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LAB Minutes 06/25/2014 Library Advisory Board Minutes June 25 , 2014 Naples, Florida, June 25, 2014 LET IT BE KNOWN that the LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD met on this date in regular session at 10:00 a.m. in the Naples Regional Library with the following members present: CHAIR: Doris J. Lewis — District 4 VICE-CHAIR: Loretta Murray— District 1 Carla Grieve — District 2 l AUG h u Connie Bettinger-Hennink— District 3 _ L, Lillian Cuevas — District 5 (Absent) By AZT ALSO PRESENT: Marilyn Matthes, Library Director Karen Tibbetts, Administrative Assistant Roberta Reiss, Literacy Program (Absent) Marilyn McKay, Branch Manager, Naples Regional Library Ellen Taylor, Naples resident, former library employee APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR THE ANNUAL BOARD MEETING Mrs. Lewis asked for additions or corrections to the minutes of annual LAB board meeting on May 28, 2014. No corrections were noted. Ms. Bettinger-Hennink moved to approve the minutes for the annual LAB board meeting, Mrs. Murray seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mrs. Lewis asked for additions or corrections to the minutes of the regular LAB board meeting on May 28, 2014. No corrections were noted. Ms. Bettinger-Hennink moved to approve the minutes for the regular LAB board meeting, Mrs. Murray seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. LITERACY PROGRAM REPORT • Mrs. Reiss was unable to attend the meeting; however, she provided a written report, which was distributed to the LAB members. o Mrs. Reiss reported that over the past few weeks she has concentrated on exploring the needs of the students of the Literacy Volunteers of Collier County, and has started designing an additional Basic Computer class. o Requests have been made to create classes that focus on the Internet, how to use email, conduct searches, and learn about important safety issues. Mrs. Reiss is using lessons from Out &About in the World of Computers as a basis for the class design, which may be offered at the East Naples Library in the fall. o As many of the participants for the English Conversation Classes at the South Regional Library are out of town for the summer, Mrs. Reiss instituted a "distance learning" opportunity. So far, six class members plan to participate in an email-based conversation with Mrs. Reiss. o The "distance learning" will consist of directed conversations in a written or "chat" format via email. o Mrs. Reiss is looking into the possibility of offering this type of English practice in a Skype version that will continue the practice of conversational language skills. However, instructions will need to be provided to participants when classes resume in the fall. REPORT OF OFFICERS — None COMMUNICATIONS a —Written b— Personal — None 1 UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1) Employee of the Month —June & July • Mrs. Murray nominated Karen Tibbetts from Administration for the June employee of the month. Ms. Bettinger-Hennink seconded the nomination and the motion passed unanimously. • Mrs. Grieve nominated Veronica Salley from the Headquarters Library for the July employee of the month. Mrs. Lewis seconded the nomination and the motion passed unanimously. 2) LEAP Update • Marilyn McKay, Branch Manager for the Naples Regional Library, introduced Keturah Lansiquot, who is the LEAP student for NR. Keturah wore the new LEAP T-shirt that was designed by the Friends of the Library for students to wear. • Mrs. McKay stated that Keturah has assisted staff with the children's summer reading program sign-ups, awarded prizes, helped with cleaning up the missing items list, and assisted with the Mail-a-Book program. • Mrs. Matthes reported that the students selected for the LEAP program have started at all library locations, and have been a great success. • She will request for the FOL to continue to fund this program, and any current students that are available should be able to continue with their position. NEW BUSINESS 1) Policy Discussion a. Outside Petitioning • Mrs. Matthes reported that a Jehovah's Witness group has been given permission by the County to distribute literature outside of the North Collier Regional Park. She reported that there is a group interested in doing the same at the Library, however, they have not yet contacted her to schedule any dates to do so. The County is working on a policy regarding this topic as well as County-wide policies for consistency. • Library policy allows for the Library, the Friends of the Library, and government agencies (including schools, clerk of courts, etc.) to have materials distributed within the library building. With Library approval, other business can either distribute information by hand or by an enclosed rack that they would have to supply and maintain. b. Example: Items overdue by 36 months or more will not be returned to the collection. In order to reinstate library privileges, patron must pay for materials. • Mrs. Matthes reported that she is reviewing outstanding overdue library fines/fees with the County Finance Department. There are some materials that have been checked out since 2006. • Discussion ensued, and Ms. Bettinger-Hennink made a motion to modify the Library Fines/Fees Policy to include: "Items overdue 24 months or more will not be returned to the collection. In order to reinstate library privileges, patrons must pay for the materials." Mrs. Lewis seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. • Mrs. Matthes added that the Library's current automation system is limited to recognizing the local 239 area code, and is unable to automatically process patron notifications to long distant telephone numbers. • After discussion the LAB agreed to include the following in the revised Library Fines/Fees Policy: • Ms. Bettinger-Hennink made a motion to include in the revised Library Fines/Fees Policy: "No notifications will be mailed to patrons except for final billed materials notices. Patrons must have a 239 area code phone number or valid email address associated with their Library account to receive notifications." Mrs. Lewis seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. 2 • Mrs. Matthes added that the County would have to make the final approval, and there will be a campaign prior to the implementation of these additions to the policy. 2) Marilyn McKay, Naples Regional Manager • Marilyn McKay provided information on the Naples Regional Library building to members. She stated that it is the oldest library building in the County and has aged well in meeting the challenges of the time. • Mrs. Grieve added that the Naples Regional Library was built on land that is leased to the County by the Friends of the Library. • The Naples Regional Library offers/contains the following: Mail-a-Book program, Friends of the Library offices, Genealogy Room, Beach Passes (free and for purchase); and West Wing Lobby (for community art outreach programs). There is also plenty of storage space, and collected book donations for the book sale are stored at NR. • This branch also offers a quiet zone reading room and the Rees meeting room. • Mrs. McKay added that NR is working on weeding their collection in preparation for the upcoming RFID system, as well as reviewing the missing/in-transit lists. • She is working with Marketing with more outreach programs to build relationships with downtown businesses by providing area business coupons to library patrons. • Gayle McTeigue, Program Specialist, has created weekly pre-literacy programs, which have been well received by patrons. • The FOL provided digital screens to display donor and program information. • NR would like to be able to purchase more durable furniture for patrons in the future. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS • Ms. Bettinger-Hennink reported that members of the Golden Gate Civic Association have been communicating with the public regarding Library services. DIRECTOR'S REPORT— Marilyn Matthes 1) Current Statistics • Mrs. Matthes distributed April & May statistics. There has been an increase with electronic circulation and the decline in print materials has not been as great. • Since the last LAB meeting, the Library has not purchased many items, including OverDrive downloads, and some materials were returned to the vendors. • Mrs. Matthes has started a project with the Finance Dept. to recognize interest for past State Aid that has not been credited to the Library. This item will go before the BCC at their July 8th meeting, and the Library should receive over$100,000 to be able to buy library materials. • Mrs. Matthes has been reviewing the carts for materials that staff has selected from major vendors. The Library has been cutting down on the number of copies purchased. • Mrs. Matthes will revisit the patron purchase requests to determine which items can be processed to purchase. The Library receives 50-100 purchase requests each month. • Mrs. Matthes has asked Jamie Reilly to ask the LEAP students if they have used Freegal. The subscription costs $35,000 annually, and the Library is unsure if the subscription will be continued after it ends in September. • The comments that Mrs. Matthes has received so far regarding Freegal is that it is difficult to use. For example, to search for a song by Johnny Cash, a patron would need to search under"Johnny". Ms. Bettinger-Hennink added that sometimes the song is not by the original artist or the version that is wanted. Freegal's database is mostly of the Sony label. • Mrs. Matthes added that books written by local authors can only be circulated electronically through a vendor, such as OverDrive. • The Library will be providing a Freegal class to provide instruction to the public. 3 • Mrs. Matthes added that there are other companies, such as Hoopla, that provide downloadable services that include streaming for music, videos and e-books. The Library needs to determine what is best for the public. • Mrs. Grieve wondered how successful Freegal has been at other public library systems. Mrs. Matthes replied that Lee County's circulation report for Freegal was not impressive. • Another subscription under review is for Ebsco which is a database of indexed magazine articles that includes NoveList and printed copies of magazines. The annual cost is $60,000. The Library may reduce some parts of the Ebsco subscription and keep only the ones that would benefit the community the best. • Zinio costs $10,000 per year which includes the platform fee to circulate magazines through their company. Magazines are purchased separately. • The Library is reviewing all purchases and is trying to select the best services for the public. 2) Staffing Update • Mrs. Matthes reported that some staff is still on extended medical leave. • There are still a few open positions that need to be filled. • The Library has been authorized to pay overtime for any staff that can work additional hours if needed. 3) Budget • Mrs. Matthes has asked the Budget office for $50,000 from unspent personnel costs. The money could be used to purchase additional library materials since it is within the same fund. • Mrs. Matthes will be attending the budget review meeting tomorrow. Although she requested eight additional permanent full-time employees for the Library, only three have made it into the final budget request. They would be hired to work at EN, EB, and VB in order to add Friday hours of operation (10am-5pm) during the school year at these locations. Branch Managers at these locations would be able to hire one full-time employee or two part-time employees. Approval from the County will not be official until the budget hearings in September. • Mrs. Matthes added that the new hours would not be implemented until staff has been hired. • At the end of September, Mrs. Matthes will request Human Resources to provide her with a list of the actual hours worked by Library staff to compare to the number of hours of staff work that the Library was entitled to for the year. She expects a large disparity due to the high turnover of employees and the amount of time it takes to replace staff. • The contract with Bibliotecha for the RFID system will hopefully be brought before the BCC at their July 8th meeting. If approved, the Library will hire the vendor to affix the computer chips to Library materials. Some staff will assist with this as well. • HQ and MI will be the first two libraries to implement the RFID self-check system. REPORT OF THE FRIENDS • Mrs. Grieve did not have any information to report on the Friends of the Library. • Mrs. Matthes reported that the FOL paid for the Children's Summer Reading Program prizes. They also purchased five Samsung Galaxy 7" tablets as grand prizes for the teens' program. • The FOL is looking to hire a replacement for Pat Sherry. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Library Advisory Board, Ms. Bettinger-Hennink moved to adjourn, Mrs. Grieve seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 11:20 a.m. TOUR OF NAPLES REGIONAL LIBRARY 4 No July meeting is scheduled for the Library Advisory Board. The next LAB meeting will be held on August 27, 2014 at the Headquarters Regional Library. Approved by: " Doris J. Lewis Chair, Library Advisory Board 5