MINUTES
STEELEVILLE AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY DISTRICT
September 21, 2009
PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Carolyn Bert, Mary Lynn Gerlach, Sherry Lindner, Cheryn Sutton (7:35 p.m.), Mary Tretter, Archie Wydeck
ABSENT: Nancy Koopman
STAFF PRESENT: Christine Kamprath
President Sherry Lindner called the regular meeting of the Library Board of Trustees to order at 7:03 p.m.
A motion was made to accept the minutes of the September 1, 2009 special Library Board meeting as written.
Motion: Carolyn Bert
Second: Mary Tretter
Motion carried.
Corrections on the August 17, 2009 regular meeting minutes were made as follows: Page 2, subsection b, Library Policy - The addition of “grade school” should be added to the last sentence in that section.
Page 3, subsection c, Building and Grounds - The figure of $139.76 should be changed to $109.76 in the last paragraph of that section.
A motion was made to accept the corrected minutes of the August17, 2009 regular Library Board meeting as written.
Motion: Carolyn Bert
Second: Archie Wydeck
Motion carried.
VISITORS
None
CORRESPONDENCE/COMMUNICATIONS
Thank you notes were received from Mary Lynn Gerlach for memorial flowers and Michelle Gremmels for the free book for her new son.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
Finance
E-Rate: As a follow-up to last month’s meeting, Carolyn is fairly confident that we are now going to get an e-rate discount on our phone bills. She prepared a Technology Plan, submitted it, and, with the help of a very cooperative Illinois State Library
employee, got it approved in record time. After repeated conversations with Karen Hulmes with USAC, we were able to get the required Form 486 approved. The latest information Carolyn has is that the approval letter is in the mail. Her next step will be to fax that letter to Verizon as soon as it is received. However, she can’t be sure of a discount until we actually see it on a telephone bill.
The library received another real estate tax check in the amount of $32,035.27.
Carolyn has applied for the Ameren IP 2009 Non-Residential Hardship Assistance Program. Last year we received approximately $750.
A motion was made to approve the 2009-01 Budget and Appropriations Ordinance.
Motion: Carolyn Bert
Second: Mary Lynn Gerlach
Motion carried.
Roll Call Vote:
Carolyn Bert – Aye
Mary Lynn Gerlach – Aye
Nancy Koopman – Absent
Sherry Lindner – Aye
Cheryn Sutton – Absent
Mary Tretter – Aye
Archie Wydeck – Aye
a. Library Policy
The trustees received updated pages for their handbooks. Pages 32, 35 and the Employee listing page were updated.
There has been some confusion about the number of books patrons are able to check out in one session. The policy was reconsidered by the board and now all new and regular district and non-district patrons will be able to check out 6 books per session. This will be a change to the policy at a later date.
There was also some question about the policy of fines and replacement cost of lost books. After some discussion the board decided that patrons claiming a lost book will have to pay fines up to the replacement cost of the book, pay for replacement of the book, or return the book. In regard to fines, once fines have reached the replacement cost of the book, the fines for that particular book will be discontinued. The book will then be considered the property of the patron. If the patron finds the book and returns it, no refund will be given for the fines and the book is considered the property of the patron. It will be up to the librarian on duty to let the patron know that the book is now their property and they should keep it or that they have the option of donating the book to the library if they don’t want it.
This will be a change to the policy at a later date.
The library has not been loaning out any of our DVD’s and videos on Inter-library loan. After some discussion the library will now add our DVD’s and videos to the Inter-library loan list for a period of time. We will revisit this decision later to see if the loan system causes considerable breakage or loss to our titles requiring a withdrawal of those titles from the Inter-library loan list.
In the past, Midge had allowed a number of adults to check out more than 6 books at a time. According to our policy no patron should be able to do this. It was agreed that teachers should be allowed the privilege for their profession, but other patrons will not be able to check out more than 6 books per session.
The issue of how old a patron must be to hold a library card was discussed. It was agreed that our policy should be that 3 years old would be the youngest a patron could be to hold a library card in his/her own name. This will be added to the policy at a later date.
b. Building and Grounds
The counters on the doors do not seem to be working correctly. The counters are set back in the evenings by the janitor. In the mornings there are hits on the counters on one or more of the doors. This does not happen consistently. The counters on all doors are involved and the after hour hits happen frequently on Friday evenings. Carolyn will contact City Hall about having the counters checked. The counts from these units are information the director needs for library reports so they need to be accurate.
Archie Wydeck installed the new shelves in the Genealogy Room.
Ruth Wolter touched up the wooden bookshelves in the Genealogy Room with stain and they look like new. Sue Garrett is in the process of placing the old books we recovered from the 107 West Broadway location on these shelves (3 shelves from the Library Director’s office and 4 boxes from the Storage Room.)
Carolyn called Dave Mevert on 9/14/09 about the air conditioning problem in the Director’s office and Genealogy Room. He talked to Terry Nagel at Williams Heating & Air and Terry sent a serviceman (Bill) out on 9/16/09. Bill insists the problem is that the thermostat is located in the Work Room, which stays cool, and it does not register how warm it is getting in the other two rooms. He says we could either move the thermostat to the Director’s office or zone the system. After some discussion it was decided that we would wait through the winter season to see if we have the same problem with the heat.
A new cordless telephone has been installed. Egyptian has not sent a bill yet, so we don’t know the cost at this time.
In regards to the sign for front of library, Carolyn spoke with a secretary at the Chester High School on 9/9/09. The sign Chester has came from Action Graphics & Signs, 8802 Summer Road, Columbia, IL, Telephone: (618) 939-5755. Carolyn called and spoke with Donna on 9/9/09. She told me Chester’s sign was 32” x 4’ x ¼” and cost $687.58 (including installation and mileage - $225).
Carolyn received the following information:
o The material may be ½” to ¼” thick.
o The cost of a sign is $18.50 per square foot – single sided – as many colors as we want.
o The frame is $265.00 for ½” or $160.00 for ¼”, depending on the thickness.
o They will send 1-3 prints to us for approval.
o They will install after we call Julie to mark underground cables.
o To place an order we should e-mail action@htc.net, Attention: either Jeremy or Jane.
Also, Mary Tretter checked with Stephanie Mulholland about running electricity to light the sign and the flagpole. Stephanie said it would be alright to connect to our building without an architect’s approval but to be sure to call “JULIE”.
The pamphlet rack from the Genealogy Room has been removed and this greatly improved the appearance of the room. The rack came from the high school. We need to dispose of this rack. It was agreed that the high school would be contacted to see if they still wanted the rack.
Regarding the microfiche units, we got one of them from Augie Brown and the other two, from the Chester Library (per Midge). Midge (past director) says all three units work. The microfilm unit also came from the Chester Library and it also works. By work Midge means they “read,” but a printer is needed for them to be useful to patrons. She checked a few years ago when she was working on a grant and printers cost from $3,000 - $5,000. She said microfiche is “kind of outdated, but the banks still use them.” Melanie Johnson said no one uses microfiche anymore. Midge said the Illinois State Library provides fiche slides on loan and the Randolph County Genealogy Society has slides for in house use. She said they are mostly books and parts catalogs. The board agreed that the units would be offered to the Randolph County Genealogy Society first, if they did not want them they would be put on E-Bay.
The racks of slides in the Genealogy Room have been there since Midge Dobyns started at the library and she doesn’t know where they came from. After previewing a few of the slides, it was agreed that three of the boxes of slides would be offered to Christine Fifer (Art Teacher) because they were slides of Chinese Art. The rest were pictures of the old library and we will keep these for our library history.
Archie and Cheryn will be winterizing our landscaping in the coming weeks. There were some questions about the care of our trees that they will also be researching.
c. Public Relations
The discussion about Family Reading Night was tabled until the November meeting. The date is November 19th.
The New Patron handout will be printed soon if there are no more changes to be made.
Sherry Lindner will be looking into a “Little Black Dress” party as a fundraiser for the library.
The Friends of the Library plan to disband at the end of the year. The Friends are the sponsors for the Oktoberfest raffle and other activities for the library. The library or the trustees cannot sponsor these activities. It was agreed that the Friends should be asked not to officially disband but remain in “name” until someone steps up to take over the Friends of the Library group.
OKTOBERFEST
Twenty or more boxes of books have been moved to the City Hall to sell at the Oktoberfest book sale.
Tickets need to be sold before Oktoberfest. Each trustee has 20 books to sell.
Mary Lynn Gerlach will contact Celine Vallett about our spots at the City Hall for the book sale.
The work schedule for the book sale is as follows:
TIME |
WORKERS |
7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. (Set-up) |
Carolyn Bert Betty Qualls Sherry Lindner |
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. |
Nancy Koopman Mary Lynn Gerlach |
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. |
Cheryn Sutton
|
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. |
|
3:00 p.m. - ? (Clean-up) |
Carolyn Bert Mary Lynn Gerlach |
d. Technology
Tony of LazerWare was called twice to work on computer problems. He has now replaced 5 UPSs (backup batteries). He also replaced a computer fan on a circulation computer.
The Director’s computer does not have a backup. We checked with LazerWare about a backup program and it would cost about $200.
A motion was made to purchase a backup program for the Library Director’s computer from Lazerware for approximately $200.
Motion: Mary Tretter
Second: Archie Wydeck
Motion carried.
A new computer is needed desperately in the Work Area, especially since Betty will be doing most of her work there in the future. The one we have is extremely slow. Lazerware quoted a price of $1,162 for a new unit with some add-ons for additional upgrades. They also quoted a lease price for a STAFF system Tower ONLY, w/DIDROM for $39.11 for 36 months; this comes out to a total of $1,407.96. This would use the existing monitor, keyboard, mouse, UPS, and any Backup Solutions.
After some discussion on the computer in the work room, it was agreed that it should be replaced before things start going wrong with it.
A motion was made to purchase a new computer for the work area from Lazerware for approximately $1162.00.
Motion: Carolyn Bert
Second: Cheryn Sutton
Motion carried.
Melanie Johnson brought a new CPU for the Children’s Computer. She is in the process of removing some old programs, etc.; then it will be available for use.
Christine Kamprath and her husband have a DVD player they plan to donate to the library.
The hit counter on our website has appeared.
e. Personnel
Carolyn learned that the 8th grade students are very disappointed that they can no longer come to the library on Thursday mornings at 8:20 a.m. She asked why they couldn’t come some other time. She was told that 8:20 a.m. is the only time Mrs. Rubach has that particular class. It was proposed that we allow Sue Garrett to come in at 8:00 a.m. on the Thursdays Mrs. Rubach wants to bring her classes in. Sue is willing to come in early and will leave one hour early so as not to have an increase in her hours.
It was agreed that if this could be worked out with Mrs. Rubach and Sue Garrett, the Board would have no opposition.
Sue Garrett seems to be working out well.
FINANCIAL REPORT
A motion was made to accept the Treasurer’s Report as presented.
Motion: Mary Lynn Gerlach
Second: Archie Wydeck
Motion carried.
BILLS
A motion was made to approve the September bills for payment.
Motion: Archie Wydeck
Second: Mary Tretter
Motion carried.
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’ REPORT
(As prepared by Carolyn Bert with Board discussions added. Some of this report was included under other appropriate sections.)
1. On August 27, Barb Jeremiah and I attended “Evening with Phil Lenzini” at the West Frankfort Library. Phil recommends that we have all volunteers sign a release against injury on the job. Contrary to my concern last month, we don’t need a special reserve fund; our General Fund meets the fund balance rules.
No discussion.
2. Shawnee distributed free thumb drives containing the current Administrative Ready Reference Revisited documentation.
No discussion.
3. We have to adhere to the Open Meetings Act because criminal penalties for non-compliance may be imposed.
No discussion
4. Christine and I attended the CCM meeting on September 10th in Evansville. Items discussed that may affect us include: Shawnee may start charging fees if we send books to them for cataloging. Also, Shawnee has formerly picked up all cost on laser repairs. Now we may have to pay $100 to $125 per computer.
No discussion.
5. Tammy Grau with the Chester Library wants to host a coffee with legislators to talk about budget cuts. I told her we would be happy to help.
No discussion.
6. Electricity in the library will be down for 4 hours to work on the generator some time the week of September 21st.
No discussion.
A motion was made to go into closed session at 9:00 p.m.
Motion: Carolyn Bert
Second: Mary Lynn Gerlach
Motion carried.
Roll Call Vote:
Carolyn Bert – Aye
Mary Lynn Gerlach – Aye
Nancy Koopman – Aye
Sherry Lindner – Aye
Cheryn Sutton – Aye
Mary Tretter – Aye
Archie Wydeck – Aye
The Board exited closed session at 9:25 p.m.
No action taken.
Old Business
None
New Business
None
A motion was made for adjournment.
Motion: Carolyn Bert
Second: Archie Wydeck
Motion carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Tretter
Secretary
September 21, 2009Page 8