Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout121902PORT TOWNSEND LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD MEETING • Port Townsend Library December 19, 2002 Present: Co- Presidents Kate Schumann and Eileen Price, Larry Thomas, Deb Carroll, Bill Maxwell Staff: Linnea Patrick (director), Carol Costello (minutes) Guests: Karen Long (Friends); Phyllis Schultz (Foundation); Julia Owens, Jim Todd President Eileen Price called the meeting to order at 9:15 AM. The minutes from November 21, 2002 were approved as read. Guest Jim Todd was introduced. Communications: Linnea received an e-mail from Jan Walsh the Washington State Librarian. Governor Locke has proposed a 61% cut in the Washington State Library's 2003 budget. FTE will be cut from 117 this year to 17 FTE next year. They are funding the History of the Northwest Collection, the State and Federal Document Depository, and GILS (Find -IT). Bill saw former Library Board member John Sullivan; he seems to be doing well despite his illness. Eileen received a letter from the Friends of the Library approving the $200.00 board request for miscellaneous board expenses. City manager David Timmons asked Larry if there were a book published by the American Library Association that would help in the search for a new director. Director's Report: Little and Little has finished the rehabilitation of the moldy areas of the library. They found no problems in the attic. They recommended that the chimneys be temporarily capped to keep out the rain. They may be easily uncapped if necessary. Linnea will be on vacation beginning December 23`d and will return January 2 °d. Carol Cahill will be in charge. The city budget for 2003 has passed. Linnea is not sure how much money will be available for the library because $100,000 is going to the city street fund from the Council discretionary budget which is the same area from which money would come for extra library staffing and book storage. Friends: Karen told the board that the Friends budget for 2003 of $15,825 has been approved. Bill moved that the $103, from the sale of Book Boost buttons, in the miscellaneous line of the Friends' budget be moved to the special donation line. Deb seconded the motion. Unanimous approval. The Friends will host the Library's Holiday Open House this evening. Foundation: Phyllis reported that the results of the recent ballot are final. New board members are Carolyn Latteier, Les Cox, and Carmen Matthews - Hefron. Rae Tennyson has resigned, so the Foundation needs one more board member. The Foundation's annual meeting will be held March 8t', 2003 from 9 AM until noon at Phyllis's house. Staff: Carol invited everyone to the Library's Open House tonight. 0 No committee reports. Old Business: Director Search: Eileen, Kate, and Larry met with City Manager David Timmons about • the procedure for searching for a new library director. Current library director Linnea Patrick will retire December 31, 2003. Larry reminded the group that anyone involved in the search is open to legal liability. Legal training will be provided through the Washington Cities Insurance Association. The board has authority and responsibility to conduct the search. David told Larry that he would appoint a department head from the city to be included in the search team. The city will do all of the photocopying and a lot of the legwork for the search. Generally the budget will be no problem. Travel expenses for finalists will be covered by the city. Linnea suggested that the board invite Jefferson County Rural Library District Director Ray Serebrin to be part of the search team or interview panel. Karen will talk to the Friends of the Library about appointing one of their members to be on the team. They will decide at their next meeting January 8`h. Kate nominated Larry to head the search committee. Bill will also be on the team with Eileen as alternate. Larry will come to the staff meeting on December 20'h to tell them about the search procedure. He will also attend the next meeting of the Foundation and explain this to them. Larry handed out a packet of search procedures to each board member. He wanted them to read and think about the procedures. • Kate suggested that an initial screening application be available on the city's website, to weed out those that are not qualified for the position. Larry will check with David Timmons on this. Linnea will announce the vacancy at the January meeting of the Public Library Directors. The committee should be ready to go after January 8'h. Hopefully a decision can be made by October l" The board /staff retreat is scheduled for January 24`h. There was a question as to whether there will still be a board advisory meeting on January 23`d. Linnea will let everyone know if business warrants holding a meeting. Old Business: Linnea told the board about the staff proposals for changes to the public computer policies. Reservation times would be changed from 1' /z hour per day to 1 hour per day. A patron would still use the computers up to 6 hours in the week. Linnea will ask the city attorney, if there is a legal reason why we could not change the fee for computer copies to five cents per page for all copies. Children will receive the first five copies free. Library catalog stations will have the library's databases and certain websites available. E -mail and chat will be blocked. Jim Todd, representing the public, liked the ideas. He thinks that the upstairs portion of the library is much quieter now that signs have been posted. He asked that we post a quiet area sign near the computers. 0 Larry moved that the changes to the internet policies and rules be accepted. Bill seconded the motion. Unanimous approval. In response to a request from board members, staff member Lynn Ring will order name tags for the advisory board. The next meeting of the board is tentatively scheduled for January 23ra The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 AM. • LI