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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_LAB_10.12.2015Minutes of the Meeting of the Library Advisory Board City of Georgetown October 12, 2015 The Library Advisory Board met on Monday, October 12, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. in the Staff Conference Room of the Georgetown Public Library, 402 W. 8t" Street MEMBERS PRESENT: Pat Baldwin, Michael Barnes, Lois Case, Tom Hagen, Tom Milburn, Linda Nix, and Pete Rose. STAFF PRESENT: Eric Lashley- Library Director, Sally Bernier- Technical Services Librarian and Laura Helpert- Cataloging Librarian Regular Session A. Citizens wishing to address the Board. — None were present. B. Consideration of minutes of the September 14, 2015 meeting. — Tom Hagen made the motion to accept the minutes of the September 2015 Library Advisory Board Meeting. Michael Barnes seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. C. Consideration of the Library Director's Report. — Eric Lashley. Lashley reported on the statistics from the end of fiscal year 2014-2015. End of year statistics determined that circulation and visitations were down, compared to the prior year. Bookmobile circulation was only slightly lower than last year. Overdrive e -book and audiobook checkouts were higher than the previous year. Lashley reported that the bookmobile will move to a floating collection at the end of the month. Moving forward, there will not be a separate collection in our catalog for the bookmobile. All items will come from extra copies in the main collection and all will be available to reserve through the library's catalog. Having the collection designated as either WOW or Main, patrons were only able to reserve items in the "Main" collection while WOW materials couldn't be reserved at all. This change will allow all materials to be reserved. Lashley noted that the library added 12,686 materials to the collection during the fiscal year, and withdrew 13,196 materials. Meeting room attendance was estimated to be over 31,000. Volunteers donated over 9,000 hours of their time to the library. The Friends of the Georgetown Public Library gave over $72,000 to the library for unbudgeted materials and events. Upcoming events include: a screening of Back to the Future on October 16, the annual Halloween party October 23, and Live Music Sunday on October 18, featuring the Austin Classical Guitar Ensemble. Lashley presented the library's new website to the board and discussed features he does and doesn't like. He reminded the board that the website is a work in progress and library staff members are making changes every week to enhance the user's experience. Lashley reviewed the patron comments. Pete Rose inquired about when the library will be moving the CD books to the second floor and asked if the library could utilize volunteers help move the collection. Lashley said he will meet with the staff to come up with a deadline to have the materials moved by and recruit volunteers to help with the task. Rose also asked how long the library expected to have a backlog of materials and again offered volunteer assistance. Lashley explained that the backlog will continue until the new Cataloging Librarian is hired. Lashley asked Sally Bernier, Technical Services Librarian, if she would attend the meeting to address some of Rose's concerns. D. Introduction of library staff member. — Eric Lashley. Lashley introduced Sally Bernier- head of Technical Services and Laura Helpert- Cataloging Librarian. Bernier explained how materials records are cataloged and what it will take to get rid of the backlog. Lashley noted that if the library has any staff vacancies in the near future, the library will fill the Cataloging Librarian position and delay hiring for the vacant position. Laura Helpert introduced herself. She has lived in Georgetown since 2001 and is a long-time patron of the library. She previously was a Children's Librarian in Temple, Texas. After having children she was a stay-at-home mother and has recently re-entered the workforce. She started as a temp -on-call employee, became a part-time employee and now works full-time as a cataloger. Laura also does collection development of the fiction materials and the Overdrive (e - books) materials. She explained that the thing that surprised her the most as an employee is the fact that the library staff goes to great lengths to please our patrons. E. Report on the annual Connectinq Texas Libraries Statewide (CTLS) meeting in Temple, Texas. — Linda Nix, Tom Milburn, Eric Lashley. Linda Nix handed out a copy of her notes from the meeting. Both she and Tom Milburn were impressed by the new State Librarian, Mark Smith. Lashley read the newly approved goals of the Long Range Plan and handed out an overview of the Turning Outward process mentioned by the State Librarian. F. Report on parking lot construction on 8th Street. — Eric Lashley. Lashley reported that construction is underway and the construction company has made good progress. The lot should provide 149 spaces and be open for use at the end of November or beginning of December. G. Report on bookmobile networking meeting, October 2, 2015. — Eric Lashley. Lashley reported that twenty librarians from twelve different libraries attended a bookmobile networking meeting at the Georgetown Public Library on October 2. The furthest library to participate was Laredo Public Library. A lot of great information was shared among the librarians and an email system was established to allow these libraries to communicate with each other more effectively. The format of the meeting allowed everyone to participate and have their questions and concerns addressed. The group agreed to continue meeting on an annual basis. More narrow topics will be addressed in these small regional meetings in the future. H. Consideration of the Volunteer Report — Tom Milburn. Milburn informed the board that Michele Harber (former bookmobile librarian, now volunteer coordinator) is doing a fantastic job in her new role. He noticed that she says thank you to each volunteer when she sees them each day. Milburn noted the need to recruit volunteers. Discussion ensued about recruiting volunteers to shelve in the children's room. Milburn also noted some inconsistencies in the way some volunteers shelve materials. Many are trying to keep all titles from an author together on one shelf instead of leaving space at the end of each shelf for natural shifting of the collection. Leaving room on a shelf is crucial to a naturally shifting collection, because materials are constantly coming and going. I. Report on the Downtown West Project —Eric Lashley. Lashley reported that the Planning, Economic Development, and Public communications departments will move into the old police station by the first of the year. The proposed festival area has been diminished. None of the architectural designs have been finalized. City staff will be required to park in the lots farthest from the buildings to give patrons and residents better parking options. J. Consideration and possible action to change the way board members receive agenda packets. — Eric Lashley. Lashley asked board members how they would like to receive their agenda packets; paper copy or electronic copy. The board decided they want an electronic copy of the agenda, leaving out the blank pages generated by the City's software. This change will take effect for November's agenda. Chair Linda Nix adjourned the meeting at 11:52 a.m. Respectfully submitted, A ci t, / , 7& Tom Hagen, Secretary Linda Nix, Chair