Columbus Public Library, Columbus, Nebraska


Quarterly Meeting Of the Columbus Public Library Board And the Platte County Library Advisory Board April 10, 2008 The regularly scheduled quarterly meeting of the Columbus Public Library Board and the Platte County Library Advisory Board was called to order at 4:30 PM on Thursday, April 10, 2008 by the President, Jim Schaefer. He read and signed the “Certification of Compliance” regarding the “Open Meeting” law. Other Library Board members present included Carol Keller, Sharon Farritor, Craig Neid and Joie Taylor. Liz Young, Carolyn Rohde, and Carol Rosendahl were present to represent the Platte County Library Advisory Board. Brad Hruska, the Children’s Librarian, Jill Owens, the Reference Librarian, and Robert Trautwein, Library Director were also present. Notice of this meeting was given in advance with a copy of the agenda posted at City Hall, the County Court House and in the Public Library. All proceedings hereafter shown were taken while the convened meeting was open to the public. The Minutes of the March Board meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand as submitted with a motion from Sharon Farritor and a second from Carol Keller. The motion passed by voice vote. The Library Director distributed the April Financial Reports for the City Library, the County Library Service, and the Library Foundation. He noted that April is the seventh month of the 2007-08 budget year. He pointed out that the “Miscellaneous Expenditures” category will be overspent as expenses related to the hiring of a new director will be listed there. A motion was made by Joie Taylor and seconded by Craig Neid to accept the financial reports. The motion passed by roll call vote: Schaefer-aye, Keller-aye, Farritor-aye, Neid-aye, and Taylor-aye. The Director’s Report was reviewed. Mr. Neid asked about how the circulation trends at this library compare to other libraries.. Trautwein said it’s universal that there is less non-fiction checked out but more fiction. The drop in the checkout by the bookmobile was noted. Miss Taylor asked if there was a relationship in the size of the vehicle and its collection. Trautwein said that fewer books would impact the amount of circulation. Mrs. Rosendahl noted that the vehicle was off the road more often this past winter than in previous winters because of school closings. She also said that she had learned that the circulation system on the vehicle had not been working properly. Trautwein also noted the comparison of checkout of recorded books on cassette versus cds. He said that within the next year, the Library will probably abandon the cassette collection in favor of cd (or downloadable talking books.) Karen Hake entered the meeting in time to give a short report on the activities of the bookmobile. When it was noted that the Board had discussion the decrease in circulation, Karen said that there had been a couple of stops in the past few months when the computer did not register any checkout. She said that she believes this problem has been fixed. She also said that some of the schools have less children so there is less check out at those schools. Karen Hake also showed the Board the plaster of Paris mold of a lady bug. She will be handing out 300 of these for her Summer Reading program that has an insect theme. Under Committee Reports. There were none regarding the selection of a new director. Carol Keller asked that Mike Oglivie contact Jim Schaefer to inform him of the number of applicants for the position. The focus groups will be discussed later in the meeting. Under Correspondence, it was noted that the Nebraska Library Commission has certified the Library Board. This certification will be good until April 2011. Carol Keller asked about using the hours board members attended the four focus groups. Under Old Business, Trautwein gave a financial update on the 1st floor restroom remodeling project. As he calculates the expenses, the project will be over expended by $1000 to $1500. He has visited with Anne Kinnison, the city’s Director of Finance about this over expenditure. She said that she is not concerned by that amount as there will be other capital outlay building projects that will be either under-budgeted or not started as planned. Trautwein said that the women’s restroom is awaiting the sink before it will be in use. The sinks should be arriving on Tuesday, April 15th. In the men’s room, the custodian will be installing the stalls in the next week. The next item was a discussion of a policy regarding the access of petitioners on library premises. Trautwein said that he had learned that the Nebraska State Legislature recently passed legislation to deal with this issue. The Board decided to table this proposed policy until the members have had a chance to read that legislation. This motion to table the policy was made by Craig Neid and seconded by Carol Keller. The motion passed by voice vote. Regarding the policy of “Denial of library service to patrons with fines or replacement charges at another library in the one-library consortium,” Trautwein reviewed the history of this situation. Trautwein read a letter from Steve Hanson, the City Attorney. Mr. Hanson recommended the passage of this policy. A motion was made by Carol Keller and seconded by Joie Taylor. This motion passed by voice vote: Schaefer-aye, Keller-aye, Farritor-aye, Neid-aye, and Taylor-aye. The Board then reviewed a policy entitled, “Overdoes and Circulation” Following a discussion this policy was approved with modification. The second sentence in the first paragraph will read, “Consequently, a patron or a family member who has ….” The first sentence of the last paragraph was modified to read, “The Board will authorize the staff to checkout to patrons who have incurred but not yet paid fines of $3.00 or less.” This motion was made by Carol Keller and seconded by Sharon Farritor. This motion passed by voice vote: Schaefer-aye, Keller-aye, Farritor-aye, Neid-aye, and Taylor-aye. Under New Business there was a brief discussion of the four focus group meetings. Carol Keller reminded the Board that Carol Speicher will be presenting her findings at a special board meeting on Monday, April 14th at 7:00 PM. Sharon Farritor volunteered to be the recording secretary. The discussion of the review of circulation statistics for CPL and Bookmobile had occurred earlier. Regarding the 2008-09 budget process, Trautwein said that he would like the help of a Library Board committee in preparing a budget. The proposed budget is due on May 8th. Trautwein said that as he has vacation plans from April 18th to May 5th, it may not be possible to meet the city’s request. He said that this isn’t too great of problem as he has known other departments to be two and three weeks late in their submissions. Trautwein said that he could work with a committee on any or all days of April 14 to the 17th. Sharon Farritor and Joie Taylor volunteered to be on the committee to assist the Director. Trautwein will coordinate dates for this committee to meet next week. Trautwein asked about the possibility of budgeting for the remodeling the auditorium. Craig Neid said he believed that the auditorium might be further down the list of remodeling projects. He suggested that something be budgeted for one or more projects. He would rather the money be spent on the 1st floor. Carol Keller asked about surveying the groups who use the auditorium to learn what they would like in the room. Concerning any capital requests for the coming year, it was decided to wait until after Monday night’s meeting with Carol Speicher to decide on a capital project.. In the meanwhile, the budget committee can work on operational costs. Carol Keller asked about the salary part of the budget. Trautwein said that the personal costs are determined by the city Finance Department and will be issued later. Mrs. Keller said that she thinks the Board will need to decide on whether or not to request additional staff and submit that request to the city to be included in the proposed personnel cost of the budget. The announcements were reviewed. Carol Keller said that she has 6 hours of Continuing Educations credits for a marketing workshop on April 3rd. National library week will be next week, April 13-19th Trautwein will be on vacation, Friday, April 18th to Monday May 5th. Joie Taylor volunteered to attend the Friends of the Library Meeting on Tuesday, April 15th at 7:00 PM The meeting was adjourned with a motion from Jim Schaefer and a second from Sharon Farritor.