Lincoln Library Trustees Meeting
February 24, 2004
Present: Jenifer Burckett-Picker, Marshall Clemens, Jack Pugh, Diana Abrashkin, Al Kraft, trustees; Barbara Myles,Library Director; Kathie Brobeck, staff; Al Schmertzler, Fincom liason.
Barbara is concerned that she is not qualified to direct complicated and expensive repair projects.
Moved: The building sub-committee will meet and come up with a plan to handle construction and repair decisions, and which repairs will require competitive bids.
We would like Peter Sugar to join the building sub-committee.
Reviewed and accepted minutes of 1/27/04 and 2/12/04 and accepted as amended.
Announcements:
Kudos for Barbara Myles who led the recent book discussion, this from a book discussion member.
There will be a breakfast on March 5th regarding legislation; Marshall and Jack will attend. Al Kraft will try to attend the Trustees symposium on March 20th.
Fundraising presentation and discussion with Danny Watt from the Carey Library in Lexington. He is the development director for the Library. He helped the Library to raise 4.2 million dollars toward their goal of 15 million dollars for the renovation of the Lexington Library. 22% of the households in Lexington contributed. They utilized direct mail, telephone and direct solicitations. The presentation was very interesting and provided food for thought for our fundraising endeavors.
Financial report:
Funds have been transferred for the Gund chimney repair. No hazardous condition exists according to Mr.Washak our HVAC consultant. The fire department has placed carbon monoxide detectors and alarms, with no apparent problems detected.
There was a review of projected expenditures relating to repairs for the Library.
Library Lane lighting discussion. The fixture that has been installed is not the one that was ordered. The board moved to return all the “black” fixtures to be replaced by a fixture the Library Trustees had previously approved in the correct color and height.
Barbara will try to get a copy of the order that went to the factory by speaking with Chris Coleman.
Staff concerns:
When is the lighting coming, and will it have house side shields? The staff is quite anxious to have the lighting project finished.
Other business:
Presentations for town meeting.
There is a budget meeting on March 5th at 8:00PM in the Donaldson room. There will be moderators meeting on March 24th at 7:30PM in the Donaldson room.
Attendance by Trustees of the Library at the Lincoln Library Trustees meetings is taken seriously and no stated policy about attendance is needed at this point.
Marshall will write the article about the Library for the Lincoln Review.
Codman Community Farms would like to hold their silent auction in the Library this year on May 1st. There was a discussion about security and wear and tear of our facility, but it was decided to allow the use as long as the number of people is limited.
Respectfully submitted,
Al Kraft
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LIBRARIAN’S REPORT
February 24, 2004
TO: Trustees, Lincoln Public Library
FROM: Barbara Myles, Librarian
Facilities Review
Michael Louis, an Associate with Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., came to the library on January 29 to make a presentation about the facility review and answer our questions about the review. His report lists the necessary repairs for the next 12 years and estimates the cost as approximately $1.2 million.
Capital Expenditure Request for FY 05
The library received $104,100 for library repairs.
Community Preservation Committee Grant Proposal
The library received $75,000 to restore the windows in the Preston building.
Friends of the Lincoln Library Donation
On February 19 the Friends of the Library donated $15,000 toward the purchase of new materials ($5,000 for DVDs, $5,000 for books on CD, and $5,000 for special purchases).
Urban Forest Planning and Education Grant
The Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of State Parks and Recreation has awarded Lincoln Public Library, the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust (LLCT), and the Lincoln Conservation Commission (LCC) an Urban Forest Planning and Education grant in the amount of $3,678. Jenifer Burckett-Picker wrote the grant with Mary Van Vleck (LLCT and a Friend of the Lincoln Library) with input from library staff and Thomas Gumbart (LCC). The major goal of our grant project is to educate people about native trees and plants, invasive trees and plants, and restorative ecology. The LPL will purchase materials about these topics and speakers will give lectures about community forestry and plant issues. The LCC will lead groups to an area where invasives are aggressively present. The
participating organizations will set up a self-guided tree tour around the LPL, Pierce Park and Town Office Building.
The three organizations participating in this grant are required to match the grant funds with money and labor. Grant money is not provided up front. Instead, we submit receipts for reimbursement with verification of matching expenses or in-kind services. We will need to keep good records in order to obtain the grant money.
Reserve Fund Transfer
The library received a reserve fund transfer of $2,500 to repair the leak in the Gund chimney which is making brown stains on the Children’s Rooms walls.
Library Lane
Comments written in the Library Lane Comment Book between January 15 and February 19 are 27% positive and 73% negative. For the entire period since the parking arrangement was changed from parallel to diagonal, the comments are 49.7% positive and 50.3% negative. While people like the ease of diagonal parking, the major complaint is the lack of parking spaces. There are also comments about trouble opening the driver’s side door on the hill and backing out of a parking space and not being able to see oncoming traffic around the car parked to the driver’s left.
The Historic Center Group (formerly the Campus Committee) met on February 5. It was agreed at this meeting that the library does not have enough parking spaces and that the Design Team should reconvene to discuss options for adding more parking. The likely plan for new parking spaces is to create a cutout along Bedford Road between Trapelo Road and Library Lane. What people will find, however, is that this plan will further reduce the number of parking spaces near the library. Now ten cars can park on Bedford Road between the church and the library but any cutout design will provide fewer parking places. Our patrons want more parking spaces along Library Lane, not Bedford Road.
One of the new streetlights was installed on February 12. Although it was exactly what was ordered, it was decided by two members of the Design Team (Colin Smith and Ken Hurd) that the light is too tall. Vinnie DeAmicis (Head of the DPW) told me that the light poles would be cut to reduce their height. The poles are tapered, however, so a new collar will need to be made to conceal the gap between the pole and the base.
Children’s Department
Amy, Dana, Jane, and Stacy organized interesting programs for children and the programs were well attended. Fifty people attended Drumlin Farm’s “Winter Detectives” program and learned about animals that live in the area during the winter and how to identify them. Four dance classes were offered during February school vacation week. The younger children’s (ages 3-5) class focused on creative movement. They pretended they were different animals and that they were at the beach, for example. The older children (12 and up) learned dance steps and put them together in a hip-hop dance. At the end of each class, the children lined up then ran and jumped over a wiggling rope. Sometimes they would clap while jumping. Other times they would twirl around while
jumping over the rope. The children all liked this activity!
Amy, Jane and Stacy read stories to groups of children at the library as well as at LEAP and Magic Garden. Stacy started a new reading group for 4th and 5th grade students. Dana is now preparing craft activities on a monthly basis instead of only at holidays and school vacations.
Reference Department
The number of documented reference questions for January was 549, which is 69 more than the previous monthly high (July 2003). Attendance at the Monday evening computer classes also increased. The content of these classes depends on what the patrons want to learn. Some patrons want to learn how to use the computer. Other patrons want to learn how to search the online databases. Jeanne is also editing the columns that library staff has submitted to the “Lincoln Journal.”
Technical Services
Lisa began ordering audio visual materials online using BT Link (Baker & Taylor’s online system). Baker & Taylor is the library’s primary book vendor. The Friends of the Library gave the library money to purchase DVDs and approximately 50 new DVDs were processed in January.
Nadine’s work load continues to increase due to the increasing volume of network transfers. Each time a book is either requested from another library by a Lincoln patron or a non-Lincoln patron requests a Lincoln book, a network transfer is created. The old DRA library system prevented patrons from requesting more than three items in one day. The new III library system, in contrast, allows each patron to have 30 outstanding requests. Patrons are taking advantage of these services but we are straining to keep up with the work load. Other Minuteman libraries are also having difficulty but resource sharing is one of Minuteman’s primary goals so there is no plan to reduce the number of network transfers.
250th Anniversary Video History Project
Unfortunately, the video history project with Mary Pappas (a Lincoln parent and a teacher) has fallen through because not enough children signed up for the Recreation Department’s program. Sarah Andrysiak, President of the Friends of the Lincoln Library, suggested other options for recording family histories of Lincoln residents. One option is to work with the teacher of a video class at the high school. Another option is to work with another Lincoln resident who makes video documentaries.
Music Scores Donation
Lisa Aker-Rothenberg has begun cataloging the music scores that have already been donated by Dr. England. She and Jim Meadors decided to use the Dickinson classification system, which is also used by the Concord Free Public Library. Lisa will work on this project when she is caught up with her other work so her progress will be slow. After Lisa has cataloged the scores we already have, Dr. England plans to donate the rest of his collection to the library.
Kudos
This report describes how the library received a total of $200,278 in additional funding to pay for building repairs, new materials, and programs. Kudos to our Town’s leaders who are such great library supporters!
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