DEARBORN DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES

LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING

June 8, 2007 

1. ATTENDANCE

In attendance were: MRS. NANCY ZAKAR, Chairperson, MR. MARCEL PULTORAK, Vice-Chairperson; DR. ALEX SHAMI, Secretary-Treasurer;

MRS. MARYANNE BARTLES, Library Director; MS. TARA GNAU, MR. STEVE SMITH, Administrative Librarians; Participating by phone: MRS. CANDYCE ABBATT, Commissioner.

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

 

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

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

 

3. FOUNDATION UPDATE

The plans from Library Design Group for the children’s area renovations at HFCL will be presented to the Library Foundation at their Tuesday, June 19, 2007 meeting.  Nancy Zakar will attend the meeting as a representative of the Library Commission.

 

4. BUDGET UPDATE

The City Council passed the budget. 

 

5. OLD BUSINESS

  1. Vending Machines- Mrs. Bartles met with Austin Vending Machines, which is the company that has the City contract for vending machines. Austin is also the company that supplied the coffee machines to the City of Troy that Mr. Pultorak spoke to them about. Mrs. Bartles has asked Tom Delage from Building Services to install a water supply and have the electrician double check the power.  The machines have a modern look and will supply regular and decaf fresh brewed coffee, latte, hot chocolate, mocha and tea.  The cold beverage machine has a choice of 12 products and will be an elevator machine which will lower the beverages down to the bottom which will cut down on some of the noise.  We will need to buy mats to put under the machines to protect the carpet.
  2. Word Processing-Reboot- Steve Smith reported that the computers in the Children’s area have been set up to reboot after each use.  The average time has been about a minute and thirty seconds for the computer to reboot.  We have not had any complaints from patrons.
  3. New Commissioners- Mrs. Bartles stated that the Mayor’s office asked for information again on the two Commissioners who are up for reappointment.  We also received a memo asking for information on each Commissioner, including how many meetings they have attended in the last two years and what contributions each Commissioner has made. Mrs. Bartles does not believe that the Mayor has turned his attention to the new Commissioners as of yet. Mrs. Bartles stated that she lists the need for new Library Commissioners on the report she gives to the Mayor weekly.  Mr. Pultorak stated that he has drafted a letter to the Mayor about this but has not sent it to him yet.

 

  1. HFCL Exterior Cleaning update- Mrs. Bartles stated she will take this item to the agenda setting meeting on Thursday although there was some issues with the wording of the award letter. Hopefully, those issues will be resolved by Thursday so that it may be presented to the City Council for approval.  Mrs. Bartles reported that she spoke to Tom Delage in Building Services and he believes that it will be possible to clean the penthouse panels as part of the marble cleaning project.
  2. Downloadable Audio Books-Mrs. Bartles reported that we have been discussing downloadable audio for a while.  As discussed at the last Library Commission meeting there is a co-op agreement available through the Michigan Library Consortium.  They currently have E-books and downloadable audio available.  They will be adding downloadable educational videos. The price is much more reasonable than other vendors that we have looked into.  Mr. Pultorak motioned to approve the purchase of downloadable books through the Michigan Library Consortium, seconded by Dr. Shami, all approved. 
  3. Library Column- Tara Gnau reported that the library column for the newspapers has been sent into each Dearborn paper by the Department of Public Information.  The newspapers will decide when they will run the column.
  4. Officers for 2007-2008- As we are short of Library Commissioners and we have not elected a slate of officers yet for 2007-2008, Marcel Pultorak proposes a temporary term of office until new members are appointed to the Library Commission.  There was discussion relating to Marcel Pultorak serving as Chairperson, Dr. Shami serving as vice-chairperson and Nancy Zakar serving a temporary term as Secretary-Treasurer until new Commissioners are in place. It was decided to table this item until a special meeting is held or the next scheduled Library Commission meeting in September. 
  5. Volunteer Luncheon- The Volunteer Luncheon will be held at 12noon on Friday, June 15, 2007 at the Dearborn Hills Golf Course.   

 

6. NEW BUSINESS-

  1. Internet Use Policy Revision- The Commissioners were given a copy of the revised Internet Use Policy for their review.  Mrs. Bartles stated that she has not taken the document to the Legal Department yet for their review.  She stated that she would prefer to take it to the Legal Department after the Commission has made all of its changes so that it only has to be reviewed by the Legal Department once. Mrs. Bartles stated the policy could be reviewed for the September Library Commission meeting or for a special meeting if one is held before September.  We can email the document to the Library Commissioners not present today so they can review it as well.   
  2. Henry Ford Statue update- Mrs. Bartles reported that work has begun on the Henry Ford statue.  The old caulk has been removed and the old marble replaced but it has not been regrouted yet.  Venus Bronze Works will begin working on the statue after the marble company is done.   
  3. Meeting with area library directors- Mrs. Bartles reported that she met with about 20 area library directors at a meeting organized by Christine Hage, the Rochester Hills Library Director. At the meeting the library directors prioritized those services that the want the most from the library co-op. Interlibrary loan, delivery, databases and computer networking were the most important services discussed.  State library aid payments have been held back and the library co-ops can not operate with out state aid.  The state librarian has issued her opinion on the problem and has said that in this time of financial constraint there can not be so many co-ops.  A letter will be sent to the state librarian conveying the agreement that there are too many co-ops and listing the services most necessary from the co-ops. Mrs. Bartles also discussed MEL-CAT and the possibility that we may want to look at joining this service if our materials budget continues to decrease. However, it is a very staff intensive program and will need serious review before implementation.
  4. KCJ Collection end-September 1, 2007- Mrs. Bartles reported that at the June 2004 Library Commission meeting the Library Commission voted to close the juvenile cassette collection at the discretion of library staff.  We set an arbitrary number at that time and decided that once the collection reached that number we would close it.  The collection has reached that number and will be closed effective September 1, 2007. 
  5. Miscellaneous- Mrs. Bartles reported that Marge Bryer has resigned from the Dearborn Library Foundation.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:10pm.