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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/23/2012 LIB MINUTES CITY OF THE COLONY LIBRARY BOARD FEBRUARY 23, 2012 A REGULAR SESSION of the LIBRARY BOARD of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order by Chair Gehrke at 7:05 p.m. PRESENT: Sandi Gehrke Place 1 Marlene Martin Place 2 Frederick Rushing Place 3 Joanna Krueger Place 5 Jade Kelly Place 6 Audra Preston Place 7 David Terre Council Liaison ABSENT: Nicole Rodriguez-Terrell Place 4 STAFF: Joan Sveinsson Library Director Jeannie Baellow Recording Secretary 1. Citizen Input. None. 2. Consider approval of the minutes of the January 26, 2012 Regular Session. Vice-Chair Rushing moved to approve the minutes as presented. Member Krueger seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. 3. Consideration of proposed revision to the Proctoring Policy to remove the list of accepted forms of payment. Discussion was held regarding proposed changes under Item III of the policy deleting the second sentence regarding payment of fees in its entirety, and removing any reference to forms of payment. Vice-Chair Rushing moved to accept the proposed revision. Member Preston seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. 4. Discussion and consideration of Library Board goals and projects for 2012. Discussion was held regarding the Board's setting of timelines for finalizing projects and reaching goals, and forming committees to steer goals and projects to completion. a. Develop Display and Exhibit Policy. It was agreed that the establishment of this policy would be included in the Board's goals for 2012. Chair Gehrke requested volunteers to serve on an Exhibit and Display Policy committee. Members Preston, Krueger, and Kelly volunteered to serve on the committee and make an initial report to the Board at the May Board meeting and to finalize the policy by the July Board meeting. Vice-Chair Rushing moved to accept the formation of the Exhibit and Display Policy Committee formed of Members Preston, Krueger, and Kelly and the proposed timeline. Member Martin seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. b. Increase awareness of national library legislative issues. It was agreed that increasing Board members' awareness of library legislative issues on the national level would be included in the Board's goals for 2012. After discussion, Member Krueger moved that the Board members research national Library Board 02-23-2012 Page 2 library legislative issues and report their findings quarterly. Member Preston seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Vice-Chair Rushing volunteered to lead the first quarterly review at the March Board meeting. c. Review results of customer satisfaction surveys. Discussion was held regarding reviewing, reporting, and making recommendations on data collected from the Counting Opinions customer satisfaction survey. It was agreed that review of the results would be included in the Board's goals for 2012. Director Sveinsson suggested that she provide results quarterly. Vice-Chair Rushing moved that the Board review, discuss, and make recommendations based on results of customer satisfaction surveys on a quarterly basis. Member Krueger seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. The next review will be at the April meeting. d. Board presence at TCPL events and participation in TCPL public relations activities. It was agreed that Board presence at these TCPL events and activities would be included in the Board's goals for 2012. Discussion was held regarding each Board member's participation in a certain number of events. Chair Gherke suggested participation in an average of three to five events per Board member by end-of-year 2012. Vice-Chair Rushing moved that each member of the Board participate in at least three events this year and that members would report monthly regarding their participation. Member Martin seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. e. Library Visits. Discussion was held regarding members visiting other libraries and reporting on their findings. Member Martin asked for guidelines and Director Sveinsson suggested providing descriptions, photos, handouts, and reporting on what you did and did not like about each library, and how best to implement features and processes with an eye toward a future new building for TCPL. Vice-Chair Rushing moved that each Board member visit and report on at least one library by end-of-year 2012. Member Kelly seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. To provide an example and share the information, Director Sveinsson reported on her recent visit to the Hurst Public Library. Notable features were the portable stage for big "movie nights," a "green room" with storage and restrooms in the back; props and a catering kitchen; Friend's Cafe with book sale items sold via an honor system and refreshments sold via vending machines. The Teen Zone was bright and inviting. Director Sveinsson also showed photos of signage she had taken on her January visit to the Duncanville Public Library. Many of the area and stack signs were labeled in honor or in memory of an individual. 5. Receive update and discuss the following Friends of the Library activities: a. TCPL 30th Anniversary Celebration activities. Library Board 02-23-2012 Page 3 Chair Gherke noted that she was delighted with the activities in the Library but was disappointed that more people did not attend the events and puppet shows. Director Sveinsson reported that the history tours were totally sold out, with a waiting list - and requests for future tours; the narrated history tours included stops at Bridges Cemetery, the original fire station, and the Spencer House. Member Krueger commented on the excellent presentation by Robin Cole Jett, author of Traveling History With Bonnie and Clyde. The author donated to FOTCPL the full proceeds of the first ten of her books sold at the event. Councilman Terre felt that the food added greatly to the event, that the tour was well-received, and congratulated the Library staff and Friends on a job well done. Other celebration activities included strolling magician Diamond Jim; performance by the Fiddle Rascals; S&D Puppetry's presentation of storytimes featuring Beau the Crow and Dufus the Dragon; distribution of dragon figurines to children attending storytimes to take to The Royal Brush to paint, glaze, and have fired; The Colony Playhouse's presentation of School House Rock; presentations of writer's contest and anime art contest awards; and performances by The Colony High School band ensembles. Commemorative brochures and bookmarks were distributed to customers and guests. Director Sveinsson noted that not all funds raised for the event had been spent; the planning committee will decide how to dedicate the balance of the funds. Vice-Chair Rushing described the celebration as "awesome - an amazing production." b. Recognition of Library volunteers for FY 2010-11 service. A volunteer appreciation luncheon hosted by FOTCPL is scheduled for Saturday, February 25th at Amore Pizza and Pasta. In addition to FY 2010-11 service hours awards, thirty-year volunteers Diana Kruzich and Pat Holmes; 10-year volunteer Joe Kruzich; and 5-year volunteers Alyce Rufi and Sana Sulaiman, will receive longevity awards for their service. c. Anniversary BONUS Book Sale. Director Sveinsson noted that sales had been steady but not outstanding. Customers who buy four books at half price receive a fifth book for free from the '/2 price table. 6. Receive update from staff and discuss the following items: a. Public Relations Events and programs: L TCPL 30th Anniversary Celebration activities. Director Sveinsson showed photos of the various activities and reported on attendance for various events: • Traveling History With Bonnie and Clyde- 38 • Diamond Jim the Magician - 18 • Fiddle Rascals - 20 • Beau the Crow - 30 • Dufus the Dragon - 15 • History Tours - 61 • TCHS Band Ensembles - 81 Library Board 02-23-2012 Page 4 • Writing Contest Awards Presentation - 20 • Anime Contest Awards Presentation - 22 ii. Continuing education class for daycare teachers. Classes are offered twice yearly and completion allows daycare teachers to receive continuing education credit. The $5.00 registration fee is refundable upon completion. The February 16th class had 38 attendees and four no- shows. iii. Stewart's Creek Elementary School Celebrity Reading Day. TCPL will be a visible presence at this event and has offered up to six staff members to participate as celebrity readers throughout the day on March 8tn b. Service improvements. i. Tutor.com To Go expanded to all mobile devices. In addition to the app for iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, Tutor.com can now be accessed on all web-enabled mobile devices. All of the functions are available on web-enabled phones with the exception of whiteboard capability. ii. N. Texas Libraries on the Go: Overdrive Media Console improvements. With the newest software update, ebooks and audiobooks may be returned early rather than being returned automatically at the end of the 7 or 14 day loan period. There are 24 member libraries in the consortium and a high demand for ebooks. There are currently 2,100 ebooks in the growing collection. Director Sveinsson has been periodically checking the number of ebooks available since the implementation of the early return option and has noted a definite increase in the number of available ebooks. She is encouraging all users to install the new update to be able to take advantage of this feature - thus allowing maximum use of these shared resources. iii. Literature Resources from Gale. Literature Resources from Gale is TCPL's featured resource of the month; this comprehensive collection gives users access to literary criticisms, author biographies, full text of many literary works including poetry and plays, topic overviews and reviews-all searchable at the same time and returned in lists organized according to the user's research needs. iv. Implementation of improved cash and charge receipt system. Circulation is now using the City's InCode system to receipt payment for all Library fees, including interlibrary loan postage, network printing, lost or damaged materials, and exam proctoring. The system now allows acceptance of MasterCard and Visa transactions. The minimum allowed credit card charge is $1.00. As the cash register will no longer be used for Library transactions, Director Sveinsson plans to put it to use to receipt cash and check payments for FOTCPL sales, dues, and donations; FOTCPL's PayPal option is also available for credit card transactions for those items. c. Publishers and digital content for library users. Director Sveinsson noted that this is a volatile area. Print publishers fear the ease with which users can download library ebooks will cut too deeply into their profits, claiming that digital download borrowing lacks what they call "frisson" - the need for the user to make a physical visit to the Library - that is required with borrowing print materials. Only two of the "Big Six" publishers are still offering their ebooks through consolidators such as Overdrive (which hosts the N. Texas Libraries on the Go consortium collection). One of the two - Harper Collins - instituted limits Library Board 02-23-2012 Page 5 last year on the number of circulations for an ebook to 26, at which point that copy would no longer be available and the consortium would need to purchase another copy to maintain the title in the collection. For this reason, N. Texas Libraries on the Go opted not to buy any new ebook titles from Harper Collins. Another pressure in the market comes from the fact that Amazon is crafting deals with authors to publish e-content, bypassing the print publishers entirely. d. Review list of March library programs. The Board members reviewed the list; highlights include: • School of the month is Camey Elementary School. • Online resource of the month is Science Online which covers a broad range of sciences and includes experiments, biographies, principles, diagrams and images, definitions and activities for all ages. • 4th Annual Great Magazine Swap. ® March 31St Theater Slam. A play in a day! Joint venture with TCPL Teen Writers Club and The Colony Playhouse. The next Board meeting is scheduled for March 22, 2012. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Frederick Rushing, Vice-Chair eannie Baellow, Secretary