Item 4CLibrary Board Report
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
The Southlake Library Board respectfully submits this written report in an effort to maintain
communication flow between the Board and City Council.
The Southlake Library Board is holding their meeting on Wednesday, January 28, 2004. Below
is a summary of the issues to be addressed at their meeting.
Librarians Report — Library Administrator Kerry McGeath reviewed with the Board the new
Master Action Plan, Library Service Goals and Technology Plan. It was indicated that each
of these documents are living documents and will be continually changing over time and they
are simply a format for advance planning and priority /goal setting. The Library is still seeing
reasonable growth in circulation and traffic, and a big jump in the number of cards issued
over the last month. Collection Development procedures are in place and materials are being
ordered to satisfy customer demand — we are receiving topical materials in a timely fashion.
There was also a discussion about the Library's effort to reduce costs and re- negotiate
contracts with our vendors in all cases — a penny saved is a dollar earned.
• More Art for the Library — Debbie Baynard has offered to donate a lithograph to the Library
for display. The Board will examine the art piece and then recommend the piece to the Public
Arts Advisory Committee to continue the process culminating in the possibility of City
Council approval. Mrs. Baynard has always been quite a supporter of the Library and
provides us with generous contributions of art and money year after year.
Revision of the Loan Lengths Policy - The Loan Lengths Policy included language that
indicated that new books and Books on Tape could not be renewed. We have an excellent
way of reviewing the demand for materials, and see no reason that we could not renew
materials for customers when the materials were not in demand otherwise. Thus we want to
eliminate that phrase from the Policy.
• Revise Replacement Cost for Lost and Damaged items — The current processing fee for lost
and damaged materials is $10.00. We would like to reduce that fee to $5.00. The true cost of
processing is absorbed within the retail cost charged for a lost and damaged book (the library
generally gets a discount of 40% from the retail cost). The amount involved is minimal at
about $200.00 if last years figures are used. The original purpose of the fee was to be
punitive since the size of the collection was so small. Now that we are at about 40,000 items
the impact of lost materials is much smaller. It has also become a Customer Service liability
that we think can rectify at minimal cost.
Friends of the Southlake Library (FOSL) Report — FOSL will have a Book Sale at Art in the
Square this year — we anticipate excellent sales, which turns into money being made
available to the Library for Children's materials, programs and marketing of those programs.
They also have an ongoing book sale in the library that is an excellent revenue producer.
FOSL also provides the Library on an ongoing basis DVDs of first run movies that have been
a crowd pleaser of the first degree.
Mural in the Storytime area - The new mural in the Storytime area is progressing, and next
week the Artist, Elizabeth Bonham will be bringing art students from the High School over to
Library Board Report
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
The Southlake Library Board respectfully submits this written report in an effort to maintain
communication flow between the Board and City Council.
help her and to most importantly give her a chance to teach a little bit. We are very happy
with the progress and look forward to seeing a wonderful finished product.