HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-04-09 PLB MINUTESEnglewood Public Library
Minutes
Englewood Public Library Board
April 9, 1996
Call To Order/Roll Call
The regular meeting of the Englewood Public Library Board was called to order by
Chair Mary Dounay at 7:06 p .m.
PRESENT: M. Dounay , M. Giffin, Council Member A. Habenicht , A. Leonard , R.
Greiner , F. Clayton , B. Williams,· M. Schwindt, and S. Ostema .
REGRETS : S. Williams and S. Smithers
ALSO PRESENT : Hank Long , Library Director , and Joan Clayton , Recording
Secretary, and Mary Lou Tatum , Outreach Services Librarian .
Roll call was taken and a quorum was declared present .
Scheduled/Unscheduled Visitors
Mary Lou Tatum, Outreach Services Librarian.
Old Business
96 - 6 Motion: That the Minutes of the Library Board Meeting of March 12 , 1996
be approved as written .
Moved by : Fielding Clayton
Seconded by: Bervette Williams
The Motion passed.
Gt·~ C.:. \e ~~
Ms . Dounay introduced scheduled visitor, Mary Lou Tatum, Outreach Services
Librarian for Englewood Public Library. Ms. Tatum then introduced herself with
background information. She went on to list her duties as Outreach Services Librarian .
First of all she is the supervisor for the Circulation area. This includes the Circulation
clerks who work the Desk , checking in and out materials as well as taking
fines , updating patron records , registering patrons in the data base and various other
tasks ; and the pages who are in charge of shelving materials, maintaining order of the e '
shelves and a variety of other tasks. Ms. Tatum said she spends an average of 2 - 3
hours per week on the Circulation Desk . In addition to this she is the person in charge
of booking the conference rooms for all City and outside groups . Second area of
responsibility is the supervising of the Bookmobile. All of the training for the
Bookmobile volunteers was done and set up by Ms. Tatum . "Thanks to a marvelous
group of volunteers my job is much easier·, said Ms. Tatum.
The third area of responsibility is that of programming Librarian. This involves all
programs done by the Library, both in the facility as well as those done outside the
Library . Ms . Tatum is the storytime Librarian every Wednesday and Friday mornings at
10 :30 . Pat Valentino who is the Children 's specialist does the storytime on Thursday
evenings , called Pajama Tales. As part of this job Ms . Tatum does all the planning for
three major programming events during the year , 1.) Children's Book Week in
November ; during Children 's Book Week in November every classroom in the
Englewood Public Elementary Schools plus the classes in the two parochial schools
were visited by Ms. Tatum and Ms. Valentino .
2 .) In April is National Library Week , this year it is the week of April 15 -19. This is a
week of various activities and programs held in the Library for the public . Flyers were
in the Library Board packets as well as handed out at this evening 's meeting. Ms .
Tatum is responsible for the all the planning and publicity of these events.
3.) The third major event of the year is the Summer Reading Program which this year
will begin June 14 and go through August 9. This is a readingprogram for school age
children as well as programs held once a week relating to the theme of the Summer
Reading Program , this summer the theme is , ·Reading the Rockies ·. Other programs
held during the year are after school programs held every other month on Friday
afternoons after school. In addition Ms . Tatum tries to have at least one program a
month for all ages . In 1996 January was a travel program, which had to be
rescheduled to March; February there were a series of four programs held on the
Healthy Heart done by Susan Trimmer, Wellness Coordinator for the City of
Englewood ; March saw a program on Building Permits Made Easy done by the Safety
Services Department . Upcoming programs include a program on Death and Dying in
May which is in conjunction with a grant the Library has received through them Central
Colorado Library System, and a program on flower arranging. The Colorado History
Museum will be doing a program around the Real West Exhibit currently at the
Museum , the Dumb Friends League has a program planned , and the Museum of
Natural History will be doing a program on China .
Ms . Tatum then went over the flyer for the National Library Week and cordially invited
all of the Board to as many events as they could attend. Ms. Ostema said that all
present should come spend a morning or a part of a day with Ms . Tatum, that it would
be very interesting for everyone as it had been for her to spend time with Ms. Tatum
when Ms. Ostema was doing volunteer work for the Bookmobile. Ms. Dounay credited
the smoothness of the Bookmobile program to Ms. Tatum's training of the volunteers
who work on the vehicle , as well as the training Margaret Vogel , the Bookmobile driver
had received .
Ms. Giffin noted that the National Library Week flyer was excellent and that the
wonderful programs are a credit to Ms. Tatum. Ms. Habenicht suggested working with
the Recreation Department to bring children into the Library ; .possibly a parade of pets
and dolls could be done as a summer program . Ms. D0unay thanked Ms. Tatum for all
her hard work and for coming to the meeting this evening.
There were no committee reports from the EPL 2000 Planning Team or the Coffee Cart
Committee. Ms. Leonard did have a short report from the Bookmobile Committee. A
Penny Drive will be held in the five Englewood Public School elementary schools the
last week of April to raise money for the Bookmobile Program. Last year this drive
raised $811. The school which raises.the most money will be awarded the travelling
trophy as started last year. The class raising the most money will get an ice cream
party.
Comments about the monthly statistics for the Library for the month of March included
discussion of the continuing drop in the number of patrons coming into the Library and
why. There is no single reason why this has occurred, though the closing of Cinderella
City has had a real impact as has the building of new libraries in surrounding
communities. Likewise, the number of patrons from Denver have declined now that
DPL has opened their new library and re-opened their remodeled branches. For the
purpose of the Facility Study being conducted by the City, the library consultant
commented that a shopping center near a library is most beneficial for both entities.
Comment was made about the number of McNaughton books checked out in two
weeks time . This prompted discussion of the Denver Post article which had recently
appeared about Englewood Library having the McNaughton books and including a
very nice picture of Ms. Jurgens. Mr. Long related how an upset patron had called
concerning the picture in the article. This led into a discussion about banned books,
furthered by the article Mr. Long had copied for those present about the grandmother
asking for the withdrawal of the book , "My Brother Sam is Dead ".
Regarding the Donor 's Fund Report, Mr. Long verified for Ms. Leonard that the second
entry line of the report for Bookmobile is in fact the transfer of funds for the driver's
salary. Ms. Dounay asked if the $5 ,000 donation from the Rocky Mountain News had
in fact been received. Ms. J. Clayton verified that it had not come to the Library as of
this date.
Ms. Giffin expressed surprise that Arapahoe Library District ranked number one for
operating budget and that Denver Public Library was ranked number two according to
the Colorado State Library Report. Englewood Public Library shows that 110% of its
population are registered patrons. Mr. Long stated that this is misleading because
Englewood purges its patron records of inactive patrons every three years , allowing for
the patron data base to grow extensively.
Ms. Ostema reported on the Book Discussion Group which had its first meeting on
March 19 . Though the turnout was small Ms. Ostema was encouraged that more
people had signed up for the next meeting scheduled during National Library Week,
Tuesday , April 16 . Ms. Ostema indicated that she would personally contact those who
had signed up for the discussion group to remind them of the date and time . Ms. e .
Ostema thanked Ms. Habenicht for her support and encouragement with the
discussion group . Events like the book discussion group are a perfect time to use the
small business cards given Board members to invite the public to these events.
Ms . Giffin reported on the progress of the Staff Appreciation Dinner scheduled for
Friday , April 26 from 6 - 8 p.m . Ms. J. Clayton will arrange for a sign up sheet for staff
and call Ms. Giffin with number of guests prior to the event.
New Business
Ms. Dounay invited all those interested to a community meeting of Englewood
Legislators on Thursday , May 16 from 4: 30 - 6 p .m. in the media center of Sinclair
Middle School. Englewood legislators , Tom Blickensderfer, Wayne Knox and Martha
Kreutz will be present . This is a chance for community members to meet their
legislators and talk to them about concerns of the community. With regard to talking to
local legislators Ms . Dounay brought forth for discussion the proposed chages to the
Children 's Code being brought up in the state legislature . Discussion followed with
regard to these changes.
9 7 -7 Motion: A motion was made that the Public Library Board of the Englewood
Public Library write a letter to their legislators , Wayne Knox , Tom
Blickensderfer, and Martha Kreutz asking that they retain wording to
protect children as stated in the present Children 's Code pertaining
to the reporting of abusvie situations .
Moved by: Sandi Ostema
Seconded by: Bervette Williams
The motion passed with 6 ayes, 2 abstained.
Mr. Long and Ms. Dounay will meet to draft this letter.
Ms. Dounay asked for ideas for future agenda items. Please call either Mr. Long or Ms .
Dounay if there are items you wish to have on the Agenda. It was decided to take 1 O -
15 minutes at the next meeting to discuss the roles of Library Board Members , Friends
of the Library , and Bookmobile Friends.
Mr. Long passed out copies of #Staff Notes " for those present to read while he
excused himself from the meeting for a few minutes . During Mr. Long's absence Ms.
Dounay reminded those Board Members who had not taken a tour of the Library to
please do so at their convenience. Ms. Leonard remarked how pleased she had been
to find that the Library carried all tax forms for the public . She thinks that it is a
wonderful service provided to the community .
Ms. Dounay asked that all Board Members be sure to come to Library activ ities,
especially during National Library Week , to show their support of the staff and
recognize their hard work in arranging for community activities. When Mr. Long
returned there were no questions specific to the Staff Notes he had passed out .
Mr. Long reported that Englewood Public Library had been one of five metro libraries
to receive a $500 grant from CCLS regarding the topic of Death and Dying. As part of
the grant the Library will sponsor a program on May 13 , Monday at 2 p .m. put on by
Porter Hospice on this subject. This program will be primarily for adults.The $500 will
be used to purchase materials for all ages regarding death and dying.
There was some discussion about the notes from the Public Library Association
Conference Mr. Long had attended. One session featured a debate surrounding the
Family Friendly Library Movement. Mr. Long will pursue ordering tapes of the debate
for a future meeting of the Board .
Ms . Ostema expressed her disappointment that the Englewood Schools would not be
holding a special remedial reading program for students at the Library this summer.
The Schools will be having summer school held at different elementary schools
instead of the reading only program they have held for the past three summers here at
the library . Ms . Ostema expressed a desire to support not just children 's reading
programs but those of adult literacy also . There are currently programs for adults at
Arapahoe Community College , as well as the Family Learning Program in the Lowell
annex of the Englewood High School.
96-8 Motion That the Englewood Public Library Board sponsor the enrollment of a
student , at a cost of $30 , to the Englewood Public Schools summer
school program .
Moved by : Sandi Ostema
Seconded by : Ame Leonard
The motion passed.
As was done last year , Mr. Long will again issue a challenge to other City Boards and
Commissions to likewise sponsor a student to this program at the $30 rate ..
Ms . F. Clayton said a suggestion had been made that a second bake sale be held this
year , an election year , where voters will be voting . No specific decision has been
made by the Friends Group regarding the suggestion .
Ms . Dounay announced that Englewood Public Schools has a Boettcher Scholar for
the year 1996 -97, Elisa Kapler . This is the seventh Boettcher Scholar that Englewood
has had in seven years . She also mentioned that Colorado 's Finest Alternative High
School was the Colorado representative in the Redbook magazines best high schools
in the United States for 1996 . This is the second time that the high school has been
chosen to represent the state of Colorado .
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9 p .m.
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