Fargo Public Library Board of Directors
Fargo City Commission Chambers
Minutes of June 17, 2014
Present:
Helen Levitt, Mary Dickson, MaryBeth Hegstad, Herb Synder, Gary Groberg
Absent:
Howard Barlow, Becky Walen
Other:
Bob Jansen, President of Friends of the Fargo Public Library
Staff:
Tim Dirks, Steve Hubbard, Ben Daeuber, Beth Postema
The meeting was called to order by Board Chair, Helen Levitt, and a quorum was declared.
Order of Agenda
A motion was made by Herb Snyder to accept the Order of the Agenda. Gary Groberg seconded the
motion; the motion carried.
Minutes of the May 20, 2014 Regular Meeting
MaryBeth Hegstad moved to approve the minutes of the May 20th meeting. Mary Dickson seconded the
motion; motion carried.
Staff Report
Steve Hubbard presented highlights from the library:
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Great amount of activity is going on with the Summer Reading Program; there are a remarkable
number of people in the libraries and attending programs
Steve presented a summary of SRP registrations for thus far in the summer; already totals
eclipse those of the entire summer of 2013
For the Mad Scientists of Minnesota program, over 500 adults and children attended at the
three library locations; over 300 came to programs presented by the Red River Zoo
Teens have enjoyed creative programs such as “Building Balsa Bridges”
For Adult programming over 75 attended the Flag Day concert and 35 people participated in the
“Sherlock in the Stacks” event
Steve highlighted future events including an author visit by Christina Baker Kline as part of the
One Book One Community program.
MaryBeth Hegstad asked if these events were promoted through social media. Tim Dirks replied that
Melisa Duncan, community relations coordinator, uses various social media as part of library promotion
efforts.
Director’s Report
Tim Dirks directed the board to the report included in the packet.
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He highlighted that construction on the 28th Street and 32nd Avenue South intersection in front
of the Dr. James Carlson Library will begin the week of July 7 and is scheduled to be completed
in 28 days.
Northport parking lot reconstruction is taking place this summer. The lot is being rebuilt a third
at a time; the portion in front of the Northport branch will begin replacement on July 17.
All announcements for programs taking place at affected branches will include notice about
access points and recommended routes to each library.
Statistical Reports
May Usage
Library visits in May were down a little from 2013. Internet sign-ups continue to decline. However,
programming numbers are holding steady, and circulation is up slightly.
May Financials
The Friends have given grants totaling $4,000 for staff development activities and for supporting the
Children’s Summer Reading program. Tim Dirks reported that overall the expenditures are on target; he
is monitoring the natural gas expenditures. Revenues are also on target for this point in the fiscal year.
Friends of the Library Report
Friends President Bob Jansen reported that the Friends board had not yet met since the last FPL Board
meetings. They are still looking for additional board members. They are also looking into sales patterns
by shifts for the Main library bookstore. Helen Levitt expressed appreciation for all that the Friends do in
support of the Fargo Public Library. Tim Dirks emphasized their role in boosting morale of staff through
the Staff Development funds.
New Business
2015 Library Budget
Tim Dirks reviewed the narrative budget proposal for the Fargo Public Library for the 2015 fiscal year. He
highlighted the requests for two full-time staff positions. The reference associate would allow other staff
members such as the systems librarian, technology librarian, and collections manager to have additional
hours to work on a major system migration. The programming assistant position in Children’s would
allow the library to meet the programming expectations at Northport as well as deal with the school
population with the forthcoming Ed Clapp Elementary School.
For the operations budget, Tim Dirks summarized the increases and decreases in individual budget line
items. In order to meet the goals of the strategic plan, there is an increase in the materials budget.
There is also an increase in the natural gas line item based on previous years’ usage patterns.
After preliminary presentations and initial conversations with both integrated library systems vendors
and the ODIN director, the first year cost of migrating to a new system is estimated to be $120,000. That
is the amount submitted as a capital fund request.
The revenue projections are based on the previous year’s activities as well as communication from the
State Library regarding the State Aid to Public Libraries funding.
Tim Dirks gave a brief summary of potential capital expenditures for FY2016 to the board. These
expenditures would cover alterations to the Dr. James Carlson Library in order to accommodate a
growing population base and the opening of the adjacent elementary school. The $341,900 would
include a building addition. There would be substantially more information given to the board regarding
these projects should they continue to be pursued in the coming fiscal years. Helen Levitt commended
the work that went into the budget planning and presentation. Tim Dirks credited Office Manager Ginny
Mueller for doing a great amount of work for budget preparation.
Herb Snyder moved to approve the proposed 2015 fiscal year budget. Gary Groberg seconded the
motion; the motion carried.
Reference Policy Draft
MaryBeth Hegstad made clerical editing suggestions for consistency to the draft policy. She moved to
approve the policy with the editing corrections. Herb Snyder seconded the motion; the motion carried.
Serials Policy Draft
Technical services staff redrafted the serials policy to match current practice. Mary Dickson moved to
approve the revised serials policy. MaryBeth Hegstad seconded the motion; the motion carried.
Integrated Library System Project Overview
Helen Levitt drew the board’s attention to the ILS Project Overview included in the board packet. Tim
Dirks credited Ben Daeuber with assisting in assisting in the preparation of the document for the board.
Public Comment
There was no public comment.
The meeting adjourned at 4:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Beth E. Postema