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Home My WebLink About2010-02-15 MinutesFayetteville Public Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting February 15, 2010 Minutes Prepared by S. Terry, Communications Manager Board Members present: L. Brewer, S. Clark, D. Ferritor, E. Jordan, M. Malone, B. Schaffer. Absent: M. Hunt. Staff present: S. Foley, M. Raine, C. Rew, S. Terry and S. Thorup. Press: S. Descant, Northwest Arkansas Times. 1. The Board of Trustees meeting was called to order at 4:07 p.m. by L. Brewer. EI. Approval of minutes. D. Ferritor made a motion to approve minutes from the January 18 meeting. All voted aye. III. Reports. A.) Management reports -- S. Thorup thanked the board of trustees for allowing the library to close today for staff training. Thorup said the library is now using PayPal on its website to accept donations for the Foundation and the Friends of the Library. Thorup announced the beginning of two services: Text -a -Librarian and 1-ibrary2Go downloadable audio service. M. Raine said that Heather Robideaux in the Reference Department recently completed serving on the American Library Association's Notable Books Council. Raine recognized Caitlyn Walsh for completing her master's degree in library science in December. S. Foley said the Roberta Fulbright Society donor thank you gifts (bookmarks and book bags) have been received, and she will begin handing those out to donors soon. Foley also said the library has received a $2,000 grant for Books for Borrowing and a $5,000 grant from the Care Foundation for the Nonprofit Resource Center for the 4t" year. Performance Measures — S. Thorup said January circulation increased more than 1 percent despite being closed several days due to inclement weather. Thorup also said the library is working to establish a greeter program. A volunteer would be stationed in the lobby during the hours the library is open to provide directions and answer questions. The library is also reinstituting its patrol program. Volunteers will provide another set of eyes, walking around the library to ensure nothing inappropriate is occurring. B.) Financial Report — C. Rew said the library was under budget on its utility expenses for 2009. IV. Unfinished Business. A.) Teen area expansion plans — S. Thorup said members of the library staff met with Jeff Scherer, the library's principal architect in 2004, and discussed the space issues in the teen area. The initial recommendation to move the teen area to the first floor media area was not feasible. The proposed solution is to keep teens in the same area upstairs with a furniture and shelf rearrangement. The large print books, currently located on the second floor, would be moved downstairs to the space currently occupied by VHS tapes, which would be phased out. VHS tapes are no longer being purchased. Thorup moves would likely be in the fall, after the Summer Reading Club has concluded. Thorup suggested issuing a request for qualifications before moving or rearranging the teen area. Suzanne Clark was the board member selected to review the RFQs. B. Schaffer moved to accept recommendation to seek an RFQ to expand the teen area. All voted aye. B.) Budgeting additional funds: C. Rew requested moving $8,100 received from State Library for library school scholarship reimbursements to the Travel and Training line item; $1,700 moved to the Children's Programming line item; and $14,853 moved to the Other Supplies line item. B. Schaffer moved to accept the motion. All vote aye. V. New business. A.) Staff Presentation: Expanding Access: Text -a -Librarian & Library2Go — M. Raine promoted two new services: Text -a -Librarian, which allows patrons to text questions to reference librarians and receive answers and citations. The Reference Staff has been inundated with excellent research questions. Library2Go is a consortium with other libraries in northern Arkansas that provides access to online audio and eBooks that are iPod-compatible and more user friendly than past downloadable services. B.) Staff Presentation: NEH Challenge Grant Status Report: S. Foley reviewed the NEH Challenge Grant report she filed on February 3. The report lists the past two years of certification as well as new gifts. The library has currently raised $854,000. Foley has to raise $950,000 by January 2012 to fulfill the Challenge Grant. Vt. Adjournment: D. Ferritor moved to adjourn. All voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 4:54 p.m.