Birmingham Public Library Board Minutes

Call To Order

• Meeting called to order by President Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch.

Approvals

• Georgia Blair moved the approval of the agenda. Dora Sims seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
• Georgia Blair moved the approval of the consent agenda. Dora Sims seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Terry Oglesby, City Architect

• Terry Oglesby introduced two new City Architects, Earl Bush and Gary Olman.
• Earl Bush is working with Craig Hoskins on the Inglenook Library renovations. A proposal has been submitted and should be put on the City Council's agenda in the near future.
• Five Points West damage from the April storms will be repaired very soon.
• North Birmingham Library's roof replacement and renovations will be completed once City Council approves the contract.
• Bruce Harrington and Anne Marie Ellis of Harrington Architects are working on the Pratt City rebuild project. They are looking at function, spaces, and uses of the Library and will present a final program proposal on Monday, January 30, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. in the Board room. All Library Board members are invited to attend.

Staff Spotlight

• Saundra Ross-Forrest was presented with a resolution from the Library Board honoring her for the I Love My Librarian Award that was presented to her in New York on December 8, 2011. Gwendolyn Amamoo presented her with the resolution.

Message from the President

• attached

Committee Reports

Public Relations Committee

• The Public Relations Committee met on Wednesday, January 11, 2012. SIX Branding and Design Company presented their BPL Logo proposal to the Committee. The Committee voted to accept the logo proposal.
• Dora Sims moved that the Library Board accept the logo proposal by SIX Branding and Design Company. Gwendolyn Amamoo seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Nominating Committee Meeting

• Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch and Samuel Rumore were nominated for 2012 President of the Library Board. Mr. Rumore withdrew his name from the nomination and stated he would like to run for Vice-President. Gwendolyn Welch called for a vote. Mrs. Welch was voted in as the 2012 Library Board President with a vote of 6-1 (6yes votes- Gwendolyn Amamoo, Samuel Rumore, Katrina Watson, Dora Sims, Georgia Blair, Gwendolyn Welch; 1 no vote- Nell Allen)
• Gwendolyn Amamoo and Samuel Rumore were nominated for 2012 Vice-President of the Library Board. Gwendolyn Welch called for a vote. Gwendolyn Amamoo received 4 votes (Gwendolyn Welch, Georgia Blair, Gwendolyn Amamoo, and Dora Sims). Samuel Rumore received 3 votes (Nell Allen, Katrina Watson, and Samuel Rumore). Gwendolyn Amamoo was voted in as the 2012 Library Board Vice-President.
• Nell Allen moved the approval of the Nominating Committee minutes. Katrina Watson moved the approval to accept the minutes for information only, which carried.

Fred Fullerton, City Attorney

• The Board voted unanimously to go into executive session.

Director's Report

Finance and Budget Update

• Let me know if you have any questions regarding the budget reports. The audit report is the best we have received in several years. Danny Dorroh does a good job and I appreciate it very much.

Director's Activities

• The Birmingham Public Library Foundation Board has been meeting regularly to work on getting the renovation of the Central Library complex in the upcoming bond election. We met with the mayor on January 25. We will have a report for the board at the meeting. Tony Smoke, an executive with Alabama Power has joined the board as one of the public members. The Foundation will continue in its efforts to recruit members but the work on the bond issue has kept us busy for the past few weeks.
• Several projects are getting underway at the same time. These include Pratt City renovations and temporary site, new HVAC and roof at North Birmingham, and the Inglenook renovations which are still in the early stages. We are enjoying it but it is very hectic.

Miscellaneous

• SaveFirst Tax services are up and running at three BPL branches: Smithfield, Woodlawn, and West End. They will be in operation until mid-April.

• A new BPL partner, First Teachers @Home will provide programs for parents at Smithfield and Titusville branches. The classes will begin on February 4 and will continue every Saturday for 16 weeks.
• Staff is continuing to focus training on ebooks and social software. The L2 Crew is presenting a series of programs on social networking software such as Facebook for staff over the next few weeks. We are also presenting a workshop to improve job interviewing and application skills and knowledge for BPL staff. This workshop will be presented twice.
• BPL has been invited by the Alabama Humanities Foundation to host “Making Sense of the American Civil War” which is a scholar hosted reading and discussion series. The series will be in March and April. Participants will be asked to register. You will receive detailed information as soon as all is finalized.
• BPL is working with the Mayor's Office on plans for celebrating 2013 the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham.
• Chuck Faush, the Mayor's chief of staff, has asked that our libraries provide programming on Negro League Baseball during February.

Gifts and Grants Received

• The Smithfield Neighborhood Association has given Smithfield Branch $1000 to purchase materials and supplies.
• Our donation campaign has ended but we continue to receive gifts. To date we have received over $17,000.
• Be sure to write BPL a check or go to our Web page and click on the "Donate Now" button and make a contribution. Also, ask your friends and family to make a donation. The amount you give is not important, but having all board members support the campaign is.

Current and Upcoming Events

• Our Spirit Will Not Be Broken: Voices from the April Storms, a poetry program for victims of the April tornadoes will end on January 31. A publication highlighting these works is planned.
• The Art of Science series of after school programs have been extremely well received. These programs presented by Elinor and Winfield Burks at libraries around the system are funded by the Kresge Arts in Birmingham Grants administered by the Cultural Alliance.
• First Saturdays Poetry Workshops for Teens—next one is February 4, 2-4 PM. These workshops are conducted by Real Life Poets, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to mentor young adults, encourage good communication, and oratorical skills using spoken word poetry.
• Word Up! Student Poetry Slam 2012 will be held on April 1 at the Central Library. This is the fifth anniversary of this program and a number of special events will lead up to Word Up! They will take place in March.

Exhibits in Central's Gallery

• African American History Makers Quilt Exhibition, January 3—February 24
• Works from the African art collection of Mrs. Amamoo in the First Floor display windows during January and February

Reminders

• Dial a Story - Call 226-3650 to listen to a great story over the phone!

• Be sure to check the BPL Blog at http://bplolinenews.blogspot.com/ to keep up with all the activities going on at this library. You can subscribe and have any updates sent to your email if you have not already done so.

• Sign up for the BPLinks newsletter at http://www.bplonline.org/programs/

• All BPL programs and events are listed on Birmingham365.org (http://birmingham365.org/) and on the BPL Web site at http://www.bplonline.org/programs/.

New Business

• It is the recommendation of the Director to close the North Birmingham Regional Library on or about March 1, 2011 when the contractor is ready to begin building renovations. This recommendation was unanimously approved.
• There will be a Personnel hearing on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 5pm. All Board members are invited to attend.

Comments

• Katrina Watson congratulated Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch and Gwendolyn Amamoo on their Library Board officer appointments and she also stated that she loves the new BPL logo.
• Samuel Rumore stated that he enjoyed writing The Alabama Meetings article and distributed copies to the Board.
• Nell Allen attended the NAACP award program. She also congratulated BPL staff for a clean audit and Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch and Gwendolyn Amamoo for their Library Board officer appointments.
• Gwendolyn Amamoo thanked the Library Board for voting her in as the 2012 Vice-President. She also congratulated the Library Board and BPL staff for a job well done.
• Dora Sims congratulated the Library Board and BPL staff for a year of good work. She also encouraged all members to vote at the annual ALTAFF meeting to keep the ALTAFF name from changing to United for Libraries.
• Georgia Blair congratulated Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch and Gwendolyn Amamoo on their Library Board officer appointments. She also stated that Council President Roderick Royal is concerned about the location of the new Pratt City Library.
• Gwendolyn Welch thanked Gwendolyn Amamoo for donating items to be used in the display center on the first floor of the Library. She also thanked administration for their hard work.

• Angela Hall stated that the Books for All Seasons as well as the 2012 AT&T calendars are available.

Submitted By

Irene S. Blalock, Secretary