HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-01-08 Board of Library Trustees Minutes7~
d
AT, '41
-
Board of Library Trustees
Minutes of Meeting - January 8, 2004
Present: Stephen Conner, Donna InDelicato, Eugene Nigro, Christine Redford, Maria
Silvaggi. Also: Russell Graham, Foundation President.
Mr. Conner called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.
Minutes: The minutes of December 11 were accepted.
Foundation: Mr.Graham reported that the Foundation had a very successful month. A letter
was sent out offering charter membership for donations received by December 31. Over
$40,000 was received, including one $10,000 contribution. The fund is well over $400,000
now, below where the organization had expected to be by this time, but very good given that
no outside expertise has been used for fundraising. What's missing is the major gift, e.g.
$250,000.
The Foundation Board needs to learn how to reach businesses, including larger out-of-town
corporations. Investments, guided by the advice of Nelson Burbank, are fairly conservative;
the fund requires more money to take a higher risk. A response heard lately is that people hear
the Library's going to build-is the Foundation money going to be used for a capital project?
As that project comes closer, confusion will increase.
The Foundation will donate an amount to the Library each year; the trustees will decide how
it will be spent, bearing in mind that some gifts have restrictions. The trustees can help the
Foundation in finding more board members, and also by making it clear that the they support
the Foundation.
Jan Schlictmann, lawyer for the Woburn drinking water suit, will speak a Parker Middle
School on January 26 to benefit the Foundation.
FY02 budget: Even with an override, it is likely that the Library will have to suffer a budget
reduction. Without an override, Ms. Lynn guesses that the cut may be $35,000. Meeting
eligibility requirements for state aid is an issue for both number of hours open and total
budget.
For each reduction scenario requested by the Town Manager, the materials budget will be cut
to the 15% required. Ms. Lynn presented a menu of hours to close: summer Saturdays, 5 p.m.
on Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 4 p.m. Sundays, 1 p.m. Fridays, noon
to 1 p.m. Monday to Saturday (lowest use time). Closing at 8 p.m. presents a problem because
of the hour of dead time between open hours and "Reference on Call" service. It costs $100
per hour to staff the public desks. A number of hours that will be eliminated, not with
specified times, will be given to the Selectmen.
The Friends meet on Wednesday night, and may discuss how they can support the override.
The election is April 3. Mr. Nigro would like to see public debates on the override.
Chair's report: Dr. Redford will not be running for re-election. She has served on the Board
for fifteen years. Suggestions for names for a new board member may be referred to Ms. Lynn
or Mr. Conner. The legislative breakfast has been rescheduled to March 30. Additional state
aid has been received, in the amount of $3,327.
Director's report: Crates are being delivered on Wednesday to move books on the main
floor during carpeting; carpet installers will start work on Monday.
Ms. Lynn met briefly with Keith Fiels, Director of the Board of Library Commissioners. He
gave some explanations of why the BLC is doing what they are in terms of regional reference
contracts. He has been encouraging regions to fund contracts at lower levels and split out
services. NMRLS has been doing this, pulling money out of Andover and putting it toward
electronic databases. Mr. Fiels said that the BLC is firm in not pushing the timetable, so that
they can protect relationships.
A draft of a letter to the BLC from the Board of Trustees was approved. General comments:
the BLC is playing a role of custodianship, rather than leadership; the Board does not want to
make waves that result in a loss of state money, but if it doesn't keep a certain amount of
pressure on the BLC, the BLC will not move forward; a single, physical provider is
outmoded; the BLC is tacitly agreeing that regional reference service is not a lot of books in a
building.
The Merrimack Valley consortium has just begun allowing patron-placed requests. As a
result, interlibrary loan has increased tremendously, impacting the cost of delivery in
NIVIRLS. In other states, II.L has more than doubled in one year when this service has been
instituted. NOBLE will be offering this eventually, causing the workload to shift. The
interlibrary loan process will be streamlined, but the overall number of transactions will
increase.
Director's evaluation: Ms. Lynn's six-month evaluation was compiled by the Board.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 p.m.
Diane J. Young
Assistant Director
