City of Pendleton Public Library
Library Board
Minutes
Library Meeting Room
November 10, 2015
In attendance: Will Perkinson, Chair, Brianna Earlley, John Thomas, Karen Willis, Rachele Johnson, John Brenne, Mayor’s Representative and McKennon McDonald, Council Representative. Staff: Mary Finney, Director
Public Comment: There was no public comment.
Call to Order: Chair, Will Perkinson, called the meeting to order at 6:05 pm.
Review Minutes: McKennon McDonald moved to approve the October minutes. John Thomas seconded. Motion passed.
Modifications to agenda: Because the council representatives needed to be at another meeting at 7, Mary Finney suggested that the Director’s Report be moved to the end of the meeting. That request was unanimously accepted.
REPORTS
Board Chair: Will Perkinson explained to the board that because of changes in responsibilities of both he and his wife, he needed to retire from the library board at this meeting. He apologized for making that announcement with such short notice. He has enjoyed is time on the board and will actively look for candidates to replace him. The announcement was met with much sadness on the part of the other members and staff. All thanked him for his steadfastness and service.
OLD BUSINESS
Foundation fundraising workshop: Director, Mary Finney reported that she had attended the foundation fundraising workshop, Funding the Revolution, at the Tigard Public Library on October 24th. Peter Pearson, Friends of the St. Paul Public Library chairman, and Sue Hall, Strategies Director of the St. Paul Public Library, presented a very tight workshop on how to ensure your library’s future. In addition to Finney, Charles DeNight, PFOL Foundation committee chair, and Greg Holden, committee member and past PFOL board president, also attended and were impressed with the wealth of information they received. There was so much information that the last portion, creating a development plan was shortened. The information was very relevant to where our Foundation is at this point. The Foundation committee will be well served by the information gleaned from the meeting.
Annual Board Retreat: Finney explained that because she had not convened a meeting of the retreat committee comprised of herself, John Thomas, and David Burns, the retreat would need to be held in February. The committee will plan the event, secure a location, and poll the board and presenters for the optimum Saturday for the retreat.
NEW BUSINESS
PERS increase: Finney had recently been to a meeting presented by PERS representatives for managers, directors, and department heads for municipal, state, and federal government employers. In order to bring the PERS funds up to the necessary level, PERS employer charges will increase 20% during each of the next four biennia. Finney handed out budget print offs for the board to reference. This is a substantial increase that Finney wanted the board to be aware which will affect future budgets.
REPORTS, continued:
Director:
Finney reported that she attended the public Library Director’s meeting Tigard the day before the fundraising workshop. There were many reports at the meeting. MaryKay Dahlgreen discussed the Research Institute in Public Library. Their role is to provide libraries with the ability to evaluate their services. Finney will be taking part in any training that the program will provide. House Bill 2523 reconfigured the state library. The State Librarian will be appointed by the governor instead of being hired by the board of directors. Also speaking was Penny Hummel who will assist libraries to access the survey lab available at PSU. This could be very helpful for creating the annual library survey.
The PFOL Book Sale in October brought in approximately $1000 less compared with last year. There were so many books, some people were intimidated by the largess. Finney will have more specific numbers when the PFOL board meets this Thursday morning.
Jennifer Costley, Assistant Director, is again scheduling children’s programs which took a break during the summer reading season. Crafternoon, special story times, and elementary school book clubs are back in swing. That is part of the reason for the increase in children’s attendance.
Library staff has been weeding several collections. According to Finney, those sections usually have resurgence in use. The probability is that when the old looking, outdates, and unused items are removed the shelves are more attractive to browsers. It is also easier to find items when the shelves are not packed with sad items. Perkinson found the term ‘weeding’ to be funny and wondered if there could be a confusion between “reading” and “weeding” which sound similar. Finney suggested that it sounded better than the alternate term “deselecting”. MacDonald mentioned that her students were reading substantially more non-fiction than fiction, possibly due to the emphasis by teachers on non-fiction subjects.
After again thanking Perkinson for his service to the Board and the Library, the meeting adjourned at 7:05 PM
Next meeting: December 8th @6:00
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Finney, Director
Secretary to the Board
Library Board
Minutes
Library Meeting Room
November 10, 2015
In attendance: Will Perkinson, Chair, Brianna Earlley, John Thomas, Karen Willis, Rachele Johnson, John Brenne, Mayor’s Representative and McKennon McDonald, Council Representative. Staff: Mary Finney, Director
Public Comment: There was no public comment.
Call to Order: Chair, Will Perkinson, called the meeting to order at 6:05 pm.
Review Minutes: McKennon McDonald moved to approve the October minutes. John Thomas seconded. Motion passed.
Modifications to agenda: Because the council representatives needed to be at another meeting at 7, Mary Finney suggested that the Director’s Report be moved to the end of the meeting. That request was unanimously accepted.
REPORTS
Board Chair: Will Perkinson explained to the board that because of changes in responsibilities of both he and his wife, he needed to retire from the library board at this meeting. He apologized for making that announcement with such short notice. He has enjoyed is time on the board and will actively look for candidates to replace him. The announcement was met with much sadness on the part of the other members and staff. All thanked him for his steadfastness and service.
OLD BUSINESS
Foundation fundraising workshop: Director, Mary Finney reported that she had attended the foundation fundraising workshop, Funding the Revolution, at the Tigard Public Library on October 24th. Peter Pearson, Friends of the St. Paul Public Library chairman, and Sue Hall, Strategies Director of the St. Paul Public Library, presented a very tight workshop on how to ensure your library’s future. In addition to Finney, Charles DeNight, PFOL Foundation committee chair, and Greg Holden, committee member and past PFOL board president, also attended and were impressed with the wealth of information they received. There was so much information that the last portion, creating a development plan was shortened. The information was very relevant to where our Foundation is at this point. The Foundation committee will be well served by the information gleaned from the meeting.
Annual Board Retreat: Finney explained that because she had not convened a meeting of the retreat committee comprised of herself, John Thomas, and David Burns, the retreat would need to be held in February. The committee will plan the event, secure a location, and poll the board and presenters for the optimum Saturday for the retreat.
NEW BUSINESS
PERS increase: Finney had recently been to a meeting presented by PERS representatives for managers, directors, and department heads for municipal, state, and federal government employers. In order to bring the PERS funds up to the necessary level, PERS employer charges will increase 20% during each of the next four biennia. Finney handed out budget print offs for the board to reference. This is a substantial increase that Finney wanted the board to be aware which will affect future budgets.
REPORTS, continued:
Director:
Finney reported that she attended the public Library Director’s meeting Tigard the day before the fundraising workshop. There were many reports at the meeting. MaryKay Dahlgreen discussed the Research Institute in Public Library. Their role is to provide libraries with the ability to evaluate their services. Finney will be taking part in any training that the program will provide. House Bill 2523 reconfigured the state library. The State Librarian will be appointed by the governor instead of being hired by the board of directors. Also speaking was Penny Hummel who will assist libraries to access the survey lab available at PSU. This could be very helpful for creating the annual library survey.
The PFOL Book Sale in October brought in approximately $1000 less compared with last year. There were so many books, some people were intimidated by the largess. Finney will have more specific numbers when the PFOL board meets this Thursday morning.
Jennifer Costley, Assistant Director, is again scheduling children’s programs which took a break during the summer reading season. Crafternoon, special story times, and elementary school book clubs are back in swing. That is part of the reason for the increase in children’s attendance.
Library staff has been weeding several collections. According to Finney, those sections usually have resurgence in use. The probability is that when the old looking, outdates, and unused items are removed the shelves are more attractive to browsers. It is also easier to find items when the shelves are not packed with sad items. Perkinson found the term ‘weeding’ to be funny and wondered if there could be a confusion between “reading” and “weeding” which sound similar. Finney suggested that it sounded better than the alternate term “deselecting”. MacDonald mentioned that her students were reading substantially more non-fiction than fiction, possibly due to the emphasis by teachers on non-fiction subjects.
After again thanking Perkinson for his service to the Board and the Library, the meeting adjourned at 7:05 PM
Next meeting: December 8th @6:00
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Finney, Director
Secretary to the Board