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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLIB 2011-03-17 Minutes MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY BOARD OF THE CITY OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS HELD IN THE LIBRARY BOARD ROOM LOCATED AT 9015 GRAND AVENUE MARCH 17, 2011 Present: David Nelson Chair Mary Shilcutt Vice -Chair Avis Crisp Board Member Kay Schmidt Board Member Jerry Sorenson Board Member Absent: Mike Madar Board Member Don Tipps Board Member Kathy Antropik Alternate Staff Present: Steve Brown Library Director Kelly Preston Administrative Secretary CALL TO ORDER Chair David Nelson called the meeting to order March 17, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of the January 20, 2011 meeting were approved as written. LIBRARY DIRECTOR'S REPORT The events and programs calendar is now available on the Library's webpage. Two new attendees participated in the Writer's Block program within the first week the calendar was made available online. Patrons can email and add Library events to their calendars. New eBooks provided by Overdrive will be available in May. The contractor finished construction on the new SCORE office. Circulation numbers were down about 5% in the month of February. The Library remained open during the four day period of icy weather conditions. The number of visitors to the Library during this time was down. The number of reference questions was up and 577 new library cards were issued in February. Installation of the Vocera communications system is nearly completed. Wiring issues are being resolved at this time. The City opened a Request for Proposal for vendors to take over the Cup & Chaucer Cafe. In February, the Library was awarded the 2010 Achievement of Excellence in Libraries Award from the Texas Municipal Library Directors Association. Of more than 500 public libraries in the state of Texas, only 27 have received the award. STATE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Steve Brown updated the Board on Legislative Day in Austin. Under Senate Bill 773, the Zaffirini Bill, all schools, libraries, and non - profit hospitals in Texas are eligible for telecommunications discounts. Discounts are set at either 5% or 10% above the actual cost of providing the service. If the Bill is not extended, the discounts will expire January 1, 2012. The first draft of House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1 eliminated all state funding for Tex -Share databases, Loan Star Libraries Grant, interlibrary loans, library systems, career services and more. The House Appropriations Committee put several million dollars back into the budget for Tex -Share databases after hearing testimonies. DISCUSSION OF BUDGET PRIORITIES FOR FY 2011 -2012 Steve Brown gave a presentation on the proposed budget for FY 2011 -2012. The Library's target number to reach is about $27,000 or 1.5% below the current year's budget. Most of the difference will come out of the book budget. Steve proposed using donations funds to make up the difference in the book budget. NEXT MEETING DATE The next meeting will be held on April 21, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Mary Shil tt, Vice Chair ATTEST: l Kelly Preston, Administrative Secretary