02-13-2012 (Library) Minutes 911. Library Advisory Board
CITY OF WYLIE
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Library Board--Minutes
Monday, February 13, 2012- 7:00 pm
Conference Room
Smith Public Library
300 Country Club Rd., Bldg. 300
Wylie, Texas 75098
CALL TO ORDER
Announce the presence of a Quorum.
Members present: Grace Morrison, Gerri Washington, Shirley Burnett, Mindy Ayers, Junaid
Najamuddin, Timothy McCray, Rachel Orozco (Board Liaison)
Members absent: Candy Arrington
CITIZENS COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS
Residents may address Board regarding an item that is not listed on the Agenda. Residents must provide their name and
address. Board requests that comments be limited to three (3) minutes. In addition, the Board is not allowed to converse,
deliberate or take action on any matter presented during citizen participation.
There were no citizens present at the meeting.
PRESENTATION
No presentation was made at the meeting.
ACTION ITEMS
The Library Board Minutes of Monday, January 9, 2012 were approved as presented.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
Review of fees for Meeting Room Policy:
Rachel Orozco and Mindy Manson had a discussion about the use of the Conference Room and the
Multi-Purpose Room. The Multi-Purpose Room is not being used very often and they discussed the fees
being reviewed and possibly revised. The non-profit organizations can't really afford to pay the cost to
rent the Multi-Purpose Room. The current fee for non-profit organizations is $30.00/hour with the
Conference Room being free. Other libraries are usually free for non-profit organizations. The initial
thought was the Multi-Purpose Room is a very nice room and we would like the room to be maintained
at the current level. The fees were originally set based on the fees that the Recreation Center is charging
and also in an effort not to compete with their bookings. The Bart Petticord Community Center is still
free to non-profits. Originally the idea of charging a refundable deposit was discussed but not
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implemented. Charging non-profit groups a $10.00 minimum non-refundable fee for two hours with
anything over two hours being charged at $5.00 per hour was discussed. Rachel will check with the
Recreation Center to see what types of meetings they are booking and whether or not they book a lot of
non-profit organizations. It was agreed this issue will be revisited at a later date after Rachel has had
time to check with the Recreation Center and other libraries.
The Computer Lab is free to any City group as well as Government entities such as schools. A call was
received from a business inquiring as to whether we rent out the room. It was discussed if the room is
not being used and would not cause a burden on the staff why not rent it. This money could be used to
offset some of the operating costs and for computer instructors. Two things to think about are how
much to charge per hour and if groups would bring their own instructor or if they would want us to
recommend an instructor that they would schedule. We could provide a list of names for them to make
the arrangements directly. Other libraries normally don't rent their computer labs out. Rachel will
check with other libraries and inquire as to their policy.
STAFF REPORTS
Library Updates:
We have a new employee, Emily Repasky, a Clerk to replace Kelsey who moved to Children's.
Rachel applied for a Texas Book Festival Grant for $5,000.00 for six I-Pads to be used during the
special needs storytime. Studies show that children who are autistic do well with this type of technology
to help them communicate. We have used the Leap Frog Leap Pads in the past.
Rachel also applied for an additional Texas Book Festival Grant for computer literacy for $5,000.00 to
pay for computer instructors.
Rachel is currently working on an impact grant through the State for $10,000.00 to enhance the
Computer Lab. This would provide more money for instructors and for software such as Quick Books
that we didn't have the funds for originally. There may also be enough money to have a class set of
books. A suggestion was made to lease computers so that the maintenance will be taken care of and the
latest software would be installed.
There is a TexTreasures Grant through the state that is $25,000.00 and Rachel is partnering with Sachse
to digitize the newspapers. Newspapers would be put on micro-film and then digitized so they will be
preserved. The Wylie News has from 1945 to 1999 in paper while the Sachse News is much younger.
The Special Projects Grant through the State can be up to $75,000.00. The Police Department School
Resource Officers held a unique program last summer for at risk youth. They identified 10 students in
the school district that were at risk and held a two week enrichment program. They met here at the
Library in the morning, went and exercised at the Recreation Center, had lunch and came back here to
discuss different topics. They visited the Veterans Administration Hospital, made sandwiches for the
Austin Street Shelter and handed them out to the homeless. They also went to visit a prison in Bonham.
We bought the books Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul Journal and gave them a little gift bag at the
end of the program. Some of the participants would use the Teen Center afterwards. For the Grant we
want to expand the program to include a $1,000 YMCA program that they couldn't afford. Also, they
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want to bring in some special guest speakers. The Officers track the students during the next school
year and they said seven out of ten have really turned their life around after attending the program.
Early Voting will be held here again. The local elections will be held in May in the Multi-Purpose
Room. The primary election may be scheduled for the end of May and will be held in the Foyer in order
to leave the Multi-Purpose Room open for programs. We will have the General Election in November
in the Multi-Purpose Room.
The Summer Reading Kickoff is scheduled for June 8 from 9:00am to 12:00pm. We will also have the
Scholastic Book sale during that time.
Conferences - Rachel is attending the Public Library Association conference in March. Rachel and Dia
are presenting our special needs program at the Texas Library Association conference in April.
Veronica is going to the American Library Association conference in Anaheim, California because she
is on a committee that selects the best books for teens.
We have held 56 classes in the Computer Lab since the last week in September which included 450
people. We are doing much better this quarter because we are only allowing signup two weeks prior to
the class date. Generally, the class surveys have been favorable. Our 10:00 classes in the morning have
been very well attended.
We currently have an online survey for patron input on expanding the library hours with additional
funding. We asked patrons if they are happy with the current hours and most of them want more hours.
One choice is adding more hours in the morning and also changing hours to be more consistent on a
daily basis. I think we are missing out on some seniors because they like to do things in the morning.
Sunday afternoon is also a choice being open from 1:00-5:00pm which is more expensive because of
staffing and utilities. Other libraries that are open on Sunday afternoon are usually busy. Donna Shirley
would eventually like to offer some type of home bound service. This service was discussed in the past
but nothing was done because of the issue of staff and funding.
Tile Project—The tiles have been hung on the wall between the Family Restroom and the Youth
Services offices.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 7:52 pm.
Grace Morrison,President Date