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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019.01.02 EB Min CARY MEMORIAL LIBRARY EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES January 2, 2019 Attendees: Joe Pato, Alessandro Alessandrini and Howard Jaffe, Trustees ; Koren Stembridge, Library Director, Emily Smith, Assistant Library Director, Cathie Ghorbani, Head of Adult Services and Jen Webb, Head of Bibliographic Services. Call to Order: Joe called the meeting to order at 4:01 pm Public Comment: none Secretary’s Minutes Howard made a motion to approve the minutes of the December 5, 2018 Executive Board Meeting. The motion was seconded by Alessandro. The motion passed unanimously. Financial Update Koren reported that we are 49% expended in the municipal budget, just about where we expect to be at this point in the year. On the trustee’s side, we received our 2% from the Endowment named Funds. We have no endowment figure from December as of yet. Administrative Update Staffing Update Koren noted that we are hiring three new student pages. Meeting Rooms Emily reported that we continue to work on a proposal for outside groups wanting to work with youth. Building Update Koren report that the Town did an initial assessment of the library as possible location for the Visitor Center during the construction of the new facility. She shared some concerns. The materials in the Local History room would need to be moved to the Oval Room next door. These materials are used regularly by researchers, but are rare enough that they would need to be in locked cases. We are exploring the cost of building this casework into the Oval Room. There would have to be a police officer stationed in the building on Sundays when we are closed. Is one officer sufficient? Increased foot traffic in rest rooms building wide Impact on the library staff Wiring needed to give Visitor’s Center access to Town network/phones Noise/trash - possible need to replace carpet Trustees discussed the challenges including the cost of needed changes, stress on overall building and staff as well as other location options. Howard asked if we oppose the plan, what our choices are. Joe indicated that the town manager has the ultimate decision since he has jurisdiction over buildings and facilities. Alessandro suggested that if a decision is made soon, we need to have a campaign to let people know. Koren will update trustees as more information becomes available. Behavior Policy Koren reported that a library staff person asked to consider adding a sentence to our Rules of Behavior Policy that precludes people bringing guns or other weapons in the building. Koren reached out to Chief Corr to find out if it’s legal for us to forbid weapons in the building and he wasn’t completely sure. Is this worth exploring? The consensus of the trustees is that it is worth exploring. Koren will obtain more information and report back at a future meeting. Letter from resident The library Board of Trustees received a letter from a resident who expressed concerns about the Library’s new Turkish Language collection and the collection’s ribbon cutting reception. The letter was very thoughtful and provided an opportunity to revisit our Collection Development Policy, our World Language Collection guidelines, and our Request for Reconsideration process. Koren invited Cathie Ghorbani, Head of Reference & Adult Services, and Jennifer Webb, Bibliographic Services Manager, to attend the meeting. Koren confirmed that we have not received any requests to pull specific titles from the Turkish collection. What was expressed in the letter was a general concern about what may be contained within the Turkish materials, given that staff do not read or speak Turkish and can’t evaluate them. Discussion ensued. Howard encouraged a complete response to the letter in a timely manner. He expressed concern that materials in the Turkish collection may deny the Armenian genocide or objectify it in another way. He also noted that citizens have a path of recourse, and that there is a means by which people can object to materials. Cathie reviewed the collection development process and how items are selected for the collection, noting that the library owns many items (across all languages and formats) where we do not necessarily share the views of author or verify that what they are saying is true. She also gave an overview of the reconsideration process. She emphasized that our goal, with all of our collections, is to provide balance. Generally, libraries work toward balance by adding more materials on a topic rather than removing items from the collection. Joe referenced the “Freedom to Read” and “Library Bill of Rights”, both documents from the American Library Association. Further discussion also included how the library works to listen to what the community is asking to read/watch/listen to, and consider that input as we add materials to the collection. There was also discussion about how the library would go about responding to potential challenges for any languages library staff cannot read. The ribbon cutting event was discussed, particularly with regard to the presence of the Consul General at the event. The library has hosted foreign dignitaries in the past and it may be asked to do so again. Future visits by diplomats will be discussed in advance with the Executive Board. The letter also referenced photographs of Ataturk that were displayed during the ribbon cutting event. The library staff did not see the photographs on the evening of the event and was surprised to learn of them. The Trustees concluded the discussion, planning to share the response letter with the full and executive boards before sending to the resident. Adjournment Alessandro made a motion to adjourn the meeting which was seconded by Howard. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 5:06 pm