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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-08-09 Library MinutesCITY OF APACHE JUNCTION LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1177 N. Idaho Road Regular Meeting August 9, 2001 A regular meeting of The Board of Trustees of Apache Junction Public Library was held August 9, 2001 at 6:20 p.m. at the Apache Junction Library pursuant to notice as prescribed by law. Roll Call Present Absent Barbara Gardner Beverly Kimball -Wright Barbara Mueting Theresa Nesser Virginia Foat Staff: Pamela Loui, Library Director and Spencer Paden, Library Manager 1.Acceptance of Agenda: 2.Acceptance of minutes for June 14, 2001 regular Meeting: 3.Call to the Public: 4.Correspondence and Communications: 5.Librarian's Report: Motion was made by Theresa Nesser to accept the Agenda by adding Call to the Public as Item No. 3 with subsequent adjustment to all following numbers. Motion was seconded by Beverly Kimball Wright.All members present were in favor. The question of accepting the minutes for the June 14, 2001 regular Meeting was placed before the Board and was accepted by general consent. No response. None. Pam Loui reported that it has been a busy month.Summer Reading ended this month.DVD's were added and are counted in the videocassette category. There were 146 videos and 48 DVD's City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 2 added during the month. There has been an increase in almost every category, including in-house video use. Patron visits were up from the previous months. Both adult and juvenile patrons were added.New items were added to the collection.Several items were withdrawn from the collection in preparation of an eventual inventory. Volunteer hours were quite substantial. Children's programs continue with 110 attendees in the month for storytime. There were 5 sessions for babytime bringing in a total of 100 attendees. Eight school visits with 196 students including Four Peaks and other schools that Liz Burks visited. There were 5 film programs with 181 in attendance. Storyteller, Jeffrey Sadow was quite popular with 78 in attendance. The "Little House" Day included 44 attendees.The Teen book discussion group included 4 teens.The Library Teen Ice Cream party had 22 in attendance.In addition,changes were made in the library.Government documents were moved to the reference area because a Teen room has been created.The Teens had asked for their own space.It was decided to provide them with their own computers.The Teens have picked out new furnishings for their space such as colorful task chairs for the computer areas and beanbag chairs for the reading area. Smaller children will be encouraged to continue to play in the youth services area instead of the Teen area.A Teen committee met twice with 27 in attendance.This committee not only included the Library Teen Advisory members but other Teens attended to give their suggestions as well.There was a scrapbooking workshop with 11 in attendance. Five computer classes took City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 3 6.Old Business: a.Update of library budget request for 2001/2002: b.Building expansion report and discussion: place.There were four sessions of the Writers Club.One Book discussion "Mystery" was held.There were 5 student visits with 10 hours for literacy. The Quarterly Reference Survey had 577 total requests with 495 answered the same day.Of that total, 477 were answered using hard copy and 18 were answered using online sources.The copy machine and microfilm reader printer were relocated to the area where the teen books used to be. Pamela Loui reported that the final budget was approved Monday, August 6. There were no further changes made. Sancie Lee -Brown will be going to full- time status in October.Other requests for staffing were not adopted. Requests for increases in the materials budget were not increased.Funds needed to upgrade the Library's automated system were approved. Pam requested that this item be postponed until the next meeting.The expansion is on hold and Assistant City Manager; George Hoffman has said that he can be here for the next Library Board meeting to discuss. Motion was made by Theresa Nesser to postpone the discussion of the building expansion report until next month. Motion was seconded by Barbara Mueting. All members present were in favor. City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 4 c.Review discussion, and possible vote on recommended changes to Library Policies Pamela Loui discussed the need for changes to the Library policy.Page 9 in the policy is the Young Adult Services policy.Located in section two, paragraph 3 the last sentence states, "young adult non-fiction is shelved with adult non-fiction." Youth Services staff has pulled the young adult non-fiction and placed it in the Teen room.A request was made to delete the sentence. The last paragraph in section 2 states, "no separate reference collection is maintained for young adults.All materials designated as reference will be shelved in the regular adult reference section for usage by all library patrons." Staff is requesting this deletion because they are collecting some reference materials that are being used just for young adults.A request was made to delete the paragraph.Pam discussed the Circulation policy changes.Since DVD's have been integrated into the Library's collection the staff feels that video resources should be referred to as "video materials."Barbara Gardner said that on the last revision other terms were removed so that this reference would be generic.Pam stated that there is a reference in the Circulation policy that refers to cassettes.Another issue was the policy against Inter -Library loaning of genealogy materials.There is not a clear reference that there is no Inter- Library loaning for genealogy.The Circulation staff has requested that it be clearly stated in the Circulation and Reference policy that the Library does not provide Inter Library loaning for genealogy materials.Pam stated that the staff does not have the time to handle the kind of demand that would result from this request.The kinds of materials that City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 5 are requested for Inter -Library loan are often materials that most libraries do not want to loan. Many of these materials are microfilm and microfiche and are extremely costly to purchase and replace if needed.Theresa Nesser inquired as to what types of services are currently available to patrons if they were interested in looking for genealogy information.Pam stated that patrons could utilize the internet and review some basic books that talk about the process.Most people are referred to the State Genealogy Library or the LDS Library in Mesa. Spencer discussed the "Acceptable Use Policy," located on page 27. Compliance with CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act) is necessary for a public library interested in federal funds.The existing Library policy is good but does not speak to the CIPA Act specifically.The Library needs to address what is called for legally in the CIPA Act.To comply, Spencer has suggested using the state's recommended wording along with some additional information and incorporate this into a policy that can be reviewed by the Library Board.Spencer stated that consideration should be given to remove the "conditions of use" section and put it into a procedures manual. This will avoid having to go before the Council every time a minor change occurs. Many procedures should be decided in- house based on technology changes that occur and should also be incorporated into a separate procedures manual for reference.Spencer stated that due to the ever-changing needs of technology it is necessary to be able to address minor issues without having to go back to the Council. City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 6 Barbara Gardner asked if the Board would still be approving these changes if put into some other kind of manual. Spencer stated that it would still be something the Board could review. Spencer stated that we are looking into various methods that other libraries use for having people sign -on to computers. There is some software that could supervise this rather than having a person supervise it.This may call for different measures than what are currently being used and will depend on which software is used and how it evolves.Under "conditions of use" there are some places where it would be more beneficial to make them procedures instead of policies.Spencer referred to a survey recently conducted that relates to some of the changes that may occur.Pam stated that since there will not be additional staff added for the Library this year, it is necessary to utilize staff in assisting patrons rather than just monitoring them.Also, the Library must find out how to better use the resources of computer students to teach more classes and provide more one-on-one assistance instead of being the sign -in person for computer use.A survey was taken among other valley libraries with the following results: Chandler Library requires patrons to sign up with their library card to use internet services. Chandler does not monitor internet/computer use but does provide an internet filter.Chandler does not require a parental permission form for children to use the interne.Use of interne games and chat is allowed.The Glendale Library uses PC Cop software to sign up patrons for internet/computer use.Glendale does not monitor interne use or request parental permission to use City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 7 internet services.Glendale does provide a filter and allows internet games and chat.The Mesa Library uses software along with the library card and pin number to sign up patrons for internet/computer use.Mesa monitors through staff and security personnel only when a problem becomes apparent. Mesa does provide a filter and allows children to use the interne without parental permission.Copies of the policy are provided or mailed to the parents.Mesa does allow interne games and chat.The Scottsdale Library also has a manual sign up for internet/computer use.Scottsdale does provide a filter and does not monitor use of the interne.Parental permission forms are not required at the Scottsdale Library.Internet games and chat are allowed.The Tempe Library does sign up for interne/computer use manually. Tempe does provide a filter but does not monitor use and does not require parental permission forms for interne/computer use.Tempe does not support internet games but does allow patrons to play the games.Tempe does not allow interne chat.The Peoria Library provides sign-up manually. Peoria does provide a filter but does not monitor or request parental permission forms for internet/computer use.Peoria does allow interne games but does not allow interne chat.And finally, the Southeast Regional Library allows internet services on a first come, first serve basis.Southeast Regional does provide a filter but does not monitor use of internet/computer services.No parental permission is required for children to use internet services.Both interne games and chat are allowed. City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 8 Pam stated that our Library does allow games. The Library does not allow chat. Permission slips are required for children requesting use of interne services. The Library does provide interne filters and computer/internet use is monitored and patrons are required to sign up with one of the computer students in order to use internet/computer services. Pam stated that perhaps too much staff time is being spent worrying about signups or parental permission and attempting to monitor too closely. Theresa Nesser suggested a library card for a child where the parent can sign the back of the card giving permission for the child to use interne services.The parent can check off a box that says ok to use the interne, ok to play games, ok to chat.All the child would have to do is show it to someone if asked.Pam stated that this is similar to what staff currently does however someone would have to be there to make sure that they did sign up like they said.There is also the problem of a parent coming in with the child who may be visiting from out of state. The parent states that they want their child on the internet but the child does not have a library card or any formal permission.In the past staff members have told them that they cannot use the computers.It was clarified in a recent staff meeting that if the parent is standing there giving verbal permission, then it is ok for the child to use the internet.Barbara Gardner stated she would still like to see the parents sign something even if it is abbreviated or the person is here temporarily.It covers the library and clarifies the services to the patron.Spencer responded saying that this puts the staff in the position of City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 9 determining legal matters such as guardianship. Theresa Nesser clarified what Spencer and Pam were saying, "to treat the computers the same way you treat the books."Ultimately the parents are responsible for their children if the child gets into books that are not appropriate.Spencer said that another problem is that there will be computers that have the Library's catalog tied to websites throughout the world.You can get to the catalog and then with the click of a button find the answer or resource needed via the web.There is no way to define to patrons that a permission slip is needed in order to use internet services and that the catalogs are linked to a variety of websites.This is why other libraries do not require parental permission forms.Pam discussed the current use of an application card that asks the parent whether or not they want their child to have permissions to various programs throughout the library. Theresa Nesser suggested colored dots that can be placed on the library card to indicate the type of use a child has. Pam went on to discuss policy changes. In the circulation policy under item 6 d, page 7 it says audio cassettes and AV kits are treated as books with a check out of 21 days.She pointed out that we also have CD's as well as audiocassettes and AV kits.Under item number 9 it states that all bar-coded paperback books will be counted as hardcover books. Romance paperbacks are all bar-coded and romance readers tend to take out more than 15 items.They used to not be bar-coded and patrons could take out as many romance paperbacks as they wanted.We do not really want to limit the romance paperbacks to 15.Patrons would definitely complain if they were City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 10 d.Report on procedures and effects of volunteer recruiting. 7.New Business: a.Election of officers limited.The last page of the Circulation policy under Circulation loan refers to videocassettes and should say video materials.In addition, entertainment videos are available for a 4 day checkout time and there are no reserves or renewals available.Non-fiction videos circulate the same as book materials. Reserves and renewals will be accepted on these materials.Staff would like this to be a procedure instead of a policy. Barbara Gardner suggested that with so many changes a committee could be appointed to look into them.Barbara Mueting, Beverly Kimball Wright and Theresa Nesser volunteered to be on a committee to review the policies. Pam discussed an idea brought up by Theresa Nesser at the last meeting of getting some type of advertising out for volunteer recruiting. Posting a classified ad would have cost money and the local papers have sections available to the Library at no cost.As a result, an ad was posted in these free sections requesting volunteers.Three people, one of which is an ex -librarian turned in applications and 2 more people made calls requesting additional information on being a volunteer.Pam would like to see how these volunteers turn out and then assess additional needs at a later date. Motion was made by Theresa Nesser to table this topic until next month.Motion was seconded by Beverly Kimball Wright.All members present were in favor. City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 11 b. Communication between Friends of the Library and Board Members Barbara Gardner stated that she asked for this to be placed on the agenda so that we can stay in touch with the Friends of the Library and hear what they are doing.Evelyne Chaffey represented the Friends of the Library. The purpose of this group is to support the Library with fundraising activities and to stimulate community interest in the public library.This is mainly done by working at the Book Nook.The Friends encourage volunteers and often go out and talk about the library to the public.Public attention is focused on library services for facilities and the needs here at the Library.The Friends sponsor almost all the children's programs that go on in the Library.A new selection of gift items has been purchased, since the Friends realize that most of their sales come from retired winter visitors wanting to send things home that say they came from Arizona. In addition to tourist type gifts, additional gifts were purchased with the local residents in mind. More children's items have also been made available for purchase.Some time ago the staff lounge needed new equipment and the Friends assisted by purchasing a new refrigerator and a new microwave.The Friends would like to encourage the Library Board to be part of their organization.They put on several programs throughout the year that include guest speakers.The Library Board members are welcome to join the Friends and see these programs and possibly assist in sales to make them happen.Caroline Schoenfeld is the President of the Friends of the Library. If the Library Board needs a liaison from City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 12 the Friends, one could be assigned who could meet with the Board every other month. The Reading is Fundamental Program is another program under the umbrella of the Friends of the Library.Hardbound books are provided for preschoolers to keep.This program started with 80 children and 2 schools and now serves over 450 children per year and 5 schools. The cost is approximately $5,000 per year.The majority of these funds are received through soliciting of various organizations.Active members in the Friends of the Library are 15 and total members are approximately 50.A membership drive will be run in the fall to attain additional members. Individual membership fees are $15 per year. Family memberships are $25 per year. Patron membership is $50 per year and students are $1 per year.These funds go into the general treasury to use on an as needed basis.The Friends are also sponsor the Alice Johnson Fund for the Future Endowment Fund.There is over $5,000 in the fund.The Endowment Fund is set aside to assist in the Library expansion or, for other Library needs i.e. new shelving etc. People are encouraged to make donations of any size to the fund.Barbara Gardner asked if it would be possible on a monthly basis for the Friends to provide Pam with a note on upcoming events.Evelyne will pass this information to Caroline and provide the Library Board with any flyers that are created.A Library Board Agenda will be provided to the Friends of the Library each month as well.Friends of the Library meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month at 9:00 a.m. starting in September. City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 13 c.Report on Board vacancies/appointments and reappointments. 8. Discussion and vote on the Fresh Start component of the "Teen Night Out," and discussion of other activities planned for the evening Pamela Loui announced that Theresa Nesser and Beverly Kimball Wright have been reappointed.New appointed members include Martha Ward and Stephen Flynn.Mr. Flynn is a teacher. We do not have any information on Martha Ward at this time.Orientation for Mr. Flynn and Ms. Ward will be scheduled within the next couple of weeks in hopes that they will be able to attend our next Board meeting. Pamela Loui reported that she and Youth Services Librarian Liz Burks discussed the concept of having a program called, "Teen Night Out."Pam and Liz believe that teens feel that the library is not the friendliest place in the world.There were also some national publications where teen views of libraries were discussed as being somewhat negative. Pam and Liz tried to think of what could be done to make the library a better place for a teen.One of the things discussed was to open the Library on a Friday night from 6:00 p.m. to midnight just for teens.There would be various games and all the computers would be up and active.Continuous movies would be offered in the program room and a DJ will be there from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. back in the youth area.The Police Explorers were asked to assist in supervising.Refreshments will also be served.This will also be the grand opening of the "Teen Room" and a contest will be held to name the room. Liz also had the idea of doing a conga line library tour.Some of the younger Library employees will be present for City of Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Page 14 9.Request for future agenda items: 10.Adjournment: President the event.The "Teen Night Out" will take place on August 17. Another thing that seemed to turn kids off to the library was that there are so many fines and rules that it may appear very negative.It was decided to offer the teens that come to the Library on this special night an opportunity to get out from under any fines they may have incurred over time. This would be for one time only and considered a "fresh start." Motion was made by Theresa Nesser to vote for the "Fresh Start" and the Teen Night Out" programs on August 17, 2001.Motion was seconded by Barbara Mueting.Roll call vote was taken and passed unanimously. Old Business. Review, discussion, and possible vote on recommended changes to Library policies. Discussion on Building Expansion Election of officers. Welcome new Library Board members Report on "Teen Night Out" Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.