Birmingham Public Library Board Minutes

Call To Order

• Meeting called to order by President Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch.
• Georgia Blair gave the invocation.

Approvals

• Georgia Blair moved the approval of the agenda. Nell Allen seconded the motion, which carried.
• Georgia Blair moved the approval of the consent agenda. Gwendolyn Amamoo seconded the motion, which carried.

Terry Oglesby, City Architect

• Pratt City funding was approved and the next step will be to have the contract approved.
• Craig Hoskins of Hoskins Architecture, LLC is currently working on a schematic layout of Inglenook Library where ADA work and renovations will take place.
• The a/c work and renovations at North Birmingham are close to completion. It is possible that additional work will be done on the meeting room.

Legal

• Nell Allen moved that the Library Board enter into executive session. Gwendolyn Amamoo seconded the motion, which carried.

Committee Reports

Personnel Committee

• The Personnel Committee met on Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. The minutes were accepted as information only. (attached)

Advocacy, Fundraising, and Development Committee

• The Advocacy, Fundraising, and Development Committee met on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. in the Board Room. Dora Sims reviewed the minutes. (attached)

• Dora Sims moved the accept the Advocacy, Fundraising, and Development Committee report as information only. Katrina Watson seconded the motion, which carried.

Unfinished Business

• Katrina Watson attended the Young Professionals Expo that was held on Tuesday, August 21, 2012 at the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center. There was constant traffic and Kelsey Bates and Chanda Temple did a great job with their booth.
• Renee Blalock thanked the Rotaract Club of Birmingham for donating school supplies for children.

Director's Report

Finance and Budget Update

• We are very pleased and excited that finally our materials and acquisitions budget is headed back in the right direction. As a result of the FY2013 Budget passed by the city council in July, the library's acquisitions budget has a net increase of $75,000 for the coming year. Jared Millet, our acquisitions head, has set the budgets for the coming year with increases based on circulation, ebooks, payment of databases, and a small reserve which will be used to respond to publishing surprises and other needs for the coming year. We are very grateful to our many users and to you, our board, who spoke up for us by writing, calling, and visiting the mayor and council members. In the end, this increase was placed in both the mayor's and the council's versions of the budget. We have not received the pay scale for the .5% salary increase across the board. We are in the process of providing the necessary paper work for eligible staff to receive merit raises ASAP.

Update of Library and Director Activities

• Our communications campaign and logo roll out as planned by staff and BIG Communications has been a great success. The whole staff has been engaged and everyone is excited and energized by this process. The Vonetta Flowers PSA continues on NBC 13 and they plan to carry it over into the Fall. I give much of the credit for good planning and the attention to details that made this process a success to Angela Hall. She managed all the ordering of new stationery, t-shirts, etc. with grace and skill which made the whole thing go off without a hitch! My thanks to her and all the other staff that were essential to our success including but not limited to Lisa Smith and Vonda Weldon in PR, Danny Dorroh and the Business Office Staff, and especially all the behind the scenes staff at Central and branch staff that made sure everything was set up and ready for all our events. The coordinators made their usual essential and excellent contribution from ordering cakes, to delivering them and making sure all of their staff had t-shirts, tablecloths, etc. and were ready to show off our new logo. My thanks go to the whole BPL team. No one could have a more competent, energetic, and skilled staff that I do. I am very grateful for them. And I think everyone had a great time! I know I did.
• Volunteers from our staff participated in the First Annual City Wide Sportsfest at the Crossplex on August 3. They competed against teams and individuals from all city departments. Tonya Clarke tied for first place in the hula hoop contest with two other City employees making all of us very proud as did our basketball team who made it to the finals. Teams from other departments had practiced which we had not. Everyone has vowed to start practice early next year!
• Chanda Temple, our new Pr Head, is doing a wonderful job and with all the upcoming events to promote the full schedule of programs at our libraries. (See below for some details.)

• Check out our redesigned Web page. It is much cleaner and easier to read. (http://www.bplonline.org)

• Plans for the BPL Young Professionals' Board are on schedule. Forms for nomination and applications are available at http://www.bplonline.org/yp. Ads are in publication and on the air waves and Kelsey Bates and Chanda Temple will attend the YP Expo sponsored by the BBA on August 21 to further promote this group. We can't wait for them to launch because we have lots we want to do with them.

• The Foundation continues its recruitment of new members and with one more recruit will have the full complement of ten members as outlined in its by-laws. Advertisement for the Development Officer position is in process.
• The Pratt City Branch rebuilding project is on hold until final approval from FEMA and the insurance is obtained. Bids have been opened and contract will be completed as soon the city hears from FEMA. We have received a donation from Bobby Humphrey resulting from the 5K race held in Pratt City during the commemoration of the tornado in April. Our grant proposal to the Daniel Foundation for furnishings not provided in the Bruno Foundation grant is pending. We will not hear about this until later in the Fall.
• The North Birmingham project continues progressing nicely. All staff are working at other locations for the duration. Stop by and see the animals that usually reside at North Birmingham and are presently housed in the Central Youth Department. They have provided lots of fun and will be an attraction for our usual after school students this fall.
• Summer reading has ended and I will have a report for you next month. By all reports all three programs—youth, teen, and adult—went very well.

• BPL staff members are working with the Mayor's Office on plans for celebrating 2013, the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham. BPL staff has scheduled a number of special programs to be presented at our libraries throughout the year. The first, which is a series at multiple locations showing the Barber of Birmingham is beginning in September.

• BPL Rules have been revised to include the new bag policy approved by the library board in June. New rules posters are on order and will be provided to all locations. The pads of the rules are in process at the City Print Shop and will be distributed as soon as they are done. In the meantime, the rules on our Web site have been revised and staff can print these out if anyone questions them about the rules or they need to remind someone of them.

Donations and Funds Received

• $1,000 to Five Points West from Rep. Moore for general supplies.
• $999.50 to East Ensley from Rep. Moore for computer and learning programs.
• 500.00 to Books By Mail (Powderly) from Arline Bryant

Upcoming Events

• I am providing fliers/brochures of upcoming events for your convenience.
• Annual School Supplies Giveaway, sponsored by The Rotaract Club of Birmingham, will be held at Avondale, Southside, and Wylam branches on Saturday, August 18 from 9-12. (FYI Katrina Watson is a member of this group.)
• The Eat Drink Read Write Series of food writing oriented programs will again be presented the week of September 8-15. Details may be found in the flier for all of these events. T-shirts are on sale in the Friends Bookstore. (A small correction—The Tuesday program will be presented free of charge and the $12 charge is canceled.)
• Bards and Brews, back at Central Library on September 14, will be part of the Eat Drink Read Write series. Sign up is at 6:30 PM, musical entertainment from 6:30 to 7:00, and performances from 7:00 to 9:00.
• We will be celebrating food and writing about food all week and hope very much you can join us for these events.

• Showings of The Barber of Birmingham at various BPL locations in September and October will begin our celebration of 2013's Fiftieth Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham. A flier detailing these showings is provided.

• The annual Youth Author/Storyteller will be Dave Holland this year. He will make presentations across the system the week of September 24. A flier with details is provided.

Exhibits in Central's Gallery and Beyond

• Both Sides of the Lens: Photographs by the Shackelford Family, Fayette County, Alabama (1910-1935) will feature 40 photographs from BPL's collection of early 20th century glass plate negatives taken by a family of African-American photographers who lived in Covin, Alabama.

• BPL's Common Bonds has been hung at the Five Points West Branch. This is an exhibit curated by our staff a few years ago that uses snapshots taken in Birmingham from 1900 to 1950 to showcase family activities and themes of everyday experiences of people living in Birmingham from all classes and races.

• The Watercolor Society of Alabama will mount their annual exhibit from September 7 through October 31.
• The Birmingham Historical Society's annual exhibit will be mounted from November 1 through December 31. I do not have the exact name of the exhibit but it will showcase the scrapbooks and life of Arthur Shores.

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/) to access BPL programs and events only, go to the BPL Web site at http://www.bplonline.org/programs/.

Comments

• Gwendolyn Amamoo stated that the Birmingham Public Library is well represented at the Alabama Library Association conference for Midwinter. Mrs. Amamoo also stated that the Library should look at newer books in very good condition that come from our Library stock that we pay $25.00 or more for. They are sold for $2.00 in the Friends Bookstore. With budget cuts and cut backs, we need to be mindful of such a matter.
• Nell Allen stated that the ball is rolling on the Learning Tree Park and that $250,000 will be used on the project through the Mayor's office.
• Dr. Witherspoon stated that the Vonetta Flowers public service announcement was great.
• Dora Sims thanked the Advocacy, Fundraising, and Development Committee and the Library Board. Mrs. Sims also stated that she is excited about the Library Board funded awards.
• Georgia Blair stated that Chanda Temple is doing a good job with the social media and is in line with ALA standards. Mrs. Blair also thanked all staff that helped with the new logo rollout.
• Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch thanked administration for the tweets about the Young Professionals Expo. Mrs. Welch attended a community forum at the North Avondale Library an upcoming forum will be held at West End Library. Next year is the 50th year of Civil Rights anniversary and administration will draft a letter to Dr. Craig Witherspoon to request desegregation materials that are currently housed at Doubly. Mrs. Welch encouraged Board members to smile and wave at Library employees and also thanked everyone for their hard work.

Submitted By

Irene S. Blalock, Secretary