MINUTES

SCLS BOARD OF TRUSTEES

May 10, 2010 12:15 p.m.
SCLS Headquarters

 

Present:  J. Ashford, R. Barden, C. Chapman, F. Cherney, P. Cox, L. Davis-Brown, M. Furgal, J. Harrington, J. Healy-Plotkin, N. Holman, T. Iaccarino, B. Keen, S. Martin, T. McIlroy, H. O’Donnell, G. Poulson, J. Pugh, P. Townsend

Also Present:  H. Moe, P. Davis, S. Morrill

Absent:           M. Cole, J. Morre

Excused:         M. Nelson, P. Westby

 

 Call to Order: J. Pugh, President, called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. 

 

a.                  Introduction of guests/visitors and new board members: Dave O’Dahl, Wegner & Associates, was introduced.

b.                  Changes/additions to the agenda: none

c.                   Requests to address the board: none

 

Minutes: G. Poulson moved approval of the April 12, 2010 minutes.  R. Barden seconded.  Motion carried.

 

Bills for Payment/Financial Statements: N. Holman reviewed the bills for payment in the amount of $348,787.83 and moved approval.  G. Poulson seconded. Motion carried.   

 

President's Report:  J. Pugh noted the system received its second state aid payment for the year.

Because P. Davis is retiring June 4, 2010, J. Pugh asked for a motion to appoint S.Morrill as Interim Director effective June 5, 2010 with a pay rate at 10% above her current salary until a Director is hired.  T. McIlroy moved approval of appointing S. Morrill as Interim Director with a 10% pay increase while acting as Interim Director.  H. O’Donnell seconded.  Motion carried.  S. Morrill stated she would like to decline the pay increase.  No motion was moved to grant her request.

 

Audit Report:  Dave O’Dahl, Wegner & Associates, discussed the audit.

 

Advocacy Committee:  F. Cherney noted Mark Ibach will be sending a letter to each member library director inquiring whether they would like advocacy training for their board, friends group, and county board.  The advocacy committee will volunteer their time to provide the training. T. Herold, Director at Sun Prairie, Trish Priewe, Director at Lodi, and Pamela Westby, Director at Middleton, have offered to be references for advocacy training.

System Celebration will be held Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at the Wintergreen resort in Wisconsin Dells.  It is the 30th anniversary of the event! 

Recruitment Committee:  S. Martin noted the committee met April 14th at the Sun Prairie Public Library and screened 25 applications that met the minimum qualifications. Six candidates have been scheduled for interviews on either May 24th, 25th, or 26th. The committee agreed upon the interview format, questions, rating criteria, written essay topic, and the schedule of activities. The committee will meet after the final interview to agree on the candidate of choice, and then references will be contacted.  The candidate’s credentials and feedback from the interview process will be presented to the SCLS Board at the June 14th meeting.

SCLS Foundation Report:  L. Davis-Brown noted the fundraising planning committee will meet May 13th.  Trish Priewe, Director at Lodi, has agreed to serve on the Foundation Board in place of Barbara Brewer, who is retiring from her position as director of the library in Monroe.

Circulation and ILL Statistics:  No report.

 

System Director's Report:

P. Davis noted the Cambridge Public Library had a request to move a book from the children’s area to the adult area.  Staff at the library as well as Shawn Brommer and Cheryl Becker worked together on planning an appropriate response.  The Cambridge Public Library Board voted to keep the book in the area that is age appropriate.  Citizens participated in the discussion on both sides of the issue.

 

SCLS has received an open records request in association with an audit at one of our communities, with which we are cooperating.  The requestor has asked that we keep the details of this request confidential.

 

The Monona Library and Rio Library have appointed acting directors due to health issues with their Directors.  Rio is currently recruiting for a new director.

 

The Brodhead library is back in compliance with state statutes.  North Freedom, however, is not, but it is on the road to rectifying the problem.  The SCLS board will likely need to approve a formal plan for them to come into compliance at the next meeting.

 

There is nothing new to report on the delivery garage building project.  SCLS is working with legal counsel regarding an ADA issue for a delivery employee to ensure compliance with all laws and regulations.  Reasonable accommodations were discussed, but the only accommodation identified moves the employee from a full time position to part time position.

 

P. Davis noted the SCLS Member Cooperation Policy and SCLS Hardware and Software Support Policy distributed to the board. 

 

A DeForest library patron called with a complaint regarding the inefficiency of the library’s computers.  The computers are obsolete and need to be replaced, and SCLS is working with the library to replace those computers.

 

Shawn Brommer and P. Davis are working on an Alliant grant for the SCLS Foundation to support a workshop in September which will help libraries serve at-risk teens, including teen parents.

 

SCLS is also supporting the University of WI USDA grant proposal entitled” Mobile Breast Health Education and Mammography to Underserved Rural Communities”.  The idea is to partner with public libraries by using the parking lots at libraries for the mobile vehicle.

 

P. Davis and S. Brommer attended a literacy luncheon which celebrated the 25th anniversary of Wisconsin Literacy.  They made some good contacts and gathered information on programs available.

 

The first annual All-Directors meeting, under the new governance structure, will be held May 27th.   The agenda, voting shares, background information, etc. will be sent to all library directors prior to the meeting.

 

S. Morrrill noted the Department of Administration stimulus grant for fiber to many member libraries is going much more slowly than expected.  Before any funds can be spent, there is a requirement that environmental and historical surveys need to occur to determine how many historical buildings the proposed fiber path will pass through.  This process is extensive and means that it is unlikely that more than 30% of the sites will receive fiber in 2010.  Some sites are already receiving visits from the local telephone companies to determine what will need to be done in the building to accommodate fiber, and router purchasing is beginning.

The ILS staff has been working hard this month on moving development forward.  The development team at PTFS had only 10 specifications for development because of a lack of communication with LibLime staff.  There are actually over 50 specifications that are in some stage of development.  The staff is also working on testing the PTFS version of Koha to determine if it would meet our needs as a basis for our development and testing a second data load.

The Libraries for Real Life campaign received over 25 stories as part of the National Library Week campaign and contest.

The Fitchburg open house was attended by over 200 people, and received good press.  S. Morrill and P. Davis met with Deb Johnson, acting director at Fitchburg, to discuss costs for joining the network and ILS and steps needed for SCLS leading up the library opening.

The SLP visit video is finished and has been ordered by a number of libraries.  It features Jonathan Ibach and a friend reading in a pool.

The Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries (WAPL) conference, which was held in Sheboygan, was great!  Some SCLS staff gave presentations and Cheryl Becker, WAPL Chair, had a lot of responsibilities to ensure the conference was a success. 


The 2010-2011 SCLS Technology Plan was approved by the Technology Committee and will be submitted to DLTCL by July 1, as required for TEACH funding.  The plan will be rolled into the plan that is approved by the SCLS Board in the fall.

The mid-year budget will need to come before the board at the June meeting and the budget committee will need to meet prior to the June meeting.

 

Administrative Council (AC) Report: The minutes may be viewed here: http://www.scls.info/committees/ac/minutes/2010-02-18.pdf

 

Multitype Advisory Committee (MALC) Report:  The Multitype Summit will take place May 18th at Olbrich Gardens.

Other Business:  None

Information sharing:  Philip Cox noted he was impressed by the great customer service he received from the Madison Public Library.


On behalf of the SCLS Board, Janet Pugh presented Phyllis with a gift certificate to the American Players Theater and a “sea thrift” perennial in honor of her retirement.  Phyllis will be missed, but the board wished her a great retirement.  A retirement party will be held June 4th at the SCLS office.  Phyllis thanked the board and the staff.

 

Meeting adjourned at 1:32 p.m.


Heidi Moe, Recorder