Library Advisory Board Minutes - 10/20/2015LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES
October 20, 2015
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Kay Story
Carolyn Watt
James Ball
Kimberley Latham
Ex- Officio Members Present:
Lesley Daly, Library Administrator
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Arthur Bea Williams
Donna Jane McGough
Librarian's report:
We need Board members! Please forward any names of candidates to the City Clerk's office:
Tracy.Norr @wichitafaIlstx.gov --- 761-7409
www.wichitafalistx.gov - - Government tab, then Boards & Commissions
Staff Update:
Danielle Marsh, our Youth Services Librarian recently returned to work following her honeymoon in Greece.
Two staff members will be leaving at the end of the week (October 23) — Natalie Jones has been a page at the library
since 2009 when she came to us through a Texas Workforce program: we hired her as an official city employee in 2011.
Natalie has found a fulltime position in town, and while we will definitely miss her, we are also very happy that she's
moving on!
Graham Tedesco -Blair has been the lead Reference librarian since starting employment in late 2008. He has taken
another position at Newark Public Library, NY to be closer to home and family. Graham has had several letters of
commendation from patrons who have been very impressed with his patience and customer service ethic: he leaves big
shoes to fill.
Rich Maruscsak, our Technical Services Manager has confirmed his retirement as of December 31, 2015. Rich has been
with the library for twenty -five years and has been responsible for maintaining the catalog and updating records so that
staff and patrons alike can easily find the items they're looking for.
In order to assimilate these losses, we're consequently looking at staff re- structuring and re- definition in the very near
future.
Tanya Organ, the library director in Burkburnett, is completing her MLS and is joining us from now until December to
finish her practicum requirements. She has been assisting with Collection Development, and has also been instrumental
in helping out with various youth activities.
October
We have enjoyed a smooth transition to the new fiscal year and have begun ordering materials again in earnest.
Fold3 is a new genealogy database that we have added to our collection: it is a premier collection of online historical
military records, as well as other interesting historical tidbits such as FBI files that have now been de- classified.
On October 8 we held a 'Barbara Scales Appreciation Day'. Ms. Scales was the patron who donated the 'Pay it Forward'
money to the library: we thought it would be nice to invite her back to see all the titles we purchased with that money
(33 in all) and to celebrate with a card and cake.
In the afternoon of October 8, we also celebrated R.L. Stine's birthday by screening a couple of Goosebumps television
programs - - - and had more cake on offer.
We have had a pre - Halloween activity for the first three weeks of the month: over 290 entrants have tried to
guesstimate the number of pieces of candy in a couple of plastic pumpkins at the Circulation Desk -- our two winners
have been notified, and, given the popularity of the event, we will most likely have something similar for the Christmas
season.
We're seeing more participation in our static /passive programs that we set up on a monthly basis --
The craft table in youth area has proven particularly popular — with adults as well as children
In April we featured a do- it- yourself Shakespearian insult generator, plus a cake to celebrate the bard's birthday
In July we had the interactive Harry Potter Quidditch Cup bracket, plus a cake fort K Rowling's birthday
In September we ran a 'Guess who tweeted' competition with imaginary tweets from well -known Young Adult literary
characters
In October we'll be inviting people to invent their own Greek words, which is a nod to Rick Riordan and his new
upcoming Magnus Chase series that will explore Norse mythology (the author of the very popular Percy Jackson novels
that helped introduce readers to Greek mythology)
Upcoming events include:
Batman Day (Sep 26) with giveaways to first 50 tweens /teens
Banned Books week runs Sept 27 -Oct 3 and we'll feature another contest inviting patrons to guess the titles of banned
books based on the reasons given for them being challenged
October 8 will feature an R L Stine birthday celebration (+ cake) — this is the author best known for Goosebumps and
Fear Street — we'll be showing an older episode of the Goosebumps television series ahead of the general movie release
featuring Jack Black
Halloween activities will include our annual Storytime parade October 27 & 28, as well as another Comic Book Giveaway
on October 31
Grant News:
We are still working with the Amo Leer Program and will be hosting a site visit by the Priddy Foundation in October in
the hopes of procuring another grant to keep the popular Family Literacy events going at the library.
We have also had success in procuring a Family Place Library grant through the State Library, which will see our Youth
Services team of Kathy Vossler and Danielle Marsh attend training in New York at the beginning of December, and which
will provide funding towards the development of a 'family place' right here in the library.
We have also applied for a Curiosity Creates grant that has its roots in the Disney Foundation: our hope is to receive
funding to establish painting and yoga classes for children in the new year.
Fisral Year-
This is actually a very busy time of year for staff behind the scenes as we get ready to wrap up another fiscal year on
September 30. We are facing a materials budget cut for the upcoming year, so we are evaluating our collection and
looking at ways to maximize our purchasing power as best we can.
Old Business:
Cllr. Quintero has asked to have some of the annual parades re- routed to include Indiana to increase public awareness
of the library's location — even if the facility is not open to the public during event hours, it may well introduce people to
us — and our parking availability!
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:55 pm
Next meeting is October 20, 2015 at 5:00 pm
Donna Jane McGough, Ch it