DEARBORN DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES

LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING

11/13/09

1.  ATTENDANCE

In attendance were:  Mr. Marcel Pultorak, Chairperson; Mrs. Nancy Zakar, Vice-Chairperson;

Mrs. Jihan Jawad, Secretary-Treasurer; Mr. Robert Taub, Mrs. Candyce Abbatt, Mr. David Schlaff, Mrs. Toni Straley, Mrs. Rachel Fawaz, and Mrs. Sally Smith, Commissioners; Mrs. Maryanne Bartles, Library Director; Ms. Julie Schaefer, Deputy Library Director; Mr. Steve Smith, Administrative Librarian.

 

2.  APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the October 9, 2009 Library Commission Meeting were approved as submitted.

 

3.  FOUNDATION UPDATE- Mrs. Bartles reported that the Foundation is working on developing a strategic plan for fund raising.  The Foundation is having a Dining to Donate night at Applebee’s in Allen Park on December 3, 2009.  Mrs. Bartles will email the Commissioners the flyer for the event.  The flyer needs to be presented at the restaurant so that the Foundation gets credit for 15% of your tab.  Rachal Fawaz mentioned that in the future Barnes and Noble could do a similar type event with the Foundation.  The long term plan is to establish one or two annual events that the Foundation can focus on every year and that people will brand with the Foundation such as a book and author luncheon for children with a focus on Michigan children’s authors and a golf outing for children. The next Library Foundation meeting is Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 6pm. 

 

4.  BUDGET UPDATE-. Mrs. Bartles reported that staff have submitted their budget requests to library administration.  Mrs. Bartles is waiting to receive the budget memo from the Finance director’s office which will have the due dates for the personnel budget, capital budget and operating budget.  Everything needs to be submitted before the end of the year.  There is a projected structural deficit in the neighborhood of $13 million.  As Mrs. Bartles has mentioned before the Mayor is planning to appoint a committee of citizens to prioritize City services in order to assist in the budget process.  Mr. Pultorak stated that the Library Commission needs to ask City Administration to be kept informed of whatever projections are being made that affect the library.  He proposed drafting a letter to City Administration and the City Council from the Library Commission asking that we be kept informed of the fiscal situation in City.  He will email the Commissioners a draft of the letter for their review.  

 

5.  INFORMATION ITEMS-

A.     Library Network delivery system charge- Mrs. Bartles reported that she spoke with the director of the Library Network regarding the proposed delivery system charge.  State aid to cooperatives is being cut along with aid to libraries.  TLN’s state aid for fiscal year 2010 is being cut by 40%. They are proposing indefinitely suspending interlibrary loan which will save $120,000 per year.  They also want to change to a tiered delivery schedule and service fee model which will be an annual fee of $1100 for our level of usage. TLN wants the membership to vote on these changes by November 18, 2009.  There was some discussion regarding MEL-CAT, the statewide interlibrary loan system. MEL-CAT is labor intensive.  Mrs. Bartles reported she requested funding for MEL-CAT in the budget but it was not funded. 

B.     The Library Network 2010 Plan of Service-Review- The Commissioners were given a copy of the new proposed plan of service and the old plan of service, from 2001, for our library cooperative, The Library Network. Mrs. Bartles asked the Commissioners to review the documents for the next Commission meeting. The biggest change is they are broadening their definition of associate membership so that other, non-public libraries can join TLN.   Mrs. Bartles reported that the vote on the proposed plan of service changes is due January, 8, 2010. 

C.    HFCL ADA Compliant Family Restroom- Ms. Schaefer reported that she and Mrs. Bartles met with the general contractor today regarding the ADA compliant family restroom at HFCL.There are some delays with the plumbing and the door though they did lay the tile this week.  We are planning for a mid December completion date now. 

 

6. ACTION ITEMS- None

 

7.     Comments-

Library patron Judy Patrick spoke to the Library Commission.  She is a staunch supporter of the Bryant Library.  She commented on the community information rack that was removed from Bryant and asked Mrs. Bartles to come up with something to replace it.  Mrs. Bartles stated that we are working on coming up with a wall mounted type of display that has flexibility but is neater and will look better than the previous display. Mrs. Patrick also commented that she has seen many improvements in the library system over the last few years and she attributes those improvements to the leadership of Mrs. Bartles.

 

Library patron Mary Jo Durivage spoke to the Library Commission regarding several issues. She                                          stated that the Library Foundation should try to work with Dearborn restaurants for fund raising events.  She asked Mrs. Bartles about indirect cost charges to the budget and commented on the selectiveness of the flyers we distribute at the library and the purchase of rated and unrated DVD’s.

 

Commissioner Dave Schlaff commented that it was great that the Commission met at the Bryant Branch for today’s meeting. There was discussion regarding meeting at the other branches.  The December meeting will be back at HFCL and then January at either Snow or Esper.

 

Commissioner Jihan Jawad asked about the library and the influenza concerns.  Mrs. Schaefer stated that the library does have a plan in the event of a wide spread influenza outbreak in Dearborn.

 

Commissioner Marcel Pultorak commented that the library newsletter is very professional and nicely done.  He complimented Jeff Lelek on his work putting it together. 

 

Mrs. Schaefer reported that the library, with funds from the Friends of the Library-Dearborn, received a matching grant from ALA with support from Nordstrom.  The library was one of ten libraries selected to purchase Books for Babies kits at discounted prices.  We purchased 200 of the kits which we will distribute to the parents of newborns at our various events as well as through the Dearborn Health Departments well baby clinic. The kits have a bib, information on why it’s important to read to your children and information on literacy.  We will also put our own information about the library, getting a library card and our programming information in the kits. 

 

Mrs. Bartles told the Commission about the Everyone’s Reading program through the Metronet libraries which will take place in February, March and April next year.  This is the third year we have participated. This year’s book is Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow.  The author will visit Canton and Southfield in conjunction with the program. We will receive 30 tickets for each event and will distribute the tickets to patrons through a contest or some type of drawing. 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 PM.