Board of Library Trustees Meeting
November 6, 2012

7:00 p.m.

Medway Public Library

Attendees:

Trustees:

Carol Brown, Vice Chair
Diane Burkhardt
Ed Duggan
Chris Monahan
Wendy Rowe, Chair

Citizens:

Margaret Perkins, Acting Director
John Foresto, Selectman, BoS Liaison to the Library

1. Approval of Agenda

Motion to approve the agenda (CB1, CM2) passed unanimously

2. Secretary's Report

Deferred.

3. Citizens Speak

Selectman John Foresto identified himself as our liaison from the Board of Selectmen. He wanted to make sure we knew our capital plan should be submitted; Margaret said she'd already met with John Anderson of the CIPC who had called for a meeting.

The HVAC work was paid for by a grant, so the money allocated for it is being repurposed. Margaret says there's been discussion regarding our need for a whole building dehumidifier. Our tech (including computers and a new copier) is in Rich Boucher's IT budget.

The possibility of having loaner iPads and other eReaders (besides the few Overdrive-enabled Sonys we've planned) was discussed. John says we should ask Rich to include it in his IT budget request.

John says we should tell him our needs and information and he'll advocate to the Board of Selectmen for us. He says there's over $2M in certified free cash this year, so it's a good year to ask for improvements. The budget doesn't get finalized until March.

John says they got the TNT report with recommendations for town building energy savings, and he will email Wendy a copy of the report for distribution.

Town Hall has their new surveillance equipment. We haven't heard anything about when we'll get ours.

4. Budget Report
5. Director's Report

Margaret says one of the employees who went to the NELA conference described it as "inspirational."

Baby Lapsit will continue instead of stopping after the initial six weeks. It is very inexpensive, and the people coming said they would like it to continue. Margaret says baby/toddler story time is the most-requested program. The program is run while the Library is closed, since that's when Amy is available (she works for Framingham Library).

6. Old Business
• Medway 2020
• Lounge & conference room furniture

Diane found an Ikea chair for the lounge that Carol agrees is great.

• Community Area Steward

Andy Busa started Tuesday November 13. Downstairs now open til 930pm Monday-Thursday.

• Medway 300

John is on the Medway 300 Committee and gave us a report. They've raised over $200,000 and have a long list of events planned, with many groups involved. They hope some of the events will be annual, but run by various groups after 2013.

• Joint meeting with Cable Access Board

John will ask when they'd like a joint meeting with us.

7. New Business
• Toilets

The Town's plumber quoted $3140 to replace all four "water closets" (toilets) with pressure-assisted ones. This should solve the clogging problem.

Motion to replace the existing water closets with pressure assisted handicap water closets (CB1 CM2). Passed unanimously.

• Wednesday mornings

The Wednesday morning Lapsit program is very popular; and while Wendy is there letting people in to the closed Library for the program, a few people come hoping the Library is open. Margaret worked out a plan by which we could open the additional four hours on Wednesdays to make our Wednesday hours match our Monday hours (10-8). Her plan involves minimal additional staffing, one person for an additional four hours per week: only one person would be on the desk, but at least one other employee is already working in the building. The cost would be about $3000 for an entire year. It also brings us up to 100% of our minimum hours-open requirement, which will increase our state aid the following year (not this year). Morning hours are good for parents of schoolchildren and for older people, as well as for parents of preschoolers.

Ed thinks a full-time Director should be our priority. He doesn't like our spending piecemeal on various programs (lapsit story, more morning hours). Other towns support their libraries (Millis, Mendon), but we haven't had a full-time Director in the four years Ed's been a Trustee.

John says we should make our case and let people know why it's important. John said Ed recently informed Selectman Dennis Crowley about and showed John our Historical collection room, which neither of them knew we had.

Margaret says at our recent book sale, a visitor said the Library was THE place to be that day. We had the booksale, a Field Hockey bakesale, a Girl Scout Halloween costume sale, and the Community Farm had a table outside.

Wendy says the MBLC thinks more hours open is even more important than more materials.

Chris and Diane would like a quarterly review of our circulations during various hours. Minuteman has those statistics so Margaret can get them for us.

Motion to open at 10AM on Wednesdays (CB1 DB2). Passed 4-1-0 (ED no).

This will start the Wednesday after Thanksgiving.

There was some confusion regarding the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We're supposed to be open and people are scheduled to work, but Wendy saw it marked CLOSED on the room use calendar. We have been closed sometimes on that weekend (we were closed holiday weekends when our funding was cut so drastically), but this year we have staff available to work. Also, the contract now gives the staff the day after Thanksgiving off; that was not the case when we were closed on holiday weekends.

Since Thanksgiving eve is very lightly attended at the Library because many people travel or prepare for the holiday, Margaret proposes we be open 10-4 the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, or 10-2 if she staff is unavailable after 2pm. Ed proposed 10-2.

Motion to be open the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 10-4 or 10-2 depending on staff availability (CM1 CB2). Passed 4-1-0 (ED no).

To avoid future confusion:
Motion that we be open the Saturday after Thanksgiving as an annual event (CM1 CB2). Passed 4-0-1 (ED abstained).

• iPads

Margaret would like to have a few iPads to check out for in-Library use. They cost about $500 each. The Trustees liked the idea. At John's suggestion, she will ask Rich Boucher if he can get them for us. John suggested loaning laptops. Margaret says some libraries loan LoJack-equipped laptops.

• Minors' records

Margaret recently received email from the MBLC outlining a lawyer's analysis that the MA General Law regarding the privacy of patrons' records means we shouldn't share a minor's information with the minor's parents, even if the child is only five. So if a parent wants to know what the child has out, we should say no. A list of overdue items gets mailed to the child, so the parent could see that. Ed plans to call the MBLC to ask about it and how other libraries are handling it.

• Staff bathrooms

The original renovation plan had a staff bathroom, but it was eliminated from the plans when the renovation was done. The staff would like a staff bathroom. The proposal is that the downstairs Men's bathroom be the staff bathroom, although it would be open to the public for big programs. The downstairs Women's bathroom would be unisex. It's the one with a changing table, anyway, so as Margaret points out that's a little bit sexist. The Trustees did not choose to take action during this meeting.

8. Special Programs, Fundraising, Sponsorships
9. Adjournment; next meeting December 4

Motion to adjourn (9:23): (CM1, CB2) passed unanimously.