BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes of the Regular Meeting
January 15, 2008

The regular meeting of the Des Plaines Public Library Board of Trustees was held in the second floor conference room on Tuesday, January 15, 2008. President Noreen Lake called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.

ROLL CALL.

Roll call indicated the following board members were present: Maria Bahamon, Matthew Bogusz, Eldon Burk, William Grice, Noreen Lake, George Magerl, Rhys Read, Elaine Tejcek.

Also Present: Sandra Norlin, Carol Kidd, Karen McBride, Heather Imhoff, Wayne Serbin, William Brown.

Absent: Jerry Mahony.

CONSIDERATION OF THE AGENDA.

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by William Grice, to accept the agenda, as written. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

Wayne Serbin asked the Board to consider a “Food for Fines” donation program where patrons could donate non-perishable items in lieu of specific fines. President Lake stated that there are barrels in the atrium where patrons can make donations to the food pantry and donate non-perishable items for the troops in Iran.

CITY COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE – Alderman Martin Moylan.

Alderman Moylan was not in attendance.

CONSENT AGENDA

Elaine Tejcek asked that D. Acceptance of Reports 2. Management Committee Report be removed from the Consent Agenda.

Noreen Lake asked that D. Acceptance of Reports 1. Director’s Report and A. Approval of the Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting – December 18, 2007 be removed from the Consent Agenda.

MOTION by Rhys Read, seconded by George Magerl, to approve the Consent Agenda, as modified. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Noreen Lake stated that in the Minutes for December 18, 2007 on page 5, the Director’s Report should read:

The computers on the fourth floor were used 7,818 times and the computers on the second floor (Youth Services) were used 1,501 times.

MOTION by George Magerl, seconded by Matthew Bogusz, to approve December 18, 2007 minutes, as modified. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Noreen Lake also stated that in the Director’s Report dated January 15, 2008 the following changes should be made:

Resignations/separations for December/January: Jairo Barbosa, Building and Security Assistant and Randall Lush, Part-time Monitor, Building and Security Services; Lisa Dyon, Processing Clerk, Technical Services; and Kerrin Riley, Circulation Clerk, Circulation Services.

Roberta Johnson has been appointed to the position of Head of Adult Services, effective January 1, 2008.

MOTION by William Grice, seconded by George Magerl, to accept the Director’s Report, as modified. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

The minutes from the December 18, 2007 Management Committee were modified to include Maria Bahamon’s last name in the motion approving the Collection Development policy.

MOTION by George Magerl, seconded by Eldon Burk, to accept Management Committee meeting minutes, as corrected. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

CONSENT AGENDA

Following monthly reports to be reviewed and placed on file for audit:

MOTION by Rhys Read, seconded by George Magerl, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures authorized by the Library Director and Board Representatives for library Warrant Registers as follows:/p>

	December 03, 2007	$58,526.72
	December 17, 2007	$86,976.64
	Total	$145,503.36

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Bahamon, Bogusz, Burk, Grice, Lake, Magerl, Read, Tejcek. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

MOTION by Rhys Read, seconded by George Magerl, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures for salaries made by the Library Director as follows:

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Bahamon, Bogusz, Burk, Grice, Lake, Magerl, Read, Tejcek. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Please note: I have received no official requests for confidential patron information since my last report.

PERSONNEL

Resignations/separations for December/January: Jairo Barbosa, Building and Security Assistant and Randall Lush, Part-time Monitor, Building and Security Services; Lisa Dyon, Processing Clerk, Technical Services; and Kerrin Riley, Circulation Clerk, Circulation Services.

Roberta Johnson has been appointed to the position of Head of Adult Services, effective January 1, 2008.

Heather Imhoff will begin her work as Head of Public Information Services on January 14, 2008. Heather is leaving her position as Executive Director of the River North Association (Chicago).

Carol Kidd and I held meetings with individual employees regarding the changes to the salary schedule that may affect their salaries in the future. The new salary schedule contains several changes in assigning positions to ranges as well as in salary ranges themselves. No current employees’ salaries will be negatively affected, but some are outside of the new ranges set for their positions. These employees will continue to receive merit raises in the form of bonuses, but their base salaries will not exceed the ranges.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Holly Sorensen and I have begun talks with Gail Johnson of Face2Face Communications to prepare a program for the development of the new Department Heads team.

PATRON SERVICES

The total items circulated for 2007 was 1,088,404, or 31 items per card holder or 19 per resident of Des Plaines. 66% of the items checked out from the Youth Services collection were print (books or magazines) and 43% of the items checked out from the Adult Services collection were print items. Although the usage in nearly all areas of service was down in 2007 as compared to 2006, we still have a very good rate of service to our community. For example, over 100,125 requests for service were answered by staff at the public service desk on the first floor; 75,805 requests were served on the second floor; and 113,255 requests were served on the 3rd and 4th floors. With a total of 289,185 person-to-person services provided, that is an average of 5 per resident. Our public meeting rooms were used 1,489 times by 78,891 people throughout the year. That number of people would fill Soldier Field, with 17,000+ people in standing room. It would fill US Cellular Field or Wrigley Field twice or the United Center 3 ½ times. I am proud of both the high numbers we serve and the high level of service we provide.

In answer to a question from Eldon Burk at the November Board Meeting regarding the usage rates of the Gale Reference Products, Christina Tropea reports the following: Literature Resource Center use increased 18% from 2006 to 2007; Contemporary Authors use decreased 13.6%; and LitFinder use decreased 17%.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

I was elected Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and began my one-year term this month. I rang the bell for the Salvation Army red kettle program at Jewel on Oakton and Lee on Friday, December 14. I attended the Chambers Executive Committee meeting on January 3, the LCN Division of Library Production Studio meeting on January 8, the Chamber of Commerce Board meeting on January 10, and the NSLS Board meeting on January 14.

NEW BUSINESS

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by William Grice, to have Board meetings recorded for television broadcasts for the months of April, July and October in 2008 and January in 2009. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Elaine Tejcek will attend the February 4 City Council meeting, Eldon Burk the March 3 meeting and Matthew Bogusz, the March 17 meeting. The 2nd City Council meeting in February is on Tuesday, February 19, 2008, the same date as the Library Board meeting.

Sandra Norlin reported that she did not recommend a surcharge for motor fuel for the Mobile Library at this time. The Board consensus was not to add a surcharge for motor fuel to the agreement with the Village of Rosemont for the Mobile Library.

MOTION by Rhys Read, seconded by George Magerl, not to recommend a surcharge for motor fuel for the Mobile Library at this time and to review at the time that the agreement renews in July 2008. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Sandra Norlin asked for Board approval to accept a proposal from Lohan Anderson for Lobby and Workroom Remodeling that includes Design Development and Construction Documents in an amount not to exceed $51,000.00. Sandra stated that this is a budgeted expense. The timeframe for this project would be 7 – 9 weeks to develop the design and 6 – 8 weeks to complete a bid set.

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by Elaine Tejcek, to approve the proposal from Lohan Anderson for Lobby and Workroom Remodeling that includes Design Development and Construction Documents in an amount not to exceed $51,000.00, which is in the best interest of the Des Plaines Public Library and is a budgeted expense. ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Bahamon, Bogusz, Burk, Grice, Lake, Magerl, Read, Tejcek. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sandra Norlin introduced Heather Imhoff, the new Head of Public Information, to the Board of Trustees.

The Management Committee will meet on February 12, 2008 at 4:00 p.m.

The Planning Committee will meet on February 19, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.

The Art Committee will meet on February 12, 2008 at 5:30 p.m.

Sandra Norlin stated that Eldon Burk has been nominated for Trustee of the Year through the North Suburban Library System. Sandra asked Board members to contact Carol Kidd if they would like to attend the dinner.

Eldon Burk gave an overview of how the old library building at 841 Graceland was prepared for auction through the Sheldon Good Company. Eldon explained that the Library Board followed the lawful procedures for selling the building. The building was ultimately purchased by the City of Des Plaines.

Sandra Norlin reported that the Firestone Company, manufacturer of the roofing materials used on the library roof, will replace the damaged section of the library roof in spring and that Firestone will pay for materials and labor. The interior ceiling repairs will be made after the outside work has been completed. Sandra reported that the atrium sculpture will not have to be removed for the ceiling repair work.

William Grice thanked Alderman Moylan and the City of Des Plaines Public Works Department for the removal of the old signs in the parking garage.

Matthew Bogusz asked Sandra Norlin if the installation of Comcast cable for the library’s Internet service had been completed. Sandra Norlin responded that the cable has been installed and that the Comcast line would triple to quadruple the bandwidth for the public.

Eldon Burk asked Sandra Norlin how the Outsource Solutions Group was doing in providing the library with Information Technology services and Sandra Norlin responded that Outsource Solutions is providing an objective point of view about the status of the library’s computer system in addition to onsite implementation of planned upgrades to our network.

Noreen Lake reported that the library received a generous donation of $1,000.00 from the wife of a former library patron who had passed away.

MOTION by Rhys Read, seconded by Elaine Tejcek, to adjourn the regular meeting. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Meeting adjourned at 4:52 p.m.

Minutes prepared by Carol Kidd

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