DuPage Library System
Meeting of the Board 
November 21, 2002

 

  1. ROLL CALL OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS/RECOGNITION OF GUESTS

    The regular meeting of the DLS Board held at the DuPage Library System Center, 127 South First Street, Geneva, Illinois was called to order at 7:18 p.m. Pres. Kepka asked the Secretary to call the roll with the following board members present to establish a quorum: Don Brant, Stephen Fulton, Marti Guarin, Karen Hannah, Laurie Kagann, Robert Kepka, Jackie Plourde, John Slusser, Marguerite L. Treest, and Joyce Whitehead. Tanya Berley was unable to attend.

    DLS staff members attending were: Shirley May Byrnes, Carol Hamacher, Pam Kramer, Jane Plass, Denise Zielinski, and Phylis Wagner.

    Also attending was Neil Kelley, DLS Illinois State Library Consultant.

  2. PUBLIC COMMENT

    To celebrate Family Reading Night, Pam Kramer introduced Denise Zielinski, who read a story about a little fish named Swimmy to everyone.

  3. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

    V.P. Plourde moved and Dir. Brant seconded, that:

    THE AGENDA BE ADOPTED. Agenda adopted.

    Motion carried unanimously.   

  4. APPROVAL OF THE MEETING MINUTES

    1. October 24, 2002 Annual Meeting

      Treas. Treest and Dir. Kagann seconded, that:

      THE MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 24, 2002
      ANNUAL MEETING BE APPROVED.

      		 Annual minutes approved.

      Motion passed unanimously.

    2. October 24, 2002 Regular Meeting

      Dir. Kagann moved and Dir. Guarin seconded, that:

      THE OCTOBER 24, 2002 REGULAR MEETING
      MINUTES BE APPROVED.

      		 Regular minutes approved.

      Motion carried unanimously

  5. FINANCIAL REPORT

    1. November 2002 Bills

      Treas. Treest presented the financial report. Treas. Treest motioned and Dir. Guarin seconded that:

      THE PAYMENT OF THE NOVEMBER BILLS IN THE
      AMOUNT OF $131,923.12 WITH CHECKS
      NUMBERED 56271 thru 56342 BE APPROVED AS
      PRESENTED.

      		 November bills approved.

      Motion carried unanimously.

    2. December 2002 Bills

      Because there will not be a meeting in December, Treas. Treest moved and Dir. Guarin seconded that:

      THE DECEMBER BILLS BE PAID SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION AT THE JANUARY MEETING.

      		 December bills to be paid.

      Motion carried unanimously.

  6. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT

    Polestar Award: Congratulations to Jackie Plourde, Madison Junior High School librarian, on receipt of this well-deserved ISLMA award. Exec. Dir. Byrnes, Pam Kramer, and Dir. Guarin attended the ISLMA awards dinner and were able to enjoy this special event with Jackie.

    Advocacy Training: On Friday, December 6, DLS will host The ABCs & 123s of Legislative Advocacy. This is a basic advocacy training program starting with breakfast at 8 and followed by a 1½ hour training session. Denise Zielinski has put together a folder for that event, and it is Included with the board handouts tonight. We hope some of you will be able to attend.

    ALA ALERTS: The latest information from the American Library Association’s Washington Office regarding the Homeland Security Act is included with the handouts. The report explains the implications it has for libraries. Also on this report is information on a new Pentagon program called the Total Information Awareness project.

    On Wednesday, December 11, at 11 am, DLS is a site for an ALA program on the USA PATRIOT Act, the Attorney General’s guidelines expanding the investigative powers of the FBI, and the Homeland Security Act. You may wish to consider attending this program and learning more about these programs.

    Card Campaign: At the multi-state conference in October, Sarah Long talked with someone from Nebraska who told her about a postcard campaign that they have used successfully with their legislators for the past four years. The ILA Public Policy Committee and ILSDO plan to do a similar campaign with Illinois legislators. Exec. Dir. Byrnes is on the committee to develop a set of cards in support of libraries. The first postcard is to be delivered to the legislators’ home offices in early January. Although DLS staff may be involved in the visits, the hope is to have member library directors and trustees make the appointments and visit their local legislators. There will be at least four more cards after that. The cards for February, March & May can be mailed. The one in April will be delivered personally to their Springfield office on ILA Advocacy Day.

    VOV: A response to our letter regarding the penalty applied by ISL to the budget has not been received, so we don’t know if that penalty has been waived. Twenty applications have been received for the VOV Director’s position, and the interviewing process was completed Friday, November 22, 2002. The first quarter report for VOV was due at the end of October. Exec. Dir. Byrnes wrote the narrative portion with the assistance of the VOV staff, and Carol prepared the financial report.

    METS Directors: Directors of the six METS systems-Chicago, DuPage, Heritage Trail, Northern Illinois, North Suburban, and Suburban Library Systems met on November 5 and November 13. In light of the probable reduction in system funds for FY04, they are looking for ways to pool resources and collaborate on system services. On December 19, there will be a meeting of directors and board presidents to discuss collaboration possibilities. The site for this meeting has yet to be determined.

    ILSDO: The system directors met November 12 and 13. Jean Wilkins reported that the Illinois State Library FY04 budget has been turned into the Secretary of State’s budget office. Essentially, the budget is the same as the current year. The narrative included the need for the restoration of funds for programs such as automation, but it is highly unlikely that the funding will be reinstated for a few years. The Illinois State Library is waiting for the results of both the talking book center and literacy studies. The inauguration of constitutional officers will be Monday, January 13. The State Library will be hosting a reception for the Secretary of State, Jesse White, that afternoon. The legislators will be sworn in January 15.

    CPL/CLS: At the request of Alice Calabrese, Exec. Dir. Byrnes attended the Chicago Library System (CLS) annual meeting on November 14 along with Louise McAulay and Mary Lou Lowrey from the Suburban Library System and Sarah Long from North Suburban Library System in support of multitype systems. Most CLS board members were in attendance, including those from the Chicago Public Library (CPL), along with librarians from several special and academic libraries. Alice read a letter to the membership about CPL withdrawing from CLS. It seemed to be the first time many of the members learned of the separation, and there was general dismay.

    China trip: Sarah Long has set up a website for the China trip. Exec. Dir. Byrnes contributed quite a few pictures and a journal. If you would like to take an armchair visit, the url is http://www.sarahlong.org/chinatrip

  7. COMMUNICATION

    1. Report of the President

      Pres. Kepka spoke with the new board members about how the board committees are structured. He appointed them to positions vacated by the retired members allowing the other members to continue on the committees they were previously assigned to.

      It was decided that the Planning Committee will meet at 6 p.m. on January 16 before the regular January board meeting to discuss the DLS Bylaws and criteria for awarding grants to member trustees to help defray the cost to attend National Library Legislative Day in Washington DC. They will also review the Executive Director’s goals for 2003.

    2. Report from the Illinois State Library - Neil Kelley

      • Budget: They are now projecting the shortfall in next year’s budget to be $2 billion. They do not plan to raise taxes.
      • Small Public Library Management Institute: 2003 will be the 10th anniversary of the Small Public Library Management Institute. The Institute will be held June 1 though June 6. This is an advanced offering to people who have attended before. A system director’s memo on this will be going out shortly.
      • School Per Capita: The school per capita application deadline is November 29. A list of applicants will be sent to the systems after that date.
      • ERXpo: This is a vendor fair, and all the vendors that participated in Try-It! Illinois will be there. The first one will be Tuesday, February 4 in Schaumburg, and the second will be Thursday, February 6 at the University of Illinois in Springfield.
      • Grants: The LSTA grant reviews have been completed, and the letters have gone out. ISL received over 500 applications and 220 libraries will be funded. Opportunity Knocks grants for first time grant writers were received from 164 applicants, and 85 percent of those were funded.
      • Try-It Illinois: This program ends November 30.
      • FirstSearch: FirstSearch has been available for about 10 years, and a recent statistic shows that over 800,000 searches are generated each month in Illinois alone.
      • On The Front Lines: March 17-19, 2003 has been set for the On The Front Lines Conference, which is for front line staff, and it will be held at the University of Illinois in Springfield.
      • Synergy: Dates have been set for Synergy, the leadership institute, and they will be held in January, March & July of 2003 and in January 2004. Information on this is on the ISL website. Applicants need to apply by January 31, 2003, and they will be notified of their acceptance on February 17.
      • Teleconferences: It is also the 10th Anniversary of the ISL tele-conferences, and one was held November 20 on GIS. These programs are archived on the ISL website for a period of one year, and can be viewed at any time during that 12 month period. Information collected from the website for this program showed that more people viewed it on web screening at their own computers then were registered at the various sites.
      • NoveList & E-Rich Program: The E-Rich program will be offered beginning July 1, 2003. NoveList will no longer be offered free of charge, but ISL will pick up 50 percent of the cost. ISL is trying to stretch the dollars and still offer bargains to libraries.

    3. Legislative Report

      Exec. Dir. Byrnes stated that she received an email on another filtering bill, HB 1215, that was introduced by Tim Schmitz of Batavia on November 20. It was not passed this week, but there will be another opportunity to try and pass it again in early December. Please contact your legislators.

    4. Correspondence

      Exec. Dir. mentioned that there is a memo in the correspondence file from Jesse White with a list of members who received LSTA grants.

  8. REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEES

    1. Executive Committee 

      The minutes from the Executive Committee held on Monday, November 18, were distributed to the board members. The evaluation of the Executive Director will be discussed later during closed session.

  9. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None

  10. NEW BUSINESS

    1. Closure of Illinois Youth Center Valley View Library

      The Illinois Youth Center Valley View Library closed in July, and DLS has officially been notified.

      Dir. Kagann moved, and V.P. Plourde seconded, that:

      DLS ACCEPT THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE ILLINOIS
      YOUTH CENTER VALLEY VIEW LIBRARY FROM
      DLS MEMBERSHIP.

      		 Member closing accepted.

      Motion carried unanimously.

      At 8 p.m., in accordance with 5ILS 120/2(c)(1) and 5ILS 120/2.06(3)(c), Dir. Kagann moved and Dir. Slusser seconded that:

      THE MEETING GO INTO CLOSED SESSION TO DISCUSS A PERSONNEL ISSUE, REVIEW THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REGARDING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S EVALUATION, AND TO REVIEW CLOSED SESSION MINUTES.

      		 Closed session approved.

      Motion carried unanimously.

  11. CLOSED SESSION

    At 8:50 p.m., Dir. Kagann moved and Dir. Brant seconded, that:

    THE MEETING MOVE BACK INTO OPEN SESSION. Meeting reconvened.

    Motion carried unanimously.

    1. Review of Closed Session Minutes

      The directors reviewed the minutes of previous closed sessions and determined that the 7/17/91, 3/31/92, 6/11/201, and 10/23/01 minutes would be released.

    2. Evaluation of Executive Director

      The Executive Committee recommendations and evaluation of the Executive Director were favorably discussed. Pres. Kepka reported that the Board agreed upon the 2003 recommended compensation for the Executive Director. Treas. Treest moved and Dir. Kagann seconded that:

      THE DLS BOARD ACCEPT THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.

      		 Board recommendation accepted.

      Motion carried unanimously.

      President Kepka announced that the DuPage Library System Executive Director’s Goals for 2003 would be an agenda item for the January 2003 Board meeting.

  12. ADJOURNMENT

    At 9:15 p.m., Treas. Treest moved and Dir. Hannah seconded that:

    THE MEETING BE ADJOURNED.  Meeting adjourned.

    Motion carried unanimously.

Respectfully submitted.

 

__________________________________

Joyce Whitehead, Secretary

 

__X__Minutes approved as read

__X__Minutes approved as amended

 

 

___________________________________

Robert J. Kepka, President