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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/24/94 Library Board MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY BOARD OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY MARCH 24, 1994 A REGULAR SESSION of the Library Board of the City of The Colony Texas, was called to order by Chairman Althaus at 7:02 p.m. Present: Ken Wood Place 1 James Althaus Place 3 Dorian Barton Alternate 1 Joe Agnew Council Liaison Cyndy Sanders Practicum Student Becky Betancourt Secretary Joan L. Sveinsson Library Director Absent: Diana Kruzich Place 2 Morris Seay Place 5 Doug Hagedorn Alternate 2 1. Citizen's input. James Althaus, 5409 Sagers, presented a copy of a petition mailed to our Friends of the Library group from another library support group in the county re: proposed cuts to county library funding. Mr. Althaus urged all Board members to contact Scott Armey and Judge Jeff Moseley and express their concern over the proposed funding cuts. At this time Cyndy Sanders, a graduate student at TWU, was introduced to the Board. Ms. Sanders is doing her practicum at the Library as part of her masters degree program in Library Science. Director Sveinsson related the many projects with which Ms. Sanders will be involved during her time with the Library. 2. Consideration of approval of minutes of the Board meeting held February 24, 1994. Minutes stand approved as presented. 3. Chairman's report. Chair Althaus informed the Board of the resignation of Jay Dalbo, Place 4. 4. Library Foundation Committee chair report. None. 5. NTLS Lay Representative's report. NTRLS is coming along fine. The committees have been formed and are working. The next system meeting is April 28, 1994 at which time the names of those elected to the Board of Directors will be announced. 6. New Technologies committee report. None. 7. Discussion and consideration of proposed amendment to the Meeting Room Policy to change the minimum age for booking the meeting/conference room from 18 to 17. Changing the age requirement for booking the meeting or conference room to age 17 would make the Library's policies on age requirements consistent. Vice-Chair Wood moved to accept the change as recommended by staff. Alternate Barton seconded the motion. The motion passed. 8. Director's status report. At this time, Director Sveinsson asked if there were any questions or comments on the monthly report for February 1994. Chair Althaus asked why the revenue was up so much in comparison with last year. Director Sveinsson noted that there is more consistency in the collection of fines and in the processing of cases of seriously overdue materials via Court. The Library has had help from CSR workers and NHS students in washing books. This task has enhanced the look of the collection. The annual report with audited figures is now available in Reference. The following articles included in the Board packet were discussed: a) previous revisions to the circulation policy b) a letter to the editor of the Lewisville Leader 3-9-94 re: the euphemism "extended use fee" (instead of "fine") c) how to monitor legislation article d) John Jakes article in Parade Magazine Librarian staff is working on the problems encountered on the pre-processed book orders: the date due tag Baker & Taylor is using is not the same one we use; translation of catalog records; separation of invoices for cataloging and processing. It has been determined that duplicate copies ordered preprocessed result in duplicate catalog records. The Friends of the Library had very successful used book and rummage sales. Vice-Chair Wood's column in The Colony Leader on the importance of responding to the reference survey being conducted was copied, enlarged, and posted throughout the Library. The May in-service day has been changed to the 6th. Friends of the Library will have an annual meeting/potluck dinner on April 22nd. Director Sveinsson reported re: the search process for a new City Manager. Department heads were given the opportunity for input during the selection process. A recommendation is to be submitted to raise insurance coverage (replacement coverage) for the Library's collection from $550,000 to $670,000; this recommendation is based on an evaluation of the collection's values conducted by the staff. Director Sveinsson said it had not been updated since 1991. She would like to set up a schedule for doing an evaluation on a regular basis. The following areas were covered at the March 4th in-service day . Steven Covey's Seven Habits for Highly Effective People; discussion of needs for the upcoming budget process; review of the Supervisor's Administrative Handbook. Projects accomplished included clearing of the donations backlog; and the conversion of Non-Fiction videos to a 2-week check out period. Chair Althaus asked if the money received from the county could be used as an addition to the Library's budget, as it was during the first few years it was received. Director Sveinsson replied that the decision rests with the Council and the City Manager. She also noted that no projections for county funding have been included in the budget for the next two years. Member Wood stated that he was willing to sacrifice growth in the Reference collection in order to add more computers and on- line service projects. He said a patron appeal balance is needed between print resources and computers. Director Sveinsson noted that not all patrons are comfortable with computers at this point and that the cost for online resources is still higher than for print resources. Councilman Agnew stated that the biggest problem with on-line services is control of the costs. Many services lure customers in with low start up costs, but costs quickly add up when desired services are added. Director Sveinsson noted that she will be on vacation from May 9th through the 31st. Reference Librarian Janet Sapp will attend the May Board meeting in her place. On a lighter note, Director Sveinsson said she had been asked by a local dance studio to take part in their annual recital. The theme for the recital revolves around using the Library, etc. She is to portray the "Fairy of Knowledge". A discussion followed re: the decision to remove the book Dracula from the required reading list for the LEAP class at The Colony High School; it was placed on an optional reading list. This decision affects only TCHS and no other high schools in the Lewisville Independent School District. Statistics provided in the February 1994 report included in the Board packets yielded the following information: Cardholders: 15,603 (up 3% from February 1993) Collection: 46,239 (up 12% from February 1993) Circulation: 8,843 (up 22% from February 1993) Patron Visits: 7,622 (down 1% from February 1993) Incoming calls: 699 (up 6% from February 1993) Revenue: $ 1,015.48 (up 4% from February 1993) Volunteers: 21 (up 17% from February 1993) Volunteer Hours: 205 (down 1% from February 1993) YA Volunteers: 0 YA Vol. Hours: 0 Operating Hours: 169 ( 0% from February 1993) Employees: 7.950 (up 23% from February 1993) Employee Hours: 1,198 (up 20% from February 1993) The meeting adjourned at 8:47 p.m. James Althaus, Chair Becky Be ancourt, Secretary