Town of Springfield
Library Board of Trustees
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
1. The meeting was called to order at 6:32PM.
Present: Josephine Hingston, Sandra Richardson, Amy Howlett
(director), Herb Jamison, Matthew
Pincus, Sara Druen, Richard Cofrancesco, Barbara Ball.
2. Additions/ subtractions to
the Agenda
Sandy mentioned a complaint/concern she received from a taxpayer
regarding the fact that Christmas was on a Monday and the library was closed
from Friday through Tuesday. Different Board members felt this amount of time
was excessive and difficult for community members wanting to use the library
during the holiday week.
Amy explained that
days off are negotiated by the union and union negotiations for 2018 just
recently took place. Most likely nothing can be done about this issue until the
next Union negotiations. Amy will take the board's feedback back to staff.
Herb had a request
that the library's Closed sign should be larger and more visible from the road.
Amy will look into getting a “Sorry, We're Closed” sign. Also it was mentioned
that the book return box and the tree block an easy view of the front door from
the street. One suggestion was to get an Open flag?
3. Public comments N/A
4. Review and approve minutes
from the November meeting
Motion to pass the
November minutes as written. (Sara motioned, Sandy seconded.)
5. FOSTL liaison report:
Amy gave the FOSTL liaison report. (See Director's
Report.)
The FOSTL annual
meeting will be April 4th at the Congregational Church with Archer Mayor
reading.
It was mentioned at
the FOSTL meeting that the Friends would like more Trustee involvement. Unsure
if this means Board members paying for a $15 membership or actually attending
Friends meetings.
FOSTL is
investigating doing a Kentucky Derby fundraiser similar to that done by LPCTV
in Ludlow. (Discussion that Springfield doing a similar fundraiser shouldn't
affect Ludlow's event since these communities don't have much overlap.)
Businesses and individuals can “buy” one of 60 horses, then attendees can watch
the Derby, spend fake money, drink mint juleps, etc. The estimate is that FOSTL
could make $4,000-$5,000 on this fundraiser. Michele Stinson is working with
the Friends on this.
The Phoenix book sale
went well in December. Maybe 80 people attended and the bookstore made over
$400. A percentage of this will go to the Friends.
6. Director’s report, updates,
strategic planning
Michelle Stinson's
hours did not increase to full-time. Amy
and Michelle discussed the schedule before the budget was submitted and
Michelle elected to stay at 35 hours weekly, using comp time for extra required
hours.
Amy clarified that
the Family Room in the Promise Community grant will be a private, bookable
space. Supervised visitation can happen there. It can also be used for Skyping,
proctoring a test, group study, etc. When it's not reserved, it will be open
with the blinds up.
7.Trustee Seats Open,
Candidate Review and Deadline
We know of 4 possible
candidates for the two open seats: Jen Dechen, TJ Whipple, Marjorie Reurink,
and Sherry Hatt. Candidates need to go to the Town Clerk to pick up a petition
and collect 30 signatures from registered Springfield voters before January 29th
so they can be on the ballot in March.
8. Strategic
planning: Revisit Mission, Vision and Values
We'll table this
discussion until next month.
9. Policy review: Internet Filtering and User Age, Collection
Development
Discussion regarding the Policy on Public Access to Computers.
Comments include:
- We are not NCIPA
compliant and computers are not filtered. The paragraph starting with “In
compliance with the Children's… can be deleted.
- Josey mentioned that she appreciated signage
the Killington Library used by their public access computers regarding being
nonfiltered.
Amy will check with
the Killington Library to find out exactly what the signs say. She can also
check with the Hanover Library around this topic.
Registration for
Child or Student under 16
Discussion included
the following points:
- Patrons sixteen and
over register using the adult form. So if you're under 16, you are a
child/student. If you are 16 or older, the library expects the patron to be
responsible for their own fines. But if someone is between 16 and 18, are
they actually responsible for their fines or are their parents responsible?
Should parent signatures be required until age 18?
- Amy mentioned that
the privacy laws come into play once a child turns 16. If a parent of a child
who is under 16 asks library staff what their child has checked out, staff can
tell them. Once an individual turns 16, their privacy is protected.
- If children come to
the library unaccompanied by adults, the library can check and see if their
parents allow the child to use the Internet unaccompanied. Otherwise, the child
is unable to use the computer without parental presence.
- Discussion that
computer users have to agree to the library policy before using the Internet.
The policy doesn't come up on the kids' computers.
- Amy mentioned that
she wants computer use rolled into on-line borrower records and to get rid of
paper files.
- Amy said the ALA
mandates that information should not be kept from anyone regardless of age., We
will revisit the internet policy.
Collection
Development: Amy recommends we keep the same policy but add language regarding
on-line resources and being a member of Catamount, the Vermont network and US
network.
10. Preparation for
Director Evaluation
Last year, the
procedure was that the evaluation document went out to all trustees and a
member collated and presented the results. Josey will follow up on this.
11. Executive session
if needed. N/A
12. Next meeting date
and adjournment: Tuesday, February 13th, 6:30PM
Motion to adjourn
passed (Sara motioned, Matthew second.) 7:55pm.
