Library Advisory Board Minutes - 03/26/2002LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES
March 26, 2002
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Dr. James Snowden, Chair
Andrea Williams
Irene Lambert
Dr. James Sernoe
Shirley Harris
Jim Brackett
Gracie Gregg
Patsy Klein
Ruth Jones
EX- OFFICIO MEMBERS PRESENT:
Arthur Bea Williams, Council Liaison
Matthew Benoit, Assistant City Manager
Linda Hughes, Library Administrator
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE
Date
By AL Time 9 ' 15LM
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Shirley Harris
Ms. Andrea Williams called the meeting to order at 4:20 P.M. Ms. Hughes explained that the staff
member slated to appear was unable to attend.
Ms. Williams declared a quorum to be present. The minutes of the February 26, 2002 meeting
were approved as submitted. Ms. Hughes presented the Librarian's Report. The Garland Weeks program
was well attended. There was a great deal of interaction between the sculptor and the audience, and
everyone attending had nothing but compliments for the program Annette Britain, Assistant Administrator
/ Technical Services has been working with the cataloging and processing staff to revamp the workflow
through the department. The new procedures implemented have been very successful and there has been a
very noticeable drop in the backlog of books to be cataloged. The Library has completed data entry on the
new Records Management Inventory templates and submitted the finished records to the City Clerk. The
Library is in the process of adding the Wichita Falls newspapers that have reached public domain status in
regard to copyright to a digitized database of newspapers. When fmished, it will be possible for users to
search for newspaper articles and obituaries from the target years by keyword. Only recently has the
newspaper begun to index issues, the database will fill a very important need for both genealogists and
historians, as well as those who are interested in reading about a particular bit of local history, but don't
know the exact date the article was printed.
There being no New Business, the Board continued its consideration of Library Policies with the
Circulation Policy. Dr. Sernoe gave Ms. Hughes several corrections of typographical errors and
grammatical usage. Ms. Lambert asked what types of organizations checked out materials. Ms. Hughes
replied that several local businesses and organizations had library cards, including BCI, Eastside Boys and
Girls Club, and Child Care, Inc. The card allows them to check out more books for a longer period of time;
however, the materials may not be renewed. The Board unanimously approved the Library Circulation
Policy with minor typographical corrections.
Also under Old Business, Ms. Gregg brought up the increasing difficulty in finding parking at the
Library, especially handicap parking. She has observed many individuals parking on the Library entrance
side of the building and leaving their cars all day while participating in Parks and Recreation activities,
particularly the Senior Zone. Handicapped Library patrons with large loads of books are then forced to
park in remote areas of the lot. Ms. Hughes replied that it is a continuing problem, and she had received
several complaints from Library customers. Ms. Gregg offered to attend the Parks Board meeting with
some of the Friends of the Library and request that some education of Parks users be undertaken to
encourage their use of the parking lot on the Parks side of the building.
Ms. Gregg reported that the Friends Bookstore continued to offer the half -price sale on the first
Saturday of each month. Ms. Gregg said that the Friends maintain a free -book shelf from which customers
who purchase books may select free items. After a certain length of time, Ms. Scott, bookstore coordinator,
clears the shelf and donates the books to the County Jail. This has proved to be a popular outreach service
with inmates.
Since Ms. Hughes will be attending Texas Library Association Conference on the fourth Tuesday
of April, the next meeting of the Library Advisory Board will be April 30, 2002 in the Conference Room at
4:15 PM. The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Hughes, Library Administrator