June 6, 2008

Gustavus Public Library Board Meeting

Date:    14-June, 2008

Time:    8:00 A.M.

George Jensencalled the meeting to order at 8:10 a.m.

Roll Call:  George Jensen, Jaenelle Manchester. Chris Spute arrived @ 8:45 am. Anne Gibson was absent.  

Others present: Elise Pepple, staff;  Sandi Marchbanks, City Council liaison;  and Lynne Jensen.

Minutes of last meeting:  Anne Gibson has not yet submitted them.

OLD BUSINESS:

1.  Board Vacancies:

A.  Welcome Jaenelle Manchester to library board after the City Council unanimously approved her appointment at the council meeting on June 12th.

B.  One vacancy still exists: 

MOTION:  Jaenelle made a motion to recommend Lynne Jensen to fill the library board vacant seat.  Chris Spute seconded. 

DISCUSSION:  Sandi:  the library board needs a full slate of members to adequately function and Lynne has served on the board in the past.  Lynne agreed to serve on the board until another member of the community steps forward. 

VOTE:  All in favor.  Motion passed.

ACTION:  Chris will submit the paperwork for nomination to the City Council.

2.  Grants:

A.  Rasmusson grant:  completed and all paperwork submitted.

B.  Inter-Library Cooperation (ILC) Grant #1: “Moving Towards Automation” : 

Kate Boesser completed the cataloguing she was hired to do, cataloging 7137 items in total.  She is currently volunteering to catalog some of the new items. 

The new laptop computer purchased with ILC grant money is up and running with the new “card catalog”.

ACTION:  The ILC grant final report is due September 1, 2008.

C.  ILC Grant #2:   “Next Step to Automation”: 

This grant application has been awarded as per a recent phone call from the State Library.   A Non-Code Ordinance (NCO) will need to be requested from the City to get this new funding into the FY09 budget. The line items include: $4,278.00 salaries and wages, $750.00 Equipment, and $300.00 for supplies for a total of $5,328.00.

ACTIONS: 

--Chris will submit paperwork to the City Council to put this on the agenda for the July meeting.

  --Lynne Jensen will e-mail quarterly report to Sandi and the other council members which includes details about the grant total and line item expenses. 

--Elise will get a copy of the grant award letter to the City. 

D.  CIP grant from State of Alaska: (deadline for CIP grants is November)

The library has no big projects in sight, but discussion ensued regarding the problem with the amount of bandwidth the library is using and the fact that GCN is losing money and customers, who are now using the library’s wireless network for internet and e-mail.  Some patrons have also been downloading large files, which has overloaded the library’s system and increased the costs above what was budgeted.  

Suggestion:  the library have a discussion with GCN to see if the library and GCN could collaborate on a grant to fund a new broadband service for the community and library, through a CIP grant or a new Rasmusson grant.  The potential costs for broadband towers and set up would run between $75-150,000.00.

ACTION:  Jaenelle will call Dan Zobrist from the GCN committee to gather information and set up a meeting time.

3.  Fundraisers:

A.  Golf Tournament:  June 21st

·   Food:  Chris Spute has organized the food donations:  Dinner at Mary Hervin’s @ 5pm:  B-B-Q by Craig Forgaard, Beans from Sally Lesh, Cole Slaw from Annie Mae Lodge, Corn Bread from Carolyn Elder, Dessert from Blair Awbry,

·   Snacks for Tourney:  Soda:  donation from Beartrack Merc.(30 cans).  Snack Bars (30)--need a purchase order from City to purchase.

·   Wine:  Elise will check with Snug Harbor and get a P.O. if necessary.

·   Prizes:  Donations from Air Ex., LAB and Fjord Flying of 1 ticket each for top team.  Need one more large prize for winning team (Lynne will check with the Taz or a local kayak rental). Gustavus Dray has donated 4 wrapped prizes.  Alaska Airlines has donated small golf related prizes.  Lynne Jensen has donated an assortment of small prizes.    Need 6 “Pink Ball” prizes. 

·   Tables & Chairs:  George will p/u and deliver plastic chairs and table from library and folding table from Brian Waverly to Mary’s on Friday afternoon.

·   Table Service:  Lynne will take paper plates, cups, napkins and serviceware to Mary’s.

·   Registration:  Lynne will take money at registration on the 21st. 

B.  Burgers and Desserts:  May 23rd

The library raised $1,450 net from the Burgers and Desserts fundraising event.  Thanks to

Anne Gibson and Jaenelle Manchester for organizing this event, Chris Spute or ordering

the food, Joe and Janet Lassiter and Tim Gibson for grilling the burgers, Marilyn Jackson

and Sharon Waguespack for managing the kitchen, Rita Wilson for taking money and

others who helped and provided desserts.

C.  Bricks:

22 bricks have been ordered for the library entryway by people and businesses.

The bricks are being shipped this week.  Question:  Some donations for bricks came in

after the order was sent.  How do we accommodate those requests? 

Action:  This should be a yearly event and a NCO will need to be requested in order to

place the brick income and expenses in the FY’09 budget.  

D.  July 4th:

The board decided not to have any fundraising activity on the 4th of July, as there have been several fundraisers already this Spring.

4.  Access to back of library for snow removal:

The garden boxes and possibly the garden shed will have to be moved in the Fall to allow access for snow removal.

5.  Calendar Review:

Sandi and Lynne explained the need and procedure for a monthly calendar of deadlines and activities.  Sandi has offered to provide the library with a “year-at-a-glance” vinyl wall calendar.   Lynne will work with Sandi to set up the calendar system.  Elise will order special dry-erase markers for the calendar.

6.  Librarian’s Report:

Sylvia and Elise had submitted information for the quarterly report presented at the City Council meeting on June 12th by George and Lynne.  The review of this report served as the Librarian’s Report at this meeting. 

7.  Update on By-Law Changes:

These changes were passed at the May meeting of the City Council.

8.  Budget review:

The board reviewed the end of fiscal year line items with money remaining and approved unanimously the purchase of the following items from a list submitted by Elise and Sylvia: 

Item #1.  Library Materials:  $2975

·   McNaughton renewal (1 year contract) $1,800—already paid

·   Movie License for public viewing of films (1 year contract) $295--awaiting approval

·   Netflix account: 2 movies at a time one for children, one for adults (1 year contract) $167.88--awaiting approval

·   Summer reading supplies $349

Item #2.  Office Supplies: $773

Miscellaneous Supplies including:  PhotoPaper, Color Ink for Copier and Printer (one set for each), Dry Ink Markers, 3 Staplers, Light Bulbs, Folders, Toilet paper , Pens, Keys to the library for volunteers

Item #3. Postage: $259

Stamps for ILL’s of varying value (i.e. $1, $2, $.10 etc.)

Item #4.  Equipment:  $964

·   Set-up color copier to link to computers as printer $175

·   Ladder $150

Item #5.  Fundraising Expenses: $1,100

·   Golf Tournament expenses $290.00

·   Bricks:  $450 + shipping

ACTION:  Elise and Sylvia will purchase the items listed above before the FY08 deadline of June 20th.

9.  E-rate update:

E-rate is a federal funding program for public schools and libraries to help defray long distance phone costs for internet access.  Gustavus Public Library’s e-rate grant monies will most likely be decreasing from 90% to 80% per fiscal year. This means the library will need to find funding that has not been budgeted for in the FY09 budget.  Our library’s e-rate is dependent on the Chatham School District’s qualifications.  Right now we are awaiting an audit on Chatham School District to see if we qualify for the higher funding rate. The employee at Chatham SD who did the e-rate paperwork is now gone. The  E-rate folks will let us know their final determination of our funding rate, at which time we may need to amend the budget. 

NEW BUSINESS:

1.  Internet access at the library (wireless):

As stated above in item regarding CIP funding, a problem has developed this year with the amount of bandwidth the library is using and the fact that GCN is losing money and customers, who are now using the library’s wireless network for internet and e-mail.  Some patrons have been downloading large files, which has overloaded the library’s system and increased the costs beyond what was budgeted. 

ACTIONS: 

·   Elise will make a poster to put outside the building to alert folks who use wireless from the parking lot about the downloading problem. 

·   She will also include a paragraph about the downloading problem in the next Fairweather Reporter news article. 

·   Folks using the internet inside the building should also be advised about the downloading problem. 

2.  Persons wishing to speak on non-agenda items:  None

3.  Agenda items for next meeting:  Unless an emergency meeting is needed during the summer, the next library board meeting will be in September, 2008.  The agenda topics will include:

Role Call

Minutes of last meeting

Grants:

·   ILC grants

·   CIP grant and possible collaboration with GCN on broadband internet access

Library access for snow removal

Board vacancy appointment

Librarian Report

Budget Review

Calendar Review

E-Rate status

Wireless internet usage at the library

Summer Reading review