HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 05.20.2008Minutes of the
Laurel Public Library Board of Trustees
May 20, 2008
Attending:
Margaret Freund (presiding), Gail Brice, Clair Killebrew, Bruce McCullough, Christy
Smith and Nancy Schmidt
Minutes:
The minutes of the April $, 2008 meeting were read, modified and approved.
Correspondence
Letter of donation in memoriam of Mel Baker by Sandie and John Jarvie was received.
Mr. and Mrs. Jarvie requested that notices be sent to Mel's wife, Ruth, and their
children about the donation.
Circulation Report
Traffic far Apri1200$ was up 3.9% from April 2007. Circulation for materials was up
14.3% from April 2007. Circulation of books alone was up 10.6% over last April.
Old Business
Nancy Schmidt attended the Montana Library Association annual conference April 9-
12th, 2008. Nancy reported on the workshops that she attended during the conference
and the information received about National Security Letters and how the library should
handle such a request in the future if the need should arise. Also mentioned was the fine
line that the library balances on concerning the rights of citizens to view content on the
public computers and the rights of children to be protected from exposure to
questionable content. Nancy reported that we continue to use the filtering system
already in place and be willing to make adjustments as needed. If it is found that content
viewing is being misused, staff has the permission of the board to stop any such use of
public computers.
Our going live stats were impressive to us for just the first week alone. Staff registered
310 new library cards and checked out 1,187 items to patrons.
As reported, repairs on the roof were completed by Leonard Christensen by April l pth
and his estimate for total roof replacement has been turned in to the Public Works
Department.
The resurface of the library parking lot has not had any progress.
Copies of by-laws have been sent from 6 other libraries in different areas of the state.
Thank you notes will be sent.
The Laurel Library Trust has not been active and we still have over 100 Laurel History
books being stored at the library. Extra copies will be taken to the book store and the
Laurel Chamber of Commerce so that we can get some Bald before the Laurel
Centennial.
Staff evaluations are again a consideration of the Board and Director. Nancy reported
that there does not appear to be a standard evaluation form within the City that each
department head can use. Nancy will search other library websites to see if she can
locate staff evaluation forms that will suit the use of our library and present them to
Mayor Olson for his approval.
New Business
Training for staff was scheduled for one more session on May 2, 2008 before going live
so that we could run a few scenarios and learn to deal with possible system problems.
The training seems to have worked for all staff members.
The book sale netted a preliminary guesstimate of about $600. Sharon Russell will let us
know the final amount after depositing the monies.
A copy of the preliminary budget was distributed to each board member so they could
review and present questions at the next board meeting.
Nancy met with the Cleaners and reviewed the cleaning schedule with them. Bath Alan
and Sue seemed open to the expectations of the new director. They offered suggestions
to help keep the odor in the restrooms down (e.g. new garbage cans, painting, keeping
the floor drains filled). Nancy assured them that she would take their recommendations
into consideration but still expected improvements in the cleaning of the rest of the
library.
Bruce McCullough presented a draft of new by-laws for the library. All present received
a copy and will review them over the next month. Suggestions for changes will be made
at the next board meeting.
Time to address the Board
None
Next regular meeting
June 10, 2008 will be the next meeting.