President Andrew Slade called the meeting of the Duluth Public Library Board to order at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, 2009, and reviewed the agenda.

Present: J. Brissett, D. D'Allaird, D. Casperson, V. Katz, P. Markert, A. Slade, P. Spooner, M. Watson, J. Sheriff, R. Zurn
Excused: L. Benson Johnson,

Approval of Minutes
The Library Board minutes of the February 24, 2009, meeting were approved as distributed.

Communications

• Director's Report, Library news from February 2009
• Information for Mark Winson from DPL (see briefing)
• Personnel Status and Staffing Plan 2009 (see briefing)
• 2009 Library Staffing Proposal - Rationale (see briefing)
• Article: Stuff We Like: A Reader's Paradise, Right Here in Duluth (DNT, 2-26-09)
• Brochure: Population: 485 (One Book, One Community)
• Handout re regional library system structure and funding
• BookPage (April 2009)
• Article: "Birkerts' Library for Duluth" from Architectural Record, November 1980

Communications were reviewed and discussed.

Reports
A. Friends of the Duluth Public Library - P. Markert
Mystery in the Stacks will take place on Friday, April 24, 2009, in the Library Green Room. Author William Kent Krueger is the speaker. The Friends Board created a long list of ideas for raising additional funds for the Library. Friends Board members are being asked to rate these ideas.

B. Directors' Report - J. Sheriff, R. Zurn

• Manager, Library Services update: Two very qualified candidates were interviewed on Monday, March 23. Members of the interview panel were Virginia Katz, David Ouse, Lisa Potswald and Judy Sheriff. Renee Zurn and Nancy Eaton provided library tours to the candidates. Each candidate was given a folder of information about the library. Lisa Potswald will check references, and the panel's recommendation will be sent to Mark Winson for final decision, salary review and conditional offer.
• Information provided to Mark Winson, incoming CAO: At the request of Lisa Potswald, each department prepared a document itemizing front burner (6 month timeframe) issues. That document is in your packet.
• Staffing Plan 2009: As was reported in the news, the City and the Union reached an agreement about how zoo layoffs and previous layoffs of City employees were to be handled related to rehiring. The employees in these groups are currently being offered selected jobs. (None of the positions are at the Library, but because Maintenance workers are being hired, we may see additional help for things like carpet cleaning and window washing.) The City also asked for a proposed 2009 Library staffing plan. Two documents included in your packet provide a chart and our rationale. Unfortunately, the City is not able financially to move forward with filling these vacancies. This means that people laid off at the Library are being offered other positions, which they may or may not accept.
• New and reappointed Library Board members: The City's committee on boards and commissions met to review applications and make recommendations to the Mayor. Slade is being reappointed for another five-year term. Replacing Casperson will be Sister Edith Bogue. Both appointments were approved by the City Council on March 23. According to her webpage, Bogue is a sociologist teaching at the College of St. Scholastica who made a mid-life career change and took vows in January 2006. She blogs regularly (edithosb.blogspot.com).
• Unique Management: We are going ahead with a 90-day trial of the services offered from this collection agency. A start date has not yet been set. We faxed a signed contract on Friday, March 13th, so that we'd qualify for a 15% discount on their collection fee during the trial period. Zurn and Sheriff discussed with the Board the pros and cons of advance publicity. They will take the Board's recommendation to the Librarian IIIs for discussion and to Administration for a decision.
• Wireless access: We now have wireless Internet access at the Main Library. Installation was completed on March 20th. We will announce this new service during National Library Week, April 12-18th. This will give us time to troubleshoot the installation and revise written policies. Staff will bring in their own laptops with wireless access and test out the system. If the public asks, they can use the service, but we will tell them we are still testing it.
• Gates grant: All three Duluth Public Library locations qualify for the Gates 2008/2009 Opportunity Online Hardware Grant Program. We qualify for 17 computers for the Main Library, 8 computers for the West Duluth Branch and 14 computers for the Mount Royal Branch (based on the formulas that Gates uses). We have two issues to address before we send in our acceptance by the April 10th deadline. We need to match a percentage of the funds given through this grant. The first phase, with a 25% matching requirement, ends in March 2010. We'd have to spend $13,000 on computers for all three locations by that date. The second phase ends March 2011 and requires a 50% match at all three locations or $24,700 to be spent on computers. The second issue concerns the number of computers listed for the Mount Royal Branch library and the space we have available for computers at this location. We don't have room for the 14 computers identified as needed in the grant. We may have room for 10-12 computers if we rearrange lots of things. If we can prove that we don't have room, we should be able to get the number of computers for that location reduced.
• Charging non-Duluth residents for Library cards: You previously received an email about this issue, in response to an article published in the Duluth News Tribune on March 13, 2009. Customers have commented both positively and negatively.
• Library collection statistics: At the last Board meeting, we were asked how many volumes the Library (3 sites) owns. Here are the numbers from the 2008 annual report:
  • Print format - 419,310
    Audio format - 20,787
    Video format - 16,168
    Multi format - 956
    Other (microfilm, etc.) - 167,797
    Total -- 625,018
    
  • Magazine subscriptions - 574
    Electronic books available regionally - 367
    Electronic books available statewide - 15,187
    Downloadable audiobooks available regionally - 2,182
    
• Summer library hours: As usual, the Library will be closed on Saturdays from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. During these weeks (May 18 through September 4), the Main Library will open at noon instead of 1:00 p.m. Because summer is their quietest time, Reference staff will help cover checkin in Circulation. Summer is the busiest time of year for other work areas.

Old Business
Casperson was thanked for his many years of service to the Library Board. A small gift was presented.

New Business
Election of officers: By unanimous ballot, Andrew Slade was re-elected President, and Dan D'Allaird was re-elected Vice-President.

Library artwork collection: Spooner reported that he met with David Ouse to discuss the development of a policy. The Library has 4 or 5 paintings, WPA prints, World War I and II posters, framed photographs, and some other visual materials.

Invitation to incoming Library Manager: The Board expressed interest in inviting her to the April meeting. It's understood that this will be before her official start date and that she is under no obligation to attend.

Using email for sending pre-meeting information: Members reported that receiving these documents by email worked well. Please report any problems encountered.

The meeting adjourned at 5:32 p.m.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, at 4:30 p.m. in the Library's Conference Room.

5/28/09