2006-03-22
**OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES
APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD
1 SOUTHAKE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
2 Southlake Public Library
3 1400 Main Street, Suite 130
4 Southlake, Texas 76092
5
6 March 22, 2006
7
8 MINUTES
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10 Library Board Members Present - C. D. Peebles, Chair; Lori Burr, Vice Chair; Peggy
11 Firestone, Barbara Jeppe, June Koelker, Cheri Palmer, Kim Roberts.
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13 Staff Members Present -Kerry McGeath, Library Administrator, Jesse Ephraim, Adult
14 Services Librarian, Jennifer Tucker, Intern.
15
16 REGULAR SESSION:
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18 Agenda Item No. 1, Call to Order - Chair, C.D. Peebles, called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
19 The next meeting is scheduled for Wed. April 19, 2006 at 7 pm.
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21 Note: Due to a thorough discussion concerning the library's new automation system and
22 technology planning, several items from the regular agenda were postponed until the following
23 meeting.
24
25 REPORTS:
26
27 Agenda Item No. 2, Administrative Comments and Librarian's Report
28 Mr. McGeath discussed the city planning and the budget agenda first. Tomorrow is the kickoff
29 date for a meeting of city department officials to discuss budget. One emphasis in the budget
30 philosophy is to provide concrete evidence to support request. The library has adhered to this
31 funding ideology by providing statistics and figures to document their requests.
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33 The library also has work plans for the budget. Some of these plans are long term and include
34 maintenance, such as repainting the library and improving the meeting rooms by adding a chair
35 rail. There are also capital improvement projects in the works for the next couple years, such as
36 re-carpeting the library and adding fixtures. Mr. McGeath would also like to expand the
37 materials budget by five to ten thousand dollars. As for short term goals, the primary objective is
38 to add a full time staff member. Productivity numbers provide support for this position. Ideally,
39 this position, would work both on technical services and on the library floor.
40
41 Councilman Greg Jones has an associate who has museum quality Incan artifacts, so there is the
42 possibility of library display. Yesterday, Karen from Master Works came to a meeting with Mr.
43 McGeath. There has been such good attendance with these programs that the library is currently
44 seeking new venues in which to hold them. Mr. Ephraim is to begin doing story times at the
45 Department of Public Safety on a monthly basis. Staff members from the department will also
46 participate. Since there is a limited number of space, patrons will have to sign up for this event.
Southlake Library Board Meeting Minutes - March 22, 2006 Page 1 of 4
**OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES
APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD
1
2 The library is currently going through an RFP process and the new automation system selected is
3 Polaris. The lawyers are reviewing the contract and then it will be brought to the Council. Mr.
4 Peebles asked which libraries in the area had Polaris and was told the both the Euless and
5 Arlington libraries use this service. Mr. Ephraim went into detail about the new automation
6 system. With Mr. McGeath, he visited the Euless Public Library to see more of the system.
7 Polaris only needs one server to function as opposed to the previous system, which required
8 three. In addition, Euless is HTML based, which make it easily customizable. It also has a lot of
9 built in reporting capabilities.
10
11 Mr. Peebles asked what benefits the patrons would receive from the new system. He wanted to
12 know if the new system would perform better than the current system and was told that an
13 indexing system in Dynix Horizon creates difficulties when searching. Polaris uses a more
14 efficient method of indexing which should reduce errors. Mr. Ephraim described some of the
15 user enhancements available from the new system, such as customizing result returns and pulling
16 results from Internet resources. Mr. Peebles asked is there was a way to see if the library catalog
17 could include the holdings from other libraries in the region. Mr. Ephraim responded that
18 although the new system would not automatically include this configuration, he could customize
19 the system to include a similar mechanism. However, to form such a specific query, the program
20 code would need to be written, which might prove to be time consuming. Mr. McGeath
21 responded that Euless Public Library has attempted to aid patrons in this manner by providing a
22 toolbar of links to other libraries in the region.
23
24 Ms. Jeppe asked about the current system and Mr. McGeath offered a brief history of Dynix
25 Horizon at Southlake, explaining that patches were used for updates; this makes it incredibly
26 difficult to work with, since the old material remains in the system. Polaris, however, is built on
27 a Windows platform, which makes it easier to customize and to work in. Ms. Jeppe asked how
28 much the system cost and Mr. McGeath replied that Polaris was fifty thousand dollars. Mr.
29 McGeath then explained the extensive maintenance costs associated with Dynix Horizon and that
30 with Polaris the library will save twenty five thousand dollars over the next five years, even with
31 buying a new system. Moreover, Polaris only requires one server, whereas Dynix Horizon
32 requires three servers. Training will be performed as the server is loaded and circulation
33 processes will be the first priority. Technical support for Polaris has also proved to be very
34 responsive to problems and concerns.
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36 Mr. Peebles wanted to know why Dynix Horizon did not function at Southlake, citing several
37 metroplex libraries where Dynix Horizon did work. Ms. Koelker explained that Dynix comes
38 with many different options, which means that each system can be very different. In addition,
39 larger libraries are able to have their own staff to devote full attention to Dynix problems, which,
40 of course, makes the system run smoother. The Board continued this discussion under
41 technology planning.
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43 CONSENT AGENDA:
44
45 Agenda Item No. 3, Approval of the Minutes from the February 2006 Library Board Meeting
46 This item was postponed until the following meeting.
Southlake Library Board Meeting Minutes - March 22, 2006 Page 2 of 4
**OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES
APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD
1
2 REGULAR AGENDA:
3
4 Agenda Item No. 4, Public Forum
5 Chair Peebles opened the public forum; however, as there were no requests to speak, the public
6 forum was promptly closed.
7
8 Agenda Item No. 5A, Consider - Revising the Loan Policy - The Board feels confident that the
9 discussion at the previous meeting is sufficient input into this operation.
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11 Agenda Item No. 513, Consider - Create resolution to minimize resolutions - The Board asked
12 Mr. McGeath to prepare this resolution to bring before the Council.
13
14 Agenda Item No. 6A, Discussion - Technology Planning - This discussion was continued from
15 the debate in the administrator's report. Mr. McGeath had several considerations for the
16 technology planning. The first was getting more patrons to use the Internet, particularly since
17 97% of the community has high speed Internet. Some of the library collection is digital, such as
18 the downloadable e-audiobooks, and Mr. McGeath wants the library to continue to add to its
19 digital collection. The city currently has an RFP for a new Web site, which in turn will affect the
20 library's Web site. The new system will allow dynamic Web pages and be easier for citizens to
21 navigate. Mr. Ephraim has been very involved in the RFP process.
22
23 The automation system is another component of technology planning. With the current system,
24 there was no collaboration with city officials in the selection process. This time, however, the
25 system administrators were consulted. Next, the public computers at the library need to be more
26 functional for citizens, including a disk drive. Electronic databases are another key in
27 technology planning. Databases allow the library to add to its reference collection without
28 eliminating shelf space. Furthermore, they are more accessible to patrons since they are online.
29 Finally, the ability to be flexible and adaptable remain a high priority, in order to allow the
30 library to be innovative and on the cutting edge of technology.
31
32 Mr. McGeath then invited the Board to offer comments and suggestions regarding the
33 technology planning. Mr. Peebles inquires as to where the library stood in the implementation of
34 Smart card. These cards would allow patrons to pay for multiple things in the city government,
35 including library services. Currently, the library has a printing card to pay for copies, but there is
36 no Smartcard. Mr. McGeath explained that the city does not have online bill pay yet, though
37 they are looking. In addition, the city wants to use the online technology selected for online
38 payments for the Smartcards, which means that the possibility of Smartcards will have to wait.
39 If the library went forward with the Smartcards, there is the potential select a system that is not
40 compatible with the selected technology of the accounting department. Mr. Peebles asked if the
41 library had asked to find out how much Smartcards cost. Mr. McGeath replied that Arlington
42 had just instituted Smartcards and was twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars.
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44 Agenda Item No. 613Discussion - Friends of the Southlake Library Update - The library has
45 asked for two checks from Friends of the Southlake Library. The first of these is one thousand
46 dollars toward the summer reading program "One Community, One Book" with the featured title
Southlake Library Board Meeting Minutes - March 22, 2006 Page 3 of 4
**OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES
APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD
1 Isaac's Storm. The second check is two hundred dollars for the coffee. There was another
2 reminder of the book sale sponsored by FOSL during Art in the Square, April 28, 29, 30.
3
4 Agenda Item No. 6C Discussion - North Texas Regional Library System update - There is no
5 update at this time.
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7 Agenda Item No. 7, Adjourn - Mr. Peebles adjourned the meeting at 8:55 pm.
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9
Del
Southlake Library Board Meeting Minutes - March 22, 2006 Page 4 of 4