Library Board Minutes 07-13-2010MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2010
5:00 P.M.
Members present: Branch Manager Debra Luken, Ralph Olsen, Beth Metzger, Judith Gomez
Duchac, Sandra Lommel, Regional Supervisor for GRRL Brandi Canter.
Minutes of the March meeting were e-mailed or mailed to all Board Members. Approved.
Old Business: None
New Business: Resignation of Judith Gomez-Duchac announced. She will be moving to
California. Applications to become a member of the Board are available at the Library and
should be posted on the City website. The new Board Member must be a resident of the city of
Monticello.
Library Report – Debra Luken:
Increase of over 7,000 items checked out from March through June of this year
compared to last year during this same time period. Circulation stats averaged 117 per
hour. Internet usage continues to increase from 1188 patrons per month compared to
last years’ 997 per month. Wireless users also increased.
Branch staff attended ECFE Family Day. Over 140 families visited the craft tab le and
received information about GRRL services.
In May, Branch staff visited over 350 second graders at the three elementary schools
with stories and handouts promoting the Summer Library Program.
Legacy Programs starting in March included Dia de Los Ninos/Dia de los Libros,
Perpetual Vaudeville, local authors and other events. All were well attended.
Over 500 kids are participating in the Summer Reading Program and a preschool story
time is offered every Monday afternoon through August. A program for olde r kids,
“Camp Walleye”, was offered through the month of July. A number of other programs
for children were featured throughout the summer.
The Friends are in the process of purchasing an additional book drop for the library to
be located at the entrance to the library. The current drive through book return is not
adequate to handle the volume of books returned on weekends.
The Library will be receiving additional Rosetta Stone Software for in house patron use.
Currently the library offers language learning software for Spanish speakers learning
English. The new programs will include: Spanish (English to Spanish) levels 1, 2, & 3,
Italian 1 and Mandarin Chinese.
GRRL Update – Brandi Canter:
The GRRL Board meeting will be held this evening, July 13, to set the budget for 2011.
After the operating budget has been established, information regarding personnel/staffing
decisions will be determined later in the summer and fall.
Brandi presented a graph that showed a steady increase in the use of all library serv ices
in the GRRL system, including circulation of materials, computer usage, and total borrowers.
The GRRL system has looked to increase efficiencies by streamlining internal processes in order
to continue to provide increased services with fewer budget do llars.
The library system is funded by State, County and City dollars. There is concern
regarding funding by the State. Results should be known sometime in August.
Only a few of the restructuring decisions at some of the branch libraries have been
implemented because the branch librarians are unionized. There continue to be issues with the
number of hours guided by the staffing calculator; some branches have seen an increase in
circulation since the calculator was established. It will be necessary to work with the branch
managers to find a solution.
Benefits will not be dropped when the hours for Branch Managers hours have been cut.
Next meeting will be Tuesday, September 21 at 5:30 p.m.
Meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sandra Lommel, Secretary