SIMSBURY LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
Monday, December 14, 2009
THESE MINUTES HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY THE LIBRARY BOARD
PRESENT: Diane Madigan, Marianne O’Neil, Joy Himmelfarb, Bert Kaplan, Jeff Blumenthal, Gail Ryan, Anne Erickson and Charmaine Glew. Susan Bullock, Director, Eileen Sickinger, Recording Secretary. George Boissard, Friends Liaison.
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 P.M. by C. Glew, Chair. B. Kaplan moved the minutes of the November 16, 2009 meeting be approved with two spelling corrections: names should be: Bernkopf and Mountford. Second: M. O’Neil. The minutes were approved as corrected.
There was no public audience.
ADDITIONAL AGENDA ITEMS: At the suggestion of Mrs. Madigan “amnesty fines” will be discussed during the Director’s Report.
MEETING DATES: Meetings will continue to be held on the third Monday of the month unless otherwise noted starting at 7:00 P.M. and held in the Barnes Conference Room of the Library.
January 4, 2010 (1st Monday, already scheduled) July 19
February 22 (4th Monday) August 16
March 15 September 20
April 19 October 18
May 17 November 15
June 21 December 13 (2nd Monday)
January 3, 2011 (1st Monday)
Mrs. Glew requested the formation of a task force to discuss holiday closings. This will be done in January.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS: B. Kaplan nominated the following slate:
Chairperson: Charmaine Glew
Vice-chairperson: Joy Himmelfarb
Secretary: Anne Erickson
J. Blumenthal moved that the slate of officers be elected. Second: M. O’Neil. So moved.
Mr. Kaplan agreed to be the Liaison between the Library Board and Friends.
REPORTS: Friends: G. Boissard reported that Friends held a reception for the Library staff in place of their December meeting. There is still $60,000 outstanding on pledges for the expansion.
The workroom floor painting, an Eagle Scout project, will be started after the New Year.
Friends will help with the RFID tagging starting in January. $75,000 has been set aside for this project.
Personnel: Mrs. Glassman has asked Mrs. Bullock to become involved with the Tourism, Recycling and Green Energy Commission.
The Board’s Personnel Committee members will be: Mrs. Glew, Ms. Himmelfarb and Mr. Kaplan.
Decorating: Franklin Painting presented an estimate of $1,200 for labor for the paint of eight areas in the building. The cost of paint will be additional. B. Kaplan moved that the Franklin Painting proceed with the painting of these rooms. Second: A. Erickson. So moved.
Building: Tom Roy met with the staff, and separately with Mrs. Glew, to review concerns about the functioning of the building.
The plaques for the clocks have been installed.
A new compressor in the attic has been installed.
Mrs. Bullock will be discussing the reconfiguration of the staff room with the staff and it appears that there are no OSHA concerns for a staff resting place in that area.
Landscaping: The trees have been fertilized. There is nothing to report on the outdoor sign. It will be discussed with Rich Sawitzke at the January meeting.
PLANNING AND LAND USE: Hiram Peck of the Planning and Land Use Development Commission discussed the proposal of the town center plan that was the result of the recent charette. The area he specifically addressed was the pond area between Boy Scout Hall and the Library. He had a drawing of the proposal showing the Boy Scout Hall/Library area to Belden Forest. The pond design, environmental issues, and safety issues were discussed. Mr. Peck stated that the cost for the proposal would be in the area of $10,000 and the funds would come from various sponsors and funders. The Board reviewed the proposal and will give it further consideration. An e-mail will be sent to Mr. Peck that no decision was made this evening and there will be further discussion in January.
CHAIR’S REPORT: Mrs. Glew will be discussing the staff room with Mrs. Glassman.
The Census Bureau will be holding meetings in the Library in January at no charge.
Mary Turner has found displayers to use for the recycling of magazines. This project will start on a trial basis and Mr. Turner will be responsible for the changing and removing of the magazines - none of which will be older than one year.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Mrs. Bullock introduced staff member Joan Nagy from the Children’s Department. Mrs. Nagy recently attended a training session for teen librarians. She urged the Board to consider adding a Teen Librarian position in its 5-year goals. She handed out information obtained at the meeting and discussed the advantages of having a Teen Librarian. She stressed the fact that in order to be a full-service library, services must be provided to all ages and currently without a Teen Librarian in Simsbury that segment of the population is being short-changed. The community’s needs are being met with the Technology and Business Resource Centers but when students move from the elementary level there is little between the Children’s Department and Adult services. The Board was receptive to Mrs. Nagy’s
presentation and will put her ideas into the long-range plan.
Mrs. Madigan asked if at some time amnesty fees could be returned in the form of “food for fees”. It was suggested that this would be a good idea for National Library Week in April.
Mrs. Bullock reviewed the progress on the implementation of the RFID system. The contract has been awarded to 3M. She has met with staff and the weeding of books has begun. A decision on the intelligent book return and sorter will be made soon. When the tags have been purchased tagging will begin in the Children’s Room and then move up to the adult section. The process will probably take six to eight weeks.
Three new services will be introduced soon thanks to Friends.
Kill-a-Watt - an energy saving kit. Text-a-Librarian - a service where patrons can text a question to a reference librarian who will then answer and the patron will get a reply via cell phone. Kindle - one Kindle will be purchased for circulation of one week with no renewal. The Kindle will eventually hold sixty books and is scheduled to be available in January. Phonics Packs for emerging readers and non-English speaking patrons will be available in the Children’s Room in January.
The loss of $800,000 in State aid for the 2009/2010 fiscal year was discussed. Cost saving measures were reviewed and Mrs. Bullock will put together line items with short descriptions for the Board to go over.
The Towns has stipulated a 2% reduction in the 2010/2011 budget.
POLICIES: Mrs. Glew distributed the revised policies for a final review. Mrs. Ryan moved that once the policies have been approved the printer (typist) may correct any typographical errors as long as they do not change the sense of the policy. Second: A. Erickson. So moved.
At 9:45 P.M. J. Himmelfarb moved for adjournment. Second: G. Ryan. So moved.
Anne Erickson, Secretary
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