DEARBORN DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES

LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING

12-12-08

 

1.  ATTENDANCE

In attendance were:  Mr. Marcel Pultorak, Chairperson; Mrs. Nancy Zakar, Secretary-Treasurer; Mr. Robert Taub, Mrs. Candyce Abbatt, Mrs. Jihan Jawad,  Commissioners; Mrs. Maryanne Bartles, Library Director; Ms. Julie Schaefer, Deputy Library Director; Mr. Steve Smith, Administrative Librarian.

Excused:  Dr. Alex Shami, Vice-Chairperson, and Mr. David Schlaff, Commissioner.

 

2.  APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the November 2008 Library Commission Meeting were approved as submitted.

 

3.  FOUNDATION UPDATE

Mrs. Bartles reported that the next Library Foundation meeting is Tuesday, December 16 at 6pm.  They are continuing to work on their direct mailing piece. They are close to picking a company to do the printing and mailing. They originally wanted to do a tri-fold type of brochure but that goes out with all the other flyers and junk mail that people receive so it tends not to get noticed.  They decided to do a more targeted mailing with a personal letter and a nice offset print brochure which is more expensive.  Mrs. Bartles will review the document before it goes out.  They are also discussing holding a book and author luncheon as a fundraising event. 

 

4.  BUDGET UPDATE

Mrs. Bartles stated that we are in the budget process.  We had a meeting last week where we got the dates for budget submission.  The personnel budget has been submitted.  Mrs. Bartles is currently working on the capital improvement budget.  The operating budget is not due until February 2009 so we will work on that in January.  The budget, especially for capital projects, will be tight this year and only must do projects will be approved.  We were lucky that many of our capital projects were funded last year including the mezzanine renovation project at HFCL, the carpeting at Esper, the penthouse panel repair at HFCL, the family bathroom for HFCL, and wallpaper replacement at HFCL. 

 

5.  INFORMATION ITEMS

A. Strategic Planning Session and Facilitator:  The last strategic planning session the Library Commission held was in May of 2005.  The Mayor has worked to establish a new mission statement and goals for the City and is now asking each department head to do that for their departments.  We already have a mission statement established but we need to set our goals for the libraries.  The Mayor would like a fairly quick turnaround on the goals. The Library Commission could work with the same facilitator that the City used to do our strategic planning and goal setting.  Mrs. Abbatt stated that if we can have the assistance of an expert we should use it.  Mrs. Bartles will get more information and let the Commission know. 

Mr. Pultorak asked Mrs. Bartles to email the Commissioners the information she has about the newly established City goals and once she has some tentative dates for a strategic planning session for an upcoming Saturday to let the Commission know.   

B. Policy Review:  Commissioner Zakar had asked Mrs. Bartles about reviewing policy on a regular basis at a previous meeting.  Administration has been working to pull together all the various types of policies for the Commission to review.  Mrs. Bartles presented the Commissioners with binders containing this policy information. Some of the information is the policy statements contained in our larger procedural manuals.  Those items are listed under the circulation and information services guidelines sections.  There are also policy documents that are not part of a manual including our code of conduct, computer use and cell phone policy.  There is also information on the City ordinance regarding unaccompanied children which we have accepted as the policy we follow at the libraries. There will be other policies to come so the binder will have additions in the future.  Mr. Pultorak asked the Commissioners to review the items and give feedback at the January meeting.     

1.    Circulation Policy

2.    Information Services Guidelines Policy

3.    Library Code of Conduct

4.    Computer Use Policy

5.    Cell Phone Policy

C.LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) Grant-A couple of staff members expressed an interest in learning how to do grant writing.  We currently do not have staff that are trained in this area.  They attended workshops on applying for the LSTA grant.  This was our first endeavor and it was a learning experience.  There is a lot of work involved.  The goal of this year’s grant is to foster new innovative services and programs by funding scalable pilot projects for use by libraries statewide to meet and anticipate Michigan residents constantly changing needs for library services and information.  We focused on the community need for English language learning.  We applied to have computers dedicated to language learning.  Patrons would be able to log on and use language learning software in the library.  The software we want to purchase is Rosetta Stone and it comes with various different languages to English translations.  We did not realize that the deadline for the grant was the 1st of December and the grant required Mr. Pultoraks signature.  He was nice enough to come in and sign the document.  However, it should have been presented to the Commission but we were unable to do that because of the deadline.  

6.  ACTION ITEMS

A.  Institutional Library Card: Our current policy on institutional library cards prohibits the institutions from using the cards for the personal use of their employees.  As there is no way to prevent the institution from using the card in this way and because the institution is financially responsible for the card, Administration would like to eliminate this stipulation from the circulation manual and change the verbiage so that institutional cards are subject to the same limitations as a personal card.  Institutional cards are only issued at HFCL but can be used to check out material at any location.  The card has to be presented to check out material.  Mrs. Abbatt motioned to remove the restriction on personal use from the institutional library cards, seconded by Mr. Taub, all approved. 

B.  Video Game Collection:  Ms. Schaefer advised the Commission that the young adult and children’s committee’s worked on this proposal to add video games to the collection.  The committees have been researching this for a while.  Ms. Schaefer also gave the Commissioners an article from the New York Times regarding the addition of video games at many libraries across the country as a way to get library users into the library. Many other local libraries have video games in there collections. Mrs. Abbatt asked how many games would be in the collection and if the branches would also have the games. Mrs. Schaefer stated that the initial collection will start at around 100 items at HFCL for Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 2.  When the collection reaches 300 to 350 items, the branches will get 50 items each as a rotating collection.  Two games can be checked out at a time for one week. We will not have any game titles that are rated mature, only teen or under.  Mrs. Abbatt asked about hosting game tournaments at the library or providing a space for teens to play the games at the library as many people can not afford the consoles to play the games.  Mrs. Bartles stated that we do not have space now for those types of activities.  When the mezzanine renovations are complete at HFCL we will have more space and may be able to have special events such as those. Mr. Taub motioned to approve adding video games to the collection, seconded by Mrs. Jawad, all approved. 

 

7.  COMMENTS

         Mayor O’Reilly presented Commissioner Taub a citation and thanked him for forty years of volunteer service to the Library Commission. 

 

     Mr. Taub picked the winner of the MP3 player for the digital download contest for the month of November.  The winner is Kelly W. of Dearborn.  She will be contacted to pick up her prize.

 

     Ms. Schaefer announced that Susan LeBeau was promoted from Assistant                                   Librarian to Librarian I.  She will be working in children’s at HFCL and be            responsible for the young adult collection.

 

     Mrs. Bartles discussed the circulation and traffic comparisons from 2007 to 2008.           She explained that it is a year to year comparison. Mr. Pultorak asked Mrs. Bartles     if she could use the actual numbers for this comparison instead       of the percentages    in the future. 

           

      Mary Jo Durivage spoke to the Library Commission.  She asked that the minutes of       the Commission be posted to the library web page.  They have not been posted             since June.  Mrs. Durivage said she likes the online newsletter and hopes library         patrons will contribute to it. She was also happy to see the literary classics book            discussions that are coming up soon.  Mrs. Durivage would like to see Saturday         hours added in the summer. There are currently no libraries open on Saturdays in           the summer months. Mrs. Durivage asked if the talking books at the branches are ever rotated as it seems the same titles are always there.  Mrs. Bartles stated that    the children’s books on tape rotate but she will have to check on the adult titles.       Mrs. Durivage asked what was going on with the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce     move to the lower level of Bryant. Mrs. Bartles stated it has not proceeded due to      financial constraints of the Chamber of Commerce. 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 PM.