Hickory Public Library Advisory Board

A meeting of the Hickory Public Library Advisory board was held on Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 4:15 p.m. in the Patrick Beaver Memorial Library Meeting Room.

The following members were present: Jason Savage, Michelle Revis, Jeanie Sullivan, Judith Ivester, Adrienne Washer, Jon Guelzow

Ex-officio members present: HPL Friends President Linda Monroe

Members absent: Suzanne Jeffers, Ricki Helton, Viola Williams, Elizabeth Hill, and ex-officio member RV Friends President Agnes Wright

Others present: Library Director Corki Jones, Human Resources Director Joan Patterson, Library Marketing/Program Coordinator Jan Knotts, and Minutes Clerk Patty Williams

A quorum was present. Chairman Guelzow called the meeting to order.

• Mrs. Sullivan moved, seconded by Mr. Savage to approve the February 9, 2006 minutes. The motion carried unanimously.

• Library Director’s Report—Corki Jones

Mrs. Jones said the Library is accepting applications for three summer positions.

The budget year is winding down and purchase orders will be cut off on May 1. The Library is currently at full staff. Mrs. Jones said she had a budget meeting with Catawba County Manager Tom Lundy last week about the county’s contributions. She discussed with Mr. Lundy that the materials budget is lagging.

The performance evaluation procedure has changed to only one cycle per year instead of two and they are due on May 1. Mrs. Jones said most of her coworkers have workplans and the evaluation have been good. She is very proud of the staff—they always go above and beyond.

• Programming Report

Mrs. Knotts gave out packets including a calendar for May. Adult programming is ending with the exception of computer classes and the summer focus will be on children. Mrs. Knotts asked the Board for suggestions for adult programs for summer. With regard to summer reading program, she thanked the Friends of Library groups who contribute greatly to the success. A promotional program for the Summer Reading Program is always taken into the schools. This year they are taking Ben Franklin. A gentleman from South Carolina dresses like Ben Franklin and does reading program that is entertaining and educational. National Library Week just ended. A children’s illustrator was here and author Silas House. Finally author Tim O’Brien was here for The Big Read. Mr. Knotts spoke of the success of The Big Read and again thanked the Friends for their work including a fabulous dinner. Mrs. Jones commended Mrs. Knotts highly for all her excellent work during the last month. Mrs. Ivester said the North Carolina Touring Ensemble did a terrific job with Star Spangled Girls. She said it was a phenomenal, wonderfully done and showed the value of historical research. Mrs. Knotts agreed that the show was very authentic and WWII women veterans commented on the authenticity of it.

• Friends of the Library Reports

• Ridgeview Library—no report because Ridgeview Friends president Agnes Wright was absent.

• Patrick Beaver Memorial Library—Friends president Linda Monroe said their last meeting was a joint meeting with Ridgeview. She said the two Friends groups do a lot together and a lot separate. The fourth Saturday book sales are going well. They raised $950 in February and $700 in March. A bookseller bought many books and Hickory Park Furniture bought all the Readers Digest condensed books for their displays. The next sale is on April 22. New customers come to each sale. The recent bookmark contest was popular. Ms. Monroe handed out samples of the winning bookmarks. Two Friends recently attended a workshop and returned with good ideas including one to give out Friends of the Library applications with each new library card. She said the Friends want to reach out more to the Latino community and have a representative on the Friends board. The Big Read dinner was a great success. Mrs. Washer said the invitation was a little unclear because it didn’t say anything about a dinner. She also said her husband was not invited. Ms. Monroe said she would mention that to the Board, but added that the budget was limited. Mr. Guelzow said one of the joys of the dinner was sitting with Billy Vang, a Hmong, who can probably recommend Hmongs for the Friends of the Library.

• Committee Report

• Outreach to homebound committee

Mrs. Ivester presented the following report:

Respectfully submitted,

Jeanie Sullivan and Judy Lavin

Mrs. Ivester spoke about a North Carolina State intern to help find a grant to fund the person to operate this program. Startup for this program would be about $50,000. Mr. Savage asked about continuing cost. She said it would continue at about $50,000. Mrs. Knotts asked if we would be limited to the state’s definition of “handicapped”. Mrs. Ivester said no, we can write our own definition. Discussion followed with Mr. Guelzow saying that we can get ideas from some of the video companies with regard to distribution. Some of them distribute by mail. Mrs. Ivester commented, “Something is better than nothing”. She said that in talking with the City Manger, she knows the budget is going to be very tight again this year and in such an economic environment it is hard to fund a new program. She said that Mr. Berry said if we could show some progress and some usage, then it might be possible to get some money for it. Ms. Sullivan suggested that we might be able to work in tandem with some other organization like Meals on Wheels to get the program started. Mrs. Jones said that it might work with volunteers in the beginning if there was one volunteer per customer.

• Old Business
• Hiring of new director—Human Resources Director Joan Patterson said the position was advertised for a month and a half. Thirty-three applications have been received with most of them being qualified candidates. Fourteen are from North Carolina. The applications will be reviewed over the next week with Mrs. Jones assistance to reduce them to a manageable number. Names of applicants are confidential in North Carolina. Mrs. Patterson said that the City would probably use an assessment center process to choose the new Library Director. She explained that an assessment center consists of three to four exercises with a panel of people that assess each candidate on each exercise. The exercises are designed to simulate the work environment and work situation. Last time this was done the panels were made up of department heads, a library employee, a library board member and others. The final decision should be made by the end of May.

Mrs. Ivester said the assessment center is a good idea. She said when the Library’s five-year plan was done through focus groups two years ago, the role of the library was addressed and the desire was not to return to an “old fashioned” library. She said she hoped the idea of “what is a library?” would be addressed in the assessment center. Mrs. Patterson said she would see that this issue is included in one or more of the exercises.

• New Business—none

VI. There being no further business, upon motion made by Mr. Savage, seconded by Mrs. Ivester, that the meeting adjourn at 5:00 p.m.

Patty Williams, MMC

Minutes Clerk