North Liberty Community Library
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
November 24, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

President Shawn Selch called the meeting to order at 7:00pm at the North Liberty City Council Chambers, 25 W. Cherry St. The meeting was moved from November 17th due to lack of quorum.

Board members present were: Shawn Selch, Peggy Waters, Melissa Murphy, Shalome Tonelli, Matt Irving and Library Director Dee Crowner. Kashyap Handoo was absent with prior approval.

Approval of Agenda:
The Director's Review was moved to below New Business. There was a motion to approve the agenda as corrected, it was seconded and approved unanimously.

Public Comment: None

Approval of Minutes:
A motion to approve the October minutes as corrected was made by Irving and seconded by Murphy and approved unanimously.

Reports:

Budget – Jenny Garner:
We are on track for the year so far. The $1,600 for the awnings in the Building Maintenance line will be amended in June.

The budget for 2009-2010 will be done when Dee returns from vacation the first of December. She said that she noticed recently that there is a line for Overtime Pay and since some staff do have occasional overtime, usually during Summer Reading Program, she added $750 to that line.

Youth and Teen Services – Andrew Frisbie:
The next big program is the trip to see the movie, "Twilight", on Wednesday, November 26th. They are going to the noon matinee.

Dee was asked about making Book Thongs and what they are. She explained these are fancy bookmarks made with twine that's knotted with beads added, usually at each end.

Next is making Christmas ornaments on December 5th.

There will be another Game Day on December 23rd. There will be Playstation and Wii games both for the teens.

Dee was then asked about TAG and if they have met. She said they will be meeting the second Friday in January and they will do an overnight. It's just been postponed due to school schedules. Andrew will go out to the elementary schools after the first of the year for junior volunteers, as that is where most of the TAGS members come from. They move up from being junior volunteers in TAG. It was also suggested that he talk to the scout troops in town.

Adult Services – Elaine Reitz:
Last Thursday and Friday they did their second genealogy class. It was full. She plans to do another one in January with same person teaching. They have also lined up Sara Uhtoff, who is the director at Oxford Public Library, who teaches using the online genealogy sources. We may have to charge but that the knowledge will be beneficial.

On December 8th to the 12th is the second year for the Gingerbread House contest. They are to be homemade, no kits. It's being encouraged to be a family project. They will be on display up until Christmas. The houses will be judged on December 17th and the winners will be announced on December 19th. There were left over restaurant coupons from Summer Reading Program so those will be the prizes.

There will be a wine tasting event again in February. Emily's family, who owns Tabor Wineries, will do this again.

Vera Reynolds will do another cake decorating class. This will have a $5 charge this time; and Christina Arnold will do a cooking class.

Elaine has started outreach at Jefferson Point, north of town. She takes bins of books to check out to them.

Assistant Director – Jennie Garner:
There have done another page to the income part called Program Sponsorships. This is a little different then when we get grants because we go out asking others if they will sponsor our programs. With program sponsorships, this is like Friends of the Library sponsor the finale for the Summer Reading Program and the Optimist might sponsor, or the banks.

Jenny is on the City Safety Committee. They meet twice a month for a couple of hours. She is also still on the Community Leadership Group and they meet once a month.

Director – Dee Crowner:
Dee asked if we had met our new patron. It is a male guinea pig who has set up home in the old aquarium. There is a naming contest going on to give him an appropriate library guinea pig name. It's to be a literary name, like a book character or author. The deadline is December 15th and they have 60 names so far. The name will be chosen by a panel.

The annual Legislative Meeting will be at the Coralville Public Library on Monday, December 8th from 5:30pm to 6:30pm to discuss what's going on in the library world at the state level. Especially with this years budget crunch, we are probably expecting cuts. On December 15th at 6:15pm is the Pilot Club Annual Awards Dinner at the Coralville Public Library. They hand out yearly grant awards. This year the amounts given have increased to $400 and we will be getting an award. One person is allowed to go for free, and it $11.25 for any other person going.

Next, on Education Day, which is December 12th, in conjunction with the Community Leadership Group with the Chamber of Commerce, the Iowa City Library, Coralville Library, North Liberty Library and Solon Library will do a panel discussion on public education. This will be held at Iowa City Community School Administrative Offices on Dubuque Street in Iowa City.

Kindergarten visits are the 15th and the 19th.

Dee is on vacation until December 1st.

The poinsettia sale is starting. They were delivered today and are beautiful. You can pick them up from today until 8:00pm to Wednesday at 8:00pm. Please make sure and make arrangements to pick up your poinsettia if you can't during library hours. Otherwise, if yours isn't picked up by Wednesday at 8:00pm it may be resold and you may be out your money.

The library will be closed on Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Staff has decided not to do a Christmas potluck this year so there will be a Winter Blahs Potluck instead on January 9th.

Friends of the Library
The Friends made about $1,300 at the Waffle Breakfast from the waffle and craft sales. There were about 118 more people this year than last. Dee has already booked the gym for the 2009 Waffle Breakfast for October 24th, 2009. The Friends were able to also purchase another handheld scanner for the Circulation Desk.

Policy Review:
Meeting Room Policy – There was discussion on policy guidelines of only reserving the meeting room for one meeting at a time. It is understood that the room is not for monthly or weekly meetings. Dee explained to the Board how the room is used, and who uses it. Dee will make the suggested changes then we will vote on it at the next meeting.

Technology Plan – There have been several technology changes throughout the library which needs to be reflected in the Plan. For example, the staff computers are no longer with South Slope they are now with Mediacom. This change was made so they would work better with the server that covers the entire building. Dee informed the Board of all the changes which need to be made and this will also be voted on at the next meeting.

Old Business:
Expansion Committee – Since the City is closer to buying land for a new city hall, Dee is still hoping to start fundraising efforts about the end of April. The City has also decided to expand the Streets Department building so the Parks Department can move in with them temporarily until the Public Works area is completely expanded, then the Streets Department can move out, and leave the whole space for Parks. This move helps with having to ask for more money on a bond issue.

Board Self Evaluations – The Board Self Evaluations were gone over as a board with goals set and suggestions made for another year.

New Business:
None

Director's Evaluation – Moved by Waters and seconded by Murphy to go to closed session for the Director's review.

Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:100pm after being moved and seconded and approved unanimously.