HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 05.14.201905/14/2019
MINUTES
CITY OF LAUREL
Library Board
Laurel Library
A Library Board meeting was held in the Laurel Public Library and called to order by Arthur
Vogele at 6:05PM.
X Arthur Vogele, Chairman
X Bill Hanson, Vice -Chairman
X Nancy Schmidt, Secretary
OTHERS PRESENT:
Bethany Langve, Clerk/Treasurer
1. Public Input
X Dixie Feller
X Clair Killebrew, Federation Rep.
Samantha Barnhart
Citizens may address the committee regarding any item of city business not on the agenda. The
duration for an individual speaking under Public Comment is limited to three minutes. While all
comments are welcome, the committee will not take action on any item not on the agenda.
a. Addressing the Board — Bethany Langve, Clerk/Treasurer, presented the new
budget option for the library to the Board of Trustees. The library would be
moved to a 2220 -Library Account rather than channeled through the 1000 -
General Fund account. The library would be given 29 mills to work with for a
budget for FY19/20. This amount is about equal to what the library is
currently budgeted. After some questions from Board members, Bethany
asked that the new budget be returned to her by June 15th. She also stated
that any funds not spent during the fiscal year would be transferred to a
4000 -Library Depreciation account.
2. General Items
a. The Library Board minutes for March 2019 and April 2019 were presented and
read. Dixie motioned the minutes be accepted as presented, Clair seconded the
motion. Motion passed.
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b. Correspondence — A donation was made to the library Dena & Michael Lenhart
in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Robert & Polly Van Nice. The amount
donated was $50.00. A note will be sent to the Van Nice's acknowledging the
donation.
c. Circulation Report—Traffic: up 11%; circulation: all items circulated totaled 4,610
(including 586 eBooks), book circulation was up 9%, media circulation was up
20%, eBook checkouts for this month was 16% of total book circulation; we
circulated 785 items to partners and 143 items from other libraries; computers:
internet use was down 7%, children's use was down 62%, wi-fi use was up 51%;
patron cards: city registrations made up 65% of library users, county patrons
32% and non-resident registered patrons 3%. There were 73 tech assists in April.
3. New Business
a. Nancy has started doing community outreach again this year with the students
at West Elementary. She will visit 14 of the 16 classes in early May to talk about
the Summer Reading Program and the lunches that will be provided by the
Laurel School District.
b. The Summer Reading Program will start signing up patrons June 3rd, with weekly
activities beginning Wednesday, June 13th at 1:00 pm. Julia, Nancy and a couple
volunteers will plan the activities.
c. The Laurel School District and Laurel Public Library are once again teaming up for
the summer to bring free meals to young Laurel residents. The school district is
providing the meals and the library is providing the space for lunch. Lunches will
be available from 11:00 am until 12:30 pm each weekday (Monday — Friday)
except July 4th & 5th. The meals will begin Monday, June 10, 2019 and continue
until Friday, August 16, 2019. We are expecting higher numbers this year.
d. Mike and Nancy attended the Montana Shared Catalog & Partners meetings in
Helena, May 9 & 10, 2019. The issues with dissatisfaction with larger libraries
having a far greater number of holds on new items when compared to smaller
libraries has been resolved. MSC staff will implement a 'NEW' item for all
libraries that will allow holds to be placed by the owning library's patrons but not
system -wide users. This will allow the book to stay in the owning library for 2-4
months before circulating statewide to other Partner libraries. The cost options
of the Montana Shared Catalog membership were presented by MSL staff for a
vote. Almost all libraries felt that a flat rate increase of 5% would be easier to
plan a budget around rather than using the present system based on number of
registered voters and item circulations. Laurel Public Library will also be part of
the ShoutBomb SMS notification system for available holds and overdue items
starting July 1, 2019.
4. Old Business
a. The closures for the interior doors desperately need replacing. Instead of using
donations topay for facility repairs, Nancy suggested vvewait until the next
budget cycle to replace the closures using regular budget monies. This was met
with agreement by all Board members attending. The inside doors would be
propped open during business hours to allow patrons easy access to the library.
b. Dixie, Bill, Arthur and Nancy each gave a quick report of the workshops they
attended at the Montana Library Association Conference in April. Mike attended
as well but came down with food poisoning halfway through the conference. He
was able to attend key workshops oncollection development and patron
services both before and after his illness.
c. The Laurel Federated Women's Club annual Easter Story and Egg Hunt was held
on Wednesday, April 17 m at 1:00 pm. There were quite a few attendees: 47
children, 21 adults/parents, and 10 Club members.
d. With the new budget information presented tonight, Nancy will spend the next
few weeks preparing the budget for the library. Dixie and Arthur will meet with
her in a couple weeks to talk about the numbers before presenting the budget at
the next Board meeting for approval. Nancy received anemail from Jennie
Stapp, State Library Director, stating that per capita funding is returning this
year. Laurel Public Library will receive $3,384.32 per capita funds in addition to
what the Federation provides.
e. The book sale final amount looks very good indeed: $1,822.1lwas received by
using the "donation"method ofpurchasing. This isthe highest net onabook
sale todate. VVemay consider using this method for all future book sales.
f.ffmm
A��aeeting was held Friday, May 3rd , 2019\ at 10:00arn for all library staff
members. We covered a variety of topics including proper counting of patrons
and Tas.VVediscussed making sure the end ofthe day paperwork was
completed on time, checking for the proper discs in the correct cases, the new
budget process, FLEX and Personal Time that needed tmbeused, tidying up
computer areas so Darlene doesn't have to do all of it, schedule changed that
may beupcoming, and book sale final numbers. Library staff asked that new t -
shirts be purchased for staff to wear during working hours. Each year we
purchase t-shirtsfrom the Summer Reading Program togive tostaff members to
wear while working. This year they feel itwould be great idea to have t -shirts
or polo shirts with the library name or logo on them. Dixie motioned that some
of the book sale funds be used to purchase t -shirts or polo shirts for library staff
to wear during working hours. Clair seconded the motion. Motions passed.
g. Clair has submitted her letter of intention to Mayor Nelson concerning her
second term onthe Library Board. When itisplaced onthe Council Agenda,
Nancy will try to attend the council meeting to express her thoughts on allowing
Clair to serve her second term as a member of the Board.
5. Other Items
a. The library will beclosed for the Memorial Day weekend — May 74mthrough May
77m.Library staff will b8allowed tOtake personal time orvacation for their
regularly scheduled workdays.
b. Nancy has been chosen asthe new Network Advisory Committee /NAC\
Federation representative to the Montana State Library. The position is
voluntary and starts July l,ZO19.The term isthree years.
6. Announcements
a. Next regular meeting is Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at 7:00 pm in the Community
Room of the Laurel Public Library.
The Library Board adjourned at7:l2pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy LSchmidt
Secretary for the Board
NOTE: This meeting is open 0mthe public. This meeting ]sfor information and discussion of
listed agenda items.
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