WHATCOM COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM
LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES
Central Services Building, 5205 Northwest Drive. Bellingham, 98226
March 21, 2006
(Note: “Library” refers to the Whatcom County Library System.)

Anyone requiring these minutes in an alternate format, such as large type, Braille or an audiotape, please contact the Library at 384-3150.

Call To Order: The meeting was called to order at 9:05 a.m. A quorum was determined.

Present: Board: Amory Peck, Nina Cox, Janet Boyhan, Donna-Lee Elke
Absent: Jan Hunter
Director: Joan Airoldi
Staff: Robin Barker, Sally Crouse
Guests: Tracy Harpine (Library School Student) arrived during the break

Public Comment: Sally Crouse was invited to share information she gleaned from a minute taking techniques seminar she recently attended. She outlined five suggestions from the seminar she felt were most applicable to WCLS in a written report and expressed her appreciation to the Library for making it possible for her to take the seminar.

The response to the suggestions was very positive. Several Board Members were interested in making use of the Action Assignments Sheet, and there was general agreement that the Agenda Item Cover Sheet would help them organize their thoughts.

There was a discussion about the pros and cons of recording the meetings both in terms of the technical aspects of producing the recording and the practicality of making use of the recording. There was general consensus among the Trustees that the minutes are complete and accurate enough using our current method. Ms. Crouse uses a laptop for taking her notes, and Ms. Barker suggested the possibility of using it to digitally record the meeting.

By consensus, permission was given to record the meeting if it would be helpful to the minute-taker. Ms. Barker and Ms. Crouse may investigate the possibility of recording the meeting digitally using the laptop.

Ms. Crouse pointed out to the Board that WCLS has a Policy on Addressing the Library Board of Trustees. Copies of the policy were made available. Ms. Airoldi requested that the Policy Review Committee update this policy.

Minutes:

February 21, 2006 Regular Board Meeting The minutes of the February 21, 2006 Regular Board Meeting were reviewed.

It was moved by Ms. Cox to approve the minutes of the February Board Meeting. Seconded, carried.
Financial Report and Resolutions:
a. Expenditures: Ms. Airoldi presented the financial report:

February 2006 payroll: $239,025.77 plus a second payroll $685.30.
February 2006 second set of claims: $33,987.77.
March 2006 first set of claims: $167,895.49.

Ms. Cox moved to approve the expenditures and accept the financial report. Seconded, carried.

Financial Report and Resolutions:
b. Resolutions: Ms. Airoldi presented the following resolution:

3/21/06-06 In the Matter of a Request for Paycheck Correction Form

Ms. Airoldi explained that an employee did not get his paycheck through no fault of his own.

Ms. Cox moved to accept resolution 6. Seconded, carried.

Financial Report and Resolutions:
c. Budget report Ms. Airoldi handed out a new Budget report prepared by Mr. Lazenby and asked for comments. In general, the Trustees felt this report was a big improvement. There was a lot of discussion about the various columns and information presented on the report. Ms. Airoldi promised to deliver the Trustees’ suggestions to Mr. Lazenby on how to make the new report more clear.

Recommendations from Planning Steering Committee:
a. Language change in mission statement Ms. Elke advised the Board on the recent activity of the Planning Steering Committee. After careful consideration of the WCLS Mission Statement, the Committee recommends one change at this time: change the word “safe” to the word “open.”

As a representative of the Planning Steering Committee, Ms. Elke voiced the committee’s motion to change the WCLS mission statement to read:
In partnership with our communities, WCLS brings the joy of reading and the world of ideas to every resident in an open and enriching environment.
The motion was seconded and carried.

Recommendations from Planning Steering Committee:
b. Authorization to research facilitator/costs for the planning process Ms. Airoldi briefed the Board on her meeting with Pamela Jull, the consultant with whom WCLS had previously contracted to gather information during the long range planning process.

Ms. Airoldi went over a Survey Cost Estimates prepared by Ms. Jull. Because it has not been done for some time, the recommendation is to have both a patron survey and a community survey. There are a lot of choices to be made that affect the final price, but the grand total range of the two surveys together is $12,967 to $15,300.

Ms. Peck commented that the results of the survey would produce helpful information for the new Community Relations person.

Ms. Barker requested that the Board consider the timing of any survey that is taken and suggested it be done mid-way through the planning process. She expressed the opinion that the planning process needs to progress part way before the questions can intelligently be written.

Ms. Elke assured Ms. Barker that it would take at least a couple of months of work before the question writing begins. She also reminded the group that a strategic planning model rather than a long range planning model is being planned.

There was some discussion regarding the question writing process, including the idea of soliciting input from staff and the idea of including an open-ended essay question at the end of the survey.

As a means of funding the survey, Ms. Airoldi recommended using some of the money that had been allocated for the VOIP phone project that was abandoned at the February Board meeting.

Ms. Airoldi provided policy language that requires that professional services costing over $10,000 be authorized by the Board ahead of time.

Moved by Ms. Elke to contract with Dr. Pamela Jull for professional services for survey costs not to exceed $15,300. Seconded, carried.

Ms. Airoldi agreed to contact Dr. Jull.

Authorization to Purchase Carpet Squares for Central Services Building: While Mr. Lazenby was unable to attend this month’s Board Meeting, he did provide written materials regarding the carpeting proposal for Central Services.

Ms. Cox expressed her opinion that since this expenditure is a budgeted item there is no need to vote on it.

Several of the Trustees expressed their appreciation for the choice of a carpet that would have minimal impact on the staff because of the low emissions rating.

The consensus of the Board was that there was no need for further Board action on this item. The carpet project can go ahead as budgeted.

Draft contract with WCLS Branch Building Owners: Ms. Airoldi presented the draft of the standardized contract between Branch Building Owners and WCLS compiled by Mr. Lazenby. This contract has been reviewed by the WCLS attorney. While it is somewhat formal, it makes all the important details and relationships clear. This contract is to be used when the building is owned by a city. If the building is owned by a Friends group, the contract may be slightly different.

The contract draft was presented to the Board today for their information. It was decided at the January 17, 2006 Board Meeting that the Director may sign the building contracts and provide copies to the Board members.

Draft contract with the Whatcom County Library Foundation: Ms. Airoldi introduced the draft of the contract between the Library System and the Library Foundation which has now been reviewed and approved by Attorney Deborra Garrett.

It was moved by Ms. Cox to approve the agreement for assistance between WCLS and the Whatcom County Library Foundation. Seconded, carried.

Ms. Peck suggested there should be a celebration of some kind when the agreement has been finalized.

The Board took a 10 minute break at 10:20 a.m.

BPL Meeting and Statistics Report: Ms. Airoldi briefed the Trustees on a meeting held at Central Services that included Robin Barker, Sig Brorson, Geoff Fitzpatrick and herself with BPL Director Pam Kiesner as well as her staff, Madeline Sheplor and Iris Kaneshige. Their discussion included:
• BPL’s desire to be on the ballot in late 2006 or 2007 with a building bond measure
• Developing talking points on how the libraries are collaborating but not merging at this time
• Areas where the two libraries differ.

Ms. Airoldi directed the Trustees’ attention to a statistics report entitled Exchange of Materials and Borrowers Between BPL & WCLS, 2005. The report reveals some of the following details as gathered and explained by Ms. Barker.

The total collection including both libraries has 67.2% unique titles which produces a very broad collection serving a variety of people and interests in our county. Also, borrowing between the two systems has almost completely evened out (WCLS borrows from BPL the same amount that BPL borrow from WCLS). However, the trend is now that WCLS is starting to lend more to BPL than vice versa which was the case for years.
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It is important to note that 5.8% of WCLS walk-in borrowers are Bellingham residents whereas 19% of BPL walk-in borrowers are county residents, which is why we pay the annual fee paid to BPL.

The BPL materials budget is much smaller than the WCLS materials budget. BPL does not buy feature films and stopped buying books on tape when they started buying books on CD. This affects holds on WCLS materials in those categories.

BPL is hiring a new manager for information services and that person will have oversight of their collections. When this person is hired, some of the policies may change.

The Trustees stated that they would like to receive the Exchange of Materials and Borrowers between BPL & WCLS Report quarterly.

Bstat Report: Ms. Barker detailed the purpose of the use of the bstat codes in the Horizon system: “Bstat” stands for Borrower Statistics. They allow attachment of statistical category codes to patrons such as adult, juvenile, male, female, and location.

The location bstat helps determine the service area of each library. The libraries formerly used the telephone prefix to choose the location bstat, but with so many cell phones and other telecommunications changes this doesn’t work anymore.

In order to make the bstats highly useful for a new purpose, staff decided to link the bstat areas with census areas so they can be used for gathering data for grant applications and other statistical studies.

After viewing several maps, the Trustees commented on how fascinating and productive it will be for the libraries to have this information and expressed their thanks to Ms. Barker for her efforts.

Committee Reports: Policy: Ms. Cox and Ms. Peck announced that they plan to meet in April to look at the policy on visitors addressing the Library Board of Trustees.

Facilities: Ms. Cox reported that the Facilities committee has a meeting set for April 4th. Ms. Brorson and Mr. Lazenby are co-chairing a committee developing a Facilities Plan.

Personnel: Ms. Boyhan informed the Board that it is time to do the annual evaluation of the Director. The Personnel committee is recommending the process be revised this year. They want to retire the document that was used in the past and, instead, use a new process of verbal communication. They are suggesting the staff be included by letting them say what they want rather than answer specific questions.

Ms. Elke presented a written timeline for accomplishing the review and asked if it is realistic. Ms. Peck expressed her opinion that the salary discussion and vote should be held at the April 18 Board Meeting. There was general agreement to this suggestion.

When asked by Ms. Elke if everyone is agreeable to the less formal type of review, Ms. Peck requested that there still be a formal written report so something can be placed in Ms. Airoldi’s personnel file.

Library News: Ms. Airoldi reported that the NorthFork group is working on a fact sheet to help communicate the issues within the region via a mailing. They are also researching cost saving measures on the regional location site and working with the Mt. Baker School District. Petitions within the community are being circulated about site preference.

Ms. Airoldi also reported that the Deming Friends will be getting $83,000 from the State of Washington for their building project.

2006 Legislative Session Results:
The good news is that the digitization of state records will now be coordinated through the State Library. Washington State Librarian, Jan Walsh, is credited with working to promote the coordination of this work for future generations.

The levy lid lift change that would have benefited libraries failed. It will probably be brought before the legislature again next year.

Director’s Report: Ms. Airoldi presented her Director’s Report. Topics included:
1. Lots of training going on around WCLS. It is one of Ms. Airoldi’s ongoing passions for the Library to invest in its people.
2. Ms. Airoldi is running for secretary of the Intellectual Freedom Roundtable of the ALA.

Announcements & Bouquets: Due to planned vacations, the Board decided to change the September Board Meeting date to Wednesday, September 27th in order to ensure a quorum. The meeting will still take place at the usual 9:00 a.m. and will be held at Central Services.

Ms. Elke wished to commend the branch library staff for their assistance on her use of the internet. She explained she now does all her emailing and computer work at the library and has found it to be a very positive experience and the staff extremely helpful.

Ms. Peck commented that she has enjoyed watching how the self-checkout works at BPL. By enabling borrowers to checkout their own materials, library staff are freed-up to help people with other types of problems.

Ms. Barker made an impromptu report on the status of our own self-check project. She is working with Horizon on the software upgrade that is not working properly. It will take several months to roll out the machines in all the branches.

The Board Members affirmed between themselves a tentative date for an executive session for the Director’s Review on Tuesday, April 11th at 9:30 a.m. at Ms. Cox’s home. The Personnel committee will verify this date with Ms. Hunter.

April 18, 2006 Board Meeting The April 18th Board Meeting will begin at 9:00 a.m. at Central Services.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 12:05 a.m.