May 2011 - Board Minutes

Owatonna Public Library Board Minutes of May 17, 2011

The Owatonna Public Library (OPL) Board of Trustees convened their monthly meeting on May 17, 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 Russ Dunn-Foster, Don Overlie, Jill Holmes, Library Director Mary Kay Feltes, Assistant Director Renée Lowery and Gail Plathe. Angela Sager was absent. Seven students were present to fulfill their SCIP (Student Community Involvement Project) requirement for senior social studies class.
Introductions of the library board were made. Mattison explained that board members are appointed by the mayor.

The agenda was adopted as presented.

The minutes of April 12, 2011, were approved on a motion by Holmes, seconded by Dunn-Foster. All aye.

The financial report for April was reviewed. Feltes briefly outlined the program budget and reported we are on track at this time.

The April report for Children’s Services was presented. Report is attached. Mary Kay highlighted some of the activities and noted children’s services staff is revving up for the June 10th kick-off of the summer reading program.

Board reviewed library use, comparing April 2011 numbers to April of 2010:

Number of items checked out at the Owatonna Public Library in April 2011 increased by 6%.  The number of visitors for April 2011 was significantly lower than April of 2010. Staff suspects an equipment malfunction. The people counters are quite old and we’re exploring replacements. There was a 15% increase in new borrowers for the month over April of last year. In addition, there was an increase in the number of books requested from other libraries.

At the Blooming Prairie Branch Library, (BPBL) circulation decreased by 5% in April 2011. 1328 people visited BPBL during the month, which is slightly lower than the previous year. BPBL added nine new borrowers in April.

Use of electronic media was also reported. During the month of April, 299 customers downloaded 1862 songs from 26 genres using Freegal, the downloadable music service. Mary Kay explained how to access the service to the student observers. Some were familiar with the process. Owatonna Public Library continues to be the heaviest user of OverDrive within the regional system, Southeastern Libraries Cooperating (SELCO).

In old business Mary Kay talked about the collapsing wall on the north side of the building. Workers uncovered decaying bricks on the third floor wall while repairing copper gutters. Photos of the damage were available. There is concern about matching the brick since the library is on the National Register of Historic Places and is historically significant. A bid for repairing the brick wall has been received from Casey & Groesbeck for approximately $6000.00. No action was taken.

New business. At a meeting of the Steele County Safe and Drug Free Coalition (SCSDFC) a citizen reported one of his teenagers referred to the Owatonna Public Library as a ‘hot spot’, that is, a place where drugs are available to purchase. In response to this, the SCSDFC has offered to pay library staff to oversee a teen (12-14 years of age) volunteer program at the library. Teen volunteer programs were cut from the budget in 2009 due to funding concerns.

Mary Kay along with Sharon Stark (President of the Owatonna Public Library Foundation) and Sherm Fjalstad (Owatonna Public Library Foundation Vice President) attended the annual Library Journal sponsored Design Institute in Minneapolis. Vendors, architects, and designers offer options for library projects. The day-long program allowed for viewing furniture and other fixtures. Rather than replace the desk top computers in children’s services, Mary Kay suggested redesigning the computer area, removing carrels and instead of desk top computers, providing users with tablet computers. Library staff have always been forward thinking and looking at the long term. Two questions drive library planning: “What is the vision?” “Where is the investment?” Current trends are moving away from desk tops and moving toward portable devices. Mary Kay pointed out that even in these tough economic times, Hennepin and Ramsey Counties have managed to open new libraries.

At the Design Institute, Rochester Public Library presented their new construction project for review. They plan to add a story on top of the present structure and redesign the entrance from the parking ramp. It has proven to be an unsatisfactory solution since the building was built.

John Pfeifer’s retirement on June 30th will leave the technology department short one person. Mary Kay has contacted a consultant from Northfield to formulate a technology road map, since long range plans are impractical with technology advancing so rapidly. John, Ryan and Mary Kay will meet with the consultant.

Dunn-Foster presented motion to adjourn at 5:10PM. Overlie second. All aye.

The next meeting will be held at 4:30pm on Tuesday, June 21, 2011.

Respectfully submitted,
Gail Plathe