LINCOLN LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes of the Meeting of March 27, 2007
Present: Jacquelin Apsler, chair; Diana Abrashkin, Marshall Clemens, Al Kraft, Peter Sugar, Susan Taylor, trustees; Barbara Myles, Library Director; Stacy Harris, staff representative.
Approval of Minutes: Jan. 30 and Feb. 27, 2007 meeting minutes were amended and approved.
Announcements:
• Board welcomed Jacquelin Apsler as new chair and Susan Taylor as newly elected trustee, replacing Jack Pugh who retired from the board.
• Thanks to Peter Sugar for his gracious tribute to Jack Pugh at Town Meeting and to Harold McAleer for splendid photo collage framed and given to Jack by the Trustees and the Friends of Lincoln Library. The collage will be signed by all the trustees and placed on display at the Library during the second week of May.
• May 8 is the date for the annual Appreciation Luncheon hosted by the Friends of the Lincoln Library for all library staff, trustees, and volunteers.
• April 22-29 will be Lincoln Unplugged week, part of a national drive by schools and libraries encouraging families to turn off the TV and try other activities. Planning the week-long schedule has been an exciting and unprecedented collaboration of Lincoln Library staff, Lincoln and Hanscom school librarians, the PTA, the Lincoln School Foundation, Friends of Lincoln Music and the Friends of the Lincoln Library. A full program schedule will be mailed town-wide in April.
• The Library’s Float-Building Picnic is July 3 at the Taylors’ house. The theme will be “Save Our Stuff” to promote awareness of the need to renovate and expand the vault.
Strategic Plan (Five-Year Plan):
Director Barbara Myles completed a draft of the state-required five-year plan based on the outline developed by last year’s Strategic Planning Committee. The report, which specifies plans for service delivery from 2007-2011, is required by the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners.
Marshall Clemens will reconvene the committee before April 14 to review the draft. Then it will be circulated among the trustees before a final version is approved and sent to the state.
Comprehensive Long-Range Planning Committee (CLRPC)
Jacquelin Apsler reported that she, Barbara Myles, Ellen Sisco and Susan Taylor met earlier this month with Bob Sutherland of the Facilities and Services subcommittee of CLRPC (aka “slurps,”) the town’s newly constituted master planning committee. Sutherland was gathering information from several town agencies, including the library, and he has made his notes available. These will be circulated among the trustees for comment.
Peter Sugar, a member of the subcommittee on Cultural & Historic Resources and Governance, reported that Town Meeting approved $95,000 for outside consultants to the CLRPC. The full committee, which will be managed by a smaller steering committee, hopes to preview its findings at the March 2008 Town Meeting and present a final report at the 2008 fall State of the Town meeting.
Financial Report
Dramatically higher telephone expenses are due to a change in telephone vendors at Town Offices. The library uses the telephone for local and long-distance calls at a higher rate than most town agencies.
Librarian’s Report:
Barbara Myles and Peter Sugar were prepared to answer questions on the Library’s budget and maintenance warrant articles at Town Meeting, but no one asked. The elevator vent presentation went well and the article passed (see below.)
Myles will remove Jack Pugh’s name from the Security Company’s phone list. Susan Taylor will ask Jack Pugh for his key and for a tour of the Library. Al Kraft offered to take all the trustees on an “attic-to-subbasement” tour before the next meeting.
Staff Concerns:
Stacy Harris reported that Ruth Dietmeier, a library page and an “amazing shelver,” is retiring this month. Harris said Dietmeier made the librarians’ jobs so much easier and will be greatly missed. Dietmeier won’t actually go off the payroll until June so there is no money in the budget for a new hire until then.
Building Committee
Peter Sugar reported on several areas of progress.
• Carpeting: The first installment of new carpet in the Farrar periodical room is scheduled for 3/30 and may require more than one evening.
• Carpeting: Children’s department carpet was a unanimous choice. Karle Packard, architect of our vault project, has agreed to draw up carpet specs so the job can be put to bid. The vinyl floor area has been redesigned into an arc for easier maintenance.
• Vault: Packard has almost finished the documents for the project. Next steps are yet to be decided.
• Heat leaks: Christopher Field and Albert Smegal have submitted a $2700 proposal to fix heat leaks they found during a pro bono infrared survey of the library. There is money for this work (mostly weather stripping) left in the Capital Plan FY05 budget. The trustees asked Myles to obtain references from Field and Smegal and to provide other estimates for the work for comparison before deciding to go ahead.
• Elevator shaft: Town Meeting approved $20,000 for proper ventilation of the elevator shaft. We already have documents from the engineering company, so the job can be awarded after money becomes available July 1.
• Fire suppression: Town Meeting also approved $54,254 from Community Preservation Act funds to upgrade the library’s fire protection system in four parts: 1) sub-basement sprinklers and attic detection system, 2) fire-control panel and masterbox, 3) sprinklers in basement stacks and reading room and 4) complete sprinkler system study. The projects can begin immediately and must be completed within three years.
• Front Patio repair: Peter Sugar will draw up plans and specifications for repairs to the uneven pavement due to frost heaves. There is money left in the Capital Plan FY05 budget for this. Diana Abrashkin asked that Peter consider ways to incorporate lighting for the book drop in the patio repairs.
• Alarm Systems: Al Kraft will prepare a status report on all the building’s alarm systems.
• Next meeting of the building committee (Peter Sugar, Al Kraft and Marshall Clemens) set for Wednesday, April 4.
New Business
Clock: Diana Abrashkin asked why the tower clock timing is off. Barbara Myles reported that because it is governed by huge weights, it is often thrown off when it is serviced. Myles reset the clock.
Sub Committees: Susan Taylor asked to review the current subcommittee assignments and where she might best serve. The subcommittees are:
• Building: Peter Sugar, Al Kraft, Marshall Clemens
• Personnel: Jacquelin Apsler
• Budget: Peter Sugar and Kathy Rushby
• Books & Collections: Diana Abrashkin and Ellen Sisco
• Archives: (see below)
• Fund Raising: Al Kraft, Diana Abrashkin
• Liaison to Capital Planning: Jacquelin Apsler
• Liaison to the Friends: Jacquelin Apsler
The board decided to combine Archives with Books & Collections.
Taylor volunteered for the Fund Raising committee and asked to “shadow” Peter Sugar on the budget committee. Abrashkin asked to participate in upcoming Building Committee projects. The board will discuss establishing a Technology subcommittee at the next meeting.
Future Meeting Dates: (all at 7:30 pm in the Historical Room, Lincoln Library)
Tuesday, April 24 – beginning with a top-to-bottom tour of the Library building by Al Kraft
Tuesday, May 22
Tuesday, June 26
At least one meeting may be required over the summer to consider the library’s capital plan budget which is due to the town the third week of September.
Executive Session: The Board moved to go into executive session to discuss personnel matters and not to return to open session.
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT
March 27, 2007
TO: Trustees, Lincoln Public Library
FROM: Barbara Myles, Librarian
Capital Budget FY2008
The Community Preservation Committee’s warrant article was approved at Town Meeting so we can continue work this spring on the design phase and construction phases 2 and 4 outlined by RDK Engineer’s September 18, 2006 schematic level study. Phase 2 upgrades the sub-basement sprinkler coverage, attic detection coverage, the fire alarm control panel, and the masterbox. Phase 4 includes sprinklers for the basement level where adult non-fiction, music CDs, and movies are located. The warrant article for upgrading the elevator venting was also approved at Town Meeting.
Operating Budget FY2008
The Library’s FY2008 operating budget was approved at Town Meeting. Our FY2008 budget is a level service budget.
Strategic Plan
Sunny Vandermark, Regional Administrator for the Metrowest Massachusetts Regional Library System, met with me on January 30 to discuss the library’s strategic plan. She gave me some ideas for using the outline from last year’s strategic planning meetings to create a strategic plan in the format which is acceptable by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. I sent Sunny a draft of the strategic plan earlier this month and she sent me her comments last week. The next steps are to revise the strategic plan according to Sunny’s suggestions then reconvene the Strategic Planning Committee to get their comments on this document. After the Strategic Planning Committee revises this plan, it will go to the Trustees for approval.
Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)
On March 23 I attended the LEPC’s monthly meeting. At this meeting I learned that towns can get LEPC accreditation themselves or as part of a region. Right now Lincoln is in the start up stage as part of a region and is moving to provisional stage on its own. The region includes Carlisle, Concord, Lincoln, Sudbury, Wayland and Weston. There is a statutory requirement for towns to get certified. This is an unfunded mandate, however, and few towns are fully certified now.
Unplugged Week
The Unplugged Week steering committee met on March 21. Now that the events are set, the committee is looking for volunteers to help with the events and publicity. A flyer of the events will be sent to all Lincoln residents. Unplugged week runs from Monday April 23 through Sunday April 29. Four of the events take place at the library, including three author talks (Katherine Hall Page, Bill Littlefield and Peter Abrahams), a concert, and a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The programs are sponsored by the Friends, the Lincoln School Foundation, and the Lincoln PTA.
Friends
At the March Friends’ meeting plans were made for upcoming events including “Unplugged” week in April, graduation book awards, and the annual appreciation luncheon. A vault float committee and vault brunch subcommittee will meet to work on these projects. The Friends also approved funds for a new book cart, which will store books in the YA Room.
Adult Department
Members of the Photo Share group are communicating between meetings with a Yahoo Group. They announce plans for outings and let people know when they see interesting birds in the area. The Yahoo Group allows people to sign up for the group on their own and send emails to all members of the group without having to know everyone’s email address.
The DeCordova Museum sent the library passes that allow residents of Lincoln to bring their out of town guests to DeCordova free of charge. DeCordova’s Marketing Director will publicize this new benefit to Lincoln residents in the “Lincoln Journal.”
The second semester of “From Other to Us,” a survey of world faith traditions, began on March 13. The Abrahamic traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the religions for this semester. Classic Jazz met twice in March: Harold McAleer’s program, “Harold on Memory Lane,” on March 1 and Bob Sheffield’s program, “Stars of Old Preservation on March 14. Ellen’s Friday Morning Book Group discussed Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Hijuelos on March 9 and Typical American by Jen on March 23 as part of the “Immigrants Integrating: American Experiences” theme for this fiscal year. Margaret Treglia displayed her artwork in the gallery during February. Photos of a trip to China were on display in the
“Stay-Put” Coffee Spot. The Mystery Mondays book group discussed A Mystery of Errors by Simon Hawke on March 26. The Write Stuff met twice during March.
Children's Department
The popular children’s programs are in full swing. It’s amazing how much fun the children have at these programs. I think the librarians have fun leading these programs too!
Amy, Jane, and I will meet with the Building Committee and Karle Packard to select a carpet for the Children’s Room. The Children’s staff looked at dozens of carpets and selected two carpets for the Building Committee to consider. A selection was made and Karle was asked to write the construction documents for this project.
Reference Department
Tax season is entering crunch time with only a few weeks before the April 15th deadline. We have already run out of 1040 forms, which will make life more difficult for people who need the forms. All of the forms are available on the Internet and on Turbo Tax and Tax Cut software packages but many people still want the paper forms. Reference staff answered 223 documented questions during February.
Technical Services
Lisa Rothenberg is testing a new book format called “playaway.” A playaway is an individual MP3 player with the title already loaded onto it. This is an interesting new format because it eliminates all the cassette tapes and CDs. Instead, the entire book is loaded onto the playaway and the patron does not have to change tapes or CDs as the story progresses. The newest cars are offering MP3 ports, which should make playways a popular format. The first playaway the library purchased is The Kite Runner.
Vault
Nasrin Rohani, a library volunteer, suggested that the library purchase PastPerfect software for museum collections. Some of the functions this software handles are: accessions, cataloging, loans, condition reporting, and fund raising. PastPerfect is approved by the American Association for State and Local History. Jeanne Bracken and Lisa Rothenberg are evaluating this software. Lexington’s public library uses this software.
Comprehensive Long Range Plan Committee, Services Sub-Committee
Jacquelin Apsler, Susan Taylor, Ellen Sisco and I met with Bob Sutherland on March 16 to discuss library services. Susan had prepared a chart of the library’s key service issues with both five year and long range planning statements. I prepared a draft of the library’s strategic plan. Bob reviewed both documents at the meeting. We asked him not to take copies at the end of the meeting because they are in draft stages and the Trustees have not approved them.
Building Repairs
1. Vault Renovation Project
Karle Packard of Red Hawk Studio Architects has finished the construction documents for the vault renovation project. The next step is for the Building Committee to approve these construction documents.
2. Window Replacement Project
Max Ferro completed the contract documents for the window replacement project and this project will be advertised in the March 28 “Central Register” and the March 27 “Waltham Tribune.” Two types of windows are described in the contract documents: solid aluminum and aluminum-clad. Contractors can bid on one or both types of windows. Bids are due on April 18 at 2 p.m.
An application for a Certificate of Appropriateness was submitted to the Building Inspector’s Office on March 9. Peter Sugar met with Colin Smith to review the Trustees’ window selections. Colin explained to me that Lincoln’s Historic District Commission cannot sign a Certificate of Appropriateness until the Library Trustees select one window.
3. Carpets
Carpet installation for the Farrar Room will take place on March 30 and the installation for the Reference Room will take place in April.
The Building Committee recommended that the Milliken Carpet design, English Rattan, and color, Spring Growth, be installed in the Children’s Room and Staff Work Room. Karle Packard is writing the construction documents for this project.
4. Energy Conservation
Al Smegal installed weather stripping on the exterior doors of the library.
5. Entry Door
The exterior entry door would not lock into the floor because the Kawneer offset pivot set broke. The door was repaired on March 21.
6. Carbon Monoxide Detector
At times bad odors emanate from the sub-basement. There is concern that carbon monoxide could also be escaping from the sub-basement. The Trustees have two options, installing a carbon monoxide detector that is integrated into the library’s building alarm system or purchasing carbon monoxide detectors that plug into electrical outlets.
Kudos
Thanks to Jack Pugh for nine years of service to the library as a Trustee and over three years as its Chairman! Jack joined the board of the Friends and is advising the library on its web redesign. The good news is that Jack will continue volunteering at the library! We also wished Ruth Dietmeier well on her retirement from the library. She was an exceptional shelver and we will miss her.
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