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, Cruise, Hartsock, Korndorf, Laas, Voigt. 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.
President Harrison stated that if there were no additions or corrections to the Minutes of the June 10, 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.
The Director shared correspondence with the Board.
The Director provided the Board with copies of the fiscal report. Currently 98% of the budget has been expended at yea’s end; however, there will be expenditures to be paid such as bills dated prior to July 1, as well as staff salaries for three days from the past fiscal year. The budget currently has $27,000 remaining, which should cover the upcoming costs.
No report from the Bylaws Committee.
No report from the Community/City Relations Committee.
No report from the Employee Appreciation/Recognition Committee.
No report from the Intellectual Freedom Committee.
No report from the Learning Campus Committee.
No report from the Personnel Committee.
No report from the Planning Committee.
Board Member Brandtner reported that the Library Fund is still working on the Birdies for Charity program. It was reported that nearly $2,000 should be raised from this program.
Board Member Cruise reported that the Library Fund’s marketing committee met and decided that the Booker Bears would be sold for $5.99. The committee also tried to determine avenues to sell the bear other than consignments facilities. Members were assigned various locations to contact such as doctors, schools, corporations. The bears are expected to be available in September.
Staff person Gina Barrett reported that the Friends are on vacation during the months of July and August and will resume their meetings in September.
President Harrison announced the 1999/2000 Committee Appointments. The Bylaws Committee and the Learning Campus Committee has been eliminated at the current time. If issues pertaining to these topics arise, committees will be appointed at that time.
The Director informed the Board that it recently came to the attention of the library staff that a decision was made by Middle School administrators to move away from the procedure of providing textbooks for students. A middle school parent spoke to persons in the library’s youth services department, voicing an opinion on the new policy. In a recent newsletter sent to parents, the school indicated that some copies of each textbook will be available through the teacher and some copies will be placed in the school's library, but also indicated that the textbooks would be available at the public library.
As this was a concern to staff, The Director contacted Middle School to discuss the situation. Co-Principal Rick Herrig visited with the Director and apologized both verbally and in writing for the school's assumption that the library would be able to accommodate these textbooks for the schools. The Director also contact assistant superintendent of schools John Perdue to ask whether it was the intent of the school system to discontinue provision of textbooks.
The Board discussed the implications of the request by Middle School. The library’s Collection Development Policy states that it does not provide textbooks. In addition the textbooks would require shelf space in the reference area of the library. It would require processing and database entry by staff and the absorption of these costs. How long would the library keep the books, who owns the books and what happens to them when they are removed or replaced?
Other questions arose concerning whether staff would be expected to have knowledge of the contents of the books to provide students with homework assistance and use of the materials could not be limited to Middle School students.
This has become a public relations issue since the newsletter has already reached student homes and parents will expect that these textbooks are available at the library; if the books are not available, parents will not know why.
President Harrison referred this matter to the Community/City Relations Committee for review. Chair Scott Voigt indicated that he would draft a letter to the school addressing the Board’s concerns.
On motion by Cruise, seconded by Korndorf that the Board directs the Chair of the Community/City Relations Committee to send a letter on behalf of the Board to the co-principals of Middle School, with a copy to the School Board and John Perdue. Vote: Ayes: Harrison, Korndorf, Brandtner, Cruise, Hartsock, Laas, Voigt. The motion was approved unanimously.
The Director requested approval from the Board to be closed on Sunday, January 2, 2000. After asking the opinion of Dennis Ellett of the City’s Information Services Department, as well as City Administrator Decker Ploehn, it was their feeling that the library should remain closed on that day, due to the possible implications of the Y2K problems.
On motion by Cruise, seconded by Korndorf that the Board approve the closing of the library on Sunday, January 2, 2000. Vote: Ayes: Harrison, Korndorf, Brandtner, Cruise, Hartsock, Laas, Voigt. The motion was approved unanimously.
The Director passed out copies of the Operations Report and also brought to the Board’s attention the most recent reciprocal borrowing report for the past three months.
It indicates that Bettendorf lent 48,164 items to non-residents; the next closest statistic shows that Moline lent approximately 16,000 items.
The Director also reported that it recently came to the library’s attention that a Davenport patron had been removing children’s books from area libraries and adding them to the school library where she worked.
She had previously worked at Scott Community College Library and was able to provide a falsified library card for herself and that is what she used to check out approximately 165 items from four libraries.
The 64 items checked out from Bettendorf total a value of about $1,000. Police are currently working on the case.
President Harrison asked for reports from the ALA Conference in New Orleans.
Pat Laas stated that this was her first conference and thought that it was extremely interesting. She was astounded by the fact that there were 19,000 librarians at this conference. The exhibits were great. She felt the choices of seminars to attend were fantastic. She concentrated primarily on intellectual freedom programs, where the Internet was one of the prime discussions.
There was a lot of discussion about the 1st Amendment. She feels that our policy is appropriate for our city and the area we serve. She also attended two sessions on Young Adult services and feels that Bettendorf is light years ahead of most.
Dick Harrison stated that he took many pages of notes and will condense them and send them to the Board at a later time. He highlighted his attendance by stating that he attended seven meetings and programs; three meetings on intellectual freedom and meetings provided by ALTA. He will now begin his tenure as a committee member on the Intellectual Freedom Committee for ALTA. The summer ALA Conference for 2000 will be held in Chicago and he urges all the Board to consider attending at a least a portion of the conference.
Tami Chumbley stated that she attended a program on Outreach Services, which addresses programs such as Babies and Books.
She also attended a session sponsored by WGBH. Through public television stations this program will be offered this fall featuring programs with an Arthur theme. She also attended a program entitled, Pardon me for being a manager, the Little Red Hen syndrome. She attended a Let’s Talk About It session that will gear book discussion toward adults and the classics. She also got to attend the Caldecott-Newbery Award Dinner, which the recipients of the awards attend. It was very exciting to actually see the authors in person.
Marj Martin indicated that she attended several programs and a couple of the programs on communications were very interesting. The National Users Group, which is the Quad Linc system’s provider had a program. The exhibits were very interesting, with a lot of new ideas out.
Karen Madesian informed the Board that the circulation for the month of June was an all-time high of 51,000 items. She also provided the Board with copies of and reviewed with them a year-end circulation report overview.
Marj Martin stated that in 1998/99 fiscal year Tech Services added 61% more gift items, 17% higher overall than the previous year. There were 28% higher additions in Juvenile items, 24% in audio, 45% in video. She added 26% more items to Quad Linc. There were 59% more deletions and 24% more items added to the database, with a total of 165 mark records, which is 77% higher than the year previous. All of this has been accomplished with fewer staff hours and with a willingness to help in circulation when asked.
Rita Rosauer stated that she has hired Barbara Kuttler to fill the special project position. Barb previously worked here as the Young Adult librarian prior to her family’s move to Japan. She has a lot of experience in selection.
Tami Chumbley stated that the 14 To-Go Kits have been circulating a lot. She is currently working with Genesis on writing a grant to the Scott County Decategorization Program.
As there was no further business before the Board at this time, the meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Brandtner
Secretary
