Minutes of the Meeting
Of the Columbus Public Library Board
April 9, 2009

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Columbus Public Library Board was called to order at 4:30 PM on Thursday, April 9, 2009 by Jim Schaefer. He read aloud and signed the “Certification of Compliance,” regarding the “Open Meeting” law. Other Library Board members in attendance included Sharon Raimondo, Joie Taylor, Craig Neid, and Carol Keller. Jill Owens, Library Director, was also present. Susan Klug and Michaelene Pilakowski of the Columbus Women’s Club, Melodee Pedersen of the Friends of the Library Board, and Susan Schoenofer, Director of the Columbus Area Arts Council, were present for the Women’s Club section of the agenda.

Notice of this meeting was given in advance at City Hall, the Public Library, and the Platte County Courthouse. All proceedings hereafter shown were taken while the meeting was open to the public.

Sharon noted she was not listed as attending the March 12th meeting. Jill will correct this omission. Carol moved the minutes be accepted with the correction, Joie seconded. The motion passed unanimously with no further discussion. Joie moved the minutes of the special meeting of March 16th be accepted. Sharon seconded. The motion passed unanimously with no discussion.

After minimal discussion about SirsiDynix, Craig moved to accept the financial reports. Carol Seconded. The roll call vote passed as follows: Keller, aye; Taylor, aye; Raimondo, aye; Neid, aye; and Schaefer, aye.

The Director’s Report was presented. Carol congratulated the staff on making changes and creating more room for books by working with bookcases and shelving we already owned and without spending any money.

Craig moved, and Joie seconded, to go out of agenda order to accommodate the guests here for the Women’s Club portion of the agenda. The motion was passed without dissent or discussion. Susan Klug noted that this year will mark the 30th annual Festival of Trees. The schedule, hours, entry fee, rooms used, and storage was discussed. The club representatives and other guests were thanked for attending, then they left. Craig moved to return to the agenda listed order of the meeting. Carol seconded. The motion was unanimously carried without discussion.

Jill will craft a letter of agreement for the board to look at. The board is considering using a generic agreement for any and all groups who use the library in a manner similar to the Festival of Trees event.

Under the Committee Reports section of the agenda, Craig offered a report from the Facilities Committee. He had a discussion with the City Administrator about the possibility of cooperating with the Quality of Life Committee to save the Library Board some work on the RFP process. The Library Board will table its quest for an architectural firm until the QOL results are known. Sharon, who is on the Visual Appearance Committee, reported that she had been gathering information on the list of architects sent from Richard Miller of the Nebraska Library Commission. She will suspend this for now.

The ALA Annual Convention was discussed under Old Business. Before selecting a board member to attend the American Library Association’s annual convention in Chicago, the board members would like Jill to ask whether the grant requires the selected member to attend the entire conference. She will also find out whether we would lose all or just half of the grant if a board member is not free to attend. Many board members are short on vacation time and for some, it is difficult to get a way from work. Others have conflicts for all of the dates of the ALA convention.

The next item of discussion was whether to move the date of the meeting in July because of the convention’s dates. The board would rather keep the meeting on the second Thursday. Craig requested that Jill ask Brad Hruska to act as the secretary in her place in July.

After looking at the Schedule of Fines and Service Fees, Carol moved that the director’s recommendations be adopted. Joie seconded. In the discussion portion of this process, it was noted by Sharon that they YMCA charges $5 to replace a lost card, and Joie noted that the schools also charge $5. If the current changes do not result in less card turnover, we may want the charge for the first replacement card to go up. A roll call vote passed this motion: Neid, aye; Raimondo, aye; Taylor, aye; Keller aye; and Schaefer, aye.

The proposed changes to the policy, Limiting the Borrowing Privileges of Patrons Who Have Had Long Overdue Materials were discussed. The director had recommended increasing consequences for patrons who have to be turned over to a collection agency. Some members of the board thought that more than one chance was too lenient. The director will redraft changes in the policy to reflect the board’s wishes.

After the announcements were read, Craig moved to adjourn, Carol seconded. President Schaefer declared the meeting adjourned.