1999-10-18 Board of Library Trustees Minutes

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Board of Library Trustees Minutes of Meeting -October 18, 1999 Present: Maria Silvaggi, chair; Stephen Conner; Cherrie Dubois; Richard Ogden. Also present: Matt Cummings, selectman liaison. Mrs. Silvaggi called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Minutes: The minutes of September 20 were accepted. -0 -111-111, 'jo ,.Room Statistical report: September's circulation was good, considering that the Children was closed for a period, and the entryway disruption continued. Heavy discarding in' September reflects a backlog being taken care of. Children's Room staff took advantage of the closing to weed the picture book collection. _ v Reading's circulation is about twice the state average per capita, however, it is not owi the way it used to. Now the staff is concentrating on those parts of the collection th area growing: nonprint and trade paperbacks. Mr. Cummings suggested that a column be added on the circulation report that show increase over last year for each category. Reference questions have increased by fifty-four percent since 1993. Report from the Chairman: The sensitivity training began on October 14. The financial forum meets on October 28. Director's report: The next Board meeting was rescheduled to November 22. Focus groups for the long-range plan are being put together for November. The planning committee meets November 6. Mrs. Silvaggi asked the Director to look at the impact of ed reform on the library for budget background. Reading is going to bid on the contract for regional after-hours reference service. The region has $50,000 budgeted for this service annually. Hours might include nine to midnight, and Sunday mornings. Questions will be taken by phone, fax, and e-mail only; the Library would not be open for in-person visits and would be staffed by one librarian and a custodian. The proposal is due to NMRLS by November 1. Other bidders will be Andover, Westford. ULowell. This could be a revenue source for the Library. Mr. Conner commented that the service itself seems valuable to Reading residents-there are other positive outcomes besides revenue. Mr. Ogden was concerned about overextending the current staff, and the impact of this proposal on budget requests for more staffing. The program is a trial one, due to start sometime after January 1. Service would be provided to the residents of the northeast library region. Mr. Cummings remarked that this would be a benefit to the citizens of Reading at no cost to them. A sound-attenuating fence has been installed around the cooling tower. An incident of vandalism to the towercaused a lot ofnoise, and destroyed one of the motors. Stillto be done: air balancing and training in the operation of the system. The actual construction is finished.