1991-03-16 Board of Library Trustees Minutes

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v Board of Library Trustees Minutes of Meeting - March 16, 1991 Conference Room - Reading Public Library - 6:00 p.m. -esent: Mrs. Elia Marnik, chair; Mrs. Carol Beckwith; Mr. William Diamond; Ms. Cherrie Dubois; Dr. Christine Redford. Absent: Mr. Robert Fields. The meeting was called to order at 6:10 p.m. Minutes: Ms. Dubois made a motion to approve the minutes of February 24. The motion passed. New business: The order of business was changed to allow Corinne Fisher to present an update on the Children's Services division. "Ready reference questions have increased by 25 percent in the past few months, due largely to the computer catalog. Circulation of children's materials is up 5 to 7 percent in the same time period. The staff is beginning to feel the pinch. This year, as in previous years, 18 hours per week have been allotted for page hours in the Children's Room; however, this number is no longer sufficient. Staff is falling behind in re-shelving, and no shelf reading is getting done. Ms. Fisher said that the shelves are in "pretty bad shape." She has qualms about volunteers doing regular everyday work, which should be provided for in the library's budget (as opposed to special projects). A study done of one month's circulation revealed that picture books,. while only 5.1 percent of the entire library's collection, account for 20 r_cent of circulation. The picture books are "getting beaten to death." current volunteer project is to weed out the picture books which are in poor condition. $6000 from the Library Incentive Grant and donations has been allotted for the replacement of 500 to 600 picture books. The Children's Room staff pulls books for school use about five to ten times per month. These are displays, deposit collections, and books reserved for assignments. This advance warning makes things easier for the staff and shows cooperation with the schools. Reading will join a statewide summer reading club program this year, with an Olympics theme. The computer catalog is working out okay; stools are needed for the table. Rotary has made another donation to the Children's Room, with which Ms. Fisher would like to purchase a computer and furnishings (including color monitor and printer). She thinks that kids who don't have a computer at home are at a disadvantage in school. The Board discussed options for improving the shelving situation: volunteers, AARP employees. The starting rate for pages is $5.56. Ms. Dubois pointed out that the level of service cannot be maintained, if business continues to soar, without more resources for personnel. Mrs. Beckwith said that an increase in page hours is a small investment for a lot of work, and that she would back up a request for more funds. Other members of the Board concurred. The Director has mentioned this problem to the Town Manager and Bill Burditt of the Finance Committee. The current page staff, Ms. Hanley added, is fantastic. Financial report: The Director reported that the Library is coming close to ring a problem with its personnel budget. Mrs. Marnik suggested that the prary could close for a couple of hours and use that money to hire pages. Donations cannot be used to supplement the personnel budget. Ms. Dubois 1