September 2011 - Board Minutes

Owatonna Public Library Board Minutes of September 20, 2011

The Owatonna Public Library (OPL) Board of Trustees convened their monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 20, 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 August 23, 2011, were approved on a motion by Overlie, seconded by Holmes. All aye.

The expense report for August was reviewed and accepted as presented. Feltes briefly outlined the five program budget areas.

Lowery presented the Children’s Services report for August as submitted by Darla Lager, librarian in charge of Children’s Services. It was a busy month with staff visits to Migrant Head Start and Kids Corner Educare Center. The Corrugation Program hosted by local artist Wil Natzel was a highlight of the month. The last of three summer reading program book fairs was staffed by community volunteers from Delta Kappa Gamma. 1,568 children met their reading goal. Children’s Services report is attached. 

Board reviewed library use for the month of August.

At the Owatonna Public Library (OPL) in August 2011 library users checked out 23,618 items, which is down 22% compared to August 2010. Customers visited OPL over 19,500 times in August, a decrease of 3% from the previous year. Library cards were issued to 141 new borrowers in the month. Library users at Blooming Prairie Branch Library (BPBL) checked out 3,579 items, which is a decrease of about 6% compared to 2010. Customers visited 1,479 times, an increase of 15 %, and BPBL added 14 new borrowers. OPL continues to lend more materials to other libraries than borrowed for Owatonna patrons from other libraries. Over 27,000 Steele County residents have library cards. The library will be open on Sundays from 1 to 5 pm beginning Sunday, October 2nd. Sunday hours will continue through April.

Lowery reported use of electronic media. During the month of August, 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 e-books and 43 e-audio books. The amazon.com Kindle will soon be compatible with the service which is becoming more popular with customers in other regional libraries as well. Nineteen e-audio books were downloaded using the OneClickdigital service.

In old business, Feltes will meet with Loren Lovhaug next week. Loren is a consultant from Northfield who is working with city staff on planning for future technological needs, a road map for the city for the next few years. An assistant technology coordinator is needed soon. The technology workload is too much for one person.The Owatonna Public Library Board of Trustees recommended the assistant technology coordinator be posted, advertised and filled as soon as possible.

Work study sessions with the city council are scheduled. Feltes expects to receive a report from Loren Lovhaug before the session. The library’s session will be held on Tuesday, October 18th. Feltes invited board members to attend.

Lowery distributed updated OPL fact sheets to library board members.

New Business
 
Feltes talked about an article in Library Trends, a well-considered professional journal. This quarterly publication explores critical trends in professional librarianship and literature reviews. Each issue is devoted to a single aspect of professional activity or interest. The Summer 2011 issue includes an in depth article written by Simon Pepper about the Owatonna Public Library entitled “Owatonna (Minnesota) Builds a Library”. The article was first drafted in 1989 and for this issue it was updated with photos and information from Nancy Vaillancourt’s book Owatonna Public Library; Free to All. The article quotes Carl Bennett, a prominent Owatonna citizen: “Our library building is the first public building of importance to be erected in this city. It is representative of the whole city.” Owatonna citizens are still proud of their library. Copies of the article will be distributed to board members. Library board president Mattison requested that copies of the article be mailed to the Mayor and City Councilmen.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:20 pm on a motion by Holmes seconded by Overlie.

The next meeting will be held at 4:30pm on Wednesday, October 26, 2011.

Respectfully submitted,
Gail Plathe