Minutes 04-25-12 CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH
Boynton Beach City Library
Library Advisory Board Minutes
April 25, 2012
The Library Advisory Board meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m. by Chair Jeannie Taylor. All board
members were present except for Barbara Erlichman and Barbara McGee. New alternate member Barbara
Wineberg was introduced and welcomed by the board. The minutes of the March 28, 2012 meeting were
approved as distributed.
Correspondence: Barbara Erlichman notified the chair of her planned absence at the meeting.
Chair's Report: Chair Jeannie Taylor distributed an executive summary of the 2012 State of American
Libraries, a report from the American Library Association. She noted a common theme, widespread cuts to
libraries materials budgets. Advocacy to governing agencies throughout the country is needed to avert these
cuts which could have long term consequences.
Unfinished Business:
- Library Director, Craig Clark, reported on the Earth Day ribbon - cutting ceremony to celebrate the Library's
new Electric Vehicle Charging Stations. It was a fun event with a Volt coming from Ft Myers, a Tesla from
Europe, and a few local electric cars too. The city may eventually get some Volts for their fleet.
- Craig also reported that the new Overdrive e-Books system has launched. Customer training is underway
and lending is going well. Statistics will be distributed next month.
- The board was updated on the 2012 -2013 Library Budget Request. A budget meeting with the City
Manager and Finance Director resulted in some changes. The book budget was increased slightly to $120.9k
(a smaller decrease than the initial cut). The Teen Services Librarian position is requested to be funded. The
library is still depending on the funds raised by the Friends of the Library for programming. On a side note,
Craig mentioned that the Friends had their best month ever in the Book Store, raising about $2400. The City
Commission will meet in a Budget Workshop July 16 -18 and all board members are encouraged to attend.
- The Unique Management collection Services report for Mar 2012 was distributed to the board. The
company continues to collect materials and fines which were previously uncollectible.
-Craig announced that the library has applied for several grants including an LSTA $12k grant to bring in a
trainer to work with citizens to get them ready to re -enter the work force. Another grant has been applied for
to use for purchasing archival storage for materials donated by the Boynton Beach Woman's Club. A grant
from Target was submitted for a program to help kids build their own library collections at home.
New Business — No new business but members were encouraged to submit agenda items for future meetings.
Library Director's Report - Craig distributed the monthly report for March 2012 and noted that circulation
is flat compared to last year. The lack of a teen services librarian continues to be seen in the lower teen
statistics. The archived materials digitization project is progressing with materials from 1965 to 1972 next in
line for digitization.
The next Library Board meeting is May 23, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Valerie Pleasanton Secreta
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