BM 2009 02-12 LB
WILLIAM T. COZBY PUBLIC LIBRARY
February 12, 2009
The February 12, 2009 Library Board meeting was not held due to the lack of a quorum.
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MEMORANDUM
TO:
Library Board
FROM:
Kathleen P. Metz Edwards, Library Director
DATE:
February 3, 2009
SUBJECT:
February’s Report for Library Board
Library Board will meet on Thursday, February 12, 2009 in the Library Board Room at
7:00pm.
Workload Indicators:
January continues the trend seen since the start of the school year and
the opening of the New Tech High School and the Coppell North Lake campus. Circulation
increased 5% and book circulation 9%. WiFi increased 62%. The two weather days negatively
effected gate count with 523 less visits. Program attendance, internet use and other indicators
were also negatively impacted. In January 2008 we hosted a large children’s program that we
will host in February – this accounts for a major portion of the attendance change. The highest
number of interlibrary loan requests (383) were submitted in January. Two hundred fifty seven
requests were filled, also record.
3M came out to check the gate counter. The last two reports documented a concern and we have
started seeing error codes. We had a similar discussion with 3M more than five years ago. 3M
maintains the problem is the same – the power surges that cause us routine issues. We moved
the key servers to Town Center several years ago because of this issue. The security gates are
electromagnetic and can be impacted by power. The main power trunk comes into the library
through the lobby then splits under the security gates. A trunk runs west to the small mechanical
room and a second runs east to the large mechanical room. The air handler pulls power from this
trunk and is controlled by two high powered variable frequency drives. 3M has focused on this
in the past. We continue to monitor the gates. It could be that the problem will not be solved
until we move to RFID which uses radio frequency technology. 3M has been ambiguous on the
question – will RFID solve the problem? RFID is a larger discussion to have at a later time.
Weather Related issue:
The library remained open Tuesday, January 20, 2009 till 9:00pm. We
opened Wednesday at 10:30am, a half-hour delay, as the City allowed staff a 10:00am arrival.
Since this delay was not decided until 5:00am, I was outside at 10:00am to make sure that no one
was waiting to get in. The roads were very icy and there was no one in the parking lot. Just after
10:00am, an eleven year-old boy walked over from the YMCA where his mother left him earlier.
It was very cold. I let the child into the heated lobby where he sat until we opened. I wrote a
letter to the boy’s mother and clearly told her that her decision was unacceptable. She needed to
make alternate arrangements for her child when school was cancelled.
2008 Texas Public Library Survey:
Jennifer Johnson will need to sign the Texas State Library
and Archives Commission annual report. This report contains compiled statistics the Board
received in FY 07/08. It also reports the audited City funding of the library.
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Library Board Chair’s Report to Council
: The Library Board Chair’s report to council is
scheduled for February 24, 2009. An agenda item will be placed on the February 12, 2009
agenda to allow for discussion of input.
Joint Council Work Session with Library and Park’s Boards:
A joint work session with the
City Council and the Library and Park’s Boards will be held on Monday, April 6, 2009 in the
Library Program Room. This item will be placed on the Board’s February Agenda for
discussion. The regular meeting of the library board is scheduled for Thursday, April 9, 2009. If
you would rather the Board meet as a unit after the work session, a special meeting of the Board
can be called for April 6, 2009. The regular April 9, 2009 meeting would then be cancelled
avoiding the need for you to attend 2 meetings the same week. Please bring your calendars to
the February 12, 2009 meeting so that we can discuss and consider a meeting date change.
Publicizing Library Resources
: The Board requested this item be added to the February
agenda following eBranch discussion in the January Board meeting.
Texas Library Association – needs of Texas Libraries
: Vicki Chiavetta-Reinert will brief the
Board on the Association’s priorities for the next Legislative Biennium.
501 C3 Foundation:
The Foundation will be placed on the February agenda. Stephen Smith
had asked me to contact the former board member who worked on the foundation to clarify some
questions. I have not heard back from him. Given the questions and the three year gap, I
recommend the Board consider moving forward on the IRS application starting from the
beginning. I have the key documents in MS Word format.
Suggestions relating to the acquisition of new books, movies
Comments and Suggestions:
and periodicals are given to Public Services staff for evaluation and follow-up.
Appropriate items are ordered or interlibrary loan is offered for those not appropriate for
the collection.
01-26-09 – We love the library Elf subscription service! Please keep it. The whole family can
keep track of everything. We’d be lost without it. inspectigator@. Vicki Chiavetta-Reinert’s
response: “Thank you for sharing your comment with us about LibraryElf. We've had a link to it
on our website for a while now. At this time, the Coppell library does not plan to subscribe to it.
However, we are planning an upgrade to our catalog system in February that will allow us to
send out pre-overdue emails to customers in addition to our current holds alert and overdue
notice emails. If you are not signed up with us to receive email notifications and would like to
be, please call or come to the library's Accounts desk and staff can update your account.
We appreciate hearing from our patrons!”
01-29-09 - More adult dance classes! But not on Wednesday or Thursday evening. This was an
anonymous suggestion. We offered this class for the holidays. It was a fun adult event. We will
consider this suggestion for the future, but we will not be offering classes on a recurring basis.
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