October 2011 - Board Minutes

Owatonna Public Library Board Minutes of October 26, 2011

The Owatonna Public Library (OPL) Board of Trustees convened their monthly meeting on Wednesday, October 26, 2011, in the Gainey Room at the Owatonna Public Library. The meeting was called to order at 4:35 pm by President Eric Mattison. Also attending were Jill Holmes, Russ Dunn-Foster, Don Overlie, Library Director Mary Kay Feltes, Assistant Director Renée Lowery, and Gail Plathe. Angela Sager was absent.

The minutes of September 20, 2011, were approved on a motion by Holmes, seconded by Dunn-Foster. All aye.

The September expenditures report was reviewed. After discussion the report was accepted as presented. Board members pay attention to the library financial report.

Lowery presented the Children’s Services report for September as submitted by Darla Lager, librarian in charge of Children’s Services. After a short break, story time began again on the 20th of the month. Family Fun Night, a family story time hosted cooperatively with Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) featured Rumble in the Jungle. Eighty-six children and adults were entertained with stories and activities. On Saturday, September 24th two staff members spent the day at the annual CulturFest at Wilson Elementary School. Children’s Services report is attached.

Board reviewed library use for the month of September.

At the Owatonna Public Library (OPL) in September, 2011, library users checked out 19,900 items in the month. The number was down 11% compared to the 22,736 checked out in September 2010. Customers visited OPL about 17,000 times in the month, a decrease of 14% from the previous year. Library cards were issued to 151 new borrowers. Library users at Blooming Prairie Branch Library (BPBL) checked out 2,409 items, an increase of about 4% compared to 2010. Customers visited 1,479 times, an increase of 10%, and BPBL added 13 new borrowers. OPL continues to lend more materials to other libraries than borrowed for Owatonna patrons from other libraries. The library will be open on Sundays from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm beginning Sunday, October 2nd. Sunday hours will continue through April.

Lowery reported use of electronic media. During the month of September, 245 customers downloaded 1566 songs using Freegal, the downloadable music service. There is no waiting list for Freegal. Owatonna Public Library customers are also avid users of OverDrive and lead other libraries in the region in numbers of downloaded electronic books. One hundred eight patrons downloaded 285 electronic books and 43 electronic audio books. The amazon.com Kindle will soon be compatible with OverDrive. Nineteen e-audio books were downloaded using the OneClickdigital service. At this time the number of users is not available.

There was much discussion about rapidly changing technology and how it has altered delivery of library services in the last few years. Reference questions are more complex and require more time per patron to process. Questions frequently involve electronic devices and other handheld devices. During the current economic climate, job-seekers need e-mail addresses in order to apply for employment online. Since the WorkForce Center moved from Cedar Avenue to the Landmark Drive in the northeast part of town, the library remains more accessible for those who are looking for help with employment searches. Feltes has suggested to Brad Meier of the Owatonna Chamber of Commerce that it would be helpful for the Chamber to offer training in basic writing and computer skills, job searching, creating résumés, and submitting applications online. This training is needed in the community now. Riverland Community College would be an ideal place for training. As an instructor at RCC, Holmes responded there is a huge shortage of space at the college at this time.

In old business,

Feltes has not been contacted by Loren Lovhaug since they last met in September. It is expected that he will recommend hiring an assistant technology coordinator to fill the vacancy left when Ryan Brown was promoted to technology coordinator following the retirement of the previous coordinator. Maintaining and upgrading technology in the various city departments is demanding and requires 24-hour on-call attention.

Feltes reported on the library’s budget session with the City Council on October 18th.

Lowery distributed updated OPL fact sheets to library board members.

Feltes reported on opportunity costs, a phrase describing situations where citizens do not receive what they need because a site is closed. For example if a customer wants to update his or her résumé and they are unable to use the library because it’s closed. That is an opportunity lost. Family evening story time is an opportunity for shift workers to attend with their children. For many years cooperative story times (Family Fun Nights) with ECFE included an American sign language interpreter. There are not always hearing impaired people in the audience. A Spanish language interpreter is also present.

New business

Lowery and Feltes talked about an upcoming program on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). The series is called Forced to Choose: ground level. An MPR reporter interviewed Feltes and city manager, Kris Busse. On another occasion an MPR photographer took photographs of various sites in town including the library. The Owatonna segment of the program will air on October 26th.

Feltes distributed copies of the October 19, 2011, Owatonna People’s Press article entitled “Library seeks bigger budget for ‘12” written by Rebecca Rodenborg. Feltes explained that most of the increase is due to the insurance premiums that in previous years were paid out of a City of Owatonna administration budget. These costs are now charged to the individual departments.

Overlie reported on recent SELCO Board meetings.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm on a motion by Dunn-Foster seconded by Overlie. The next meeting will be held at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, November 15, 2011.

Respectfully submitted, 
Gail Plathe