Birmingham Public Library Board Minutes

Call To Order

• Meeting called to order by President Gwendolyn R. Amamoo.
• Dora Sims gave the invocation.

Approvals

• Georgia Blair moved the approval of the agenda with the following addition. Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch seconded the motion, which passed.
  • Renee Blalock added "Coordinator positions and Library Board president's authority to approve third coordinator positions"
• Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch moved the approval of the consent agenda with the following addition. Georgia Blair seconded the motion, which passed.
  • Add the "Director's report"

Terry Oglesby, City Architect

• There are a few odds and ends things that need to be done at the Pratt City Library.
• The Inglenook Library renovation project is moving along. The exterior has dried and work on the interior has begun.
• The City is working on the branch library building projects and they will go out for bids soon.
• The coils on the chillers at the Central Library must be replaced.
• There are still problems with the roof at the Southside Library. The roof repairs will be covered under warranty.

Nicole King, City Attorney

• Under recommendation from Nicole King, City Attorney, Gwendolyn B. Guster welch moved the approval to go into executive session to discuss pending litigation. Georgia Blair seconded the motion, which passed.

Coordinator Positions

• Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch moved the approval to hire Felita Hawkins as the Coordinator of the Southern region and Branch Head at the Avondale Library and to hire Jared Millet as the Coordinator of Collection Management and the Department Head of Acquisitions. Georgia Blair seconded the motion, which passed.
• Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch moved the approval for the Library Board President, Gwendolyn Amamoo, to have the authority to approve the hiring of the Central Library Public Services Coordinator. Katrina Watson seconded the motion, which passed.

Committee Reports

Nominating Committee

• The Nominating Committee met on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 and recommended that Gwendolyn Amamoo remain as the Library Board President and Georgia Blair remain as the Library Board Vice President for 2014.
• Patty A. Pilkerton nominated Samuel Rumore for Library Board Vice President for 2014.
• A vote was taken for the 2014 Library Board President and the vote for Gwendolyn Amamoo was unanimous.
• A Vote was taken for the 2014 Library Board Vice President and a vote for Georgia Blair was taken (6 yes) and for Samuel Rumore (1 yes). Georgia Blair will serve as the Library Board's Vice President for 2014 with a 6-1 vote.

Director's Report

Update of Library and Director Activities

• Much time has been devoted to the Pratt City Branch grand reopening which will be on January 30. This project has been a long time coming and has required the time of many staff members from the collection management area to the business office to administration and public relations. We expect several hundred people to be in attendance. The building and the furnishings are beautiful and we expect this library to go along way toward revitalizing this area that was hit so hard by the tornado in 2011.
• We are glad we will not be closing East Ensley Branch and are excited for the opportunity to select a new branch head for that location. This branch will return to regular neighborhood library hours on January 27 when the Pratt City Branch staff return to their new library full time. Sandra Crawley, the coordinator for these branches, will arrange for substitute staff to keep East Ensley open while the hiring process for the new branch head proceeds. We expect to have the new branch head in place in the next couple of weeks.
• The Inglenook project is going well but the substantial completion date has been changed to March 31. We have identified funding for new furnishings for this branch and are working with the Inglenook staff and the architect to make selections.
• Angela Hall and I continue working with staff at the City to get the many smaller projects begun to make improvements to our libraries using bond funds allocated for this purpose. We have begun the process of planning the Wylam Branch project. We have met with staff and begun outlining a program which will contain what we want for the branch renovation and expansion including a meeting room and an expanded staff workroom. The city will secure an architect for this project later this winter. A very costly problem has cropped up in our Central HVAC system which must be repaired before warm weather returns.

• The planning process for the renovation of the Central Library is going well. We have posted an “ideascale” on our Web site to gather ideas and suggestions from the public. The address is for this site is http://bplrenovation.ideascale.com/ or you can go to our homepage where there is a button connecting users with this site. We have issued a press release and will be printing bookmarks to publicize this opportunity in our branches ASAP. A banner will be hung from the crosswalk advertising this site.

• We are in the process of advertising and filling Marguerite Scott’s vacant coordinator position at Avondale, the director of development position, and identifying the two coordinator positions for Central Public Services and Collection Management. We will be very busy interviewing for these positions over the next two to three weeks.
• Declaring Alabama's Right to Libraries--Alabama Library Legislative Day will be held on Tuesday, February 18, 2014, from 1-3:30PM in Montgomery at the capital. We are planning to go and would love for board members to go if they can. I’ll send more information to everyone closer to time. Registration opens at 12:30PM at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery. The organizer for public libraries is the Alabama Public Library Service.
• If you get a chance stop by the East Building Staff Room on the Fourth Floor. It has had a complete redecoration--a project carried out by Angela Hall and the library ‘s maintenance staff. They removed the cloth on the southern wall, repaired it and painted it. Hope Cooper, We took advantage of some chairs from Pratt City that were not heavily damaged and could be cleaned and restored.
• A new resource for children was added to our online resources called Tumble Book Library. It is is an online collection of animated, talking picture books which teach kids the joy of reading in a format they'll love. Look for this link on our homepage.

Gifts, Grants, Awards, and Donations

• A report on 2013 fundraising is attached

Upcoming Events

• The Local Authors Expo and Book Fair will take place on February 1 at the Central Library. Authors are registering and plans are being made for workshops and associated programs. More details to come.
• Bards and Brews will take place on February 7 at the Five Points Wet Branch.

• Smart Investing, the finance education series which will be called Making Cents locally, will continue through May of 2014. A full calendar of events may be found at http://making-cents.org/. This grant funded project is designed to educate the public on personal finance topics and is a collaboration between libraries in Jefferson County and libraries in Shelby County. The full schedule is also available on http://www.birmingham365.org.

Exhibits in Central’s Gallery

• Ladies, Gentlemen and Bazards: The Art of Lois Wilson , 4th Floor Gallery from January 6 to February 21, 2014. Featuring a little known Alabama artist who died in 1980, the exhibit focuses on Wilson’s “found art” where she used wood that she scavenged from demolition sites, parts of furniture that she disassembled, old brushes, ironing boards, toilet seats and left over food for coloring to take the trash that other people discarded and create art. The art illustrates the issues that were important to Wilson: environmentalism and conservation, racism, spiritualism, the needs of the aged and homeless, and the emptiness of modern American materialism. Laquita Thomson, Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee will give a lecture entitled Alabama Mystic or Alabama Outsider: The Art of Lois Wilson at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 2, 2014 in the Arrington Auditorium. A gallery tour will follow.

Reminders

• Sign up for a newsletter of all additions to the library collection from this link on our homepage:
• Dial a Story—Call (205) 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/

New Business

• The City Legal Department will research the legality of a minor child being supervised by an older sibling in the Library and report back to the Library Board.
• Administration will send a copy of the Collection Management Policy that will clarify the Library purchasing books from self-published authors.
• Nicole King will have the Trustee Policy manual reviewed in the next few months and will present findings to the Personnel Committee.

Comments

• Kimberly Richardson enjoyed participating and attending the 2014 Local Author's Expo.
• Dora Sims stated that she is running for the 2014 United for Libraries President position and asked for the Library Board members' votes. The voting will take place March 19-April 25, 2014.
• Georgia Blair congratulated Russell Lee for being featured in the Walker Magazine, offered condolences to Samuel Grainger for the loss of his sister, expressed concern that the Library needed an evacuation plan in case of an emergency in the building, and lastly thanked the Library Board for electing her the 2014 Library Board Vice President.
• Gwendolyn B. Guster Welch thanked Kimberly Richardson for her leadership on the Nominating Committee, thanked Nicole King for her work on reviewing the Trustee Policy manual, and stated that she would like to see the Pratt City Library broaden the collection.
• Katrina Watson enjoyed the 2014 Local Author's Expo.
• Dr. Regina Ammon stated that the Friends funded the 2014 Local Author's Expo.
• Gwendolyn Amamoo thanked the Library Board for their support, thanked Jennifer Neely for her service to the Library Board, and thanked Chanda Temple for her work on the 2014 Local Author's Expo.

Submitted By

Irene S. Blalock, Secretary