La Crosse County, Wisconsin

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LA CROSSE COUNTY LIBRARY BOARD MEETING MINUTES

March 5, 2008

Meeting Room, Onalaska Public Library

741 Oak Street, South

4:45 PM

CALL TO ORDER:

President Loren Caulum called the meeting to order at 4:45 pm.

ROLL CALL:

Board members, Loren Caulum, Glenn Seager, Fred Marini, Mary Bach Filla, Barbara Manthei, Andrea Richmond and George Varnum were present.

APPROVAL OF THE MEETING AGENDA:

Motion by Andrea Richmond/Glenn Seager to approve the agenda as written.  MOTION carried unanimously.

PUBLIC INPUT:

Loren called for input from the public, but there was no response.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:

Motion by Fred Marini/Barb Manthei to approve the February 6, 2008 minutes.  MOTION carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF MARCH 2008 EXPENDITURES:

Motion by Andrea Richmond /Fred Marini to approve March 2008 expenditures. MOTION carried unanimously.

FINAL 2007:

The library has submitted for payment all invoices for 2007 purchases and all account adjustments and carry forwards of 2007 monies have been sent to Finance, so, although not all items have been posted to the ledger, the Library has closed out 2007.

DISK REPAIR MACHINE REPLACEMENT:

With over 9,000 videos and DVDs in the library’s catalog, repair is a constant challenge.  VHS formats are fairly long-lived, each video getting an average of 200 checkouts over its life; DVDs, only 7-10 uses before problems arise.  Of the two machines being used by the library to repair scratches and clean DVDs and CDs, one no longer works.  A new machine, capable of cleaning Blue Rays and MP3s will cost $4,945.  Since this was not in the 2008 budget the cost of the new machine would have to come out of the Fund Balance.

The Sparta Free Library in Sparta repairs disks for the public at $2.00 per disk.  If La Crosse County Library offered this service to the public it could generate some additional revenue for the library but would have to be managed by volunteers.

Motion by Fred Marini/Glenn Seager to approve the purchase of the new disk repair machine, the cost not to exceed $5,000.  MOTION carried unanimously.

Motion by Andrea Richmond/Barbara Manthei to approve the adjustment of $4,945 from Account #39100 Fund Balance to Account #86020 DP Equipment.  MOTION carried unanimously.

HOMEBOUND SERVICES:

Homebound services is now called Outreach.  Judy Mulroy, a library clerk at the Onalaska facility coordinates the Outreach program there.  With only in-house publicity she has organized volunteers (including some staff) to pick up and deliver books on a regular basis to the nine people in her files.  Three of her patrons only use the service in the winter.  Items delivered to patrons have an 8-week checkout period.  No magazines or movies will be delivered.  A patron may request specific items or ask a library clerk to choose items based on a preference list.

Questions of liability have been raised.  Damage to items while in the possession of the patron is the patron’s responsibility.  Liability for items damaged while in transit is undetermined as volunteers may not want to have that responsibility.  The County’s policy on volunteers is possibly changing.  Volunteers who interact with the public may have to undergo background checks and prove they have adequate insurance on their vehicles.  The County will not assume responsibility for volunteers injured while volunteering.

Motion by Fred Marini/Andrea Richmond for the Library Board to support the continuation of Outreach Services and expand it.  MOTION carried unanimously.   

Motion by Fred Marini/Mary Bach Filla to encourage the County to expedite and define volunteer liability with no charge to the departments.  MOTION carried unanimously.

Judy Mulroy left at 5:50.

Andrea Richmond left at 5:50.

WRLS – FINE THRESHOLDS:

La Crosse County had a zero fine policy, meaning no checkout was allowed unless the account was at a zero dollar balance.  At the December 2007 meeting the library board agreed to raise the maximum fine to $5.00 to be more in line with other libraries in WRLS who had varying amounts from $0.00 to $10.00.  In March, at a meeting of the Network Advisory Committee comprised of representatives of the libraries on WRLSWeb, there was a discussion on allowing patrons with fines to be allowed to check out additional materials.  It was recommended a uniform amount, such as $5.00, be set.  David Goldfein, from La Crosse Public Library suggested $10.00.  Chris objected, saying it would affect revenues.  The majority of the committee agreed to $10.00.  

Motion by Glenn Seager/Fred Marini to maintain the fine policy at La Crosse County Library at the $5.00 level set by the board until the financial impact can be determined. MOTION carried unanimously.

SURVEY REVIEW:

La Crosse County Library conducted a patron survey during late December and January, asking the public’s opinion on the use of genre labels and for feedback on the libraries in general.  There was only a 2% response (2% of the gate count for the month) to the survey.  The genre question will be discussed again at the April meeting.  The patrons have requested a bigger audio book collection for the West Salem facility, and there were various comments indicating that patrons are aware of what staff is doing and are overall very happy.

FACILITY AND COMMUNITY UPDATES:

In Onalaska construction on the addition will begin on March 17.  The timeline for Occupancy is April 6, 2009.  Certain elements of the construction may cause the library to close for short periods of time.  The closed dates have been set as November 1^st through the 5^th, 2008; January 6^th through the 10^th, 2009; and March 7^th through the 11^th, 2009; but are subject to change.

During the closed dates Chris would like to extend hours at other facilities to accommodate Onalaska patrons, and use Onalaska staff to fill in those hours and supplement regular staff to deal with the increased use.  Chris could then avoid staff lay-offs.

Parking in front of the library will be affected during construction so there may be problems for patrons and workers alike.

Chris has noticed that the blue prints do not indicate electrical service to some of the areas where computers, etc. will be located.  The architect will have to look into this. 

The City of Onalaska is considering the purchase of a sound system, projectors and screens for the new meeting room.  The room can be divided so they want each section to be able to use the equipment individually at the same time.

The Village of Holmen may make an offer of $1.3 million for St. Elizabeth’s church, the maximum they can offer since the assessment came back at that dollar amount.  The diocese has not commented on whether it will consider it or not.

Chris McArdle Rojo, Barb Manthei and Glenn Seager, as well as the five branch heads who attended the Ken Miller workshop felt is was very worthwhile.  Chris would have liked to attend the 2-day seminar or to receive some training from those who did attend.

The April board meeting will be in Onalaska if the construction work allows; if not, West Salem is the back-up choice.

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS:

None

ADJOURNMENT: Meeting was adjourned at 6:34 pm.

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

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