Library Board Minutes- December 2016
Allegany County Library Board of Trustees
Regular Meeting
December 13, 2016
Frostburg Library – 4:00 p.m.
PRESENT:
Bill Devlin, Tom Finan, Deb Hendrickson, Stephanie Marchbank, Terry Michels, John Persons, Jason Willetts, and John Taube.
The meeting was called to order by Bill Devlin.
Welcome Stephanie Marchbank, Our newest Library Trustee!
A motion to accept the minutes of the regular meeting of the November 8, 2016 meeting was made by Terry Michels seconded by Deb Hendrickson and was approved.
- Review of Usage Statistics
- Review of Income & Expense Report for the months of November 2016.
- Review of Special Accounts
A motion to accept both the statistical report and the financial reports of November 2016 was made by John Persons seconded by Tom Finan and was accepted.
NEW BUSINESS
Budgeting Priorities for FY2018
John Taube reviewed our recent efforts to secure funding to restore hours of operation one branch per year over the next several years. In FY2018, we were targeting the South Cumberland Library to coincide with its reopening after renovation.
John and the Board discussed a preliminary draft of a budget that funded a 4th staff position at the South Cumberland library due to John’s expectation that the branch will be very busy when it reopens. The preliminary budget also included a 4th member of the story corp to maintain momentum on our goal of promoting early childhood and family literacy. These changes are funded by the approved increase in state funding for the library and the expectation that the county will match the state increase.
John noted that the budget does not include funding to restore hours of operation at South, wage adjustments for staff, nor address the slight increase in health insurance costs expected in FY2018.
For consideration at the January 2017 meeting, the Board requested that John draft a budget proposal that included a 2% wage increase for staff as well as the positions included in the preliminary budget discussed at this meeting.
General Assembly Preview and Discussion
In the 2016 General Assembly Session, Maryland Libraries spearheaded an initiative to accelerate the return of approved mandated increases to the state funding from FY2022 to FY2018. Both Senate President Miller and Speaker Busch, stated that “there will be painful cuts to essential programs” to balance the FY2018 budget due to the predicted $800,000,000 shortfall over the next 2 years. John Taube stated that given these state budgeting challenges, that Maryland Libraries will have to work very hard to preserve our approved increases this session. If the State defers or eliminates our increase slated for July 1, 2017, we will need to make significant adjustments to our FY2018 budget, priorities, and plans.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
South Cumberland Library Renovation –Update
Adding the additional Insulation is 98% complete and its cost expected to be closer to $45,000.
The City has agreed to pay for the new ADA compliant corner to completely redo the sidewalk on First Street.
Furnishings and shelving components have been selected and the contract will be approved by the County Commissioner on Thursday December 15, 2016. We anticipate a June 1, 2017 delivery date.
Drywall is being installed and the window installation began this week.
Washington Street Library Columns Restoration – Update
County Staff have submitted an application to the Maryland Historic Trust on November 10, 2016 to replace the columns instead of repairing them as the estimated cost is comparable. The MHT met on December 8, 2016 and John Taube reported that he has not heard of any outcome or decision yet, but will inquire.
FY2016 Financial Audit has been completed
The Audit was completed and copies were submitted to appropriate agencies on November 28, 2016.
PUBLIC COMMENT
ANNOUNCEMENTS and UPDATES
John Taube reported that Staff are working to design a system where every child in ACPS gets a library card.
As of January 1, 2017, Health Insurance co-pays will increase
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
John Taube reported that the Guys Read initiative is coming back and the schedule is coming soon. Guys Read is a program targeting 3rd grade boys to show them that reading can be fun with exciting and humorous titles read to them over lunch breaks by other men from the community.
Next Board Meeting is Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 4PM at the Washington Street Library
Fake News: How to Spot It
November 2016 Board of Trustees meeting minutes
Allegany County Library Board of Trustees
Regular Meeting
November 8, 2016
Washington Street Library – 4:00 p.m.
PRESENT:
Bill Devlin, Tom Finan, Deb Hendrickson, Terry Michels, Jason Willetts, and John Taube.
The meeting was called to order by Bill Devlin.
A motion to accept the minutes of the regular meeting of the September 13, 2016 meeting was made by Terry Michels seconded by Jason Willetts and was approved.
- Review of Usage Statistics
- Review of Income & Expense Report for the months of September and October 2016.
- Review of Special Accounts
A motion to accept both the statistical report and the financial reports of September and October 2016 was made by Jason Willetts seconded by Tom Finan and was accepted.
NEW BUSINESS
Presentation of FY 2016 Financial Audit
Tim Michaels and Angel Rasel of Huber, Michaels, Inc were present to review their work on the FY2016 Financial Audit. Given that they several confirmation letters were still outstanding, the audit was presented in draft form. Mr. Michaels noted that he was confident that the financial data would not change after receiving the letters. They highlighted that during FY2016, the library system spent more on collections and supplies and services, but spent less on personnel. These spending changes were explained by the reduction in hours at the beginning of the fiscal year. They also noted that the library system received slightly more that $14,000 that it spent in the year.
Terry Michels moved to accept the draft audit report as presented as long as there were no material changes in the final version. The motion was seconded by Deb Hendrickson and was approved by the Board.
Review of updated Payroll Status Policy (3.25)
In the spring of 2016, the US Department of Labor announced upcoming changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The new FLSA rules go into effect on December 1, 2016.
The FLSA rules specify who is classified as an “exempt” employee and who is classified as “nonexempt” employee.
Exempt employees are not eligible for overtime compensation regardless of the number of hours they work per week or year.
Nonexempt employees are eligible to receive overtime compensation at a rate of “time and a half” after they work 40 hour per week.
The US Department of Labor uses 3 tests to determine if an employee is exempt or nonexempt. ALL 3 tests must be met to qualify for exempt status.
The tests are:
Salary Basis,
Salary Level, (must make more than $47,476 per year)
Duties Test.
Because they fail to meet the Salary Level test, as of 12/1/2016, the following positions will change from exempt to nonexempt employee:
Director of Services,
Director of Programming,
Director of Users Experience,
Director of Outreach,
Director of IT, and
Art Director.
Existing “nonexempt” employees will remain “nonexempt” employees.
As of 12/1/2016, the Executive Director will be the only exempt employee.
ACLS’s approach to avoid additional payroll (overtime) costs is to track the number of hours worked on standard time sheets, realign workload and limit employees to working 35 hours per week.
Review and Approval of budget transfer within FY2017 Operating Budget
Rather than replace 2 part-time custodians when they resigned in October 2016, the library system contracted with ServiceMaster to provide cleaning services at the Westernport and Frostburg Libraries.
According to our FY2017 budget ServiceMaster should be categorized as a cleaning contract and should be paid from 61000 Contracted Services, specifically 61003 Cleaning.
John requested approval to move $13458 FROM Wages and Benefits accounts 66002 and 66005 TO account 61003 Contracted Services – Cleaning to pay Service Master.
A motion to approve the transfer of funds was made by Tom Finan, seconded by Terry Michels and was approved by the Board.
Ratification of candidates to replace Steve Sniderman
After receiving email approval from all Board members to submit Stephanie Marchbank and Bill Bingman as candidates to replace Steve, John sent the nominating letter on October 20, 2016 to the commissioners. Given that this was the first board regular meeting since that time, Deb Hendrickson motioned to ratify the email decision to submit Drs. Marchbank and Bingman as a library trustee. The motion was seconded by Terry Michels and was approved by the Board.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
South Cumberland Library Renovation –Update
The roof deck insulation issue was resolved when the county agreed to adding new insulation to cover the old and fix gaps in the insulating batts. This will add $36,000 and extend the length of the work 45 days. So our plans have shifted to occupy the building in June 2017.
Washington Street Library Columns Restoration – Update
County Staff have submitted an application to the Maryland Historic Trust to replace the columns instead of repairing them as the estimated cost is comparable.
PUBLIC COMMENT
ANNOUNCEMENTS and UPDATES
Tom Finan was re-appointed by the Commissioners for a second term.
We have purchased acoustic panels to be installed at the Frostburg Library toll house room. The room suffered from a echo issue that makes it very difficult to use for most purposes.
The Library has completed the installation of a unified key system for our facilities.
John reported that he has sent our annual letter to the estate planners in the community.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
Minecraft gaming club at Washington Street Library is popular.
The halloween costume swap was very successful.
Next Board Meeting is Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 4PM at the Frostburg Library
National Book Awards Finalists
Fiction
The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder (Norton)
News of the World by Paulette Jiles (Morrow)
The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan (Viking)
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson (Amistad)
Nonfiction
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild (The New Press)
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (Nation Books)
Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Harvard University Press)
The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America by Andrés Reséndez (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson (Pantheon)
Poetry
The Performance of Becoming Human by Daniel Borzutzky (Brooklyn Arts Press)
Collected Poems 1974-2004 by Rita Dove (Norton)
Archeophonics by Peter Gizzi (Wesleyan University Press)
The Abridged History of Rainfall by Jay Hopler (McSweeney’s)
Look by Solmaz Sharif (Graywolf Press)
Young People’s Literature
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick)
March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell (Top Shelf Productions)
When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin (Little, Brown)
Ghost by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum)
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (Delacorte)
hey! Spotify has AudioBooks too!
Here’s a little known tip. If you open Spotify, click “Browse” (in the left hand nav), then scroll way down to “Spoken Word,” you will find a number of free audiobook collections.
Get all the details from this openculture post
Athens Is World Book Capital 2018
Athens, Greece has been named World Book Capital 2018 “for the quality of its activities, supported by the entire book industry” by UNESCO director general Irina Bokova on the recommendation of an advisory committee, which includes representatives of the International Publishers Associations, the International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions and UNESCO. The city was also lauded for its “cultural infrastructure and its expertise in organizing international events.”
Cities designated as UNESCO World Book Capital promote books and reading, as well as organize activities over the year starting April 23 with the celebration of World Book and Copyright Day. The purpose of 2018’s initiative is “to make books and reading accessible to the whole population, including to migrants and refugees.”
This year’s World Book Capital is Wroclaw, Poland, and next year’s will be Conakry, Guinea.
Thanks to Shelf Awareness for this story
Financial Times – Best Business Books of 2016
The Financial Times has posted their short list of the best business books of 2016.
Don’t forget if we don’t have it, we can get it. Just Ask!
Web Site of the Week: Booknotes: One Book. One Author. One Hour
Between 1989- 2007, C-SPAN aired the series Booknotes, an hour long interview with a single author of a nonfiction book (the show’s tagline: “One Book. One Author. One Hour”). The series was hosted by C-SPAN executive director Brian Lamb, who fastidiously read and annotated the entirety of any book featured on the show prior to interviewing each author. Recently, the staff of George Mason University Libraries has collected archival material related to the show. On this website, Booknotes fans can browse through photographs, listen to interviews; and examine Lamb’s original book annotations. These annotations are especially intriguing, as Lamb often crafted questions for his guests alongside his notes (for instance, inside Mikhail Gorbachev’s Memoirs, Lamb has scrawled “What do you think of Lenin now?”) Visitors can also Browse Collections or peruse 9 themed exhibits. [MMB]
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2016.
Web Site of the Week: ABC books
Alphabet books have been used for centuries and are often one of the first texts that young children will encounter. ABC books is an online collection of 55 English language alphabet books published between 1805-1987. These books were collected from the Cotsen Children’s Library for a spring 2016 Princeton University class on children’s literature and are available for the public to browse. As the website notes, these books reveal more than changing aesthetic sensibilities; each book provides insight into past conceptions of childhood, morality, humor, and education. Many books are designed to teach moral lessons alongside literacy lessons, including Take Your Choice! (1822) and Anti-Slavery Alphabet (1947). Others are intended to be humorous and a surprising number center around apple pie. Some books, as the site notes, include offensive images, highlighting the way stereotypes and prejudice were modeled and taught to children through text. While many are centered around text and rhyming couplets, others are centered on illustration, providing a glimpse into how design in children’s books throughout the past two centuries has evolved. [MMB]
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2016.
Web Site of the Week: History of Vaccines
The History of Vaccines is an educational site maintained by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Founded in 1787, the College currently runs the Mutter Museum, a museum of the history of medicine, and the Historical Medical Library. The History of Vaccines website includes an interactive timeline of vaccination history, online classroom activities, and a gallery of over 700 items related to vaccination. These three sections of the website include a number of helpful visuals (such as an interactive animation designed to help individuals visualize the concept of herd immunity) and intriguing primary documents. The Articles tab includes a variety of readings aimed at students, educators, and families alike. In the Educators area of the website, instructors will find four complete lesson plans (compatible with a variety of Science and Health Education standards) that utilize material from the website. Finally, readers will find recent news items related to vaccination in the Blog. Interested parties may also sign up to for an email list to learn about website updates.
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2016.
Allegany County Library System Director's Notes 