Otis Library Meeting
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Full Board – 6:30
Members Present: Kathy Bort, Susan Ebitz, Steve Graves, Eve Kummel, Lois Hall and Celeste Watman
The meeting was called to order at 6:34 by Eve Kummel, acting chair. The January Meeting Minutes were amended and then accepted as read.
Via email, Walter sent the November and December Treasurer’s report and they were accepted as read. The January report came too late to be part of this month’s minutes.
In her Director’s Report, Kathy noted that circulation is normal and busy for this time of year. During the month of January, patrons were invited to bring in nonperishable food items to get their fines excused. Four boxes of food were collected and will be donated locally. Eve requested that Kathy submit articles to local papers independently and Kathy shared that she would include an invitation for book signings and art exhibits. Steve suggested the board should consider asking authors who might be visiting if they would like to give talks about their work.
Kathy shared the particulars about the Special Events Planned:
April 19th Guest speaker Peter Cameron 7:00 pm
May 1 Mother’s Day Pastel Coloring Workshop 3:00 to 5:00 Gregory Maicheck Joint project with the Otis Cultural Council Town Hall
July 7 Requested Date for the Library Fair, 10:00 – 3:00*
July 16 Library Rocks Summer Reading Program Kick Off Rocketry Ed The Wizard
August 4 Campfire Songs Family Sing a Long Mary Jo Maicheck
*Susan will request this date on behalf of the library
New Business:
Celeste revised the date of her proposal to invite other trustees to a “Meet and Greet” at the Otis Library for September when reorganization within the library was more complete. The suggestion was warmly received. Susan suggested a flyer might be useful to recruit at least one new member to the Board. Eve was going to follow-up with a suggestion for a new member that she received from Steve. Susan will follow-up with Lyn O’Brien to find out what’s involved in becoming a member of the trustees. The discussion also included the suggestion that one of the appointed trustees switch to becoming an elected trustee.
After a meeting with John Charrow, Kathy proposed that on his recommendation we replace two computers this year and replace one computer the following year. The new computers would support Windows 10 and cost @$ 600 each. The board voted to unanimously approve of this plan.
Kathy suggested that the letter for the Capital Fund Drive needs to go out at the end of February. She will send last year’s letter to all members of the board and Celeste will collate additions or deletions.
The following personnel issue was raised regarding Library employees. Members of the library staff are not considered Town employees and therefore not recipients of benefits that other part time town employees may be receiving. Members of the library staff are paid when they work. They currently receive no holiday, sick, bereavement or vacation time. The staff requested that one day a year be awarded to each staff member to be used at their discretion. The board welcomed the feedback, will research this request, discuss this proposal before deciding about including it in contract negotiations.
In the last new business item, the staff of library has made the following suggestions for the library summer hours. The board was appreciative of receiving the input and suggestions. Board members are charged with considering the proposals and being ready to vote on the summer hours at the March meeting.
Schedule Proposals – (The first is the staff recommendation)
#1 #2 #3
MONDAY 10 – 4 MONDAY 11- 5 MONDAY 12-6
TUESDAY 12- 6 TUESDAY 12- 6 TUESDAY 12-6
WEDNESDAY 10-5 WEDNESDAY 10-4 WEDNESDAY 12-6
THURSDAY 12-6 THURSDAY 12-6 THURSDAY 1-7
FRIDAY 10-5 FRIDAY 11-5 FRIDAY 1-7
SATURDAY 9-1 SATURDAY 9-1 SATURDAY 9-1
3 MORNINGS 1 MORNING PRESENT SCHEDULE
2 ADDED HOURS ON DELIVERY 2 11 OCLOCK OPENINGS
DAYS SHORTER HOURS ON WEDNESDAY DELIVERY
2 EVENINGS 2 EVENINGS
1 SATURDAY NO ADDED HOURS
Old Business:
The library Boston Bruins Pajama Drive is in full swing to give pajamas to children who find themselves in foster placements. The library is looking for donations of pajamas size 2T to 16. Last year, the Otis Library collected the most pairs of pajamas of any library in the county – 60 pair. The library is hoping to collect 70 pair this year. Donations can be brought in until March 7th.
As part of the Year One Goals of the Five-Year Plan, Eve presented the board four sketches of suggested changes to the rooms in the library. She has spent a great deal of time measuring and coordinating work with the town crew. She presented floor plans suggesting the next steps. The staff was initially resistant to the proposed changes because it appeared to be many changes to the library immediately, rather than gradually as they’d been told. Eve pointed out that the plan was dictated by the availability of Jimmy and his crew to paint the new sitting room which will house nonfiction. When that work is complete, moving the fiction section will begin with changes to the Roosevelt Room. Lastly, proposed changes to the main room will include consolidation of media and the inclusion of a designated children’s area. Though the discussion got intense positive changes have taken place. The Trustees stayed on after executive session and cleaned up the Joel Morris room so that patrons can use it. Kathy and Lois met to digest and discuss the library design and based on that discussion Kathy made the following suggestions:
“I request that we be included in conversations before the fact as much as possible. In return we will try to be more open and cooperative.
I have requested updated circulation reports on all items. Lois and I will weed the Nonfiction area first and then we will turn over the report to you (the subcommittee). After weeding this area, you can move all the nonfiction to the new (reading) room. (Then) we will weed all the fiction before you move it to allow as much space as possible; as soon as we are done weeding we will give you the circulation reports. We recommend that you plan to move the Natural History Cabinet to the hallway as you will need more room in the Roosevelt room for all the fiction. We recommend you plan to put the young adult back into the children’s area as there will be some room there after you move out all the fiction
We recommend that you keep the audio and the new releases in the original areas as the new releases is a much busier area and needs to be more open and more away from the librarians’ desk. We recommend you move the large print if there is space to be with all the other fiction and all DVD TV Series be put with all other DVD’s and all Children’s DVD’s be put with all DVD’s.”
The regular meeting was adjourned at 8:10. Celeste made a motion to go into executive session which was approved. Executive session called to order at 8:12 and adjourned at 8:22.
Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Ebitz, Recording Secretary
Next Meeting: March 8, 2018 at 6:30