Minutes of Meeting on December 17, 2003
Board of Trustees
Lincoln Public Library
Present: Emily Althausen, Chairman, Jack Pugh, Jenifer Burckett-Picker, Marshall Clemens, Al Kraft, Diana Abrashkin, Trustees; Barbara Myles, Library Director; Jennifer Donaldson, Library Staff; Jerry Cirillo, Honored Guest
1. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jenifer noted that the Boston Globe rated the Lincoln Library 18th in quality for towns of 5,000 to 10,000 residents in Massachusetts; Newton was Number 1 overall.
Marshall has finished the fundraising brochure. For 200 copies, black ink costs $58 and colored ink costs $137. We voted to do black ink on gray paper.
2. FINANCIAL
Barbara Myles showed us the very attractive packet of financial materials that was given to the FinComm. We had to show 3 different budget levels: zero growth, zero with books included, and level service. We are trying to get the Town to consider our book budget a necessary Town item.
Al said that in the future he'd like to see comparisons with budgets older than the past year or two, say 1997-98.
Barbara was asked whether the Friends might put their money elsewhere if we got 5% from the Town. [Folks, please check me on this number. 15%?] She said that perhaps they might prefer funding a piece of equipment that year.
The monthly financial report is not ready yet.
We did receive money from the Town's reserve fund for red brass snow rails.
3. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT
Barbara is worried about our Special Programs. Diana asked whether we might charge Magic Garden for the services of Amy, the Children's Librarian who goes there regularly for a 1-hour story time.
The Librarian's Report was extremely complete and well-received.
4. STAFF CONCERNS
Jennifer Donaldson related that she was all by herself on a Friday, and it was very, very busy. With 2 staff members out due to family concerns, she had to sell calendars, etc., as well as her usual duties. Another day 13 bins of books were delivered. Jack said that the zero growth budget will only make this worse, and hopes that we can attract some trained volunteers.
There has been an increase in Inter-Library Loans as well, because now people are requesting books via computer, and there are 40 libraries in the Minuteman network. Miles, the man who delivers these books, says he regularly brings in 9 bins instead of the old 2. He says he has twice the work [Editor: I question his math], now that patrons can request up to 30 books instead of the previous 3.
Jack mentioned that formerly a new book was to remain in the library that purchased it for a certain amount of time. That no longer applies; he asked that a 3-month period be reinstituted. Jennifer D. suggested we put an item in the Lincoln Journal to that effect. (Jack also said that the Darien CT library buys 70 copies of a hot book!)
Barbara said she would bring these problems up with the Minuteman network people.
5. ELECTION OF NEW CHAIRMAN
Emily praised Jack Pugh's work on the Board over the years and Jenifer nominated him for Chairman of the Library Board. Diana seconded the nomination but raised the issue of Jack's absence for at least a month last summer. He was duly elected, after determining to keep in close touch in the future. It was proposed to have a summer Board meeting at his residence in Maine, to help him out.
6. SUBCOMMITTEES
Buildings & Grounds: Marshall Clemens and Al Kraft
Personnel: Jenifer Burckett-Picker and Al Kraft
Collections: Diana Abrashkin
Programs: Diana Abrashkin
Music Collection: Diana Abrashkin
Vault: Jenifer Burckett-Picker & (especially for technology) Marshall Clemens
Capital Planning: Jenifer Burckett-Picker
Friends of the Library: Jack Pugh
Finance: Jack Pugh
Fundraising: Al Kraft
7. PERSONNEL
Barbara has not had her 6-month personnel review yet. Jack said we must vote on whether she should be given a step raise. However, Emily revealed that she had already signed the papers!
8. OTHER BUSINESS
Facilities Review: We agreed on hiring SGH (Simpson, Gumpertz & Hager), which was the lowest bidder. We were concerned that OMR (Office of Michael Rosenfeld) excluded mold from its scope of work. However, Marshall would have preferred that we hire Halstein, a Lincoln resident charging only $115/hr, and questioned whether the thousands we will pay SGH is not excessive for a 1-day walk-through. Diana regretted that no one had contacted the engineer she recommended, who would have been equally competent but with lower overhead than SGH. Jack said that Al Schmertzler of the FinComm should be present when we debrief SGH.
Respectfully submitted,
Diana Abrashkin
Diana Abrashkin AIA
Architectural Design + Consulting
Lincoln, Massachusetts
tel/fax 781 259 0203
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LIBRARIAN’S REPORT
December 17, 2003
TO: Trustees, Lincoln Public Library
FROM: Barbara Myles, Librarian
Front Entrance Safety Projects
The Finance Committee approved the library’s reserve fund transfer request to pay for the installation of snow rails above the entrance and book drop areas. The Historic District Commission gave the library a Certificate of Appropriateness for these snow rails. Other repairs are on hold until after a facility review is performed by an outside organization. Four proposals have been received and the Finance Committee is prepared to approve a reserve fund transfer request on December 18 to pay the company selected by the Library Trustees.
Capital Expenditure Request for FY 05
The library’s capital expenditure request is on hold until the facility review is completed.
Budget Request for FY 05
Jack Pugh and I presented three budgets to the Finance Committee on December 11: a level funded budget, a level funded budget plus extra money for books, and a level service budget. To meet the level funded budget, cuts are needed because staff will be receiving a 3% COLA and building expenses will increase at least as fast as the rate of inflation. Over 70% of the library budget is spent on staff salaries so it is necessary to cut some staff hours to meet the level funded budget.
Al Schmertzler asked the library to present a third budget, level funded plus enough money for the library to meet the 15% state certification requirement.
The level service budget keeps all staff hours, increases the book budget by 10% (to move the library closer to meeting the state certification requirement), and increases the building expenses portion of the budget by a more realistic 5%.
If the town does not vote an override, the library will have to live within the level funded budget. At this point, the Finance Committee has not decided to request a budget override.
Library Lane
Comments about the new diagonal parking on Library Lane are 57% positive and 43% negative. Since mid-November, the comments are 50% positive and 50% negative.
Before the first big snow storm on December 7, when there was not enough parking spaces on Library Lane, cars would park on Bedford Road and Old Lexington Road. At times there were ten cars parked on Bedford Road. After the storm, cars stopped parking on Bedford Road (except for the space by the Donaldson’s house) and used Old Lexington Road for overflow parking. The negative comments are mainly concerned with the need for additional parking at the library. Some patrons suggested parking spaces along Bedford Road and on Trapelo Road. Other patrons suggested that the parking spaces be made narrower to allow more parking on Library Lane. One patron wrote that it was so much nicer to step out of her car onto pavement instead of into a
snow bank.
Both Donaldson families complained about library staff parking on Old Lexington Road because the cars are parked in front of their houses all day long. Not surprisingly, they prefer the view of the field behind the church to cars.
Programs / Customer Service / Budget
The library has a talented staff that develop programs to meet the interests of different groups of people. During the past month the Children’s Department staff gave storytimes for three different age groups (at the library as well as at Magic Garden and LEAP) and prepared seasonal craft projects for children. The Adult Department staff led book discussion groups and helped patrons with special research projects. These programs are part of what differentiates the Lincoln Public Library from other libraries. Patrons may come to our library just because they enjoy Ellen’s book group, for example.
It is important to understand that the staff are best able to develop and present programs to our patrons when the library is at its full staffing level. If the librarians are always covering service desks, it is difficult to create the programs. If there is no staff person to cover the Children’s circulation desk during a children’s program, for example, a sign is put on the desk instructing the patrons to check out their books at the first floor circulation desk. This practice inconveniences patrons.
Now that we have entered the budget season, we need to balance the need to cut costs with the need to deliver quality programs and services.
250th Anniversary Video History Project
Students will begin the video history project next month. Mary Pappas (a Lincoln parent and a teacher) will teach the students iMovie software at the Brooks School computer lab during the class period reserved for electives. She will also run a program through the Recreation Department featuring the iMovie software. Because the class period is only 45 minutes long and the Recreation Department program is two hours long, the videos about Lincoln will be made during the Recreation Department program.
Music Scores Donation
Lisa Aker-Rothenberg and I met with Jim Meaders about the scores that Dr. English plans to donate to the library. We agreed to shelve the scores in the same type of folders that the Concord Free Public Library uses. Now we are deciding whether to use the Dickinson classification system, which is used by several libraries including the Concord Free Public Library, or the Dewey Decimal classification system, which is used by the majority of public libraries in the United States.
Kudos
According to the Lincoln Journal, the snow storm of December 7-8 dropped 24 inches of snow on Lincoln. Kudos go to Bob Bottino and Bob Lager for coming to the library at times when they were not scheduled to work, in order to clear snow from the library’s entrance. Because of their extra efforts, the library opened on time on Sunday afternoon.
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