Monthly Meeting
                                                           of the
                                        Columbus Public Library Board

                                                     May 11, 2006

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Columbus Public Library Board was called to order at 4:30 PM on Thursday, May 11, 2006 by the President of the Board, Craig Neid. Other Library Board members present included Jim Schaefer, Jerry Jirka, and Lynne Rambour. Also in attendance were Brad Hruska, the Children’s Librarian, and Robert Trautwein, Library Director. Carol Keller had called earlier to say that she would be
arriving a few minutes late.

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 April Board meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand as presented with a motion from Jerry Jirka and a second from Jim Schaefer. The motion passed by voice vote.

The Library Director distributed the May Financial Reports for the City Library, the County Library Service, and the Library Foundation. He noted that May is the 8th month of the 2005-06 budget year. Trautwein pointed out the $10,284.23 expense for the SIRSI maintenance. A motion was made by Jerry Jirka and seconded by Jim Schaefer to accept the financial reports. The motion passed by roll call vote: Jirka-aye, Schaefer-Aye, Rambour-aye, and Neid-aye.

The Director’s Report was briefly reviewed.

Carol Keller joined the meeting.

Regarding Committee Reports, the Finance Committee met on April 26th to review the proposed 2006-07 budget. This budget includes an additional part-time permanent employee (Library Aide I). Trautwein explained that he will be presenting this budget to Joe Mangiamelli, the City Administrator, and to Anne Kinnison, the City Finance Officer, on May 17th. The Library’s budget will be incorporated into the total city budget and presented to either the City’s Finance Committee or the City Council.

Under Correspondence, Brad Hruska, The Children’s Librarian, discussed his plans for the Summer Reading program which is based on the theme of “Claws, Paws, and Tails”.
He said that he would like to give a longer presentation at the June Library Board meeting on the R.E.A.D (Reading Education Assistance Dogs) program that he is planning to host for four weeks in June.

Under Old Business, This topic had been discussed under “Committee Meetings”.

On the topic of the new bookmobile, Trautwein said that the new vehicle will be delivered in late June. He had granted the manufacturer the right to show the vehicle at the American Library Association Conference which will be held in New Orleans from June 22 to 28th. Regarding the disposition of the old vehicle Trautwein said that the local Fire Department may want the vehicle as a “Command Unit”. He said that he is continuing to advertise it on a website for bookmobile librarians.

Regarding the topic of “flow of materials from the Cataloging Department”, Craig Neid said that following the tour of the Cataloging Department and the visit with Mrs. Lambrecht, the cataloguer, he has a better understanding of the process and has no
recommendations. Both Jim Schaefer and Lynne Rambour asked that they be giving a tour of the Cataloging Department as they had missed the tour on April 13th.

Under New Business, Trautwein said it had been a while since the Library Board’s “Policies” had been reviewed. As the board is mostly composed of new members, he wanted to review three or more policies at each monthly meeting so that current members would know what previous boards had set as policies. For this meeting the following policies were reviewed:
Charges for Research. The Board had no suggestions for changes

Confidential of Library Records. It was suggested that a definition of “confidential” should be consider for inclusion.

Dealing with Unattended Children. It was suggested that there be a limit on the number of hours a child 8 to 12 could spend unattended in the Library. It was also suggested that the policy should reflect that if any child, under the age of 12, were
left unattended in the Library for more than four hours, the Library Director, or another library employee would be authorized to contact the Police Department. (after accessing the situation, the Police Department may contact the “”Child Protection and Safety Hotline “1 800 562 1999” for assistance)

Emergency Closing of the Library. A typo was noted and it was recommended that the Director should make the decision and then “attempt” “ to relay his decision …”

Trautwein said that he would re-write in capital letters the areas of concern in the above policies and send the redrafts to the Board members in the next month’s board packet.

Jerry Jirka asked to read a letter from Jill Owens, a graduate student working on her master’s degree in library science. Mrs. Owens had done part of her school-assigned practicum at the Columbus Public Library. Mrs. Owens thanked the Library Director and the Library Board for offering her the opportunity to spend portions of the last three months working alongside the Library Director to learn about the operations of a public library.

A motion to adjourn was made by Jim Schaefer and seconded by Jerry Jirka. This motion passed by voice vote.