Minutes of Regular Meeting

March 18, 2008

Call to Order

The regular meeting of the Library Board of Trustees was called to order at 7:10 p.m. by Board President Julie Trelstad. In attendance were Trustees Hope Furth, Timothy James, P. Lynn Oliva, Paul Schwarz, Library Director Sandra Miranda and Assistant Library Director Patricia Thorsen. Absent with notice were Trustees Connors, D’Ambrosio, Garment and Hawkins. Board President Trelstad welcomed Councilman Tom Roach.

New Library Board Member

Councilman Roach was pleased to announce that a new Library Board member, Denise Serra, was appointed at the March Council meeting and will fill the seat being vacated by Howard Hawkins. Mr. Roach noted that Ms. Serra is familiar with the Library, active in the PTA and neighborhood associations, and should be a good fit. Library Director Miranda and the Board expressed thanks for Ms. Serra’s appointment and enthusiasm to meet and work with her.

Minutes of Annual & Regular Meetings of February 13, 2008

The minutes of the annual and regular meetings of February 13 , 2008 were approved on a MOTION by Trustee Oliva, seconded by Trustee Furth.

City Revenue & Expenditure Budget Reports

The Board reviewed reports for month ending 2/29/08. Mrs. Miranda reported that Assistant Director Thorsen is working closely with staff to ensure book and nonbook orders and expenditures. She noted that they were pleased to find that Barnes & Noble was now an approved state contract vendor for book purchasing, which would at times be useful. She also reported that Barnes & Noble is running a book fair to benefit the Library Foundation on April 13^th.

Guest

Tony Spinelli, a member of the public, joined the Board meeting, and was welcomed by the Board.

Bills 2007/08 Budget

Payment of bill vouchers #16, #17 and #18 were approved on a MOTION by Trustee Schwarz, seconded by Trustee Oliva.

Report of Library Administration

The Board reviewed Administrative reports. Mrs. Miranda reviewed John Lolis’ Technology Report in detail with the Board. She was pleased to report that John Lolis and the City’s IS Department allocated bandwidth for the Library through a high speed connection, and it is hoped that this will eliminate connectivity problems that have caused an impact on acquisitions.

Mrs. Miranda reported that DPW maintenance staff put the Library on notice that, according to new County recycling guidelines, we can no longer put book discards out for garbage pick-up without first cutting off book covers, and that she has contacted DPW for clarification. She reported that if true, this would have a negative budget impact, as the Library has thousands of discards, both its own and donations, which would take hundreds of man hours to handle. Some discussion of alternatives ensued.

Councilman Roach offered to bring the issue to the County since it is a county-wide problem.

Mrs. Miranda reported that an RFP for collection agency services is being developed with a goal to start a service sometime after July 1.

Trustee James referred to Rosemary Rasmussen’s report on the distribution of U READ t-shirts to children, and expressed his objection to the wording U READ. Trustee James noted that a Library should encourage proper grammar and have You Read on the t-shirts. Trustee Trelstad pointed out that U READ is used in text messaging, and Trustee Schwarz agreed that it represented the way youth communicate today.

Trustee James questioned the monthly statistics, noting that the number of programs was way up, but the program attendance was way down. Library Director Miranda reported that she had noticed this also, and the reason appeared to be that each one-on-one training session with a patron was being recorded as one program. Assistant Director Thorsen agreed to investigate, and Mrs. Miranda said that this type of reporting would need to be adjusted.

Trustee Reports & Business:

WLS

The Board received information on the 17^th Annual Book & Author Luncheon to be held at Trump National Golf Club on April 17, 2008. Trustee Furth reported that the most recent WLS Board meeting largely concerned internal financials and auditor’s report.

Advocacy

Mrs. Miranda will continue to send Board advocacy materials.

Friends

Assistant Library Director Thorsen reminded the Board to attend the Friends’ 100^th birthday celebration for Mr. Mills on March 19, 2008 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in Galaxy Hall at the Library.

Foundation

Library Director Miranda reported that the Foundation had formed a 2008 Gala Committee with co-chairs Susan Hecht and Libby Hollahan. The date of October 25, 2008 has been chosen, and proceeds will benefit a new teen area at the Library. Mrs. Miranda was pleased to report that Trumble in the Trove was a great success, netting over $10,000 and with attendance of 1,200+. The date of March 1, 2009 has tentatively been set for next year’s Trumble.

Trustees

The Board received 2/22/08 Publishers Weekly article about Board President Trelstad’s business venture, Plain White Press, and the Board congratulated her. The Board received information on the NYSALB 2008 Trustee Institute which will be held on May 2 and 3 in Saratoga Springs, NY.

OLD BUSINESS:

Proposed Library Fund Budget

Library Director Miranda reviewed and discussed the Draft Proposed 2008/09 Library Fund Budget as of 3/14/08. Trustee Oliva asked about the figure for Education/Training, and Mrs. Miranda said she would investigate and bring more information to the next meeting. Mrs. Miranda noted that the bottom line does not reflect merit increases or CSEA settlements.

Gift Fund

Library Director Miranda reported that she will ask Board in coming months to approve expenditures from the Gift Fund, so the remaining balance can be used and the fund eliminated.

Conference Attendance for Maria Gagliardi and Tata Canuelas

Library Director Miranda asked the Board to approve time for Maria Gagliardi and Tata Canuelas to attend conferences with scholarships to be provided by the Friends of the Library. On a MOTION by Trustee Furth, seconded by Trustee Schwarz, the Board approved time for Maria Gagliardi to attend the NYLINK/OCLC Annual Meeting on May 5-6 in Saratoga Springs, and for Tata Canuelas to attend the Latino Children’s Literature conference at the University of South Carolina’s School of Library & Information Science on April 26 and expressed appreciation to the Friends for supporting staff education.

2008/2009 Holiday/Sunday/Summer Schedule

The Board approved the 2008/2009 Holiday/Sunday/Summer Schedule as presented on a MOTION by Trustee Oliva, seconded by Trustee Furth.

Other

Guest Tony Spinelli said that he does research using newspapers and requested that the Daily News and the Post be made available on microfilm or online. He asked how the Library or all 38 member Libraries make back issues of the Daily News and the Post available to the public. Assistant Director Thorsen noted that neither newspaper had an index; therefore stories could not be found without searching page by page. She further noted that a company would have to create a database for those newspapers in order for the Library to purchase it, and she is not aware that such a database exists, but would look into it.

Capital Projects for Window and Roof Replacement

Councilman Roach asked about the Library’s window replacement project, and Library Director Miranda said that she did not know how DPW intended to handle. Councilman Roach noted that since utilities are a major expense for the Library, it would make sense to do full replacement, even though the cost is higher than putting on film.

Mrs. Miranda was pleased to announced that the Library was awarded a $65,000 construction grant from NYS towards its roof replacement project. She noted that the grant requires that the project start within 180 days of award and that she has notified DPW.

Adjournment

There being no more business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. on a MOTION by Trustee James, seconded by Trustee Oliva.

Timothy James, Secretary

Library Board of Trustees