Manager of Library Operations Meeting Minutes for May 2003

Date: May 21, 2003

Location: Capitol Hill

Present: Ann Aliotta, Karen Bays, Barbara Beasley, Rosemary Czarski, Denyvetta Davis, Priscilla Doss, Tim Fischer, Daphene Keys, Jack Kinzie, Mary Patton, Katrina Prince, Debra Spindle, Phil Tolbert, Judy Walden, Randy Wayland, Lisa Weissenbuehler, and Deborah Willis.
Guest: Janet Brooks, Scott Carter, Karen Marriott, Donna Morris, and Pauline Rodriguez

I.  Opening/Introduction

• Denyvetta called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. She introduced John Hanson, OUSLIS intern. John will work at Capitol Hill and Downtown.
• Denyvetta asked everyone to go over the April minutes and let her know if corrections need to be made.

II.  Budget & Misc. - Donna Morris

• Donna discussed the factors that are impacting the budget this year. She stated they are projecting about a 3% increase over last year’s budget. This is based on the assumption that revenue will probably be “fairly flat” from the ad valorem taxes. Tax collections for this year are down and the library will receive less money in state aid. The budget accounts that had large increases were programming, travel, furniture, fixtures and equipment, insurance and worker’s compensation. Because workers compensation and insurance are mandated amounts, they tried to reduce the other accounts listed above to smaller increases. Travel is always more in alternate years due to the Public Library Association conference and the Oklahoma Library Association conference being held in Tulsa. All out of state travel was given a consistent, standard amount for all departments and programming and furniture accounts were adjusted so that existing programs were maintained but new programs and furniture purchases (for new services) were deferred until next year.
• The preliminary budget will be presented to the finance committee on June 10th, and the final budget will be presented to the commission at their August meeting. If revenue projections are higher than anticipated, some items may be added back to the final budget. She asked library managers to give her a call if they had additional questions.
• Karen Marriott stated that they had allocated money to fund the statewide databases if ODL could not fund them this year. Fortunately, it looks like the databases will be funded by ODL and the money can be put back in the regular materials accounts.
• Donna stated that the Spencer Library is closing on June 28th and that the materials money allocated to Spencer will be added to the Midwest City materials budget; and that the money used for materials at Drexel has been added to the Belle Isle library’s materials budget.  These are the libraries that the majority of customers of those closed facilities use.
• It appears that the express checkout units at the 4 libraries that have them are handling approximately 14% of checkouts. Automation hope to add units to Bethany, Warr Acres and Village this year ( in addition to Downtown and Choctaw); and the phase in at the remaining libraries in the next year or two. They would like for managers to consider locating the express checkout units near the circulation desk because the use of the units will be more successful. In addition, Information technology will be adding new racks and re-wiring at 5 libraries this fiscal year.
• A large portion of the carryover money this year is from the 2 libraries under construction. Most requests for new staff positions were not  approved.  Donna said they will analyze the budget process again and work on better ways to prioritize requests or approve requests based on those priorities.
• The new phone system will be network, computer driven and thus will be supported by the IT department.
• Construction for the Northwest Library should begin in 2007.  Choctaw construction is currently scheduled to be completed at the end of September 2003.  Due to the delays in the downtown construction, the IT department has decided to order the new main frame computer and have it installed at Capitol Hill and then moved to the new downtown library when construction is completed.  Installations of some components of the new telephone system will also move forward soon after the beginning of the new fiscal year.
• Open Discussion
• OLA Highlights
• Phil stated that while at OLA he was asked to sit on a panel and discuss the things that they were doing at Capital Hill Library to reach out to the Spanish speaking community. He circulated a brochure that was in Spanish and English that he distributed at OLA that provided information about the Metropolitan Library System.  He stated that if anyone would like extra brochures to give him a call. displayed
• Meeting Room Revisions - Judy Walden
• Judy stated that a subcommittee is taking a look at the current policies and procedures to see what changes need to be made based on the new booking system.  She said they are wanting to find a way to not charge non-profit agencies, and make it easier for small groups to use the rooms when it is a burden for them to pay.  The revised the policy recommends that they do not charge non-profit agencies, and that they raise the rate for commercial agencies to $50.00 an hour. She said that after further discussion they discover that have had more issues that they need to explore before they affix fees.  They are planning on implement the new booking system July 1st using the old fee schedule.  Lastly, Judy stated that the library would not be involved in renting equipment. 
• Shelving Spanish Materials - Karen Marriott
• Karen Marriott discussed and answered questions about the grant received from ODL, shelving issues, and the changes that were going to be  made in cataloging. She stated that the grant money must be spent by the end of June. It was discussed how to shelf the Spanish collection.  Materials would be shelved together in special collection or shelved in the 600’s, etc. Pauline stated that the materials are coming from  cataloging with the location code FRN that stands for Foreign. They are already coded for special collection. She said if they are shelved with regular adult non-fiction, the location code need to be changed. It was agreed that the materials were easier to find if they are put together, but it is not required. Karen stated that cataloging would be recalling the 468 materials that are in Spanish. This should occur around the 1st of August. Randy asked if funds would be allocated to maintain the collection after the grant money is spent. Karen stated the money would be absorbed with regular purchases.
• Pauline added that branch professional reference materials will now have PR at the top of the call number instead of R to hopefully make it easier to identify.
• Miscellaneous Topics
• Janet distributed a quick reference guide and card for the AP photo database.
• Karen Bays asked for a refresher on filling out the damage material form. Deborah Willis explained that if a library receives damaged materials that belong to another library, the damage material will be send back to the owning library with a note stating the material is damage. The owning library will decide if they want to withdraw the material.

III.  Scott Carter - Summer Reading TV Spots

• Scott asked for feedback on-Japanese animation CD's that were given away. He stated that if it was not a burden on libraries, Cox might provide more materials with the Sinbad animation.
• Scott showed a video of the new TV commercials. There are four different summer reading spots that are 15 and 30-second sections. They will run until the end June on various stations. The radio segment will begin in July. He said there may be four more movie sponsorships between now and December including Lord of the Rings, Cat in the Hat, and Spy Kids III.

IV.  Sharing

• Lisa shared information from a book Leading In Tough Times, by Deems and Deems. The book was checked out from Planning Services.
• Denyvetta shared information about the “New Employee Orientation” game that is available from Planning Services. It has been designed specifically for MLS with questions about policies and procedures.
• Karen Bays shared information and pictures from the ED Medieval Fair.
• Karen Bays and Deborah Willis stated that they had their staff evaluate them and shared the evaluation forms.
• Deborah Willis passed out information on teambuilding, and stated that Penny Hampton from Oklahoma City Community College came to Midwest library to teach a teambuilding workshop for the circulation staff. She stated that Midwest City would be implementing the new skills over the next few months.
• Denyvetta passed around flyers from Village and Choctaw. She that she attended the TeePee raising event at Belle Isle. She also attended the Primavera Festival at Capitol Hill, and the Bloodhag Concert at Southern Oaks. She said that all of the events were great and well attended.
• Phil distributed pictures taken during the festival and stated that staff gave away 150 books.
• Randy presented a newsletter about the programs at Southern Oaks and he stated that the Bloodhag concert was a success. Carl's Jr. provided a mobile kitchen and served over 200 hamburgers. He estimated the crowd to be between 100 and 150. Randy said that the band members were great and he thanked everyone for their help.
• Scott stated that Carl's Jr. would help sponsor other library events. Please let Public Relations know if any is interested.
• Denyvetta stated that she had extra wrist braces in case anyone needed them.
• Judy said that the safety rules have been revised.
• Debra Spindle showed her wrist brace and stated that she purchased them from a company called Smart Gloves. She encouraged each person to measure their hand before purchasing the gloves.
• Barbara Beasley stated that Bethany’s Aromatherapy class was extremely popular.

V.  Announcements

• Debra Spindle stated that she would be teaching a Genealogy class at the DN College Consortium. There are 12 seats in the class and nine people have enrolled.

The Meeting was adjourned at 3:05 p.m.
Minutes submitted June 16, 2003