DEARBORN DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES

LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING

JUNE 13, 2003

1.ATTENDANCE:

The meeting was called to order at 4:04PM. In attendance were:

MRS. CANDYCE ABBATT, Chairperson; MRS. NANCY ZAKAR, Vice-Chairperson; DR. ALEX SHAMI, Secretary-Treasurer; MRS. LILA AMEN,

MRS. SYLVIA PRESSMAN, MR. DAVID SCHLAFF, MR. ROBERT TAUB,

MR. RONALD WATTERS Commissioners; DR. PARTRICK COADY, City Librarian; MRS. MARYANNE BARTLES, Assistant City Librarian,

MS. CAROLYN HOOK, Administrative Librarian; MRS.CARLA EGGERT, Recording Secretary; Excused: MR. MARCEL PULTORAK, Commissioner.

2.APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

The minutes of the April 11, 2003 meeting of the Library Commission were approved as submitted.

3.BRANCH HOURS REDUCTION:

Several patrons’ came to speak to the Commission regarding the proposed branch hour’s reductions.

Jeanette Loftus spoke to the Commission. She lives near the Bryant Branch and is a regular patron. She is also a member of the Garden Club. She is concerned about Bryant Branch closing and also about the hour’s reductions. She called several businesses in the area of the Bryant Branch and inquired about their slowest days. She feels the library should not reduce the hours Bryant is open on Mondays or Saturday afternoon as the other businesses in the area are slow on these days leaving more parking for Bryant patrons.

Mary Joe Durivage spoke to the Commission. She is a patron of Bryant Branch. She read a letter from a neighbor and also a statement she wrote expressing her concern about the branch hours reductions and the need to preserve the Bryant Library,

She offered proposed schedules to the Commission and expressed her concern that the City Council does not seem to support the need for evening hours. People who are working during the day are unable to get to the library until the evening.

Jill Hall spoke to the Commission. She is a patron of the Snow Branch and she has three small children. She is concerned about the elimination of morning hours at the branches and particularly the effect it will have on children’s programming. Small children concentrate better in the morning and she feels afternoon programs would not be as beneficial for them. She is hoping we can continue morning hours at least one day a week. She presented the Library Commission with a petition with approximately 50 signatures, which she was able to collect in one afternoon.

The Commission looked over the proposed schedules, both the hours recommended by Library Administration and staff and the changes to that schedule proposed by the City Council. Dr. Coady explained that the City Council did not have a specific recommendation for hours beyond asking us to look at doing what we can to provide some morning hours. Nancy Zakar asked if the City Council asked that we be open for a specific number of hours? Dr. Coady explained that the City Council approved the reduction of two full time positions for the 2004-year. The Library Commission must set the actual hours which will need to be reduced because of these position loses. All of the hour’s reductions are a compromise of one sort or another. Candyce Abbatt asked what the time frame would be for implementing the hour’s reductions once they are decided on? Dr. Coady advised it would take about 2 weeks to implement the changes.

Mr. Taub moved to defer the branch hour’s reduction to the strategic planning committee, seconded by Dr. Shami, all approved. The committee will meet on

June 24, 2003 and there will be a special meeting of the Library Commission on June 27, 2003 at 4pm regarding the branch hours reduction. The Commission asked that staff representatives from the branches be present at the committee meeting.

4. OFFICER ELECTIONS:

Mr. Taub and Mrs. Pressman, as the nominating committee recommended the current officers be retained for another one-year term. Mr. Taub moved to retain the current officers for a one-year term, seconded by Dr. Shami, all approved.

5. INACTIVE PATRON RECORDS-DELETE AFTER 10 YEARS:

Mr. Pultorak had asked at an earlier meeting of the Commission that a formal policy on patron record retention be considered. Dr. Coady discussed this with staff and they came back with a recommendation that patron records be deleted after ten years of inactivity. Dr. Shami inquired if there were any expense involved in doing this? Dr. Coady explained that once a program is written for our system, which should not be difficult, it would be invoked annually to update the system.

Dr. Shami moved to delete inactive patron records after 10 years, seconded by Mr. Schlaff, all approved.

6. FEE FOR INTERLOANS:

Dr. Coady explained that our current policy regarding interloans are to allow two free per month. Interloans are becoming more time consuming. A very high percentage of interloan requests come from the same patrons on a regular basis.

We are requesting a charge of $5 per interloan and $1 per renewal be approved. We are hoping that this fee will dampen demand for this service. We will also continue the policy of purchasing the material if we feel that is has the possibility of being used more than once.

Mr. Schlaff motioned to implement a $5 fee per interloan request and a $1fee per interloan renewal, seconded by Mr. Taub, all approved.

7. FEE FOR COLOR LASER PRINTING:

Dr. Coady explained that we have had requests for color laser printing. There were issues involved in making this service available, which have now been worked thru by staff. We would like to make the service available with a fee of $1.00 per copy.

Mr. Taub motioned to charge a fee of $1.00 per copy for color laser printing, seconded by Mr. Schlaff, all approved.

8. ELIMINATING .10 PREMIUM COPY CARDS:

Mrs. Bartles explained that we are subsidizing the public copiers at between $600 and $800 a month. We must meet a per month minimum on copies and if we do not meet it we have to pay. We do not own the copy machines and we must also pay someone to maintain them. We are looking for ways to reduce those costs. Currently when patrons purchase a copy card it costs $1.00. They receive .50 in copy value with their initial purchase and then each additional $1.00 they add gives them $1.10 in copying value. We would like to eliminate the .10 premium received to help recoup a bit of the costs involved in providing copy service to patrons.

Mr. Schlaff motioned to eliminate the .10 premium on copy cards, seconded by Mrs. Zakar, all approved.

9. FEE FOR OVERNIGHT PARKING:

Dr. Coady explained that recreational vehicles currently park in the parking lot at HFCL without charge. We called various campgrounds in the area to determine what they charge for overnight parking and we are proposing a fee of $10 per night for Dearborn residents and $15 per night for non-residents. The Mayor has a lot of enthusiasm for creating this fee. Enforcement will be shared between the libraries guard and the police department on weekends and after hours. A city ordinance will be created. The library administration office will collect fees and issue permits during regular business hours. The DPW sign shop will create signs that state there is a fee for parking. Mr. Schlaff stated that he does not have a problem with the concept of it but he does not like the idea of our staff enforcing it. He also thinks the proposed charge is too low. He feels we should charge $15 for residents and $25 for non-residents. Several Commissioners also expressed concern about liability issues for the library. This issued was tabled until the June 27, 2003 special meeting of the Library Commission.

10. GLEN MICHAEL’S UPDATE:

Dr. Coady reported that Glen Michaels has found deterioration in the serpentine wall sculpture. He wants to have infrared pictures taken of the sculpture in order to determine the extent of the deterioration. Dr. Coady states this is a repair and maintenance issue and he will try to fund the repair of the sculpture maintenance funds rather than from the FOLD monies being used to fund the project.

11. CANCELLING STATE DOCUMENTS DEPOSITORY STATUS:

As part of eliminating our vertical file we would like to discontinue our status as a state documents depository. We would still receive documents that have usefulness for our patrons as we do with federal documents even though we discontinued our status as a federal documents depository.

Mr. Schlaff motioned to cancel our state documents depository status, seconded by Mrs. Pressman, all approved.

12. SCHEDULE SUMMER BREAKFAST MEETING WITH THE MAYOR:

July 30, 2003 was chosen for the breakfast meeting with the Mayor. The meeting will be held in the Library Commission room at HFCL at 8:30am.

13. NEW BUSINESS:

Dr. Coady stated that a patron Paul Boyce had contacted him regarding the Mayors name being placed on library materials. He is opposed to the principal of the Mayors name on library material as well as the cost associated with it. He stated he would come to speak to the Commission at this meeting but did not attend.

Dr. Coady had Teresa Bartoli look into the cost of printing the labels with the Mayors name on them. She contacted American Label and Tag, the vendor from which we have purchased the labels in the past. They advised her that there is a charge of $55 to set up the initial printing plate. Once the printing plate is created re-ordering using that plate setting is a fixed price.

DR. ALEX SHAMI

SECRETARY-TREASURER