FEBRUARY 14, 2008

ATTENDANCE: Stan Siegel, President; Mary Mann, Vice President; Mary Pugh, Treasurer; Grace Vetter, Secretary; Mohan Tracy; Lori Toranno; Jannie Williams (7:15 p.m.)

STAFF: Les Kozerowitz, Library Director; Sherelle Harris, Manager of Branch Children’s Services; Reginald St. Fort, Manager of Branch Library

ABSENT: Charles McMullen, Regina Krummel

1. CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 by the President.

Mr. Siegel announced that Mr. McMullen and Ms. Krummel had indicated that they would not be in attendance.

2. PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments.

3. ADDITIONS TO AGENDA / ACTION ITEMS

Mr. Siegel asked that agenda item 7 be moved up so that it could be heard after item 5 in consideration of Mr. St. Fort’s schedule.

4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – 01/10/08

** MS. TRACY MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS SUBMITTED.
** MS. TORRANO SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

5. PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Mr. Siegel reported that he’d attended a Connecticut Library Association (CLA) Executive Board Meeting during the week. He stated that he was a Co-chair of CLA’s Development Committee and that he attends their regular monthly meetings. He said that at the last meeting he’d been informed that at the next annual CLA Conference to be held in Mystic, CT from April 28-30th that the Norwalk Public Library would be recognized for it’s Read campaign. He reminded the Board that the Norwalk Public Library had received a publicity award the previous year for its Laid Back Book Club Bookmark. He went on to say that the awards were fairly prestigious in that they weren’t given out haphazardly. Mr. Siegel said that he would be attending the CLA Conference where there would be an Award Session during which the Library would receive the Award and attendees would then have the opportunity to discuss particular campaigns and processes with award winners.

Ms. Vetter asked if Mr. Siegel would stay for the entire conference, adding that it would make sense for him to do so using funds from the Library Board.

Mr. Siegel said that it had been his intention to use Library Board funds for the registration fee, which was $65 for CLA members.

Ms. Vetter noted that a hotel would require additional funding.

Mr. Siegel said that he’d planned to drive back and forth each day from Mystic, CT. He was not sure at this time if he’d be attending the entire conference but that since the conference was not until April, he would furnish a conference program of events and his attendance, as well as any other interested Board Members, could be discussed further at the Board’s March meeting. Mr. Siegel continued, saying that he’d also attended an Association of Connecticut Library Boards (ACLB) Board Meeting, of which he is the president, that morning. He said that the ACLB had hoped to have their meeting at the South Norwalk Branch Library but was unable to do so due to a scheduling conflict. Instead, he said, the Board Meeting which was normally held in Durham, CT was held at the Wilton Library. He reported that the ACLB had decided at that meeting to hold an ACLB Leadership Conference this year on October 31st at Water’s Edge. He recalled that he, Ms. Krummel and Ms. Pugh had attended the previous year’s conference and he would be providing further program information to the Board as it becomes available.

7. STAFF PRESENTATION – REGGIE ST. FORT, SOUTH NORWALK BRANCH LIBRARY

Mr. St. Fort distributed and reviewed a five page document showing statistics of the South Norwalk Branch Library to the Board. He said that with the benefit of the renovation to the Branch, the square footage of the Branch had increased tremendously, attracting more patrons. He reported that there were approximately 8,000 visitors in December and 9,000 in January, an increase he attributed to the Branch being open on Saturdays. He said that Saturdays had started very slowly but as the months went by there was an obvious increase. He referred to the first page of the statistics document which showed that the total public services provided by the Branch between September and December of 2006 increased from 22,012 to 57,125 between September and December of 2007.

Ms. Williams arrived at 7:15 pm.

Ms. Pugh asked if Mr. St. Fort attributed the increase to Saturday hours.

Mr. St. Fort said that he attributed the increase to more repeat visitors, increased programs, and being opened on Saturdays. He stated that when the Branch first reopened there was an average of about 200 visitors per day and that had increased to about 350-400 people per day. He reported that visitors would line up at the door on Saturday mornings before the Branch opened for the day. Mr. St. Fort then referred to the last page of the document and noted that internet usage had also increased dramatically and he attributed this to Saturday hours.

Mr. Siegel asked how many full-time and part-time employees worked at the Branch.

Mr. St. Fort answered that there were four full-time employees and four part-time clerical employees. He said that staffing was a major concern at the Branch because there were not enough people to cover sick and vacation days. He said that it was difficult to hire part-time employees, which added to the stress, but that the current staff was doing a great job. He said that despite the shortage of staff, there was great diversity among them and languages spoken by staff included Spanish, Hindi, Russian, French, Haitian Creole, and English. He said that many people visited the Branch from Bridgeport and other surrounding areas, the local homeless shelter, and the passport office. He said that some of the Branch’s challenges included visitors who needed to access Library services to print last minute travel itineraries and some school children who didn’t always follow the rules of the Library. Mr. St. Fort said that he tried to keep computers open in the young adult area during the morning for people printing itineraries, but uncooperative school students still posed a challenge for Library staff. He reported that he and Ms. Harris would be meeting to discuss how to best address material circulation and shrinkage. He suspected that materials were leaving the Branch without being checked out due to structural obstacles, adding that people could walk in and out of the Branch without being seen by staff because of the layout of the building.

Ms. Vetter asked if there were security sensors on library materials at the South Norwalk Branch as there were at the Main Library.

Mr. St. Fort answered that they did not have such a system.

Ms. Toranno asked how much it would cost to install such a system in the Branch.

Mr. St. Fort explained that they’d had the sensors but physical obstacles prevented them from installing them. He said that detectors had to be placed a certain distance from the door but there was currently not enough space to install them correctly.

Ms. Toranno wondered if there’d been any upgrades to these systems that would allow their use at the South Norwalk Branch.

Mr. St. Fort said that it would be a financial challenge as well because they would have to be placed at the exit from the Children’s Department, by the elevators, and perhaps at the entrance and there would have to be staff in the area to monitor them.

Ms. Toranno asked if uncooperative school students were giving the staff any problems beyond unfavorable attitude and if the staff felt threatened at any time. She wondered if this was cause for added security.

Mr. St. Fort said that this was not so much a concern with the students but perhaps with patrons from the homeless shelter as some of them could be disturbed and unstable. He said that the staff tried to monitor these patrons closely and they’d had to notify police several times.

Mr. Siegel suggested that the Board consider holding their April meeting at the South Norwalk Branch to discuss some of the issues Mr. St. Fort had discussed, particularly the physical obstacles of the Branch. He stated that it would be easier to understand if the Board could see these obstacles themselves.

Ms. Toranno asked if there was an available comparison of the statistics from the South Norwalk Branch and Main Library.

Mr. St. Fort said that he could make that available to the Board.

Mr. Siegel suggested that the comparison could also be discussed at the April meeting. He said that the meeting would not be held on a Thursday evening as the Branch would be closed but perhaps the second Tuesday of April which would be April 8th.

Mr. St. Fort said that he’d appreciate that because he’d asked the entire staff to attend this meeting if they were able but only he and Ms. Harris were able to attend. A meeting at the Branch would be a great opportunity for the Board to meet the staff.

Ms. Tracy said that she was very impressed by the increased attendance at the Branch.

Mr. St. Fort said that it was very rewarding to see the attendance statistics but he was concerned that there hadn’t been a real increase in circulation of print materials.

Ms. Vetter asked how he accounted for that.

Mr. St. Fort said that he wasn’t sure but he suspected theft.

Ms. Harris suggested that people were also using the materials in-house instead of checking them out.

Ms. Vetter said that some people visited the Branch just for internet use and that usage could be compared to another library and see if the ratios match up.

Mr. Siegel suggested the Board could ask Mr. Kozerowitz to try and fill in some of the comparative details prior to the renovation and presently for discussion at the next meeting in preparation for the April meeting. He went on to commend Ms. Harris’ programs at the Branch, saying that the obvious value of the Branch had a lot to do with the great deal of programming taking place there. He said that there’d been an article in that day’s Norwalk Hour as a result of a press release issued with regard to a Presidents Day program on the 16th of February. He noted that the Library was getting a tremendous amount of press and interaction within the larger community and asked Ms. Harris if there were a fair number of people attending the Branch’s children’s events from outside the South Norwalk area.

Ms. Harris said that there were quite a few.

Mr. St. Fort noted that in addition to the programming Ms. Harris also did weekly class visits.

Mr. Siegel asked Ms. Harris what programs were scheduled for February and March.

Ms. Harris stated that in February, the Branch held the Black History Marathon and a Presidents Day program and in March there would be a history program with the Connecticut State Library. She recalled that in the previous year, a gentleman had performed a reenactment at the Branch as a Civil War Soldier and that this year he’d be reenacting as a Revolutionary War Servant. She added that blacks couldn’t serve in the Revolutionary War but the character wanted to dedicate his efforts to the war and so he became a servant to someone who was in the war. She then added that the Branch also held Lap Sits and Story Times.

Mr. Siegel said that it was his understanding that there were a couple of occasions when events had to be moved to other rooms at the Branch because of tremendous turnout.

Ms. Harris said that this had happened at the Boys to Men Book Club which was going very well.

Mr. Siegel told Mr. St. Fort and Ms. Harris that the Board in coming months would see if it could address some of their challenges and give some recognition to those people who should be recognized for their efforts at the Branch.

Ms. Harris distributed the Norwalk Public Library South Norwalk Branch Library Children’s Department Annual Report to the Board Members to read at their leisure.

Mr. Siegel asked the Board to go over the documents submitted by Ms. Harris and Mr. St. Fort for further discussion at the Board’s April meeting.

Ms. Toranno asked if there was any security assigned to the South Norwalk Branch Library.

Mr. Kozerowitz answered that there was a security guard at the Branch for four hours on Tuesday evenings. He stated that he’d asked for added security for the past two years and would discuss that further when he gave his report.

Ms. Toranno said that she volunteered for the homeless shelter for three years when it was first established and having worked with that population it concerned her that the staff could be placed in danger. She explained that there’d been a lot of decriminalization of the mentally ill, many of whom were on the streets and this was an unacceptable risk to Library staff in her opinion.

Mr. Siegel suggested adding this to the agenda for the Board’s next meeting.

6. TREASURER’S REPORT

a. Auditor’s Report

Ms. Pugh reported that in her review of the Auditor’s Report she saw nothing that was out of the ordinary. She said that the Board had significantly higher funds which she attributed to leftover money from a fund raising drive.

Mr. Siegel confirmed that there was $55,000 left over from that drive.

** MS. TORANNO MOVED TO ACCEPT THE AUDITOR’S REPORT AS SUBMITTED.
** MS. TRACY SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

b. Other

There was nothing to discuss under this item.

8. LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT

a. Entranceway Project

Mr. Kozerowitz reported that the project superintendent had told him earlier in the day that the entranceway would be done in one week.

Mr. Siegel said that he’d been discussing the idea with Mr. Kozerowitz of holding a ribbon cutting ceremony several weeks after the front entranceway was completed. He added that perhaps the Mayor, Board Members, contributing Common Council Members, the Architect and Contractor could attend. Mr. Siegel explained that he suggested the ceremony be held several weeks after the opening because there was no absolute certainty that it would be completed on time without incident and there would be a transition period of closing the back entrance and opening the front.

b. Staff Development Requests

Mr. Kozerowitz noted that the Board had funds in their budget for the use of staff development. He stated that there was a Staff Development Committee, comprised of the Treasurer, Vice President and the Library Director which recommended to the Board the approval of two Staff Development requests in the amount of $1,532 each. These requests were from Vicki Otis and Wendy Dunlop who wished to attend the Computers in Libraries Conference from April 7th – 9th in Arlington, VA. Mr. Kozerowitz recalled that the Board had sent three other employees to this conference in years prior, adding that this conference was the premier program for technology in libraries.

Mr. Siegel noted that Ms. Dunlop was a Reference Librarian and the Library’s Webmaster and Ms. Otis was the Children’s Librarian at the Main Library.

** MS. TORANNO MOVED TO APPROVE THE USE OF NORWALK PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD FUNDS FOR VICKI OTIS & WENDY DUNLOP TO ATTEND THE COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES CONFERENCE.
** MS. PUGH SECONDED.

Ms. Vetter asked how much money was in the Library Board’s fund for Staff Development.

Mr. Kozerowitz answered that there was no set amount but that funding was limited to $1,500 per staff member per year. He explained that in the past, spending on Staff Development had been limited to $2,000 but that was no longer the case.

Mr. Siegel suggested that a report be given at year’s end to see how much was spent on Staff Development during the present and previous years to look for patterns and adjust spending limits if necessary.

Ms. Tracy asked if this conference was an annual event.

Mr. Kozerowitz answered that it was, adding that he was thrilled that there was interest in the event and that he frequently encouraged the staff to take advantage of these funds.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Ms. Pugh asked if individuals who attended training or development were asked to give full reports to the rest of staff in addition to submitting their reports to the Board.

Mr. Kozerowitz said that they were asked to give reports to staff and these reports were either submitted in writing and disseminated among the staff or presented at meetings.

Ms. Pugh asked if any research was done to find beneficial development programs for staff to attend.

Mr. Kozerowitz said that there was no shortage of promotional material sent to the library regarding staff development.

c. Other

Mr. Kozerowitz reported that the new equipment for the fabrication of staff ID badges and photo ID library cards that the Board had recently approved the purchase of had arrived and staff had been trained in its use. He said that the system would probably be unveiled in April and showed the Board a sample of a new library card in comparison to a current library card. He said that there’d been incidents in which visitors to the Library were using other people’s cards to avoid paying late fees but with pictures on the cards, that issue would be remedied. He added that the new staff ID badges would be much more professional looking.

Ms. Pugh referred to the sample card and asked if a larger image could be placed on the cards for easier identification.

Mr. Siegel said that that could be done.

Ms. Vetter asked if the Library would require employees to use their actual full names on their ID badges as opposed to nicknames or first names only.

Mr. Kozerowitz said that employees would be required to use at least their first name but would not be required to use a full name because there’d been instances of people stalking library employees because full names were disclosed.

Ms. Toranno said that she supported not requiring last names for the protection of the staff.

Mr. Kozerowitz noted that as employees of the City, they were required to disclose their names if asked but he did understand the concern among the staff about stalking incidents.

Ms. Vetter asked if City Hall employees were required to wear name badges.

Mr. Kozerowitz answered that they were not.

Mr. Siegel stated that the Library Director could consult the Library Union to determine if they had any concerns with regard to the display of employees’ full names on badges. He added that if they did have such a concern it would supersede the decision of the Board of Library Administration.

Ms. Toranno offered that in the case of two employees with identical first names, they could be identified with a last initial, for example: Mary M. and Mary P.

Mr. Siegel noted that perhaps the first step would be to ask the staff if there was anyone who objected to the display of their full name and if there was no objection then full names could be printed.

Ms. Vetter stated that the staff would have to comply with the Administration’s standard and the determination should not be left to employees.

Mr. Siegel recommended waiting to see if this became a challenge for Administration.

Mr. Kozerowitz distributed the Library’s Operating and Capital Budget highlights. He restated that he’d requested funds from the City for security at the South Norwalk Branch which was not approved. He invited any concerned Board Member to attend the next public hearing on the budget in the following April where a case could be presented for such funding. He stated that he didn’t believe that the Branch would require a full 40 hours of security and he believed that Branch staff agreed.

Ms. Toranno believed that a security guard could be cost-justified on the basis that a guard would provide the dual service of protection of staff and patrons and theft prevention. She then asked if there was anything else that wasn’t approved that was of great concern.

Mr. Kozerowitz said that Mr. Siegel had accompanied him to the public hearing on the Capital Budget and the Committee had recommended three of the Libraries requests but had not recommended their request for $20,000 for the replacement of fire doors in the Main Library but overall the Committee’s decision had been fair given the circumstances. He went on to say that the largest item in their budget was salaries which comprised 75% of the Library budget. He stated that the Committee had recommended the Library’s request for a 3.5% wage increase for part-time employees, a request for a custodian for Saturdays at the South Norwalk branch and a request for funding for the opening of the Main Library’s Children’s Department on Thursday evenings.

Ms. Pugh said that the Library had had a high visibility year and it appeared to benefit them in their budget requests.

Mr. Kozerowitz agreed that awareness of the Library made a big difference and credited Mr. Siegel’s marketing efforts. He went on to say that he and Mr. Siegel had spoken to the former president of the Norwalk Common Council who’d advised them to call and lobby individual Common Council Members on behalf of the Library. Mr. Kozerowitz asked the Board to do the same.

Ms. Toranno asked that Mr. Kozerowitz work with Ms. Harris and Mr. St. Fort in documenting any incidents that would have been prevented or remedied by security in preparation for the upcoming public hearing in April.

Ms. Vetter asked if there were fewer incidents of theft or disturbances at the Main Library which had security.

Mr. Kozerowitz said that without doing a complete inventory of the Library, which he lacked the resources to do, he could not quantify any difference in incidents of theft with or without a security guard.

Ms. Vetter asked if having a guard at the Main Branch decreased other disturbances or incidents involving people with behavioral issues or intimidating patrons such as homeless patrons with mental illnesses.

Mr. Kozerowitz said that they hadn’t had to call the police at the Main Branch in quite a few years and he attributed this to the security guard, the teen room and well-trained, responsive staff. Mr. Kozerowitz said that he was a bit bothered by the equation of homeless patrons and problem causing and cautioned the Board against making this equation. He said that there were certainly some troubled homeless people who visited the Library but the Library probably had more trouble with people who were not homeless than with people who were. He stated that the Library’s policy was to accommodate anyone who wished to observe the rules of the Library whether they were homeless or the president of a bank and to ask anyone who did not observe the rules to leave.

Ms. Toranno admitted that she was generalizing the mentally ill and homeless population and wished to clarify. She explained that in the state of Connecticut as in many other states, the mentally ill had been deinstitutionalized and since there was no place for many of them to go they became homeless. She said that many of these people who were frequently dangerous were out on the street and she was troubled that the Library staff would have to be in assessment mode and make decisions as to if someone was likely to cause them or others harm.

Mr. Siegel said that one of his nagging concerns with the Library and its staff was the lack of dress code and suggested that if the staff dressed more professionally they would be portrayed more authoritatively. He wondered if this would help with problem causing patrons who might be better behaved in the presence of more professional looking staff. He said that Mr. Kozerowitz had a serious challenge with regard to dress code because of the Library Union and so there was very little if anything that he could do.

Ms. Vetter said that having full names printed on ID badges would add to that professional tone.

Mr. Siegel said that he would put an item on the agenda for the Board’s next meeting to discuss this further with Mr. Kozerowitz.

Ms. Toranno said that the topic of security encompassed more in her mind than just a security guard and brought up the idea of staff training in how to manage aggressive behavior. She said that she’d attended such a training session at Norwalk Hospital during which EMS workers were asked if they’d ever been attacked or assaulted on the job to which most of them responded that they had.

Mr. Siegel recalled that at the ACLB meeting he’d attended at the Wilton Library that day, the Board had wanted a tour of the Wilton Library but staff was unavailable to give a tour because they were all at a CPR training session. He said that this would also be discussed further at the next meeting.

9. OLD BUSINESS

a. The Big Read

Mr. Siegel reported that a Big Read Committee had been formed comprised of himself, Mr. Kozerowitz, the head of Reference Services, a Reference Librarian, a Teen Librarian, a Children’s Librarian, the Branch Children’s Librarian, the Festival of Words Project Director and a part-time Reference Librarian who was also a certified Meeting Planner. He said that the planning was moving along well and that Sam Weller would be attending and Barnes & Noble would be hosting a Book and Author Day on Sunday, April 6th. He added that more details would be available in March. He reported that the Library had officially applied for a Big Read Grant for 2009, the book being Tom Sawyer in order to bring a younger audience into the process, and the Grant papers had been accepted