Bozeman Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting
Library Director’s Office
Bozeman Public Library
August 21, 2002
4:00 P.M.
ATTENDANCE
Trustees: Brenda Davis, Chair; Jerry Bancroft; Holly Brown; Bob Gutzman; Molly Richardson, Foundation Board; Lois Dissly and Terri Dood, Staff; and Alice Meister, Director. Guest: James Goehrung, City Superintendent of Facilities and Public Lands.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chair Davis at 4:12 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the July 18th Board meeting were approved as submitted.
CORRESPONDENCE
Meister read several comments from the public, one of which complained about rude treatment in the children’s library which Meister is investigating. Another asked for a separate computer for word processing, and a word processing program is being added to an existing computer. This person also complimented the reference staff as being extremely helpful. Another complained about a certain reference librarian as “lazy and unwilling to help;” Meister had received an explanation from the librarian who was alone at the desk at the time and had tried to help but met with this patron’s anger. The patron did not leave her name. Others wanted more computers for children and Bill Nye videos. Another requested that the summer book sale be on another day than just Saturday
and suggested having the Summer Reading Program on a different day than Saturday. Someone inquired about interest in a mystery reader book club, and another patron requested we have Horn Book available for check out, which we now do. Meister had also communicated with Major Kathleen Cook, who was at the Pentagon when it was attacked September 11th of last year; she will do a lunch program on September 10th.
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY REPORT
Meister said the August 10th book sale had gone well though she did not know the amount of money made. The Friends are working with the Montana Center for International Visitors (MCIV) on a series of cooperative programs with the first one on Mongolia scheduled for September 25th. There will be a Friends meeting in mid-September.
FOUNDATION REPORT
Richardson said the capital campaign had exceeded $600,000 in pledges and that some people have already paid, so there is cash in the Foundation’s account. There will be an Executive Board meeting on September 4th , and a Foundation Board meeting on September 10th.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Meister said circulation for July had increased 4.57% and door traffic increased nearly 11%, indicating that approximately 1165 people use the Library daily. There is still nearly 90% of the budget remaining with 88% of the fiscal year remaining. Terri Dood has tentatively been appointed the new Head of Reference and Adult Services and will plan to start full-time on August 26th. The State Library survived the special session by having 2/3 of its equipment (library materials) budget restored, and the Coal Severance Tax (CST) was only cut 25% instead of the proposed 50%. Sixty-four Park City, Utah visitors visited Bozeman August 15th and 16th with a program on the Winter Olympics presented at the Library on the night of August 16th. Staff members Pam
Henley and Liz Babbitt attended the Right Now Technologies Conference at Big Sky August 19th due to a reduced rate charged the Library. Thanks to Right Now, the Library is able to provide Frequently Asked Questions and the virtual reference pilot project we did recently. Six staff members recently attended the Pacific Northwest Library Association Conference held in Missoula August 7th -10th. Three staff members plan to attend the Mountain Plains Library Association Conference held in Fargo, North Dakota this October. The State Library is also planning a September 6th -7th tour of Idaho library districts, and there will be a State Library workshop September 20-21 in Helena. A new version of BridgerNet will be unveiled September 9th, which will feature book cover art, tables of contents, book reviews, summaries, and sample chapters. Staff evaluations will be completed by August 30th
in all departments. The August staff charette will be held August 27th -30th with architects Tim Blonkvist, Ray Johnston, and Mark Headley. Landscape architect Bonnie Hershberger will also participate. The public charette is scheduled for Wednesday, September 18th, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. There will be a drawing on August 26th to determine the four winners of the adult summer reading program, and there will be a final celebration for the children’s summer reading program on Saturday, August 24th. There was another incident with a patron who was given his final warning for viewing objectionable sites on the Internet. A report from Sue Howe showed that 35 people attended the annual Volunteer Brunch on July 26th at Valley View with small gifts given to them. Meister will be on vacation September 2nd -17th.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION: STORY DISTRIBUTING PROPERTY; CITY HALL CONCEPT; FY2003 LEGAL HOLIDAY CALENDAR; ICMA
Brown reported that she had sent another Buy/Sell Agreement to Lee Stokes, the lawyer handling the Story Distributing property, but has heard nothing definite back from him. Brown, Bancroft, Goehrung, and architect Mark Headley met with City Manager Clark Johnson and Mayor Steve Kirchhoff on August 20th about the concept of City Hall being on the new Library property. The City agreed to get appraisals on the surrounding properties, and Brown is talking to the County Commissioners about possible properties that could be exchanged in order to get those surrounding properties. Currently there appears to be room for only the Library at the front of the property with the potential of City Hall on the properties to the east that could be acquired. The Board will await the possible purchase or
exchange of these properties but welcomes the concept of City Hall to the east of the new proposed Library. Action Bancroft moved to accept the Fiscal Year 2003 holiday schedule, which was seconded by Gutzman. The motion passed unanimously. Meister proposed that a sentence on page 8 of the Library policies that read, “Because of the lack of outlets and concern for electrical overload, all appliances must be battery-powered and may not be plugged into library outlets” be eliminated, as the Library had received requests for use of laptop computers on our T-1 line and wanted to allow this on an experimental basis. People would be able to use their laptops at a table near the public reference computers. Action Bancroft moved to eliminate this sentence from the Library policies, Gutzman seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
BOARD MEMBERS’ AND CITY COMMISSIONER’S REPORTS
Goehrung reported that there were transients and traffic on the southern portion of the new property and proposed that the snow fence be removed and a barrier placed across that access. He will send a letter to the neighborhood that the property would be closed off though hikers and bikers could still get through. The Board agreed with this suggestion. An email from Resource Technologies Inc. (RTI) said that its Voluntary Cleanup Plan received comments from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which included further investigation of the former asbestos mill site and the property immediately to the north. An analytic contractor will be selected this fall in order to proceed with waste characterization sampling.
RTI will be presenting a three-hour OSHA-required seminar on safety precautions August 27th for anyone who will be on the new Library site. The Design & Programming Committee will meet Wednesday, August 28th, at 4:00 p.m. at Overland Partners’ office and again on Friday, August 30th, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. to review selected scheme development and establish a future schedule.
EXECUTIVE SESSION RE:
DIRECTOR’S PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
Chair Davis stated that she was closing the meeting to finish the discussion about the Library Director’s annual performance appraisal and benefits pursuant to Section 2-3-203(3) Montana Code Annotated. The open meeting was closed at 5:34 p.m.
Chair Davis reconvened the open meeting at 5:43 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 5:49 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Wednesday, September 25th at 4:00 p.m. in the Library Director’s Office.
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