Annual Meeting, Minutes- January 26, 2006

Friends of Union County Libraries
Minutes
January 26, 2006

Meeting was called to order by Sharon Porter in Diane’s absence. She had to go home ill. Those present were Richard Hutchison, Jerry Young, Nan McDaniel, Donna Patterson, Kat Davis, Arlene Young and Aletha Bonebrake, guest speaker.

Governance Board Members nominated are:
3-year terms: Sharon Porter, Donna Patterson, one position open
2-year terms: Diane Walker, Arlene Young, Nan McDaniel
1-year term: Richard Hutchison, Michelle Farmer, one position open

Officers nominated for this year are: President: Diane Walker
Vice President: open
Secretary: Arlene Young
Treasurer: Richard Hutchison
Members at large: Nan McDaniel, Michelle Farmer, Donna
Patterson, Sharon Porter, one position
open
Donna Patterson moved to accept the Governance Board membership and the slate of officers. Nan McDaniel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Nan and Sharon will contact Donna Skovlin about the Vice President’s position. Nan will contact Ms. Noyes from Summerville about being a member at large.

Sharon requested a By-law change stating that officers will be elected each year from the Governance Committee members. Arlene will draft that amendment.

It was decided to meet at the Misener room when it is available for our regular monthly meetings on the last Thursday of each month. Next meeting will be February 23 at 5:30 at Kat’s office since the Misener room is unavailable. Arlene will arrange for reserving the Misener room.

At the next meeting we will discuss buying access to a genealogy database program that could be used in any of the libraries. Sharon will contact Shirley Roberts about that process and Donna Patterson will help with the arrangements.

Those present were assigned the task of investigating one other library and finding out what programs they offer and what kind of outreach they have. Choice of libraries is up to the individual.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:30

SUMMARY OF PROGRAM

A program entitled, “Dream Libraries! How do We Get There?” was presented by Aletha Bonebrake, Director of Baker County Library.

Aletha described the history of funding and outreach for the Baker County Library District. Many parallels could be drawn. She has been the County Librarian for 20 years. Their motto is Equal Access Through a Rural Library District.
Baker County has had a Bookmobile since it was started through a State Library demonstration project in 1957-60. In 1960 Baker County agreed to a County Library District and has continued since.
In 1970 a new 10,600-sq. ft. building was constructed with ¾ of the money donated by an individual and the rest of the money for construction donated by local clubs and groups.
In 1982 there were drastic cuts in the library department. Their budget was cut from $240,000 to $101,000. This amount was less than that raised by the county in taxes for the library.
In 1988 their library district became independent and permanent. It is a tax-supported entity. It is no longer a county department.
Aletha strongly suggested that contingency funds should be built into the budget, and the La Grande Feasibility Committee has done this. For them in 2005, personnel is 59.2% of the budget, books and media 13%, other 21.5% and sinking and contingency 6.3%.
Their strongest asset, the Bookmobile, is a critical part of their service plan. It is their most popular service and has served three generations of supporters. It goes twice a month to all the rural schools and stays at each for 3 or 4 hours. Students come out by class to use the facilities. The Bookmobile travels 1200 miles a month and has the motto on one side, I think I can, I think I can, and on the other side is No mountain too high, no valley too low. It also visits the correctional facility—in exchange for its services the inmates do grounds and facilities maintenance. The Bookmobile visits daycare centers, brings large print books to nursing homes, visits the summer lunch programs and the homebound.
The County Library is active in the community literacy program, partners with the school science program, and provides free public meeting rooms and equal access to the internet for all. The Library in Baker City is the “Mother Ship” that supports the other libraries.
Future plans include providing means for Baker County citizens to testify at the legislature through interactive video, and facilities to attend meetings by conference video.
The County Library has expanded from five computers to twenty-seven, each branch has several. The library subscribes to services that can be accessed in the library or in individual’s homes. Some of the services are:
EBSCO – full text database for journals and periodicals
Career Information
Novelist – database that identifies books written by a novelist and by other novelists that might write in the same vein.
Learning Express – armed services tests, vocational aptitude tests, SAT study guides and sample tests
Heritage Quest – genealogy database
Chilton’s automotive repair – complete sets including drawings and wiring diagrams.
SAGE an online card catalog including 1.2 million items

There is a room in the Baker City library dedicated to teaching people how to use these databases. They also have GPS and telescopes and projectors to loan.
There is the same access to all citizens within the district. This gives all the libraries the ability to keep their local collections fresh. They also have more purchasing power and a larger funding base.
Librarians can bring in books and take back out as many as they like. They change collections frequently.
These aspects give the library improved planning ability. They can tax and sell bonds. Voter confidence has increased. There is also a benefit from centralized management and cost controls. Each branch has one person in the library.
FEARS—loss of local control
District ownership of facilities
Larger communities will support smaller ones
CHALLENGES
New tasks result from corporate design
New service considerations
Maintaining local ambiance—landscaping, hours of opening, etc. (FOL contributed landscaping of the building)
End of presentation

I can’t begin to tell you the enthusiasm this evening generated!
Jerry Young suggested putting together our own power point presentation to explain the advantages of a County Library.
FOUCL is committed to investigating ways to subscribe to one of the databases, preferably the genealogy one, to use as a demonstration of the services that can be provided.


NEXT MEETING WILL BE FEBRUARY 23, 5:30.
1119 WASHINGTON STREET, LA GRANDE (UCLDP OFFICE)

Submitted by Arlene Young, Secretary