HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-04-24 Board of Library Trustees MinutesBoard..of Library Trustees
Minutes of Meeting - April 24, 1995
Confer-nce Room - Reading Public Library - 6:00 p.m.
Present: Mrs. Elia Marnik, Ms. Cherrie Dubois, Mr. Robert Fields, Dr.
Christine Redford, Mrs. Maria Silvaggi.
Also present: Mrs. Rachel Baumgartner, Mr. Stephen Baumgartner, abutters
and neighbors.
Absent: Mr. William Diamond.
Mrs. Marnik called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
Minutes: Ms. Dubois moved to accept the minutes of February 27. The motion
passed.
Financial report: $615 has been spent on supplies from the donations
account, in addition to $4133 from the budget.
Statistical report: March's circulation was almost 30,000.
Chair's report: A committee is being formed to select a recipient of the
Eugene Nigro Volunteer Award. Mrs. Marnik asked that the Board let her know
of any nominees. Mr. Fields recommended Arnold Berger.
A letter from Judy Mitchell proposed that the Children's Room hold a game
day, perhaps on a Saturday, to include games such as Scrabble, musical
chairs, etc.
The Board has been asked to nominate a representative to the Celebration
committee, term to expire June 30, 1995.
The parking lot issue has been put on hold due to lack of funds. All state
aid has been received. The. Board of Library Commissioners hope to visit all
libraries in the state; they would like to be invited to a Board
' ing.
Director's report: Work in the picture book room is almost done. Staff
expect to move back in this week. Yoko Watkins will be at the Library for
lunch on Wednesday as part of her author visit. The Director will attend
~he Massachusetts Library Conference on May 1 and 2, and will be on
vacation the week of May 7. Continental Cablevision is having a telethon
for public libraries on Friday, May 19 from 7 to midnight. The Garden Club
(led by Bea Erickson and Kathy D'Angelo) has been busy beautifying the
library grounds. Both the Friends and the Garden Club contributed money
for plants. Ms. Hanley and Mrs. Silvaggi will meet with Deb Tocco about
t.e kitchen renovations on Friday. Mr. Diamond has reported that Gray's
w-1-1 donate a microwave oven.
Unfinished business: 1) Mrs. Marnik told the abutters and neighbors in
attendance that the Library wants to be a good neighbor, and the Board
appreciates their input from last month's meeting. Because the project has
not been funded, it has been put on hold, but the Board will continue to
discuss ideas with the neighbors.
Neighbors agreed that the parking lot does need work in order to suffice at
very busy times, but expressed concern over expensive proposals that don't
provide much more parking.
Ms. Dubois concurred that people need to be educated about alternative
parking. She suggested signs saying, "If the lot is full, park on Dudley
Street..." and that the staff appear at each organization's first meeting
he year to inform them about parking. Mrs. Baumgartner suggested a
irate notice to those individuals who book the meeting room, asking
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members to park on the street. Mrs. Silvaggi pinpointed three issues: 1)
parking lot needs to'°be resurfaced, 2) the Library is handling
:eased business, 3) use of local streets for parking can be promoted in
a . ow-ke_v way.
2) New and updated policies were discussed, including: who's in charge of
the building (a new policy), keeping busy (new, extension of public service
policy), Children's Room computer (now a written policy), children's
programs (now a written policy), circulation policy (updated to show
elimination of fines), collection development (added a form for complaint
about library materials), e-mail (new), fax use (amended limits, added
paragraph about staff use), fines and charges, gift policy (differentiates
between gifts that go in to the collection and gifts such as furniture,
money, etc.), holiday policy (added Easter), meeting room (rearranged to
highlight certain restrictions), professional activities (to reference
Town's reimbursement policy), teacher loan (notices to be sent at end of
school year), telephone use, typewriter and computer, disruptive
activities, Internet (new).
The following suggestions were made: in the fax policy, indicate that faxes
are for informational/interlibrary purposes; post the holiday policy for
patrons; post a sign in the kitchen to leave it as clean as you find it;
add a sentence to the Internet policy that the library staff will not
oversee or supervise use of it.
There was discussion about charges for computer use. Division heads will
meet tomorrow to discuss charges for magazine fulltext, in order to recoup
costs for paper and ink. They propose an honor system which will involve
minimal staff time.
Nancy aberman will bring a recommendation next month concerning charges for
=e Friends' computers. it seems as though the Friends are not bringing in
;ugh money to cover paper, ink and maintenance.
8se policies will be presented at a public hearing in June. The Director
will update those that had changes recommended.
Friends' update: The April trip to the Gardner museum is sold out; the
house tCour tickets are more than half gone; a book sale will be held on May
20; the Pops trip is sold out; the annual meeting will be held June 14.
There were eighty-three people at last Wednesday's coffee hour, despite
lack of publicity. A nominating committee has been appointed. Gifts in
memory of George Howe have been designated for the kitchen renovation. The
current Friends membership is between 400 and 450 (counting each family
membership as one membership).
M_-s. Marnik expressed the Board's tremendous appreciation of the work
Rachel and Steve Baumgartner are doing.
New business: The Board did not have enough information to appoint a member
of 'Cne Celebration committee.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
v C,
Diane J. Yo ng
Assistant Director
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