Minutes
Coralville Public Library Board of Trustees
September 5th, 2007

Present: X. Cretzmeyer, Donna Epley, Keith Jones, Mike O’Leary, Jim Smith, Alison Ames Galstad (Library Director), Ellen Hampe (Assistant Library Director), Tom Martin and Jill Ferguson (North Corridor Rotary).
Absent: Deborah Hatz, Lisa Martin, John Lundell (City Council Representative).

Vice-President Epley called the meeting to order at 6:02.

The Board considered approval of the agenda. Jones moved the agenda be approved. Smith seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Tom Martin and Jill Ferguson of North Corridor Rotary shared some information about their projects and how they have helped the library with the Board. Martin told the Board that NCR has two major literacy projects. They give dictionaries to all 4th graders in the Iowa City School District, and they contribute financially to all of the public and school libraries in the area. Since 2003, they have also been purchasing a book for the Coralville Public Library in honor of each of their weekly speakers. They have also agreed to contribute to one third of the proceeds from their annual fundraiser to the renovation and expansion project. So far, they have contributed: $5,000 in 2003, $3,700 in 2004, $4,000 in 2005, and $2,800 in 2006. They encouraged everyone to attend their fundraiser dinner and auction. This year it will be held on November 3rd from 5:30-8 at the Highlander. Tickets are $50, and they will leave several with Galstad. Galstad expressed appreciation for the speaker books as a way to expand the library’s collection budget, as well as their other support. Cretzmeyer asked that Galstad send an email reminder to the Board about the fundraiser.

The Board considered the minutes of the August 1st meeting. Cretzmeyer moved that they be approved as presented, Smith seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The Board considered the bills for August. Jones moved the bills be approved, Smith seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The Board considered revised job descriptions for library staff. Galstad explained the three revisions. The first two were ones we talked about last year. It had been ten years since any reclassifications, and most of the positions were reclassed last year. These were the last two left to be reclassed. These two are already budget for in the FY08 budget. The revised descriptions reflect what the staff members in the positions are currently doing. The third position is a Collection Services Librarian. Kate Dale has been doing this work with the collection for almost two years. Fairly soon after she started as a substitute librarian, she was pulled into assisting with collection development, and has taken over a large portion of the non-fiction responsibilities. She is fairly regularly working over 20 hours per week. Galstad talked with Mike Funke in Human Resources, and he said that because this position is scheduled for regular hours, it is eligible for benefits. Galstad suggested that Enrich Iowa money could be used the first year to fund this position. Cretzmeyer moved that the Board recommend these three position reclassifications as presented to City Council. Smith seconded. The motion passes unanimously.

Epley gave a report from the Friends. The Friends are not discouraging people from giving book donations for the next book sale. They are hoping to have a sale in December, and will be storing donations in some of their homes.

O’Leary asked about the cost of the library being open on Sundays. Galstad said she would have to check the figures she has run before, and this will be considered further with the new facility.

Galstad gave a report from the Foundation. They send out a mailing to people who had been previously contacted, but hadn’t contributed to the project yet. This was sent in mid-August, with the intention that Foundation members would follow it up with calls. Before any calls have been made, Galstad has heard back with $4,000 in contributions and $4,800 in pledges. Jones asked about progress of donor recognition. Galstad said we are going with what Neumann Monson architects presented to the Board. Nothing has been decided about the look of room naming, however.

• Statistics:
  There are no longer any non-library meetings in the auditorium or the conference room because of construction. The study room will most likely be taken over for RFID tagging soon. Circulation was only down about 2% from a year ago (the library was under construction this time last year, though there was parking). The number of people entering the library was up 4%, and Internet use was up 11%.
• Construction:
  Galstad has been working with the project team to plan the phasing of the move. Construction crews are working a lot downstairs.
  Galstad will meet with Kelly Hayworth, Dan Holderness,Kevin Olson, Neumann Monson, and KJWW on the 28th to discuss change order and who is responsible for costs of outstanding items. Correspondence is taking place between Kevin Olson and Neumann Monson regarding disputed change orders.
  KJWW agreed to pay for the cost to move the wall in order to make the server room the required size.
  In regard to the meeting room access and automated lock system, we are looking into automating just one of the meeting room doors for before hours access.
  RFID: The contract was approved by city Council at the August 14th meeting, so we will be proceeding.
  Sculpture: Dale Merrill from Liberty Iron Works was chosen to do the sculpture. He did the Marriott stairway railing, and works mostly in metal.
  Coffee Shop: We are still waiting for some pricing. The electrical came back way higher than expected. KJWW was going to review the costs. McComas Lacina also gave the specifications to another electrical company to price out. The figures should be back tomorrow. Kelly Hayworth told Galstad that if the figures are reasonable, the contract for the coffee shop could be on the agenda for the next council meeting.
  Epley asked if Galstad had heard anything about the wear of the Brown Deer benches. Galstad had samples of the wood that the interior designers are proposing. The samples show the weathering that is expected to happen.
  We are hoping to have the Phase I Part 2 furniture bid out by September 10th.
• Other:
  Library staff conducted an inventory of the Iowa Writer’s Library last week, as it has been open for a year. There are less than fifty books missing. Galstad is going to order replacements for these, to see what the pricetag will be.
  We will be sending in ILA registrations for the library together. Anyone wishing to attend should let Hampe know.
  Two of the schools have t-shirt day today, 2 are having it on Friday.

Other business:
Both Epley and Smith shared some positive comments they’d recently gotten from the public about the library.
Smith welcomed Jones back from his appendicitis recovery.

The next Board meeting will be on October 3rd.

Epley adjourned the meeting at approximately 7:02 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Ellen Hampe
Assistant Library Director
(Subject to approval at the Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 meeting.)