Call to Order: President Bogue called the meeting of the Duluth Public Library Board to order at 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday, August 28, 2012. On a motion by Jewell, seconded by Katz, the agenda was approved with one change. "New Business" was moved ahead of "Old Business."

Members Present: Dan D'Allaird, Sister Edith Bogue, Jane Brissett, Frank Jewell, Virginia Katz, Printha Markert, Peter Spooner
Also Present: Carla Powers
Excused: Liz Benson Johnson, Andrew Slade

Approval of Minutes
On a motion by D'Allaird, seconded by Brissett, the library board minutes of the regular meeting of June 26 were approved as drafted.

Reports
A. Friends of the Duluth Public Library - Markert
At the last meeting the proceeds from the annual book sale were turned over to the library. $1000 of this donation is designated for books to be purchased in honor of Heidi Johnson, and $250 for books to be purchased in honor of Gail Bosiacki. Next year's book sale will take place June 10 through 14, 2013. The Friends are in the process of designing a new website.

B. Duluth Library Foundation - Katz
Because there is so much going on right now, the Foundation board will meet every month rather than every other month. Mural mugs are now available for purchase at the circulation desk. The Foundation recently completed two visioning sessions facilitated by Ann Glumac. Priorities that emerged from the visioning sessions include: doing a better job of publicizing the Foundation and differentiating it from the Friends, holding a fall event for donor recognition, and letting people involved with estate planning know that the Foundation is an option for planned giving.

C. Stability in Funding Committee - D'Allaird/Jewell
A group of library advocates met with Mayor Ness on August 4. The Mayor discouraged them from pursuing a designated library fund at this time. He pointed out that the parks referendum approved last fall was also an effort to stabilize funding for the library. He said that stabilizing city funding for the library may actually discourage, rather than encourage, nonresidents from contributing toward library services. The group has decided to do some research to explore the history of city budget cuts and how these cuts have impacted the library.

Jewell mentioned that he intends to nominate Brissett for a seat on the Arrowhead Library System board when the representative from Duluth reaches her term limit at the end of 2012. Brissett will invite Teresa Dawson to the September meeting to give an update on the most recent ALS board meeting.

There was a suggestion to develop a graphic as a visual illustration of who pays how much for library service.

New Business:
Summer Reading Wrap-Up. Powers handed out participation statistics for this summer's program. There was a suggestion to use census data to track the number of children in the city, as a benchmark for summer reading participation. There was also a suggestion to reach out and encourage children and teens who don't regularly use the library to participate in the summer reading program. Powers will pass along this suggestion to youth services staff. Powers mentioned that staff is considering extending next year's summer reading program into mid-August.

2013 Budget. Powers outlined the guidelines for next year's budget, which includes across-the-board cuts in every department to align expenditures with revenues. The library's proposed cut is $57,000. Fortunately, staffing changes already in place have substantially reduced the library's personnel costs which means the budget cut will not result in a reduction of services.

September Board Meeting. It was decided to hold the September board meeting at City Center West. The meeting will be followed by a short tour of the West Duluth Branch.

Old Business:
Talking points. D'Allaird and Bogue will work together to update the talking points for next month's meeting.

Communications/Correspondence:
Manager's Report
Powers reported on a planned power outage that is scheduled for Monday, September 10. The outage will take place at 2 p.m. and is expected to last one to two hours. The library will close from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. that day, and most staff will leave the building during the outage.

The meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.
The next meeting will take place Tuesday, September 25 in the senior center at City Center West.

1/30/13
Duluth Public Library, 520 W. Superior St., Duluth, MN 55802