THE DUPAGE LIBRARY SYSTEM
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 19, 2002
The regular meeting of the DLS Board of Directors held at the System Center, 127 South First Street, Geneva, Illinois was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Pres. Kepka asked Sec. Peterson to call the roll with the following board members present to establish a quorum: Bob Brown, Don Brant, Barbara Siegman, Jackie Plourde, Marguerite Treest, Laurie Kagann, Rob Kepka, Joyce Whitehead, and Mary Peterson. Directors absent were Marti Guarin and John Slusser.
DLS staff members attending were Shirley May Byrnes, Pam Kramer, Jane Plass, Carol Hamacher, Denise Zielinski, and Phylis Wagner.
Also present was Neil Kelley, the Illinois State Library (ISL) Consultant to DLS.
Exec. Dir. Byrnes requested discussion on the DLS 800 number. This will be item F. under New Business.
V. P. Plourde moved and Dir. Siegman seconded that:| THE AGENDA BE APPROVED AS AMENDED. | Agenda amended. |
| THE AUGUST REGULAR MINUTES BE APPROVED. | Minutes approved. |
Exec. Dir. Byrnes suggested that the title for the minutes be changed from a "meeting of the membership" to a "meeting of the Board" of the DuPage Library System. Everyone agreed this is a good idea.
Treas. Treest presented the financial report.
Treas. Treest moved and Dir. Brown seconded that:
| $273,862.93 WITH CHECKS NUMBERED 56048 TO 56056 AND 56060 TO 56154 AND WITH CHECKS NUMBER 56057 - 56059 AS SPOILAGE BE APPROVED. THE SEPTEMBER 2002 BILLS IN THE AMOUNT OF |
September bills approved |
DLS Legislative Advocacy Committee: Denise met with the DLS Legislative Advocacy Training Subcommittee to plan training sessions. One will be for those who have done little or no advocacy, and a second training session will be held for those who have done some but want more training. The first one will be held Friday, December 6 with registration and breakfast from 7:30-8 a.m. and the program from 8-9:30. This was arranged so people can go to work afterwards. The training is for library staff, trustees, and Friends. The speakers will be Lynne Stainbrook, Director of the Warren-Newport Public Library District, and Mike Ragen, Chief Deputy Director of the Illinois State Library. The committee is looking for a venue that would draw people and has easy access to major roadways. The handouts would include advocacy information developed by the Illinois Library Association (ILA), a tip sheet, the legislative district information, sample letters, the ILA legislative agenda, a copy of the American Library Association (ALA) advocacy handbook, and an information sheet with sign up information for ALAWON, DLS announce, and the url’s for legislative information on the state and national level.
New Member: DeVry University has purchased the Keller Graduate School of Management in Oakbrook Terrace and contacted DLS about membership. Since DeVry is already a member of DLS, this addition is considered a branch and does not require board for action.
Board nominations/Annual meeting: To date, we have received three nominations for the one academic seat and three for the five public library seats. The deadline is October 10. The board terms still need to be staggered so we don’t have this many vacancies again in three years. The bylaws currently state that "The terms of at least three and no more than Board of Directors shall expire each year with two or three public library directors and one non-public library director elected each year." The form to designate voters has been sent out. Be sure to have that sent to the office by noon on October 24 so you can vote.
Cataloging: Prior to the start of the System President & Directors (SP&D) meeting on September 12, the system directors were informed about batchloading. This is a process in which all the LLSAPs participate. During the process, the bibliographic records are matched against OCLC, an international database of library holdings, and holdings for LLSAP libraries are added and updated. Prior to sending the records to OCLC, the records are sent to The MARC of Quality (TMQ). TMQ reviews the records and pulls those that will prevent good matching at OCLC. These are sent back to the system to be fixed. A lot of money is saved by "batching" the records before sending them to OCLC. During the discussion, it was evident that the other systems have catalogers on staff to help ensure the quality of the bibliographic records in their LLSAP. Although DLS has managed to reduce the number of records that are pulled since the process started in August 2000, we still have 12,925 records that were pulled in the most recent batchload in July 2002. It has become evident that DLS needs a cataloger to not only clean up MAGIC records, but to train our member library staffs in how to catalog. Catalog training is needed at both our MAGIC libraries and at other DLS member libraries, and the need for training is expected to grow, since cataloging standards and software are changing. Several board members made suggestions about how DLS could meet this need.
SP&D: Thursday evening there were reports from various ISL staff. The director of the Illinois Center for the Book talked about the Illinois Authors Book Fair, which will be held in Springfield on November 16. To date, 47 authors will be there.
Jean Wilkins reported that ISL is not the same library organization it was a few years ago, primarily due to budget reductions. Over half of the ISL employees are eligible for early state retirement, and she thinks about five will take advantage of it. Due to the state’s budget deficit, ISL will probably not be able to replace them. ISL is working on reorganization and revising its mission statement with the help of ISLAC, its advisory committee.
Greg McCormick stated that next year will be another tight budget year, perhaps tighter than the current one. ISL lost over $8 million in this budget even with special, non-related library budget lines being added to ISL
Chicago Public Library (CPL)/Chicago Library System (CLS): Wilkins reported that the Chicago Public Library plans to withdraw from the Chicago Library System. The current law does not allow two systems to exist in the same geographic area. Wilkins has been meeting with CPL and CLS staff and boards for most of the summer to negotiate a satisfactory separation. CLS will continue to serve the academic, school and special libraries in Chicago.
Automation Study: At the SP&D meeting on Friday, September 13, Dr. William Moen presented his recommendations for the LLSAPs. A three-page summary of the recommendations was included in the handouts this evening. The final report will not be available until the end of September.
Talking Book Center Study: Deb Johnson was hired by the ISL to study the Talking Book Centers in Illinois and make some recommendations. In a recent phone conversation, Deb gave kudos to the Voices of Vision (VOV) staff who are doing so much and doing it very well. One of her recommendations may be to add some counties to the VOV service area. To counter balance the additional patrons, she may recommend that some of the services be centralized. There will be a meeting on Friday, October 11 in Springfield for all the Readers Advisors. Johnson will be facilitating the meeting and working on quality control.
Annual report: The draft for the annual report was completed Monday, and delivered to board members by van on Tuesday.
ILSDO: ILSDO held a one-day meeting on September 4 to plan for a planning process. The morning was spent identifying external factors which affect library systems, our strengths, and our weaknesses. The afternoon was spent discussing the CLS/CPL situation, the proposed Secretary of State candidate forum, where to go with the ILSDO planning process, and current cooperative projects among the systems.
ILA conference legislative activities: The two gubernatorial candidates have been invited to address the ILA conference at its opening session on Wednesday, September 25 at 11 am. The two Secretary of State (SOS) candidates have been invited to speak at the membership meeting on Thursday, September 26 at 4 pm. The two SOS candidates have responded in writing to questions sent by ILA; their responses will appear in the October issue of the ILA Reporter. On Friday, September 27, the Public Policy Committee will sponsor a legislative update program.
Budget: Neil Kelley reported that, in the last 18 months, the ISL budget has been reduced by $8 million. The new budget includes $790,000 in various line items that have nothing to do with library service.
ISL Events:
Illinois leadership initiative: The Illinois leadership initiative, Synergy, is two-thirds of the way through its first year with 18 participants. ISL is looking for possible multi-type candidates, and there is an application to become a synergist. This program is an Illinois version of the Snowbird Leadership Institute in Utah. Wilkins is concerned about the large number of the library leaders who will retire in the next few years. She is interested in recruiting, training, and empowering a new generation to take libraries into the future.
ISL Grants: The LSTA grant information has been distributed. There are four grant offerings available. Only the Opportunity Knocks grant required a letter of intent, and the deadline for that particular letter was last Friday. ISL received 169 letters. This will probably be one of the more competitive years for grant programs because of the budget situation.
The work is substantially done, with only minor things to complete. The
architect has not been here to do his final walk through. The work has been
done to minimize the noise level in the large meeting room. The back room on
the first floor still requires some work. They were able to stabilize the
area in the wall that was vibrating, but now there is a rumbling sound from
the units that are sitting on the roof.
This year DLS received five nominations for the Millennium Award. At the September 9 meeting of the Planning Committee, the applications were discussed and reviewed. The committee recommends that the May Watts Elementary School and the Carol Stream Public Library share the award, with each receiving $500.
As committee chair, Plourde moved that:
| THE MAY WATTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND THE CAROL STREAM PUBLIC LIBRARY RECEIVE THE 2002 MILLENNIUM AWARD. | Millennium Award approved |
The motion carried with Dir. Siegman abstaining.
Dir. Brown motioned, and Treas. Treest seconded, that:
| THE ANNUAL REPORT BE APPROVED. | Annual Report approved. |
Motion carried unanimously.
The Suburban Library System administers the UCGA for DLS as the Library Insurance Management and Risk Control Combination (LIMRiCC). LIMRiCC has requested the Board adopt a resolution to approve or disapprove of changes to the UCGA Program.
Dir. Kagann moved, and Dir. Whitehead seconded, that:
| DLS APPROVE THE CHANGES TO THE UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION GROUP ACCOUNT PROGRAM. |
Changes to UCGA approved. |
Motion carried unanimously.
DLS received an email from Linda Doerre stating that August 15 would be the last day of the DuPage County Health Department library, because of budget cuts.
V.P. Plourde motioned, and Dir. Brown seconded, that:
|
THE DU PAGE COUNTY HEALTH LIBRARY BE REMOVED FROM DLS MEMBERSHIP. |
Library removed as DLS member approved. |
Motion carried unanimously.
DLS received a letter from ISL stating that two line items in the VOV budget were over-expended by more than the allowable 10% and DLS was being penalized as a result. With tonight’s handouts, there is the draft of a letter written to object to this penalty. DLS is seeking the Board’s approval to not pay the fine and to send this letter in response.
Dir. Brown moved, and Dir. Siegman seconded, that:
|
THE PENALTY NOT BE PAID AND THE LETTER BE SENT. |
Letter be sent. |
Motion carried unanimously.
DLS has an 800 number that costs 46 cents a minute to use, does not work statewide, and few people know about it. DLS would like to cancel it. Kelley reported that in 1992 SOS staff requested that all the systems have statewide 800 numbers. At the present time, 10 of the 12 systems have them. This will be on the October agenda as an action item.
At 8:51, Dir. Brown motioned, and Dir. Siegman seconded, that:
| DLS GO INTO CLOSED SESSION FOR THE PURPOSE OF DISCUSSING A PERSONNEL ISSUE IN ACCORDANCE WITH 5 ILCS 120/2(C)(1). | Board goes into closed session. |
Aye…….9 Trustees Brant, Brown, Kagann, Kepka, Peterson, Plourde, Siegman, Treest, and Whitehead.
Nay…….0
Absent ..2 Trustees Guarin, and Slusser
Motion carried.
Return to open session.
Dir. Plourde moved, and Dir. Brown seconded, that:
| DLS RETURN TO OPEN SESSION. |
Aye…….9 Trustees Brant, Brown, Kagann, Kepka, Peterson, Plourde, Siegman, Treest, and Whitehead.
Nay…….0
Absent ..2 Trustees Guarin, and Slusser
Motion carried.
The meeting returned to open session at 9:21 pm. Kepka advised that the Board was informed of a personnel issue.
Dir. Brown moved to adjourn. Pres. Kepka adjourned the meeting at 9:23 pm.
Respectfully submitted.
_____________________________
Mary Peterson, Secretary
___ Minutes approved as read
X Minutes approved as amended
_______________________________ Robert J. Kepka, President