Members present: Donna Brown, Greg Curtin, Lucille Domick, Susan Grady, Eugene Grayson, Brad Milvae, Polly Moon, Karen Mortensen.
Also present: Laurel Goodgion, Library Director; Liz Kirkpatrick, Asst. Director; John Cascio , Town Council Liaison; Jane Sjoman, Friends of the Library representative.
There was no public comment.
Donna Brown moved and Gene Grayson seconded that the minutes of September 30, 2003 be approved as corrected. All were in favor.
John Cascio arrived at 7:09.
Laurel reported that Children's Librarian Ellen Adamczyk and Library Aide Pam Edwards had joined the staff. Tomorrow interviews have been scheduled for the vacant part-time librarian position in Adult Services. Librarian Ken Bastura is out on medical leave after having surgery. The Information desk is very busy, two staff members are needed almost all of the time.
Most of the staff attended a workshop last week on coping with change given by Bill Roberts. That morning Laurel, Liz and Joan had attended a workshop on library security. On Thursday four members of the Collection Services staff are attending a conference for para-professionals, and on Friday all library supervisors are attending a workshop on preventing sexual harassment.
The first focus group went very well, participants were vocal and enthusiastic. Another focus group is scheduled for November. Laurel distributed :
John Cascio reviewed the tremendous progress that the library has made in the last two years and talked about the positive attitude displayed by the library staff, saying that the renovation will present a challenge. He has asked Representative Paul Doyle to pursue a state grant for additional funds for the Town Hall/Library renovation. He also said that he had not received any complaints about the reduced library hours. John said that a new budget format was going to be introduced that would be more user friendly. He said he has enjoyed serving as the liaison to the library and hoped he could continue in that role.
Liz described her responsibilities covering reader services and public relations as "inter-departmental" because she serves all departments in the library. She and Greta provide coverage at the Information Desk and Greta also helps at the children's services desk and the checkout desk.
Before Liz assumed responsibility for news releases, publicity was a hit or miss operation with no one in charge. She has developed a system for sending out weekly and monthly news releases to all the media.
Liz maintains the records for Book It for Me on her computer. She also manages the standing orders for fiction and has developed a formula for how many copies of a particular author we order for general fiction and for the Fast Lane collection. Liz is responsible for two monthly book discussion groups which require a great deal of preparation time. She and Greta are responsible for booking the display cases and the art displays. Liz has been supervising the deliveries to homebound patrons and lately has actually been doing the deliveries because the volunteer has been ill herself. Liz is responsible for weeding the fiction collection. Liz is working on a new project: Book Club in a Bag. Excess multiple copies of titles no longer in demand will be packaged along with discussion questions and background information and made available to book groups.
Laurel said that thanks to Liz's efforts the library is getting much better exposure in the press and that this is raising the image of the library in the community.
Being an "interdepartmental" person has helped Liz identify gaps in service, such as coordinating the booking and set up of the meeting rooms.
The salary account is right on target. The printing costs are over the amount allotted because the new bookmarks and other materials were needed. Recruitment is over budget because the charter requires advertising each position for 3 days in a newspaper. We are now saving money by using the New Britain Herald instead of the Hartford Courant. The overall budget is on target.
Greg distributed the quarterly report and gave an overview of the endowment funds. Gene commented that the funds are consistently ahead of the benchmark.
Laurel passed out the latest report on the Action Fund and pointed out that it included the purchase of the new photocopier.
Jane Sjoman reported that the Friends will be holding their book sale on November 6th, 7th and 8th. The Friends will hold a board meeting on November 18th at 3 p.m. The Friends are in the midst of their annual membership campaign. The canvas book bags are selling very well.
No report.
The schedule was passed around. Board members were asked to sign up for future Council meetings.
Laurel revised the building program and has given a copy to the architect and Mike Turner. She met with the architect and they reviewed the plan. The architect will meet with her again when he has revised the drawings. John Cascio explained the details of the funding. Progress on the Town Hall/Library portion of the project was delayed due to the delays in the move to the new police station.
Greg said that the Board Bylaws require only two standing committees: Finance and Policy. Committees on Strategic Planning and Fundraising are not needed at this time.
Lucille Plouffe and Luci Domick volunteered to co-chair the new task force on Community Connections. Karen suggested that the information that they produce be posted on the library website.
The Governance Committee (formerly called the Executive Committee) is composed of the officers of the board (chairman, vice-chairman and secretary) and will continue to meet monthly to plan for the monthly board meeting.
The board by-laws have not been reviewed in a while and that will be the next task of the Policy Committee. Board members were asked to send to Laurel their suggestions on revisions..
Laurel presented her goals for the new salary schedule:
Laurel said she also has additional goals but they need to be delayed until the library's funding is improved.
Laurel explained that she based the proposed salary schedule on work done by a CT Library Association committee on compensation. The starting salary for each job classification is based on a percentage of the minimum salary recommended by CLA for a beginning MLS librarian. That recommendation is revised each year.
Laurel answered several questions about the proposed schedule.
Laurel asked the board members to review the salary information that she provided and to contact her before the December 2nd board meeting with any questions and comments that they have.
Laurel said that her original hope was that the new schedule could be adopted with the salary adjustments retroactive to July 1, 2003 but there was not enough money in the budget to achieve that. Her next goal had been to make the new schedule effective Jan. 1, 2004 but the latest budget report shows that is not possible either. She hopes that adjustments could be made effective April 1, 2004 -- the last quarter of the fiscal year. It will all depend on the how much money is left in the salary account.
Laurel provided the board with what little information she had about the staff effort to unionize. She explained that organizing efforts are governed by the National Labor Relations Board and described the steps that must be followed in a unionization effort. Laurel said that she and Town Manager Bonnie Therrien had held a meeting with the staff to discuss the unionization. Another meeting is scheduled for Nov. 5th with Bonnie, Greg and Gene attending. Board members asked what the issues were that led to the unionization effort. Laurel said that she didn't know but was hoping to find out. Thus far no staff members have explained what they were. A letter to the staff from the board regarding the unionization will be distributed. It will be given to the staff by the end of the week.
Resolutions were presented honoring Anne Grant and Joan Guthier for their selection as outstanding town employees. Brad Milvae moved and Donna Brown seconded that the resolutions be approved. All were in favor.
Donna Brown explained that Dick Griswold had been volunteering on a weekly basis to do routine maintenance on the library computers. His work has been much appreciated. He will be in Florida for the winter months and hoped that another volunteer could be found to replace him while he is away. Donna asked the board to think of possible volunteers.
Susan Grady made a motion, seconded by Donna Brown that the meeting be adjourned. All were in favor. The meeting adjourned at 9:15.
Pauline Moon,
Secretary