DEARBORN DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES

LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING

JANUARY 14, 2005

1. ATTENDANCE:

In attendance were: MR. MARCEL PULTORAK, Vice-Chairperson;

MR. ROBERT TAUB, MR. RONALD WATTERS, MRS. SYLVIA PRESSMAN,

MR. DAVE SCHLAFF, Commissioners; DR. PATRICK COADY, City Librarian,

MRS. MARYANNE BARTLES, Assistant City Librarian, MS. TARA GNAU and MRS. JULIE SCHAEFER, Administrative Librarians; MRS.CARLA EGGERT, Recording Secretary; MS. OPAL ZIEMER, AAUW. Excused: MRS. NANCY ZAKAR, Chairperson, MRS. CANDYCE ABBATT, Commissioner. Absent: DR. ALEX SHAMI,

Secretary-Treasurer, MRS. LILA AMEN, Commissioner.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

The minutes for the December Commission meeting were approved.

3. FINANCE BUDGET GUIDANCE:

Dr. Coady reported that the Finance Director sent out a memo stating that the initial target for each department budget will be the same as last year. The target amount has stayed the same for the last three years. Departments have until Wednesday to enter their budgets based on that target number. On the personnel side the pension and health care costs have increased dramatically. Benefits used to be 40% of our salary costs and it is now over 70%. The Administrators have worked with each of the agencies on their budget submissions and Mrs. Bartles has compiled each agencies budget. The Envisonware software, which will control the public Internet and printing, purchase was approved by the City Council. All the departments’ budgets will be submitted to Finance and tabulated. There could be adjustments down the line.

4. 2005-2006 OPERATING BUDGET PREPARATION:

This was covered above.

5. 2005-2006 CAPITAL BUDGET PREPARATION:

The Commissioners were given a list of submitted capital improvement projects. They have started working with Anita Towes of Architect Design Group on the children’s area update project. She will come up with a design package and a feasibility/pricing study. The plan is to make the children’s area more eye catching and comfortable for children. We do not have funding to go ahead with the implementation of this plan. At this time there is funding available for the design study only. The Snow roof project should begin shortly. The materials have been delivered but the work has not yet begun. A feasibility study will be done in regard to refurbishing the HFCL motor control units rather than replacing them. That study should be done in the next couple of months. The project to replace the eaves and gutters at Bryant is on hold as we want to have a roof inspection done. The roof has leaked and if it needs to be repaired or replaced we want to add that to this project. The project to replace the exterior windows and doors at Bryant is in progress. We will have a meeting with the architect this coming week. He will bring a sample window which the Mayor would like to see. The new windows will be double paned. Mr. Schlaff asked where the costs estimate numbers on the unfunded projects came from. Dr. Coady stated that the majority of cost estimates are from the deficiency study that was done a few years ago. Mr. Schlaff asked roughly how much was spent on capital improvements last year. Dr. Coady stated that over the last ten years half a million dollars has been our average. Last year we had a higher than average amount of capital improvement projects but he is unsure of the exact amount because so many projects creep forward into other years before they are complete. The wallpaper replacement for HFCL will not be funded until fiscal year 2008-2009. We have had a number of repairs to the existing wallpaper in the past year which should lengthen its life until the replacement is done. The relamping project is for all four library buildings. It is not scheduled to be funded until 2008-2009 fiscal year. Dr. Coady is talking DPW and the Mayor’s office in regard to switching over to a three to five year lighting maintenance contract. HFCL has the high atrium ceilings which are very difficult to get to for maintenance and DPW is supportive of a lighting maintenance contract for this reason. In regard to the HFCL ceiling repair project we had leaks in the roof which damaged ceiling tiles and Dr. Coady became concerned about the safety of the damaged tiles. This project has been given to the architect but has not yet been acted upon. The drinking fountain project involves upgrading the drinking fountains to ADA compliant fountains, moving some existing fountains and replacing some fountains in all four library buildings. The HFCL penthouse curtain panels’ project relates to the area on the roof of HFCL in which upright marble panels are attached to the building. They are cracking due to a design issue. A study is being done to determine how we can release the pressure on the panels which is causing them to crack. The mezzanine enclosure project involved putting glass around the entire mezzanine area at HFCL to cut down on noise. Once that work is completed we may move the Adult Services work room area from the second floor up to the mezzanine and open up the current work room area for study rooms. Mr. Pultorak asked how enclosing the mezzanine area would affect air circulation and ventilation. Dr. Coady stated he had that looked at a few times and was told it would not be adversely affected. The HFCL fire alarm upgrade project is nearing completion. The HFCL electrical wiring II project is not completed though a lot of progress has been made. A large change order is being worked on now to add things that need to be done at both HFCL and the branches. The library portion of the HFCL parking lot upgrade is complete. The separate police parking area created during the parking lot renovations will be fenced in and that work has not been done yet. The punch list for completion of the elevator upgrade at HFCL has been given. Our expectation is that the elevator upgrade should be completed with in the next 10 working days. Dr. Coady stated that they may not submit any new capital improvement projects for next year.

6. FOUNDATION UPDATE:

There is no update for this meeting. This item was deferred to the next meeting.

7. BUILDING PROJECTS UPDATE:

This was covered under budget preparation above.

8. VOLUNTEER UPDATE:

Tara Gnau stated that the volunteer program at Bryant has been successful. They have organized some volunteer sub-committee so that volunteer’s time can be better utilized. The subcommittees will focus on establishing a core group of volunteers for assisting with children’s programming. Another group will work on technical issues such as a volunteer web page and a Microsoft Access database to track volunteers. The third group will work on expanding the volunteer program to the other buildings. The planning for the annual volunteer luncheon has also begun. The luncheon will be held on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 at 12noon. The City puts the luncheon out for bid so once it has been awarded we will announce the location. Mr. Pultorak asked how we are planning to recruit a steady stream of new volunteers so that we can sustain the program as volunteers leave the program for whatever reason. Ms. Gnau stated that, as we expected, we basically have two types of volunteers. We have a core group of volunteers who are willing to make a long term commitment and then we have a group of volunteers who make shorter term commitments such as students who need to volunteer for school credit. We have also been approached by companies in the area such as Starbucks’s who have programs for their employee’s to volunteer in the community. We continue to get a steady amount of calls inquiring about volunteering.

We will be holding another round of volunteer orientations in March. Dr. Coady stated the publicity from the local media and the response for the local community has been very good. Mr. Schlaff asked if we recognized our volunteers in any other way besides the annual volunteer luncheon such as pins recognizing years of service. Ms. Gnau stated that in the past we have not though we have recently begun to track volunteer hours so that we will know how many hours each volunteer gave us. We could also use this information to recognize volunteers. Mr. Schlaff feels that volunteer development is crucial for our success going forward. Recognizing our volunteer’s service will encourage volunteers to return each year. He is the volunteer chairman for the Ford Senior Players event at the TPC and they have over 1000 volunteers each year. They recognize years of service as well as volunteers that have contributed throughout the year. It does not have to be expensive but he feels a formal recognition program would encourage return volunteers. Dr. Coady stated we have been focused internally on the budget and on the changes and reorganization from the loss of approximately 23% of our people. We have to take the time to do training of the volunteer staff, develop the volunteer program and certainly develop a recognition program.

9. NEW BUSINESS:

Don Valocik, the President of Friends of the Library, was unable to attend tonight’s meeting so Irene Lilly presented the FOLD report which contained the volunteer hours for the year and the sales report for September, October and November 2004. Ms. Lilly also stated that she felt Commissioner Schlaff’s ideas regarding a formal recognition program for the volunteers were good. She stated that at Greenfield Village where she also volunteers the recognize volunteers based on how many hours they volunteer a year. Mr. Pultorak stated that the Commission appreciates the efforts of the Friends and gift shop volunteers.

Library patron Ms. Janet Shaw asked the Commission how the monies collected from overdue fines are used. Mr. Pultroak stated that they are offset against the libraries budget. They go into the general fund but are added back into the libraries budget. She also asked if the branches were staffed on Friday. Dr. Coady stated that branches are sometimes staffed on Fridays but not on regular basis. Staff working on Friday may be also attending a meeting at another location or working on special task but staff are not regularly scheduled for Fridays at the branches.

Library patron Alicia Hofmeister spoke to the Library Commission about discipline of patrons. She is a patron of both HFCL and Bryant Branch libraries. She has no complaints about the environment at the Bryant Branch but she does have complaints about HFCL. She says that she has a very conservative view of what a library is. She feels it should be a quiet place where she can come to focus, read, study and think without interruption from children running up and down the stairs playing tag and adults meeting, not for library concerns, but for their own personal talking and adults eating and drinking in the library. She is not familiar with all of the decorum policies of the library but she feels some attention needs to be paid to patron behavior and who can discipline them. Perhaps there could be some kind of educational program for patrons to know what the library is and how to behave in it. Her use of the library is decreasing because every time she comes here it is a very irritating experience. Ms. Hoffmeister stated that the last time she was here she had to shush three patrons and they all looked surprised to be told to be quiet. That should not be her job as a patron. Mr. Schlaff asked where the code of conduct for patrons was posted at. Dr. Coady stated that the patron code of conduct is posted at public service desks and it covers what you should not do in the library. Dr. Coady stated that these things are tempered by society. Mr. Schlaff stated he is trying to determine if we are not communicating it properly to the patrons or if it is not being enforced. He asked if the signs could be made more visible. Dr. Coady stated that we could make the signs more visible but he personally does not think its going to influence the internal standard in someone’s mind as to whether or not they are quiet. Mr. Schlaff says we do have an obligation to display the rules and let people know about them. Dr. Coady states that we go beyond that. We ban patrons from using the library if they do not follow the rules. Mr. Taub stated that children running up and down the stairs are not a question of signs but a question of bad behavior. Mr. Watters stated that it is a privilege to use the library. He asked if the rules are being enforced. Dr. Coady stated that we are enforcing the rules however society’s rules about public conduct have changed considerably. We are currently in the process of a major review all our policies in relation to patron behavior and banning of patrons for bad behavior. Our problem patron manual is out for a staff critique. We also surveyed 13 other libraries in regards to their problem patron policies and procedures. Within the next couple of months we will have the Legal Department and the Police review these policies.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:05pm.