Update_Library Board of Trustees 8 25 11Carnegie - Stout Public Library
Library Board of Trustees Update
From the Meeting of
August 25, 2011
Present: Paula Connors, President; Vice President; Mike Willis, Trustees, John
Anderson - Bricker; Diann Guns; Jenny Harris; and Fred Miller
Excused: David Hammer
• Eight percent of the fiscal year has passed with 9 percent of the budget expended.
Revenue collection is at just over 6 percent of projections. During a recent
meeting last week in Des Moines the State Librarian confirmed that funding from
the State of Iowa to libraries will be cut a total of 25 percent.
• Library visits last month were up a surprising 25 percent which is likely record
setting. Although desk top Internet use is flat, the circulation of lap tops increased
70 percent in circulation can be attributed to Dubuque residents as opposed to
reciprocal borrowers.
• The Lending Library will be installed at Asbury Hy -Vee on September 6. The
installation will include a drive -up materials return box which will be in the
parking lot. Our plan is to stock the machine with the newest and most popular
materials for which there will be no waiting list. The vending machine will hold a
total of 246 items.
• The Friends of the Library have donated $4,000 for a start-up collection for the
lending library. The Foundation will fund $8,000 for materials for the lending
library. We will be investigating the pros and cons of leasing the most popular
material to make a decision about how to best spend the Foundation gift.
• Interviews for the part-time Library Aide position for the Recommendations Desk
began the week of August 22. Seventy -five applications were received and ten of
them have master's degrees in library and information science. Karen Kritz has
announced her retirement at the end of the August. 300 applications have been
received for this position.
• The board discussed preparation for embarking on a new strategic plan. This will
likely begin with a community survey to be administered by an outside
organization using scientific methods. The survey will cover satisfaction levels
for general library service as well as identify the level of interest in expansion of
services to the west side of Dubuque. We can compare the current interest in
expansion of services with the interest shown in our 2004 survey results.
• A meeting was held on Thursday, August 18 for the HVAC system with the
mechanical engineers, Geisler Bros., Geisler's two sub - contractors, City
Engineering staff, library staff and a library board member. The outcome of the
meeting was that the mechanical engineer, KJWW would be in contact with
Library Maintenance staff every day to get an update on how the system is
performing and based on this information will then work directly with contractors
to resolve outstanding issues. It is believed that within three weeks the HVAC
system should be fully operational.
• No progress has been made regarding outstanding issues associated with Tricon
Construction Group.
Library Board of Trustees
Paula Connors, Board President
Mike Willis, Board Secretary
John Anderson - Bricker
Diann Guns
David Hammer
Jenny Harris
Fred Miller
Mike Willis
Susan Henricks, Director