Call to Order: President Andrew Slade called the meeting of the Duluth Public Library Board to order at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 24, 2010, and reviewed the agenda.
Members Present: Dan D'Allaird, Sister Edith Bogue, Jane Brissett,
Liz Benson Johnson, Virginia Katz, Printha Markert, Andrew Slade,
Peter Spooner, Martha Watson
Also Present: Carla Powers
Excused: None
Absent: None
The board had planned to meet with Mayor Ness at 3:30 today, but the Mayor had to cancel the meeting. He has been invited to attend the March board meeting.
Watson suggested moving the "Communications/Correspondence" section of the agenda to the bottom of the agenda as an FYI. Powers will do this with the next agenda.
Approval of Minutes
The Library Board minutes of the January 26, 2010 meeting were
approved, with the correction that Brissett was also in attendance
at the State of the City event.
Communications
Reports
A. Friends of the Duluth Public Library - Markert
Friends are helping to staff the library's display at Family Fun
Fest at the DECC this weekend. There will be a special media sale
May 7 and 8. At the last meeting the Friends voted to turn over
$10,000 to the library. The group is looking into the possibility
of getting a large banner to hang over Superior Street to advertise
the book sale.
B. Arrowhead Library System - Brissett
ALS is supporting a proposal to change the formula for regional
library basic system support. Basing the support on a three-year
average would be beneficial to ALS. The strategic planning consultant
gave a report at the last board meeting. There is a strong focus
in strategic planning on determining what the community wants
from its library. The Museum Pass Program is getting underway,
and there was discussion about how this program will be publicized.
Spooner and Johnson expressed interest in having some brochures
available at Tweed and the UMD Library.
C. Manager's Report - Powers
The Manager's Report was reviewed. There was discussion about
the recent decision to cut back on staffing at some of the public
desks in order to make additional staff time available for cataloging
and processing new materials. Board members requested an update
on this effort at the next meeting. There was also some discussion
about the Senior Aide program. Bogue suggested that it might
be to the library's benefit to offer some type of work that would
help people improve their computer skills, because that could
result in more people wanting to do their work experience at the
library.
Old Business
"Talking Points" About the Library and Its Needs
- Powers distributed some statistics that could be used as a jumping-off
point. There was consensus that this is too much information
for the purposes of talking points. Bogue gave suggested guidelines
for a so-called "elevator speech," which include a initial
informative sentence followed by two or three more sentences if
the person is interested in finding out more. The three major
issues to focus on would be the library as a vital City service,
branch hours, and equitable funding as it relates to reimbursement
for nonresident use.
Combined Library Board/Foundation/Friends Meeting - This meeting took place on December 8, 2009, and it was well attended by all three boards. Library board members in attendance agreed that it was helpful and that more overlap between each of these boards would be an improvement.
New Business
Review of Internet Use Policy - There was consensus
that the policy should be shortened enough to fit on one page.
Watson volunteered to work on it and present another draft at
the next meeting.
Recommendation for Change in Loan Periods - New loan periods were approved as recommended. There were questions about the large limits on the number of items that can be checked out. The board asked Powers to discuss this with staff and bring a recommendation to the next meeting.
Election of Officers in March - This was discussed and
the bylaws were consulted. Bylaws stipulate that officers can
serve a maximum of two consecutive terms and that the election
of officers takes place at the annual meeting in March. According
to the minutes of the March 24, 2009 meeting, Slade and D'Allaird
both were re-elected to a second term as president and vice president
at that time.
The meeting adjourned at 6:25 p.m.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 23, 2010, at 4:30 p.m.
in the Library's Conference Room.
3/26/10