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HomeMy Public PortalAboutOct 2013 Minutes with Links_201311151508565387Trustees of the Watertown Free Public Library October 1, 2013 Present: Christopher Beach, Katherine Button, Michael Hanlon, Gracemarie LeBlanc, Raya Stem, Timothy Tracy, Trustees; Leone Cole, Director; Caitlin Browne, Assistant Director; Donald Bleech, Red Leaf Cafe. Mr. Hanlon brought the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Kyle Igoe of Watertown Community Access filmed the meeting. A round of introductions took place. The meeting went out of order to allow Ms. Cole to introduce Maureen Libatore, the new member of the Circulation Dept. Ms. Libatore brings to the Library - which she describes as a "jewel" - an exceptional customer service background. Secretary's Report: Ms. Stern moved to accept the August 6, 2013 Minutes, as amended. Mr. Tracy seconded. All voted in favor. Mr. Hanlon read the Rules for the Public Forum: "The Public Forum on the Order of Business shall be limited to remarks about Library business. Personnel matters will not be considered for public comment. No more than ten minutes shall be devoted to the Public Forum. Any petitioner or member of the public wishing to speak must place his or her name on a list and identify the topic prior to the scheduled start of the meeting. The Chair of the Board of Library Trustees will determine whether the topic is appropriate, and recognize speakers at the Public Forum in the order in which their names appear on the list. After being recognized by the Chair, the speaker must state his/her name and address for the record. Comments must be kept to two (2) minutes or less. Should the speaker deviate from the stated topic, the Chair may ask the person to cease and to step down. All remarks shall be addressed to the Chair and through the Chair, and shall not be addressed to any individual member of the Board of Library Trustees, town official, department head or employee. No person having the floor shall enter into discussion either directly or through a member of the Board without the permission of the Chair. The meeting minutes will acknowledge the speakers and their topics. The Chair will respond." Nobody signed up for the Public Forum. Financial Report: The budget is in reasonable shape. No transfers are necessary at this time. The Library will be fully staffed as of October 7. At present, all dividends from the Ruth Griffin Fund stock are reinvested to purchase additional stock. Ms. Stem is investigating whether it is possible to distribute a portion of the dividends to go towards the periodicals account and to reinvest the rest to grow the portfolio. As Ms. Stern is the sole contact name for the stock, Mr. Tracy recommended naming Mr. Hanlon as a second contact person. Mr. Tracy made a motion to accept the Financial Report. Mr. Beach seconded. All voted in favor. Red Leaf Cafe: The Cafe will be a featured stop during this November's Watertown Open Studios. Faire on the Square was a busy time. Book sales are doing well. Mr. Bleech is working on adding new items to the Fall menu. The schedule remains the same. Mr. Bleech handed out the third quarter report. Director's Report: Ms. Cole gave a PowerPoint presentation updating progress on the Local History Room. To follow up on Ms. Roach's suggestion of obtaining a CD-ROM of the Arsenal cleanup documents, the Director contacted Mark Brodowicz of CALIBRE Systems for a quote to digitize the materials. The total estimated cost came to $23,360.00, to include scanning of approximately 150,000 pages and 100 larger drawings. Because of the current budget crisis in Washington, Mr. Brodowicz said, the project could not be funded at this time. The Library is in the process of systematically examining the History collection by Dewey Decimal call number ranges. Factors that go into the evaluation process include current depth of the collection within the specific Dewey range, relevancy to the collection and the library as a whole, accuracy, space constraints, condition, and suitability as a whole. So far, the Library has studied 174 items in the call number range 000-336.226, as shown on the handout. Recommendations are to withdraw three items, to move two books to the regular circulating collection, and to find an updated version of one publication. Duplicate materials will undergo further evaluation. Census information will also be evaluated further to determine whether information is available in a more accessible format. Next steps: Send list to Historical Society for comments; make decisions about disposition; and offer withdrawn materials to Historical Society. Any withdrawn materials not accepted by the Historical Society will be offered to other libraries. No unique materials will be discarded, even if no other library is interested, so that the Watertown Free Public Library can say that no information will be lost. Ms. Cole concluded the presentation by saying that the Trustees and staff are committed to preserving, collecting, and celebrating the history of Watertown. Other endeavors promoting local history include digitizing the high school year books, with the permission of the Watertown High School. The collection is not complete; some years are missing. The Library would be interested in borrowing year books from individuals for digitizing purposes. "Crossroads on the Charles," by Maud deLeigh Hodges (edited by Sigrid R. Reddy with an epilogue by Charles T. Burke) has also been digitized. Patrons may search within the text of digitized materials. The Watertown League of Voters is donating some of their papers to the Library. LIG/MEG Request: The Library has been investigating a new service, Hoopla digital, which allows patrons to download music, audiobooks and videos. The cost to sign up for the service is $6,000. The prices of individual items vary, from $.99 to $2.99. Patrons may borrow an item for 7 or 14 days. If the program proves popular, and the Library consumes all of the initial $6,000, the vendor will send monthly invoices. New material is being added all the time. If patrons don't like Hoopla, the company will refund the money. The service will be available to Watertown patrons only. Ms. Stem made a motion to take $6,000 from LIG/MEG funds to pay for the Hoopla digital service. Mrs. LeBlanc seconded. All voted in favor. Periodicals Bid: Last year the Library spent $15,000 on periodicals. Librarians have since pared down the list of titles. The new magazine vendor brought the price of the package down to $10,000. Building Committee Update: At the September 16 meeting, Ms. Cole presented a wish list of items for a total of $6,861. The Building Committee approved everything, including additional museum passes. The Book Store brings in about $1,000 a month. Ms. Cole will follow up with the Museum of Fine Arts, who maintains that the Library is entitled to only two passes. One Book One Watertown: In a word: fabulous. 78 people attended brunch with the author of "Wool," Hugh Howey. Ms. Stern said that Mr. Howey attracted a totally new crowd of patrons. The author, who lives in Florida, did not request a speaker fee and paid for his own airfare. Ms. Cole remarked that it is very unusual for authors to give their time for free. Authors don't seek out public libraries because they can't afford the speaker fees. The Library is looking at some other way to thank Mr. Howey for his generosity. Ms. Stern said that a few years ago the Library sponsored a literary tea for local authors. Maker Space: The Library table at the Faire on the Square proved popular. The survey sheets yielded contact information for potential volunteers. The Planning Dept., with their online survey, also provided good feed back. Ms. Button suggested co-operating with the Arsenal Center for the Arts. The planning process for a Maker Space external to the library building may take three years down the line. New Business: Project Literacy did get to reserve a room in the high school for next semester's new class on basic literacy skills. The additional library hours has boosted circulation. Statistics are up 5% for the fiscal year, starting in July. Old Business: Mr. Tracy stated that the presentation of the Local History Collection Update was well received. He wanted to go on record that the Library is following policy as voted on by the Trustees. Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 6, 7:00 PM. Motion to adjourn: 8:20 PM. Respectfully submitted, Katherine Button ENCLOSURES: Agenda; August 6, 2013, Minutes; FY14 Year -to -Date Budget Report; Burke FY14; Fund or Grant Book Funds; Memo re: LIG/MEG request; email about Hoopla Digital; Memo re: One Book One Watertown events; Report to Trustees on One Book One Watertown , including Facebook and Twitter posts;