Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library

Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library

Department Heads Meeting

August 19, 2004

Present

Kathy Arnold-Yerger

Dolores Drobile

Nora Freedman

Dorothy Griffith Monica Koenig

Marycatherine McGarvey

Eileen McNamara

Mary Maguire

Cheryl Milligan

Ella Noel

Alan Reider

Loretta Righter

Leslie Rush

Beth Slating

Department Heads welcomed Denise Pulgino Stout and Nora Freedman. Denise is the new Head of the Children’s Department and Nora is the Youth Services District Consultant.

Kathy reviewed highlights of the Board Meeting, the latter part of which was structured as a budget workshop. The budget hinges upon the appropriation from the County Commissioners. The budget will be hand delivered to the Commissioner’s Office on September 8, with a meeting scheduled in front of the County Commissioners on September 21. She spoke to Vince Hyslop, Finance Director for Montgomery County, on Tuesday August 17 to review the draft budget.

A $ 600,000 deficit remains in the budget, as state funding was only restored and not increased. The appropriation increase over the prior year requested of the County Commissioners will be put towards the materials budget. Kathy reported on her visits to the municipalities. She has visited Bridgeport, Worcester and Horsham Township.

The Board approved the LSTA application for district-wide teen services in the amount of $43,000. MC-NPL will serve as the conduit for distribution of funds district-wide if the grant is awarded.

The new liability premiums for next year have been approved by the Board. There will be a 4% increase in deductibles over the prior year. It is also anticipated that medical insurance will go up by over 20%.

Kathy encouraged all Department Heads to become PaLA members and to actively participate in the professional organization. 32 staff members will be attending the PaLA conference held at the Radisson Hotel in Valley Forge. The Grand Opening of the Children’s Learning Center will be on September 18 from 11a.m. to 2p.m. All children registering for a new card will receive a free book. Books will be purchased from funds donated by Rotary International. All other children will receive a grab bag put together by the Children’s Department.

Kathy discussed the upcoming community days. The dates are as follows:

Ø  September 11, noon. to 6p.m. - East Norriton Township

Ø  September 25, 11a.m. to 3p.m. – Towamencin Township

Ø  October 9, noon to 5p.m.- West Marshall Street Harvest Festival

Volunteers are needed to staff the tables on each day. The Bookmobile will be present at all three events. The KidsFest at the Elmwood Park Zoo was a great success. Events included Story times and tours of the BGR.

Planning for the staff in-service day on Monday, October 25 continues. Francenia Emery will speak from 10a.m. to 3p.m. (with a 30 minute lunch hour). Staff members are asked to bring brown bag lunches, though fruit trays and drinks will be provided. Don Klein from the Department of Mental Health/Mental Retardation will be the other guest speaker.

The meeting will end at 4p.m.

Planning for the Holiday Party is underway. Volunteers are needed to assist on the planning committee. Department Heads are also asked to decide on a date. A date will be finalized at the September meeting. Please send any names of Department volunteers to Monica via e-mail for inclusion on the invitation list.

Reports for district consultants were distributed. Kathy also drew Department Heads’ attention to the two ALA articles included in the packets. The articles have also been distributed to the Board.

Denise, Children’s Department

The Department is in the midst of tallying statistics for the Summer Reading program. Children can also participate in a new contest by guessing the length of the bookworm. Winners will receive a gift basket. Denise also drew Department Heads’ attention to the photo in the Times Herald taken during the Helicopter Museum program.

Nora Freedman, Youth Services District Consultant

Nora reviewed her written report which was distributed with the packets.

Leslie, Automation

The upgrade to 3.1 combined with the server upgrade is scheduled for the week of August 30th thru Sept 3rd. Leslie noted that as it is a combined undertaking we may possibly be offline for more than the customary 3 day period. More information may be obtained through the Intranet (http://atlas/).

Select Technical Information>Polaris Release Information> 3.1

Look for neon salmon labels…..CON on Tuesday, rest of MNL next week. Other branches are done. MDBs next Monday. All branches have a connection to Terminator.

Cheryl, A.V Department

Carol Smith will be on vacation from September 2 through 14 and then again from September 20 through 24. Printing will continue, however it is asked that Departments keep in mind time constraints and the window needed to complete print requests.

Alan, Extension Department

The Extension Department has experienced circulation growth in the last 18 months. With the expansion of the Pony routes and the addition of the Horsham Library stop, there is a need for more shelving. The shelving will then be moved to the opposite side of the hallway. Alan also asks that all materials be delivered to the Pony shelves no later than 9:15 so that the drivers can make all the stops, including the Courthouse on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Department is working on a new BGR schedule while trying to prioritize the stops in order to best serve those daycares with the most subsidized children. They will stay with the summer schedule until September.

Ella, Upper Perkiomen Valley Library

The Upper Perkiomen Valley Library continues to sell trash bags to increase foot traffic to the Library and partner with Red Hill Borough. Ella reports that the fake bomb incident has actually provided a substantial amount of positive publicity for the Library. The Happenings Newsletter has been printed and was distributed at the meeting.

Mary, District Consultant

Mary reviewed her written report. Upper Moreland will be conducting a remembrance of September 11 by providing 24 hour service on that day. Also on September 11 the Union Library of Hatborough will begin a year long celebration of 250 years of service. The gala will have a colonial theme and the themed programming will continue throughout the year.

Dorothy, InterLibrary Loan

Business as usual, with a full staff for the first time in several weeks.

Loretta, Reference Department

Loretta reminded all Department Heads and Branch Heads of the printing of the new Bibliography for small businesses. She also called the recent string of material thefts to all Department attention, especially those in the public areas. There was some discussion on more effective security measures, such as security tags that appear to be bookplates, and RFID. There will exploration of some of the more cost-effective measures.

Loretta also attended Power Library training with Mary Maguire at the Ephrata Middle School on August 31. LearningExpress has been renewed for another year. Bookmarks advertising its access have been ordered and will be distributed to all departments and Branches. Loretta has also made appointments with the branches to provide Power Library training. There has been much enthusiasm over PowerLibrary in recent weeks, especially such resources as the Automobile Repair Database.

Beth, Technical Processing

All the cataloguers have achieved the newest level of certification for data entry into Polaris.

Asha, Readers’ Services

Mary Motta was unable to attend the meeting on Asha’s behalf. She asked prior to the meeting that an update be given on behalf of the Department. The Voices of Africa program was very successful, with over 130 attendees. An AARP Driver’s program is also scheduled for September 20 and 21. Yoga classes will resume on Wednesday, September 1. Classes are held every Wednesday for an eight week period from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. in the Community Room.

Dee, Perkiomen Valley at Schwenksville

The June Book Sale was very successful. We were charging $1.00 for videos however the Board decided after a month to discontinue the charge. A $2.00 late fee will still be in force. The Summer Reading has been quite a success, and Cheryl Borrelli did a great job. Science in the Summer has also been successful. Pre-School Storytime will begin September 9 at 10:30a.m. The fund drive mailings will be mailed the week of August 23. Norma Smith has resigned due to health problems, and Eileen O’Leary was hired a replacement.

Marycatherine, Conshohocken Library

Marycatherine has visited West Conshohocken and has received an appropriation in the amount of $500. She will be making an appointment for next year (after the Labor Day weekend) to work with the Borough towards the goal of $1 per capita.

Eileen, Royersford

Royersford participated in the Upper Providence Health Fair. Though the turnout was rather disappointing, Eileen and staff were able to make valuable community contacts and network with various local agencies. The Library has also received a large number of gently used books that have been removed from the Spring-Ford Elementary reading curriculum. She will be judiciously sharing the books with a select few other local agencies. The remainder will be used for weekly reading incentives as the represent a wonderful array of the best of children’s literature. The paperbacks are also sold, 4 for a $1.00. Loretta noted that the Geriatric Center has expressed interest in the weeded books from the Large Print collection.

Reminder of the next meeting:

Thursday, September 23, 2004 at 2p.m.