Board of Trustees of the St. Helena Public Library

Minutes of the Meeting of December 12, 2007

The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees was called to order at 5:05 p.m.  Trustee Chairman Dr. Darter, Gwen Becker and Bonnie Long were present, as were Friends representative Miriam Hess, and Library Director Jennifer Baker.

A motion to approve the consent items was seconded and passed.  The minutes of the meeting of November 14 were approved.

Library Director’s Report.  Jennifer reviewed pertinent items from the prior month’s Friday Reports—Miriam Hess clarified that the adult programming series has not yet been presented to the Friends.

RFP for remodel.  The RFP was approved by City Council Dec. 11. It should be released Jan 4 with a four week window for proposals. Proposals will be brought to the Trustees in February and a recommendation to award the contract should go before City Council shortly thereafter. Jennifer explained that the construction phase will have to be bid separately so it may take additional time. Trustees are fine with this as the important thing is to “get it right.”  At least two possible architects have expressed interest in the project. Jennifer will make certain that they receive copies of the RFP when it is released.

Adult Programming series.  The Library will be introducing a series of programs for adults in January. The hope is to have something for adults every Wednesday evening. Program ideas will include books clubs, author visits, issues forums, master gardeners, films and more. A library newsletter will also debut in January to help publicize the new events. Jennifer is also planning to approach the Friends about funding an email newsletter campaign.

SNAP & NBC meetings.  Jennifer discussed issues relevant to the budget that came up at the SNAP meeting. The Library’s ILS (Integrated Library System) vendor, TLC, has reported that they will no longer be developing the software we use (CARL.Solutions) and there is some concern that with no future development, support for the product may be compromised as well. TLC is pushing users toward their Unix based product, CARL.X which would necessitate moving to a Unix server. SNAP just purchased a new tandem server four years ago so we are not happy about this. Jennifer shared a letter written by Solano County library director, Ann Cousineau to TLC on SNAP directors’ behalf explaining our concern and general displeasure with the direction the company is taking. The hope is that TLC will provide some incentive to remain with CARL and help ease the transfer to the new system if we decide to stay with TLC.

Letters to the Governor to save PLF & TBR funding.  Jennifer shared with the Board an alert sent out by the California Library Association encouraging people to contact state representatives to impress upon them the negative impact cutting PLF & TBR funds would have on local libraries. In St. Helena especially these funds are essential as they comprise about 20% of our overall budget and almost 60% of the materials budget. A motion was made, seconded and approved for Dr. Darter to draft a letter to be sent on behalf of the Board expressing our concerns for how this would affect St. Helena and surrounding areas also served by S. Helena Public Library. The Board also directed Jennifer to ask Bert whether it would be appropriate to ask City Council to take a stand on this issue since a cut to these funds could necessitate additional monies from the General Fund to maintain current service levels.

Maintenance Reports.  Jennifer reported that most outstanding work orders have either been completed or have at least been updated. We are still waiting for some lighting work but James McKnight from Public Works is on top of this.

Friends of the Library.   The Friends did not have a December meeting so Miriam did not have a formal report or a financial statement. A statement covering both months will be presented at the next meeting. She reminded everyone of Thursday’s Holiday party and hopes to see us all there.

Wine Library Association.  Julie was not present so there was no report from the Wine Library. However, Jennifer reported that at their last Board meeting the Wine Library agreed to obtain a debit/credit card for the Library to use to purchase materials. This should expedite the acquisitions process as it will not require that the Library be reimbursed and will also allow the Library to more easily acquire materials printed overseas that are only available via the Internet.

Historical Society.  Gwen reminded everyone of two upcoming events the Historical Society is putting together. Jan 8 at 4pm, there will be a tour of St. Supery’s Atkinson House and Feb 23 there will be an Antique Fair. She also encouraged everyone to bring in collectibles they would like to donate to this event. The group discussed a recent request from a member of the Historical Society to place a petition in the Library. Everyone agreed that this was not a good idea as it would set a precedent for other groups to do the same.

St, Helena Public Library Foundation.  The final draft of the bylaws was presented to the Board. There was some discussion about the mission statement and a few minor changes were made but the overall scope was not “widened” as had been suggested by one committee member because the Board wants to keep the focus of the Foundation on the Library. Also discussed was the number of directors. The number was kept at five in order to keep the group manageable. There will be one member from the Library Board and the Library Director serving as an ex-officio nonvoting member. The Historical Society and the Friends will not be represented. It was felt that to stack the Board of Directors with so many “library” people would require a much larger, less manageable board and would in effect only recreate the Library Board. Directors will hopefully include members of the community with expertise in fundraising, money management, marketing and other areas—not just “library” people. A motion was made, seconded and approved to accept the bylaws as written with the exceptions noted at the meeting and the advice of attorney Frank Toller incorporated. The Board would like to thank everyone on the Foundation committee for all their hard work and input. 

The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

                                                            Jennifer Baker, recording secretary