1995-01-17 Board of Library Trustees Minutes

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Board of Library Trustees Minutes of Meeting - January 17, 1995 Conference Room - Reading Public Library - 6:00 p.m:- Cherrie Dubois sent: Mrs. Elia Marnik, chair; Mr. William Diamond; Ms. ; Mr. Robert Fields; Dr. Christine Redford; Mrs. Maria Silvaggi; Also present: Mrs. Rachel Baumgartner; Mr. Stephen Baumgartner. Mrs. Marnik called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Minutes: Mrs. Baumgartner asked that page two of the December 19 minutes be amended to read that $110 was donated from a Tupperware party. Mr. Fields moved that the minutes be accepted as corrected. The motion passed. Financial report: Members of the Board commented on the format of the financial statement, which some felt to be unwieldy and overwhelming. Ms.. Hanley remarked that using Town Hall's automatically-generated format saves about forty person hours a month. She offered to look for a way to summarize the separate statements. It was suggested that the next set provide totals, with breakouts only for acquisitions. After discussion, the Board opted to continue with the full set of statements. Mrs. Silvaggi asked why eighty percent of acquisition funds had been expended so early in the year. Mrs. Hanley answered that the Library must spend fifteen percent of its operating income (including state aid and donations) on acquisitions in order to qualify for state aid. The town-appropriated materials budget of $71,000 falls below the fifteen percent. Each year, the Library spends some of its $12,000 in state aid and a few thousand dollars in donations to get the total materials 'jenditure up to the amount required to meet state aid requirements. This r, that amount is about $95,000. me municipal money is spent first, in the first seven months. January bills will finish out the appropriations for adult fiction and nonfiction, as planned. Other categories of acquisitions are small and are monitored by individual staff members. Tracking expenditures is tricky, because the Library has limited control over when shipments of newly published books will arrive, or what the discount will be. Mrs. Silvaggi asked if the Library has enough money for books. Ms. Hanley anwered no, but that the fulltext magazine product that will be provided next fiscal year by NOBLE will allow us to reallocate funds. Statistical report: Circulation continues to increase. It was over 20,000 in December despite the number of days that the Library was closed. Director's report: A Globe reporter interviewed the Director about libraries and technology. The Director taped a cable televison show last week on the subject of censorship. Kimberly Lynn will be invited to the next trustees' meeting to discuss some ideas for new programs and services. Mr. Fields suggested that when notary service is publicized, it should be noted that there is no charge. A fund has been established in memory of Burce Morang; it may become a trust fund. Liaison reports: The Town Engineer was meeting and will be invited to the next roposals. Mr. Diamond will try local chen. not able to attend tonight's meeting to discuss his parking retailers for donations to the 1