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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_LAB_11.09.2009Minutes of the Meeting of the Library Advisory Board Of Georgetown, Texas November 9, 2009 MEMBERS IN ATTENDENCE. Glenn Mautner, Shana Nichols, Marisue Miller, Anjeanette Courtin, David Ciambrone and Kathryn Morehouse. ABSENT: Betty Ann Sensabaugh STAFF IN ATTENDENCE. Eric Lashley, Library Director and Leslie Bradley, Library Assistant OTHERS IN ATTENDENCE: Linda Nix (CTLS Lay Representative) MINUTES: The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair Shana Nichols at 6:30 PM. David Ciambrone made the motion to accept the minutes of the September 2009 Library Advisory Board Meeting and Marisue Miller seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. DIRECTOR'S REPORT: Director Lashley reported that circulation was slightly down for the month of October compared to the previous year Eric said this was due to the fact that the library was closed 3 days in October 2008 for an inventory and closed 5 days in October 2009. The two additional days of closure explained the reduced circulation and visitation statistics. Announcements: ® The Art Hop in October was a very successful event at the library. The banners which were produced for the Art Hop will be removed the week of November 16 and replaced with special holiday banners for the library. ■ The Friends of the Library were recognized at the October 13, 2009 City Council meeting with a proclamation for National Friends of the Library week. Glenn Mautner was in attendance and was recognized along with other members of the Friends organization. Council approved the library's request to spend the majority of the library's materials budget in an amount not to exceed $130 000 with Ingram, Inc. ® Retirement of Fran Fitzner. Fran has worked for the library for over 12 years and works in the Technical Service Department. She is the library s bookkeeper and maintains all financial records, payroll information, and contacts for all of our vendors. Fran's last day will be January 22, 2010. The library will schedule a reception in honor of Fran and the staff will have a dinner in her honor • Friends of the Library are having their annual calendar sales. Calendars are on sale for $9.00 • Hill Country Book Festival will be held Saturday, November 14 at the library ■ The library will be closed November 26 & 27 in observance of Thanksgiving. This year the library will be opened the Saturday and Sunday after the holiday. ® Facilities Plan - The City will be considering options for a new facilities plan. Options include renovating the old library for a new police station. A large concentration of vehicles in this part of downtown may help justify the need for additional parking at the MLK and 8th Street location. ■ Sculptures — the Texas Society of Sculptures will begin displaying works of local sculptors at the library on a quarterly basis starting this month. ■ Leslie Bradley — Leslie Bradley has been hired to replace Billy Cryer. Eric then went over the patron comments that were provided in the board packet. CONSIDERATION OF AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING: ■ Introduction of a library staff member — Eric Lashley: Leslie Bradley was recently hired as a Library Assistant. Leslie had worked at the library as a Temp/On-Call. Leslie grew up in New Orleans. She attended college in Houston where she met her husband John. John is the District Attorney for Williamson County. Leslie has three children; a son and two daughters. Leslie is a graduate of the University of North Texas on-line Library School. ® Introduction of a board member — Betty Sensabaugh: Shana asked Linda Nix to introduce herself to the board. Linda grew up in a military family. She met her husband Joe while she attended Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls Linda had wanted to become a librarian, but ended up as a teacher Linda taught all over the country as well as in Pakistan. She retired from teaching at Round Rock ISD. Her husband Joe took a teaching position in Georgetown after retiring from the military Linda and Joe moved to Georgetown in 1995 Linda has served on the Library Advisory Board and currently serves as the CTLS lay representative. Linda volunteers at the library as well as the Caring Place where she serves on the board of directors. ■ Inventory Statistics — Eric Lashley: Eric reported that 1,275 items (1.4%) out of 90,208 were unaccounted for after October's inventory Eric noted that some of these items may be stolen improperly withdrawn, or otherwise missing for unknown reasons. The staff will continue to search for these items and at some point will go ahead and remove these items from our computer system. Two categories that had a higher than average missing rate were the music CDs (3.3%) and DVDs (6.5%). The board discussed ways in which to reduce the theft of these items. ® Georgetown Learns — David Ciambrone: David announced the Georgetown Learns program has gone well and that the advertising for the spring semester should be out soon. ® Playaways for our library? — Eric Lashley: Eric passed out a Playaway digital audio book to the board and demonstrated how the device operated Eric distributed a report of the conversations he had with the Harker Heights, Austin and New Braunfels public libraries, a report of which is attached to these minutes. After some discussion, Eric feels it is best not to deploy the Playaways, but to invest in the downloadable audio books. ■ CTLS news — Linda Nix Linda reported that Eric and she had gone to the City of Hewitt to attend a CTLS regional meeting. At the meeting, the participants discussed the following topics: 1 E-rate grants to pay for basic telephone service for libraries 2. Plinkit project — a program that allows libraries to create websites without knowing HTML or other computer languages. 3. SYNG grant — which would allow libraries to get a computer that would be dedicated to Texas Work Force Commission software and other employment related software. 4. CTLS Membership — allowing CTLS to open membership to school and academic libraries. There was much discussion about having more members and less money to serve the membership. Friends of the Library criminal background checks — Eric Lashley: Eric had placed this item on the agenda based on some e-mails he had exchanged with Glenn Mautner Glenn had remembered that during a previous board meeting, when discussing whether to require library volunteers to have criminal background checks, the issue of Friends' volunteers had never been settled. After some discussion, David Ciambrone made the motion to strongly recommend to the Fnends of the Library to consider criminal background checks for their volunteers to protect the library and the Friends from possible lawsuits and Glenn seconded the motion The motion passed unanimously Eric said he would bring this to the Friends Board's attention at their November 11, 2009 meeting. Vice Chair Shana Nichols adjourned the meeting at 7:50 PM. Respectfully submitted, Anjanette Courtin, Secretary Shana Nichols, Vice Chair Notes from area Playaway libraries Harker Heights Public Library. • Playaways have been popular • When the library began using Playaways, the library provided 2 rechargeable batteries. This became unmanageable and the patrons are now required to provide batteries. • Limited titles Austin Public Library: • Have had mixed results. Some branches really like the Playways and others get little use. Lower income neighborhoods seem to have a higher usage. • Would prefer to have downloadable audio books, but cannot afford the subscription fees • Are considering using Ingram's downloadable product, but are concerned about number of available titles • Playaways have limited titles • Titles are expensive New Braunfels Public Library: • Used a grant to purchase approximately 60 Playaways as a pilot program • Limited titles • Have had a number break • Use rechargeable batteries, not a problem, recharge all batteries once a week • Cases are on the shelf, but players are kept behind the desk • Titles expensive • Will not continue program due to the fact that they want to move to the Ingram downloadable books and not create an additional format Average cost of a Playaway = $60.00 Average cost of books on CD = $40.00 Other concerns: Many books on CD users listen to the CDs in their automobiles. Playways require an input jack to be played in an automobile. Some automobiles, depending on the placement of their radio antennas, cannot use input jacks.