SCOTTSBLUFF PUBLIC LIBRARY

Board Meeting

September 10, 2003

Minutes
  1. Roll Call. Meeting called to order by President Melanie Gowin.

    2. Present, Gowin, Nichols, Brown, Harvey. Steve Viessman arrived later.

  2. Notice of changes in the agenda. (Additions may not be made to this agenda less than 24 hours before the beginning of the meeting unless added under item 3 of this agenda.)

    3. There were none.

  3. Citizens with business not scheduled on the agenda. (As required by state law, no matter may be considered under this item unless the board determines that the matter requires emergency action.)

    4. There were none.

  4. Approve regular board meeting minutes.

    5. It was moved by Karon Harvey and seconded by Rita Brown to approve the minutes of the July 9, 2003, meeting. Motion carried. Because of a lack of a quorum, there was no meeting in August.

  5. Petitions, communications, public input:

    6. A letter thanking the board for their support of the Juvenile Summer Reading Program was received from Deb Carlson and Nancy Escamilla.

  6. Reports and recommendations from the Library Director and/or library staff:
    1. Discussion about immediate library budget concerns and future building project.

      2. Bev summarized the library’s budget situation going into the new fiscal year. The replacement server for the automation system was not purchased at this time but will be requested again next year. Hopefully, the city’s financial situation will be on stronger ground for next year’s budget, and the library will be allowed to purchase the necessary hardware to run the automation system. Dell gave the library a one-time-only extension on its service agreement on the old server (at a higher price). The library can operate its automation system with assurance that there will be technical support available if the server should go down.

      Other capital expenses facing the library include replacement of the outdated self-check machine. The library has been without a service contract on that since December 2002. The microfilm reader/printer will need to be replaced in the future as well. Bev is inquiring into possible grant funding to assist with these expenses. She stated that it is difficult to find money anymore simply to replace equipment. For example, moneys available through the Nebraska Library Commission are often tied to specific goals of the Commission in their statewide plan. Those goals are often tied to the Governor’s initiatives in someway in order to help the Commission get its funding at budget time.

      Bev suggested that the Board’s presentation to the City Council, regarding library facility issues, wait until after the change of the fiscal year. She wants to do a Power Point presentation at that time and would like assistance and suggestions from the Board about it.

    2. Library statistical report for July and August. (See Board packet)

      3. Computer use is up significantly over this time last year and the number of people using the library is up by several thousand over last year as well.

    3. Library activities in July and August.

      4. July and August were extremely busy months with Summer Reading Program activities. Also, in August library staff and some of the Friends group manned a booth at National Night Out.

    4. "Listening to the Prairie" final report.

      5. Total attendance for the "Listening to the Prairie" exhibit was 1,709; however, the number of people who used the library during that time was 12,518. If the exhibit had been housed at the library, the attendance would undoubtedly been much higher. A number of unforeseen problems regarding scheduling and housing the exhibit could also have been avoided if the exhibit had been at the library. It certainly was a worthwhile effort for the library to have made; however, the library’s size limitations did affect the overall impact of the exhibit in the community. The Arts Center simply is not open enough hours or have as much traffic as the public library.

      Many school groups visited the exhibit while it was in town. Efforts to inform schools about it paid off. The programming at the library in connection with the exhibit was highly successful, and people suggested we do this more often. The library received much help from other city departments. Without the help of those other departments things would not have gone nearly as well. Library staff did a wonderful job planning special programs and adjusting on the fly while the exhibit was in town.

      Bev said that she would hesitate to do another exhibit of this importance unless the library was adequate to house it, however.

    5. Gates Computers final report.

      6. The Gates computers are making a major impact on the operation of the library. Computer use in August was up 6,636 over August 2002. These computers have proven extremely popular with the public because they provide more than just Internet access. The Gates Foundation donated thousands of dollars of free software to the library, and people can use the computers to access Internet, to type reports and to use for other research needs.

    6. Library Board Accreditation. Discussion continued.

      7. Bev asked board members to please return any videotapes which they may have borrowed from Bev. The Panhandle Library System would like them returned. Please let Bev know what you have watched, so that she can get the hours recorded, and the board’s accreditation reinstated.

    7. Staffing updates. Resignations: Carola Rhodes, Amanda Hungerford, Amber Marquez, and Nikki Suhr. New employees: Jana Kehn, Library Technician and Michael Hedges, Sharron Bannister, and Elvira Apodeca, Library Pages.
    8. Summer Reading Program up-date.

      9. The total number of teens who registered for the "Comedy Central" summer reading program was 139. Of this, 59 completed the program by reading or listening to five books. The total number of books/cassettes read was 638. These numbers are not quite as high as last year; however, attendance at programs increased, and this was encouraging.

      The juvenile reading program, "Laugh-it-up @ the library" set records all summer long. Total number of children registered was 1,392, which is an all time record. Deb and Nancy were most pleased by the completion rate, which was 80%. Programming during the summer was outstanding. A number of grants helped fund the program and make it such a huge success.

    9. Supreme Court decision regarding the CIPA and filtering in libraries, including discussion regarding how the Scottsbluff Public Library should proceed as a result of this decision.

      10. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) during the summer. The act does not apply to the Scottsbluff Public Library at this time because the library does not use federal funds to provide Internet service to the public. If it should become necessary in the future to used federal moneys, for Internet service, then the library would be required to filter all of its Internet computers. At present, the library only filters the children’s Internet computers and places an age limitation of 16 years on the unfiltered adult computers.

      Bev will be attending a workshop in October on applying for federal e-rate funds to provide discounted telephone service to the library. This would not impact the library under the provisions of CIPA, however.

    10. Review of library policies.

      11. A number of issues have surfaced recently regarding library policies. Specifically, the exhibit’s policy does not address the issue of posting information promoting a specific religion or religious service. Bev asked the Board to read through this policy before the next meeting an come prepared to discuss it.

      Also, Bev asked to the Board to review the Internet Policy for possible discussion at the October meeting.

    11. Progress on mural, located in Local History and Genealogy.

Adam has begun working on the landmark mural in local history. He was delayed getting an early summer start on the project because of Boy Scout paper work.

  1. Actions items:

    2. None

  2. Adjournment: