January 2011 - Board Minutes

Owatonna Public Library Board Minutes of January 18, 2011

The Owatonna Public Library Board of Trustees convened their monthly meeting on Tuesday, January 18, 2011, in the Gainey Room at Owatonna Public Library.  The meeting was called to order at 4:30PM by President Don Overlie. Also present were Russ Dunn-Foster, Eric Mattison, Assistant Library Director Renée Lowery, Director Mary Kay Feltes and Gail Plathe. Jill Holmes and Angela Sager were absent. Seventeen students from Owatonna High School attended to fulfill their SCIP (Student Community Involvement Project) requirement for political science class. Board members and staff took time throughout the meeting to explain background and history.

The December minutes were approved on a motion by Russ seconded by Eric. The motion carried.

The December financial report was reviewed. Mary Kay described for students the five program areas in the budget.

Renée presented Darla’s report on Children’s Services for December. The children’s department was very busy during the month. Highlights include a family storytime held on a snowy winter evening. Due to a snowstorm resulting in school cancellation, Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) was unable to help with the program. In spite of the weather, 29 children and adults enjoyed “Stories by Candlelight. In a tradition started years ago, first grade classes from Owatonna and Medford schools visit the library in December. Students tour the library and check out books. The highlight of the visit is listening to The Polar Express. A total of 544 teachers and students visited the library in December. Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel was held after school later in the month. Twenty-three people learned the traditional Jewish game, played during Hannakuh. Board member Russ Dunn-Foster volunteered as instructor. Details and photos of December activities are included in the attached report.

When compared to December of 2009, the number of check-outs at Owatonna Public Library decreased about 4.5%.  Blooming Prairie Branch Library circulation decreased as well. The number of people who came into the Owatonna Public Library and Blooming Prairie Branch Library both decreased. The libraries were closed two extra days due to the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. There were 162 new borrowers registered at Owatonna Public Library, and Blooming Prairie Branch Library had 4 new borrowers.

Renée reported on use of Freegal the downloadable music service recently added to Owatonna Public Library’s services. For benefit of the students in attendance she explained the service and how they may download songs at home or at the library by using their Owatonna Public Library or Blooming Prairie Branch library card. Access to Freegal is limited to residents of Steele County. At this point there are about 70 downloads per day. The Owatonna Public Library was the first library in Minnesota to offer Freegal to its customers.

The bookmobile is still for sale. There has been one offer. Another potential buyer expressed interest and recently a third party contacted Mary Kay about buying the vehicle.

OverDrive, the downloadable audiobooks service, available through Southeastern Libraries Cooperating (SELCO) is up and running. A number of Owatonna patrons have been asking for this service for quite some time. The process of checking out an eBook or eAudio is similar to checking out books and other materials in that one person at a time may check out an item. The patron selects a loan period of 7 or 21 days. The library has purchased eReaders for library patrons to view and investigate. The Barnes and Noble NOOKcolor™, the Sony Reader Daily Edition™, and the Sony Reader Pocket Edition™ were purchased with gift funds. All will work with OverDrive. However the Kindle from amazon.com will not. Owatonna Public Library is able to purchase and implement new technology because of community support through gifts to the library.

In other business Mary Kay talked about local Girl Scout Troop #40499 which made 100 book bags out of used t-shirts and donated them to the library. The library does not use or distribute plastic bags. There is a supply of reusable books bags for sale for $.99. This green project by the Girl Scouts provides free bags for those who need them.

As the meeting closed, board members responded to students’ questions. Students were encouraged to use the library databases and other technology available to them online both at home and at the library.

With no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 5:15.

The next meeting of the Owatonna Public Library Board of Trustees will be held February 15, 2011.

Respectfully submitted,

Gail Plathe
February 14, 2011