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MINUTES
OCPL Board of Trustees’ Meeting
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Central Library,Board Room
4:00 p.m.
ATTENDING: G. Biesiada, S. Jones ,H. Bonner, A. Lombardi, H. J. Hubert, R. Strauss, J. Kianka; J. Suddaby
ABSENT: A. Hugo
ALSO PRESENT: K McCaffrey,D. Milcarek, G. Cox, R. NaPier, D. Bendig, K. Park, D. Headd, H. Sammons, J. Kalkbrenner, P. Infantine, E. Loftus, S. Kushner
Mr. Strauss called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ms. Biesiada moved for approval of the minutes of the December 12, 2007 minutes.
Mr. Hubert seconded, a brief discussion followed.
Mr. Kianka noted an error.
Mr. Hubert seconded the amended minutes, the motion carried unanimously.
ACTION ITEMS
Resolution: 08-01
Ms. Lombardi moved the following resolution:
Resolved, That the OCPL Board of Trustees approves the expenditure of up to $1,400 from the Smith Hawley Funds to cover the expenses for the staff catered boxed lunches and the morning and afternoon refreshments for Staff Development Day on March 20th
Mr. Hubert seconded, the motion carried unanimously
Resolution: 08-02
Mr. Hubert moved the following resolution:
Resolved, That the OCPL Board of Trustees approves a fine amnesty in order to remove barriers to the use of OCPL Central and branch libraries for children and teens enrolled in the 2008 Summer Reading Program who read and report on five books will have their total accrued fines waived and;
be it further resolved, That children and teens will incur no fines on items they return which have been declared lost, but charges for lost items that are not returned will not be affected by the amnesty and;
be it further resolved, That staff will make the necessary accommodations to enable children and teens with fines on their cards to participate in the Summer reading Program.
Ms. Biesiada seconded, the motion carried unanimously.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT On behalf of Dr. Latham, Ms. Loftus updated the Board on thefollowing topics:
a) SCSD Meeting
Ms. Loftus spoke about the meeting Ms. Suddaby, Dr. Latham and she had with Chris Vogelsang, the Deputy Superintendent; Tony Tolbert, Director of Elementary Schools; and Gwen McKinnon, Director of Middle Schools. They spoke about ways to deal with behavioral with youth in the libraries. They asked that we collect data about the schools that kids using the Mundy Branch Library attend and to report recurring behavioral problems to their school principals. The school district is on the same page as the library in terms steering kids to the services they need.
b) Acquisitions Meeting
Dr. Latham and Ms. Loftus met with the branch managers and Central Unit Heads on December 18th. They briefly discussed floating collections. As a first step they agreed on offering weekend displays of OCPL materials that ordinarily sit at a branch library over the weekend awaiting delivery pickup. These materials will be placed on display at the branches for the weekend for their clientele to have a chance to see and check out.
c) Securitas
The Library has $33,000 more in the budget for security. When discussing upgrading the security level at Mundy branch, they decided it would be better to go with two security guards at the current level. It has been a problem to recruit guards because most people are looking for fulltime. Securitas asked Ms. Loftus to create a schedule that would give each of the guards more hours.
Deputy Director Updates
It is scheduled for Thursday, March 20th at OCC. The theme is ‘Everybody Serves Youth”. The general session will provide an overview of child and adolescent development by a panel of experts. It will be followed by 10-12 sessions covering a variety of topics, including social networking, cultural sensitivity, generations at work, and local youth service providers. The afternoon sessions will include discussion groups randomly composed to represent all segments of staff. There will be a performance by the Media Unit. The cost for the workshop and the speakers is approximately $2,000, which will be covered by Trustees funds that were allocated for continuing education in 2007 that were unspent.
Currently there are five approved Librarian I vacancies (one more pending). They will spend their first year rotating between three locations (Central and two branches). Each librarian will work with a mentor. They will be encouraged to meet regularly to discuss challenges and ideas (support group, but will also provide valuable feedback to improve training plan).
Other activities include:
It has been piloted at Mundy, Central, Soule, and White. Although it was not used very often at any location, staff found that it was most successful when a parent was involved. A section for name (printed) and contact information was added. Procedures for use now include: “A parent or responsible adult’s presence at a meeting between the child and a librarian and/or administrator may be required if the child or teen has been repeatedly for behavior that disrupts library services or if the child or teen’s behavior poses a danger to staff or patrons”.
OCPL maintenance staff went up on the roof this morning after the Galleries staff notified them that they found twenty-four new holes. Some of the holes were right next to places that Josall had all ready fixed. They patched the smaller holes. One larger hole (over the Technical Services department) was covered with an old piece of ceiling material, attached with duct tape. The other large area of concern is the membrane, along the wall next to the Addis building (over LH/G compact shelving), which is pulling away from the wall. Josall will come in the morning
A Channel 9 reporter contacted Ms. Milcarek to ask if the Library was seeing any more leaks as a result of the warm weather. Ms. Milcarek replied there was no change.
COMMUNICATIONS
No committee reports were given.
OCSL
Mr. Kushner mentioned that Mr. Strauss attended their January meeting. The member directors appreciated the opportunity to share their concerns and to reinforce their commitment to moving forward and to establish the relationships needed to make OCPL an efficient organization.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Mr. Strauss reported that the Ossie Golden Trustees’ award recipients for 2008 are Deb Bendig and Brian Dobreski for the implementation of the new ILS. The reception will be held on February 5, 2008, 3:30 p.m. in the Central Library’s Smith Room.
Mr. Strauss asked Ms. McCaffrey to summarize the recently announced Walsh funding. Ms. McCaffrey stated that the Walsh funding was a request that Dr. Latham made a few years earlier, before the high-speed network was installed, and it was intended for their purpose. Dr. Latham is exploring other projects that would meet the Congressman’s intentions. Some possibilities are: adding bandwidth for Internet access, private VPNs for reference librarians, increasing the capacity for some libraries that were unable to have MetroNet installed at their location, partnering with Syracuse University on a development of a wireless canopy for the Southside, with possible expansion to the North and West sides.
Mr. Strauss noted that march 11th is Lobby Day in Albany. CLRC sponsors a bus for approximately for $20.00 per person.
OCPL ADVISORY COUNCIL
The Advisory Council met the night before, where Ms. Bendig gave a demonstration on the Polaris system, both from a user and staff perspective. Mr. Strauss made a recommendation regarding the Trustee of the Year Award. His recommended that a small stipend would go to the library the trustee represents. The Council voted and passed this recommendation. A resolution will be coming to the OCPL Board in the near future.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
At 4:25 Ms. Lombardi moved to go into executive session in relation to the Executive Director’s evaluation.
Ms. Biesiada seconded, the motion carried unanimously.
At 5:30 p.m., Ms. Jones moved to adjourn executive session and reconvene into open session.
Mr. Kianka seconded, the motion carried unanimously.
No action was taken in open session
ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Biesiada moved to adjourn the meeting.
Mr. Strauss adjourned the meeting at 5:35 p.m.
Next meeting is February 13th at 4:00 p.m. in the Mundy Branch library.
Respectfully submitted,
Gail M. Cox
Administrative Aide