended in 2009. S. Clark moved to approve. All
voted aye. E.) Additions to Designated Funds for End of Year 2009: C. Raw requested
moving $60,011 from 2009 budget into the Building Designated Fund. M. Malone moved to
approve. All voted aye. F.) Staff presentation: Reading Roadshow's Books for Borrowing
by L. Greenwood & C. Walsh. This expansion of an existing outreach program was created
through a Community Development Block Grant. "Books for Borrowing" puts lending libraries in
each of the four Head Start Centers in Fayetteville. Greenwood announced the library just
received $3,000 from the American Library Association to expand the program to Children's
House. The grant pays for a book shelf and books to be housed at each center. Program teaches
students the basics of the lending library concept.
VI. Adjournment: B. Schaffer moved to adjourn. All voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 5:18 p.m.
VII. Executive Session: D. Ferritor moved to go Into executive session at 5:19 p.m. The board
came out of executive session at 5:45 p.m. No action was taken. D. Ferritor moved to adjourn.
All voted aye.