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Minutes - 2005 - Eagle Public Library - 03/13/2005 - Regular EAGLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES March 13, 2005 Community Room The Eagle Public Library Board of Trustees meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. by Board Member Jane Marrs. Present were Board Members Jane Marrs, Terry Loftus, Margo Walters, and Christine Edwards Allred; and Library Director Ron Baker. Board Member Terry Loftus made a motion that the Agenda be approved and Board Member Christine Edwards Allred seconded the motion. The Agenda was unanimously approved. The Minutes were amended. Board Member Terry Loftus made a motion that the amended Minutes be approved and Board Member Jane Marrs seconded the motion. The amended Minutes were unanimously approved. Board Member Terry Loftus made a motion to pay the bills and Board Member Jane Marrs seconded the motion. The motion to pay the bills was unanimously approved. Friends of the Library Report Director Ron Baker gave the Director's Report. The Friends board will meet on March 29th for the first time in several months. Volunteer activity with the friends is regrettably changing as Pam Carter, who has been so helpful in supporting the everyday book sale and the larger semiannual friends' book table, is moving to Orofino. Three volunteers are training with her now and it may actually take three volunteers to replace her. On the 29th the board will meet to discuss the issues that will be affected by her departure. The Friends are thinking about the reorganization of their board given Pam's departure. At that time, a carpenter will also be looking at the Friends' room to come up with a preliminary design for cabinetry. Director's Report Director Ron Baker gave the Director's Report. Children's Librarian Start Date: March 16 Diane Matejka will start this Thursday, March 16th. Mountain Home Voted as 10th Member of LYNX! Consortium Last Friday, Mountain Home was voted in as the 10th member of the LYNX! Consortium. The Mountain Home Library will not receive currier service. As a result, the courrier service will not need to be expanded. The MHL expects that their own people will be able to deliver and return materials requested by its lenders from other libraries. Failing that, the materials will be delivered via mail. The MHL has a beautifully renovated library. The MHL is working with the state library system to ensure that they will have a clean database so that their migration into the Consortium will go smoothly. ILS Migration: Progress Report Schedule The scheduled migration has been delayed from May to August. Training sessions will begin in mid-August with a planned implementation of the system after Labor Day. There have been problems during the beta testing of the software. As a result,the library will be getting a newer version of the software than dictated in the original bid. The library has agreed to go with the 8.x version and to allow the extra time to work out the bugs. Hardware/Software Order The library will require 16 total stations including public access catalogues with about 4 workstations for the staff and 2 new express interne stations. Ron Baker talked with Biznet, the vender, today, and will receive a new bid shortly. One of the staff stations must be replaced almost immediately because it is almost unworkable with the new software. In order to complete preliminary training, which should be completed before regular migration training begins in August, these stations should be up and running. Work on the stations will affect the contractor's schedule for the remodel of the children's room and the store room and incidental changes in the staff work room. The library would like to complete these remodels before the beginning of summer reading programs in the second week of June. Hopefully, the children's room remodel will begin in late April. This remodel may mean that the room will be off limits to the public for three or four days although the building itself will remain open and patrons will be able to page materials from the reference desk. The status of the store remodel will depend, as mentioned earlier, on the Friends' decision. Group Pricing for Recorded Books' Downloadable Audiobooks All were disappointed by the results of the bid for group pricing from Recorded Books. The company only offered a 5% discount in the event that five LYNX! libraries signed up. The orginal bid for the EPL was $5,000. The group bid is only about $250 off of that. If 10 Idaho libraries came on board, Recorded Books would offer a 10% discount, but it is highly unlikely that that many libraries will join given their budgets and patrons' interests. Recorded Books offers an inventory of downloadable books—fiction, nonfiction, and all of the Pimslar Language Books—that patrons may download onto computers or other electronic devices at home or devices rented from Ada. Patrons are able to access these books for three weeks after which the file disappears or deconstructs. The library tracks circulation statistics. Meridian and Ada Libraries are already paying for this service. Ada County has registered 78 patron users to date. Meridian is not yet up and running and has no intention of renting out listening devices. Limitations in the LYNX! software make the authentication of the Recorded Books impossible. Currently, Eagle patrons must register at Ada, Star, or Meridian. The Board may discuss this issue again once we come closer to setting the budget, but these initial statistics, including group cost, are disappointing, and this may be too expensive a service for such limited numbers of users. Library Liaison/City Hall Report No report was given. Committee Report None. Unfinished Business None. New Business Satellite Dish and Roof Leaks The satellite dish was installed in 1999. It has been causing leaks since its installation, despite being moved and sealed. Although leaks initially occurred only in the lobby, leaks are now occurring over the main rooms. The satellite dish serves as a sail; when the wind blows it shakes the roof and lets the water seep through cracks. The EPL staff has recommended that the dish be removed and that the leak be fixed. The dish has received only limited use and the EPL will lose no current services by taking it down. In the case of emergency information needs, the library can receive communications via City Hall. The Wright Brothers will make two repair bids. The first would remove all but the base of the dish and seal the roof The second would remove the dish and the base and rebuild the roof. After receiving these bids, the EPL will decide whether or not to approach the City for payment of this repair cost. The City has said that it will bear major, unexpected facility costs because, technically, the library building is a city building. The City Council has been forthright in paying for major, unexpected expenses although the library itself paid for the repair of the first leak caused by the dish. City-wide IT Position The City has approached the EPL with the question of whether or not it is time to hire a City IT person. Sharon is not enthusiastic about hiring such a person now because she believes that the City should occupy the new City Hall for a full year first. Ron Baker is reluctant to hire a new IT person during the system migration. He'd like to stay with the current IT contractor until that migration is complete. Issues of timing aside, Ron Baker considers it vital that any IT person be familiar with library needs including DYNIX and the library interface. Finding someone with those skills will be difficult and training someone will be time consuming. The City has asked EPL how much it could afford to pay for an IT person. While it is true that the library overran its IT budget this year and last, the library probably doesn't spend more than $10,000 a year for everything: installations, maintenance, web service. That is a lot of money, but wouldn't go very far toward supporting a full time city employee. Although the library isn't against a city IT employee, Ron Baker feels that the timing has to be right and that that person must have the right mix of skills. Ron intends to request that the city delay for at least another year and the board is supportive of that position. Additional Items or Public Comment Ron Baker sent a memo to the Eagle Fine Arts Commission about the mural now hanging in the EPL. If the building is remodeled as planned, the mural will need to be relocated to the community room. The original artist and perhaps even the children, now adults, who assisted the artist, may come back to help with the reinstallation. Ron has volunteered to attend the Commission meeting to explain why this relocation is essential. Selection of Next Meeting Date The next meeting will take place on April 10th at 7 p.m. Adjournment Board Member Terry Loftus made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. Board Member Christine Edwards Allred seconded the motion. The motion to adjourn the meeting was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 7:54 p.m.