Lincoln Public Library Trustees Meeting
December 2, 2008
Present: Peter Sugar, Acting Chair; Susan Taylor, Al Kraft, Marshall Clemens, Diana Abrashkin, Trustees; Ellen Sisco, Staff; Robin Thompson, Joe Camilliere, Guests.
Robin Thompson a Lincoln resident requested that we have a discussion about doing preventive maintenance on our catalpa tree. He brought with him to the meeting, Joe Camilliere from Hartney Greymont, who is a professional arborist. Mr Thompson feels that the tree has lost its “vigor” over the 15 years he has been observing it. He would like to see it returned to health and might volunteer to help restore it. Mr. Camilliere would also be willing to donate his professional services. He has worked in the tree care business for 25 years. Hartney Greymont does a lot of volunteer work in the communities that it serves professionally.
Mr. Camilliere feels that the tree needs pruning and fertilizing and that it will improve with treatment. He would be willing to do the work on an ongoing basis, but would like some recognition for his efforts, possibly a yearly meeting/presentation at the Library open to the public focusing on tree care. Susan suggested that he prepare a proposal in writing and present it to us.
October 30, 2008 minutes accepted as corrected.
Staff Concerns
Ellen reports that the staff is concerned about the book drop at the Mall. She pointed out the negative comments left in the comment book that she feels expresses the concerns of the staff.
We had a discussion about getting the word out to patrons about Library programs. She reported that patrons can access Library programs by looking at the website. Diana suggested an E-mail sign up sheet. Other ways of communicating programs;
Posters (already doing these)
Video programs and make them available to patrons
Partner with other groups in town to get the word out about programs.
Action items
Trustees voted to accept the Patron Privacy Policy as revised
Trustees voted to accept the Code of Conduct Policy as revised
Susan commented that she would like to see that the staff applies the policies with consistency.
Budget
Slides have been prepared to present the Library budget to the Town. An additional slide will be prepared that will indicate items funded by the FOLL (Friends). The headings of the slides will also be changed and the words “funded” will be eliminated and “unfunded” will be changed to “Not funded”.
Finance report format
We get trust fund data 3x/year.
Kathy wants feedback about current format.
Susan felt that after an item is voted on to fund, it should be shown on the report so it is clear that those are committed funds. Barbara suggests adding another column with the heading “Encumbered”.
Maintenance warrant article
Barbara has prepared a detailed report about maintenance expenses between 2002-2008 with back up info that supports the $27,000.00 warrant article.
Fire suppression
It does not seem that the CPA funds will be approved for a high dollar project. Peter feels that we should go to the CPA and explore how much money they would be willing
to commit to the project this year. Peter also feels that this would be a good time to do this sort of project because contractors are not busy and might provide a good bid.
Diana feels that the pipes that are exposed on the lower level should be boxed in, or maybe as Peter suggested, a painting hung at the bottom of the stairs might lessen the effect of the exposed pipes there. Marshall suggested doing a walk through of the lower level to see if there are things that we could do simply to mitigate the aesthetic issues.
Snow blower update
The new snow blower has been purchased and is a John Deere and cost $2100.00.
Reports
The FOLL would like to explore ways that people could contribute using the internet. To do this they would probably need to partner with a larger group.
Susan Sugar proposed a newcomers party to combine with the October brunch.
The book sales are doing great.
Future adult programs such as how Lincoln could be more supportive in the current economic situation, could be arranged with the appropriate speakers who could address these issues.
Long range planning
Nearing the end of the project. There will be a town wide meeting at the end of January, or possibly in February to present the findings again. Implementation will be over the next several years.
Librarians report
The Town archives committee members have been very helpful and supportive. Almost all the Town records will be kept in the new vault.
Building committee
A certified letter has been sent to the carpet manufacturer about replacing the defective carpeting. No reply as yet.
The estimate to replace the scratched tiles is $21,000.00. This should give us some ammunition when negotiating with the installer who caused the damage. Karl Packard will prepare a letter to the contractor explaining that we will keep the $12,000.00 that we are holding and release them from additional liability for the damage. This does not however release them from replacing the defective carpeting. The implication here is that we will contact the bonding company if he contractor does not comply.
We have not heard from the contractor as yet.
Respectfully submitted,
Al Kraft
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT
December 2, 2008
TO: Trustees, Lincoln Public Library
FROM: Barbara Myles, Librarian
Friends of the Lincoln Public Library
The Friends met on November 6. We discussed the successful open house that took place on October 26. We had double the number of people we usually have at the library (just over 200 people) on a Sunday. It was great that Ellen, Jane, and Jeanne were at the open house and showed off their programs to the party goers. The Friends told me that they are very impressed with the library staff. We talked about ways to promote library events. For example, we could put the sandwich board out more often to promote events and start a listserv or something else like it so we could notify patrons about upcoming events at the library. Patty told us that Codman Farm uses PayPal to get donations and let people pay for tickets to events. The Friends are interested in finding out how much it will cost to
add electrical outlets in the Tarbell Room. They may vote to pay for this work. The Friends also asked me to encourage more staff to sign up for courses. Jane Flanders made a presentation to the Friends for refurnishing the YA Room. The Friends decided to fund this project. They also voted to pay for a digital picture frame that makes it possible to show digital pictures on a small screen and looks like a picture frame.
Adult Department
The Friday morning book group met on October 31 and November 21 and discussed Oedipus by Sophocles and Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The Write Stuff met on November 5 and 19. On November 24 the Mystery Monday book group discussed Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. Holiday books were the theme of this month’s lobby book display. Classic Jazz met on November 12 with Gene Darling presenting, “In Memoriam, Oscar Peterson.” The Photoshare Group met on November 5 and has a regular following. Penny Billings is displaying her landscape paintings in the gallery and Fred Erlich is showing his photographs in the Stay-Put-Gallery. On October 29 Stephen Collins performed as Walt Whitman and recited his words, poetry and letters. He
gave a terrific performance! Sean P. Murphy, investigative reporter and editor at the Boston Globe focused attention on the big dig and its ongoing controversies on November 3. The play, “Lizzie Borden and the 40 Whacks,” was cosponsored by the COA and the Friends and was performed at Bemis Hall on November 6.
Children's Department
The children’s librarians are busy doing programs and leading book discussion groups. There was a performance of Scottish music by the Celtic Bells on November 16 complete with bagpipes! Amy and Jane were granted Friends money to buy a digital picture frame. They put it at their circulation desk and it displays dozens of pictures of children and parents enjoying the library and programs. There are also some pictures of the staff to see.
Reference Department
Reference staff answered least 264 questions in October, compared to last year’s 324 questions. Jeanne was on vacation for some of the month, which at least partially explains the drop in the number of questions answered.
Town Archives Advisory Committee
The Town Archives Advisory Committee (TAAC) met on November 20 at Town Offices. Twelve people attended this meeting. First, we discussed the lay of the land survey. The purpose of this survey is to find out where in Lincoln there are materials that may be donated to the Town Archives in the future. We can plan for these future collections after we know what they are. We also discussed the deaccessioning policy and the donor form. Adding material to the Town Archives and removing material from the Town Archives are important steps. The donor gives us all rights to the material being donated to the archives. When material is removed from the collection, there is a board of people to make these decisions.
Capital Plan
Peter Sugar and I will meet with the Community Preservation Committee on December 9 to discuss the next phase of the fire suppression project. We have learned that there is greater competition this year for capital plan money than in the recent past. Peter and I will try to convince the Community Preservation Committee to keep this project moving forward.
Operating Budget
The Budget Committee (Jacquelin Apsler, Peter Sugar, and Susan Taylor) and I worked on a PowerPoint presentation to give at the December 3 town-wide budget workshop.
VLAN Workshop
On November 20 I attended a workshop at the Minuteman Library Network (MLN) about virtual local area networks (VLANs). First, we received an overview of MLN’s network topology. Next, we learned how to set up VLANs on the new Cisco 2950 switch that MLN will install at 27 of the 41 member libraries. MLN received a grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners to purchase and install the switches as well as train people at each library to set up VLANs on the switches. The benefit of having a VLAN is that the network traffic is segmented into different groups, which increases security and makes the network run faster. For example, with the new VLAN we can separate staff from public network traffic.
Building Repairs
1. Carpets – Children’s Room and Staff Work Room
The carpet installation was completed on March 25. 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. Milliken is willing to supply the replacement carpet and install it at no additional charge. Now we are waiting for an installation date.
Another problem is that scratches were made in the lobby floor when the carpet was delivered. We are waiting for a cost to be assigned to this damage. Karle Packard is working on this.
2. Fire Suppression Project
Jack Sanborn & Son Electrical Contractors finished wiring the new fire alarm control panel, master box and antenna. The Fire Department came to the library on November 14 to test the new equipment with representatives from Jack Sanborn & Son Electrical Contractors, Ebacher Plumbing and Heating, and RDK Engineers. All of the new equipment passed the tests.
3. Elevator Smoke Vent Upgrade Project
Healthy Air Solutions (HAS) has completed this project but the new dampers did not pass at the yearly elevator inspection. The dampers are supposed to open when the fire alarm horns and lights turn on. According to HAS, Norel Service Inc. bypassed the horns and lights during testing because the library was open. They did not want to cause a disturbance. We will have another elevator inspection in December that tests the dampers when the fire alarm horns and lights are on, preferably when the library is closed.
4. Vault Renovation Project
Demolition of the current vault and digging a trench for a new electric conduit to the Preston Building are completed. Measurements were taken for the new beams that will be installed. Plans for the new steel beams, that will support the existing wooden beams, have been drawn by the structural engineer. Next, these beams will be fabricated. The air conditioning units are on order
5. Roof Repair
Jim McKenna installed another piece of copper above the copper already installed on the parapet facing Bedford Road near the children’s story room. This piece of copper will add further protection from ice and snow dams.
6. Temporary Handrail at Fire Stair Entrance
Dana Jenkins removed the temporary handrail that was installed during the window project when patrons had to enter and exit through this side door.
Kudos
Amy and Jane get kudos this month for figuring out how to work the digital picture frame that the Friends of the Library gave to the library!
|