DEARBORN DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES

LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING

FEBRUARY 14, 2003

 

 

1.  ATTENDANCE:

The meeting was called to order at 4:08PM.  In attendance were:

MRS. CANDYCE ABBATT, Chairperson; MRS. SYLVIA PRESSMAN,

MR. MARCEL PULTORAK, MR. DAVID SCHLAFF, MR. ROBERT TAUB,

MR. RONALD WATTERS, Commissioners; DR. PARTRICK COADY, City Librarian;

MRS. MARYANNNE BARTLES, Assistant City Librarian, MS. CAROLYN HOOK,

MS. TARA GNAU, Administrative Librarians; MRS.CARLA EGGERT, Recording Secretary; MS. OPAL ZIEMER-AAUW, MR. DON VALOCIK, FOLD. 

EXCUSED: MRS. NANCY ZAKAR, Vice-Chairperson; DR. ALEX SHAMI, 

Secretary-Treasurer; MRS. LILA AMEN, Commissioner.

 

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:  

The minutes of the January 10, 2003 meeting of the Library Commission were approved as submitted.

 

3. REPLACEMENT LIBRARY CARDS: 

DR. COADY stated that the Circulation Committee brought forth a proposal regarding the fee charged for replacement library cards that he feels has merit.  CAROLYN HOOK explained that we currently only charge the replacement card fee to patrons whose cards are valid.  If you have an expired card, we don’t charge to replace it, as some patrons would see the expiration date on the card and throw it away.  We did not feel it was fair to charge to replace an expired card.  What has happened is that most patrons who lose their library card use their driver’s license to check out until the card expires and then have it replaced.  The Circulation Committee would like to do away with the $3 fee for replacing a lost library card to encourage those who have lost their card to replace it before it expires.  MR. SCHLAFF motioned to eliminate the charge for replacing a lost library card, seconded by MR. TAUB, all approved.   

 

4. SUPERVISOR CHANGES-UPDATE:  

Dr. Coady reported that many of the supervisor changes have taken place.  James Lawhorn, who was the head of Processing, has moved to Bryant Branch.  Jack Oakley, who had been at Bryant Branch, is now the Adult Services Supervisor at HFCL.  Julie Schaefer at Snow Branch and Lois Trombley at HFCL-Children’s will change places around the beginning of March.  We are currently interviewing for a Librarian II to fill the vacancy in Processing.  We have eight Librarian I candidates who are interviewing for the Librarian II opening. 

 

5. FOUNDATION UPDATE: 

MRS. ABBATT reported that she would email the sub-committee members dates to try to schedule a sub-committee meeting before the March Library Commission meeting.  MRS. ABBATT also reported that she had placed a call to the potential candidate for Foundation Chairperson to see if he would be willing to meet with the sub-committee so they will need to arrange dates for that as well. 

Dr. Coady reported that the Library had been presented with a potential grant opportunity from Ballard Power Systems to equip the HFCL building with solar panels as a demonstration project.  If this grant were to occur we would get to keep all solar equipment installed and it would help in off setting some of our electrical costs.  DR. COADY sent this grant proposal out to a number of managers in the City for their review and comments.  There are questions relating to the suitability of our roof for this type of project.  There are other potential issues relating to insurance and maintenance. 

 

6. BRYANT LIBRARY PROPERTY-LOWER LEVEL: 

Over the years there have been a number of different tenants in Bryant Branch lower level.  The Senior Citizens Center was down there for quite a while.  They moved out when the new Recreation Center opened.  The Building and Safety Department have been looking at the lower level space at Bryant Branch as a possibility for some of their staff.  We have not been officially contacted by Building and Safety so we are not sure of the exact nature of their plans but we do know they have looked at the space.  We are sending a letter to the head of Building and Safety detailing the ways in which we have made use of some of the lower level space from time to time for children’s programs and the need to continue to use some of the space.  The space is currently being used as meeting space for a few groups a few times a year.  We use it for regular story hour as well as any special programs.  We also use one small room to check in library materials.  There is enough room for shared space but we want to make sure to retain use of some of the space for our needs. 

 

7. BUDGET UPDATE FOR 2003-2004 YEAR:

DR. COADY reported that the budget closed on February 12, 2003 for the 2003-2004 fiscal year.  A budget document, “Tell The Story” was included in the Commissioners packets.  He asked the Commissioners to review the document to see if they have any questions or issues. 

DR. COADY advised the Commissioners that they probably should decide if they would like to have a spring retreat and if so what type of agenda items they would like to work on such as fee’s. 

MR. PULTORAK expressed concern that the 18-month time period to move the threshold of fines sent to collection, from $50 to $25, was too long.  DR. COADY stated we would look into moving swiftly down to the $25 level.  DR. COADY advised that the collection agency has to work with the proprietary software vendor and there is other coordination that must take place before the change can be made. He will look into this further and advise the Commission at the next meeting.

MR. PULTORAK also discussed the process in which items are put on hold and how this seems to be a very labor-intensive process.  He suggested we might want to discuss charging a fee for this service.  There was also discussion about rental fees for new titles.  MR. PULTORAK stated that he feels that the Commission needs to be thinking about ways to eliminate labor and determine what services patrons would be willing to pay for rather than lose the service. 

DR. COADY discussed the Proposed Library Budget comparison document, which compares the actual 2001-2002 expenditures against the proposed 2003-2004 budget. 

 

 

 

 

8. NEW BUSINESS:

DON VALOCIK reported on the Friends of the Library gift shop.  He reported that his sales are down compared with this time last year. Last week he only did $60 in sales. He has lost two volunteers because they sit at the shop all day with nothing to do. He is finding that the merchandise is not selling.  He has decided to attend a show in March at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.  He will go at this own expense to try to get new ideas for the shop.  The inventory figure listed on the report is incorrect.  He will come in this coming weekend to do inventory. MR. SCHLAFF asked MR. VALOCIK if there were items that sold particularly well last year that we are not carrying this year?  MR. VALOCIK advised that candy was the biggest seller.  DR. COADY reported that the candy was a problem for the staff upstairs.  MR. PULTORAK asks what about a designated area or coffee shop for eating similar to Border’s?  DR. COADY states we would need to have a vendor to operate such a shop.  MR. WATTERS stated that many of our customers are used to seeing certain services available and we need to be prepared to move into the 21st century. DR. COADY stated that he did not feel comfortable with MR. VALOCIK using his own money to purchase more inventory.  DR. COADY felt that an inventory reduction sale of the things not selling well and then using that money to purchase new items would be a better approach. 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 PM.

 

DR. ALEX SHAMI

SECRETARY-TREASURER