Board Minutes

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes of the Regular Meeting
February 21, 2006

The regular meeting of the Des Plaines Public Library Board of Trustees was held in the second floor conference room on Tuesday, February 21, 2006. President Noreen Lake called the meeting to order at 7:00PM.

ROLL CALL.

Roll call indicated the following board members were present: Eldon Burk, Susan Burrows, Mary Ellicson, William Grice, Jerry Mahony, Noreen Lake, Rhys Read, Elaine Tejcek, Susan Weinberg.

Also Present: Sandra Norlin, Martha Sloan, Leslie Steiner, Carol Kidd, Kathy Kyrouac, Elizabeth Wozniczka, Sue D’Hondt.

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.

NEW YOUTH SERVICES WEB PAGES - Kathy Kyrouac and Liz Wozniczka.

Leslie Steiner, Head of Public Information Services, stated that the Youth Services website has been redesigned and introduced Kathy Kyrouac, Webmaster, and Elizabeth Wozniczka, Youth Services Assistant, who demonstrated how to navigate the new website and answered questions from Sandra Norlin and the Board.

PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS.

None.

CITY COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE – Alderman Carla Brookman

Alderman Brookman was in attendance at the City Council meeting.

CONSENT AGENDA

MOTION by Susan Weinberg, seconded by Susan Burrows, to accept the Consent Agenda, as written. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

MOTION by Susan Weinberg, seconded by Susan Burrows, to approve the Financial Reports for January 2006, as presented. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

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

1. Over the Counter Receipts $ 13,517.81
2. Petty Cash Expenditures $ 14.00
3. Budget Expenditures for January $ 457,513.15
4. Expenditures Year to Date $ 457,513.15
5. Revenue for January $ 15,296.05
6. Revenue Year to Date $ 15,296.05

MOTION by Susan Weinberg, seconded by Susan Burrows, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures authorized by the Library Director and Board Representatives for library Warrant Registers as follows:

January 03, 2006 $ 33,108.96
January 17, 2006 $ 34,533.23
Total $ 67,642.19

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Burk, Burrows, Ellicson, Grice, Lake, Mahony, Read, Tejcek, Weinberg. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

MOTION by Susan Weinberg, seconded by Susan Burrows, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures for salaries made by the Library Director as follows:

January 05, 2006 $ 113,836.62
January 19, 2006 $ 113,423.49
Total $ 227,260.11

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Burk, Burrows, Ellicson, Grice, Lake, Mahony, Read, Tejcek, Weinberg. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT

I have received no official requests for confidential information since my last report.

PERSONNEL

New employee for January/February 2006 is Nancy Mazzie, Part time Reference Assistant, Adult Services. Resignations/Separations: Suranjana Bhowmick, Part-time Page, Circulation Services and Michael Chiovari, IT Assistant, Computer Services.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Our next quarterly All-Staff meeting will be held on March 8. The topic is Health Information and Healthy Work and Life Habits. In addition to information on personal health, we will hold a demonstration on how to align our task chairs properly, followed by alignment of keyboards and monitors. The ergonomic instructions are the result of a screening completed by a representative of the City’s (and Library’s) Workers Compensation insurance carrier, Gallagher Bassett, and the report she submitted outlining corrective actions for the library to take.

The Library staff will participate in the Relay for Life activities during the weekend of June 17-18. Library Trustees are invited to join us in our efforts, through walking, sponsoring, and donating. This is the fourth year we have participated.

PATRON SERVICES

We have begun the year busier in nearly all departments than we were one year ago. Circulation of materials has increased by 5.2%, with circulation of print items accounting for 52% of the total items checked out. Patrons used the self-check equipment to check out 20% of the items from the main library. In–person assistance from staff increased in all areas of the library, although Readers’ Services use was down in Adult Services. Computer use was up in all areas, including staff assistance. There was a dramatic increase in use of the library’s electronic databases (71%). Checkouts from the Mobile Library decreased by 25%, due, no doubt, to the fact that the vehicle was out of service from January 3 through the 7th.

Attendance at the library was up by nearly 12% and program and meeting room use increased by 14%. We continue to increase the number of card holders as well. This January we have 502 more cardholders than in January 2005.

Please note the graphs that show circulation and attendance at the library from 2001 through 2005. You will see that our growth in use was steady through 2003, when the use began to taper off or hold. During this same time the use of our computers and the computer services has increased dramatically.

We have included charts on the use of materials in languages other than English for your information. These charts show that, although second in population in Des Plaines, readers who speak and read Polish as their first language check out over twice as many books as residents who speak and read Spanish, Gujarati, and Russian. It is interesting to note that readers of Spanish have increased significantly their use of non-fiction materials.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Since my last report I have attended the Chamber of Commerce Orientation meeting (1/18), the Library Cable Network (LCN) Executive Committee meeting (1/18), the Mayor’s Address to Business breakfast program (1/19), the Taste of Des Plaines organizing meeting (1/19), chaired the Do the Dewey 2006 committee meeting (1/24), the Friends of the Library Roundtable meeting (1/24), chaired the CCS Governing Board’s Annual Meeting, at which I gave the “State of the Intergovernmental Instrumentality Address” (1/25), chaired the CCS Database Management Task Force, gave a brief presentation at the Hispanic Advisory Council’s Leadership Development Meeting (2/1), attended the Chamber of Commerce Dinner Dance, at which I was introduced as a new member of the Board of Directors (2/3), chaired the CCS Executive Committee (2/8), attended the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meeting (2/9). On 2/15 I am scheduled to attend a breakfast meeting with Sarah Long and the LCN Executive Committee and the Public Library Administrators Forum at NSLS (2/15). I am also scheduled to attend the LCN Executive Committee meeting (2/16) and the NSLS Legislative Breakfast (2/20).

NEW BUSINESS

MOTION by Rhys Read, seconded by Jerry Mahony, to approve payment to Three M for Service Agreements on library equipment in an amount not to exceed $18,232.00, which is in the best interest of the Des Plaines Public Library. VOTE: AYES: Burk, Burrows, Ellicson, Grice, Lake, Mahony, Read, Tejcek, Weinberg. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Sandra Norlin asked for Board approval to declare the following list of equipment surplus property. Rhys Read asked what would be done with the printers and monitors and Sandra Norlin responded that the computers would be given to Computers for Schools. Eldon Burk asked if Computers for Schools is a non profit organization and Sandra Norlin responded that she would find out and report back to the Board at their March meeting.

MOTION by Susan Burrows, seconded by Susan Weinberg, to declare the following equipment surplus and obsolete property and to dispose of the equipment according to library policy. VOTE: AYES: None. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Printers
Make/Model Serial Number Status
HP 5P LaserJet USHB087422 Working
HP 6P LaserJet USBC040108 Working
HP III LaserJet 3104JD7667 Working
HP 4+ LaserJet JPGJ030799 Working
HP 4+ LaserJet USFB017396 Working
HP 2100TN USGR065012 Working
Okidata Microline 320
Dot-Matrix 005C0344966 Working
Okidata Microline 320 810A0066615 Not Working
NEC B1GN600512J Not Working
NEC B1GN600306X Not Working
NEC B1GN600297Y Not Working
NEC B1GN600573W Not Working
NEC B1GN600574W Not Working
NEC B1GN600510R Not Working

Monitors
Make-Model Serial Number Status
Dell CRT 17 inches 22794E173598 Working
NEC CRT 0532448YA Working
NEC CRT 0531887YA Working
NEC CRT 0531878YA Working
ADI CRT 80201FR30101493 A Working

Sandra Norlin asked for Board approval to authorize President Lake and Finance Chair Read to sign a letter to US Bank requesting that the Board of Directors Special Trust Account be closed. Sandra explained that this account served as the checking account for disbursement of accrued interest of the Kenneth W. Downing Charitable Trust Fund. Sandra also explained that the funds from the account will be deposited in the Des Plaines Public Library Donation Account at First Midwest Bank in Des Plaines.

MOTION by Susan Burrows, seconded by Rhys Read, to close the checking account at US Bank and transfer the remaining balance to First Midwest Bank with the check made payable to the Des Plaines Public Library Donation Account. VOTE: AYES: Burk, Burrows, Ellicson, Grice, Lake, Mahony, Read, Tejcek, Weinberg. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

William Grice reported that a checking account was opened at First Midwest Bank for donations made to the library. The authorized signatories on the account are President, Vice President and Finance Chair of the Library Board of Trustees. Checks for deposit will be made payable to the Des Plaines Public Library Donation Account and two signatures will be required for checks written on the account.

Susan Burrows asked that the library policy establish parameters for opening financial accounts for the library, such as who is authorized to open the account, limits on the amount that a check can be written for and how many signatures are required to write a check. The Board directed the Management Committee to review these issues.

MOTION by Jerry Mahony, seconded by William Grice, to approve the purchase of Symantec AntiVirus Enterprise 10.0 from Dell in an amount not to exceed $6,425.00, which is in the best interest of the Des Plaines Public Library. VOTE: AYES: Burk, Burrows, Ellicson, Grice, Lake, Mahony, Read, Tejcek, Weinberg. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

The Board discussed topics for their column in the library’s newsletter Foreword and decided to postpone this decision until the March meeting. The Board will make a decision at their March meeting whether to continue to write a column for the library’s newsletter.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sandra Norlin reported that plans for the fourth annual Do the Dewey fundraiser are underway. Donation request letters have been sent out and invitations will be mailed the week of March 10, 2006. Leslie Steiner reported that the next newsletter will include an invitation to Do the Dewey as well as a reply card.

Sandra Norlin reported that art work purchased from Joe Walters for the second floor administration area will be completed and installed in late March 2006.

Sandra Norlin also reported that 44 historic bricks have been sold since December 1, 2006.

Sandra Norlin received a complaint from a patron regarding the lack of a rating on a DVD that the patron borrowed from the library. Sandra explained that she and staff reviewed the decision procedures for the purchase of the DVD and she then wrote to the patron stating her decision about retaining the item in the library’s adult collection.

Mary Ellicson left the meeting at 8:08 PM.

William Grice asked if purchasing unrated DVDs was in the best interest of the public and the library and asked for signage prominently displayed explaining the rating systems. Sandra Norlin will research the circumstances under which DVDs do not receive ratings and report to the board.

President Lake reported that the Friends of the Library will hold their spring booksale the weekend of March 24, 2006.

OTHER

President Lake reminded the Board that there are scholarships available for trustees to attend National Library Legislative Day which is being held in Washington DC on May 1 and 2, 2006.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

MOTION by Jerry Mahony, seconded by Rhys Read, to enter into an Executive Session at 8:30PM to discuss Probable or Imminent Litigation and Compensation, Discipline or Performance of a Specific Employee. Vote: Ayes: All. Nays: None. MOTION CARRIED.

The regular session reconvened at 8:47PM and was called to order by President Noreen Lake.

EXECUTIVE SESSION ACTION

Motion by William Grice, seconded by Jerry Mahony, to affirm the decision agreed to during Executive Session pertaining to Compensation, Discipline or Performance of a Specific Employee and to approve the memorandum between Library Director Sandra Norlin and the Des Plaines Public Library Board of Trustees as discussed in Executive Session and to authorize President Lake to sign the agreement. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

MOTION by Susan Weinberg, seconded by William Grice, to adjourn the regular meeting. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM.

Minutes prepared by Carol Kidd.

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