Update_Library Board of Trustees 9 27 12Carnegie -Stout Public Library
Library Board of Trustees Update
From the Meeting of
September 27 2012
Present: Paula Connors, President; Mike Willis, Vice President; Frederick
Miller, Secretary; Trustees, John Anderson - Bricker, David Hammer, and Jenny
Weiss
Absent: Diann Guns
The Board met Thursday, September 27. Below is a summary of their meeting:
• August marked 17 percent of the fiscal year passing with 15 percent of the
budget expended. Revenue collected was at 15 percent of estimates.
• The number of checkouts was down 3 percent in August, but use
remained high. Internet use was up 10 percent and the checkout of
downloadable material was up 100 percent compared to the same time
last year.
• The painting of the mezzanine was completed and reopened to the public
on September 18. The contractor will replace a glass panel that was
broken and will clean the globes of the lights.
• Fred Jackson Tuckpointing repaired some cracked and lifting stone on the
west side of the building.
• The director has met with a teacher in the marketing department at Loras
College about a marketing campaign the library would like to launch. The
instructor believed the Marketing Club might find the project of interest,
and if not, the idea will be a candidate for a class project.
• Collection of the community survey was completed on Wednesday,
September 27. At this point enough surveys had been received to be able
to generalize the results to the Dubuque population with a confidence level
of plus or minus 5 percent. A full summary should be available by the next
board meeting.
• The Fiscal Year 2014 budget request was reviewed and approved for
presentation to the City Manager and Budget Director.
• The Board discussed the reciprocal borrowing program known as Open
Access that the library (and over 600 libraries statewide) participates in
which allows individuals to borrow materials directly from libraries other
than their own. For the past 12 years Carnegie -Stout has provided about
half of all the County Library systems check outs to rural residents, yet
receives no funding from the County for this service. Work toward a
solution was moving in a positive direction in 2008 -2009, but the County
Library did not pursue additional conversations when the director left the
system. Last fiscal year Carnegie -Stout checked out 100, 351 items to
Dubuque County Library cardholders. The Dubuque County Library
checked out 86,500 items in total to all borrowers in the same fiscal year.
Representatives from the C -SPL board and the director attended a
Dubuque County Library Board of Trustees meeting to discuss the issue,
ask for $10,000 to help cover the cost of this service and request the
formation of a task force. The purpose of the task force was to discuss
ideas on how to provide library service to all Dubuque County residents in
an equitable way that results in a win for all stakeholders. The County
Board declined the request for $10,000 and the invitation to participate in
a task force. The service to Dubuque County Library cardholders costs
Carnegie -Stout well over $60,000 annually. The C -SPL Board of Trustees
voted to restrict some aspects of service such as requesting an item be
placed on hold and asking that a particular title be purchased. Eliminating
the ability to place holds will decrease the waiting time for Dubuque
residents on a reserve list and will result in some costs savings. C -SPL
buys a duplicate copy of a book for each five holds. Fewer copies of a title
will need to be purchased as a result. The cost of the program remains
very high and the need to work out a long -term solution remains. The C-
SPL Board of Trustees voted to invite the County Library Board to discuss
the issue again and also voted to discuss the issue with the County Board
of Supervisors, which is the funding authority for the Dubuque County
Library.
Library Board of Trustees
Tewie(00,
Paula Connors, Board President
Mike Willis, Vice President
Frederick Miller, Board Secretary
John Anderson - Bricker
Diann Guns
David Hammer
Jenny Weiss
r'L�Ellk! ' L tee
Susan Henricks, Director
Carnegie -Stout Public Library
Library Board of Trustees Update
From the Meeting of
October 25, 2012
Present: Mike Willis, Vice President; Frederick Miller, Secretary; Trustees, John
Anderson - Bricker, Diann Guns, and Jenny Weiss
Excused: Paula Connors, David Hammer
The Board met Thursday, October 25. Below is a summary of their meeting:
• September marked the end of the first quarter of FY 13 with expenditures
at 23% and revenue collected at 22% of projections.
• September saw an increase in business after a lull, with a 2% increase in
the number of checkouts and 12% increase in the number of visits. E-
book use for the first quarter was up 151 % over the same time last year.
• The State Library Commission met at the Library while they were in town
to attend the ILA conference. The director of the Dubuque County Library
and I were invited to discuss the topic of lending patterns and Open
Access in our County with Commission members. The director of the
County Library concluded her talk with a request that the Commission
advocate for additional funds for Open Access. My talk concluded with a
request to review the Open Access Agreement and allow an exemption to
the loaning library if it provides more than 25% of another library's total
circulation. This would give the C -SPL board discretion to make changes
to the Open Access program locally to better manage our resources.
Presently, the Agreement has the reverse provision — that if our total
circulation exceeds 25% in Open Access transactions we can restrict as
the Board determines will best serve our needs. According to the most
recent data, Dubuque County Library provided only 36% of circulations for
county residents last fiscal year, and while most circulations to DBQ
County residents were generated from Carnegie -Stout we did not reach
25% of total circulations going to Open Access.
• Paula Connors, Diann Guns, and Susan Henricks met with the County
Board of Supervisors on Monday, October 22 with the goal of providing
information to raise their awareness of the issue and ask for one of them
to join a task force that C -SPL would like to form to evaluate the best way
to provide library service in the county in an equitable manner. The
County Board of Supervisors will decide after they meet with the Dubuque
County Library Board of Trustees.
• The Community Survey was completed. Responses from the web
surveys have not been reviewed and summarized yet. This will take place
at the next board meeting. Of note from the mail survey: A large majority
of respondents, whether they have used the library recently or not, believe
the library is either very important or essential to the quality of life in our
community. For those who had recent contact with the library 93.5%
agreed with this statement. A strong majority (83.7 %) of those who have
not had recent contact with the library agreed with this statement.
Similarly, respondents reported a high level of satisfaction with the library,
with 83.6% stating their overall satisfaction level is either very good, or
excellent.
• During our CIP budget hearing, the City Manager requested that we ask
Lange Signs once again to cover the cost of the exterior signage changes
that the City Council approved. Lange has previously said no to this
request, but did agree to the cost of repainting the signs. A board member
will call Lange Signs to request the rework take place at no cost to the
City.
Library Board of Trustees
Paula Connors, Board President
Mike Willis, Vice President
Frederick Miller, Board Secretary
John Anderson - Bricker
Diann Guns
David Hammer
Jenny Weiss
Susan Henricks, Director