Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library Board meeting highlights [6-20-11]

June 20, 2011

• Increasing network storage
• Personnel changes
• Ebooks
• Connect Ohio
• Meeting room use
• Know-it-Now Project
• Insignificant savings from library mergers
• April public service report highlights:
• Jason Stein appointed to city council

Board Vice President Esther Moss was absent.

Increasing network storage

The board approved technology expenditures in the amount of $25,720 to include increasing network storage from four to twelve terabytes and acquiring a more powerful PC for the creation of media by the Webmaster.

Personnel changes

Maggie Lindsay will fill the part-time children’s librarian position at the Coventry Library. Close to 90 applications were received for the full-time adult services librarian position. Seven candidates will be interviewed, and the position will be filled at the July board meeting.

Ebooks

Director Levin informed the board that with almost 29,000 ebooks, CLEVNET has more ebooks than the New York, Boston, and Seattle Public Libraries. OverDrive [a digital distributor of ebooks] is adding enhancements that will allow Kindle downloads from public libraries.

Connect Ohio

Starting in September the library will partner with Connect Ohio to offer certified beginner computer training. Connect Ohio is a national public/private, technology neutral program with the goal of increasing online connection by the public. After six hours of training, customers will be eligible for discounts on computer equipment. The library will be reimbursed for providing the training.

Meeting room use

During May, 172 meeting room requests were approved and 167 patron meetings were held at all of the sites.

Know-it-Now Project

Director Nancy Levin talked about the Know-It-Now Project that the CLEVNET libraries have been involved in for a number of years. It’s a 24-hour live web reference service, and board members were challenged to use it once before the July meeting.

Insignificant savings from library mergers

In August 2010 the Ohio Local Government Reform and Collaboration Commission issued a final report. One of its recommendations was that the State Library of Ohio research issues of collaborations, mergers, and consolidation of library systems. The state library, along with the Ohio Library Council, completed that research and one of the conclusions in its June 16, 2011 report is that merging library systems would not generate great savings.

April public service report highlights:

• Noble’s reopening day on May 23 hosted 1100 people. The back entrance, first floor bathroom and PLAYroom received many compliments.
• In partnership with Rap Art, the library will host a series of conversations with teens this summer.
• The library introduced its Blu-ray collection of 152 items. These were checked out 514 times in the first three weeks.
• The University Heights branch added an additional outside security camera due to an increase in disruptive incidents during after-school hours. Last fall there was repeated vandalism of the large planters.
• Kristen Rosebrock-Hayes and Heather Howiler oversee volunteers who are digitizing old photographs for inclusion in The Cleveland Memory Project (www.clevelandmemory.org).
• Over 200 children watched the Cinderella Around the Globe program.
• Coventry Library hosted psychic mediums Carolyn Molnar and Ben Gleisser speaking about their book, Compassionate Messenger. They now live in Toronto, but Coventry was Ben’s first library.

Jason Stein appointed to city council

Board Member Jason Stein has recently been appointed to fill the seat on Cleveland Heights City Council vacated by Mark Tumeo. The board discussed whether to recruit applicants for that seat now or wait until November when another member will be chosen by the school board as President Audrey Cole rotates off the board.

LWV observer: Anne S. McFarland

These meeting summaries are abstracted from LWV observers’ written reports. The summaries have been edited and prepared by Anne McFarland, Charlene Morse, and Maryann Barnes. To receive e-mail postings of full reports, send an e-mail to mbarnes9515@gmail.com or join through Google groups using “lwv-chuh observer reports” as a search phrase.

These reports contain member observation and selected highlights of public meetings and are not official statements of the Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters Cuyahoga Area. This disclaimer must accompany any redistribution of these reports.