Mae S. Bruce Library

Library Advisory Board Meeting

Minutes of July 7, 2005 Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 1:04 pm. The following board members were present: 

Library Director Brenda B. Cheatham was also present. 

The minutes of the April meeting were read.  The motion to accept these minutes was made by Jack and seconded by Barbara.  All members approved the minutes. 

Member’s Report

1. The July Book Sale has been postponed due to lack of book donations.  The new date has been set for September 23^rd and 24^th.  Jack will talk with the HIS Ministry volunteers regarding some of the books that they no longer need.  We will continue to accept books at the library.
2. Kim brought up the need for some type of signage that will promote book sales and the need for book donations.  She will get some pricing information regarding these types of signs.  Jack has some plastic elections signs that we could paint and use instead of purchasing.  We will try making our own signs and see how they work.  Jack will drop off his plastic signs at the library.  Kim will start painting them.
3. All the letters have been mailed to our County Commissioners thanking them for their support of the library.
4. The Post articles are going great.  Our last article has not appeared in the paper yet.  Linda has already drafted another article and emailed to everyone for review.  This article will be sent to the post in another week or two.

Director’s Report

Brenda discussed the following items

1.      The fire alarm panel has been installed and tested.  New smoke detectors, strobe light alarms, and pull handles are in all rooms including the restrooms and foyer.

2.      The grant money has come in and is being put to use.  The Tocker grant funded the purchase new computers that will be up and running by the end of July.  The Texas Book Festival grant was used to purchase some Audio books.  The staff is still working on the remaining Audio book orders.  Jennifer is compiling a list of children’s books to purchase with the J. Frank Dobie award money.  She will begin order after the Summer Reading Program and the start of school.  The HALS grant has not been awarded yet although Brenda feels confident that the library will receive this award as well.  Once awarded, the money will be used to purchase a new server that will replace the temporary server that is currently being used.

3.      DeAnna and Brenda will apply for another Tocker grant in January for the purchase of additional computers.

4.      Brenda received an email from the Rosenberg Library regarding budget hearings for county libraries.  The final vote on the budget will take place in August.  Now is a good time to send correspondence to the county commissioners.

5.      Brenda’s department budget has been submitted to the city manager.  These budgets will be approved in August and go in affect October 1^st.  One item she included in the budget is an additional part-time staff position to coordinate adult services.

6.      Brenda has encouraged the library board to attend as many city council meetings as possible.  We decided not to assign members to specific dates.  All of us will try to be at the meetings when we can.  The city council meets the 2^nd Thursday of every month at 7pm.

7.      Kim Holliday has agreed to stay on as the HALS representative for the Mae S. Bruce Library.

New Business

1.      The Nominating Committee that consisted of Lark and Jack has put together a new slate of officers.  The slate is as follows

Chair person                       Kim Holliday

Co-chair person                 Linda Coyle

Secretary/Treasurer            Lark Tedesco

Barbara made the motion to accept the new slate of officers and Jack seconded that motion.  The vote to approve was unanimous.

2.      The following committees were assigned.

Nominating Committee                   Barbara and Jack

Public Relations                              Linda and Kim

Planning Committee                        Lark and Kim

3.      The LAB By-laws were discussed.  We did not feel that any changes needed to be made at this time.

4.      Kim will begin preparing the Annual Report. 

Treasury Report

The bank has reimbursed our account for the previous maintenance fees that were incorrectly charged.

Reimbursements                                   28.80

Purchase of Checks                              14.95

Ending Balance                                     468.55

Adjournment

The motion to adjourn was made by Jack and seconded by Barbara.  The meeting was adjourned at 2:15pm.  The next meeting is scheduled for October 6, 2005 at 1 pm.