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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/26/2006 Library I I I MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY BOARD OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY January 26, 2006 A REGULAR SESSION of the Library Board of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order by Vice-Chair Clark at 7:07 p.m. Present: Diana Kruzich James Althaus Lorraine Clark Jayme Skelton Wayne Bullard Sue Parks Joan Sveinsson Jo Chantrill Absent: Sandi Gehrke Place 2 Place 3 Place 4 Place 5 Place 6 (arrived 7:10p.m.) Place 7 Library Director Library Secretary Place 1 (business) 1. Citizens Input. Director Sveinsson announced that Member Kruzich had been awarded the Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame award for her many years of volunteer services in the community. As Member Kruzich had been out-of-state at the time, she was unable to attend the Chamber of Commerce awards banquet, so Director Sveinsson took this opportunity to present the award to her. 2. Minutes. Consideration and approval of minutes of the board meeting held December 1, 2005. The minutes were approved as presented. 3. Election of Officers. The election of officers was accomplished by a single motion that included both positions. a. Chair b. Vice-Chair Member Kruzich moved to elect Member Bullard as Chair and Member Clark as Vice- Chair. Member Parks seconded the motion; the motion passed unanimously. 4. Library Director's Report: a. Status report re: operations. There has been an increase in rowdy, loud behavior on the part of teen customers in the Library, the Lobby, and in the areas in front of the building. Staff is taking a tougher stance to try to bring the environment back to one that is more comfortable for the complete range of library customers. The police department has been called as needed and the walk-throughs by uniformed officers in the after-school and evening hours have continued to be appreciated by the library staff. In the last few months, staff became increasingly aware that the incoming traffic on the Library's T1 line was maxing out the available bandwidth. The IT Department brought in a consultant to identify the problem. The major problem identified was that the game site, Runescape, which is very popular with the Library's youth and teen customers, was creating a huge amount of inbound traffic. At the Library's request, that site has now been blocked at the firewall level, along with some music download sites that were suspected of allowing illegal downloads. This change just went into effect last week; staff will be monitoring the situation to determine if these changes resolve the bandwidth usage problem. Director Sveinsson demonstrated a new self-playing audio book product that the staff is evaluating for its usefulness in circulating to public library customers. The main concerns so far are the cost of batteries, the difficulty in opening and closing the battery compartment, and the lifespan of the product. Several members of the library staff participated in the First Aid/CPR classes offered by the City this month; those participating reported very favorably about the quality of the instruction. Staff members who did not get to attend this time may have the opportunity to attend when classes are offered again. At this point, the Library does not have an automated external defibrillator (AED) on site; some of the area public libraries are becoming equipped with AED's. Director Sveinsson will survey the area libraries to get more information. The City's new website is now available at www.cLthe-colonv.tx.us; it contains a great deal more information about the Library and its services than did the previous website. b. Status report re: Tutor.com service. Director Sveinsson reviewed the first report received from Tutor.com regarding the use of the Live Homework Help service. The report, which covered the usage in December, shows the heaviest use to be by remote users, accessing the service via the Library's website. Director Sveinsson promoted the service at the Library's booth at the Holiday Expo on December 3rd; more promotion needs to be done to publicize the availability of this service. c. Status report re: grants. None. d. Update re: Friends of the Library activities. The next book sale will be held on Saturday, March 4th. The annual meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 22nd, at 6 p.m.; it will be held in the Multi-Purpose Room. After the spring issue, the newsletter will need a new editor; the current editor is resigning due to other demands on her time. I I I The next Library Board meeting will be held on February 23, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. The Board meeting schedule for the rest of 2006 will be as follows: March 23 April 20 May 25 June 22 July 27 August 24 September 28 October 26 November 30 (combined meeting for November and December). The meeting adjourned at 7:54 p.m. :irc C lv. "Y' L.!.:!.~ Chantrill, Secretary '"