Lincoln Public Library Trustees Meeting
April 13, 2004
Present: Jack Pugh, Chairman, Jenifer Burckett-Picker, Peter Sugar, Marshall Clemens, Al Kraft, Diana Abrashkin, Trustees; Barbara Myles, Library Director; Ellen Sisco, Assistant Library Director
I.~ Minutes of March 30, 2004, meeting were approved as corrected.
II.~ Announcements:
A.~~~~~~The sump pumps are working properly and are adequate to the job.
B.~~~~~~Jenifer Burckett-Picker and Mary van Vleck went along on a tree survey by Sean Hale of the Conservation Department, who identified 25 different tree species which can be on the tree tour from the Library to Pierce Park.~ This tour will be one of the parts of our project on Forest Conservation, done with the grant the Library won.
C.~~~~~~Pursuant to our comments, “Personal Services” in the Town employment manual will become “Personnel Services.”
D.~~~~~~Friends of the Library donated a light fixture to the downstairs turret reading room, which had been too dark for easy reading, and another fixture to the turret in the Children's Room.
III. Financial Report
A.~~~~~~Marshall asked why Repairs & Maintenance seemed to fluctuate.~ Transfers from the Reserve Fund were discussed; they will include the electrician’s fee.
B.~~~~~~Trustees authorized Barbara Myles to talk to Tim Higgins about whether we have to first spend down what was budgeted before asking for the Reserve Fund transfer.
IV.~ Librarian’s Report
A.~~~~~~The big event was the flooding of the electrical room.~~ The sump pump is located in the basement, while the electrical room is located one floor above on the basement level.~ It was conjectured that the building needs more gutters and downspouts; or perhaps re-sealing of the foundation, or a check of whether the penetrations made by new cables introduced into the building were properly sealed.
B.~~~~~~Friends of the Library have discontinued their literary tours (their house tour was already dropped) and the Wednesday morning talks.~ Ellen Sisco said the reasons for the end of Wednesday talks were low turnout and the fact that the Council on Aging fills some of the same needs.~ [Note:~ I talked to Jane Herlacher, who has organized the Wednesdays for years.~ She said low turnout was not the reason at all.~ The talks continued to be quite well attended.~ It was she, who could no longer do it because her husband travels abroad a lot for work, and she wants to accompany him but couldn’t do it sometimes because of her responsibility for those programs.]
Al suggested that having a computer screen at the front desk, with a Power Point presentation highlighting Library events, would help publicize events.
V.~~~~~~Staff Concerns
A.~~~~~~Ellen related that the staff really appreciates the snow guards, for increasing safety at the entrance.
B.~~~~~~The warning cones on the bluestone terrace don’t help: the area has become an obstacle course.
VI.~ Library Lane lighting
A.~~~~~~The new light is still not working.~ The Town Electrician has not fixed it.~ Trustees said Barbara Myles should call Tim Higgins about this.
B.~~~~~~Diana said the whole entrance bay of the Gund Building is faced in Dark Bronze panels; therefore, it is terrible that we did not get the Dark Bronze pole lights.
VII. Other Business
A.~~~~~~Re the “fake” basement window~ located at the entrance to the Preston Building (which is simply a “real” window boarded up when the Historical Room was refurbished), Diana observed that it should be infilled with grayish stone, set slightly back from the plane of the surrounding foundation, in order to maintain the design integrity of the original building.~ This was agreed.
B.~~~~~~Library Lane parking is still not working.~
VIII.~ Building Subcommittee Report
A.~~~~~~Peter Sugar’s text for the Request for Proposals (RFP) was slightly amended then approved,~ June 1 is the deadline for bids to be submitted.~~~ The RFP should be run by Town Counsel, so it can be advertised in the Central Register on May 5, 2004.~~ By early August we hope to have documents ready to bid the actual repair work.~ (August is a good time to do the work, since many patrons are away.)
B.~~~~~~The subcommittee said we should do a quick fix (leveling and replacement of a few bluestones~ possibly taken from the magnolia tree area) on the entrance terrace, before it is definitively corrected as part of the big contract we are letting pursuant to the RFP.~ They said they will try to speed up the design of the terrace and parking, so that we will know how to proceed with the terrace.~ Diana noted that we should not allow unrealistic designs for parking on the Library side of Library Lane to happen or be approved.~ She said that, in early Designers’ Committee meetings, the concept of diagonal parking on both sides of the street was said by Ken Bassett (who has designed a lot of parking in his professional career) to be impossible, given the width of the clear passage
(for maneuvering) between opposing rows of parked cars.~ And yet, that idea has been broached again, as well as the even worse suggestion that cars park perpendicular to the curb on the Library side (given that we know cars parked in the handicapped space have too little room to back out safely).~ The only possibility is parallel parking, which probably will occur farther downhill and not intersect with the entry terrace or stairs, (which may of course be redesigned for other reasons).
Barbara Myles was asked to send monthly progress emails to Sara Mattes and Tim Higgins.
Al Schmertzler had said on an earlier occasion that we shall have a dollar amount every year for repairs.~ This sum was originally thought to be $10,000-$12,000; now the Trustees think it should be closer to $20,000!~
The Building Subcommittee will discuss who is to authorize small, inexpensive repairs in future.
They would like a schematic drawing of all the controls in the basement.
Respectfully submitted,
Diana Abrashkin
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LIBRARIAN’S REPORT
April 13, 2004
TO: Trustees, Lincoln Public Library
FROM: Barbara Myles, Librarian
Library Lane
Comments written in the Library Lane Comment Book between March 20 and April 7 are 22.2% positive and 77.8% negative. For the entire period since the parking arrangement was changed from parallel to diagonal, the comments are 47% positive and 53% negative. There were comments about lack of parking spaces but most of the comments were about the new street light and the new signs directing patrons to park their SUVs at the lower end of Library Lane. Patrons are wondering where the rest of the lights are. The SUV comments were split pro and con. The comment, “I simply pulled my van in all the way to the curb and my van lines up perfectly with the Civic beside it,” was followed by the comment, “How about asking SUV owners to walk instead of driving??”
The new street light has not worked properly since it was connected to electricity on March 26. Earl Midgley has directed the town’s electrician to repair the problem. Now that daylight savings time has begun, the lights are only on Monday and Wednesday evenings after sunset.
Friends of the Library
At the April board meeting of the Friends of the Library, it was agreed to stop the travel tours and the Wednesday Morning Program series. The current board members are not interested in supporting these activities and attendance at these events has declined in recent years. Instead, the board will focus on the book sale and will make a test of selling some of the higher priced books on eBay.
The Friends of the Library have raised a lot of money for the library and have increased their membership and visibility in town. Their support is appreciated and necessary for our success.
Urban Forest Planning and Education Grant
The Urban Forest Planning and Education Grant Committee met on April 6 to begin work on our project. One component of our project is a speaker series. Tom Gumbart, Director of the Conservation Department, has arranged for Brian Donahue to speak about the history of our local forests on Monday May 24 at 7:30 p.m. A second component is to make a trail that takes people by native trees. Jenifer Burckett-Picker, Mary Van Vleck and Sean Hale will work on this trail. The third component is purchasing books for the library about forests, trees, native plants, and invasive species. Library staff will work on this activity.
Innovative Interfaces Inc. Users Group Meeting
Barbara, Ellen and Lisa attended the Innovative Interfaces Inc. (III) Users Group which was held in Boston from April 2 to 5. At program sessions about creating lists (special reports), statistics, holds, acquisitions, and cataloging we learned how to use the III software more efficiently and what improvements are incorporated into the next release of the software, which is due this summer.
Adult Department
The Friday morning book group is in full swing again. Inherit the Wind and the non-fiction account of the real trial, Summer for the Gods, were exceptionally well received.
The Wednesday Morning Program featuring Rob Loud will be presented on April 14 and Classic Jazz will feature big bands also on the 14th.
Children’s Department
The Children’s staff advertised their special events for April vacation week in the Friends of the Library’s spring newsletter and began planning their summer programs. Ed Morgan was at the library on April 2 for a toddler sing along. Amy, Jane, and Stacy led the weekly storytimes for two-year-olds, pre-school, and kindergarten age children. Stacy’s book group discussed Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. Dana set up an eye catching display in the lobby for Lincoln author Elizabeth Graver’s latest book, Awake, which received good reviews in major industry publications such as, “Booklist,” “Library Journal,” and “Publishers Weekly.”
Technical Services Department
Lisa has ordered 90 DVDs since the Friends gave the library additional money for DVDs, books on CD and special books in February. Our DVD collection is improving rapidly! As of April 7, we have spent $69,874.69 on library materials, which is 10.8% of the library budget. We need to spend an additional $27,080 to reach 15% of the FY04 budget of $644,764 to meet the state’s library certification requirement.
Reference Department
Four patrons attended the Monday night training classes in March. Reference staff answered 493 documented reference questions, which is the highest March total since Jeanne came to work at the LPL in 1993 and the second highest monthly count during this time period.
Jeanne attended the Minuteman Library Network Local History Task Force meeting, a problem patron workshop and a class about library blogs. She also represented the LPL at the opening event for the new Cottage Press book, Lincoln by Lincoln: Reflections on a Massachusetts Town at 250.
Building Repairs
Heavy rains hit the area from April 1-2 with over 4 inches of rain falling in Lincoln. The ceiling leaked outside the small restroom on the second floor and the wind was so strong that water was coming into the building through the book drop! Rainwater flowed down Bedford Road and onto Library Lane. The sump pumps, which keep the underground stream water out of the sub basement, were pumping water as fast as they could. Unfortunately, the sump pumps could not keep up with the record setting rain and the water sensor in the sub basement set off the sump pump alarm during the early morning of April 2. Our building alarm system automatically notified Lexington Alarm Systems and LAS called Jack Pugh to notify him of the problem. Jack called me and asked that I go to the library and see if
the sub basement had flooded. Before leaving home, I notified the Lincoln Fire Department about the potential problem at the library. I arrived at the LPL at 5:15 a.m. and luckily the water had not flooded the sub basement.
With almost four hours to spend before library opening, I thought it would be a good idea to investigate why the emergency exit signs in the basement had not turned on since the new street light was installed on Library Lane. While I was displaying relay settings on light relay panel number one, smoke appeared out of light relay panel number two. I called the Fire Department and they sent two fire trucks to the library just before 6 a.m. Chief Burke threw the main power switch for the building and suggested that I call an electrician. The building generator came on and the sump pumps continued pumping. I was able to reach Bob Norton, the town’s electrician at approximately 6:45 a.m. and he agreed to come to the library. Without
building power, we could not open at 9 a.m. so I called Ellen to notify her about the problems at the library. She called the staff that was scheduled to work Friday morning to let them know that we might have a delayed opening.
Bob Norton arrived just before 8 a.m. and found the problem. He was able to turn on the building lights by disabling light relay panel number 2. However, we cannot turn the lights off that are connected to this disabled relay panel until the failed part is replaced. I also asked Earl Midgley, the town’s Building Inspector, to come see the electrical room while water was still dripping from the ceiling. He agreed and met me at the library before 9 a.m. He thinks we have a bad situation that needs remediation. When we went outside and looked at the wall that the light relay panels are affixed to, we saw water streaming down the side of the building. There are no gutters on this part of the roof. Furthermore, the grade of the
land does not coax water away from this wall. Earl thinks it would be a good idea to excavate the area where the conduits for the utilities enter the building and see if we need to seal the foundation.
Kudos
Even though our building problems on April 2 were before normal business hours, the people we needed to help us were available and came to our assistance immediately. Thanks to the Lincoln Fire Department, Earl Midgley and Bob Norton for the assistance.
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