LINCOLN PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
REGULAR MEETING
JUNE 24, 2008
PRESENT: Jacquelin Apsler, chair; Diana Abrashkin, Marshall Clemens, Al Kraft, Peter Sugar, Susan Hands Taylor, members; Barbara Myles, Library Director; Kathie Brobeck, staff representative.
MINUTES of the May Trustees’ meeting were approved as amended.
PROPOSAL FOR PERMITTING DONATION OF SICK DAYS
Myles presented a proposal to allow Library staff to donate their sick days to an employee facing an extended recovery from surgery. Participation in the process would be voluntary and apply to Library staff only. Myles and Kathy Rushby would keep track of donated sick days.
Myles said the Lincoln Police have a similar practice, and the Town Personnel Board may soon consider whether to adopt a town-wide policy for donating sick day pay to fellow employees.
After discussion, the Trustees voted unanimously to adopt the policy as written (attached) and further that the policy will stay in effect until such time as the Town Personnel Board develops a town-wide policy. This was done in order to make the process equally available to any Library staff member facing an extended illness in the future.
STAFF CONCERNS
Brobeck reported that carpet complaints remain the biggest concern the staff wishes to bring to the Trustees. Sugar responded that the results of on-going discussions between the contractor and supplier of the new carpet are that the entire children’s department will be redone. Some of the carpet tiles removed from the children’s department will be used to patch problem areas in the administrative offices. In addition, the scratched terrazzo is scheduled for repair on July 12.
TECHNOLOGY REPORT DISCUSSION
Apsler asked Myles to give the 3 Year Technology Plan to the staff for review before the July Trustees’ meeting.
Several concerns were raised, including:
1. whether plans for increased computer use in the Library call for starting the process toward an overall Space Use Study;
2. whether to close the possibility of including computer and video games in the Library’s collection;
3. what information is needed to provide thorough budget proposal
Trustees agreed to drop Video Gaming from the Technology Report’s section of Additional Projects, but to refer the issue to the Young Adult Advisory group.
Taylor said she would begin gathering budget information for the Budget Committee to consider over the summer.
MEETING SCHEDULE 2008-2009
The Trustees voted to meet every fourth Tuesday evening of each month September through July, except for November and December when, because of national holidays, the Board will meet on the second Tuesday evening.
The meeting dates are as follows:
2008-09 |
2009-10 |
Sept 23 |
Sept 22 |
Oct 27 |
Oct 27 |
Nov 18 |
Nov 17 |
Dec 16 |
Dec 15 |
Jan 27 |
Jan 26 |
Feb 24 |
Feb 23 |
March 24 |
March 23 |
April 28 |
April 27 |
May 26 |
May 25 |
June 23 |
June 22 |
July 28 |
July 27 |
BUILDING COMMITTEE REPORT
Sugar reported on the status of six ongoing projects.
1. Some redesign is underway to ensure appropriate fire protection for the ceiling space above the archival vault;
2. The Fire Suppression contract for the next phase is ready to be sent out. July 2 is scheduled to have a pre-construction conference with the contractor;
3. Rain has not been a problem for the roof that leaked as a result of ice damming- we are still waiting for our Clerk of the Works (Jim McKenna) to inspect the existing flashings;
4. The front lawn, which was supposed to have been replanted by the window contractor, will remain unfinished until after the vault project;
5. Elevator shaft smoke ventilation contract has been signed;
6. Oil is leaking from the fuel pump on the generator that provides back-up for our basement sump pumps. Myles is investigating whether the pump can be rebuilt for $2000-3,000, because a new generator could cost $20,000-$30,000. Trustees suggested she contact Town Building Inspector Earl Midgley and School Business Administrator Buck Creek for additional contacts.
FINANCIAL REPORT
The Trustees accepted the financial report as presented by Myles. She pointed out that the Library didn’t use all its salary money this year because the Assistant Children’s Librarian left the staff in June. Money also was left over from the emergency reserve fund transfer requested to meet this year’s unexpectedly high oil and electricity bills. Funds also will return to the Community Preservation Fund because the window project and the new roof came in under budget.
LIBRARIAN’S REPORT
The preservationist’s report on the contents of our archives is very detailed and provides the information needed to make a treatment plan. The cost could easily run as high as $25,000 per year for several years before we are caught up with current material. Staff is beginning to pack up archival documents for storage during the vault construction project.
Myles also reported that the Friends of the Lincoln Library voted to grant $19,720 for various children’s and adults programs for 2008-09 and to purchase a machine that can determine whether CDs and DVDs are damaged.
JULY 4 PARADE FLOAT
Theme is “Lincoln Library – Lincoln’s Living room.” Float building begins Thursday morning in the Taylor’s garage, followed by pot luck picnic.
ARCHIVES WORKING GROUP
The group is addressing three issues at its next meeting:
1. reviewing proposed collections policies
2. determining what to pack away during construction
3. how to find out what materials may come into the collection in the near future
MASTER PLANNING
Sugar described the presentation to the Board of Selectman on the previous evening. Major issues included:
· Town wide building maintenance survey
· Factors that influence Town Meeting attendance
· Lack of housing choices; increasing neighborhood preservation districts
· Identifying and recruiting volunteers
· How best to expand commercial development
ITEMS FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION
1. Adding a book drop at the mall
2. Review of our Internet Use policy as it applies to wireless laptops
3. Begin development of a policy handbook – review at least one policy at each meeting
4. Discuss what should go into a Lincoln Trustee handbook (Taylor will submit a draft table-of-contents for discussion.)
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Hands Taylor
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT
July 22, 2008
TO: Trustees, Lincoln Public Library
FROM: Barbara Myles, Librarian
Friends of the Lincoln Public Library
Congratulations to the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library for winning the “Best of Parade” award at this year’s 4th of July parade! We had a rainy start to the day but the sky cleared just as the parade started! Four Trustees and I worked with many Friends to build the float. I think Peter Sugar lettered every sign! The theme for this year’s float was the library as your second living room. Riding up front was the jazz group, the Ancient Mariners. Four Trustees (Jacquelin Apsler, Diana Abrashkin, Peter Sugar and Susan Taylor), one Friend (Henry Haroian) and I rode on the float. Buck Creel drove the truck. Four of us sat in chairs with a small table between us. That was our living room. The other two of us sat on hay bales. The float also publicized the
Friends’ October house tour.
Adult Department
The Write Stuff met on June 25 and July 9. The Mystery Monday book group members had a movie night on July 14 and watched “The Moonstone.” On July 21 they discussed Good Night, Mr. Holmes by Carol Nelson Douglas. This month’s lobby book display is, “Listening to History,” and has many books on tape about historical events. Classic Jazz and the Friday morning book group are on hiatus until the fall. We have three summer interns: Hannah Gavalis, Andrew Loof, and Jonathan Wauhkonen. Ellen supervises them. They are doing special projects and covering the circulation desks when permanent staff are on vacation. An example of a special project is bringing magazines to the attic and organizing them. Larry Zuelke is exhibiting his sculpture in the gallery and David Shapiro’s
paintings are on display in the Stay-Put-Gallery.
Children's Department
The kick off party for the summer reading program was a big success. Approximately 150 people attended this event. After the children signed up for the summer reading program, they could have their faces painted, have an ice cream sundae and have Ed Popielarczyk make a balloon creation. Because of rain, the event was held indoors this year, upstairs in the Farrar and Tarbell Rooms. Deb Leopold returned to work at the library on July 2 and nearly picked up where she left off five years ago. There have been three special “Wild Time Wednesdays” so far this summer. The first was a wolf talk with two live wolves! The second was a “Wild Sing Family Cabaret” with award winning composer David Polansky. He played a trumpet, keyboard and sang while the audience danced and sang
along. The third program was “Animal Adventures” that had a hands-on approach to learning about our animal friends and their environment. Animals such as an alligator, lemur, lizard and hedgehog were presented in an entertaining, exciting, and educational way by a professional animal trainer. Dana prepared crafts programs each week for the children. So far she has children make monsters and monkeys.
Reference Department
Reference staff answered least 299 questions in June compared to last year’s 232 questions. In Jeanne’s monthly report she stated, “While overall reference numbers are dropping everywhere, ours are holding up quite well – some slippage, but that represents our teaching people to find their own information some of the time.” One of the new databases Jeanne purchased for the library is the Oxford Language Dictionaries Online. One of the nice features of this database is that there are recordings of how to pronounce the words.
On July 23 Jeanne will co-run the program, “Mystery Mavens,” at Metrowest. She will give a talk about mystery books.
Technical Services Department
July begins a new fiscal year which means closing the books for FY 2008. Lisa does this on the Innovative Interfaces Inc. Millennium system. Then she opens a new year for FY 2009. Ordering slowed down last month as the FY 2008 budget came to a close. Now Lisa is ordering steadily with FY 2009 money.
Lisa is also working on the web site. She is keeping the home page up to date with current events and getting up to speed with Dreamweaver software. On July 12 she went to a class to learn more about Dreamweaver.
ARIS Statistics
Each summer the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners requests all public libraries to complete a statistical survey about library usage. Kathy Rushby is leading this effort with input from Ellen, Jeanne, and Lisa. If the library does not complete the survey, we will not receive state aid funding.
Technology Planning Group
The Trustees are reviewing the technology plan for 2010-2012. The Technology Planning Group will meet after this review is complete.
Vault Project – Organizing and Processing Materials
Jeanne is working on the 250th Collection, the Grason collection, and other new archive collections. She has discussed with local historians, what materials to keep at the library during the vault renovation. A second group of items will be stored at the Thoreau Institute and the majority of items will be stored at a moving company yet to be determined.
Town Archives Advisory Committee
The TAAC met on June 25 and discussed our archives collection development policy. We received a lot of good suggestions and will revise the policy accordingly. A survey that we call “lay of the land” (LOTL) was also discussed. We would like them to fill out this survey about their collections so we all have a good idea about what each of our organizations has.
Crisis Plan
This crisis plan covers crises in which people’s safety is at risk. The Lincoln Police Department has written a second draft of the crisis plan. This version incorporates staff suggestions. In July the staff will meet with the police to discuss this second draft of the plan.
Capital Plan
The deadline for filing capital plans to the Community Preservation Committee is September 15, which is before the September Trustees meeting. I have worked on a couple of options for the library’s capital requests to the committee for the Trustees to consider.
Metrowest Massachusetts Regional Library System – Marketing Committee
I am on MMRLS’s Marketing Committee helping them develop a new logo and marketing plan. We met once this month to discuss marketing goals and how to achieve them.
Building Repairs
1. Carpets – Children’s Room and Staff Work Room
The carpet installation was completed on March 25. A punch list was sent to Capital Carpet on April 7. Karle Packard and Mark Marrama met on May 20 to go over the punch list. There is a flaw in the carpet color. Specifically, there is a yellow stripe on the edge of many of the carpet tiles. The library would like to replace the carpet but Milliken would like to dye the carpet at the library to remove the yellow stripe. The lobby floor was also damaged during the carpet installation and that has not been repaired.
Karle sent a strong letter to Capital Carpet and Flooring Specialists on June 11 telling them that option of dying the carpet was rejected and giving them 14 calendar days to complete the punch list items. If the work is not completed, the library will hire someone else to do the work and will back charge Capital Carpet.
On July 13 Marblelife came to the library to repair the damage to the lobby floor. They ground the floor down enough so that the scratched places were smooth. Even though the floor is shinier than I have ever seen it, there is crystal damage where the scratches were and the floor still looks scratched.
2. Fire Suppression Project
The kick off meeting for the fire suppression project was held on July 2. Rand Refrigeri of RDK Engineers led the meeting. Keith Palmer represented Ebacher Plumbing and Heating. The next meeting is scheduled for August 11. Work should be underway about this time.
3. Elevator Smoke Vent Upgrade Project
Healthy Air Solutions has completed approximately half of this project. The new smoke vent is assembled and tested. We are waiting for a mason to make the correct size hole in the wall for the new vent.
4. Vault Upgrade Project
This project went out to bid on July 9 and bids are due on August 14. We are requesting a $100 returnable deposit for the construction documents. Several companies have picked up documents already.
5. Generator
Cummins N.E. replaced the lift pump but the generator still has a leak. There is a crack in the fuel pump. Unfortunately this fuel pump is no longer kept in stock by the manufacturer. Cummins N.E. has tried to find this part on the after market without success. I called F.M. Generator to find out if they could repair the generator but they want a signed authorization for service in the amount of $1,000 before a service man will be sent to the library. Now Cummins N.E. is trying to find out if our fuel pump can be rebuilt.
I spoke to Buck Creel about the problem and he will ask around to see if he can locate a mechanic who could take the fuel pump off of the generator and repair it. Earl told me that we might have a mechanic in town who could fix the problem.
6. Asbestos Removal
Karle Packard had the floor tile in the vault tested for asbestos and the results were positive. I have two price quotes and am working to get the third price quote. Interestingly, the first two price quotes were the same, $1,500.
Kudos
Kudos this month go to the whole staff for spending down their budgets. Special recognition goes to Kathy Rushby for making sure we did not go over budget!
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