MUSSER PUBLIC LIBRARY
BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21, 2009 – 4:30 P.M.
LIBRARY CONFERENCE ROOM
PRESENT:
Drake, Durham, Koehrsen, Lande, Martin, Nus, Stelzner, Ward.
STAFF:
P.Collins, Derbin, Warschauer, Gabbard (Friends).
ABSENT:
Johnston
M I N U T E S
I.
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order at 4:34 p.m. by Pres.
Durham.
II.
REVIEW OF AGENDA:
The agenda was reviewed and approved as printed.
III.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Martin moved to approve the minutes of the
Nov. 19, 2008 minutes as printed. Second by Stelzner. All ayes. Motion
carried.
IV.
BILLS FOR PAYMENT:
Ward moved to approve payment of the
following bills:
12/02/08
$1,918.95
12/16/08
$5,637.26
1/06/09
$7,335.85
1/13/09
$11,035.87
Second by Stelzner. All ayes. Motion carried. Collins reported that DVDs are
ordered through Amazon at almost half the cost of other venders. A new
readers’ advisory database,
Books & Authors
, is being purchased from Gale.
Another database,
Tumbleweed Books
, has been renewed. It is an online
service for children, used heavily by schools and excellent for reluctant
readers. Trustees suggested training classes for the new website to introduce
people to all these new online services.
V.
CITIZENS SPEAK:
None present.
VI.
COMMUNICATIONS:
A.
Staff Liaison:
Derbin reported on the success of the Fairytale
Extravaganza, although the Troll was too scary for some children. Over
600 attended. A letter to the editor appeared in the Journal with very
good comments. When the punch passes are returned we’ll be able to
see how many participated in each of the many events. Next year we
will try this with
Redwall
in conjunction with the Pearl City Players’
opera,
Redwall
. Collins thanked Derbin for designing the sets and
sewing the costumes for the Fairytale Extravaganza.
B.
Friends of MPL report:
The Friends are making a special effort to
increase membership and appeal to young parents to join. They are
planning to send out a notice for membership renewals, to meet with A
Warm Welcome (Welcome Wagon) and attend a Newcomers’ Club
meeting to do a short presentation. They are also planning treats for the
library staff around Valentine’s Day.
C.
Director’s Report:
Trustees received a written report. 1) Collins
showed pictures of the upcoming newsletter
Watermark
. Designer Mike
Shield has done a fine job, although the writer has been let go. Collins
and Christensen will do the writing instead. 2) Pictures of the new web
page were shown. A page called Value Calculator allows patrons to see
how much value they get out of their tax dollars by using the library. 3)
Lon Frye called to say that the deadline for submission of grant
applications to the state for infrastructure projects is tomorrow. Trails,
parks, and libraries are considered infrastructure. Since our plan was
shelved for lack of funding, he thought we could still submit it as a
placeholder. Collins is looking into it.
VII. COMMITTEES:
A.
Long Range Planning:
Koehrsen and Collins reported the project is on
hold until they can meet with Janelle from Allsteel and Rochelle the
decorator about ways to use the space we have. Layouts and products
still need to be investigated. Bad weather is responsible for delaying
meetings.
B.
Budget Committee:
Lande moved to approve the budget with a second
by Nus. All ayes. Motion carried. The budget request has already been
submitted. We asked for a minimal increase of $45,000, or 4-1/2 %.
Collins explained that we’ve moved things around and cut the level of
staff, but not the number of hours. Trustees discussed the challenge of
defining “equipment” to City Council members. Equipment is actually
the library’s collection of books and materials, not simply operating
equipment. Trustees were encouraged to talk to council members at any
opportunity about this distinction. Ward noted the significance of the
County Supervisors recognizing and understanding what a good deal
the county residents are getting with regard to the cost of library
services. He feels that at least one acknowledges the cost vs. value.
VIII.
OLD BUSINESS:
A.
Public Relations Messages:
After attending the PR workshop, Collins
and Koehrsen presented the need for us to tell our story more often by
creating major messages to the community. One major message is that
the library is one of the few things that, as times get bad, becomes a
better investment. We need to tell the community what we do and why
we do it. Even regular users and long-time users don’t know what we
have beyond books. This is a long-term PR plan dealing with how to be
more purposeful and how to educate people about the wonderful online
tools we have available. Suggestions were to use the new website for
tutorials, offer more classes focusing on separate indepth subjects, such
as Morningstar, book clubs, Tumbleweed, etc. Distribute the newsletter
to tables in waiting rooms, teachers lounges, offices, dentists, car
washes, etc. A committee will work to assemble a PR action plan for
the next meeting.
IX.
NEW BUSINESS:
A.
Board Membership:
In June the terms of Drake, Ward and Johnston
end. A list of potential board members needs to be created. Except for
one county person, all must live within the city limits. All are appointed
by the mayor. Trustees were asked consider the demographics people
would represent and bring names to the next meeting.
B.
Library Logo:
Collins is considering the return to the old lion logo,
which is rather trendy right now. It also translates into a mascot we
could use for visiting schools and use in parades. The trustees agreed to
changing back to the lion logo.
C.
Fundraiser idea:
Collins explained her couch potato fundraiser.
Instead of performing a task, having a contest or activity, it would
simply be a non-event consisting of sending out a cute solicitation letter.
She would ask Friends for their assistance. Trustees agreed that a fund-
raiser of this nature would be appropriate.
X.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 6:12 p.m. The next meeting
will be Feb. 18, 2009 at 4:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by,
Diana Stelzner, Acting Secretary
/iw