Board of Trustees of the St. Helena Public Library

 

Minutes of the Meeting of February 9, 2005

 

The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees was called to order by Dr. Darter at 5 p.m.  Trustee Chairman Dr. Darter, Gwen Becker, Bob Brownscombe, Lynda Burton, and Julie Dickson were present.  Friends of the Library President Tom Burke was present, as was Library Director Larry Hlavsa.

 

A motion to approve the consent items was seconded and passed.  Minutes of the meeting of January 12th were approved.

 

Library Director’s Report

 

Library’s Annual Report presented to City Council.  Larry reported that his PowerPoint annual report was presented to the City Council at its February 8th meeting.  It will be shown to the trustees at their next meeting.

 

Discussion of Development of Adams Street Property.  Larry, trustees Lynda and Bob, and Tom Burke attended the City Council meeting February 8th and reviewed the discussion of the Adams Street development.  A subcommittee of council members, Eric Sklar and Bill Savidge and City Manager Bert Johannson, was appointed to fine-tune the language concerning consideration of library needs in the city’s RFP.  The compelling letters composed by Dr. Darter and Gwen will be passed on to interested library patrons and citizens.  The packet with the language to be considered will be available February 18th; the trustees will meet at noon on Tuesday, February 22nd in preparation for the City Council meeting that evening.

 

Resolution updating Internet policies.  A patron has complained about use of our Internet computers for chat or games, and about teen use of adult machines.  Following discussion, a motion passed to approve the following two paragraphs as amendments to the existing rules governing the use of internet and computer workstations at the St. Helena Public Library:

"Although teens and children will be encouraged to use Internet workstations in the Children’s Room and adults will be encouraged to use machines in the adult area, there are no rules prohibiting use of any Internet-enabled workstation by a particular age group. Parents are responsible for directing and guiding their children’s use of the Internet."

 

and
 

"Due to the nature of the Internet, services apart from those for which the machines are designed may be available; e.g. chat, playing games, listening to music but these are not library-supported or controlled."

The full text of our Internet rules can be found at HERE

 

Budget preparation.  Larry will present a draft budget to the City Council late this month, and is considering the council’s directive to reduce expenses.  He distributed a pie chart of expected expenses illustrating that

only 2.4% of expenses would be controllable General Fund expenses; other cuts would require reducing staff and hours of operation.  Following a discussion emphasizing the already low ratio of city funding compared to state and other sources, the trustees recommended that Larry poll the staff as to expected retirements but request that the city supply sufficient funds to maintain current staff and hours.

 

TBR update.  The TBR funding of up to $180,000 annually will be cut by 4.5% as a part of the Governor's proposed budget.

 

Friends of the Library Report.  Tom reported that the Friends provided $200 in prizes for the children’s art show, that a book sale will be held February 19th, and that the Friends' are considering offering delivery of library books to home-bound patrons.

 

Wine Library Association Report.  Julie reported that donations have been received to proceed with the “binding” and indexing of the association’s REPORTs, and that the August 13th varietal seminar will probably be held at COPIA.  The Napa Valley will be the site of the May meeting of the Wine Librarians Association and the NVWLA will assist in hosting it. 

 

St. Helena Historical Society Report.  Gwen reported that the group is setting up an endowment fund in anticipation of a permanent home, that the agreement between the society and the city is being finalized, and that the March 1 meeting will be at Elmshaven.  She invited the trustees to attend the February 20 “Museum for a Day” at the Native Sons Hall, which has received good support and will feature many interesting photos and historic items.

 

The meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m.

 

Julie Dickson, recording secretary