ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES
AGENDA
4:30 p.m. Thursday, September 18, 2008
Gegan Room
(If Board Members cannot attend, please notify the Library Office)
CALL TO ORDER:
PUBLIC COMMENT:
AUTHORIZATION OF BILLS:
1. List of bills for September 2008.
CONSENT BUSINESS (Motion to approve all unless separate consideration requested):
2. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting August 21, 2008.
INFORMATION ITEMS/DIRECTOR'S REPORT:
3. Statistics.
4. New Board Member.
5. Investments.
6. 2008 Children's Summer Reading Program.
7. 1000 Books before Kindergarten.
8. WLA Banquet.
9. Presentations.
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
10. 2009 Budget.
11. Closing on November 6th.
12. Self-Check Machines.
13. Trustee Essentials #3.
14. ADJOURN
UPCOMING MEETINGS & ACTIVITIES
(Including requests for business items for future meetings)
• Library Board Meeting - October 16, 2008 at 4:30 pm.
• Wisconsin Library Association Annual Conference - November 4-7
• WLA Banquet - November 6th at 7:00 pm
Menasha aldermen may attend meetings of this body. A quorum of the Common Council, Board of Public Works, Administration Committee, or Personnel Committee may attend this meeting. No official action of any of those bodies will be taken.
ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY
DIRECTOR'S REPORT -- SEPTEMBER 2008
1. Bills. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval of bills as presented for September 2008.
CONSENSUS ACTION ITEMS:
2. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting August 21, 2008. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval.
INFORMATION ITEMS:
3. Statistics. Our August statistics show a more modulated increase in circulation. We show a 3.2% increase overall with our children's circulation continuing to increase dramatically at 9.9%. Wonderfully, that includes an increase in children's book circulation of 18.5%. We did see a decrease in adult lending with music CDs and DVDs being the only areas of increase. The 3.2% increase seems small to us because of our large increases in previous months. In a more normal year, a 3.2% increase is something to be very proud of.
4. New Board Member. Kathy Wicihowski is Mayor Merkes' nominee for the Library Board. The Common Council vote on her appointment will be held a few days before our meeting.
5. Investments. At the last meeting, there was discussion about our funds in the Community Foundation. Kelly Randeron, who handles our account at the Foundation, will be joining us for our October board meeting to answer questions and concerns. If you have thoughts on what you would like to know specifically, it would help to have those ahead of time so that she can be best prepared with handouts.
6. 2008 Children's Summer Reading Program. In your packet you will find the report on our very successful 2008 Children's Summer Reading Program. We saw a 29% increase in participation over 2007 which translated into a 19% increase over last year in circulation. Each week during the summer we served an average of 294 children. This is wonderful news on its own, but even more impressive after years of declining participation.
7. 1000 Books before Kindergarten. We believe a large part of the success of the Summer Reading Program was the 1000 Books program. In your packet, you will find a 6-month report on the status on the program. We have a staggering 365 families registered for the program with 54% of them being active participants. Our children's book circulation in the last six months increased a monthly average of 33% with the same average standing at just over 3% in 2007. This program is one that will inspire planning future programming for all ages in the library. Not only is it embraced by the community, but it directly impacts the use of our collections, which is everyone's ideal in a library program.
8. WLA Banquet. The WLA Banquet is on Thursday, November 6th at 7:00 pm. Please let either Kris or me know if you want to attend. Carpooling will be organized.
9. Presentations. In early October, I will be presenting a half-day workshop on Library 2.0 theory to the Milwaukee Federated Library System. I have also been asked to do a Project Play Play Date in mid-December covering Twitter and FriendFeed. And finally, I am working on an online continuing education workshop through the Wisconsin Inter-Library Loan System which will be about creating an online persona beyond blogging. That will be held sometime in early 2009.
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
10. 2009 Budget. The budget I am presenting represents a 3% COLA, a 9.6% increase in health insurance and a 20% increase in fuel costs. To make the budget work for the City, all other funding must be flat. The only other increases you will see in the budget are for the building itself which requires certain maintenance. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve 2009 budget.
11. Closing on November 6th. Twenty years ago when our library won Library of Year, the library closed for a day so that staff could attend WLA and the banquet. As I look at scheduling and how to have the library open when so many staff want to be present for the celebration in our honor, I don't see another way to do it. This day would not represent another day of closure, but would instead replace our staff in-service day which is usually held in the fall. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve closure of the library on Thursday, November 6th.
12. Self-Check Machines. We met with our 3M rep and are getting quotes not only from 3M but from several other vendors of self-check solutions. One issue is that some of the machines will not be flexible enough for us in reading different barcode locations. There is a chance that we will have all of the information in hand by the September meeting, so I wanted to have this in the action items.
13. Trustee Essentials #3. Sue Werley has agreed to lead the discussion of Trustee Essential #3. We will need a volunteer to lead the October discussion of Essential #4 which is about effective board meetings.
