ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY DISTRICT
MEETING OF THE BOARD
NATURAL BRIDGE BRANCH
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2009
3:30 PM
The monthly meeting of the Board of the St. Louis County Library District was held at the Natural Bridge Branch, 7606 Natural Bridge Road, 63121 on Monday, April 20, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. The agenda had been posted in all branches of the Library District at least 24 hours before the meeting.
ATTENDANCE:
Library Board Members:
Jean Weinstock, President
Dr. Lynn Beckwith, Vice President
Kenneth Stricker, Treasurer
Dr. Ching Ling Tai, Secretary
Mrs. Edith Cunnane, Member
Others Attending:
Charles Pace, Director; Gary Holdefer, Associate Director and Comptroller; Barbara Brain, Assistant Director for Adult and Support Services; Kristen Sorth, Manager, Human Resources; Marie Conlin, Library Planner; Jim Bogart, Development Manager; Eric Button, North Regional Administrator; and Rosemary Terranova, St. Louis County Human Services; SLCL staff attending: Leander Spearman, Jake Fejedelem, Anna Kwiatkowski, Ken Cieslak, Julia Mangner, Donna Spaulding, Emily Althoff, Marsha Ramey, Barb Urban, Robbin Oehler, Kathy Wiese, Jill Pifer, Ed Clark, Heather Pehrson, Donna Spaulding, Stacy Berger, Parkie Peck, Geri Olmstead, Michael Cohen, Cynthia Schultz, Laura Kuhl, Vicki Krueger, and Sandra Williams.
The MINUTES, dated Monday, March 9, 2009 were approved by the Board (Stricker/Beckwith).
PUBLIC COMMENTS: None.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
The Treasurer’s Report dated March 31, 2009 was approved subject to audit (Stricker/Cunnane).
Mr. Holdefer reported a major expenditure in March was the approved contribution to the Pension Plan. He also acknowledged the donation of Louis Sachs for new lighting at the Sachs Branch. The Collectors office released escrowed taxes totaling $3.6 million.
Required correspondence from the Library’s auditors was acknowledged by the Board. Dr. Beckwith congratulated Mr. Holdefer, Ms. Keller and staff members who worked with the auditors. Mr. Pace confirmed that a letter was sent to all staff and retirees concerning the Pension Fund’s status.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
HIGH SCHOOL LABELS
Mr. Pace passed around book samples that featured the new High School label on them.
CIRCULATION STATISTICS
He also distributed circulation statistics for the first three months of 2009. Usage was higher compared to a year ago in all branches with the exception of bookmobile services.
CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUES
We have had a few customers express concern about the security of their information when they sign up to use the public internet terminals in our facilities. In most cases these problems can be dealt with through education. For example, we can remind our users that they need to terminate their sessions and log out of their email accounts before leaving the computer. In one instance an individual walked away from his session and left his email open and someone else responded by sending an obscene message out to his contacts. We will continue to work with our customers to make sure they are aware of security issues and problems that can arise when one is using the internet on a public computer terminal. As you may recall, we also had an individual complain at the March Board meeting regarding the accessibility of wireless at certain branches. Following the meeting I had Assistant Director Tim Wadham follow up with a phone call in which he was able to address the customer’s concerns and explain our plans to upgrade WiFi service at the locations where it is currently unavailable. As a reminder to the Board, the reason for the interruption of service at certain locations was due to patron violations of copyright law not due to inappropriate content.
Major Library events
We have many Library events coming up including this Wednesday, April 22 at 7 pm in celebration of Earth Day. The Library will host Dr. Peter Raven, President of the Missouri Botanical Gardens and one of the world’s leading botanists and advocates of conservation and biodiversity. He will be discussing ways in which each of us can make a difference in terms of preserving a healthy environment for future generations.
April 25 is EcoFest at the St. Louis County Library; a celebration of all things green. Win door prizes and visit with exhibitors from local organizations and businesses who will share their knowledge about living green. This event will start at 10 am and conclude by 4 pm.
Facilities
HVAC work is underway at both the Indian Trails and Weber Road branches and things are progressing well. However, we are currently awaiting delivery of the air handlers for both locations. We are also concerned about erosion that is taking place under the parking lot of our Grand Glaize Branch. When the development was built below the hill, proper storm water drainage was apparently not allowed for and this is causing concern about the undermining of our parking lot. We are looking at a variety of options to correct this issue and will present something to the Board at a later date. Library staff is currently awaiting replies to our RFQ for architectural services which was issued earlier this month. Once all the responses are received we will read through them and select five or six finalists to interview for the Tesson Ferry project.
The Natural Bridge Branch has undergone a transformation with the installation of new computers that has more than tripled the computing capacity available at the branch. We are also rewiring the branch for data and replacing some of the furniture in the Teen Area. If funds permit, I intend to upgrade lighting in this facility as well by the end of the year. Mr. Pace called for Branch Manager Parkie Peck to report on the branch. Ms. Peck gave a composite of the community that is served by the Natural Bridge Branch. She also offered to give a tour to the Board members following the meeting. Ms. Peck announced that Rosemary Terranova, Director of Family and Community Services, with St. Louis County Human Services would give a report on a new program.
Ms. Terranova reported that St. Louis County Social Services wants to do a collaborative work with the County Library to increase the awareness of availabilities of social services; increase accessibility to social services and to address increasing needs of the communities dealing with limited resources. The collaborative effort will provide on site social workers who will help with how to provide improvements in completing resumes and home services.
Presentation in Johnson County
Mr. Pace reported that our own Tim Wadham made a presentation to the staff of the Johnson County Library in Johnson County, Kansas regarding the provision of library services to Spanish speaking populations. This program was broadcast via videoconference and was seen by library workers across the state of Kansas.
Visit to Columbus
On May 4 and 5, I will be leading a group of administrators on a site visit of the Columbus Metropolitan Library System in Columbus, Ohio. The Columbus library system is consistently ranked as one of the top libraries in the country and has won numerous awards for its service to the community. We intend to look at all aspects of their operation to get an idea of best practices that we might be able to implement here. We are particularly interested in touring their call center since we will be implementing a call center as part of the transition to the new phone system. Accompanying me on the trip will be Barbara Brain (Assistant Director), Eric Button (Community Services Administrator), Kristen Sorth (Human Resources Manager), Kathy Wiese (Acquisitions Manager), and Lori Boschert (Circulation Manager). We are looking forward to returning with some good ideas.
Upcoming Author Events and Programs
April 22 at 7 pm the Library will host Dr. Peter Raven, President of the Missouri Botanical Gardens and one of the world’s leading botanists and advocates of conservation and biodiversity. He will be discussing ways in which each of us can make a difference in terms of preserving a healthy environment for future generations.
On Saturday, May 16 the Library will host the Asian Heritage Festival at our Daniel Boone Branch. The festival will be filled with performances, demonstrations, exhibits, and children’s crafts representing eight countries: Bangladesh, Japan, China, Korea, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. Last year nearly 900 people attended this event. The Asian circulation increased 126%. The Extension services circulation decreased because some of services have been reduced and two bookmobiles were retired.
OLD BUSINESS
NONE
NEW BUSINESS
TAX ASSESSMENT
The Board was presented preliminary 2009 assessment data.
Mr. Holdefer reported that he expected a lot of commercial and residential protests regarding tax assessments for 2009. The 2009 assessment will provide the funds to operate in 2010. Staff has sent to the St. Louis County Collector the following non-binding 2009 rates: Residential: 14 cents; Commercial: 16.8 cents, Agricultural: 15 cents; and Personal Property: 15 cents. The preliminary 2009 assessments is $21,566,559,844, which is only 0.4% greater than 2008.
BUILDING REPAIR (BRANCH SECURITY)
The Board approved the staff recommendation to hire the lowest and best bidders to provide branch security at four branches. Tech Electronics for DB at $9,504 and FV at $8,434; Butler & Durrell Security at MC for $5,551 and OB at $6,554 (Beckwith/Cunnane).
BUILDING REPAIR (PARKING LOTS)
The Board approved the recommendation from staff to hire the low bidders for overlays, patching, sealing and striping. The following will do a complete overlay: County Asphalt at IT for $19,025; Duraseal Paving at RR for $37,400. For patching, sealing and striping: Asphalt Paving & Concrete at LC for $4,977 and NB at $3,940; Fontana Paving at CC for $4,790, OB at $3,252 and WR at $4,900; and Gershenson Construction at TH for $4,830 (Stricker/Beckwith).
AUTOMOBILE (BOOKMOBILE)
The Board approved the low bidder Universal Trailers, to provide an all aluminum gooseneck trailer at a cost of $38,301. this unit will replace a 45 year old trailer that goes to retirement centers (Beckwith/Stricker).
BOARD POLICY (COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT)
The Board approved the recommendation of staff to amend the Collection Development Policy. The new policy reads as follows: The population of the St. Louis County Library District represents a diversity of age, background, religion, ethnicity, culture, education, socioeconomic level and lifestyle. This diversity is reflected in the broad range of materials that comprise the collection of the St. Louis County Library. In order to celebrate diversity within our community, the Library will increase the emphasis on the purchase of books, magazines and audiovisual materials which reflect our cultural diversity (Beckwith/Stricker).
BOARD POLICY (PHOTOGRAPHS)
Barbara Brain reported that the Library needed a photo policy to address the concern of patrons and support the Library when using photographs taken at events. The St. Louis County Library Board agreed to the following statement subject to approval from counsel. The St. Louis County Library often takes photos of its programs, activities and their participants. Please be aware that these photos may be used in future brochures, flyers, web pages, news releases or other promotional materials. Those wishing not to be photographed or recorded should inform the photographer (Stricker/Beckwith).
TECHNOLOGY (WEB FILTER)
The Board approved the purchase of a new web filter appliance. The Board approved the recommendation of staff to use the low bidder Dell at a cost of $17,547 (Stricker/Beckwith)
CLOSED SESSION
Kenneth Stricker moved that the open meeting adjourn. Dr. Beckwith seconded. All approved by individual voice vote.
The meeting adjourned at 4:25 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
___________________________________________ __________________
Chingling Tai Date
Secretary