Library Board Approved Minutes - November 9, 2017

DeForest Area Public Library Regular Library Board Minutes
Thursday, November 9, 2017 at 6:00 p.m.

  1. Call to Order and Roll Call
    • Vice President John Englesby called the meeting to order at 6:10 pm.
    • Present: Englesby, Lowery, Runez.
    • Absent: Van Iten, Lawrence, Gorres
    • Also present: Library Director Berg, Assistant Library Director Gisela Newbegin.
  2. Approval of Agenda
    • Motion to Approve as presented: Lowery
    • Second: Englesby
    • Discussion: None.
    • Action: All approved
  3. Approval of Minutes of October 5th, 2017.
    • Motion to approve minutes: Lowery
    • Second: Runez
    • Discussion: None
    • Action: All approved
  4. Public Presentations / Communications
    • Berg handed out a flyer with upcoming Adult Programs. She pointed out the Black Friday “Sale” the library will be having.
  5. Approval of Bills
    • Motion to Approve the Bills: Runez
    • Second: Lowrey
    • Discussion: Berg pointed out that there were a lot of book purchases from Capstone, Center Point, The Child’s World, Lerner, Cavendish, and Maris Associates. There will be a World Book Encyclopedia set in the next month’s bill run which comes from having attended Wisconsin Library Association’s annual conference. Berg noted there was also a reimbursement bill for lodging from that conference split with another library.
    • Action: All Approved
  6. Reports
    1. Director's - Berg noted that the ILS demonstrations and evaluations are continuing and taking a lot of time. She also noted that two staff members are taking an online course on coding specifically aimed at public libraries. Coding seems to be an emerging literacy like reading and math. The earlier children get exposed to the basic concepts the more fluent they will become. We are figuring out how to integrate this into story times and activities for primary children and middle schoolers.
    2. President's - None.
    3. Village Update - Lowery reported that there was continuing budget discussions including considering raising the tax rate a bit while staying in the levy limit. There had been discussion about the library’s request and the police department’s as well. The police chief and I were asked to come to the November 21st meeting for questions and explanations. There was discussion about upgrading the athletic complex using fund raising and some agreement as to how to proceed.
  7. Old Business
    1. Update on fundraising for Challenge Grant.
      • No money has been donated in the previous month. Donation envelopes will be printed and stuffed in the DeForest Times Tribune in the next couple of weeks. This is the prime giving season.
    2. Discussion and possible approval of draft 2018 Budget.
      • There was no discussion nor action taken.
  8. New Business
    1. Discussion of Part 2 of the General Policies Manual of the library.
      • Library Director Berg walked the library board through the changes she had suggested. There was discussion about some of the revisions which Berg explained. There is only the geocaching policy and the amendments left. Berg noted the geocaching policy was relatively new and hadn’t been used so there was no reason to amend it at this point. She will check to see if ALA has any new versions of the library “Bill of Rights”, “Right to Read”, etc. and bring back a clean copy for consideration at the next board meeting.
  9. Future Agenda Items
    1. A) Review of and possibly approve of all General Policies.
  10. Adjournment
    • Motion to Adjourn: Lowery
    • Second: Englesby
    • Action: All approved.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m.

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