Call to Order: President Dan D'Allaird called the meeting of the Duluth Public Library Board to order at 4:35 p.m. on Tuesday, January 24, 2012. On a motion by Katz, seconded by Jewell, the agenda was approved.

Members Present: Dan D'Allaird, Sister Edith Bogue, Jane Brissett, Frank Jewell, Liz Benson Johnson, Virginia Katz, Printha Markert, Andrew Slade, Peter Spooner
Also Present: Carla Powers
Excused: None

Approval of Minutes
On a motion by Katz, seconded by Bogue, the Library Board minutes of the regular meeting of November 22, 2011 were approved with two corrections: In the "One Book, One Community" report, there was a typo in the word "programs," and only one doctor from Essentia - not two - will be speaking about medical ethics.

Reports
A. Friends of the Duluth Public Library - Powers
The Friends have been in fundraising mode, raising $4900 at the Barnes & Noble Book Fair, $552 from the Holiday Sale, $1500 from the media sale, and approximately $3000 during Give to the Max Day. The Friends joined forces with the library foundation to mail a postcard to every household in the City of Duluth to publicize the library's new hours. Upcoming projects include the Mystery Dinner on April 13 and the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards in May. The annual book sale has been expanded to five days and will take place in June.

B. Arrowhead Library System - Brissett
The ALS board approved the library system's budget in December. The 2012 budget is just over $3 million; the 2011 budget for ALS was $3.3 million. The bookmobile is back in service after a carbon monoxide leak was repaired. A total of 62,000 downloadable ebooks and audiobooks was checked out via OverDrive last year, and 2012 is expected to be another record breaker. The statewide library return-on-investment study that was scheduled to be presented at today's DPL board meeting had to be postponed because the State Library has not yet approved the report.

C. Duluth Library Foundation - Katz
Katz informed the board that her email address has changed. There has not been a foundation board meeting since November. However, the foundation mailed out letters for its fall fundraising campaign immediately after the referendum, and approximately $25,000 has been raised.

Old Business:
Discussion of expanded hours and hiring - Powers reported that the new hours went into effect on January 17. Several board members attended a press conference that day. News coverage of the expanded hours has been good. Bogue suggested writing an opinion piece for the Duluth News Tribune in a couple of months to share information about library use and to keep the new hours in the public eye. There was discussion about the postcard mailing, and Johnson mentioned that the UMD library has put a postcard on its bulletin board to inform its users about the hours at the public library.

Powers gave an update on hiring. Five people joined the staff in January as provisionals. One is a librarian and four are technicians. The city's human resources staff has reported that a large number of people applied for the permanent positions. Librarians will be hired first, because there are three vacancies and only one provisional in place.

E-rate discount and internet filtering - Powers reported that the city decided not to file for an E-rate discount for 2012, because it would have held up the installation of fiber to the library.

New Business:
Appointment to ALS governing board - Brissett provided some information about the duties involved in serving on the ALS board. She said that the board meets the third Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. at the ALS headquarters in Mt. Iron. ALS reimburses for mileage and provides lunch for the board. There are three seats on the ALS board for DPL board members, and there was discussion about trying to fill the remaining two seats. Brissett mentioned that ALS is currently in merger discussions with the North Country Library Cooperative (NCLC), and said if the merger is approved it may change the composition of the ALS board.

On a motion by Bogue, seconded by Johnson, Brissett was reappointed to the ALS board.

Communications/Correspondence:
Manager's Report
Powers reported on a break-in at the Main Library the day after Thanksgiving. Someone jimmied the lock on the Michigan Street door off the plaza, smashed a donation box in the Superior Street lobby, took the cash inside, and exited through the Michigan Street door six minutes later. The theft wasn't noticed until Monday morning, and the police have no suspects. The library will be getting some security cameras that are being removed from another city building. The cameras will not be monitored in real time, but they could be used to identify a suspect after an incident occurred.

Slade brought up the issue of library funding and agreed to contact Senator Reinert to resume discussions about changing state law to make public library funding more equitable.

D'Allaird asked that the board's 2012 goals be placed on next month's agenda for review, and that the Gold Room be reserved for the meeting in case the ROI study is ready for presentation.

The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
The next meeting will take place Tuesday, February 28 at 4:30 p.m. in the library's Gold Room.

3/13/12
Duluth Public Library, 520 W. Superior St., Duluth, MN 55802