July 2011 - Board Minutes

Owatonna Public Library Board Minutes of July 19, 2011

The Owatonna Public Library (OPL) Board of Trustees convened their monthly meeting on July 19, 2011, in the Gainey Room at the Owatonna Public Library. The meeting was called to order at 4:30 pm by President Eric Mattison. Also attending were Angela Sager, Jill Homes, Library Director Mary Kay Feltes, Assistant Director Renée Lowery and Gail Plathe. Russ Dunn-Foster and Don Overlie were absent.
The minutes of June 21, 2011, were approved on a motion by Sager, seconded by Holmes. All aye.

The financial report for June was reviewed. Feltes reported there have been no unexpected expenditures and the library is on track at this time. Budget discussions for 2012 have begun.

Board members commented on the impact library has on the community through other activities other than library services, such as during the flooding event of 2010.

The June report for Children’s Services was presented by Lowery. Some of the highlights include two visits by Darla to Migrant Head Start. She presented a program for parents in cooperation with the school district emphasizing the importance of reading throughout the summer. Staff spoke to 600 people at the Have a Safe Summer event at the Four Seasons Center. Summer Reading Program Kick-Off Day, June 10th, was a huge success. A total of 2388 items were checked out on that very busy Friday. Steele County 4-H presents Adventure Club on six Wednesday afternoons. Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin sponsored their first of six Magical Fairy Adventures. They also sponsored a science program for girls. The second session had better attendance than the first session. These programs would not be offered without the involvement of these groups. Children’s Services Report is attached.

Board reviewed library use for the month of June. Number of items checked out at the Owatonna Public Library (OPL) in June 2011 increased by almost 1%. The number of visitors for June 2011 was up almost 2% compared to June of 2010. Staff issued cards to 227 new borrowers in the month. The numbers of interlibrary (ILL) loans continues to increase. More materials are loaned by OPL to customers at other libraries than are borrowed from other libraries by OPL’s customers. The result of more outgoing ILLs than incoming ILLS is a dividend for OPL (and BP?) each year which is usually applied to monthly automation costs.

At the Blooming Prairie Branch Library, (BPBL) circulation increased by 6% in June 2011. The number of people visiting BPBL during the month decreased about 1% over June of last year. Blooming Prairie Branch added 35 new borrowers.

Use of electronic media was also reported. During the month of June, 256 customers downloaded 1551 songs from 26 genres using Freegal, the downloadable music service. Owatonna Public Library customers are also avid users of OverDrive within the regional system, Southeastern Libraries Cooperating (SELCO) and continue to lead the pack on numbers of downloads. One hundred eleven patrons downloaded 330 e-books and 63 e-audio books. This was an increase over the previous month.

In old business, Feltes and the city’s Facilities and Grounds Superintendent are working together on a plan to replace the damaged brick on the exterior wall.

Ryan Brown has been promoted to technology coordinator following the retirement of John Pfeifer. The assistant technology coordinator position remains unfilled. Loren Lovhaug, a consultant from Northfield, has met with several city department heads to discuss a three-year technology road map. He will meet with Renée Lowery and Ryan Brown at a later date. The Park and Recreation Department has old technology that needs to be updated. Various sites in the department are using different versions of software, which is cumbersome and inefficient. Consultants often recommend products when formulating a plan. At times there may be a conflict of interest if the consultant will benefit financially from sale of the product. In other technology news, the self-check machine at the library is no longer working and is not reparable. The machine will be replaced.

In closing, Feltes mentioned a new book entitled “Libraries of Minnesota” with photography by Doug Ohman and text by Minnesota author Will Weaver. The book includes two photographs of the Owatonna Public Library.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:20 pm on a motion by Jill, seconded by Angie.

The next meeting will be held at 4:30pm on Tuesday, August 23, 2011.

Respectfully submitted,
Gail Plathe