McDonald County Library

Roll Call – The meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m. Those members present were Sheila Owens, Erlene Gideon, Alice Snodgrass, Ann Crowder-Sanders, Rachel Abercrombie, and Carrie Cline. Rick Peck was a visitor for a brief time.

Reading of Minutes – After reviewing the March minutes, Sheila made a motion to approve them as written, Ann seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

Director’s Report

• Carrie presented the statistics for March.
• The Book Sale starts Monday, April 15^th.
• Our large Obituary database has been hosted by GoDaddy very inexpensively for a long time, but now they are discontinuing this service. To save money, Charlie is going to create a database that we can host locally. He and Bruce have been getting the equipment ready this week.
• This morning the entire staff attended an E-reader Petting Zoo and Training, taught by Bruce. It was very informative, and now we feel better prepared to assist our patrons on various devices.
• All three libraries, especially Noel and Pineville, are re-doing the children’s spaces as an Equalization project. Neither library has enough room for all of our young patrons, and we are going to make the space larger and more appealing.
• Instead of a table of prizes this year, area merchants have agreed to be part of our “Freebie Card,” which children and teens can earn this summer after reading 10 hours. This card is going to be worth a great deal of money, and they can take advantage of every offer on it.
• The fixtures in the hallway near the public bathroom have never worked since I arrived in 2001. We have installed a nice little light on the wall which will light the way to the restroom very nicely.
• The Non Fiction grant has been received and can be spent this coming week. The appropriate titles will be purchased ASAP, cataloged, and put out on display to check out as many times as possible before the Final Report is due in August.

Continue reading Board of Trustees Minutes for April 12, 2013

Roll Call – Alice called the meeting to order at 4:35 p.m.  Those members present were Alice Snodgrass, Erlene Gideon, Rachel Abercrombie, Ann Crowder-Sanders, Sheila Owens, and Carrie Cline.

Reading of Minutes – After reviewing the February minutes, Ann made a motion to approve the minutes, Rachel seconded, and they were approved unanimously.

Director’s Report

• The February statistics were presented.
• Carrie will be attending the fund-raising carnival at the high school on Saturday, March 9th to represent the library at the Book Walk attraction.  Thank you to Bruce Arnold for helping to haul the many boxes of free books over to the high school.
• Concerning the Summer Reading Program, Carrie has called each school and will have booths at various parent nights and carnivals in March and April to hand out material to families.
• Story times have been going well.  Yesterday, for the first time ever, there were more participants at Southwest City (25) than at Pineville (20)!  Very exciting for Southwest City!
• Since receiving the E-reader grant, the five devices are being shipped.  Once they are here, we will be having a staff workshop to learn the devices, then various “Petting Zoo” events for patrons at Pineville and Southwest City in April before the Summer Reading Programs begin.
• Shannon will be leaving us at the end of the month for another job.  We wish her all the best, and the schedule will be amended to help save the library some additional hours.  We might be able to reopen on Friday mornings during the summer.
• Carrie attended the Epsilon Sigma Alpha meeting and received the “Diana Award” for achievement.
• The April book sale will be during the week of April 15th.

Continue reading Board of Trustees Minutes for March 8, 2013

Roll Call – The meeting was called to order at 4:35 p.m. Those members present were Erlene Gideon, Alice Snodgrass, Sheila Owens, Rachel Abercrombie, Ann Crowder-Sanders, and Carrie Cline.

Reading of Minutes – After reviewing the minutes from December, Sheila made a motion to approve them as written, Ann seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

Director’s Report

• Carrie presented the December statistics and the 2012 Year-End statistics.
• The library will team up with Carol Owens at the High School library to host an after school program each week entitled, “Permanent Addictions : Books, Beans & Blogs.” The ultimate goal is to find teens to volunteer next summer during the Summer Reading Program and to take part in the teen activities we have planned in June and July.
• We have trimmed over 14 hours out of the employee schedule per week, which we hope adds up to a substantial cut.
• The Friday closings have gone over very well, with very little complaining from patrons. Many patrons expressed their support for the library if we ever try for a tax increase.
• Carrie and Wes will attend the Noel Primary Family Technology night at the end of the month to promote our material and programs.
• Anna Gibbs was named the McDonald County Library Volunteer of the Year because of her selfless donation of time and skill whenever we need it. She is especially valuable during the book sales.

Continue reading Board of Trustees Minutes for January 11, 2013