Lincoln Public Library Trustees’ Meeting
7:30 pm. October 21, 2003
Present: Emily Althausen, Diana Abrashkin, Jack Pugh, Jenifer Burckett-Picker, Marshall Clemens, trustees; Barbara Myles, Library Director; Jeanne Bracken, library staff.
Minutes: The minutes of the September 22 and September 30 meetings were approved.
Announcements:
Emily thanked Jeanne for writing the article published in The Lincoln Journal about the Patriot Act.
Jenifer announced that the library might be able to tap into the $5,000 grant for conservation and recreation by purchasing books about conservation.
Emily reminded us that there is a fund raising seminar in Westford on Saturday, November 15.
Finances:
Figures generated by Kathy Rushby for September and October were distributed. The Town’s monthly reports were not yet available. Emily and Barbara explained that expenses are about what should be expected at this time in the town’s fiscal year.
Jenifer announced that she will attend The Capital Planning Committee meetings on November 5, 12, and 19.
Emily announced that the library received $15,843 in gifts between January 2001 and September 2003 that were not gifts for either the vault or the clock.
Approved: $150 to reprint the gift solicitation brochure. Marshall will review its exact form.
Librarian’s Report:
Barbara’s written report is attached. It includes a summary of the patrons’ comments on Library Lane parking.
Lights for Library Lane have been ordered and should be here by December 1.
She and Gert McDermott, the First Parish Administrator, are sharing calendars to anticipate parking conflicts between the library and the church.
The issue of when strict No Parking will be enforced was discussed.
Staff Concerns:
There is concern for where the staff should park.
They are looking forward to the installation of the snow fences and the terrace repair.
They seek clarification on compensatory time for working on holidays. (A schedule for library closing on holidays was voted during the November, 2002 trustee meeting.) This issue will be reviewed during the coming November meeting.
Repairs:
Voted: to request a Reserve Fund transfer of $11,500 to include
$4,380 to pay Kiely’s Custom Landscaping to repair the front terrace.
$3,690 to pay Knollmeyer to install a pipe rail snow guard on the roof over the front entrance and book drop and $3400 to repair the mortar and to install a cap on its chimney.
Agreed: To postpone these projects until warmer weather if cold will interfere with the quality of the work.
Announced: Barbara is seeking an estimate to change the outside lights to a separate circuit.
Additional Announcements:
The Friends’ book sale received a book by Lindberg worth $750.
The vault received a letter written by Abraham Lincoln.
Melinda Webster-Loof, Al, and Emily met with Barbara to discuss her job performance as required by her contract.
Jim Meadors has agreed to review and help reorganize, if necessary for public use, Albert England's music collection.
Respectively submitted
Jack Pugh
* * *
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT
October 21, 2003
TO: Trustees, Lincoln Public Library
FROM: Barbara Myles, Librarian
Front Entrance Safety Projects
There are three safety problems at the front entrance: (1) the blue stone terrace is uneven and is a tripping hazard, (2) snow cascades off of the roof above the entrance and book drop right above where our patrons enter the building, and (3) the Gund chimney is leaking and creosote (a substance that can cause neurological disturbances) is oozing through the walls into the Children's Room.
Several contractors have given the library price quotes for making the repairs. The total cost for making the repairs range from $11,340 to $22,850. On October 14, Al Schmertzler, the library's liaison to the Finance Committee, suggested that we identify contractors who can repair the terrace this fall and request a reserve fund transfer to pay for the work.
Library Lane
On October 7 the Historic District Commission voted to approve the lights selected for Library Lane. (Emily Althausen showed us the specifications for these lights at our September 30 Trustees' meeting.) The HDC gave the library a Certificate of Appropriateness for the installation of five pole lighting fixtures on the west side of Library Lane. These lights will be installed before the winter.
Comments about the new diagonal parking on Library Lane are either very positive or extremely negative. In general, positive comments are made by patrons who are able to find parking places and negative comments are made by patrons who cannot find parking places on Library Lane. Some patrons have also made negative comments citing specific problems such as: the angle of the parking spaces is wrong, cars parking in no parking areas, people parking on Library Lane who are not going to the library, parking on Bedford Road is dangerous, backing out of the spaces on Library Lane is dangerous, people should not use Library Lane as a cut through from Bedford Road to Trapelo Road, and the waste of scarce funds spent on Library Lane. From September 24 through October
15, 74 patrons have written comments in the Library Lane comment book; 38 are positive and 36 are negative. We have already received a request to disseminate the comments.
When Library Lane had parallel parking on both sides of the street, staff had documented times when 32 cars were parked on the lane. Now, with the diagonal parking arrangement, only 22 cars can park on the lane. Parking capacity on Library Lane is reached much more frequently now than with the old parallel parking arrangement. After parking capacity is reached, people park their cars on Bedford Road and Old Lexington Road. Staff have documented up to 11 cars parked on Bedford Road and up to 10 cars parked on Old Lexington Road. A future plan, already proposed by the Campus Committee's Design Team, is to make cutouts on Bedford Road for four cars. If this plan is approved, parking capacity on Bedford Road will be reduced by over 60% and our patrons will need to seek out
new places to park their cars. We have already received comments from some patrons stating that when they cannot find parking places on Library Lane, they give up and either go home or go to another town's library. This is bad news for the library.
Staff Concerns
The staff is sensitive to the parking problem on Library Lane and we discussed this at our last staff meeting. I suggested that staff think of our patrons' library "experience" beginning with their attempt to find a parking space. Especially on days when we are having programs, staff should consider parking on Bedford Road or Old Lexington Road. Many of the staff are regularly parking at alternative locations.
Library users continue competing with others who park on Library Lane but do not use the library. I think we should try to identify some of the other reasons why people park on Library Lane and see if alternate parking can be found for those people. We have noticed, for example, that people take bicycles out of their cars and go for bike rides.
Adult Services
Ellen Sisco kicked off another year of her book discussion group. I saw some of the group members arrive and they greeted each other as though they were having a reunion, not a book discussion group meeting! At the end of the meeting, I also saw how invigorated the group members were as they returned their books and checked out the next book in the discussion group series. This is a very enthusiastic group and Ellen deserves the credit for the success of this book discussion group.
Reference Services
Jeanne Bracken was very busy in September answering reference questions. Many of the questions were related to Lincoln's history and Jeanne believes that this surge in local history interest is related to the town's upcoming 250th anniversary. Jeanne hosted Minuteman's Local History Task Force meeting, attended Minuteman's Reference Committee meeting, and attended a Vault Committee meeting. While Jeanne was out on vacation in September, I covered the reference desk more hours than usual and saw how disappointed people became when they did not see Jeanne at the reference desk. One exclaimed, "You're not Jeanne!" and decided she would rather wait until Jeanne got back from vacation than ask me her question.
Children's Services
Jane Flanders, Amy Gavalis, Dana Weigent and Stacy Howard decorated the Children's Room and prepared for fall programs and story hours. Their first program is on October 22 at 3 PM and is called "Not Too Scary Stories." They plan carefully for their programs. For example, they are planning to have special activities and dress up in costumes on Halloween but they do not want to be too scary for the younger children.
Vault Projects
Two vault projects are in the planning stages for Lincoln's 250th anniversary. One is an oral history project and the other is a web project. For the oral history project, we plan to have ten students interview ten Lincoln residents who are approximately 80 years old and grew up in Lincoln or who settled in Lincoln in the 1950s when Lincoln became more suburbanized. For the web project we will create a local history web page each month on a wide range of topics. Both of these departments involve all of the professional staff and our consulting archivist, Bill Carroll. We also plan to have a teacher from the school help us identify interested students and plan the project.
Kudos
Kudos to Fuimei Huang and Peg Marsh, who are in the Council on Aging's tax work off program. Fuimei is entering data into an obituary database and Peg is repairing audio visual materials. They are both enthusiastic about working at the library and are doing great work. We enjoy having them with us and are grateful for their contributions to the library.
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