DEARBORN DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES

LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING

DECEMBER 8, 2006

1. ATTENDANCE

In attendance were: MRS. NANCY ZAKAR, Chairperson;

MR. MARCEL PULTORAK, Vice-Chairperson;

DR. ALEX SHAMI, Secretary-Treasurer; MRS. CANDYCE ABBATT,

MR. DAVID SCHLAFF, MR. RONALD WATTERS, Commissioners;

MRS. MARYANNE BARTLES, Library Director; MRS. JULIE SCHAEFER, Deputy Library Director; MS. TARA GNAU, MR. STEVE SMITH, Administrative Librarians;

MRS. MARGE ECKERT, AAUW.

EXCUSED: MRS. DIANE PEPPER, MR. ROBERT TAUB; Commissioners.

 

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the November Commission meeting were approved as submitted.

 

3. FOUNDATION UPDATE

1.     FOUNDATION PROJECTS- Mrs. Bartles reported that the Library Foundation established their insurance and have received the second payment of $140,000 as per the agreement with the City.  We need to establish criteria for Library Foundation projects such as projects must have a beginning and an end.  Mrs. Bartles distributed a list of potential projects for the Foundation as well as some criteria for disqualification of potential projects to the Library Commissioners for their review.  Mrs. Bartles asked the Commissioners to look over the document and to let her know if they would like to see anything added or deleted from the list or the criteria for disqualification. Mrs. Abbatt stated that the project selection would be up to the Library Foundation. Mr.  Watters commented that when people donate money they want to see what is being done with the money.  Mr. Pultorak stated that as we undertake projects we must publicize that the funds came from the Library Foundation.  

 

4. BUDGET AND STAFFING UPDATE

Mrs. Bartles reported that the test for the Librarian II position has been given and interviews will be done next week.  We should have someone in place by the end of the month.  The promotion of a staff member to the Library II position will open up a Librarian I position.  We have an active employment list for the Librarian I position from the last exam that was given so we will promote from that list. 

Mrs. Bartles reported that she submitted a reduced budget as requested by City Administration.  She submitted a reduction of $105,000 less than the original budget submission.  We may be asked to submit a proposal for further reductions.  Each City department is presenting proposed budget reductions at the City Development Initiative meetings as requested by City Administration. 

 

5. OLD BUSINESS

1.   QSAC CERTIFICATION- Mrs. Bartles reported that we have received our certification for the essential level of QSAC certification from the State of Michigan.  Beth Utley is working on the submission paperwork for the next level of certification. 

2.   COFFEE SHOP- Mrs. Bartles reported that she spoke to Wayne County about having a coffee kiosk in the library.  She was advised that without a direct water hook up to the kiosk we should look into vending machines rather than the kiosk.  Mrs. Bartles stated that she wrote a basic RFP for vending machine service and sent it to the buyer in the City Purchasing Department that handles vending machine contracts to review.  We would like to have a machine for coffee, tea and hot chocolate as well as a machine for bottled beverages. 

3.   WORD PROCESSING-Steve Smith is investigating the purchase of memory sticks for the library to sell to patrons once we begin offering word processing.  We will also offer floppy disks for sale but we currently have enough of those in stock to sell.  We have enough licenses to put Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel on all the public computers.  We have six licenses for Microsoft PowerPoint.  We will put PowerPoint on four computers in Adult Services and two computers in the Children’s area. 

4.   BY-LAWS REVIEW COMMITTEE- Mrs. Zakar reported that Mr. Taub had sent information to her on adding telephone participation to the by laws.  Mr. Pultorak and Mrs. Zakar also did some research on other libraries by-laws.  The By-Law Review Committee will continue to work on the by-law revisions. 

 

6. NEW BUSINESS-

1.   CAPITAL PROJECT UPDATE- Mrs. Bartles discussed the hand out given to the Commissioners listing the ongoing capital improvement projects as well as newly submitted projects. 

2.   NEW COMMISSIONER- The Library Commissioners discussed two potential candidates for the Library Commissioner vacancy. 

3.   MYSPACE.COM- Mrs. Bartles advised the Commissioners that she had received a complaint from a library patron regarding the fact that the library allows access to myspace.com.  Mrs. Bartles explained that there are many other social networking sites besides myspace.  We are not able to block every site that might provide access to children for child predators. 

4.     CHARGING FOR COMPUTER CLASSES- Mrs. Bartles explained that we have had three basic computer classes so far, Email, Basic Computer Skills and Introduction to the Internet.  Mrs. Bartles passed out the computer class student’s evaluation of the instructor that we have hired to give the classes.  He was rated highly by all of the students.  Many of the students stated on their evaluations that they would like to take more classes and we would like to offer more in depth classes but we will need to charge a small fee to recoup our costs of presenting these classes.  We would like to charge a $10 fee for a 2 hour class.  Mr. Schlaff motioned to allow charging a fee for advanced computer classes, seconded by Dr. Shami, all approved. 

5.     MISC.-

a.     Mrs. Bartles reported that the terrazzo floor in the rotunda area at HFCL is being refinished next week. 

b.     Mrs. Schaefer showed the Library Commissioners a new audio book format that we are considering for the library called Play Away.  It is a digital format that does not require a separate player.  It does require ear buds and a battery which we could sell to patrons if we decided to add the Play Away format. 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30pm.