Board Capsules
October 15, 2002

The regular meeting of the Des Plaines Public Library Board of Trustees was held in the second floor conference room on Tuesday, October 15, 2002. President John Ciborowski called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM.

STAFF PRESENTATION - Amber Creger and Sara McLaughlin.

Sara McLaughlin and Amber Creger reported on the success of the FY2002 LSTA Project Next Generation Grant program. Sara and Amber explained how the grant funds were used to provide middle school students, who had limited access to technology, the opportunity to use technology to build Web sites, open email accounts and to use grant funded software.

MOTION by John Burke, seconded by Eldon Burk, to approve the Financial Reports for September 2002. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

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

1. Over the Counter Receipts $ 7,336.69
2. Petty Cash Expenditures $ 36.56
3. Budget Expenditures for September $ 338,073.89
4. Expenditures Year to Date $ 3,155,304.75
5. Revenue for September $ 7,389.05
6. Revenue Year to Date $ 2,489,786.99

MOTION by John Burke, seconded by Eldon Burk, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures authorized by the Library Administrator and Board Representatives for library Warrant Registers as follows:

September 03, 2002 $ 43,918.26
September 16, 2002 $ 56,888.47
Total $ 100,806.73

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Burk, Burke, Burrows, Ciborowski, Grice, Lake, Read, Yearwood. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

MOTION by John Burke, seconded by Eldon Burk, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures for salaries made by the Library Administrator as follows:

September 05, 2002 $ 90,026.91
September 19, 2002 $ 89,956.52
Total $ 179,983.43

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Burk, Burke, Burrows, Ciborowski, Grice, Lake, Read, Yearwood. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT

New employees for September/October 2002: Christina Stecher and Courtnay Simeone, Assistant Clerk, Part-time, Circulation; Esmeralda Calderon, Umaporn Eamboriboon, Matthew Cooper, Vanessa Nelson, Linda Woytych, Ana Patino, and Erika Aller, Page, Part-time, Circulation.

Resignations/Separations: Kara Giles, Librarian, Part-Time, Adult Services; Christina Stecher, Assistant Clerk, Part-Time, Circulation; Plamena Petrova, Mary Ellen Rieck, Kaushal Rawal, David Stone, and Kevin Neumann, Page, Part-Time, Circulation.

Eight staff attended the Annual Conference of the Illinois Library Association at Navy Pier, Chicago, September 25-27. Hector Marino gave a presentation, Barbara Saletnik and Margie Borris gave Poster Sessions, and Veronica Schwartz gave a Table Talk. Martha Sloan attended a workshop sponsored by the Public Library Association on the new PLA planning process, Planning for Results, presented by the author of the handbook, Sandra Nelson. Carol Kidd attended a one-day seminar on communication skills. I attended ILA as well as the annual Pegasus Conference on Systems Management in San Diego, CA.

By every measurement of activity, library use has increased over use a year ago. Registration is up to 71% of the population; circulation is up by 11%; attendance is up 21%; staff assistance to patrons has increased in all departments; the use of self-check represented 22% of the circulation from the main library; and the intrepid Youth Services staff has handed out train sets for Thomas the Tank Engine nearly 9,000 times since January 1. Our collection is growing at a healthy pace, with books totaling 236,520 and the total collection at 276,635.

In addition to regular monthly and weekly meetings, I enjoyed two exceptionally good conferences. The ILA Conference in Chicago offered many opportunities to be inspired (Sarah Long's Keynote Address about the future of libraries and librarians and author Sara Paretsky's luncheon address about the dangers to freedom of expression from the loss of small and family-owned presses to a few large conglomerate, international publishing houses and the incursion on privacy through the USAPATRIOT Act); informed (technology trends, forgotten books from the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, Spanish language programming for children, and the planning process); and refreshed by many opportunities to network with colleagues.

The Pegasus Conference, "Leading in a Complex World: Systems Thinking in Action," was a full three-day conference that lived up to its promises of refreshing my understanding of the Learning Organization principles, deepening my understanding of Systems Thinking, learning new skills that support the learning organization principles, and reaching a deeper understanding of leadership. The opening plenary session was a combination of a dramatic portrayal of the Ernest Shackelton adventure and a "café table" conversation for over 700 participants. This was an international conference, with attendees from several foreign countries, including Singapore, Egypt, Germany, Iceland, Sweden, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia. The sessions were physically designed to facilitate guided conversations, which is the technique highly recommended for understanding and communicating complicated issues and perplexing problems. We all participated in preparing and presenting ideas for a new system of education that prepares all children to be thoughtful contributors to the new, fast-paced, global environment. Illinois was well-represented by The Breakthrough Group, which presented the Shackelton drama and Stephanie Pace Marshall, founder and President of the Illinois Math and Science Academy, who spoke on "Generative Learning: Transforming Our Schools to Transform the World." Peter Senge, the author of The Fifth Discipline; Joseph Jaworski, the author of Synchronicity; Otto Scharmer; and Adam Kahane led the final session. We really did spend three days talking about transforming the world through deliberative conversation and leadership.

NEW BUSINESS

MOTION by Committee to approve revisions to Section B - Material Selection Policy, General Statement (B-1); and to approve, as written, Gifts and Endowments (B-3), Donor Form (B-3A) and Section D - Personnel Policy, Guidelines for Tuition Reimbursement (D-8, G.); and to review Section B - Material Selection Policy, Material Selection Principles (B-2) at the November 19, 2002 Board of Trustees meeting. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

President Ciborowski read a Resolution of Appreciation for the Friends of the Library and presented the resolution to Friends of the Library Vice President Wally Meyer.

MOTION by Susan Burrows, seconded by William Grice, to accept the resolution for the Friends of the Library. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Proposed dates for videotaping the Board of Trustees Meetings were presented to the Board for their approval.

MOTION by William Grice, seconded by Susan Burrows, to continue televising the Library Board of Trustees meetings for 2003 (January 21, 2003, April 15, 2003, July 15, 2003 and October 21, 2003) and to refer future discussion of videotaping Board meetings to the Management Committee. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Susan Burrows reported that at the Joint Finance and Management Committee meeting the request for mobile library service to Rosemont was tabled indefinitely until a written request is received from Rosemont outlining their plans for this service.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

President Ciborowski stated that Marie and Ed Comiskey named the Des Plaines Public Library to receive 20% of their charitable remainder trust.

Sandra Norlin reported that three grant applications were submitted to the Illinois State Library.

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by William Grice, to enter into an Executive Session at 7:47PM to discuss Purchase or Lease of Real Property. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

The regular session reconvened at 8:35PM and was called to order by President Ciborowski.

MOTION by William Grice, seconded by Ellen Yearwood, to authorize President Ciborowski to follow through on the items discussed in Executive Session. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by Ellen Yearwood, to adjourn the regular meeting. Vote: Ayes: All. Nays: None. MOTION CARRIED.

The meeting adjourned at 8:36PM.

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