Library Minutes 04/02/2014
MINUTES
STEPHENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014
Present: Neal Brown, Bruce Dodge, Bob Marshall, Jami Bascom, Kristin Readel, Gail Smith, Andre Wood.
Absent: Mary Ann Grant, Scott Jones.
7:06 PM – The meeting was called to order at this time by Chairman Brown.
1) Review of the minutes from the March 5th, 2014 meeting of the Trustees.
There were two corrections cited. On line 26, “mot” should be “most”, and on line 38 the sentence reads “as such of” and it should read “as such if”.
On line 88, Jami asked if any of the Friends of the Library had been offered or accepted the offer of attending the New Hampshire Library Trustees Association annual meeting , and to date there have been no takers. Kristin let the Trustees know that she received notification that the first regional meeting of Friends of Libraries will be held on April 22 from 6-8 PM at the Hooksett Public Library. Mary Ann is also a member of the Friends of the Library and she may want to attend.
On line 16, Andre reported that the distributed denial service attack has subsided but it is repetitive so it has not quite gone away. He continues to monitor the situation for the Library.
The motion to accept the minutes as amended was made by Bruce and seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative to accept the amended minutes. ACTION: Pat will amend the minutes and have the final minutes posted on the Town Website
7:12 PM – Treasurers report:
The monthly and year to date report of line item expenditures was provided to the Trustees in Mary Ann’s absence. Mary Ann wanted to note that the fuel expenditure year to date is at about 50% usage. The last fuel delivery was on March 19 in the amount of $493.48, which has not been debited yet. A discussion followed about the use of the programs and entertainment budget. $106.00 was expended last month for an annual movie license so that the Library can show as many movies as they want without copyright infringement. Kristin reported that she will be attending a Collaborative Summer Library Programs conference in Biloxi, MS, this month as President of the NH Children’s Librarians and will participate in developing curricula. She will have more information about that at the next meeting. It was also discussed that the library could have some more interactive displays. Jami offered that she has a full scale human skeleton model that she could lend to the Library. Bruce made the motion to accept the treasurer report as submitted and it was seconded by Neal. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative to accept the report.
7:25 PM – Librarian’s report:
Gail provided the Trustees with the monthly statistics and comparison numbers from March 2013 usage and circulation. The monthly numbers continue to indicate that the usage of the public computers and Wi-Fi as well as circulation is on the decline. Discussions followed abut how the increase of availability for high speed internet connections and e-books are impacting Library usage. Bruce reported that currently there is not the capability to stream video content well on the Library computers, and that will continue to be the case until broad band is available. Neal noted that the Library staff will lead the Trustees in the arena of future technological needs for the Library, and that the Trustees want to be proactive rather than reactive to future trends. Kristin reported that the New Hampshire Library Association conference on April 23 and 24 in Whitefield will have some topics addressing new technology trends in libraries such as other devices available for public use in addition to desktop computers.
Kristin reported on programming at the Library. There is going to be an event for kids with the game Mine Craft at the library. It is a multi-player interactive building game that is very popular.
Kristin reported that her son worked on the east exterior door so people will no longer get locked out.
The DPW has been working on the exterior emergency lights.
The watercolor class has set up an exhibit at the Library. The class is in its second year of meeting and painting at the Library on Wednesday nights.
The Monadnock Quilters Guild are going to make a banner out of the last 25 years of summer reading tee shirts for Kristin to take to the conference in Biloxi.
The staff and trustees discussed inviting the select board to the Library soon. The goal of the invitation will be clear and focused on collaboration. ACTION: Neal and Kristin will work together to develop an agenda for the meeting with the Select Board.
7:55 PM – Extreme weather policy for the closure of the Library:
The discussion about the extreme weather policy continued. Kristin and Gail currently follow Con-Val school closure, and put notifications out at WMUR, and the Library Facebook page. The library phone can have a message put on it about closure remotely, and it needs to be done on a land line, which Gail has. The policy that is being written for the Library needs to include a sentence that indicates that the staff will get paid for the full amount of hours that they would have worked had the library been open if it is closed due to weather. Kristin brought up a concern for the liability issues that might be present if the Library were to be open during extreme weather, and wondered if the DPW can realistically attend to maintenance of the walkways and drive way during extreme weather. Bruce reported that in reviewing other library’s policies about closure, it is the Library Director that makes the decision to close the Library. ACTION: Neal will work with Jami and Bruce to finalize the policy and bring it to the next meeting for final acceptance.
8:10 PM – Update on the Library logo design:
Jami reported that Rose Lowry will provide a design that incorporates the elements suggested at the meeting with her and any revision to the design after that will be executed by Bruce and Toby Gray, the first place winner.
8:15 PM – Library Director Evaluation form:
Neal and Bob provided the Trustees and staff with the document they have devised for the annual evaluation of the Library Director. The Director will self evaluate and the Trustees will evaluate as well. Bruce suggested that the Trustees might want to “shadow” the staff for a day as part of the evaluation process. ACTION: Kristin and Gail will review the form and provide their feed back at the next meeting.
8:30 PM – Proposal to the Manginis about annexing land to the Library:
Neal reported that he has reached out to the family, and he has been told that any decision is complicated by a number of interested parties. The family will be together and discuss it at Easter, and Beth will report back to Neal. A brief discussion followed about how best to negotiate with the family if they decide to proceed with the Library’s proposal.
8:40 PM – Other/new business:
Jami reminded the Trustees that they will need to elect officers at the May meeting.
8:45 PM – The Trustees and the staff decided to walk around the Library with an eye toward how better to use the space. The motion was made to adjourn the meeting by Neal and seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative to adjourn and commence the walk.
The next meeting of the Trustees will be held on Wednesday, May 7, 2014 at 7:00 PM at the Library.
Respectfully Submitted,
Patricia LaPree