The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bucks County Free Library was held at the District Library Center in Doylestown. The meeting was called to order at 5:32 p.m. Present were:  Det Ansinn, President; Bill Draper, Vice President; Roberta Foerst, Secretary; Jerry Balchis, Treasurer; Mary Ann Beltz and Christina Paugh-Greenwood, Board Trustees; Martina Kominiarek, Executive Director; Sue Ziegler, Public Services Director; John Doran, Chief Financial Officer; and Pam Riley , Executive Assistant. Also in attendance were Hal Rosenberg, District Consultant; Barbara Barbon, Circulation Manager, and Regina Switzer, Union Steward.  Charles Meredith was absent.

A MOTION to APPROVE the minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 20, 2009 was made by Beltz, SECONDED by Draper and APPROVED unanimously.

 

STAFF REPORTS

Report of Circulation Manager/District Library Center - Doylestown

Barbara Barbon, Circulation Manager, told the board about the many duties and responsibilities that the circulation team performs daily, including selling books donated or withdrawn ($1,400 in January), renewing materials for library users by phone, and registering new applicants quickly. A big portion of their job involves processing items placed on “hold,” which she said is a huge job towards which everyone contributes their time. Barbon showed the board how a typical hold would appear on the shelves, and added that the patrons are extremely pleased with this service. She also said that lending video games is very popular. She reported that library users continually say how much they like being able to renew online, which recently became even more accessible with the policy change of allowable renewals with less than $5 in overdue fines. (Prior to this no online renewals were possible if there was any amount listed in overdue fines.) She said she has also received a lot of positive feedback on both the move to have paperbacks interfiled with hardcover books and on the e-mail notices being sent out when items are due back. As the staff member responsible for managing the questions/payments received from the Unique Management Services collection project, she said that she has noticed many checks coming in payment of fines/lost materials, with an increase in responses each time a new wave of letters are sent out.

Board trustee Mary Ann Beltz noted that when she visited the Doylestown library for the February First Friday event she was amazed at how many people were there after 6:00 p.m., not just for the activities but availing themselves of the library’s services.

 

Report of Executive Director (submitted in writing)

Executive Director Martina Kominiarek distributed copies of the draft BCFL Employee Handbook for the board’s review. She said that it had been distributed to branch staff and to the union for comments/questions, so it will have an extensive review process by the time it is ready to go before the board for approval in April or May. BCFL counsel Dave Spitko will review the two final sections, and there will be additional forms to accompany the handbook. When complete, every branch will have a hard copy, and additionally staff will be able to access it via the staff web site.

 

Report of Public Services Director (submitted in writing)

Sue Ziegler said that Unique Management Services reported that for BCFL’s first month utilizing collection services there were 1,039 accounts submitted, with payments totaling  $1,381 received and materials returned totaling $5,797. She also reported on two upcoming trainings with the topic of communication at work presented by consultant Mary Pellak. These topics are the result of the Communications Task Force recommendations. Ziegler noted and welcomed one of BCFL’s union stewards, Regina Switzer, to the board meeting.

 

Report of Chief Financial Officer

MOTION to APPROVE the payment of bills for January 2009 in the amount of $799,861.68 was made by Draper, SECONDED by Balchis and APPROVED unanimously.

 

MOTION to APPROVE the January 2009 financial statements (subject to audit) was made by Balchis, SECONDED by Draper, and APPROVED unanimously.

CFO John Doran reported that state funding was received the latter part of January. Board treasurer Jerry Balchis said that both he and Doran would be meeting with representatives from Wachovia to review investments. Also, he said the auditors have completed their on-site work and expect to be completely by mid-April. Board president Ansinn gave kudos to Doran for automating various systems in the business office.

 

Board Committee Reports:

The board committees did not meet.

 

Correspondence – Submitted in writing

Board president Ansinn noted that he had received two favorable comments on the Perkasie branch via Twitter.

 

Public Comment – No public commented.

 

Unfinished business –  Final drafts of the collection management policies were distributed. Kominiarek noted that there were no significant changes since they were last submitted for review except for a few items in bold and a handwritten item. She pointed out that policy CM4 lists more specifics as to the procedures followed in cases where someone objects to an item in the collection, including the formation of a committee to review the objection. Also, it was suggested that the gift policy should denote that a time period of one year be included for donors’ names on the BCFL web site.

MOTION to APPROVE the six (6) Collection Management policies as amended was made by Beltz, SECONDED by Foerst and APPROVED unanimously.

 

New Business – Privacy Policy was distributed via e-mail to board members for their review and discussion. Kominiarek noted that it was a revision of the current policy along with a merger of the procedures for dealing with law enforcement personnel.  She pointed out one change, which involved the procedure in dealing with a request made by a husband or wife for their spouse’s information or a parent requesting information regarding their child. BCFL counsel Dave Spitko reviewed all the procedures. Board president Ansinn noted that the procedures for parents requesting access to their child’s account were very explicit, and the policy further details that the procedures are dictated by the law, not the BCFL board. Kominiarek said that there will be handouts illustrating to parents workarounds, i.e. they can get child’s PIN when the library card is initiated. An education component will accompany the policy. The policy was tabled for additional review prior to approval.

 

Board president Ansinn discussed the BCFL board bylaws, and in an effort to ensure that members adhere to them asked that anyone who cannot make a meeting communicate to the executive assistant when that occurs. Board member Beltz said that one of the Governance Committee’s responsibilities will be to provide new members with information on the bylaws and also what the board expects and what it means to serve on the BCFL board.

 

There being no further business, a MOTION to ADJOURN was made at 6:10 p.m. by Draper, SECONDED by Balchis and so MOVED.

 

        

Respectfully submitted,

                                                                              Pamela J. Riley

 

Executive Assistant

 

APPROVED BY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MARCH 17, 2009