Springfield
Town Library
Board of
Trustees
Springfield,
Vermont
October 12, 2015 Minutes
In
Attendance: Russ Moore (Director), Kerstin
Burlingame, Vice-Chair; Kevin Coen, Steve Matush, Matthew Pincus, Sandra
Richardson. Absent: Pat Magrosky and Josie Hingston.
Meeting called to order at 6:31 by Kerstin
Public
Comments. One trustee came to see the Jack
Mayer adult program and thought it was wonderful. The library was open today because the town
does not celebrate Columbus Day. A
trustee noted that some patrons thought the library was closed today.
Minutes.
Acceptance of the September minutes was tabled until the November meeting.
Old
Business.
Children’s Library Assistant. The
Library Director and Children’s Librarian positions were discussed. There was no response to the Board’s letter
to the Town Manager asking for “clarification on options available” in regard
to the Children’s Librarian position.
Russ met with staff to come up with a plan of their own. It was decided that the “temporary”
Children’s Library Assistant be limited to a term of six months. The staff was concerned about getting someone
qualified to work for $11/hour. Russ and
the staff agreed to scale back hours (and duties) and raise the hourly rate to
$18 for ten hours each week. Staff, for
their part, are willing to take on additional duties such as extra desk
time. Pat Day (a former Technical
Services Librarian at the library (and current volunteer)is currently working 2
to 3 hours each week to catalogue new children’s books. The temporary Children’s Library Assistant
will be in charge of children’s programming and book selection. They will also need to schedule Discovery
Time and send out press releases. Russ
is currently writing a job description for this position that will serve as a
stop-gap until the next Children’s Librarian is hired. It is hoped that applicants will have
experience working with Children. Russ
will conduct the interviews and hopes to interview candidates in November, have
a candidate hired before the December holidays, and begin work on January 4.
The full-time Children’s Librarian should be in place by July 2016. The hiring
process will be conducted by the next Library Director.
Library
Director. The Board also discussed the hiring
of the next Library Director. Russ will
begin advertising in mid-November 2015.
He suggests holding interviews between mid January and
mid-February. It would be ideal to have
a candidate hired by February 15. Russ
hopes to have the new Library Director begin work by March 21 so there are two
weeks of overlap with Russ as the Director. Russ will have a revised job
description available to the Trustees for the November meeting. His revised version will take the Trustees’
earlier feedback into consideration. Russ
will be advertising for the Director in Vermont, New Hampshire, New England,
with the American Library Association, and Library schools. One to two trustees will be on the interview
committee. It will have to be decided
with the Town Manager how to review applications and go through the interview
process.
Budget.
Russ has his proposed budget for the Fiscal Year 2017 complete. He made a modification to the “Regular Pay”
line to accommodate the likelihood
that the new Library Director and Children’s Librarian will have less
experience than the outgoing librarians, and thusly will be paid at a lower
rate.
The overall library budget is down
for the 2016-17 year by 1.69% ($8,389).
This is despite increases in Memberships (to parks and museums so patrons
can go at reduced rates) and Books. Russ
has seen fit to reduce the budget for Periodicals as there is a decrease in use
of print periodicals. Russ must submit his budget to the Town Manager by
November 2.
Capital
Improvement Plan. Russ is also required this year to
submit a capital improvement plan. This
plan is to cover the next five years to help the town plan for improvements in
a systemic and fiscally responsible fashion.
Library projects as part of the plan include upgrades to HVAC, lighting
design improvements, and insulation.
These three projects will greatly increase the efficiency of the
library.
Other projects as part of the plan
include upgrades to technology, security improvements, and repairs to the
building. Russ also hopes to add improvements
to the library network so the library can take advantage of VTel’s gigabit
internet. The older section of the library has a slate roof that needs to be
replaced.
Russ hopes to update the library to
a hybrid (wireless and wired) network so there is a grounded safety, but also
the ease of wireless. Part of the
improvements would require new computers.
Matt suggested hosting a class on how to build computers and have patrons
in the class build the next computers for the library. This would reduce the cost to the library.
The security system is currently on
hold because Russ received two estimates: one for $3,000 and one for
$10,000. The issue needs more
investigation to better understand the difference in cost and quality of the
two proposals. For this year’s budget,
only a motion-sensor lighting system is being added.
In the Flinn Room, there are
numerous issues. The plaster is peeling
away from the walls. The ceiling has
water stains from the leaking slate roof.
The carpet dates from the 1989 refurbishing of the room. Also of concern is the lack of lighting in
the room. Currently only one bulb in the
chandeliers works. HB came to
investigate and found that it is most likely that the wires have dried
out. HB said it would probably be more
cost effective to replace the chandeliers, but they fit the period of the room
(but aren’t original) and Russ thinks it might be worth doing the repair. HB is getting back to Russ with a repair
estimate this week.
FOSTL
Liaison Report. Sandra attended last week’s meeting. FOSTL is still restoring the Russell Porter
paintings at a cost of $1,200. FOSTL is
hosting its annual Open House on December 11 at the library. The Board of Trustees agreed that they would
supply a basket for the raffle. Trustees
will bring their ideas to the November meeting and should have their items
gathered by December 1. FOSTL also set
April 6 as the date for their Annual Meeting.
FOSTL welcomes ideas for a speaker.
Typically they spend up to $200 on the speaker. The FOSTL board was also concerned that a
$750 donation for books had not been spent yet.
Russ said he was in the process of ordering. Lastly Bunni announced that she would not be
running for FOSTL President. Char
Osterland, who was rumored to be interested, also stated she was not running
for the position.
Director’s
Report. There have been
many applicants for the open Library Page position. Russ is interviewing in the next two
weeks. Children’s and Adult programs are
off to a good start. The statewide
“Passport to Vermont Libraries” summer program that invited children and adults
to visit as many of the state libraries as possible had a winner in
Springfield. The young lady won in the
Young Adult category by visits to 59 Vermont libraries this summer. Russ is also preparing a shipment of books to
Better World Books. This is an attempt
to dispose of the remnants from the FOSTL Book Sale.
Russ has also scheduled maintenance
on the boiler. Apparently it hasn’t been
cleaned in a number of years despite a town-wide contract with a company that
provides for boiler maintenance. The Library Volunteer luncheon is coming up
next week. The Catamount Library Network (CLN) is hosting its annual meeting
soon. Russ’s term on the board and as
its president is ending. In light of his
retirement, he will not be running for another term. Currently the CLN has 12 member libraries
running the KOHA system with two others going live within six months. Given that there are a number of other
libraries interested in joining CLN, it is likely that they will soon have 20
members and the per-library cost of running KOHA will drop significantly.
Russ is attending the New England
Library Conference in Manchester, NH on October 25-27.
New
Business. It is necessary to get a new
secretary for library meetings. Usually
the trustees have about 10 meetings a year and each meeting pays $45. The secretary would be an employee of the
town so would not have to be a resident of Springfield. The board members will put out feelers to see
if anyone is interested in the position.
Next
Meeting. November 9, 2015 at 6:30
Meeting adjourned at 7:54.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kevin Coen
