
Board Minutes February 2017

MINUTES
BARRY-LAWRENCE REGIONAL LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES

February 16, 2017


The Board of Trustees of Barry-Lawrence Regional Library met for their monthly meeting on Thursday, February 16, 2017 at the Pierce City Branch Library.  Present were: Charles Peiter, Marilyn Carey, Jan Vaughn, Ann Hall, Gina McIlrath,  IT Manager Noah Helterbrand, Director Gina Milburn, Administrative Assistant Joyce Frazier and guests Frank Preston (Pierce City Friends of the Library President) and Karen Foster (Shell Knob Friends of the Library President). Absent were Felicity Nesbitt and Julie Vaughn. The meeting was called to order by President Ann Hall.  

MINUTES AND REPORTS

Minutes:  January 19, 2017 meeting minutes were reviewed.  Motion made by M. Carey to approve the minutes with no changes or corrections, second by Jan Vaughn.  All members present voted in the affirmative.  Motion carried.

Financial Report:  Director Milburn reviewed the January 2016 financial report and discussion followed.  In February we received the bulk of our current tax payments ($1,125,714.2). This, along with delinquent tax, surcharge tax, etc. collections, will have to last us until the end of the year.  Our overall year to date income is up approximately $6,000 from this time last year.  Our expenditures are down approximately $74,000 from January 2016, due in part to savings in salaries and health insurance.  Motion made by C. Peiter to approve the financial report, second by G. McIlrath.  All members present voted in the affirmative.  Motion carried.

Circulation Statistics:  Director Milburn gave a brief overview of the 2nd Quarter statistics and a more detailed review of the January 2017 statistics.  Monett, Cassville, and Mt. Vernon continue to be the three top branch circulators.  Monett was first (6,702) with Cassville coming in second (6,199) and Mt. Vernon in third (5,640).  E-book circulation was up slightly from last year with 2,068 checkouts.  Our average daily circulation continues to do well with an average of 1,904 circulations per day.  This was up from 1,510 from January 2016 in spite of the fact that we were open 5 less days this year.  We had 2,858 uses of the computer and 763 Wi-Fi users. In January, the library offered 200 programs with participation of 3,464.

Technology Report:  IT Manager Helterbrand presented his report.
*Successfully submitted Winter LSTA grant and receipt was confirmed.
*Rebuilt AD (active directory) and group policies. Monett is connected. Branches will be connected after new firewalls are in place.
*Moved blrlibrary.org domain DNS (domain name servers) to our domain provider.
*TLC is now accessible using SSL (encrypts our data).
*We purchased RMM (remote monitoring and management) software and rolled it out to over 100 endpoints.
*We now have a NOC (network operations center) display in our office showing all network alerts instantly. This also significantly upgraded our remote support capability.

*We purchased Deep Freeze and have begun the process of rolling it out. (Deep Freeze is a product of Faronics.  It protects endpoints by Freezing a snapshot of a computer’s desired configuration and settings defined by the IT Administrator.  With an instant reboot, any unwelcome or unwanted changes are removed from the system, restoring it to its pristine Frozen state.)
*Simultaneous to the Deep Freeze rollout, those machines are being setup to auto-shutdown, auto-boot, auto-login, and have managed updates.
*Once rollout is completed, we should see a significant reduction in librarian time spent on computer tasks.
*USB scanning machines will be eliminated.
*Patrons will be afforded more flexible use of the computers while maintaining privacy and security.
*We should see a reduction in electrical bills.
*Brought all email services in house and secured.
*Unsecure protocols have been disabled.
*All email is synced with the server for centralized backup and multi endpoint usage.
*AV/Spam scanning is in place.
*Delivery times for external emails have been reduced from 1 to 12 hours to a matter of seconds.
*Webmail is now more user friendly.
*Installed and have begun populating a dedicated IT asset management system.
*goBEC (fiber network) paperwork was submitted for the Cassville Branch. They will be upgraded to a 250mb fiber connection in approximately 60 days.
*MOREnet sent the paperwork for review for fiber upgrades to Pierce City and Aurora.
*We have a computer on order from MDC to provide service to the new microfilm system in Cassville.
*We identified issues with network switching at a number of branches. One switch for Monett has been swapped out and it significantly improved performance and administration.
*Several unnecessary legacy VLANs (virtual local area networks) have been removed. This and the switching improvements will be rolled out to the branches once we get the grant for the new firewalls.
GOING FORWARD:
*We would like approval to purchase a basic 3D printer for internal testing and demo, staff education, and policy development.
*We would like approval to pursue a central IP PBX (internet protocol private branch exchange) to unify the library’s phone system across all branches, and look into using a SIP (session initiation protocol) trunk provider for phone services. Preliminary review of the numbers looks like we could achieve some very significant cost savings.
*We would also like to look into micropayment solutions, such as Square or Paypal here, to address new payment technology and patron needs.

Motion made by Jan Vaughn to accept the IT Manager’s report, second by C. Peiter.  All members present voted in the affirmative.  Motion carried.

Director’s Report:

Staff Changes: 
• Aurora:  We had a vacant part time clerk position that was held until the board reviewed branch hours at the January meeting.  Now that we are open on Saturdays we need to fill this position.  It was posted at the end of January and they began interviewing Wednesday morning.
• Pierce City:  We have a part time custodial position that is open.  It was posted last week and we hope to get it filled by the end of the month.

Digital Newspaper Grant:  The grant application was submitted January 31, 2017.

Digital Microfilm Reader:  On Tuesday, February 14, we met with Missouri Documents at the Cassville Branch to learn about a digital microfilm reader.  This reader will replace the older models that we own at the Cassville Branch.  Funds from the Peterson Family Charitable Trust will be used to purchase the microfilm reader as well as a computer, monitor, and printer.

Missouri Association of School Librarians Conference:  Briana Kleine, part time clerk (Monett Branch), applied for and received a scholarship to attend the Missouri Association of School Librarians Conference March 26-28.  She is requesting paid time off for Tuesday, March 28.  After discussion a motion was made by G. McIlrath, second by M. Carey to approve 8 hours paid leave for Briana Kleine for March 28, 2017.  All members present voted in the affirmative.  Motion carried.  The Board asks that Ms. Kleine submit a written report of her attendance at the conference for the April board meeting.

Trustee Vacancy:  It has been a year since Christina Barnes resigned from the library board.  So far the commissioners have been unable to find someone to fill this position.  Director Milburn contacted them recently and spoke with Commissioner Shad.  They are aware of the vacancy and will continue to look for someone, preferably from the Eagle Rock area.  If you know of anyone in Barry County that might be interested please pass along the information.

Maintenance:  We have called Heller Heat and Air twice this week to look at the HVAC system at the Monett Branch. 

Appearance and Hygiene Personnel Policy 9.2:  In this policy we gave staff permission to wear jeans and library themed t-shirts on Fridays/Saturdays and select days throughout the year.  Over the last couple of years Director Milburn has relaxed the policy to allow staff to wear nice jeans throughout the week.   We have had mixed results with this policy and she thinks that we are at a point where we need to either enforce the policy or allow jeans to be worn at any given time.  After discussion it was decided that the policy would be enforced as written.

Motion made by G. McIlrath to accept the Director’s Report, second by C. Peiter.  All members present voted in the affirmative.  Motion carried.

After getting the online video ready for viewing IT Manager Noah Helterbrand exited the meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

Short Takes for Trustees:  The board viewed the 3rd video in the series, “Board Ethics”.  Next month we will watch, “Library Advocacy”. 

OLD BUSINESS

Strategic Planning (Mission Statement)—Assignment Review:  We reviewed the handouts that were provided after the last meeting.  Board members were asked to give input about key words that they felt were important to include in our mission statement.  We discussed the importance of having a mission statement that was short, to the point, and that would easily encompass what we want the public to know about the library and its services.  Jan Vaughn and Gina McIlrath both came up with possible statements using some of the keywords provided in the handouts:
* Connecting people to the transforming power of knowledge. (Vaughn)
* Enriching the lives of individuals and our communities through innovation and imagination.  (McIlrath)
We will continue this discussion at the next board meeting when all board members are present.

Community Survey—Overview of Results:  In mid-December we began distributing a community survey to our customers and community members.  The survey was two pages long and asked for input about the use of the libraries, what services are most popular, and what services are needed in the future.  Surveys were collected through February 10, 2017.   We received a total of 318 surveys.  Director Milburn compiled the survey responses into a spread sheet.  She also provided a typed list of all customer comments and suggestions along with charts and graphs of the responses.  These compilations were provided to the board members at the meeting.  We will discuss further once all board members have a chance to review the handouts.

NEW BUSINESS

Tax Levy:  We discussed the possibility of putting the tax levy ballot issue on the August ballot.  Waiting until August would give us time to hold community meetings and time to put together a PAC committee that could provide “yes” material to the public. 

Assigned Funds:   The board discussed how to assign 2016 end of year funds.  Items up for consideration were:
* $50,000—Shell Knob Building Fund.  This combined with what the Friends have already raised should be enough to hire an architect to do a preliminary set of drawings of the proposed building.
* $25,000—Monett Building Fund
* $250,000—Maintenance Contingency Fund.  We have several projects/potential projects to put out for bid in the spring such as the entrance ramp at Aurora and the heating/cooling units at Monett.
* $25,000—New Van.  The old van is closing in on 400,000 miles.
* $30,000—“New” maintenance position.  This position would be responsible for the constant repairs and maintenance issues that arise when you have 10 branch locations to take care of.
* $20,000—Technology

 

A motion was made by C. Peiter to approve assigning funds as outlined above, second by Jan Vaughn.  All members present voted in the affirmative.  Motion carried. 

Having no other business to discuss a motion to adjourn was made by M. Carey, second by C. Peiter.  All members present voted in the affirmative.  Motion carried.  Meeting adjourned.


Respectfully submitted,


Joyce Frazier
Recording Secretary


The next Scheduled Board Meeting will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 16. 2017 at the Pierce City Branch Library.
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