The Edwardsville Library board met Wednesday, April 27.
The Edwardsville Library Board meets at 7 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month.
Here are the meeting minutes as provided by the Edwardsville Public Library board:
Minutes – Board of Trustees – Edwardsville Public Library – April 27, 2016
MINUTES Date: Wednesday, April 27th, 2016
Board of Trustees Time: 7:00 pm
Edwardsville Public Library Place: Meeting Room
Call to order and roll call of members:
President Bob LaRose called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.
Members Present:
Gary Denue
Pete Fornof
Emily Gates
Kim Harrison
Bob LaRose
JoAnn Nabe
Gloria Zupanci
Members Absent:
Francie Powell
Sharon Whittaker
A. Introduction of guests:
Librarian-Director Susan Carr, Assistant Director Cary Harvengt.
B. Disposition of regular minutes:
Motion by Emily Gates, seconded by JoAnn Nabe, to approve the board meeting minutes for
Wednesday, March 30th, 2016.
Motion carried.
C. Communications:
A representative from Ross Dress For Less – a new store opening in July in Edwardsville –
emailed Susan offering to give a donation to the Library Friends as part of their grand opening.
Susan will notify the Friends so that someone is on hand to accept the check at the store on July
16th
Twenty-year staff member Lorraine Levy sent a card to her “library family” thanking them for
her anniversary recognition gift and for all the years she’s valued working at the library.
D. Committee Reports:
1) Building
The board reviewed the building plans and cost estimates submitted by Joe Huberty. The board agreed to ask Joe to resubmit a package with the following two options: Option 1 B (+2) – and – Option 2 B (+2). These two options will be presented at a meeting with the Minutes – Board of Trustees – Edwardsville Public Library – April 27, 2016 Mayor, Tim Harr, Bob, Pete, Gary, Susan, and Joe Huberty by phone if possible. Susan will try to arrange for this meeting to take place before the May board meeting.
2) Personnel
Youth Librarian Megan Prueter requested that the hours of Youth Assistant Kristen Reno be
increased from 30 to 35 per week, and that the “Program Aide” position remain unfilled at
this time, with those hours to be put back into youth circulation. The Board agreed to this
change.
Bob mentioned that during Susan’s annual evaluation it became apparent that the library
policy manual has wording that states the board should be involved in recommending who
the Director can hire for other administrative library positions. Bob said that in his
experience as a long time board member that this has never been the case – that the Board
hires the Director and that the Director uses his/her own discretion to hire other subordinate
staff. Susan presented wording from Illinois Library Laws & Rules, and the ILA Trustees
Fact File, Fourth Edition, which both supported Bob’s assertion. Bob volunteered to revise
the wording in our policy to reflect this and the Board agreed. The revisions will be
presented for a vote at the May, 2016 meeting.
3) ELFs
Susan reported that the annual ELF volunteer thank you lunch will be held on Friday, May 20th from 12-2, and that all board members are invited.
4) Finance
Motion by Emily Gates, seconded by Kim Harrison, to approve the pre-paid bills in the amount of $104,004.73.
Roll call:
Gary Denue – yes
Pete Fornof – yes
Emily Gates – yes
Kim Harrison – yes
JoAnn Nabe – yes
Gloria Zupanci – yes
Bob LaRose – yes
Motion carried.
Motion by Emily Gates, seconded by JoAnn Nabe, to approve the bills to the City Clerk in
the amount of $8,045.71.
Roll call:
Gary Denue – yes
Pete Fornof – yes
Emily Gates – yes
Kim Harrison – yes
JoAnn Nabe – yes
Gloria Zupanci – yes
Bob LaRose – yes
Minutes – Board of Trustees – Edwardsville Public Library – April 27, 2016
Motion carried.
E. Illinois Heartland Library System
Gary reported that some lay-offs have begun due to continual lack of funding, and that people
who resign are not always being replaced. Delivery will remain a number one priority for
spending limited funds. If the approved, reduced amount of state funding does eventually come
through, the system has enough funds to last twenty-four months. There has been discussion that
SHARE might incorporate so that they can stand alone and not be affected if IHLS has more
extreme financial difficulties down the road.
F. Librarian-Director Report
Susan received an inquiry from the Mayor’s secretary regarding the renewal of board
appointments for Sharon Whittaker, Gloria Zupanci, and Francie Powell. Susan answered in the
affirmative and these board members should be receiving phone calls from the Mayor soon to
confirm.
Susan reported that she has spoken to the Intelligencer reporter Steve Harrell about getting more
articles about the library “above the fold” in the newspaper. They agreed to a routine to facilitate
this coverage and soon there will be articles about our new online resources, fine amnesty week
in May, and other events.
Susan reported that we have replaced the Rosetta Stone language learning database with Mango,
which we had previously. Rosetta Stone’s name recognition did not make up for its poorly
performing phone app and its limited courses beyond very entry level. We’ve also purchased
Consumer Reports, Novelist (readers’ advisory database), and Hoopla – a streaming service for
video, audio, ebooks, comics, and music. We also purchased Lynda.com – a very respected
business and educational software training platform that we believe will be popular.
Our telescopes continue to circulate and a patron posted a very nice image of the moon to
Facebook that was taken with their phone through the telescope lens.
Susan reported that our staff development day on April 22nd was very successful. The staff
divided into two groups in the morning to take field trips to Six Mile Regional Library in Granite
City, and to O’Fallon Public Library. Both of these libraries have undergone recent renovations
and Susan and Cary shared what the group learned. Three board members: Sharon, Gary & Pete,
joined the staff for lunch and some of the afternoon program, which included the history of the
library by presenters Mary Westerhold and Carol Stephens. We ended the day with database and
library technology training. Mayor Hal Patton stopped by at Susan’s request and told the staff
about upcoming development in the city. He referred them to a city website (www.
cityofedwardsvilleecondev.com) which keeps up to date with city development information.
Susan reported that classes have been scheduled for summer to train the community about the 3D
printer. There will be a demonstration class on the software used to create objects, and plans are
being made to provide a hands- on design class as well.
Minutes – Board of Trustees – Edwardsville Public Library – April 27, 2016
Susan handed out a “3D printer use policy” for the board to review. They approved the policy
with some wording changes and it will be added to the policy manual.
Motion by Kim Harrison, seconded by JoAnn Nabe, to approve the 3D Printer Use policy with
agreed upon wording changes.
Motion carried.
Susan reported that she is sending the media drop box back to the company for a refund. This is
the third box from this company that we’ve tried and all of them have leaked in the rain. Susan
is exploring other options.
G. Unfinished Business
None.
H. New Business
None.
I. Presentation to Board
None.
J. Adjournment
Motion to adjourn by Emily Gates, seconded by Kim Harrison. The meeting was adjourned by
President LaRose at 8:34 pm.
Alerts Sign-up