HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-02-28 Board of Library Trustees MinutesBoard of Library Trustees
Minutes of Meeting - February 28, 1994
Conference Room - Reading Public Library - 6:00 p.m.
_ gent: Mrs. Elia Marnik, chair; Mrs. Carol Beckwith; Mr. William
Diamond; Dr. Christine Redford.
Absent: Ms. Cherrie Dubois; Mr. Robert Fields.
The meeting was called to order at 6:15 p.m.
Minutes: Ms. Beckwith moved that the minutes of January 24 be accepted.
The motion passed.
Lorraine Barry, the Library's new Young Adult Librarian as of March 7, was
introduced. Ms. Barry will replace Robin Elbot, who is taking a job at the
Beverly Library. Ms. Barry has been working at the Information desk on
Sundays since October and will receive her MLS in May.
The Children's Division report was postponed due to Corinne Fisher's
illness. The Director reported that Saturday's sleepover was a success.
Financial report: The grant for books on tape is being expended. $6400 in
state aid for nonresident reimbursement has been deposited. The Governor
has included that allocation, which was new this year, in his budget for
next year.
,,.istical report: Circulation for January exceeded Salem's by 2000.
ulation is 10,000 ahead of last year. The videos have circulated 5000
times since the inauguration of the collection last July.
Director's report: The Department of Public Works has asked the Library to
submit specifications for a cleaning service, which would supplement the
current custodial duties. The Director submitted an article about the
Library for Banker & Tradesman's special issue on Reading. Mrs. Marnik,
Ms. Hanley, and Tom Stohlman appeared on a cable TV show last week to talk
about tenth anniversary events.
Trustees bid farewell to Young Adult Librarian Robin Elbot.
Unfinished business: 1) Last week the Town Manager presented the Library
staff with the draft of his reclassification plan, including the amount of
each employee's proposed increase. Mr. Diamond pointed out that the upper
limit of each salary range has been chopped off, eliminating the incentive
for an employee to stay. The Director would like to address that issue
next year. Board members thought that the raises were insufficient. Ms.
Hanley noted that next fiscal year all employees will be eligible for the
4.5 percent cost-of-living increase.
2) Details of the tenth anniversary celebration were discussed.
New business: 1) Ms. Hanley distributed the information which she had
aj..-,n to the Selectmen concerning fines. Mr. Nigro had raised the question
he Library's revenue at a recent Selectmen's meeting. In a
.versation with Mr. Nigro, the Director observed that the Library's
iAssion is educational (not revenue-producing), that it had cost the
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Library $10,000 in staff time to collect fines, and that the Reading Public
Library does not have a serious problem with book theft or vandalism
cause its policies are not punitive.
Diamond commented that the purpose of fines is to encourage prompt
rn of books, not to produce revenue. Collection of fines does not
benefit the Library's users, causes customer relations problems, and costs
money. Mrs. Marnik asked the Director to find out which libraries do not
collect fines, for informational purposes should further questions come up.
Mr. Diamond made a motion that the Library.maintain the same policy in
regard to fines, i.e., that we do not collect fines for overdue books. The
motion passed.
The regular meeting was adjourned at 7:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane J. Young
Assistant Director
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