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2008-01-23 * *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 January 23, 2008 7 8 MINUTES 9 10 Library Board Members Present - Lori Burr, Chair; Brenda Flores; Barbara Jeppe; June 11 Koelker; Wanda Schafer. 12 13 Library Board Members Absent - C.D. Peebles; Kim Roberts, Vice-Chair. 14 15 Staff Members Present - Kerry McGeath, City Librarian; Jesse Ephraim, Youth Librarian; Jen 16 Tucker, Technical Services Librarian; Nancy Roper, Administrative Secretary. 17 18 Others Present - None. 19 20 REGULAR SESSION: 21 22 Agenda Item No. 1, Call to Order. - Chair, Lori Burr, called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. 23 24 REPORTS: 25 26 Agenda Item No. 2 - Administrative Comments. 27 28 A. City Librarian's Report - 29 30 1. City Librarian's Report. 31 32 a. Mr. McGeath recapped the SPARKS meeting. There was an article in 33 the Dallas Morning News that came out last week and discussed how prevalent porn viewing is 34 in the Dallas Public Library and its branches. Eight percent of the web pages viewed were 35 pornographic. Mr. McGeath sent a copy of the article to City Manager Shana Yelverton, Public 36 Information Officer Pilar Schank, and Community Services Director Steve Polasek along with 37 information about what the staff at Southlake Public Library is doing to prevent this problem. 38 Mr. McGeath wants the staff up and moving around so that the internet users don't feel 39 comfortable viewing porn. We are not denying first amendment rights, but rather providing tax 40 payer computers for research, etc., but not porn viewing. This is a local issue since the 41 computers are provided by the tax payers rather than a national issue. 42 Mr. McGeath will attend the SPARKS meeting next week for the program 43 Sex and the Internet. Although we have filtered computers, there may still be instances of 44 objectionable material popping up. Pharos has the capability to view computer screens being 45 used by customers. 46 Southlake Library Board Meeting Minutes -January 23, 2008 Page 1 of 5 * *OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD 1 b. Staff is wearing buttons that say "Ask me about our new hours". Our 2 hours will be Mon-Thu 10am-8pm and Fri-Sat 10am-6pm. This schedule starts on Monday, 3 February 4`h. There has been a lot of positive feedback about the new hours. We have planned a 4 celebration for that day with cake, balloons, special story time, and two special crafts, one with 5 Southlake Historical Association and one with the Bob Jones Nature Center. 6 7 c. On February 1, the Senior Center will show a monthly movie. We will 8 provide the DVD player and take the popcorn machine over for their use. Then we will retrieve 9 it the next day. Jennifer Tucker does the monthly book talks at the Senior Center. 10 11 d. Mr. McGeath introduced Jennifer Tucker, the new Circulation and 12 Technical Services Librarian, who started January 1, 2008. She first came to us as an intern 13 while finishing her MLS at UNT. She then worked as a halftime Circulation Clerk and most 14 recently worked for Irving Public Library as a Teen Librarian. Ms. Tucker is streamlining 15 circulation procedures and writing an operations manual which will be put on a Wiki. She is 16 meeting with Circulation staff every 2 weeks for ongoing training. Ms. Tucker has started 17 weeding the collection, which has never been done before. She will note what needs to be 18 replaced/upgraded to a current edition and is withdrawing materials that are no longer relevant to 19 the collection. She has started an outreach program with the Senior Center providing a monthly 20 book talk that has been very well received. She has started accepting hold requests via paper 21 from the seniors as some of them are not computer literate. Ms. Tucker performs collection 22 development for the Adult collection and maintains the blog and monthly calendar/newsletter. 23 24 2. Library Statistics - 25 26 a. Mr. McGeath noted that we have reached the saturation point of new 27 library cards so that number is steady every month at about 100-125 cards per month. Traffic is 28 flat. Volunteer hours are up for this month although they were down for the year. He noted that 29 the number of Teen Court kids has dropped off. They have been going to some other places that 30 offer double hours. We are working with the Court to get more adult volunteers. It was noted 31 that there may be more Teen Court kids after the curfew begins. Cameras have been added to 32 Town Square which will either prevent mischief or identify the perpetrators. 33 34 b. Volunteers are one of the Library's main priorities. There will always 35 be a certain percentage of the citizenry that do not use the Library. We want to make sure that 36 non-Library users friendly towards the Library. Volunteers are one way that we can reach out to 37 the families that don't use the Library. If we treat their child well and they have a good 38 experience, then we have provided a favorable and valuable service for the citizenry. The 39 suggestion was made to contact the high schools to let them know of the opportunity to volunteer 40 at the Library for those students that are getting community service hours. There are several 41 adult organizations that can provide adult volunteers. The City of Southlake is going to have an 42 awards program for volunteers. Mrs. Burr suggested that Katrina Peebles, who is in charge of 43 the National Charity League for FOSL, could put a notice in the NCL monthly newsletter. The 44 Star Telegram as a place for advertising for volunteers. 45 Southlake Library Board Meeting Minutes -January 23, 2008 Page 2 of 5 * *OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD 1 c. The Library is having a series of Masterworks programs during the 2 spring. The professional performers are obtained through ArtsNet (the Northeast Tarrant County 3 Arts Council) at a discounted rate. The performances are paid with monies from the new hotel 4 tax. 5 6 CONSENT AGENDA: 7 8 Agenda Item No. 3. - Approval of Minutes from December 2007 Library Board Meetings. 9 10 Mrs. Jeppe moved that the December minutes be approved. Mrs. Koelker seconded the motion I I and the minutes were unanimously approved. 12 13 REGULAR AGENDA: 14 15 Agenda Item No. 4 - Public Forum. 16 17 Chair Burr opened the public forum at 7:42 p.m. and closed them at 7:43 as there was no one to 18 speak. 19 20 Agenda Item No. 5, Consider- There are no items this month. 21 22 Agenda Item No. 6A Discussion - Grant Opportunities - help develop a process to help find and 23 write grants. 24 25 Mrs. Jeppe talked to the Newcomers Club. There are no more home tours. They are going to do 26 a Casino Night at the Hilton on March 29th. Tickets are sold ahead at $40 for a single or $75 for 27 a couple. Tickets at the door are $50 per person. The information to apply for a grant will be on 28 the Newcomers' website. Mr. McGeath will get the previous grant request for Mrs. Jeppe to 29 review. Mrs. Jeppe volunteered to approach the Southlake Women's Club to inquire about an 30 application for a grant. Mr. McGeath noted that Verizon has a grant as does Target and Wal- 31 Mart. 32 33 Agenda Item No. 6B, Discussion - New Program Review. 34 35 We have added Playaways which are audio books that are both the player and the audio book 36 together. They can be plugged into an MP3 player or a jack in the car. Each playaway comes in 37 a case that holds the playaway, an extra battery and a set of ear buds. The ear buds are sanitized 38 after each use. Mrs. Flores would like to obtain some for kids that struggle with reading. Mrs. 39 Schafer would like some for seniors. They could be used if we couldn't get large print books. 40 Mr. McGeath noted that these will eventually replace audio books on cassette or CD. Mr. 41 Ephraim noted that there are no CDs to be scratched. 42 43 Agenda Item No. 6C, Discussion - Opportunities for the Future. 44 45 1. We will need to change our RFID tags in the not too distant future. 46 Checkpoint, our vendor, was just purchased by their competitor, 3M. A big part of our budget Southlake Library Board Meeting Minutes January 23, 2008 Page 3 of 5 * *OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD 1 request will be to replace the system with the funding requests spread out over 2 years. The total 2 price quoted was $83,000. As we weed, we will need fewer tags. Mr. McGeath estimates asking 3 for approximately $20,000 for each of the next two years. He will be asking for an increase in 4 the budget for materials from $65,000 to $80-90,000. This will offset more expensive technical 5 software (materials) and help add new features like the playaways. 6 7 2. Mr. McGeath reported that a consultant was used to plan facilities needs for the 8 future. A detailed analysis showed that at build out for 32,000 citizens we will need 14 FTE. 9 That number was used to determine how many offices, meeting rooms, space for programs, etc. 10 It was determined that the Library would need 25,000 square feet which meets the .8 square foot 11 per capita standard. But a standalone library would require more than the 25,000 square feet of 12 collection space. An additional 15,000 square feet would be needed for office, meeting rooms, 13 processing and repair, program areas, staff areas and mechanical closets making the grand total 14 40,000 square feet. 15 16 3. One of the difficulties for the Library is parking which is a limiting factor for 17 the customers that visit us. The other problem is having staff on three different floors, which 18 incurs a lot of extra travel time between floors. The consultants suggested using Town Hall as an 19 administrative center using all of the space including that which the Library occupies. So the 20 disposition of the Library has now become a priority. The consultants concluded that it would be 21 more cost effective to have the Library, Senior Center and Community Service all in one 22 building. Space for public use could be shared, thus reducing the square footage need for the 23 Library from 40,000 to 30,000 square feet. The mayor and several people on the Council don't 24 want the Library to move from Town Square. These leaves options such as staying in place, 25 finding land in Town Square to build a Library, or moving to a Community Center and having a 26 storefront Library branch in the Square. The mayor wants to decide something this year since 27 planning and building will require 5+ years. It is predicted that the demographics will stay 28 essentially the same, since housing prices tend to preclude young families or first time home 29 buyers. Mr. McGeath told the mayor that we will make any option work. 30 31 4. When the City of Southlake bought the parking garage, it was thought that the 32 sidewalks belonged to the City. We have since learned that the City doesn't, but that the City 33 can sign an agreement with Cooper and Stebbins to have the drive up bookdrop placed by the 34 garage on the easement. We are waiting on other City Departments to finish their part. 35 36 5. Mrs. Flores asked about mailing or delivering books to people that are unable 37 to get to the Library. Mr. McGeath said it is something that is being considered for the future. 38 He discussed the book club kits that include twelve books, author bio, discussion questions, etc. 39 They can be delivered when staff does the Sabre run and it is possible to fold in the home 40 delivery of materials. 41 42 Agenda Item No. 7A, Other Items - FOSL Report. 43 44 The new book shelves have been installed. They look nice and the ease of access to materials 45 has generated more sales for FOSL. 46 Southlake Library Board Meeting Minutes -January 23, 2008 Page 4 of 5 * *OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD 1 Agenda Item No. 7B, Other Items - North Texas Regional Library System 2 3 Mr. McGeath will be teaching a workshop for NTRLS on January 25th entitled Rules, Roles and 4 the Coming Revolution: Rethinking Our Libraries. He expects a large class as this has been an 5 anticipated event. This workshop will provide a forum for rethinking the role of the library - 6 what is done well and what needs to change. 7 8 Agenda Item No. 7C, Other Items - Library Grand Reopening, 9 10 It has not been determined at this time if there will be a ribbon cutting. If there is, it will happen 11 at 9 a.m. If there is not, the festivities will start at 10 a.m. 12 13 Adjournment. 14 15 Mrs f Burr, adjourned the meeting at 8:15 pm. 16 17 18 Lori Burr, Chair 19 20 21 Attest: 22 23 24 Kerry McGeath, Deputy Director of Community Services 25 26 A CASSETTE TAPE RECORDING OF THE MEETING IS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY 27 SECRETARY. 28 Southlake Library Board Meeting Minutes -January 23, 2008 Page 5 of 5