President Andrew Slade called the meeting of the Duluth Public Library Board to order at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, 2009, and reviewed the agenda.

Present: E. Bogue, J. Brissett, D. D'Allaird, L. Benson Johnson, V. Katz, P. Markert, A. Slade, P. Spooner, C. Powers,
Excused: M. Watson

Approval of Minutes
The Library Board minutes of the May 26, 2009, meeting were approved as distributed.

Communications

• Manager's Report: Library News from May/June 2009
• Draft of Library Business Plan for 2010-2014 as amended
• BookPage for July 2009
• Handout: Summer Reading packets.
  

Communications were reviewed and discussed.

Reports
A. Friends of the Duluth Public Library - Markert
Plans for the Sidewalk Days sale July 8 through 10 are proceeding well. There is still a need for volunteers for the annual book sale in August. On August 22, Barnes & Noble will hold a special event to benefit the Friends of the Library. The Friends will hand out vouchers for the event. Customers who present a voucher will have a portion of the proceeds from their purchases donated to the Friends. Wendy Grethen, the new PR person for the Friends, has designed a poster listing "25 Things You Can Do at Duluth Public Library."

There was a suggestion to expand upon this idea and create a poster listing things that people can do to help the library.

B. Manager's Report - Powers
The Manager's Report, which was distributed with board packets, was reviewed, and the Board Briefing was discussed.

C. Board Briefing - Powers

• National Citizen Survey: The city has received the results of a survey conducted last March that asked residents their opinions about city services and programs, elected officials, and the community as a whole. In many categories the city received fairly high marks; however, the overall rankings tended to be lower than in other cities where the survey has taken place. Two questions on the survey had to do with the public library. One asked whether respondents have used DPL or its services. 71 percent said yes, which is similar to the response in other cities. In the second question, 60 percent of respondents ranked the library's services as "excellent" or "good," which was below the benchmark.
  
  Results of the survey will be used to plan for improvements citywide and to set a baseline for measuring progress. Complete survey results are available at the city's website.
• Governor's Unallotments: Last Tuesday, Governor Pawlenty announced his plan to balance the state budget. The plan includes reductions in Local Government Aid, which has a direct effect on the City of Duluth. The cut for 2009 will be $1.5 million, which is about $800,000 less than the mayor had prepared for. However, the cut for 2010 will be $3.4 to $3.5 million. That is a larger cut than city officials had expected. The mayor calls it "a very significant challenge" and has said that it will mean further reductions in city services and personnel.
• Carpet Tiles at West Duluth: New carpet tiles have been installed at the West Duluth Branch, replacing some sections of carpeting in high traffic areas that were stained and worn. The tiles are darker in tone then the previous tiles but Renee Zurn reports that they look very nice and do contain many of the colors of the other tiles. Renee received thanks from City Architect Terry Groshong for taking the lead on this project and for communicating and cooperating so well with his department.
• Y.E.S. Duluth Summer Youth Workers: Library staff have begun interviewing and testing applicants from the Y.E.S. Duluth program who have expressed an interest in working at the Main Library or one of the branches. The program is funded with federal stimulus money, and participants must be between 16 and 24 years of age and must meet certain income guidelines. They will be eligible to work up to 30 hours per week for eight weeks this summer. We hope to be able to hire several workers to help with tasks such as shelving, shelf reading, cleaning toys, handing out summer reading materials, etc.

Old Business
Business Plan 2010 - 2014: Based on feedback from Lisa Potswald, the library's business plan has been revised somewhat. Lisa's comments on the revision were positive. She has indicated that the next step in the process will be to establish performance measures. D'Allaird asked whether the emphasis on staff efficiency will eventually lead to burnout. Powers said that efficiency was brought up in the context of finding different ways of accomplishing tasks or identifying tasks that can be eliminated without having a negative impact on services. However, it's clear that if/when the library gets to a point where no further efficiencies can be found, any cut in funding would result in a decrease in core services. Bogue said that it would be helpful to include more details about library home delivery service, such as what the service encompassed and who is no longer receiving it. There was consensus that it would be helpful to give as much information as possible about how library services impact specific user populations. Slade asked whether the Library Board needs to approve the business plan. Powers said she would check with Potswald and let board members know.

ALS Governing Board Representative: The board approved the nomination of Brissett to serve a three-year term on the ALS Board of Trustees. Powers will draft a letter to this effect, to be signed by Slade and sent to the library system.

New Business
Hours at Mt. Royal Branch: Brissett mentioned that a book club has expressed an interest in raising money in order to add an additional day of service at this branch. There was consensus that it's not possible to cover staffing costs with fundraising dollars. However, it would be good to harness this kind of community enthusiasm. Slade will contact Adele Krusz to explore partnership opportunities with the Friends and the Foundation.

The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, at 4:30 p.m. in the Library's Conference Room.

8/27/09