NORTHVILLE DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Regular Meeting Minutes
Thursday, November 18, 2004 – 7:30 p.m.
Northville District Library Carlo Meeting Room

1. Chairperson, Jean Hansen called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. .
1.1 Roll Call - Present: Trustees Jean Hansen, Anne Bright, Gail Barget, Barbara Glover, Alan Somershoe, Carolyn Blanchard, and Judy Sherman, Also present: Deborah Stanifer, President of the Friends of Northville District Library; Julie Herrin, Director; Anne Mannisto, Assistant Director; and Robert Sochacki, Trustee elect beginning 2005.
Absent: Judith Williams, Administrative Assistant
1.2 Approval of the Agenda. MOTION: Alan Somershoe moved to accept the agenda as amended. Barbara Glover seconded the motion. Motion passed.
1.3 Approval of the regular Meeting minutes for October 21, 2004. A discussion of the minutes from October 21 identified corrections that were required. MOTION: Barbara Glover moved to accept the October 21, 2004 minutes as corrected. Alan Somershoe seconded the motion. Motion carried.
1.4 Citizens’ Comments: None

2. Correspondence. None.

3. Friends Report: Deborah Stanifer, reported on the November 3 Friends-sponsored library program on the history of Northville, which had 26 attendees. She also reported that the Friends January Meeting will focus on strategic Planning for the Used Book Sales. Upcoming Friends programs include a performance by a Celtic Fiddler on February 22, 2005 and a Spring Gardening Program on Tuesday, April 19, 2005.

4. Director’s Report: Julie Herrin reported that the library’s circulation statistics showed a decrease of 1.7% over last month, while the door count indicated an increase in traffic. Remote access was also lower this past month, while internal computer use remains high. She indicated that wireless access was not available for about 4 days this month due to technical problems at TLN.
Youth Programming: There were 15 Storytime programs this month. 48 children participated in the Thanksgiving Craft program and 84 children attended the Music Lady Program. In addition, there were 3 special behind-the-scenes tours this month.
Adult Programming: There were 5 Outreach visits with 74 participants. The Ghost Hunters program had an attendance of 90. There were 2 Internet Classes this month using the portable classroom. There were also 2 programs from the DIA, presenting the Photography of American Modernist, Charles Scheeler, whose work is featured in a special exhibit at the DIA; attendance at the eveing program was 10, with 3 at the afternoon program. 27 researchers requested 70 documents from the Local History collection.
Staff: Julie reported that Sarah Hatter, part-time Adult Services Librarian, has submitted her resignation. She has accepted a full-time position at the Milford Library, where she has also been working part-time. The library is also losing one of the computer pages, Pallavi Patwarhan, who has accepted a position in her field and is moving to Kalamazoo. Julie noted that she and Anne Mannisto attended the MLA Annual Meeting in Northern Michigan in late October.
Public Relations: Anne Mannisto will be preparing the Winter Newsletter that will be sent out in January. The Genealogical Society as well as the Senior Center are now using the Wireless classroom. Editing of the Customer Service Brochure is continuing and the Customer Satisfaction Survey by WJSchroer has begun.
Technology: Julie reported that a new firewall has been installed, which splits the private and public networks to improve security of the network. Michael is also installing a new computer to be able to upgrade the library’s accounting software and the Employee-Door Key software.
Collections: Julie announced that the library has acquired a collection of Northville related Sanborn maps covering August 1893, December 1899, October 1890, August 1914 and November 1942. The Sanborn maps were developed for fire insurance purposes, and are valuable historical tools for charting the changes in the physical layout of a town or neighborhood.

5. Budget and Finance Review: Anne Bright
5.1 Bills Payable: MOTION: Anne Bright made a motion for approval of payment for the expenses of the Northville District Library Bills List over $1,000 dated November 18, 2004, as presented to the Board. Carolyn Blanchard seconded the motion. Motion Passed
5.2 Financial Reports: Anne Bright presented the Financial Reports for October for review. She noted revenue is slightly about the anticipated budget amount and that library expenses are on target for the year.

6. Committee Reports:
6.1 MOTION: Judy Sherman presented the second reading of the revision to the Policy on Internet Access and made a motion to accept the revised Policy as presented. Alan Somershoe seconded the motion. Motion passed. The revised Policy on Internet Access is adopted as of November 18, 2004.
6.2 Judy Sherman presented the Board of Trustees By-Laws for a second reading. MOTION: Judy Sherman made the motion to adopt the revisions to the By-Laws as presented. Carolyn Blanchard seconded the motion. Motion passed. Revised By-Laws adopted as of November 18, 2004.
6.3 Judy Sherman presented the Library Policy on Appeals to the Board of Trustees, which was adopted in 1999 and has not been reviewed since then. Motion: Judy Sherman moved that this policy be reaffirmed. Alan Somershoe seconded the Motion. Motion Passed
6.4 MOTION: Judy Sherman presented the Policy on Citizen Comments for reaffirmation with one minor punctuation change. Carolyn Blanchard seconded the Motion. Motion passed. The Board of Trustees decided that a copy of the Citizen Comment Policy be brought to all Regular Board Meetings and that an official sign-in sheet be present to confirm the names and correct spelling of any visitors to the Board of Trustees Meetings.

6.5 Alan Somershoe reported on the Customer Satisfaction Survey being conducted by WJSchroer; it was started on Nov. 8 and is proceeding well, with about 50% of the calls completed. The Board wants the final presentation of the Survey results to be presented to a joint meeting of Staff Members and Board Members. It was suggested that this be scheduled for sometime in January.

6.6 Alan Somershoe reported that the Facilities Committee has not yet acted, though they have received 4 proposals regarding ways to improve the system to reduce service calls. Judith contacted Duce Simmons, who will review the information supplied by Longs and 3 other HVAC contractors. Patrick Calhoun, with Duce Simmons has suggested that a Mechanical Engineer review the information.
6.7 Barbara Glover reported that the Development Committee had mailed the annual solicitation letter for this year earlier this month. She reported that 5 gifts have been received from before the mailing was sent out. The Mural is getting lots of interest; however, additional names won’t be added until January.

7. Other Business: Julie distributed a lost of Library Accomplishments for 2004 to the members of the Board of Trustees in preparation for her performance evaluation in December. The PR Committee will be meeting to go over the proposed draft of the Customer Service Brochure on Dec. 7 at 3 p.m. The annual Staff Holiday Luncheon will be held in the Meeting Room on Tues. Dec. 14, starting at noon. Gail Barget will be handling this event again, with assistance from Carolyn Blanchard in doing the staff invitations. At the suggestion of our IBEX respresentative, the library will be getting a Benefits Consultant to meet with them. It was suggested that both Finance and Personnel Committee members be present at this meeting, as well as anyone on the staff who would like to attend.

8. Announcements and Comments: The next Board meeting will be held in the Carlo Meeting Room of the Northville District Library at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 16, 2004. .

MOTION: Alan Somershoe made a motion to adjourn the Board meeting at 9:33 p.m. Anne Bright seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Respectfully Submitted

Alan Somershoe
jw: 11/24/04