Library continues to move forward with improvements

Friday, March 21, 2014

The Putnam County Public Library Board met for its monthly meeting on Wednesday evening, during which it made strides toward several changes at the library including creating a video game collection as well as beginning the children's room renovation.

Library Director Grier Carson came before the board seeking approval for several resolutions, including an adjustment to the 2006/2011-circulation policy.

"The past few weeks have seen a continuation of our work toward planning and budgeting for a number of key changes and/or additions to PCPL services," Carson explained. "All departments have been involved in the preparation for the launch of the new video game collection, which should be ready for access by the beginning of next month."

The circulation policy will now include video games to the list of available materials that may circulate for one week with one renewal and a limit of two video games per library card.

The amendment also removed books on tape and music cassettes, with the new policy going into effect immediately.

Carson and newly appointed Business Operations Manager Lisa Barker also came before the board to discuss budget reallocations, which needed to be done due to insufficient funds in compensation lines.

Barker explained to the board that there was a $43,000 gap due to salary and the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, thus the finance committee recently met to decide what needed to be done.

Following discussions with Dan Jones of the Department of Local Government Finance, it was decided that the library move $40,000 from its current furniture/equipment line to cover the wage shortfall and use a combination of Library Improvement and Reserve Fund (LIRF) money and 2013 encumbered funds to cover the children's project and the roof replacement.

"Looking through the budget, as Grier and I have gone through every budget line, it's a very tight budget," Barker said. "The only alternative is to pull from the materials budget, which Grier has stated that is not something he's interested in. If we have to hit the materials budget we will, but I think with our plan we shouldn't have to."

Barker also noted that in the past the library has received estimates on fixing the roof, but nothing was done.

"We've had estimates given in the past year specifically that we didn't as a library react to," Barker noted. "Now, we have to deal with it. Plus, our library, in a couple years, is going to be 20 years old and that's how old the roof is, 18 years old."

The board agreed to approve a resolution to proceed with the reallocation of operational funds from the furniture/equipment line to close the gap in the wage/salary lines and shift additional funds from existing operational lines as it sees fit in order to balance the 2014 budget.

The board also agreed to apply for approximately $120,000 in LIRF money for the purposes of moving forward with the children's department renovation as well as replacing the library's aging roof. The library will then use $40,000 of encumbered 2013 funds for the purposes of buying equipment and furniture.

Carson also went on to note that he received a proposal from WynWay Technologies to redesign the library's website as well as ancillary web-based services including migrating staff email to Gmail and online collaborative work solutions.

"Plans for a new website are well underway, as the proposal from WynWay Technologies to host the site and to offer ancillary web services falls well within the range of reasonable cost," Carson noted.

The board agreed to move forward with WynWay Technologies and the project should be completed in 12-15 weeks.

In other business:

* The library reached an agreement with H&H Cleaning regarding contractual services for the library cleaning and maintenance. A new maintenance schedule

* Carson continued discussions with ENA regarding the adoption of ENA Air services. This would outsource much of the library's Internet and local Wi-Fi management to expand access for patrons and staff while improving network performance. Carson informed the board that the next steps include a full ENA onsite survey as well as a proposal for a timeline/service.

* Carson informed the board that the library has received a project proposal for OMS Architects for the children's department renovation project. He also informed the board that they have agreed upon budget including flat fees and hourly rates in the event of additional services that may be needed as well as general terms of agreement.

* The board will be looking into creating a book donation policy as many patrons drop off items that may not be needed by the library.

* The board approved to move Children's Manager Cortina Ziuchkovski to the circulation manager position. The library will advertise for children's manager and a part time circulation assistant.

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