Somers Library Board of Trustees PO Box 443 Somers, New York 10589 MEETING MINUTES November 9, 2016 President Hasl called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. The members present were: Paula Chamoun, Jim Hasl, Ann Westerman and Christine Williamson-Canavan. Ian Carnow, Liz Mignardi, and Laura Parisi were absent. Library Director Andrew Farber was also present. Earlier this year, the Library received a WLS STEM Mini Grant. The purpose of this workshop series was to offer teens in grades 7 and up an opportunity to develop the Library s long-range renovation plans into a 3D model in order to assist the Library leaders to get a better visual of their future plans. Collaborating with Digital Arts Experience, Inc., students were offered a series of 5 workshops where they created a 3D computer model of the Library renovation plans, found potential problem areas and/or new suggestions after creating the 3D model. The workshops were open to 10 middle and high school students in 7th to 9th grades, who were interested in technology and available to attend the workshops in the early fall. This evening, their models and experiences were shared with their parents, the Library Director and Board of Trustees. All were delighted with what they learned. Approval of Minutes The minutes of the October 12, 2016 meeting were not approved as there was not a quorum of those present that evening in attendance tonight. Announcements and Correspondences Mr. Farber recently met with the Board of the Somers Lions Club to talk about the Library offerings. They were so pleased that the President Chris Hanley asked Mr. Hasl if he and Mr. Farber would come and speak with the entire Club at their November 15 meeting. Mrs. Westerman will join them as well. It would be nice to have them as an ongoing program partner with the Library. Mr. Hasl shared some Election Day results. The 414 Library votes passed in Patterson and Peekskill, but was defeated by a small margin in Putnam Valley. He also shared that the Every Library newsletter reported that most operating budgets, as well as new building and expansion projects nationwide passed. Public Comment There was no Public Comment this evening.
Treasurer s Report The Treasurer s Report was presented. Copies of the Abstract of Audited Vouchers #11, and Somers Library Vouchers were distributed. Mrs. Westerman made a motion to approve the Abstract of Audited Vouchers #11, dated November 9, 2016 in the amount of $71,242.93, which included voucher numbers 87969 to 88004. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Williamson-Canavan. All were in favor. The contractual amount spent this past month was $19,845.49. The largest expenditures were: Arco (cleaning services, including deep cleaning) $4,500 and Baker & Taylor Books (books) $4,152. Payroll and benefit charges were $50,747.44. Total Library spending for all accounts was $71,242.93. $650 was spent out of the Gift Fund for programs and program supplies. A credit card will be secured through Chase so that employees don t have to use their money for purchases and in turn have to wait to be reimbursed. A policy for its use will be created. Director s Report STATISTICS: This month we had 2,598 reference transactions, 16,102 visitors to the Library, 9,847 items circulated, 244 uses of the public computers, 23 uses of the conference rooms, 891 items circulated on overdrive, 90 programs, and a total program attendance of 1,414 people, including young adult programs. WLS has not released the WiFi statistics. In August we added a new tutorial service to the Library s web offerings, Niche Academy. These tutorials cover our databases, ebooks, and social media offerings. In October we have had 107 uses. PERSONNEL: Beth Levine will continue to be out until at least November 14. She is unsure if she will be able to return to working full days at first. Vicki DiSanto attended a continuing education class, Book Fest at Bank Street College on October 22, and a Webinar, Picture Books Galore, on November 3. Edith Felis, Diane Montero-Heyert, and Anne Dehn attended a program on dealing with problem patrons and colleagues at the Carmel Library this month. BUILDING: The HVAC installation has begun, and the project is expected to be completed before Thanksgiving. They will run new fuel lines into the Library during this time, which should prevent the lines from freezing in the future. There will be an expense of about $3,500 for the new fuel lines.
Schindler has repaired the emergency phone in the elevator and cleaned the elevator pit. MISCELLANEOUS: Mrs. DiSanto was the guest reader at Primrose Elementary School on October 20 and 21. She met all library classes for stories and promoted children s library programs to 252 students! Mrs. DiSanto has completed the following sections working on the database* for: 1. JP 2. J Non-Fiction 3. Boardbooks 4. J Biography 5. J Series 6. J Parenting & Family 7. YR 8. JE Non-Fiction 9. JE Biography 10. J DVD 11. J Professional Collection 12. J Foreign Language 13. J CD Audiobooks (J Graphic, still to be done) *In each of these areas, each book/material was individually scanned-old records were corrected and/or updated; weeded; re-covered; repaired; new labels were applied; new collections were generated (i.e. Family section); call numbers were changed/updated; materials were moved to a different part of the collection to better serve patron s requests; or cleaned. We updated our Statistics sheet and gave the revised copy to all staff members. Hopefully this will clarify the type of information we need. These statistics are needed to correctly report numbers to the State. Valerie Herman was asked by the Somers Women s Club to do a presentation on Pinterest at their meeting on January 11 at 7:00 p.m. She is planning to present an overview of Pinterest, and how different users might want to use it for themselves. There will be a Q & A at the end. On Election Day the Library was used for voting. Evidently at some polling places they were giving out I Voted stickers. They either never gave them out at the Library or ran out of them at some point. Folks who were upset about this were calling the Library to complain on Wednesday. This sends a powerful message about branding. Some think if it happened in the Library, we are responsible.
The League of Women Voters will begin using the Library again in January twice monthly for meetings, programs, etc. There is a group of lawyers who will offer pro-bono help to libraries in Westchester. Mr. Farber would like to set up a meeting with them to see what kind of assistance they offer. Mr. Farber met with the Librarians yesterday. Moving forward, a volunteer will handle all of the public relations, which can take up a considerable amount of staff time. The Museum Pass money has been received. A policy for use will be created. The Holiday Schedule for 2017 was reviewed and discussed. An article and photos of the Battle of the Books was featured on the front page of The Somers Record. Somers Library Foundation The Bites, Beer and Wine event scheduled for November 12 at the Mahopac Golf Club to benefit the Somers Library Children s Room has been cancelled. Raffles tickets for the April luncheon are now available for sale. OLD BUSINESS Pew Research Center Survey Mr. Hasl asked all Trustees to review the results of the national survey prepared by the Pew Research Center so that a discussion can take place at the December meeting. He shared some of thoughts he had about the data as well. The RFPs for the architects have been sent to interested parties. Three companies have responded. Mr. Carnow, Mr. Farber and Mr. Hasl will conduct interviews and a vote will take place at the December meeting. The Library budget hearing was held on Friday, October 21 at 2:00 p.m. in the Somers Town House Meeting Room and it went well. NEW BUSINESS 2017/2018 Trustee Goals/Accomplishments A request was made to all Trustees by Mr. Hasl to come prepared to discuss one or two goals/accomplishments for 2017/2018 they each had at the December meeting. Trustee Nominations A motion was made by Mrs. Williamson-Canavan and seconded by Mrs. Chamoun to nominate the following Officers for 2017: President Jim Hasl, Vice President Laura Parisi, Corresponding Secretary Liz Mignardi, and Treasurer Ann Westerman. All were in favor.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m. The Trustees will meet next on December 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Library. Respectfully submitted, Denise Schirmer, Secretary Somers Library Board of Trustees cc: Library Board of Trustees Town Board Town Clerk Director of Finance Friends of the Somers Library Somers Library Foundation