Board of
Library Trustees Meeting
March 6, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Attendees:
Trustees:
Carol Brown, Vice-chair
MaryAnn Cabibbo
Ed Duggan
Chris Monahan (7:10pm)
William Roberts, Secretary (7:27pm)
Wendy Rowe, Chair
Citizens:
Margaret Perkins, Acting Director
Agenda approved CB1 MAC2 unanimous
Feb 7 minutes approved CB1 MAC2 unanimous
Feb 25 minutes approved CB1 CM2 unanimous
Margaret submitted to Columbia Gas a compilation of all their errors and told them to audit it; she hasn't heard back yet. There have been mistaken charges and credits for months.
The other two RTUs (Roof Top Units) are slated for replacement in the CIPC's FY13 plan.
A patron reported that when her kids went with her Walpole-resident mother to the Walpole library, they were told sorry but Medway was decertified so the kids couldn't borrow on their Medway cards. The employee didn't believe them when they said Medway's recertified. The mom went back another day to try correcting Walpole, and was told again (we hope by the same staffer) that Medway is decertified. Margaret called the Walpole Director, who knows we're certified and was not happy about his staff's mistake.
There will be thermostatic training for the staff
The handicapped door has been fixed.
The men's room floor has cracked, Ed's talked to the Franklin people who did the work. Also, the toilet overflowed and water poured down into the basement; Wendy will look into getting the toilet base caulked.
Carol will approach Middlesex Bank about the Museum of Fine Arts pass. Ed will approach Charles River Bank about the Garden in the Woods pass.
(includes items under "New Business")
Installing media equipment is progressing. Will cost the town something like $30,000.
Someone's been found to move the downstairs shelving for the various repurposings
Motion to spend approximately $500 to prepare the Periodicals room and the meeting room. MAC1, CB2. passed unanimously
The staff is worried about oversight of the downstairs as its usage increases. Security cameras are in the plan.
There was some discussion of Senior Outreach. It would have to be much simpler than before. Requested materials would be delivered via a driver contracted at something like $1200 a year. It would still need help from the staff. Ed is skeptical that this is practical.
To extend the downstairs hours to 9:30PM we would probably contract someone to work from 7:45-9:45PM. The 7:45PM time would increase the overlap with the departing staff.
More toddler programs are what's in demand.
It would be a good to have a music license to go with the movie license.
Discussed being open one more morning(we would start getting full state aid). This would cost $7600 annually. This would be a substantial portion of the $10,000 we're looking to spend.
Extended downstairs hours and more toddler programs are our first priorities and will be budgeted. The other items will require further discussion.
Motion to present the initiative options as discussed to the selectmen (CB1, CM2) passed unanimously.
The Friends would like more space for their ongoing sale items upstairs. They suggested retiring some of the old VHS tapes, moving the DVDs to the freed space and repurposing the DVD nook. The Trustees generally thought that giving the Friends more space was a good idea and that the DVD relocation plan made sense. Margaret will follow up on it.
Motion to adjourn, CM1, ED2, 9:15
Medway Public Library
Director’s Report
March 5, 2011
Building Maintenance
There have been continuing issues with the heating system. Keyes shut off RTU 2 to prevent leakage, which has made the juvenile room quite cold. The rollover switch on RTU 1 broke, resulting in the temperature in the Cole Room dipping into the 40’s. Replacement of RTU 2 is in the FY13 Capital Plan. It would likely be wise to replace RTU 1 as well this summer. It may be possible to move this replacement into FY13, and postpone a less important capital item to a later year
The thermostatic control people have made adjustments, but there are still problems with the temperature control in some areas, with the temperature dropping down below sixty.
The handicapped door is not functioning properly – it opens very slowly and not very far. DPS is coming to look at it.
Personnel
Circulation & Catalog
Katherine, Bill and I attended Technology Briefings at Minuteman Central Site. It is now possible to receive a text message when an item that you have ordered arrives, as well as courtesy and overdue notices via text message. Patrons have to opt into this feature. A mobile version of the catalog is also now available.
Programming
The Paws to Read program continues to be very popular. A monthly Saturday session has been added, and the March session is already nearly full. Pat Gipps brought Penny the Therapy Dog to Lorie’s story hour, and a photographer took pictures to accompany an article in the Milford Daily News.
I watched a webinar – “Bringing STEM Learning to Public Libraries: Collaboration and Resources for Librarians,” which included some interesting suggestions/resources on science programs. I joined the “Community of Practice” discussion website on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math programs in libraries.
Tammy attended a Massachusetts Library System workshop on using Flickr for sharing photographs, in preparation for Library Snapshot Day on April 12th.
Overdrive
Several staff members have familiarized themselves with the Kindle which Wendy loaned to the library for staff training. I will order a Nook and a Sony Reader PRS-T1 in the next few days. The Overdrive Test Drive program allows patrons to borrow certain approved devices such as the Sony Reader above, and download Overdrive ebooks at the library. No computer is necessary. Another relatively inexpensive device which is approved for the Overdrive Test Drive program is the Agasio DroPad.
Museum Passes
The new authenticating Tixkeeper version also allows patrons to cancel reservations up until 24 hours prior to the day of use. It would also allow blocking of patrons from towns with decertified libraries, as well as patrons with fines above $5.00 or who do not have cards. These features come at an increased cost, and the authentication ability is not as important to the Medway library as it would be to libraries that only loan passes to residents.
The Roger Williams Zoo pass is up for renewal very soon, and several others need to be renewed by the first of July.
Other
Suzanne Kennedy asked the library to participate in the County/City Manager’s Association Performance Management Program data collection survey, which is used to collect data on the quality and efficiency of services provided by towns. Some of the data, on expenditures and library usage, had already been collected for the ARIS report. This survey consists of 101 questions, but only a handful were directed at libraries.
Staff had to call the police because they were concerned about a patron who appeared intoxicated or ill and who was stumbling around in the parking lot after leaving the building.
Margaret Perkins
| Account | Acct # | Start Balance | Expen. To Date | End Balance | % Spent |
| Salaries - Full Time | 5110 | $78,624.00 | $55,320.97 | $23,303.03 | 70.36% |
| Salaries - Part Time | 5111 | $66,692.00 | $48,094.13 | $18,597.87 | 72.11% |
| Longevity | 5150 | $850.00 | $850.00 | $0.00 | 100.00% |
| Electricity | 5211 | $21,500.00 | $9,326.50 | $12,173.50 | 43.38% |
| Heating Fuel | 5212 | $7,900.00 | $2,805.83 | $5,094.17 | 35.52% |
| Trash | 5232 | $1,683.00 | $835.66 | $847.34 | 49.65% |
| Water & Sewer | 5231 | $863.00 | $147.87 | $715.13 | 17.13% |
| Emergency Transfer | $17,640.00 | $17,640.00 | $0.00 | 100.00% | |
| R & M Miscellaneous | 5240 | $5,784.00 | $4,859.93 | $924.07 | 84.02% |
| Telephone | 5341 | $1,500.00 | $770.79 | $729.21 | 51.39% |
| Supplies | 5400 | $1,600.00 | $1,370.44 | $229.56 | 85.65% |
| Postage | 5343 | $264.00 | $308.00 | ($44.00) | 116.67% |
| OPS - (Minuteman bill) | 5380 | $22,707.00 | $22,851.00 | ($144.00) | 100.63% |
| Media | 5427 | $0.00 | |||
| Books | 5521 | $0.00 | |||
| Travel | 5710 | $206.22 | ($206.22) | ||
| TOTAL - GENERAL FUND | $227,607.00 | $165,387.34 | $62,219.66 | 72.66% | |
| Retroactive salaries | $9,483.00 | ||||
| Start Balance* | Expen. To Date | Income to Date | Account Bal | ||
| Memorial Donations | 5400 | $9,836.82 | $19,800.29 | $21,881.80 | $11,918.33 |
| Tuchinsky Fund Interest | $40,610.32 | $150.92 | $172.30 | $40,631.70 | |
| Tuchinsky Fund Principal | $102,869.11 | $102,869.11 | |||
| Library Restitution Fund | 024-610-706-4773 | $10,389.75 | $6,425.80 | $728.80 | $4,692.75 |
| Copier & Printer Rev. Fund | 024-610-722-4840 | $2,958.53 | $710.25 | $3,668.78 | |
| Meeting Room Rev. Fund | 024-610-723-4840 | $2,114.18 | $300.00 | $2,414.18 | |
| Free Public Library | 2017 | $8,724.52 | $5,040.79 | $4,314.36 | $7,998.09 |
| TOTAL - OTHER FUNDS | $177,503.23 | $31,417.80 | $28,107.51 | $174,192.94 | |
| Automated Checkout | $4,000.00 |