Board of Trustees Meeting
April 8, 1999
The Bettendorf Public Library Board of Trustees met in the Elizabeth Malmros Conference Room at 4:30 p.m. Those members present were Harrison, Brandtner, Korndorf, Laas, Voigt. Board member Cruise attended via conference call. Staff members present were Clow, Chumbley, Madesian, Martin, Rosauer, Barrett.
President Harrison stated that if there were no additions or corrections to the Agenda, it would stand approved. It was accepted that the order of the Agenda would change, allowing the Director to demonstrate to the Board the electronic book that the library now owns; this presentation allowed the members of the Board to individually view the book throughout the meeting.
President Harrison stated that if there were no additions or corrections to the Minutes of the March 11, 1999 meeting, the Minutes would stand approved.
Board members initialed justification sheets and checks were signed for this month’s Board bills.
President Harrison asked if anyone wished to speak during the Public Forum portion of the meeting. There were no respondents.
There was no correspondence.
With only two months of the current fiscal year remaining, 73.8% of the budget has been expended.
No report from the Bylaws Committee.
Board member Voigt reported to the Board on behalf of the Community/City Relations Committee stating that he had sent a letter to the Mayor and City Council as the Library Board had discussed at last monthís meeting. He sent copies to each Board member as well as City Administrator, Decker Ploehn.
In the absence of Committee Chair Hartsock, Board member Cruise reported for the Employee Appreciation/Recognition Committee. As Laurie Schultz, who is the Library Fund Coordinator, will be leaving at the end of April, a reception will be held in her honor on Wednesday, April 21 from 4 - 5 p.m. in the Bettendorf Single Room. Invitations will be send to all Board and Fund members, as well as the Learning Campus Foundation members. Refreshments will be served and a gift has been purchased.
No report from the Intellectual Freedom Committee.
No report from the Learning Campus Committee.
Board member Korndorf reported for the Personnel Committee stating that the Committee will be working on the Director’s evaluation in the next month.
No report from the Planning Committee.
Board Member Brandtner reported that the Library Fund has once again decided to support the Birdies for Charity program this year. The Fund is working on ways to pass out the forms to Board and Fund members so they can get people to sign up.
The Director stated that she has interviewed three people for the Library Fund Coordinator position and hopes to make a decision within the next day or so. That will allow the person to work with Laurie for a few hours a day for a couple of weeks before she leaves.
Staff person Gina Barrett reported that the Friends met April 6 and are preparing for their upcoming Book Fair on May 1 and 2. The Friends approved a Wish List totaling over $5,300, including support of the Summer Reading Program, Mystery Book Discussion group and several programs.
The Director reviewed with the Board the Revised Collection Development Policy, with the proposed changes. Most of the suggested changes are to update the plan, such as new Mission, Vision and Value statements, new formats that the library now circulates and research tools that the library now has available.
On motion by Brandtner, seconded by Korndorf that the Board accept the Bettendorf Public Library Collection Development Policy as revised, April 1999. Vote: Ayes: Harrison, Brandtner, Cruise, Korndorf, Voigt. Nays: None. Absent: Hartsock. The motion carried.
The Director informed the Board that on Saturday, April 3, the library experienced a water problem in the periodicals area and the dock area of the library. At a meeting with the City Administrator and employees from the Public Works Department, the Director was informed that the cause of the multiple inches of water in the library was because the creek rose and the storm drains were not able to handle the amount of water. All of the retention pools filled up and overflowed and there was nowhere for the water to go. The areas have been cleaned up and are back to normal.
The Director stated that as a part of the library’s strategic plan, it was a goal to become a 24-hour library through electronics. As she had previously informed the Board, she has contacted the State Library about this objective.
As a result of work done by a committee on which she served, appointed by the State Library, the state has now contracted with an Electric Library provider. This contract would allow patrons to connect from their homes through their personal computers at any time during the day.
The Eastern Iowa Public Libraries will be writing a grant to the Carver Foundation to support other electronic products. The grant is due May 15.
The Director informed the Board that she plans to submit a grant to the Bechtel Trust for a total of $89,000 to help implement the Collection Development project.
This will be a phased project over three years, $16,000 the first year, and $36,500 for each of the following two years. This request would primarily fund a part time librarian to oversee this project, with $40,000 earmarked for materials and $1,000 for supplies. The position would be a 20 hour per week position for three years.
It is estimated that the entire project will cost $193,920. It is hoped that a portion of this cost could be covered through grants from Bechtel and Scott County Regional Authority.
The Director provided the Board members with a list of conference dates for the American Library Association Conference in June.
The Director reported that she had received the third quarter report for reciprocal borrowing. The statistics show that 50,393 items were lent to patrons from other libraries and 5,250 item were borrowed from other libraries by Bettendorf patrons.
At 5:10 p.m. Board member Cruise was no longer available for the meeting.
The Director provided the Board with copies of the citizen survey results conducted by PMR. She suggested that they review the document at their leisure.
Board members were reminded of the Trustee educational session to be conducted through the ICN on Thursday, April 15, at 7:00 p.m. Please contact the office if you wish to attend.
Rita Rosauer reported that another action plan that the library had was for Information Services to conduct a survey asking, “What would you like to learn about the library?”
From this survey statistics were found that indicate that the following percentages of patrons were not very familiar with: reference materials available - 80%, online catalog - 35%, the Internet - 58% and Novel List - 82%.
As a result of this survey, staff realizes that there is a need to continue a multi-pronged process of educating the public, through written instructions, one-on-one instruction and group instruction.
Tami Chumbley stated that next week she and young adult librarian, Maria Wegscheid, would be attending the Kids First workshop in Des Moines. Maria will be speaking at one session and participating in a panel discussion. Tami has worked for several months helping to develop this workshop.
At this time Board member Brandtner left the meeting at 5:20 p.m.
Karen Madesian invited the Board to stop in on Monday, April 12 and participate in the Check-it-out Yourself Day. If we have one hundred patrons use the self check on that day, we are eligible to win up to $2,500 for the library’s book fund.
Karen reviewed the March Circulation Report with the Board to familiarize them with the various components of this report.
Marj Martin reported that Tech Services has been very busy. Item entries are up 79% over last year at this time.
As there was no further business before the Board at this time, the meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Brandtner
Secretary
