Report_Library Board of Trustees Update 8 23 12Carnegie -Stout Public Library
Library Board of Trustees Update
From the Meeting of
August 23, 2012
Present: Paula Connors, President; Mike Willis, Vice President; Frederick
Miller, Secretary; Trustees, John Anderson - Bricker, Diann Guns, and Jenny
Weiss
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The Board met Thursday, August 23. Below is a summary of their meeting:
• The passage of the first month of FY13 marks eight percent of the fiscal year
lapsing. Expenditures were at seven percent.
• Repairs to the mezzanine ceiling have progressed ahead of schedule. The
contractor anticipates removal of the scaffolding the week of September 3 and
turning the project over the week of September 10.
• Paula Connors, Diann Guns, John Anderson - Bricker, and Susan Henricks met
with Steve Brown from City Engineering and Barry Lindahl from City Legal
regarding outstanding issues with Tricon Construction Group. Barry and Steve
will contact Tricon with a compromise agreement that will allow the library to
pursue repairs on its own.
• A month ago Henricks met with Steve Brown and representatives from Geisler
Brothers and Engineered Controls on the topic of a maintenance agreement
intended to resolve outstanding issues with the HVAC that were not addressed
during the installation of the system. Henricks requested language be included in
the service agreements that lists outstanding items with completion dates
assigned to insure that the work will be completed.
• Paula Connors, Diann Guns and Susan Henricks met with the County Library
Board of Trustees at their board meeting on August 21 to discuss the problems
associated with open access to county residents. The County Library generates
41 percent of the library check -outs in the county, with Carnegie- Stout, the
James Kennedy Public Library - Dyersville, and the Cascade Public Library
furnishing 59 percent of the items checked out. This program costs C -SPL
$82,578 annually— a net of $67,118 when state funding to support reciprocal
borrowing is deducted. The meeting went very well with C -SPL representatives
requesting a task force be formed to identify options for more equitable funding
and service. C -SPL cannot drop out of the open access program without losing
all state funding and accreditation, so a local solution is desirable.
• The community survey was launched on August 15. The surveys were sent to
2,000 random households in the city. Online surveys are available from the
library's website and hard copies are available inside the library. The survey is
intended to measure the level of satisfaction the community has with the library
as well as interest in expansion of services to the west side of the city.
• The new marketing campaign, Geek the Library, was introduced to the board.
Henricks will explore the possibilities of interns to manage this initiative.
• A discussion of installing a filter to block Bit - Torrent software was held. Most
sharing that takes place through the use of Bit - Torrent software is illegal;
however, it can be, and is used for the sharing of legal content. The question
discussed was, "Do we filter, or block, Bit - Torrent software to prevent illegal
downloads knowing we then filter legal information ?" We'll be exploring the
ability to manage legal materials at a designated computer — likely at the
Reference Desk — if the filtering is installed.
• Staff Development Day was held August 16. The morning session was held by
Scott Warrick on the topic of Emotional Intelligence — the ability of a person to
control his or her ego and emotions, thus enabling more successful
conversations. The afternoon session was presented by Jill Kluesner on the
topic of Mental Health First Aid — the recognition of when someone may be in
crisis and how to stabilize the event until professional help arrives.
Library Board of Trustees
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Paula Connors, Board President
Mike Willis, Vice President
Frederick Miller, Board Secretary
John Anderson - Bricker
Diann Guns
David Hammer
Jenny Weiss
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Susan Henricks, Director