Call to Order: President Bogue called the meeting of the Duluth Public Library Board to order at 4:35 p.m. on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. On a motion by Slade, seconded by Katz, the agenda was approved with one change. Under reports, Bogue suggested changing the name of the "Equity in Funding Committee" to the "Stability in Funding Committee."

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

Approval of Minutes
On a motion by D'Allaird, seconded by Katz, the library board minutes of the regular meeting of May 22 were approved with a correction in the spelling of Katz's name under the report from the Duluth Library Foundation.

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Reports
A. Friends of the Duluth Public Library - Markert
The Friends' annual book sale took place the second week in June and raised a total of $24,151.44, which is a nine percent increase over last year. The Friends credit the extra day for the increase in sales.

B. Arrowhead Library System - Brissett
On July 1 the merger will the North Country Library Cooperative will take place, and the new ALS board will be seated. Brissett was not chosen to be one of the three board representatives from St. Louis County at this time. Eleven of the 12 regional library systems in the state have approved a new formula for Legacy Amendment funding distribution. The next step is to propose the change to the state legislature. On a motion by Bogue, seconded by Katz, Brissett was thanked for her service as DPL's representative on the ALS board and for her willingness to serve again in the future if selected.

C. Duluth Library Foundation - D'Allaird/Katz
Foundation board members took part in two visioning sessions facilitated by Ann Glumac. The group agreed on a mission statement and identified three top goals: to raise money for the endowment, to raise the visibility of the foundation in the community, and to be alert for opportunities to be awarded grants or other pass-through funding for the library. Several strategies were selected for each of these goals.

D. Stability in Funding Committee - D'Allaird/Jewell/Slade
What began as a discussion of how to obtain funding from municipalities outside of Duluth whose residents use DPL has evolved into an effort to ensure that the library's funding from the city is more stable. A group of representatives from the library board, the foundation board and the Friends of the Library will meet with Mayor Ness in two weeks to share some ideas and get his feedback.

Old Business:
New draft of circulation policy. In the section marked "registration" there was a suggestion to remove the mention of specific dollar amounts for fee cards. On a motion by Spooner, seconded by Brissett, the policy was accepted with this change.

At 5:05 p.m. Volunteer Coordinator Cheryl Skafte arrived. There were introductions, and Cheryl explained that she has been busy coordinating volunteers to help with flood relief. She said her goal is to help recruit volunteers in order to allow parks and library staff build capacity and do new things. Volunteers will not be performing tasks that paid staff currently perform. One of Cheryl's initial tasks will be to write job descriptions for volunteers.

New Business:
Talking points. In 2010 the library board wrote up a short series of talking points to use in conversations with members of the community. The goal at the time was to restore hours at the branches. Now that this goal has been achieved, new talking points are needed. Bogue drafted some new talking points based on the work of the Stability in Funding Committee. There was some brief discussion, and Bogue asked board members to send her additional feedback via email. She will update the draft for the August meeting.

Communications/Correspondence:
Manager's Report
There was some discussion about the book "Fifty Shades of Grey," which was mentioned in a recent editorial in the Duluth News Tribune. The editorial was initiated by the newspaper's editorial staff, who contacted Powers for comments.

The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
The next meeting will take place Tuesday, August 28 in the library's Conference Room.

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