Library Advisory Board Minutes - 10/27/2009f
LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES
October 27, 2009
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Cari Beesinger -Guidry
Jennifer Andrews
Amy Bobrowitz
Jean Hall
Carrie Ann Taylor
EX- OFFICIO MEMBERS PRESENT:
Jack Murphy, Director of Parks & Recreation
Lesley Daly, Library Administrator
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Teresa Wilcox
Jeff Tillman
Steven Young
Stephen Dodge
A quorum was present and the meeting was called to order at 4:15 pm.
Librarian's report:
Staff update -�
One of the two employees targeted for lay -off has already transferred over to the Police Department effective O tjbpr
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17, 2009. This was the library assistant, who is now working as a records clerk, and who is receiving the same Qf -) M
pay and performing the same kind of clerical duties as was expected of him at the library. The librarian who wiUJ2L laid,,.____,
off as of November 30, 2009 has not as yet been quite as fortunate: he has applied for a couple of city openings and
other library jobs across Texas but has yet to hear back from anyone.
In- house, Kathy Vossler is going to be moving from the Reference Desk to take charge of the Youth Department, with a
focus on teen services and programs.
The new operating hours that come into effect Saturday, November 28, 2009 will be more widely publicized within the
next couple of weeks: the library will be posting notice on the website, displaying signs in and around the building,
handing out bookmarks etc. The City's Public Information office will be handling press releases.
The library will be closed in observance of Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26, and Friday, November 27.
Saturday, November 28 will mark the start of new hours from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm — Mondays, Tuesdays and
Wednesdays will remain unchanged (9:00 am until 8:00 pm), and on Thursdays and Fridays, hours will be from
9:00 am until 5:00 pm.
Statistics are holding steady with circulation transaction numbers and door count numbers still up over previous years,
and still following the same `peaks and valleys' patterns. Looking back at the last fiscal year (Sep 08 -Oct 09), the
library added 11923 items to the collection, and `lost' 10082 items. `Lost' includes weeded items, items lost by patrons
and items paid for by patrons.
Weeding is not usually a popular task for libraries — but collections need to be consistently monitored for timeliness,
appearance, popularity etc. A lot of the libraries discarded items do find their way to the Friends' Bookstore — however,
in the cases of dated nonfiction, surreptitious trips to the dumpster are made.
New equipment is about to be introduced to the library: a new microfilm reader /printer has been delivered, and the staff
will be receiving training on the machine next week. The new machine will be connected to a computer, meaning that
microfilm can be enhanced considerably more effectively and any image selected can be delivered either by printing or
via e-mail.
New web - publishing software is also on its way — thanks again to the generosity of the Friends of the Library, the
library has ordered a product from the Cherry Hill company that should make website design more accessible to more
staff. (The current product in use, FrontPage, is no longer sold or supported by the manufacturer.) This may well lead
to a change in the current design of the library site — the staff is anxious to start flexing some creative muscle!
New Business:
Held on the Homefront is a traveling exhibit that will be at the library on Friday and Saturday, November 6 & 7. The
exhibit documents the stories of German prisoners of war held in US camps in the Midwest during World War II and is
displayed in a retro -fitted school bus. TRACES is the non - profit educational organization that has put this exhibit
together, and the library has been able to take advantage of this look back at history thanks to a grant from the Texas
Humanities Council and the generosity of the Friends of the Wichita Falls Public Library.
The 3rd annual Hope for the Holidays event will be held upstairs in Room 205 of the library on Thursday, December 3.
This is sponsored by the Homeless Coalition group and is usually a very well- attended day of activities and giveaways.
The library has been notified that this year's annual Loan Star Award money from the Texas State Library will be in
excess of $20,000. A Plan of Action has been submitted to the State Library and, once approved, Ms. Daly will be
going before the City Council to outline how this money will be spent. This non - competitive grant allows the library to
continue the annual Summer Reading Programs offered for all ages, and will also help supplement collection
development money that was cut from the city budget. Specifically, the library plans to expand the collection of
Playaway titles to include Young Adult and Adult collections, and also to purchase flash drives for re -sale to patrons
needing to save documents that they've created on the library's public computers.
Friends of the Library:
As has been referenced, the Friends have been extremely generous in recent months: the Bookstore is enjoying a very
healthy, steady rate of trade! That said, the Friends are always looking for new (donated) additions to their stock!
The annual Friends appreciation dinner is being held this year on Thursday, November 19 at Luby's cafeteria:
volunteers will enjoy a free meal and get the opportunity to put faces to familiar names.
Next meeting:
With the fourth Tuesday of the month falling during Thanksgiving week in November and Christmas week in
December, the Board agreed to combine the November and December meetings and have the next meeting on Tuesday,
December 8 at 4:15 pm in the Library Conference Room.
ere being no further it4for on, the meeting adjourned at 5:05 pm.
Amy B br witz,