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MINUTES
OCPL Board of Trustees’ Meeting
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Central Library,Board Room
4:00 p.m.
ATTENDING: G. Biesiada, S. Jones, B. Fisher, A. Lombardi, H. J. Hubert, D. Strauss, J. Suddaby
ABSENT: H. Bonner, D. Moynihan, J Kianka
ALSO PRESENT: J. M. Latham, D. Milcarek, G. Cox, R. NaPier, D. Bendig, K. Park, S. Carmer, H. Sammons, D. Headd, G. Sanford, J. Kalkbrenner, S. Kushner, E. Loftus, M. Mignano
Mr. Strauss called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Ms. Suddaby moved the minutes of the February 13, 2008 Board meeting.
Mr. Fisher seconded, the motion carried unanimously.
Ms. Biesiada moved the minutes of the February 26, 2008 Board meeting.
Ms. Suddaby seconded, the motion carried unanimously.
EXECUTVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT
New Hires
OCPL has attracted three new librarians to the system, and was able to promote two staff to the position of librarian 1. Dr. Latham and other members of the management team met with the new hires as part of their initial orientation. She mentioned that the group discussed OCLC, how to purchase a house in the area, and the process of county orientation. OCPL is also implementing a new familiarization process, which they hope will create a broader overview of OCPL as a whole. Dr. Latham congratulated Ms. McCaffrey, Ms. Loftus and the interview team for their efforts in structuring this process and bringing it to completion.A/TS (Automation Technical Services department)
After its resounding success with the Polaris upgrade, A/TS is about to take a serious hit in terms of staffing. With Mr. Sanford’s retirement in April and Mr. Ugoji’s promotion the department will be a bit short staffed. There is a position request concerning the creation of a Network Coordinator for the library; it requires authorization from the Information Technology department. The Library will be working with the IT department about how to move this position along through the process.PULISDO
A number of significant items emerged at the annual pre-lobby day PULISDO meeting this year. First, and importantly, is the fact of Janet Welch’s announced retirement, effective in May. There is concern her position will not be filled, but the responsibilities transferred to another position that all ready exists within the State Education Department (SED). The PULISDO membership expressed a collective commitment to retaining the assistant commissioner state librarian position, and has directed Dr. Latham as chair, to draft a letter to the Board of Regents communicating just that. They were also urged to contact our own Regent representative and communicate the same. Our representative is Anthony Bottar.They also met with Jeff Cannell who is the deputy commissioner for culture, who is the “manager” of the state librarian. He wanted to clarify his intentions and reiterated his commitment to the end- user of library services. This signals a potential change in the state’s position vis a vis public libraries as institutions. In this case, we would need to work with our state legislators.
PULISDO as a body has also authorized Dr. Latham to contact Michael Borges, executive director of the New York Library Association, to request the creation of a legislative or gubernatorial commission to draft a vision for the future of public library service within the state of New York. They are aware that, as systems, they cannot continue to provide both 20th and 21st century service models, and must begin to look at restructuring at its most basic level. They are aware that such studies in commissions have appeared in the past, but feel they cannot continue to ignore the sea change that is sweeping their profession.
Walsh Grant
The library has received official notification of the IMLS congressionally directed grant. Dr. Latham is in the process of reviewing the files in order to complete the paperwork for them. Mr. Walsh’s office is interested in arranging a PR event for this. The broad overview is that OCPL needs to increase their Internet capacity. The libraries in the county that have inadequate connectivity at this time, need an upgrade in capacity.
New Business
Books by Mail
This issue came out of the Management Team meeting. Currently Books by mail is a function of outreach services and is supported by state funds. However, the state funding has not kept up with the cost of delivering the service. OCPL faces a dilemma: do we stop promoting the service because the funding can’t keep up with it or do we go after more money to support the service and promote it? This is a wonderful service that is important to more and more of our population. We would like to expand. We would like the Board’s blessing on proceeding with investigating what costs are associated with expanding the service the way we would like to deliver it and then make it part of the operating budget. The Board questioned the amount they are looking at, and feels, as long it doesn’t run into the tens of thousands of dollars it is worth pursuing.
Old Business
Dr. Latham reviewed the Ashley McGraw quote for the roof repair. The tear off and replace costs with the contingency cost built in would be $634,200. Since there have been more leaks that have occurred since the quote was given regarding the damage of the roof those numbers would have to reconfigured.
Mr. Strauss recommended an ad hoc committee on the issue of the roof to represent the library. Mr. Fisher and Mr. Hubert have volunteered to participate.
Ms. Mignano, from Management and Budget explained that her department has been asked to establish the cost and it is moving forward now that the final study is complete. She stated that Mr. Kochian would be the one to speak with on this, but wasn’t available today and she was asked to represent him at the meeting. There is a push to get this accomplished and she has been officially asked to find finances towards this. This is a priority with the County Executive’s Office and Management and Budget.Mr. Fisher inquired how something like this gets decided. The Board bylaws state that they have fiduciary responsibilities for the library system and the general oversight as a Board. He realizes the funding actually would come from the County, and they can’t spend money without the approval of the County Executive’s and the Legislature’s approval. He knows conversations would have to happen, but is wondering how that process works. Mr. Hubert stated that the County has to be part of the conversation, since it is not the Library’s facility. Ms. Mignano explained that there will be conversation among the County, Management and Budget, and the Board of Trustees, as in the past. At that time, the group can discuss responsibilities, roles and where the funding comes in. In terms of the roof itself, the Library owns the space and the landlord owns the shell. The County does not actually own the roof. The next steps are: if we do not own the roof and we do intend to move forward with repairs, because we have to safeguard our piece, we will have a very interesting course of action to take in order to get reimbursed.
Mr. Fisher questioned the point of order on who makes the decision on what happens. Mr. Strauss explained that since we are a municipal library, the funding comes from the County. So, they have to be part of the process, the Board has fiduciary responsibilities that it’s spent wisely. The real contention with the roof is that we are fixing something we don’t own for self-protection. Mr. Hubert wondered if the County isn’t willing to pay now or can’t come to some agreement with the landlord, the Board has an obligation to the library and the employees to protect our collection, equipment, and staff. Would it be possible to have someone to fix the roof and let him know we would pay him once it is all worked out. Ms. Mignano again reiterated that the County owns the space and the County feels the same way as the Board to protect everything and everyone within that space. The reason is has taken this long is that they just received the final quotes of figures.
Mr. Hubert is also concerned about mold and it being a health and safety issue. Dr. Latham reported that the County’s Loss Prevention department and she would be doing a mold walk through on March 14th. Mr. Hubert asked how that happened and Dr. Latham said she requested it. Ms. Carmer mentioned that one was also done about one year ago.
The Board subcommittee will contact Mr. Kochian to further discuss this matter.
Ms. Mignano suggested starting with the Education and Libraries Committee as their first contact point with the Legislature. Since the library has a finite amount of money to run the library, the County is looking for funds elsewhere in the County.
Mr. Hubert heard that about a year ago the Gifford Foundation invited a lot of non-profit organization to attend a meeting about a new initiative called ADVANS. Where we invited or did anyone from the library attended? Dr. Latham knew about it, but the Library was not invited. She stated that we often run into the issue of how the library is identified within the community. Many see us as a county department and so we are not seen as a non-profit. Dr. Latham said she would contact Heidi Holtz from the Foundation regarding this initiative. Mr. Strauss commented that this is an opportunity of the OCPL Foundation. The Gifford Foundation is changing their focus; they are going towards getting people set up soundly to becoming a non-profit.Mr. Strauss asked about setting up an ad hoc committee from the Board to help get the right people involved in planning a long-term strategy for Mundy branch. Ms. Suddaby and Ms. Lombardi volunteered to participate on the committee.
Staff Reports
KyungJin – Staff Development Day
Ms. Park gave the following updates:
- Theme – Everybody Services Youth
- Roz NaPier and Lorraine Mavins, Co-chairs
- Reviewed the agenda and various workshops being offered
- Registration – 197
- Lunch Buffet - 183 (sponsored by the Board of Trustees)
OCPL Diversity Initiatives
Beauchamp Initiatives – came out of a meeting between Dr. Latham and grass-roots activist, Geneva Hayden.
Dr. Latham mentioned this is a specific request from the community to which the library is responding. She explained that this is a pilot not only for the community, but the library as well. While public libraries are and continue to be about books, they are also information services and should be developing specific information resources for their respective communities.
White Initiatives
Adult and Youth Dialogue Circles in partnership with the Community Wide dialog to End racism and the library will offer dialog sessions to address racial and ethnic tensions among library patrons in the community. It is a joint grant proposal to the Community Foundation.If funding is approved, White branch will host 24 dialogue circles; 12 for adults and 12 for youth. The target date is fall 2008. In 2009 the project will be passed onto the Northside Collaborative, so the dialogue circles will continue in the community.
OCPL Diversity Committee Initiatives
Committee is working on long and short-term recruitment strategies specifically targeting minorities.
- Attend High School Job Fairs
- Structured public librarianship to three selected high school students.
The end product
Project manager, Ossie Edwards; Denise Headd, Mitch Tiegel, and other branch and central librarian will also be involved in this project.
YWCA Diversity Achievers’ Award
Ossie Edwards, Betts Branch is one of the 2008 recipients.
Luncheon will be held on April 23, 2008 at 11:30 at the OnCenter.Construction Projects
Ms. Carmer reviewed the construction projects that are in process.Lobby Day
Ms. Loftus mentioned that several traveled to Albany to advocate for libraries. Four of the new hires also went to see how the lobbying process works. Eighty-eight legislators were represented.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Mr. Strauss received the Board’s liaison and committee preferences. He will assign members to committees.
Banned Books Event – each year we celebrate the freedom to read week. This year’s event will be held on October 1, 2008. Mr. Hubert asked if there was a committee established for this and if there are any schools involved with the reading event. Ms. Loftus explained who is on the committee, the partnerships with the author and the schools, and her contact her contact to reach out to the schools. Mr. Strauss also explained the need to raise funds for this event.
OCSL
Mr. Kushner mentioned that didn’t have a meeting this month due to a two day “Unconference” workshop that was sponsored by CLRC and SCLRC.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
At 5:30, Ms. Biesiada motioned to enter into executive session to discuss a personnel matter.
Ms. Jones second, the motion carried unanimously.
At 6:15, Ms. Biesiada moved to adjourn executive meeting.
Mr. Fisher seconded, the motioned carried unanimously.
No action was taken in open session.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Strauss adjourned the meeting at 6:17 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Gail M. Cox
Administrative Aide