Board Capsules
January 21, 2003

The regular meeting of the Des Plaines Public Library Board of Trustees was held in the second floor conference room on Tuesday, January 21, 2003. Eldon Burk called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

PRESENTATION - RENEE FINNELL, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY, INTRODUCING THE DES PLAINES RELAY FOR LIFE

Alderman Rosemary Argus introduced Renee Finnell, a representative from the American Cancer Society. Renee Finnell explained that the City of Des Plaines will sponsor Relay for Life on May 16 and May 17 at Maine West High School. The Board is considering entering a team of trustees and staff members.

PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

Wally Meyer, Vice President of the Friends of the Library, reported that the Friends will hold their book sale March 28 - March 30.

CONSENT AGENDA

Noreen Lake asked that C. Approval of Library Expenditures. 1. Warrant Register - December 2, 2002 - $96,341.14 be removed from the Consent Agenda.

Noreen Lake asked Sandra Norlin what was purchased from Three M that was reported on the December 2, 2002 warrant register. Sandra Norlin responded that the Three M invoice for $8,900 was for radio frequency ID patches for the audio book collection. The Three M invoices for $8,803 and $3,415 were for maintenance agreements on Three M equipment owned by the library. Noreen Lake asked Sandra Norlin what was purchased from Ebsco Subscription Services in the amount of $31,808.08 and Sandra Norlin responded that Ebsco Subscription Services manages most of the magazine subscriptions for the library.

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

1. Over the Counter Receipts $ 7,279.22
2. Petty Cash Expenditures $ 27.37
3. Budget Expenditures for December $ 422,428.25
4. Expenditures Year to Date $ 4,365,857.92
5. Revenue for December $ 15,364.64
6. Revenue Year to Date $ 4,558,142.44
MOTION by William Grice, seconded by Susan Burrows, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures authorized by the Library Administrator and Board Representatives for library Warrant Registers as follows:

December 02, 2002 $ 96,341.14
December 16, 2002 $ 54,354.43
Total $ 150,695.57

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

MOTION by William Grice, seconded by Susan Burrows, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures for salaries made by the Library Administrator as follows:

December 11, 2002 $ 90,964.43
December 26, 2002 $ 94,317.18
Total $ 185,281.61

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

ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT

Resignations in December, 2002: Syed Ahmed, Page, Circulation Services; Jennifer Welch, Assistant Clerk, Circulation Services; Patricia Strait, Librarian I (PT), Adult Services.

I have completed my rounds of conversations with the Circulation Services Staff, except for a final meeting with Martha Sloan, Susan Farid, and Barbara Saletnik, which will be held by the end of January. The annual Staff Holiday Party was held on Thursday, December 19 at the library, during the lunch hours.

A staff committee met with the consultant and the lead teacher for the grant to teach all staff some simple, basic phrases in Spanish. The goal of this grant is to make our Spanish speaking patrons feel more welcome and for staff to feel more at ease in using Spanish. The meeting was held January 6.

The Job Reclassification process has begun. The first step is for all employees to complete a questionnaire about his/her position. These questionnaires will be reviewed by supervisors and forwarded to the Job Reclassification Committee. The committee's first meeting is scheduled for February 3.

Library holdings at the end of 2002 are 276,247. We have recently (to be reflected in 2003 statistics) withdrawn all audiocassettes, except books on tape. The circulation of these materials has dropped drastically, and the space is needed for better display of cds, the new, more popular format.

Attendance at the library grew by 18% in 2002 and circulation of materials by 13% during the same period. In December our staff handled nearly 20% more circulating materials than in December of 2001. Please note the 28% increase in Reference assistance and the 52% increase in signups for computers and study rooms.

In December our homepage was accessed 110,789 times and our self-check machines were used for 20% of our circulation.
I chaired the Library Cable Network Executive Committee meeting on December 19 and hosted the SLURP directors meeting on January 10.

On January 10, John Ciborowski joined me at the Des Plaines Rotary Club meeting to accept a check for $10,000 for the Rotary Heritage Reading Room at the library. This is the second payment toward the $30,000 pledge from Rotary.

NEW BUSINESS

MOTION by Committee to authorize Library Administrator, Sandra Norlin, to expend up to $12,000 for the purchase of software for automated sign-up, to choose a vendor who will provide equipment and support to the library, which is in the best interest of the Des Plaines Public Library. ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Brubaker, Burk, Burrows, Grice, Lake, Read, Yearwood. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.
MOTION by Committee to authorize Library Administrator, Sandra Norlin, to purchase 11 Dell Laptop computers at a cost of $15,478.00, which is in the best interest of the Des Plaines Public Library. ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Brubaker, Burk, Burrows, Grice, Lake, Read, Yearwood. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sandra Norlin reported that the Rotary Club of Des Plaines would host a fund-raising event called "Do the Dewey" at the library on April 5, 2003. Sandra reported that the Rotary Club pledged $30,000 to the library for the completion of the Rotary Heritage Room.

Sandra Norlin reported that a new session of Spanish Language Computer Classes are being taught at the library by Hector Marino.

Sandra also reported that the U.S. Census Bureau revised the Census 2000 population for Des Plaines to 56,945.

Veronica Schwartz, Head of Youth Services, received a Community Partnership Award from District 62 for assistance in developing and leading Rebecca Caudill Book Clubs.

A new handicap accessible automatic sliding door will be installed at the west main entrance to the library. The tentative date is February 18, 2003.

OTHER

Inara Brubaker asked if the agenda for the Regular Board meeting could list the location of the Board packet that is available on the fourth floor of the library.

back