The Board of Trustees of the Geneseo Public Library met in regular session in Foundation Room B at the library on Monday, August 11, 2014. President Gary ZumMallen called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m. Board members in attendance were Mary Farrell, Dave Johnson, Holly McAvoy, Bill Menendez and Susan Philhower.
Dave requested a minor change to the minutes. Susan made a motion that the amended minutes be accepted; Bill seconded the motion and it passed by voice vote.
A draft of the Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance for 2014-15 was distributed to the Trustees. Jim Luikart noted that citizens can come in to review it and make comments for a month. Next month the Budget and Appropriation Ordinance for 2014-15 will be adopted and filed at the Courthouse. Bill moved that the Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance be adopted; Mary seconded the motion and it passed by roll call vote. Susan made a motion that the financial report for July be accepted; Dave seconded the motion and it passed by roll call vote. Bill made a motion for the bills to be paid; Mary seconded the motion and it passed by roll call vote.
Please refer to the written report. Claire received notification from ExxonMobil and Wells Fargo about their foundations’ matching contributions made by patron Florence Link and the Davis Trust, respectively. In both cases, each letter was addressed to the previous Library Director, so Claire contacted them to clarify that she is the Director and that we are not a 503(c) (3) but ILA.
At the Digitization Meeting in Galesburg, Claire learned that the board must approve a statement regarding broadening access to unique historical materials through acquisition/creation, maintenance and preservations of the materials in digital format. This statement is to be added to our Technology Plan. She and Susan attended the Edge Initiative Workshop, in which it was suggested that touch screens be available for the handicapped. Susan stated that we do have that now by going to the “Start” menu then choosing “Accessibility” on the computers. This will be mentioned in the newsletter. Their interpretation was that this library is in compliance with the current goals set forth in the Edge Initiative. A new bookmark Deb Wyffels created was given to Trustees. It was larger than other bookmarks and has lots of information about our website, plus it asks patrons to “Like us” on Facebook and lists links that are on our website. The Per Capital Grant has been submitted.
Donor plaque – Holly is still working on this.
Personnel – Claire turned in a list of employee descriptions.
Building Maintenance – Johnson Controls performed normal maintenance, including changing filters and scraping the chiller.
Roof – Leaked last week after the rain. Gary contacted Precision Builders and Alan Armbrust, our architect. We are waiting on the manufacturer’s report.
Trees – The quote from Steve’s Nursery to remove and replace five trees and do some trimming at prevailing wage was reviewed. Holly moved to accept the bill for $625; Bill seconded the motion and it passed by roll call vote.
Technology Plan – there was a brief discussion about a Social Media policy regarding the public’s ability to post on the library’s Facebook page. Holly suggested that rules (etiquette for posting) be noted on the Facebook page, to discourage inappropriate comments. Dave moved to accept a Social Media policy, Mary seconded the motion and it passed by voice vote. Goals 4 and 5 were added to the plan. In accordance with the directive Claire received at the digitization meeting, the following paragraph will be added to the Technology Plan: “The Geneseo Public Library District Digital Collections Program is dedicated to broadening access to unique historical materials contained within the Library’s Special Collections through the acquisition/creation, maintenance and preservation of these unique historical materials in digital format.” There was a brief discussion regarding the purchase of tablets for staff use. The Technology Plan will be revised and reviewed next month.
Section L – Library Operations and Section K – Safety were presented last month for review. Susan moved to adopt Sections L and K, Dave seconded the motion and it passed by voice vote.
The Personnel Section, a 14-page manual to be Section B, was emailed to our attorney, Phil Lenzini, who had some comments about this. This will be addressed next month.
Statistics and Databases – Deb Wyffels presented print outs of the Google Analytics, adding to her report the number of types of devices used on our website: desktops, mobiles or laptops. Holly asked Deb to include any trends she sees to her reports. Deb has added several new links to websites on the Library’s webpage. These new sites can instruct a patron how to use the Internet, how to work in Excel (from basic to advanced knowledge), how to access multiple courses and access to AcademicEarth.org, which provides online college courses from universities. There was discussion about the attendance at Dan Horn’s computer classes that were held here. Attendance was initially good, then fell off drastically the last two classes. It was suggested that possibly the use of some of the previously-mentioned websites could take the place of holding classes for groups. Sarah Alexander discussed the statistics for the month, noting increased check outs, some increase in ebook usage and poor interest in teen programs. She reviewed the top four web links most used on our website. The license for Mango, a language instruction website, was due. Instead of renewing it, we could save $900 if we contracted with Pronunciator. Zinio was another website that Sarah was asked to investigate. She reported that she had sent six emails to this company and received no responses. She contacted some local libraries about this website and the response was not good: renewals were more expensive and the application is reader only (books can’t be checked out). She believes hard copies of popular magazines is the most cost-effective and patron-popular way.
At 7:43 pm, Susan moved to go into Executive Session. Bill seconded the motion, and all agreed. No action was taken, and at 8:05 pm the Board came out of Executive Session.
Scribe Raise – Bill moved to increase the pay for the scribe by $20 per meeting. Mary seconded the motion and it passed by roll call vote.
Susan moved to approve the wage adjustment for the library director. Dave seconded the motion and it passed by roll call vote.
With no further business before the Board, at 8:25 p.m. Bill made a motion to adjourn; Holly seconded the motion and it was approved.