Mae S. Bruce Library

Library Advisory Board Meeting

Minutes of January 15, 2004 Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 6:33pm. The following board members were present: 

Library Director Brenda B. Cheatham was also present. 

The minutes of October 3 were read.  Lark made the motion to approve these minutes as read and Jack seconded that motion.  All members then approved the minutes.

Citizen’s Comments

Brenda informed the Board that an advisory board is not required to have a Citizen Comments section in their agenda.  This is explained in the Open Meetings act.  However, the Board agreed unanimously to keep the Citizen’s section in our agenda.

Member’s Report and Old Business

1.                  We held a steering Committee meeting in October.  Although we called and emailed patrons, no one showed up.  We discussed having another type meeting during some type of scheduled event like the Summer Reading Program.

2.                  Ideas for expansion have switched gears just a bit.  It seems that a renovation project may be the first step.  This would entail converting the conference room into a children’s area, reference room, computer lab or some other area that books and shelving can be installed.

3.                  The Post is the new paper in town.  They are looking for stories and events.  Barbara said they even publish meeting information.  Brenda will let Jennifer know so that Story Time and Summer Reading Program events can get printed up in the paper.

Director’s Report

Director Brenda Cheatham discussed the following items with the board members.

1.      Rosie’s retirement party was great.  Thanks to all the Board for showing up and wishing her well.

2.      At the October meeting Brenda discussed the possibility of the library paying for a membership in the Texas Library Association for each Board member.  She thought the membership was only $15 a year.  However, the membership is actually $30 a year.  She decided to pay for the officer’s memberships only.  That includes Linda as Chairman and Kim as Secretary. 

3.      Two new employees have been hired to take over the duties that Rosie always handled.  They started on December 1^st by following Rosie and learning some of her tasks.  DeAnna Williamson is the Computer Information Specialist and Paula Walker is the Reference Specialist.

New Business

Brenda has been working on new and existing library policies.  Many of the policies currently in existence are outdated.  She gave each of the board members a copy of the “Why Policies are Important” article that came from the book Model Policies for Small and Medium Public Libraries by Jeanette Larson and Herman L. Totten..  Brenda used this book and others in creating the new policies we discussed.  She stated that the purpose of these policies is to allow as much free access as we can without infringing on anyone’s First Amendment rights.

1.                  Brenda discussed the Material Selection Policy.  A library’s collection policy serves as the backbone of library services.  Determining what to add to the collection, what to retain in the collection, and what to discard from the collection is one of the major responsibilities with which the staff is charged.  A selection policy serves as the blueprint from which the staff makes decisions.  The Library’s Mission Statement appears at the beginning of this policy.  The policy points out that the library director has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the needs of the entire community will be considered in collection development decisions. 

a.       The Board read and discussed the Mission Statement.  Lark made the motion to approve this and Linda seconded her motion.  The unanimous vote by the board approved the Mission Statement.

b.      We then discussed the Material Selection Policy.  The new policy incorporates items from the old policy that was approved in 1993.  It also included information Brenda gathered from various books and the PLA standards.  Brenda has to send in the new Material Selection Policy with her Annual State report.  A copy of the Library Bill of Rights and The Freedom to Read Statement, available on the ALA.org website, were included in the Materials Selection Policy.  

                 c.   After discussion, Jack made the motion to approve the policy and Linda                         .                      seconded it.  The Board unanimously approved the policy.

2.                  The next policy for consideration was the Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials Policy.  Comments and suggestions regarding the continued appropriateness of materials in the collection are always welcome.  This policy is to be used if a patron feels that a particular selection is inappropriate for the library.  Once the patron has completed the Request for Reconsideration Form, the Request for Reconsideration of Materials Policy is enacted.  This policy informs patrons of the procedures Brenda and other library associates will follow when a request of this nature is brought to their attention.

3.                  In turn, a Deselection of Materials Policy is needed.  This policy indicates that the library director uses certain criteria for removing old or out dated material from the shelves.

a.       After discussion, Lark made the motion to vote on these 2 policies.  Jack seconded that motion.  The Board voted unanimously to approve these policies.

4.                  The Gift Policy pertains to items that are given to the library, including books, audio recordings, videos and similar materials, as well as monetary gifts, bequests, and memorial or honorary contributions.  Any books or other reading material follows the guidelines of the Deselection and Material Selection policies mentioned above.  Donations of equipment, real estate, stock, artifacts, works of art, collections, etc., will be determined by the library board based on their suitability to the purposes and needs of the library, laws and regulations governing the gift, and the library’s ability to cover insurance and maintenance costs associated with the donation.  The Board voted to approve this policy.

5.                  Several policies have been created or updated to coincide with the currently posted behavior signs that appear around the library.

a.       The Library Behavior Policy simply informs the patrons that the staff has the right to ask disruptive patrons to leave.  If the disruptive patron is a child, other guidelines will be followed.  It also states how library equipment is to be handled.

b.      The Harassment and Lewd Behavior Policy further states that the library has the right to ask a patron to leave if the patron is harassing other patrons or acting inappropriately.

c.       The Unattended Children Policy has been changed to accommodate different age groups.  The change states that children under the age of 10 years must be accompanied by an individual of 16 years or older.  The old policy had the age of the accompanied individual at 7 years of age.

d.      The Theft of Materials Policy simply states that the staff has the right to randomly check patrons for uncharged materials.  If the staff believes that theft was the intent, the police will be notified.

e.       Jack made the motion to approve these policies and Linda seconded his motion.  The Board voted unanimously to approve these policies.

6.                  In October meeting, we passed a Circulation policy.  Brenda would like to make a change to this policy.  She wants to expand the first paragraph to include that if a patron requesting a library card is from another Texas county, the patron must have a TexShare card from their home library.  A photo identification and proof of current address are still required.  After discussion, the Board approved the change to this policy.

7.                  The Library Marquee Policy states that the marquee is to be used for library purposes only.  City sponsored events will be considered on request with precedence always lying in the needs of library programs.  Barbara made the motion to approve and Lark seconded the motion.  The Board approved the policy by unanimous vote.

8.                  In the October meeting, Brenda discussed the need for a Disaster Plan.  We reviewed and discussed its need.  Jack made the motion to approve and Barbara seconded.  The Board voted unanimously to approve the plan.

9.                  On a new topic, Brenda would like to reduce the number of Board members down from 9.  It is very difficult to get a quorum of 5 out of 9.  We came to the agreement that 5 Board members would be sufficient and only a quorum of 3 is needed to make policy and advisory changes.  She will present this to the city for approval.  Lark made the motion to approve and Kim seconded.  The Board made a unanimous vote to approve the change.

10.              At the next meeting we will discuss several more policies and Library Advisory Board by-laws.

Adjournment

The motion to adjourn was made by Jack and seconded by Linda.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:04 pm.  The next meeting is scheduled for April 1, 2004 at 6:30 pm.