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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-01-18-BLT-min CARY MEMORIAL LIBRARY BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES January 18, 2017 Attendees: Norman Cohen, Joe Pato, Suzie Barry, Judith Crocker, Michelle Ciccolo, Brent Maracle, Kate Ekrem, Trustees; Koren Stembridge, Library Director, Emily Smith, Assistant Director, Corinne Coveney, Library Staff. Call to Order: Norman called the meeting to order at 3: 45 pm Secretary's Minutes Vote: Michelle made a motion to approve the minutes of the October 18, 2016, meeting,Joe seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Financial Update Koren highlighted the following: • On the Municipal side, we are 49% expended • We are using our sub budget to cover the Teen Room staff • On the Trustees side, the overall income of fines and fees dropped due to not collecting them during construction. • We will not make our budget this year, we will offset from other line items. • Our State Aid funds will be transferred this month. • As of this date the Foundation has paid $215,000 back to the Endowment, leaving $195,000 in principal due. • Friend's money is transferred over the course of the year. We will be receiving some soon. • The Endowment is steadily increasing. Administrative Update Emily asked Corinne Coveney to demonstrate a few items from the Library of Things collection. These items will soon be available for the public to circulate. We're in the midst of staff training so they can transfer knowledge to patrons. Some of the items include a portable record player, digital microscope, slide converter, telescope and Go Pro camera. Emily recognized Corinne who has been working hard on organizing this collection while fulfilling her duties in the Bibliographic and Children Departments. We hope to launch on February 111 Judy asked if we accept donated items and the telescope. Koren explained that we are working on a plan for receiving donations. We acquired the telescope from a company that builds them for libraries. Michelle's inquired about age limits for borrowing and if the items are insured. Emily explained that we have a separate permission slip for items that are valued at more than $250. Lexington residents over 18 are allowed to borrow items. Koren shared that the Foundation may start a fund to support the Library of Things. Personnel Update Koren reported the following: • We currently have three staff on maternity leave. • A part time Children's Librarian has resigned. • A full time Local Historian Librarian is retiring. • We have a part time Librarian retiring later in the spring. She will stay on and work with CAAL to continue to develop our Chinese language collection. The theme for Lexington Reads this year is Wanderlust. We will host Rinker Buck author of The Oregon Trail. We are evaluating if we ought to continue with the Lexington Reads program which is programming around a topic. If anyone feels strongly, please let Koren know. In February, we are hosting "Knit 200 together". The goal is to create a knitting circle for people to meet, knit, share ideas and learn. We have 50 kits available for people who want to learn but need materials to work with. Our hope is to have knitters all over the library. Koren will send information to Trustees to share with their constituents. The CAAL event was a success with over 1,000 attendees. Building Update Transformative Spaces Project Koren presented a summary of expenses for the Transformative Spaces Project. She detailed project and contingency expenses as well as funding sources. She updated issues related to the construction. Department of Public Faculties will be completing the security camera and door locks over the next few months. Once we have completed all loose ends, we will provide a wrap. We have two open capital articles; the final phase of the RFID and the Workflow. Norman asked about the Endowment monies. Koren added that the Foundation has been making quarterly payments toward the funds borrowed for the project. Friends Laurel Cooley was unable to attend the meeting today but wanted to share that the Friends will be hosting the Book Lovers Brunch for Lexington Reads program on March 18th. Lexington resident Kitty Galaitsis will talk about her travels through Uzbekistan. Foundation Koren reported that the Foundation is ahead in donation receipts from last year by $22,000. They are planning a gala for the 150th library anniversary.There are many new faces on the board. New Business Emily presented the 2017 library holiday schedule. She noted that the observed holiday for Veteran's Day in 2017 is on a Saturday and we will be closed on that day. This is a practice that we have followed for some time. Michelle made a motion to approve the 2017 library holiday schedule as presented. Suzie seconded, the motion passed unanimously. Nominating Committee Norman explained the process for nominating members to the Executive Committee. We need to create a nominating committee of three members form the full board consisting one one from the clergy, selectman and school committee. After a discussion, the nominating committee will consist of Norman Cohen, Selectman, Judy Crocker, School Committee and Brent Maracle, clergy. Meeting Room Usage Update Emily updated trustees on meeting room groups who would like to use our spaces. Often they align with our mission however some groups are too large so that is challenging. Often we will allow a group to use the room once and then we will evaluate again. We are still navigating school groups wanting to use our space and groups that are really not open to the public, essentially closed meetings. Michelle asked what we use for scheduling library rooms. Koren explained that our software is a library tool. Joe shared that Tom from IT is bringing in all stakeholders to review room reservation tools. Ideal would be for a room user to have one calendar to view what is happening in Lexington town wide. Trustees discussed the complexities and challenges of room reservations all over town. Koren hopes that we continue to find a unified solution. We expect to have more requests for our rooms when the community center migrates to a cost model. We will continue to bring meeting room questions to the board as we try to tweak our policy to be more responsive to the needs of the community. Michele asked how we handle last minute users. Emily explained that if the rooms is available, we try to accommodate any group. We have our large meeting roof offline for two nights per week. If we are not using it, we make it available as soon as we ca n. Adjournment Michelle made a motion to adjourn the meeting which was seconded by Judy Crocker, the motion passed unanimously. Adjournment