HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-11-16 Board of Library Trustees MinutesBoard of Library Trustees ' E I V E U
Minutes of Meeting v ' H CLERK
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November 16, 2004 1.G'MASS.
Present: Vicki Yablonsky, Chair; Bill Anthony; Suzy Axelson; Karyn Storti, & thi P 1' 55
Dickinson, Acting Director; Corinne Fisher, Head of Children's Services.
Call to Order: Ms. Yablonsky called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
Minutes: In regard to the minutes for the meeting of October 18, 2004, Ms. Yablonsky moved
that the wording in the Director's Report be changed to: "Ms. Dickinson received a subpoena
regarding library materials in relation to the murder trial of a former Reading resident." The
motion passed.
The minutes for the meeting of November 3, 2004 were approved.
Financial Report
Ms. Dickinson reported that travel reimbursement is 98% spent. That and professional
development money is consistently spent by the early part of the fiscal year. Future travel and
professional development will be paid from state aid. She also explained that the $10,000 in
Technology (Capital) was voted at Spring Town Meeting and will be used for computers.
Statistical Report
Despite the slight dip in circulation figures, Ms. Dickinson reported that business was fine. She
will check the traffic count for October. The Red Sox could be to blame!
Director's Report
• Ms. Dickinson reported on a host of Library events, including the successful inauguration of
the Foundation's Helen A. Nigro Speaker Series with author Anchee Min. Halloween
activities organized by the Teen Advisory Group and by the Children's Room made the
Library a very busy place. The Children's and YA librarians conducted the annual "Cookie
Tours" for all 6t' grade students. The Friends will again be opening their Holiday Store.
• Local History initiatives are in process with Esme Green and Rachel Baumgartner pursuing
the digitization of collections. The Library will also participate in the NM RLS Archives
Assistance Program.
• YA librarians have applied for a Cultural Council grant to partially fund the annual middle
school author visit. This year's author is Maria Testa.
Head of Reference Services, Esme Green: LSTA Community Languages Grant
Ms. Green reported on the $20,000 LSTA Community Languages Grant awarded by the MBLC
to the Library in October. With Reading becoming more ethnically diverse, this grant will fund
additional materials in Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish as well as ESL materials and French and
Russian newspapers. A programming component is also included. A community advisory board
will assist the in-house grant committee as needed. Staff training in cultural differences will
enable the Library to serve the community even better. Ms. Green expressed staff excitement at
having this terrific opportunity.
Update: Director Search Committee
Ms. Storti distributed an update on the Director Search. Scheduling and procedures for reference
checking, development of second interview questions and the handling of staff comments were
discussed. Ms. Yablonsky, Ms. Axelson, Mr. Anthony and Ms. Dickinson will create a tentative
list of 2nd interview questions to present to the Trustees for discussion at the December 13th
meeting. It was also agreed that the Trustees may decide to interview candidates more than
once. Copies of the interview questions used by the Search Committee were distributed along
with additional question ideas. Ms. Storti was thanked for her continuing efforts!
Update on Guinness Record Event
Ms. Dickinson reported that unfortunately, according to Guinness, our attempt to break the
conveyor belt record was not similar enough to supercede the current record. The Trustees
highly praised the event as it was and decided to put a clever article in Off the Shelf to break the
bad news to the public. Ms. Dickinson will check with Guinness to explore the possibility of
-having our own record.
Trustee Items
The next Trustees Meeting will take place on Monday, December 13, 2004 at 7 p.m. The
meeting will commence with a check presentation by the Reading Lions Club.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:01 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Corinne Fisher
Head of Children's Services