DEARBORN
DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES
LIBRARY
COMMISSION MEETING
MAY 12,
2006
1. ATTENDANCE
In attendance
were: MRS. NANCY ZAKAR, Chairperson; MR.
MARCEL PULTORAK, Vice-Chairperson; DR. ALEX SHAMI, Secretary-Treasurer; MRS.
CANDYCE ABBATT,
MRS. DIANE
PEPPER, MRS. SYLVIA PRESSMAN, MR. DAVID SCHLAFF,
MR. ROBERT
TAUB, MR. RONALD WATTERS, Commissioners;
MRS. MARYANNE
BARTLES, Deputy Library Director; MS. TARA GNAU,
MS. JULIE
SCHAEFER, Administrative Librarians; MRS. MARGE ECKERT, AAUW.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of
the April Commission Meeting were approved with one correction.
Mrs. Marge
Eckert did not attend the April meeting.
Opal Ziemer was there to represent AAUW.
3. NEW LIBRARY
DIRECTOR
The search
committee for the new library director consisted of Mrs. Nancy Zakar,
Mr. Marcel
Pultorak, Mr. Robert Taub, and Mrs. Candyce Abbatt. Mrs. Zakar reported that there were six
applicants for the position. Three
applicants did not meet the requirements as stated in the ad. Of the three remaining, one was internal and
two were from out of state. Interviews
were conducted either in person or over the phone for the out of state
candidates. The search committee’s
recommendation is that the Commission vote to approve the candidate Maryanne
Bartles for Library Director. Of the
three candidates interviewed, Mrs. Bartles clearly meets the criteria for the
position. In addition to working in a
Public Library System for over 30 years she’s worked with union, City
Administration and public service. She’s
also worked on budgets and has an extensive technological background and has
managed staff development through staff training. She was highly recommended by our outgoing
Director Pat Coady and the Mayor has also indicated his approval. Dr. Shami commended the search committee for
their work on choosing a qualified candidate from within our system.
Mr. Watters
asked Mrs. Bartles what could the Commission do to give their support as she
moves forward and what are some of the things she would like to implement in
the first six months to continue on the track of the previous Director? Mrs. Bartles reported that the Commission has
always been supportive of the Library Director and staff. We are going into tough times and we need the
Commission as a body to be available to make those tough decisions we are going
to have to make. Her job as director
would be to keep the Commission informed and the Commission’s job would be to
be there to make the decisions. Mrs.
Bartles would ask, as new director, for the Commission to be patient with
her. Pat Coady who was multitasking
persona has left us with many projects started.
Mrs. Bartles reported that she can multitask well, but needs to and
prefers to focus and study things, especially on building maintenance projects. Right now we have a lot of building
maintenance projects to complete. We are
looking at getting the outside of this building cleaned and have some graffiti
protection applied on the outside. We
want to get the security cameras installed here and at the branches. Our wiring II project is winding down but
there is still a punch list to go through.
The railing project and the carpeting project have started and we need
to see that through to completion. There
are some issues with the fire alarm system that need to be resolved. We also have a fire deficiency project. The mezzanine has two fire escape stairways
but they are not fire enclosed stairs.
Bryant’s windows and doors project has been approved by Council and we
need to keep on top of that. If you do
not manage your projects, the projects will not be successful. Mrs. Bartles reported that she needs to make
sure the projects are going and get people to help manage them. The list can go on, but her personal project
that she would like to see get going is word processing for the public. But Mrs. Bartles felt that she needs to do
her homework on the topic. She does not
want to come to the Commission with something she does not feel real confident
about. The coffee shop project is also
out there. We have to first finish up
the projects that we’ve started and handle what is about to start and get
through this budget crunch.
Mrs. Abbatt
reported that the search committee has done a thorough search of this region
and have gotten candidates from other states but felt that this has given them
an opportunity to realize what an extraordinary candidate we have in
Maryanne. She is highly qualified for
this job in her experience, education, and relationship with staff and no one
would have been able to give the kind of answer to Mr. Watters question as she
did. The entire search committee felt
that she was by far a very impressive candidate. Mrs. Abbatt added that this is a tough system
with several facilities. From a
director’s standpoint it is difficult to manage three branches and a main
facility of this kind. Mr. Pultorak
added that there are challenges we are going to face. Our branches are great. The City is thinking of putting the Chamber
of Commerce into the lower level of Bryant Branch. People perceive the building as the library
but the real library is the collection of materials and the means through which
we can provide access to those materials to the public. One of the things we are going to have to do
is think about how we can market that concept and build on that concept in the
event that we have to reduce access to some of the facilities in the future. Trying to run four buildings with less and
less is going to be tough. Mrs. Bartles
stated that she is pleased with the Commission’s recommendation and support but
her success is based on the wonderful staff of the library system. Our recent Horizon upgrade was a test of
their ability to manage the projects planned.
Mr. Taub made
a motion to appoint Maryanne Bartles as Library Director at the salary of
$84,455. Second by Mr. Schlaff, all
approved.
4. FOUNDATION MEETING
UPDATE
Mr. Pultorak
reported that he has not yet spoke with the attorney Mr. Irving regarding the J
Fund. In doing some other work in the
City, Mr. Pultorak recalled that the City of Dearborn had provided support for
the Dearborn Community Arts Council with a restricted grant for a number of
years at the cost of $50,000 a year for many years then later reduced and now
been eliminated. He is suggesting to Mr.
Irving that he explore that. At the
Foundation Meeting Mr. Roberts attended by telephone and had a lot of ideas and
suggestions. They are working on putting
together a business plan for the foundation and there was some discussion on
moving forward with the acquisition of furniture. The Mayor is very supportive of getting
everything going. It is just a matter of
the foundation coming up with concrete plans about what they want to do to
market the foundation in its efforts to become a fund raising entity on behalf
of the libraries. Mrs. Schaefer gave a
presentation at the meeting on the various ideas for Children’s services
5. BUDGET UPDATE
Mrs. Bartles
reported that our budget passed as submitted but there are still unresolved
issues with staff reductions throughout the City. While they haven’t said anything specific to
us they are going to continue to review staffing with their eye on reducing
more staff. We are hearing that anyone
who took the early out retirement before they were eligible will not be replaced. We have one of these which is a Supervisory
position. It will be high on their
agenda next week to determine whether they are going to have hearings, talk to
individual departments or blanket any early outs and can we negotiate that to
say can we replace the supervisory position and we will give up another
position instead. Mr. Pultorak agreed
that there needs a plan that links the resources to the service. There is a need for reductions or cutbacks
but you can’t allow the idea if someone chooses to leave it determines what
services are to be cut. At some point
the Commission will need to speak with the City Administration about what they
see ahead for the Library so we know what the options are.
Mrs. Bartles
reported that she will plan to meet with Mark Guido to discuss our vacancies
and where they are in the process. She
will then get back with the Commission.
The Commission could then, if needed, appoint a small committee to meet
informally with the Mayor and Mark Guido.
6. CHARTER COMMISSION
Mrs. Zakar
stated that last month the Commission discussed possible revisions to the City
Charter regarding the Library. Mrs.
Bartles reported that at the last Department Head Meeting they mentioned that
the Charter Commission was starting to talk with Departments. The last meeting was May 16, 2006, and we
were not yet scheduled and Debra Walling from Legal will let us know when it is
our time. Mrs. Bartles reported that
the Health Department is scheduled to go on May 16, 2006, and she will ask them
what typically happens at these meetings.
7. NEW BUSINESS
A. REFLECTING POOL
RESOLUTION
Mrs. Zakar
reported that Library Commission is dedicating the Reflecting Pool in
Pat Coady’s
honor and the plaque will read:
COADY REFLECTING POOL
DEDICATED IN HONOR OF DR. R. PATRICK
COADY
LIBRARY DIRECTOR, 1989-2006
HIS LEADERSHIP, LOYALTY AND DEDICATION
TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE DEARBORN LIBRARY HAVE ENSURED
EXCEPTIONAL LIBRARY SERVICE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.
MAY 2006
Mr. Pultorak
made the motion to dedicate the Coady Reflecting Pool in honor of
Patrick
Coady. Seconded by Mr. Watters, all
approved.
B. NO HOLDS ON TOT
BOOKS
Mrs. Bartles
showed some examples of our collection of TOT books (board books). These books are not shelved and usually just
thrown in a pile. Parents usually just
grab a stack to checkout and take home to read to their toddler. If someone puts a hold on a TOT book, it
takes a lot of staff time to try to find this book and 95% of the time they do
not really want the TOT book but a similar book with that title.
Mrs. Schafer
reported that we can put a message on the TOT books that says no hold allowed
on this book, please check for other book of the same title. Mr. Pultorak felt we should try it.
Mr. Taub made
the motion that there be no holds allowed on TOT books. Seconded by
Mr. Pultorak,
all approved.
C. MLA CONFERENCE
Mrs. Zakar
reported that this year the MLA Conference will be held at the Marriot in
Mrs. Bartles
reported that there is no money for this and there is very little money for
conferences. We set aside money for
certain workshops that staff felt was the most useful and have taken it out of
FOLD funds. So far there is no data on
what they are presenting at the MLA Conference.
They will have exhibits and vendors there that staff will visit since it
is local. For workshops that staff wants
to attend we get coupons from MLA that entitles a non-member to attend a
workshop at the member rate.
Mrs. Abbatt
reported that this may be something that the Library Foundation can support
through allocating funds to the Library for different workshops that staff can
attend.
D. NEWS PAPER ARTICLE
Mrs. Zakar
inquired whether an article would be published in the papers regarding the
retirement of Pat Coady? Mrs. Bartles
reported that she did speak with
Mary
Laundroche about it and she had forgotten but will do it as soon as possible.
The Commission
stated that there should be two articles now; one reporting the retirement of
Pat Coady and the other reporting the appointment of Maryanne Bartles.
E. CELL PHONES
Mrs. Bartles
reported that right after our meeting where we talked about our cell phone
policy another library posted the same query as to what other libraries do
about cell phones. A printout of the
responses was distributed. There were 12
libraries that state that they tell their patrons that their cell phone should
be off or on vibrate and they need to take their calls outside or to the
lobby. Three libraries state that they
ask patrons to put them to off or vibrate but they can stay if they talk
quietly. One library said they don’t
have a policy at all and another said they ban cell phones. One library stated that they instituted a
cell phone ban at the library except for the lobby, at the direction of the
board. Within a year they removed it due
to the stress on the library staff. They
were charged with interrupting people’s calls.
It was unacceptable that there would be a cell phone ban in a place were
low level talking was allowed. What they
do now is if someone is talking loudly on a cell phone they are asked to quiet
down or take their call to the lobby.
This is kind of what we are going through. We have posted signs at the entrances so
patrons will see it as they come in. The
policy says that you are to turn your cell phone off or to vibrate and then
take you call to the lobby. But if
someone is sitting there on the internet talking quietly, no one will say a
word to them. Mr. Watters suggested a
popup on the internet computers that say turn off your phone or put it to
vibrate. This can be just a reminder to
patrons.
F. VOLUNTEER PROGRAM UPDATE
Mr. Watters
asked for a volunteer program update.
Mrs. Bartles stated that she would put it on the agenda for the June
meeting.
The meeting
was adjourned at 5:10 PM.