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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-07-08 PLB MINUTESCall To Order/Roll Call 3400 South Elati Street, Englewood, CO 80110 303-762-2560 Voice 303-762-2576 FAX Minutes Englewood Public Library Board July 8, 1997 The meeting of the Englewood Public Library Board was called to order by Chairperson, Mary Dounay at 7:01 p.m. PRESENT: M. Dounay, M. Giffin , R. Greiner, S. O'Leary, S. Ostema, S. Smithers, B. Williams , Youth Member, Summer Witt (arrived late), Youth Member, Mike Heberling, and Council Member Alex Habenicht. REGRETS: A. Leonard, and M. Schwindt. ALSO PRESENT: Pat Jurgens, Automated Services Librarian, Mary Lou Tatum, Outreach Services Librarian, Hank Long, Library Director, and Joan Clayton, Recording Secretary. 9 11d Business Ms. Leonard had communicated a correction to the Minutes of the June 10, 1997 meeting. On page 2, paragraph 3 should read , " ... Cultural Arts Committee is forming a committee to facilitate a committee to plan the 1001 h Celebration." 97-22 Motion: That the Minutes of the Library Board Meeting of June 10, 1997 be accepted as amended. Moved by: Sonie Smithers Seconded by : Margaret Giffin The Motion passed, 6 Ayes, 1 Abstained Ms. Smithers reported for the Friends of the Library. A meeting was held at All For The Better Ice Cream Store during which time it was decided to hold a Bake Sale Halloween, Friday, October 31 and Saturday, November 1, which will coordinate with the City's Holiday Parade. Ms Dounay asked it the date of the Bake Sale would be changed it there is a need tor an alternate date 's use for the Parade. Ms. Smithers indicated that the date would not change for the Bake Sale. Ms. Williams said that at the meeting many good ideas were suggested for next year's Book Sale. 3 individuals have volunteered to co-chair this event next year; Bervette Williams , Bill Clayton, and Eileen Calkins. The next meeting of the Friends will be .eld on Wednesday, September 241 h in the George Perrin Room. Ms . Ostema said the Book Discussion Group will be held at her home in July and August due to the Library's remodeling project. The book for discussion in July is "Celestine Prophecy". Ms . Ostema asked that patrons with questions about the book group be given her home Page 2 ·hone number to call for information. In Ms. Leonard's absence Ms. Dounay asked Ms . Tatum to give an update on the Summer Reading Program on the Bookmobile. Ms. Tatum expressed how pleased she has been with the turn outs at the stops. Each stop is averaging 38 -40 children. There are over 340 children signed up for the six weeks of programs. At the final program , each child registered will receive a paperback book. With the illness of Margaret Vogel , driver of the Bookmobile , Mike Kandolph , an Englewood fireman has been driving twice a week with staff member, Raylene Al-Qatami driving the remaining three days . Margaret hopes to return to work in August. It was decided to send a get well card to Margaret from the Board . There was no report on the Cultural Arts Committee as Ms. Leonard was absent , and Ms. Habenicht said that she had missed the last meeting of the committee. Ms. Habenicht did give a brief report on the missile dedication at Belleview Park on July 41 h. Many Lockheed -Martin retirees were there for the dedication. This project was a joint effort of the Cultural Arts Commission , Council Member Vormitagg , and the help of Lottery Funds. Th is is seen as the beginning of "Art in the Park". Ms. Williams noted the increase in programs and attendance for the month of June , as reflected in the monthly statistics. 1s. Dounay had a question concerning the Bookmobile Operations report. She asked if the cost for vechile maintenance was to be charged to the Library budget or to the Bookmobile Fund. Mr. Long said that Steve Dazzio , Chief Accountant had notified him that the charges had been incorrectly charged to the Bookmobile Fund and were being corrected , going back to January of 1997 and being assessed to the Library Budget as budgeted by Mr. Long . A question arose concerning the Donor's Fund and why it is titled Donors Fund. Mr. Long explained that these are funds outside of the operating budget. The funds have being given as donations , usually for a specific project, as is the case of the Bookmobile Donor's Fund. Ms. Tatum and Ms. Jurgens had arranged for the video, "Sleeping Beauty" to be viewed. The video was not shown in its entirety but instead was viewed only with regard to the part of the video that had been challenged as inappropriate for juveniles. The present Board policy had been followed; with staff review of t he video after a patron complaint had been received. Because the staff agreed with the patron complaint that the video was indeed not age appropriate for juveniles , the video was withdrawn from the video collection. The staff at the time of withdrawing the video had determined that the video if placed in the adult video section would not have been viewed due to the perception that it is a fairy tale, therefore not an adult video. Ms . Jurgens offered her personal opinion that the video was indeed not age appropriate for juvenile designation, for ages birth to eleven. Discussion followed regarding the present policy for patrons to challenge materials. The present policy states that when a patron files a complaint it goes to the Director, who follows up with staff regarding the complaint. If the staff ; in agreement with the patron's complaint, then the material is withdrawn from the collection. If the staff is in disagreement with the patron and the material is not withdrawn , the patron may appeal the decision to the Library Board. Discussion followed concerning possible changes in the wording of the guidelines , as adopted in 1981 by the Public Library Board. It was decided Page 3 e ) review these guidelines at the Board meet ing in September. Further discussion surrounding the video , the age appropriateness , how juvenile is defined , etc. continued. During the discussion the Board conveyed that in the future they would like to review challenged materials prior to their withdrawal and or removal. Ms. Ostema asked about the procedure for protesting a removal. It was established that currently there is no formal procedure to protest a removal of materials , though Ms. Greiner suggested a protest be put in writing similar to the original complaint. Both Ms. Greiner and Ms. Dounay expressed appreciation that the video had been provided for the Board's viewing this evening. Both stated that they had no problem with the staff decision to remove the video from the collection as the video , though part of a well respected series was not appropriate for the juvenile age group. Mr. Long reported t hat the coffee cart has been very successful and popular with staff and other City Hall employees. The owner will have a Grand Opening after the remodel project is completed and the Library re-opens. The name of the coffee cart is "Peppermint Patty's". A brief discussion of t he business generated by this service followed. It was asked if the Board could sample the coffee at a future meeting. Mr. Long said the remodel is on schedule , with work scheduled to start in the conference rooms, Ms. Tatum's office and the reference work area on Monday , July 14 . ,aMs. Dounay reported on her involvement with the Chamber of Commerce 's program, W .eadership Englewood. Mr. Long and Ms . Habenicht are also involved in this new project. Ms . Smithers , who works for the Chamber of Commerce is in charge of the program. Ms. Dounay is representing the School Board not the Library Board. The purpose of Leadership Englewood is to encourage community involvement. This program, currently in the planning stages , is being designed as a course lasting 6 months , meeting once per month to address different areas of the community . Other cities have started similar programs and met with success . If anyone would like to be involved or knows of someone in the community who would be interested, please contact Sonie or the Chamber of Commerce office. Mr. Long asked for input or changes regarding the policies sent in this month 's packet. The first policy under discussion for review was the policy of Suspension of Library Privileges . The policy was last reviewed in 1987. 23 Motion: That the wording of #4 reason for suspension of Library privileges be changed to read , "Verbal or physical abuse directed to ... " Moved by: Margaret Giffin Seconded by: Sandi Ostema The Motion passed unanimously. -97-24 Motion: That the policy on Suspension of Library Privileges be approved as amended. Moved by: Sonie Smithers Seconded by: Bervette Williams The Motion passed unanimously. Page 4 97-25 Motion: That the policy of Public Posting/ Distribution of Literature be approved as written and last approved by the Library Board November 10. 1981. Moved by: Sandi Ostema Seconded by: Sonie Smithers The Motion passed unanimously. The next policy under discussion was the policy regarding the Public Use of Permanent Exhibit Space. Attached to the copy of this policy was the American Library Association 's policy regarding exhibit spaces. The questions was asked what spaces were included. Mr. Long replies any free wall space in the Library. There were no changes to this policy . 97-26 Motion: That the policy on Public Use of Permanent Exhibit Space be approved as written and last approved by the Library Board on April8, 1986. Moved by: Sandi Ostema Seconded by: Ruth Greiner The Motion passed unanimously. "he Board concurred that they would continue to review the policies currently in place , doing 1 e or 2 per future meetings. With regard to the 1998 Budget , Mr. Long indicated that the process has not progressed due to the recent resignation of the City Manager. Chuck Esterly , the director of Public Works has been named Interim City Manager, with Jerrell Black , the Director of Parks and Recreation being named the Acting Assistant City Manager, part -time . Rick Kahm has been named the acting Director of Public Works. With all the staff changes, Ms. Habenicht said that City Council has been very specific that they have full confidence in the Directors and City staff. Mr. Long indicated that he is planning to ask for two part time positions to be added in the 1998 Budget , 1.) Children's Librarian position, part time and 2.) a computer specialist to take care of hardware and technical support. Information Services has more demands on their time than they have staff to fulfill. The Children's Librarian request is a result of the EPL 2000 planning recommendations. The same planning committee recommended that technology needs are also to be maintained and met by the Library. Ms. Habenicht was asked if the City Council has a sense of whether revenues are stable, up or down for this year. Ms. Habenicht said Council has not had a report recently . Member's Choice Mr. Heberling said that he had missed the June Board meeting because he had been on the ~nglewood High School band trip to California. He said the trip had been fun. Ms. O'Leary thanked Ms. Giffin for the great desserts! Page 5 Ms. Witt said she had gotten a job at Payless Cleaner's which is keeping her busy. Ms. Smithers said she had three things to share; 1.) Her step-daughter had gotten married and the wedding was wonderful , 2.) At the wedding she had met a nephew who is an actor in New York who she'd not met before , 3.) The Chamber of Commerce's Golf Tournament is Monday , July 14, volunteers are needed. Ms . Williams said her husband is in Alaska for the next month. She is expecting company to keep her busy. Ms. Giffin said she has been busy getting used to retirement. Ms . Ostema said she had three things to share: 1.) as of July 1 she is a candidate for the City Council At -Large vacancy ; 2.) She asked about registering for the September conference for Trustees in Lakewood . Ms. Clayton will register those Board members wishing to attend; 3.) She wanted to know when the Library joined the Chamber of Commerce , how much it costs per year for the Library to be a member and why is the Library a Member if the City is already a member. Mr. Long answered that the reason the Library is a member its own is for the exposure in the community . He said he would find out when the Library first became a member on its own and the cost per year. e 1s. Habenicht shared her experiences from the recent CML( Colorado Municipal League) conference held in Snowmass. She felt that the conference was a very positive experience. It is a good chance to see how Englewood compares to other communities in the state. Her impression was that there has been a resurgence in trust between government and the community. One of the speakers had talked about the lack of personal connection for the public between April 15 and July 4. That taxes tie in with what these taxes bring to the community i.e. services ; for instance because you have paid your taxes the Library can purchase books to be put on the shelves for the public to enjoy. Ms. Habenicht said that she would be glad to bring visuals to the next meeting to explain about "spiral thinking " and how it applies to valuing each other. There is a bond between business and residents, such as we have in our community with the effort to work together. A start has been made in this direction with the recent meeting between members of NEON ( North Englewood Organization of Neighbors) and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Heberling asked what NEON was . Ms . Ostema explained that it is a group of neighbors who formed to try and improve their neighborhood in light of past problems in the North Englewood area, mainly problems with Stand-By Personnel. Ms. Ostema asked if a poster from the NEON group could be posted in the Library. Mr. Long indicated that yes there is a table for community flyers to provide information about community happenings. Ms. Tatum said she had thoroughly enjoyed her trip with Ms. Leonard to purchase books to be given as prizes at the end of the Reading Program on the Bookmobile. Ms . Tatum said that a she has appreciated greatly all the help Ms. Leonard has provided this summer with the W l ookmobile programs. Ms. Jurgens said that she appreciated the opportunity to be present this evening. She had enjoyed seeing the input from the Board , with regard to the challenged video. Ms. Jurgens Page 6 said she felt that the Board should be proud and satisfied with the staff of the Library who order materials for the Library. The staff is very good and does an excellent job of selection. Ms. Dounay said that she fully agreed with Ms. Jurgens' statements about the staff and hoped that staff knows how the Board regards them. Mr. Long said he had three things to share; 1.) Thanks to Ms. Tatum and Ms . Jurgens for coming to the meeting tonight.; 2.) Kathleen Cook, a circulation staff member, was very proud to be in California for the Pathfinder landing, as her son Richard is Mission Manager of the project; 3.) He asked if the Board liked having the different colors for the Agenda and Minutes of the meeting. All present said they appreciated the coloring of these items. Ms. Dounay, in keeping with the three items to share listed her three items: 1.) She had recently gone to Nebraska for a nephew's wedding; 2.) Her parents had celebrated their 501 h wedding anniversary , which was celebrated by the family at the recent wedding held in Nebraska; 3.) Her daughter, Jennifer who had been in Slovakia for the past year has returned home for awhile. Jennifer will start work soon at the state education office. Ms. Dounay passed around a thank-you note from Ms. Ostema, thanking the Board for flowers that had been sent to her when she had surgery. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 9:00. 7/97 jc