1991-01-27 Board of Library Trustees Minutes

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L11 Board of Library Trustees Minutes of Meeting - January 27, 1991 Conference Room - Reading Public Library - 6:00 p.m. sent: Mrs. Elia Marnik, chair; Mrs. Carol Beckwith; Mr. William Diamond; Mr. Robert Fields; Dr. Christine Redford. Absent: Ms. Cherrie Dubois. The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. Minutes: Mrs. Beckwith made a motion to approve the minutes of December 16 and January 14. The motion passed. Statistical report: Circulation for December is lower than that of December 1991, but Reading still tops the statistics for all NOBLE libraries. Director's Report: Ms. Harley drew the Board's attention to the "Building" section of her written report. A gas odor revealed that the heating system has been installed improperly, and new parts were added to the burner. Tony Fletcher wrote that the solution to the archives room dampness problem would be to strip the carpeting and waterproof the wall from the inside. Mrs. Marnik asked the Director to request that this work be done. A memorial fund has been established in memory of Barbara Hewitt. Mrs. Beckwith asked that the donor of the Children's Room dollhouse be corrected to read: Beth Anderson. finished business: 1) Because Joan Morse, coordinator of media cialists, was present, the Board chose to change the order of the agenda Lo discuss the Library's relationship with the school libraries. Mrs. Morse, Mrs. Marnik, Ms. Hanley, and Dr. Munnelly met last Friday to discuss possible cooperative efforts. The unique role of the school libraries and the public library has been emphasized to the Town Manager. Progress in this area is very timely because of NOBLE's grant proposal to place terminals in two high school libraries, one being Reading. Mrs. Marnik and Ms. Hanley promoted the consolidation of technical services to achieve efficiencies and the use of technologies between the two systems, such as a shared online circulation system and catalog, and reference information sent by fax. Mr. Fields asked about the cost of the school libraries joining NOBLE. This issue is still under discussion by NOBLE's Executive Board. Mrs. Morse commented that putting the high school library's holdings into NOBLE would be the most practical way for that library to go online. The library. has about 26,000 volumes. She mentioned periodicals on microfiche and extensive backfiles of the New York Times as resources that the high school library could share with the public library. Mrs. Marnik noted that the Board of Library Commissioners looks very favorably on progress in this area, and that Seekonk is an example of where a coordinated school-public library system is working successfully. Mr. Diamond questioned whether centralized purchasing actually resulted in significant cost savings, considering the amount of coordination work it requires. Mrs. Morse replied that both libraries already receive the same- ''.,scount for most book purchases, and recommended joint purchasing of big cket items, such as encyclopedias, to take advantage of group discounts. 1