Board of
Library Trustees Meeting
August 2, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Attendees:
Trustees:
MaryAnn Cabibbo
Ed Duggan
Chris Monahan (arrived at 7:10pm)
William Roberts, Secretary
Wendy Rowe, Chair
Citizens:
Margaret Perkins, Acting Director
Diane Busa
Meg Hamilton
Motion to approve agenda: WLR1, MAC2, unanimous
Motion to approve the July secretary's report: MAC1, WLR2, unanimous
They came bearing gifts: a much appreciated check for $20,000 and a handout of goals and ideas for helping the library.
They were very enthusiastic and made this part of the Trustee meeting a pleasure.
They want to do more for the library. In particular programs and to better publicize the programs and the library in general.
They'd like to:
Wendy said that the problem with the glass case wasn't so much that it didn't lock, as that the staff didn't always have time to manage it (arrange for things to go in it, cycle them, etc). So if the friends wanted to help with it that would be great.
Ed suggested that perhaps a more formal connection with the trustees would be a good thing, however it was generally felt that they could informally liaise with Margaret and Wendy as they needed. Then anytime they want to talk with the whole Board they can come to our monthly meeting.
The town has upped our electricity budget line, increasing the total appropriation as well.
We're buying audio books and dvds from the "Library Restitution Fund" line item because they're what often get damaged and need replacements.
The interest on the Tuchinsky fund is very low. 0.25%.
The money spent disabling the "economizer" was small ($200 or so) and the chilling effects of the expenditure were welcomed by all.
It's still unclear where the self-checkout will go. Either the disused station in the children's area or near the holds and the stairs. The latter is more convenient for the staff, the former more convenient to its probable best customers (children with stacks of books)
Some other library networks are moving to a new library system (open source) from Evergreen. Presumably to save money. There have been rumblings in Minuteman but nothing yet.
Margaret will hold a staff meeting on Aug. 15th. Sometime after we'll try to have the trustee/staff meeting discussed last month.
Wendy is getting quotes from 3 cleaning companies. The rate is lower if they come every week rather than every other week, because the amount of work on each visit is less. If we were to get them every week the total would be somewhat greater ($2000). It was the clear sense of the Trustees that this was worth it. Even if we had to dip into the Tuchinsky interest to pay for it.
On the same topic, we last had the carpets thoroughly cleaned 3 years ago and they do need it again. This would cost $2000. Wendy is going to talk to the town to see if it could be folded into the maintenance budget.
There's nothing written down about who can post notices for upcoming events held elsewhere. Currently we allow non-profits to leave fliers about events whether they're free or not and we allow any fliers for free events. We don't allow political fliers for candidates for election since that would fill all the space near election time.
Wendy and Margaret will reorder and rationalize the wish list and get it to the town.
The town capital budget for IT supposedly contains the Library's needs, but IT Director Richard Boucher did it last year on his own without telling us what he submitted for the Library. Margaret will make sure we submit a list of our IT needs (e.g. computer replacement) that can be included wherever it belongs.
Motion to adjourn (9:10PM): ED1, CM2, unanimous
| Account | Acct # | Start Balance | Expen. To Date | End Balance | % Spent |
| Salaries - Full Time | 5110 | $78,624.00 | $6,058.08 | $72,565.92 | 7.71% |
| Salaries - Part Time | 5111 | $66,692.00 | $4,710.03 | $61,981.97 | 7.06% |
| Longevity | 5150 | $850.00 | $850.00 | 0.00% | |
| Electricity | 5211 | $21,500.00 | $1,710.00 | $19,790.00 | 7.95% |
| Heating Fuel | 5212 | $7,900.00 | $7,900.00 | 0.00% | |
| Trash | 5232 | $1,683.00 | $1,683.00 | 0.00% | |
| Water & Sewer | 5231 | $863.00 | $863.00 | 0.00% | |
| R & M Miscellaneous | 5240 | $5,784.00 | $365.00 | $5,419.00 | 6.31% |
| Telephone | 5341 | $1,500.00 | $37.16 | $1,462.84 | 2.48% |
| Supplies | 5400 | $1,600.00 | $1,600.00 | 0.00% | |
| Postage | 5343 | $264.00 | $264.00 | 0.00% | |
| OPS - (Minuteman bill) | 5380 | $22,707.00 | $22,851.00 | ($144.00) | 100.63% |
| Media | 5427 | $0.00 | |||
| Books | 5521 | $0.00 | |||
| Travel | 5710 | ||||
| TOTAL - GENERAL FUND | $209,967.00 | $35,731.27 | $174,235.73 | 17.02% | |
| Start Balance | Expen. To Date | Income to Date | Account Bal | ||
| Memorial Donations | 5400 | $23,244.12 | $8,987.58 | $29.00 | $14,285.54 |
| Tuchinsky Fund Interest | $39,447.11 | $39,447.11 | |||
| Tuchinsky Fund Principal | $102,869.11 | $102,869.11 | |||
| Library Restitution Fund | 024-610-706-4773 | $13,195.47 | $29.75 | $72.72 | $13,238.44 |
| Copier & Printer Rev. Fund | 024-610-722-4840 | $2,399.74 | $55.60 | $2,455.34 | |
| Meeting Room Rev. Fund | 024-610-723-4840 | $1,574.18 | $60.00 | $1,634.18 | |
| Free Public Library* | 2017 | $3,500.63 | $3,105.00 | $395.63 | |
| TOTAL - OTHER FUNDS | $186,230.36 | $12,122.33 | $217.32 | $174,325.35 | |
| * Overdrive |
Medway Public Library
Director’s Report
August 2, 2011
Children’s and YA
I applied to the Simmons College Library Science program for an intern for the fall, to work on young adult programming. We will be notified in mid-August. Dorrie Karlin may be able to continue as an intern, working primarily on children’s programming.
Dorrie’s weekly story hours and 4-H Summer of Science programs are proving very popular. She is planning to hold a book group/introductory Teen advisory group program later this month.
Unfortunately, the Interviewing Skills for New Graduates program had to be postponed until the fall, since too few patrons signed up.
Southwick’s passes are selling very well.
Staff
Five staff members, including myself, attended Sexual Harassment Training at Town Hall. I plan to attend a 2010 Medway Census Data Workshop on August 23rd. Some staff members plan to attend one or more Overdrive webinars, which are highly recommended by Central Site.
The Town job descriptions are still an open issue. Sue Ellis will notify us when the issues have been resolved.
The method by which the Town computes holiday pay for employees who work less than 40 hours a week was clarified. The normal weekly hours (not including additional Saturdays) are divided by 5 – whether or not the employee normally works on the day of the holiday is not a factor.
The first staff meeting of the fiscal year is scheduled for Monday, August 15th. I plan to hold staff meetings at least quarterly.
Building Maintenance
The electrician installed a closet light upstairs, fixed the light in the story hour room closet, and installed an outlet near the people counter.
Keyes turned off the gas so the broken units can provide air conditioning. It was necessary to bypass the broken economizer in one of the units. Staff and patrons are much more comfortable.
The 2013-2017 Capital Improvement Plan requests are due August 5th. I am working with Wendy on these, and have emailed Rich Boucher to discuss technology planning.
The town added the funds from the emergency transfer ($20,900) to the library’s FY11 revised budget. Fortunately, since the HVAC repair/replacement is a capital expense, this does not affect the MAR.
I submitted a request to Central Site to purchase a site license for self-checkout. It will take about a month for the license to be installed.
Other
I am working on the ARIS report, which is due August 26th.
Bill, Wendy, and I have made some minor changes to the online library card application, including replacing birth date with a checkbox to confirm that the applicant is at least 16 years old.
-Margaret Perkins
August 1, 2011
For Trustee’s Meeting August 2, 2011
Diane Busa and Meg Hamilton Co-Presidents, Friends of the Medway Library
Friends’ Goals:
To continue supporting the Medway library
To revamp Friends website and newsletters to be more informative and interesting
To encourage more people to actively volunteer
To better publicize book donations, book sales, and Friends activities
To have more Friends activities such as the Harry Potter event
Book Room and Sales
We cleaned the book room, re-arranged, and added shelving. We also created a “Collectibles Corner” which is quite popular. Every 2 weeks our book crew of 4-6 volunteers sorts books. We are also trying to have a better turnover of books.
The lawn signs we bought last year have helped to publicize Friends Book sales.
We are now having book sales 3x a year, raising from $1600 to $3000 each time. In addition, before each sale a local business goes through the books and sells them on the internet. Friends receives half of the sale. These books are usually texts, most of which never sold during book sales. Every month we receive a large check from them.
We have the “ongoing book sale” cart upstairs and have added books we think would entice people as well as a better sign.
We continually work with Katherine, saving books for her to check, and looking for books from the school reading lists. We collect “almost new” children’s books to be given as prizes for library activities.
Future plans, with permission of Librarians and Trustees:
to have a more prominent sign about donations.
to enlarge the ongoing book sale pushcart and improve the Friends display
to help implement some of the Trustees’ Long Term Goals:
*develop and implement marketing plan to engage and excite the community
*make entrances more inviting
*strengthen partnerships with Medway schools
*foster a sense of community with other town groups
(Possibilities include: Friends buy a secure glass case for prominent displays, sponsor student art contests to be displayed, pay for materials for HS art students to create mural in entrance, help implement ideas from a teen and/or adult advisory board. We have many more ideas.)