2018-12-12 TOWN OF BERLIN
BERLIN-PECK MEMORIAL LIBRARY BOARD
WEDNESDAY December 12, 2018
ATTENDANCE:
Members Present
Donna Moore-Chairman, Robert Lewis-Vice Chairman, Sharon Powell, Kay Murray, Chris
Fasciano, Elaine Borselle, Carol Ranieri, Lillian Ulan, Carol Welz
Staff Present
Director Helen Malinka
Members Absent
None
Call to the Order
Chairman Moore called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M.
Audience of Citizens
None
Review of the Minutes
Kay Murray moved to approve the minutes for November 14, 2018, seconded by Elaine
Borselle, passed unanimously with the following corrections: Key Murray is spelled Kay Murray,
Utube is spelled YouTube, and only large print books were weeded out to the Senior Center.
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT:
Director Malinka reported that the she received a letter from a resident thanking the library
staff for helping them retain a new passport. She has also been getting a lot of good feedback
on the Berlin Buzz site regarding the passport service. Director Malinka reported statistics to
the state library. This report is due on an annual basis in November of each year.
Director Malinka is working on the budget which is due next week. The library has many great
programs online in the database. She is hoping to get an increase in the budget for programs
and activities.
Update on social worker grant - Director Malinka found out the Southington is pulling out of the
grant. She is going to apply anyway and New Britain is still on board. The plan for year two is to
apply for the grant again.
Us vs. Burned book patron —Lisa Spalla reported that books have been coming back burned by
one particular patron. She is a smoker. This is a consistant habit and the library has started
charging her for the damage. She has been paying the fines as soon as they are accrued. Lisa
reported that it takes time and resources to order the new books as well as the wait time on
other patrons. The board discussed possibly suspending her card. At this point a record is being
kept with pictures of the damage.
Fines Fee - Director Malinka reported that she would like to go "Fines Free" for children items
types and seniors depending on age. Lisa Spalla presented a summary of other libraries fine free
policies. She has proposed to shorten the cycle from six to four weeks to have an incentive to
get the book back. Patrons are very happy with the auto renewal policy. The marketing for for
"Fines Free" will start prior to the new year and the plan is to start the program January 1,
1019.
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT:
The ethics policy was mailed to all members and needs to be signed and returned.
SUB-COMMITTEE REPORTS:
- Governance Committee - None
- Outreach Committee- None
- Finance & Foundation Committee - None
-Communications- None
NEW BUSINESS
Carol Ranieri will not be renewing her membership for 2019.
OLD BUSINESS:
Gently Used Jewelry Fundraiser Outcome - There was $1351.00 in reported sales.There will
be another similar even for Mother's Day in early May 2019.
OutBack Fundraiser- Scheduled for February 12, 2019. More details to follow.
Next Meeting: January 9, 2018
ADJOURNMENT:
Sharon Powell made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:25 p.m., seconded by Kay Murray,
unanimously approved.
Marto Matassa
RECEIVED FOR RECORD
RERUN k: `°.rRK
Recording Secretary 2018 DEC 17 AN 10: 36
Attachments: Monthly Report for November 2018
General Fund - Expense 11/30/2018 ,, R
BERLIN,CT
MONTHLY REPORT for November 2018
December 12, 2018
PERSONNEL:
• Longtime page, Denar Descoteaux, announced her retirement effective March 2019. She has
been with us since 1989.
PROGRAMS:
Adult— 16 Programs with 245 attending
• Sit and Knit met four times with 56 participants
• Three Movie Matinees had 45 attendees
• Make &Take program had 15 participants
• Glass etching program had 14 participants
• Stock Club had 8 participants
• Senior Center Book Club had 8 participants
• Saturday Book Club had 4 attendees
• Mary Todd Lincoln program had 68 attendees
• Autism program had 8 attendees
• How to take better holiday photos program had 9 attendees
• Puzzle Exchange had 10 swaps
Children — 11 programs with 514 participants
• Mother Goose on the Loose met 3 times — 163 participants
• Busy Bumble Bees met 1 time—31 participants
• Craft Cart— 124 participants
• Very Hungry Caterpillar time 1 program — 19 participants
• Election Day program — 10 participants
• Robotics program: 15 participants
• Outreach to KNS —2 sessions with 50 participants
• Read & Bead: 85
1,000 Books Before Kindergarten: 169 signed up
Baby Packets: 1 packet given out
Board Games Checked Out: 112
T(w)een Volunteer Hours: 0 hrs
Teens: 3 programs with 10 participants
• Makerspace: 2 programs with 6 participants
• College4Less: 1 program with 4 participants
PLUSSES:
• Our fundraiser at Bertucci's netted us $288. While this is a far cry from making up the $4000
that the Friends couldn't give us this year, we are glad that this connection has been made.
• We received over 800 pieces of jewelry for our gently-used sale on 12/1!
• The LOI for the grant for a 4-town social worker is being looked at by the HOCC grantwriting
department for feedback.
• We purchased a new scanner through our consortium, LCI, which will make inventory control
much easier.
• The project to relabel older Biography and Large Print titles has been completed.
• Etching Pens are now available for circulation.
• Celebrating the 9th annual Gingerbread House contest. The new Family and Consumer Science
teacher at BHS is on board this year, so we are hoping for better participation over last year.
• Children's will be offering the popular program, SaturPLAY, once again during the cold winter
months on a monthly basis.
PROBLEMS:
• We looked into My Library Rewards, which is a program that partners with local businesses to
give discounts based on people's use of the library. Unfortunately, it is cost prohibitive at this
time.
• The popular Indoor Sandbox has been broken and will need to be fixed.
PLANNING:
• Notary Public training • School vacation programs
• Social worker for library • Art exhibit
• Caregiver group • Local Stories: Memory Project
• Make & Takes • Tax Aide
• Cake Pan circulation • Staff pics booklet
• Blood drive • World of Wonder programs for kids
PROFESSIONAL:
Nov 1 — CLA mtg —AS
Nov 5 — Mtg w/town manager— HM
Nov 7 — Friends mtg — HM
Nov 7 —American Red Cross mtg re: blood drive — CT, CG
Nov 7 — Pre-agenda mtg — HM
Nov 8 — ILS patron passwords task force — LS
Nov 8 — Staff mtg
Nov 8 — Circ meeting
Nov 8 — Bertucci's fundraiser— HM
Nov 12 — Library card drive at BHS —CT, LS, HM
Nov 12 — Part time salaries mtg — HM
Nov 13 — Readers Advisory mtg — LF
Nov 13 — Dept Heads — HM, CT, LS, JN
Nov 14 —Annual YA Meetup —AS
Nov 14 — Reference staff mtg — CT, AR, AH, LF, HM
Nov 14 — Library Board mtg — HM
Nov 15 — Library card drive at BHS —JN, MC
Nov 15 —Circulation Committee mtg — LS
Nov 27 —Website review mtg — HM
Nov 28 —Top Managers mtg — HM
Nov 28 — Bib Services —AR
HM=Helen Malinka AS=Alyssa Skorski AH=Anne Henriques
CT=Carrie Tyszka AR=Andrea Raynor LS=Lisa Spalla
JN=Jennifer Needham MC=Michael Cramer LF=Laurie Finke
MZ=Maryanne Zaccagnino CG=Cyndi Goode MP=Megan Phan
JNo=Jonathan Noyes LD=Laurie DeVivo ID=Irene DeSanto
AM=Annie MacPherson
BOARD MEETINGS:
• December 5 — Friends Board
• December 12 — Library Board of Trustees
• January 9 — Library Board of Trustees
• February 6 — Friends Board
• February 13 — Library Board of Trustees
NOVEMBER 2018 STATS
NOVEMBER STATS 2018 2017 0/0
New Cards 49 39 +26%
Renewed Cards 80 65 +23%
Total Cardholders 5,941 6,021 -1%
Door Count 6,329 7,063 -10%
Reference Questions 1,803 1,763 +2% _
Programs 29 33 -12%
Program attendance 759 813 -70/0
No. of patrons using computers 687 759 -90/0
Webpage sessions 7,596 6,968 +90/0
Downloadable mags, e and audio books 1,277 1,087 +17%
Circ for month (incl. downloads) 15,064 11,340 +33%
Cumulative circ to date 88,500 68,195 +30%
Book a Librarian 1 5 -80%
Job search assistance 2 3 -33%
Computer assistance 55 46 +20%
Test Proctoring 3 2 +500/0
Homebound Service 26 17 +53%__
Public scanner 60 235 -74%
Study Room use 130 174 -25%
ILLs borrowed 775 623 +24%
ILLs loaned 1,515 1,180 +28%
INTERESTING REFERENCE QUESTIONS:
1) Names and ages of the priests at Immaculate Conception Church in Southington
2) Books on positive impact/influence of horror films
3) Research on sleep deprevation in teens— needs peer reviewed books
4) Books on psychic abilities
5) History of McCafe at McDonalds
6) When was USSR dissolved
7) Star Trek movie with the whales
8) Origin of the phrase "see the error of their ways"
9) How to convert .jpg to .tiff or .pdf
10)Can you get a death certificate in Berlin if person died in New Haven? (patron lived in Berlin
at the time)
11) How to text from a flip phone
12) Is there a phone app that will tell you where to buy something you take a picture of?
13) Books on using sock yarn for projects other than socks
14) How to increase text size for ebook in Libby
15) How did Springbrook Ice and Fuel get their name
16)Books on the French and Indian war for children
17) Lots of requests for suggestions of gift books.
PASSPORTS:
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July 17 $595 $130
August 27 $945 $210
September 22 $770 $210
October 18 $630 $70
November 25 $875 $170
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
FY19 109 $3,815 $790
ANECDOTES:
• Patron said she had a great idea for a fundraiser—to charge for tech help. (we cannot, it's part
of our jobs!)
• Patron loves Wowbrary. Her friends always ask her how she always knows about the newest
releases. On Wowbrary!
• Will seed library continue next year? Patron was very happy with one of the seeds he used.
• "So happy about auto renewals!"
• Charlotte loves the library and her grandmother loves that it's free. Charlotte chose to come
here instead of KidCity!
• A grandmother shared that she hadn't been in since her kids were younger, and it's changed so
much for the better! There are so many things for the kids to do in the Children's Department—
she'll be coming back more often.
• A mother says that the Launchpads were a great idea — please buy more!
THINGS THAT MAKE US ROLL OUR EYES (NOT IN PUBLIC OF COURSE):
• Do you have Crocs?Are they comfortable?
• How to buy a handle for a travel mug? Should I buy a black or purple handle?
• Condom (in wrapper, thank goodness) inside a Cher DVD in bookdrop.
• Suggestion/complaint: Put up signs that the study rooms aren't soundproof.
• Complaint that the keyboards are dirty.
Nov.12,2018
Dear Helen,
I want to thank you and your staff for helping my wife attain a new passport.
The problem was that,somehow Juliet and I lost her citizenship and passport documents.
We were looking at over$750 to attain new travel documentation.
A member of your staff,Ann Henriques,played a key role in helping my wife to attain a new passport.
Her knowledge and professionalism were above and beyond we had expected.
The cost to us was less than$300. Due to Ann's effort we can now make plans to visit Juliet's family in the
Philippines in late February.
Words cannot express how happy we were to receive her passport two days ago.
Thank you so much and to Ann for her help.
Gratefully,
Lou&Juliet Zucchi
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