Waterloo Public Library Board of Trustees met Thursday, April 7.
Here are the minutes as provided by the Waterloo Public Library:
WATERLOO PUBLIC LIBRARY—Board of Trustees—April 7, 2016
Submitted by Kim Chapman
Members present: Ivy Hagedorn, Karol Erdmann, Kathleen Wernimont, Warren Wortham
Members absent: Jan Hahn
Others present: Steven Nielsen, Kim Chapman, Mike Dargan, Lori Petersen, Amy Rousselow,
Carolyn Sallis, Councilman Pat Morrissey
The regular meeting of the Waterloo Public Library Board of Trustees was called to order by Vice President Karol Erdmann at 12:06 p.m.
Moved by Wernimont, seconded by Hagedorn, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion passed.
Moved by Wernimont, seconded by Hagedorn, to approve the March 3, 2016, regular meeting minutes as presented. Motion passed.
The financial sheets and bills were reviewed. There is a big push to spend all of the materials’ budget before the end of the fiscal year. Moved by Wernimont, seconded by Hagedorn, to pay all bills as presented. Motion passed.
The usage and statistics report was reviewed. The transition from one system to another has affected reporting. We are working are being able to retrieve all stats needed.
Director’s Report
Surface Pro—seven Surface Pro tablets have been, or will be, purchased for management and other select staff so that WPL and staff can become more portable, in addition to saving paper and printing. Documents will be stored in the cloud, so they will be accessible anywhere at any time.
The ILS will be able to be used off-site, and new forms are being created.
[12:15 pm, Wortham arrived]
Branding—a new WPL logo is being created and will give WPL a new identity on its intranet. Staff will be using new email addresses, which will be the first letter of their first name followed by their last name @waterloopubliclibrary.org. All email addresses will now be uniform. All forms will be automated and uniform. All staff will be brought into the environment.
Theft—Nick accompanied Steven to the local pawn shops last week where they did find WPL items for sale. It is against City ordinance for the pawn shops to sell items from a City department; they could be in jeopardy of losing their license by doing so. The pawn shop dealers were very cooperative, and $200 worth of materials were found and returned to Steven and Nick. The pawn shops know WPL will prosecute if items are found for sale in their shops in the future. There has been a lot of theft of DVDs and video games from WPL, and one patron has been caught on the security cameras taking items. He has been banned from the library for one year. Some of those items were recovered at the pawn shops.
Recruiting a New Board Member—Board members are encouraged to think of peers to serve on the Library Board; the staff will also be asked for suggestions.
Miscellaneous—Steven reported the staff is doing a good job of adapting to the new system. Steven gave a presentation at a Kiwanis Club recently. Kiwanis members like our library; most have a library card. He talked to them about e-materials, audio books and on-line magazines, something we should all be promoting.
Wortham questioned the FY17 budget. Steven responded the budget is finished and has been certified. There are no cuts in line items, but the inflation rates do cut us. Thirty-hour staff will be going to 29 hours at the fiscal year; we are one of the last departments to still have 30-hour staff.
We are still working on how to use the eleven hours we will lose from those staff members being reduced to 30 hours.
Informational Reports from Staff
Mike Dargan, Tech Systems—it has been a whirlwind with the migration to the new ILS and Workflows software. Procedures are being worked on and habits are changing.
Amy Rousselow, Marketing—The Hive opened Monday April 4. The Cedar Valley Makers toured The Hive on Sunday and were impressed; they also has a few suggestions. Amy is working on a summer campaign for the digital collection. WPL has been nominated for the best 2015 Cedar Valley attraction in the Hospitality Award category. Voting will determine the winner.
Carolyn Sallis, CWA—showed her pillow project that can be made in The Hive. She is working with Lori on a summer project for the kids.
Lori Petersen, Youth Librarian—attendance at events: Movie Night, 53; Lego Lab, 67; May the Fun Be With You (World’s Greatest Spring Break Event), 138; Marble Run (WGSB Event), 53. A Goosebumps party is scheduled for this weekend, along with the Cedar Valley Literature Festival on Friday at CFPL.
Kim Chapman, Office Manager—nothing to report.
Referred for Board Action
Approval of FY17 County Contract for Public Library Service—moved by Wernimont, seconded by Hagedorn to approve the FY17 county contract. WPL will receive $71,163.00. Motion passed.
Continuing Education/Travel Requests—moved by Wernimont, seconded by Hagedorn to approve the travel request. Nick will travel in May to Indiana for the COSUGI (Sirsi user group) conference.
Motion passed.
Unfinished Business
L/M Communication—the March 17 meeting minutes are in the packets. Carolyn reported she is bringing someone in to help with training, and retraining, of L/M committee members.
New Business
Erdmann reported the plan was made to evaluate the new director after three months. She would like to form a committee to do that. She will chair it, and Hagedorn and Wortham have agreed to serve on it.
FOL Liaison
Coffee is now being sold in the book store.
Oral Comments of Board Members, Staff and the Public
Erdmann commented WPL should start thinking of our relations with the new Hawkeye Community College in downtown Waterloo.
The next meeting will be May 5, 2016, at noon. Erdmann will not be able to attend, and Steven will be on vacation. Moved by Wernimont, seconded by Wortham to adjourn. Motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 1:04 p.m.
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