North Liberty Community Library
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
March 16, 2009, 7:00 p.m.

Vice President Melissa Murphy called the meeting to order at 7:00pm at the North Liberty City Council Chambers, 25 W. Cherry St.

Board members present were: Melissa Murphy, Shalome Tonelli, Peggy Waters, new Board members Cindy Diouf, John Henk and Library Director Dee Crowner. President Shawn Selch was absent with prior notification.

Approval of Agenda:
It was suggested that the new board members introduce themselves, and the other board members introduce themselves to the new members.

Public Comment: None.

Approval of Minutes:
A motion to approve the February minutes as written was made by Waters and seconded by Tonelli and approved unanimously.

Reports:

Budget – Jenny Garner:
We are on track for the year so far.

Dee was asked about why several line items were way out of alignment. Dee responded because they were put in the wrong place. Dee said that the items will be fixed but probably not until budget amendment time.

Youth and Teen Services – Andrew Frisbie:
On Friday, April 3rd is the Easter egg hunt for the toddlers

On April 17th is the 3rd annual 5th/6th grade dance. TAG is sponsoring it and the kids will be charged $5 for munchies. The band will be Lipstick Homicide.

The kick-off for the Summer Reading Program will be May 19th. This year the kids will be able to start reading as of May 19th, rather then waiting until the 2nd Tuesday in June. This will get Rage Graphics time to get all the t-shirts ready rather than being pressed to get them ready at the last minute. There won’t be a finale on the final Saturday this year. Instead, there will be a carnival on the last Tuesday. Andrew will contact Penn Elementary since the do a Fun Night every year and have games.

The teen Summer Reading Program this year is “Get Your Game On At Your Library” and they are going to do game show themed programs.

The Teen Advocate Group is getting active again so the minutes from the meetings will be included in the report in the future.

The rest of the programs will be worked around Spring Break. On March 16th will be make and take crafts. Dee thinks there will be different craft options laid out and you make what you want and take it home with you.

On March 17th he will be having another Game Day starting at 1:00pm.

On March 19th they will be showing the movie, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” starting at 1:00pm, and March 20th will be a Lego program which will be from 1:00pm – 4:00pm so come and build legos.

Adult Services – Elaine Reitz:
On March 12th, Sarah Udoff, who is the librarian at Oxford and also is at Kirkwood Community College, came in and did a genealogy class to show how to look up information online. She will do another class in the fall during the day.

The cake decorating class was on March 14th and they had 24 people attend. There will be a charge this time due to the cost of the supplies and Dee thinks it will be $5.00. Greta is already planning on doing another class in the fall.

The Last Tuesday of the Month book club will be on March 31st and this month they will discussing the book, “The Last Babylon.”

The theme for the Summary Reading Program this year will be, “Find Your Niche at the Library.”

In February, Elaine and Andrew went shopping with the money they got from RAGBRAI and bought some Wii games.

Assistant Director – Jennie Garner:
They goofed with the records that went into SILO (the state library media database), and most of them were incorrect and they are going to have to redo them and resubmit.

Jenny, Elaine and Dee will be traveling to Dubuque on April 24th for a class.

Jenny is busy working with Blues and Barbeque which will be Memorial Day weekend.

Then the last item is the budget amendments that Jenny will be submitting when the council discusses that.

Director – Dee Crowner:
There was a $500 donation from a library patron for the expansion fund. The updated Trustee Handbook was handed out to all Board members.

On new Board members, five applicants were interviewed before the meeting. The recommendations on selection will go to the Council for their first meeting in March.

A library patron came in to the library and issued a challenge to all library staff and volunteers. For every pound of weight lost he will donate $250 to the expansion fund. He’s retired from Quaker Oats so they will match the amount of whatever he donates. There has been a pledge of $200 and a pledge for $100, then individual pledges for various staff members. Several staff members have already lost weight.

Last week a family dropped off five big garbage bags full of children’s books and DVDs. Some went into the collection and the rest will be used for the Summer Reading Program carnival finale.

The board next discussed the patron letter that was received and all board members agreed that Dee could draft a letter from the board, have everyone sign and send.

The next Expansion Meeting is actually set now and will be on March 24th at 6pm at the council chambers. Dee explained to the new board members that an expansion fund raiser had been hired, David Hoksema, who helped with the expansion of the Community Center.

The architect drawing is ready and at the library for viewing. This is based on a population of 15,000.

The weeding project has been started. It’s been forced on them since they are running out of room on the shelves. They are about a third of the way done and they hope this will be done by June 1st before the Summer Reading Program starts on June 16th.

The last item to discuss was library board member term limits. After much discussion the board felt that three year terms would be good for being able to get people to serve in the future. Dee said that she would confirm this with the City and let us know.

Friends
The membership drive has started. Dee said that she is surprised with how many new people have joined, and that several of them are marking that they are interested in being volunteers.

The Friends purchased a new people counter since the other one went again, purchased two new scanning wands for the circulation desk and three sets of DVDs from the History Channel. One is on the presidents, ones on the decades of the Twentieth Century and the other is on the ten greatest days in history.

April 18th will be the Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at noon, sponsored by the Friends. This will be a potato bar catered by Ms. Susan’s. Dee asked for people to RSVP this year so she has a more accurate count for the caterer. The staff will provide salads and desserts.

Policy Review:
Library Board By-Laws – Term limits and other changes were discussed. Dee will make the suggested changes and it will be voted on at the next meeting.

E-Mail Release – Waters moved and Diouf seconded that the E-Mail Release be approved as written subject to approval by the City Attorney and approved unanimously.

Old Business:
Expansion Committee – The next meeting will be on March 24th and hopefully they will be able to get started.

New Business:
None

Adjournment:
It was moved and seconded to adjourn and approved unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55pm.