HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/23/2006 Library
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MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY BOARD
OF THE
CITY OF THE COLONY
February 23, 2006
A REGULAR SESSION of the Library Board of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called
to order by Chair Bullard at 7:04 p.m.
Present:
James Althaus
Lorraine Clark
Jayme Skelton
Wayne Bullard
Joan Sveinsson
Absent:
Sandi Gehrke
Diana Kruzich
Sue Parks
Place 3
Place 4
Place 5
Place 6
Library Director
Place 1 (personal)
Place 2 (personal)
Place 7 (medical)
1. Citizens Input.
None.
2. Minutes.
Consideration and approval of minutes of the board meeting held January 26, 2006.
The minutes were approved as presented.
3. Library Director's Report:
a. Status report re: operations.
Staff is continuing to take a tough stance in dealing with rowdy behavior of teens in
and around the facility, enlisting support from the police department when
appropriate.
Staff is still monitoring bandwidth use. Although some improvement has been
noted, the users have found new paths to get to one of the music download
programs. As the IT Department is currently very short-staffed, progress in dealing
with this issue is moving slowing. When a new IT Manager is hired, staff will work
with IT to continue to strengthen network control.
The links for the databases that the Library subscribes to with local funds are now
on the Library's Texshare database portal, so The Colony customers only have to
remember one login and password to access all the databases available through
The Colony Public Library.
Staff is evaluating computer reservation and print management software; the need
to apply a technology solution to the reservation process has become apparent.
With such a product implemented, Director Sveinsson anticipates that there will be
less need for the Computer Assistants. The Computer Assistant who has been
working the majority of the allocated hours has resigned, which has spurred staff to
move forward on the evaluation of reservation software. As the Computer
Assistants are funded via the Loan Star Libraries Grant, if less funds are needed for
Computer Assistants, staff will consider other projects for next year's grant. If it is
financially feasible, acquisition of a print management system would help reduce
paper and toner costs.
CIP and new personnel requests will be submitted next week; Director Sveinsson is
planning to submit a request to reinstate the Thursday morning service hours.
b. Status report re: Tutor.com service.
Director Sveinsson reviewed the January report received from Tutor.com regarding
the use of the Live Homework Help service. Of the seven NTRLS libraries
participating in the consortium, The Colony had the highest number of remote user
sessions, but had very few in-house users. Students in 7th and 11 th grades were
the predominant users; the majority of the sessions involved students seeking help
with essay writing and mid-level math (grades 7-8). Users rated the service highly
and comments were very positive.
Chair Bullard is seeking a source of corporate sponsorship to fund the cost 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 and will be catered by Amore Pasta & Pizza Restaurant.
After the spring issue, the newsletter will need a new editor; the current editor is
resigning due to other demands on her time.
The next Library Board meeting will be held on March 23 2006, at 7:00 p.m.
/!
The meeting adjourned at 7:41 p.m.
...
~oan L. Sveinsson, Acting Secretary