HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-04-22 Board of Library Trustees MinutesR L
EBoard of Library Trustees 1 (
Minutes of Meeting - April 22, 1996
Conference Room - Reading Public Library - 6:00 p.m.
&recent: Ms. Cherrie Dubois, chair; Mr. William Diamond; N 4 6 o4
Fields; Mrs. Elia Marnik; Dr. Christine Redford; Mrs. Maria Silvaggi.
Guests: Stephen and Rachel Baumgartner.
Ms. Dubois called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.
Minutes: Dr. Redford moved to accept the minutes of March 18. The motion
passed. Mrs. Silvaggi moved to accept the minutes of February 15 as
amended. The motion passed.
Financial report: Bills for this month include the final installment of
the Children's Room desk, close to $8000 in capital funds, and attendance
at the Public Library Association conference for two staff members.
Statistics: March's circulation is down from last year because of weather,
but not by much.
Report from the chairman: The fundraising committee will meet tomorrow.
Ms. Dubois and Arthur Knapp have been working on printed materials. A note
of thanks from Corinne Fisher was read.
Director's report: The Director has heard unofficially that the Web page
grant will be funded. The Library applied for $16,000 and may be awarded
$10,000. Mrs. Hanley spoke about the Internet at the Kennedy School today.
son reports: None.
Friends report: The Friends have released seed money for the summer reading
clubs. Book donations are being collected for the sale on May 18. The
house tour is about half sold out. The Friends are sponsoring a lunch with
the visiting poet on Wednesday. Other important dates are in the recent
newsletter. The Friends received $950 for the centennial celebration.
New business: 1) Ms. Hanley and Ms. Dubois will meet with the
Superintendent of Schools and the Chair of the School Committee tomorrow.
They will discuss a pilot project in which the Coolidge school library
joins NOBLE as a branch of the Reading Public Library. There has been some
discussion of the high school library joining the pilot also. The
superintendent, the principal, and the school librarian know that this is
going to cost money.
Because public library staff will be responsible for training, this will be
an added burden and may require funding of additional staff time. What
ultimately might happen, but is not being discussed right now, is that the
schools will contract with the public library director to provide
managerial services. The project may affect many positions in the public
library.
There was discussion about lack of resources at the schools making this a
needed step, appropriate pay for increased work, reciprocal benefits
between the school libraries and the public library, and differences in
__'°"nsation between school and public librarians.
1
Unfinished business: 1) The political reality is that the Library has no
money to spend on a professional consultant. Neither trust funds nor state
'd can be used. It is recommended that the campaign proceed on a reduced
ale, with publicity, brochures, making bequest language available, and a
Lentennial kickoff. The Director does not recommend asking the Town for
seed money.
2) The budget will come before Town Meeting tonight.
3) A committee made up of staff and Friends have come up with preliminary
plans for the centennial celebration. The Director invited any trustee to
join the committee.
New business: 2) A meeting with the neighbors, to follow up on last year's
meeting, will be scheduled.
The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m.
Room desk.
Board members toured the new Children's
Respectfully submitted,
Diane J. Youn
Assistant Director
2