LA CROSSE COUNTY LIBRARY BOARD MEETING MINUTES

November 7, 2007

Meeting Room

Onalaska Public Library

741 Oak Street, South

4:46 PM

CALL TO ORDER:

President Loren Caulum called the meeting to order at 4:46 pm.

ROLL CALL:

Board members, Loren Caulum, Glenn Seager, Fred Marini, Andrea Richmond, Mary Bach Filla and George Varnum were present. Barbara Manthei was not present.

APPROVAL OF THE MEETING AGENDA:

Motion by Loren Caulum to suspend Item 6 of the meeting agenda, pending arrival of John Parshall. Motion by Andrea Richmond/Glenn Seager to change the meeting agenda as moved.  MOTION carried unanimously with one absent, Barbara Manthei.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:

Motion by Andrea Richmond/Mary Bach Filla to approve the October 3, 2007 minutes as printed.  MOTION carried unanimously with one absent, Barbara Manthei.

PUBLIC INPUT:  None.

Barbara Manthei arrived at 4:50.

ANNIVERSARY RECOGNITION:

Loren congratulated Susanne Stranc on 20 years of service to La Crosse County Library.  Loren presented Sue with a pin and a gift from the County and a card from the library board.

POLICY AND PRACTICE CORRESPONDENCE:

Patron Ron Nordin approached the library board with a number of issues he has previously expressed to the staff both verbally and in writing.  He would like the library to:

  1. Publish news on the progress of the efforts to get a new building for the Holmen library.

  2. Subscribe to more magazines geared toward men, especially sports magazines for the Holmen library.

  3. Subscribe to USA Today newspaper at the Holmen library.

  4. Put genre labels on books. 

  5. Quit printing receipts for books at check-out and go back to stamping the due date on them.

6. Hold regular staff meetings.

John Parshall from the IT Department arrived at 5:15.

Chris answered Ron’s suggestions:

1. The library staff is not involved in the search for a new building and suggested Ron check out the website of the Friends of the Holmen Library who are working on the project.

2. His previous request for men’s and sports magazines came just after the year’s subscriptions had been submitted and there was no money available for extra magazines.  The subject would be addressed in this year’s orders. Lack of increase in magazine budget would mean deleting one or more current magazine subscriptions to cover the cost of a new one.

3. USA Today is only available through the mail.  The most current issue would always be a day old.

4. Genre

        a) Genre can be difficult to identify, and various systems use different criteria to determine genre.  The genre criteria doesn’t change to keep up with publishing trends.

     b) Many authors cross genre or write books that qualify for more than one genre.  The WRLS catalogers use the Library of Congress profiles but in some cases books could sit on a processing shelf for a long time waiting for LOC to establish a genre. Without the labels the books can go on the shelf immediately and the genre added to the record at any time.   

    c)  There is a cost for the labels, and a greater cost for the labor to try to put labels on books that were processed during the three years we did not use them.

5. A significant percentage of the books that go through our circulation desks are from other libraries.  If they are not using the date due stamps on their books we cannot stamp them for our patrons. Patrons can save receipts to preserve due date information, call the library or check on line for due dates.

6.  Chris has monthly meetings with her branch heads and other staff and is always available by phone or email.

Ron Nordin left at 5:25.

Andrea Richmond asked if we had suggestion boxes in the libraries. 

George Varnum and Mary Bach Filla also dislike the receipts system but acknowledge that we can’t stamp other libraries’ books.

Chris said that using check-out statistics to monitor magazine usage is not very accurate.  Post-it notes can be put on magazines asking for in-put from patrons when considering whether to drop a subscription.

Fred said, in his opinion, genre labels could be put on new books at very little cost or labor.  Chris responded that, for consistency, it would be best if all the books in all our facilities were labeled for genre and that there would be a great deal of labor involved in that.

BALANCED DEPLOYMENT:

John Parshall, head of the IT Department of the County came to explain Balanced Deployment.  His department is trying to control waste and expense in printing and communications for the whole county.  Balanced Deployment is networking all staff and public computers in each building to a minimal number of devices that can print, scan, copy, and fax.  This would eliminate individual printers, especially those who use expensive ink cartridges.  IT will address problems now as soon as they arise and not put them off waiting for Balanced Deployment to go into effect. The libraries have some leased copy machines so deviations from the grand scheme will be necessary until the leases expire.

Mary Bach Filla left at 6:15.

NOVEMBER 2007 EXPENDITURES:

Motion by Andrea Richmond/Loren Caulum to approve November 2007 expenditures.  MOTION carried unanimously with one absent, Mary Bach Filla.

ACCOUNT ADJUSTMENTS:

The Friends of the Library have contributed $124.42 to the West Salem Library from the proceeds of a recent used book sale, intended to be used to purchase materials.  Chris asks that Revenue Account #53025 Grant Revenue and Expense Account # 84050 Grant Expense both be increased by $124.42 to accommodate the intended purchase.

Balanced Deployment will not happen for the library before January 2008.  Until that time the library must continue to purchase printer supplies.  Chris asks that $374.46 in Expense Account #71025 Personnel Recruitment be transferred to Expense Account 65018 Computer Supply Expendables to cover requests for supplies until the end of the year.

Motion by Andrea Richmond/Barbara Manthei to approve both account adjustments.  MOTION carried unanimously with one absent, Mary Bach Filla.

CIRCULATION POLICY REVIEW:

Chris has polled other libraries in the WRLS consortium to determine their policy of allowing check-out and computer use with outstanding fines on the patron account.    She found that the fine amount varies from “No fines allowed, zero balance only” to “No restrictions” with $15 the highest money amount listed.  She also asked for other circulation policy statistics for comparison with La Crosse County. Other statistics gathered ranged from loan periods, fines charged and printing fees through renewals policy and printing fees.  Chris will bring this back to the board on a future agenda.

MINDORO/FARMINGTON UPDATE:

The Friends of the Mindoro Library has discussed hosting a meeting of Friends Groups from other La Crosse County Libraries.

FACILITY AND COMMUNITY UPDATES:

The City of Onalaska has placed a floor plan of the new addition and remodeling project on an easel on a table in the Onalaska library.

The lease for the Administration offices located in the back half of the Holmen Library has been finalized.  It contains an option to terminate the lease at any time with 6 months notice if funding becomes an issue.  If the administration offices are moved to a new location the lease requires 12 months notice.

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS:  

Circulation Policies.

Genre spine labels on books.

Library Board suggestions for Friends Groups to help libraries.

Evaluation forms for Director.

ADJOURNMENT: Meeting was adjourned at 6:45 pm.

RECORDED BY:  Judy Jamesson.  Minutes may be amended or changed at the next meeting.