DEARBORN DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES

LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING

APRIL 13, 2007    

1. ATTENDANCE

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

DR. ALEX SHAMI, Secretary-Treasurer; MR. ROBERT TAUB,

MRS. CANDYCE ABBATT, MR. DAVID SCHLAFF, Commissioners;

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

EXCUSED: MRS. NANCY ZAKAR, Chairperson; MRS. DIANE PEPPER, Commissioner.

 

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

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

 

3. FOUNDATION UPDATE

The next Library Foundation meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 17, 2007 so there is no update at this time. Mrs. Bartles will have an update for the Library Commission at the next meeting.

 

4. BUDGET AND STAFFING UPDATE-

The Mayor will submit the proposed budget to the City Council today.  They will start budget hearings next week and Department Heads may be called to speak to the City Council regarding their budgets starting April 21, 2007.  The initial cuts to our budget we can live with.  Our materials budget was cut by 10 percent and some of the projects that we wanted to move forward with such as new security gates at Snow and the penthouse panel’s project at HFCL were put on hold.  Commissioner Schlaff stated we should make sure that no structural damage is done to the building by delaying the penthouse panel’s project.  Mrs. Bartles stated that she has asked the City Engineer to take a look at them to make sure we can wait to do the project. Mr. Pultorak asked Mrs. Bartles if she had any sense of the total budget in relation to the overall deficit.  Mrs. Bartles stated that they feel they have made some progress on the deficit.  Mr. Pultorak asked if there had been any further progress had been made in sharing services with other communities.  Mrs. Bartles stated they have had meetings and discussed different things but nothing has come of it. If the State of Michigan cuts go through the way we are expecting them to the library cooperative that we belong to will likely cease to exist.  The director of the Rochester Library has asked for a meeting with local libraries to talk about establishing a different type of cooperative that would just support interlibrary loan delivery. 

5. OLD BUSINESS

  1. By-Laws Review Committee- Mr. Pultorak stated that the document the Commissioners have in their packets has the proposed by-law changes listed.  Most of the changes are to make the language used consistent.  Some things were added such as in article two we added the right to exclude patrons who violate our rules from library services, in section four we added meeting notices by email, the terms “members”  and “directors” in the document was changed to Commissioners, quorum was changed to “the Commissioners participating, but not less than four”, language was added to allow Commissioner participation by telephone,  and the duties of the Treasurer were deleted as there were never any duties in actuality for Treasurer as monies received go to the Cities Treasurer.  The officers would now consist of a Chairperson, Vice-chairperson and Secretary.  A motion was made by Commissioner Schlaff to accept the proposed by-law changes and seconded by Mr. Taub, all approved.
  2. Coffee Shop- Mrs. Bartles reported that a new buyer is working on this.  The City has a preferred vendor who can provide a vending machine to meet our needs.  However, it is not recommended to operate the vending machine with a self-contained water source.  Mrs. Bartles is going to talk to Tom Delage in DPW to see if we can get a water source up to the Mezzanine.  The machine we are interested in is currently being used by the City of Troy.  The buyer called Troy and they are happy with the machine.  Mr. Pultorak stated that he knows the Assistant City Manager of Troy and would be happy to speak to him about it if Mrs. Bartles will send him the specifics. 
  3. Word Processing- Steve Smith reported that we started the roll out of word processing on March 20th and officially launched Microsoft Office on all the public computers at HFCL on April 3rd. 
  4. Computer Classes- Mrs. Bartles reported that the classes we offered the first time around were very successful.  We have added an additional group of nine classes.  Jeff Lelek, who coordinates the computer classes, called all of the patrons who were on the waiting list for the first group of classes to sign them up for the new classes. Commissioner Schlaff asked what the cost was for the classes.  Mrs. Bartles reported that basic classes are free and there is a $10 fee for more advanced classes such as Microsoft Word or Excel. Mr. Pultorak asked if patrons had to be a Dearborn Library cardholder to sign up for the classes.  Mrs. Bartles stated that they do have to have a Dearborn Library card or else they go on the waiting list. 
  5. New Commissioners- Mrs. Bartles reported that she has not spoken with the Mayor yet about filling our two Library Commissioner vacancies.  The Mayor plans to meet with Department Heads one-on-one soon and Mrs. Bartles hopes to address the Commission vacancies then.  We have submitted two names to fill the two vacancies. 
  6. Capital Project Update-Fire Stair Enclosure- Mrs. Bartles reported that this project is almost done.  We should probably do the punch list next week.  Once the project is completed we will need to reorganize the entire space on the mezzanine level which will be a big job for us.
  7. Library Column- Tara Gnau reported that the initial library column for the newspapers has been written and edited.  We will be asking each of our standing committees to write a column.  We would like the column to relate to library services rather than library programming.  Commissioner Schlaff asked how often the column would appear in the paper and Ms. Gnau stated it would be a monthly column in both Dearborn papers.  We have been having some issues with naming the column.  We were going to name the column @Your Dearborn Public Library but that is copyrighted by ALA.  The Commissioners suggested “Your Dearborn Library Matters” or “Your Dearborn Library Corner” as some alternative titles. 

6. NEW BUSINESS-

  1. Policy Database- The Commission was given a document listing policy changes made by the Commission starting in 1990.  Mrs. Bartles stated that we removed those policy changes that related to things like changing a meeting date because of a holiday.  The policy changes are arranged by key word or key phrase.  Mr. Pultorak advised the Commissioners to read through the document and if there are any questions we can discuss it at the next meeting.  Mrs. Abbatt stated we might want to think about making this document a part of the Commissioners folder.  Mrs. Bartles also discussed a hand out given to the Commissioners which lists the four tests for a legally enforceable library policy.  The policy should comply with current statutes, be reasonable, measurable and not allow discriminatory application of the policy. 
  2. Slate of Officers- Mrs. Bartles reported that this is Mrs. Zakar’s third year as Chairperson.  Mrs. Abbatt stated that in the past former chairpersons of the Commission would meet to nominate the next slate of officers but she would like to nominate Commissioner Pultorak for Chairperson and allow him to pick his Vice Chairperson and Secretary. Mr. Pultorak’s budget and finance background is very useful now, he has a lot of connections in the City, his attendance is excellent and all the work he has done for the Commission such as the by-laws revision has been excellent. Mrs. Abbatt motioned to nominate Vice Chairperson Pultorak for Chairperson, seconded by Mr. Schlaff, all approved.  This is deferred to the May meeting of the Commission.
  3. Misc.- Julie Schaefer advised the Commission that next week is National Library Week and next Tuesday, April 17 is National Library Worker’s day.  We plan to do something to acknowledge the staff that day.  

Ms. Gnau advised the Commission that Friday, June 15th at 12noon at the Dearborn Hills Golf Course will be the Volunteer Luncheon.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00pm.