Library Board Meeting Minutes

LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES FOR JULY 14, 2008

Present: Laurie Smith; chair, Pat Ball, Chris Cherniak, Shaun Jackson, Bill Jahsman, Marlene Ligare, Veronica Miller, Kate Reichartinger, Nann Worel,
Absent: Kate Reichartinger
Liaisons: Friends of the Library, Barbara Bretz; City Council, Roger Harlan
Library Staff: Linda Tillson, Brian Hartmann

Communications and Disclosures
Laurie, new Board Chair, welcomed the new Board members. The August meeting will include a training by the Legal Department for Board members. They Board also has a list of questions for them. Board members had no disclosures of conflict of interest.

Approval of Minutes from June 9, 2008
Laurie made a motion to approve the minutes for June 9, 2008, which was seconded by Chris and approved unanimously. Barbara clarified in the June minutes that Suzelle McCoulough is co-chair of the Friends' annual book sale.

Director’s Report
Linda passed out a short report that Circulation Team Co-Leader Zeb Evelhoch wrote about his MLS project in Albania.

The Board discussed the Park Record’s July 7th One Book article. It focused more on the idea that “reading is down among adults” and less on “The Last Lecture”, 2008's One Book. The article headline was next to the cover of “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, which could be confusing. Former Board Member, Kate Doordan, wrote a letter to the editor relating how “reading is up at the Park City Library.” A July 12th article focused on the One Book. There are two One Book discussions scheduled so far; more may be added.

Regarding Youth Services, Heather had a great location at the Montessori Children's Fair. She reported outreach to 500 people. Soaring Wings Montessori donated more than previous years: Donated funds were earmarked for Youth Services through the Library Foundation. Holy Cross Ministries administers the United Way grant on behalf of A.C.T. (Agencies Coming Together).

Cataloger Trish Maynard created a slat wall display for adult summer reading. The reward for finishing 3 fiction books was $5 at Cow's Ice Cream. Linda appreciated the level of teamwork on Library clean up day. Heather won a prize for the most cleaning.

Linda went to a number of programs while at the ALA Conference on sustainable/green libraries, and libraries as people places - with an emphasis on reading areas. She also attended presentations by authors Dean Koonz and Khaled Hosseini. Linda learned from the vendor of our current security system, what was necessary to make Radio Frequency ID tags (RFID) work at the Library. RFID is utilized at self check out stations, which are often placed near circulation desks, so staff can offer initial assistance. Because of RFID's approximate $25,000 cost, a grant may be considered along with a budget request.

In order to digitize the Park Record from 1881-1947, three grants were required. On the last two, the Park City Museum and the Park Record were part of the grant.

Chris Youngblood and Andrea Mitchell have resolved the statistics from the new Library web site and Internet. Web hits are 8,697 and Internet is 2,670: Both are down from June 2007. Wireless use is a factor: At this point it cannot be quantified accurately. Circulation numbers are up for June. June's 23 Free Summit County Student Cards is the highest number since October 2007. The running total is 131: This is over twice the projected 60. The cards stem from a Reciprocal Borrowing agreement with Summit County. The County helped fund half the projected $21,000 cost of the Park City Library for extending free cards to all Summit County students 5-18 years.

Friends of the Library Report
Barbara Bretz reported that the membership drive held the evening of the July 5th Mike Farrell program went well. The Friends are pleased with the results from teaming up with Merry’s author program. Fifteen renewed memberships that evening and more renewed by mail. Previously, the renewal event was tied to the annual luncheon. The Friends have made the difficult decision to move the annual luncheon from May to September/October, when many authors are on tour. In May, authors often had to be flown in, plus renewal money was offset by the cost of the lunch. Friends officers will remain through the luncheon. The friends are in the final stages of getting this year's author.

At the time of the last newsletter, the Friends had 180 active members. Their next newsletter will be in different colors for those who have, and have not, renewed. With this, the Friends aim is to emphasize annual renewal and its benefits, which include: a discount for the annual luncheon, and entry to the Labor Day book sale preview night. Book sale volunteers are needed for pre-sale setup, Friday's preview night, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday's bargain bag sale. There is a sign-up folder at the Circulation Desk.

Committee Reports and Committee Recruiting
Bill is Chair of the Reciprocal Borrowing committee, with Linda and Sean as members. They may need another member. Reciprocal borrowing with Summit County has one phase complete, i.e.: Free cards for Summit County (S.C.) students. Two possible future phases are: cards for those who work in Park City, but reside in the county; and cards for all S.C. residents. Sally Elliot, S.C. Commissioner, was a booster for funding half the estimated $21,000 cost for serving additional patrons in phase one. Marlene noted that S.C. paid $10,500, but Park City paid the same for people in S.C. to use the Park City Library. Park City residents already have S.C. Library privileges because they pay S.C. taxes.

In September, the committee will be doing costs/benefits analysis, and gage what effect reciprocal borrowing has had on on the Library and its staff. They may or may not recommend expanding Reciprocal Borrowing to the next phase.

Nann will be the new chair of the Facilities Needs Committee, with Marlene, Laurie, Linda, Barbara, Roger, and Pat as members. In order to avoid having a quorum of Board members on the committee, Chris agreed not to attend meetings. To help assess whether to expand the Library or build new in 2011, a Library needs survey has gone out to the community. The committee will evaluate the results

Chris is chair of Policy Update committee with Kate and Linda as members. They need one more member. They have updated the policy manual in the last few years. There has been a wide range of issues and concerns. The committee is discussing and researching the Patron Eligibility Policy. The complex issue of extending free cards to those who are renting business space within the City limits is being considered.

Promotion and Publicity Task Force is in need of a chair. Nann, Marlene, and Bill are members. The committee will continue coordinating the KPCW book reviews. Some of them are lined up, but more reviewers are needed. The committee will participate in back to school night and promote the free student cards with liaison to the schools Kate R. and S.C.

Old Business
Linda posted the Board Agenda on the Library website and requested the Park Record ad the link to the listing of the Board's meeting time. That should satisfy the required public notice to public meetings.

The Board considered the possibility of a member who lives in Summit County, but not within Park City limits. Research showed that Park City Library Board Bylaws state that Board members must reside within the City limits, as does Park City code.

The Board has been invited by Megan Fernandez, Summit County Library Board Chair, to attend their meetings the third Thursday of the month. Laurie cannot attend an evening meeting, but Nann may be able too do so.

New Business
Laurie suggested the Board and the Policy Update Committee look at the bylaws to see if they need updating beyond the change of meeting times. Bill agreed it was a good idea.

Laurie clarified that in the event that a member of the community attends a Board meeting, they need to identify themselves if they speak at the meeting.

In August the Board will have a short initial meeting before the legal department does its 45 minute training, and continue afterwards. The meeting is expected to last until noon.

The July meeting adjourned at approximately 11:30 a.m.