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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999 09.07 Library MinutesCITY OF APACHE JUNCTION LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1177 N. Idaho Road Regular Meeting September 7, 1999 A regular meeting of The Board of Trustees of Apache Junction Public Library was held September 7, 1999 at 6:02 p.m. at the Apache Junction Library pursuant to notice as prescribed by law. Roll Call Present Absent Gardner, Barbara L Nesser, Theresa Nolan, Peter Poteet, Joyce Rineholt, Pamela Schoeph, John Staff. Pamela Loui, Library Director 1.Acceptance of Agenda: 2.Acceptance of Minutes for August 3, 1999 Regular Meeting: 3.Correspondence and Communications: The question of accepting the agenda was placed before the Board and was accepted by general consent. The question of accepting the minutes for the August 3, 1999 Regular Meeting was placed before the Board and was accepted by general consent. Barbara Gardner passed two sympathy cards to the Board members for signatures.One to be sent to John Schoeph for the passing of his daughter and one to be sent to the Vice Mayor, Anne Surra, for the passing of her father. 4.Librarian's Report:Pamela Loui reported that the gate counts are out of line since the new counter has been City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 1999 Page 2 installed in the Library.Pam also stated that by dividing the count by 2 the end result was too high.By dividing by a factor of 3 the numbers are more in line with the previous year and are more realistic.She will be revising the State reports to reflect the corrected patron visits for February through July and will also be in contact with Dan Monka, at Checkpoint, to see if he can identify a more accurate means of counting patrons. Peter Nolan stated that he disagrees with using an estimated correction factor unless you round the new number and show the real count with it. Theresa Nesser agreed that the count might not be accurate but it is a real number.Pamela Rineholt agreed with Peter that reporting the real number is best but to also show the corrected number.Barbara Gardner stated that rounding the estimated number to the nearest 100 would be best and that it is the best count the Library can get with what it has.All members agreed that the actual count should be divided by 2, since people are counted entering and leaving, and then also show an estimate dividing by 3 and rounded to the nearest 100. Pam reported that in August the book circulation decreased from the previous month but was up from a year ago.Audio Tapes and AV -Kits were also lower than the previous month but higher than last year.The library added 602 books along with 42 AV -Kits and 43 video cassettes.103 book titles and 19 audiocassette titles were withdrawn from the Library's collection.Government documents had 152 paper volumes removed along with 35 machine-readable volumes. Two film programs were presented with 23 attending.10 adult City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 1999 Page 3 5.Old Business: a.Report on Community Relations: computer classes were held with 53 in attendance. A computerized card catalog class was added and is being taught by Liz Burks, Youth Services Librarian.A maximum of four participants can take the class at one time. The Literacy Program had 34 student visits and 335 student hours.The LSTA Grant has allowed the Library to update the hardware and software for the DestinationsTm program. Peter Nolan reported receiving a call from Sophie Keiss, of the Elk's Club Ladies Auxiliary, requesting a 15 minute presentation be given at one of their meetings.A tentative date was set up of October 13, 1999, at 8:00 p.m.Peter stated that he would be in touch with them about this presentation.Peter and Barbara will check their calendars to see who would be available to give this presentation.Theresa Nesser stated that she would like to go along with whoever presents this to see how it works. Joyce Poteet suggested having a verbal presentation in place of the slides.She stated that the audience seems to get bored with the slide presentation after about 15 minutes. A discussion was held as to how to handle the scheduling of the presentations.Peter stated that the Friends of the Library need to be the single point of contact.Pam Loui stated that the Friends don't have enough volunteers. It was decided that the Board members proceed as they have been until the Friends can be City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 1999 Page 4 contacted.Pam Loui suggested that someone needs to go to the Friends meeting.All agreed. b.Continuing discussion and possible vote on the current Library Board vacancies:Pamela Loui reported that one female called and stated that she would submit a talent bank application but that no applications had been received yet.Pam also stated that one Library Board vacancy was posted in the newspaper and she would check with Pat Brenner as to why there were not two vacancies listed.John Schoeph's position needs to be filled since he does not wish a reappointment to the Board. Barbara Gardner stated that she would talk with John to see what he wants to do.No vote was taken. c.Status of the 1999/00 Budget: 6.New Business: Pamela Loui reported that the final budget has been adopted and there will be no further reductions. She stated that the printed City budget is not yet available because the City is still involved with last year's audit. a.Discussion of Board selection of nominees for volunteer or staff awards:Pamela Loui was contacted by the awards committee from AZLA and she resubmitted Liz Burks' name for the "Outstanding Youth Services" award.She stated that AZLA had a number of qualified candidates for the award but has not heard to whom the award was given. Barbara Gardner suggested that if anyone hears of awards being given for volunteers or staff members, they need to call to have it placed on the agenda so the Board can discuss it. City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 1999 Page 5 b.Acceptable Use of Electronic Resources Policy revisions and possible vote on approval:Pamela Loui stated that a vote would not be needed at this time.DLAPR is the agency charged with making certain that Libraries were complying with the new law, ARS Title 34 Chapter 5.The Library received a list of five items and some of these things were questioned. Statute No. 13-3507, which is an obscenity statute, versus 3707 concerning tele- communications fraud.It is not certain that 3707 is included but that statute 13-3507 is definitely one of the citations pertinent to the policy. Pam stated that an area in which the Library is not in compliance is "listing the ARS citations". She commented that the Board looked at policies in the past that specifically listed ARS numbers but our City Attorney's preference would be the phrase, "Applicable State and Federal Laws".We are still not certain if DLAPR truly means that they want citations listed in policies but if they do we will have to be doing a lot more revising than otherwise. This is an issue that will probably be discussed at the AZLA conference in November. The other item that caused a lot of concern is that a copy of the policy shall be kept on file at DLAPR and shall be updated annually.What was meant was that the policy was to come under annual review by the Board, not necessarily an update or a change or a requirement that we go back through the Council, unless we did have a change.Pam had explained that the Board had just gone through that process and the policy had been adopted in November.She was told that it probably wasn't possible to make all these changes by November City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 1999 Page 6 l a and as long as the Library has a policy this first year, that will suffice. The Board will be working on revisions now, based upon some of the things on which Pam has asked for clarification. Another area of concern is the statement, "...and acknowledge the Library's awareness of and concern for a safe educational Internet experience for children despite the unregulated nature of the Internet".The question arises as to where this puts the Library if these things are added to the policy.Clarification is needed on this as well. Barbara Gardner commented that the policy states that the parents are to be responsible for their children.Pamela Loui stated that, because of the way the statute reads it does become a concern to the Library. Barbara felt that the Library was just about required to have some sort of filtering for children in place and filtering was not addressed in the policy.She questioned if there was a specific reason for this omission.Pamela Loui responded that there have been statements made by members who have purported to know the position of the ACLU and other 11 amendment groups, that in providing a filter we were somehow guaranteeing a safe environment.No one believes the filter provides a safe environment.Certain persons easily circumvent some filters.Although the Library is trying to create the safest environment possible, it does not want to be put in the position of having to guarantee anything.At some point in the process the City Attorney will be asked if we meet State requirements. City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 1999 Page 7 c.Discussion of increase of items per Library card: Peter Nolan and John Schoeph suggested holding off on making changes until more is requested from DLAPR. Barbara Gardner tabled this item until the January meeting so Pamela Loui can then report anything new on this matter. Pamela Loui placed the question of increasing the number of items a patron can check out on their library card. Pam also stated that this matter is not of such an urgency and that she would not recommend making changes at this point in time. The current number is 10 items per card (this includes no more than 4 videos per family). Entertainment videos may be kept for four days. Non-fiction may be kept the same as books. These numbers were set up when the Library's collection was small. When asked if there has been a problem, Pam commented that the circulation counts were not as high as the Library would like to see them and it is believed that it is because of the 10- item limit.It is a question of, is the Board comfortable with a limit of 10 or is this something to consider for when we do revise our policy next year. Theresa Nesser suggested letting the videos be checked out for a two-week period with the ability to renew for two more weeks if there is not a reserve on it.Pam stated that most patrons return the video before the 3 -week period is over and since the Library does not have an automated renewal service, renewing the videos would put more work on the staff. City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 1999 Page 8 d.Discussion on the Library Board and Friends of Libraries' training opportunity on the topic of "Fundraising for Libraries": 7.Call to the public: When asked if the Board felt 10 items was sufficient, all agreed that it is but some lee -way could be given in certain circumstances. Barbara Gardner suggested shorter time limits on the newer releases and a longer limit on the older releases. Pamela Rineholt suggested taking a poll at the circulation desk asking the Library patrons what they would like to have.Some questions suggested: are you getting as much as you need; would you like to be able to check out more; if you could check out more books, how many; if you could check out more videos, how many; how often do you visit the Library; how often do you check out books? Pamela Loui suggested tabling this item until January.In the meantime she will talk with the staff to obtain any other suggestions. Pamela Loui handed out copies of a letter as a reminder that the Fund Raising for Rural Libraries program is coming up the day after the AZLA conference in November.This program is totally sponsored by DLAPR and state funding so there are no fees.There will be programs for Trustees and Friends groups.Pam has heard very positive comments about the presentations given by Ed Schumacher.She has also passed this information on to Marcy and asked her to bring it up at the next Friends meeting.You will need to register in advance because they will be providing lunch. No comments. City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 1999 Page 9 8.Requests for future agenda items: 9.Adjournment: President Secretary Old Business: Community Relations Update Board Vacancies New Business: None Meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m.