1. Approval of Minutes from the May 5, 2010 Library Commission Meeting

Commissioner Moriarty made a motion to amend the minutes to reflect that the Chair can sign contracts up to $24,999.99 and Commissioner O'Connor seconded. The motion passed. Then Mr. Moriarty moved, with Ms. O'Connor providing the second, to accept the amended minutes of the May 5, 2010 meeting of the Springfield Library Board of Commissioners.

The motion passed.

2. Library Advisory Committee Reports

3. Commission Committee Reports

Gift policy to cover large and small gifts due to a recent donation. What is donated to the Library then becomes property of the Library. The Library Director and/or staff will determine how the donation(s) are used. The wishes of the donating party will be considered as long as the donation(s) can fit into the library's collection. We can refuse donation(s) based on certain criteria. Artwork will need to be accompanied by certification (see gift policy draft). Any appraisal on donated artwork is the responsibility of the donor of the artwork. Any restrictions on gifts have to be reviewed by the Library Commission. The Library will give a letter of recognition with valued amount for IRS purposes. Bookplates, when appropriate, will be placed into books recognizing the donor or honoree.

The word “materials” needs to be changed to “items” in the Gift Policy. Also the limit of gifts the Library can receive needs to be looked into as to not violate state laws.

The Gift Policy will have to go to the Law Department after revision by Library Director, Molly Fogarty, and then voted on by the Commission. It will be added to the Collections Policy.

The Commission will review, discuss further and vote on the policy at next month's meeting.

4. Chairman's Report

The Commission would like to establish a more formal procedure for new members to become part of the Springfield Library Commission. They would also like to form a nominating committee and use the Library Advisory groups as a possible pool to chose future Commissioners.

The terms for a Library Commissioner were discussed. It was suggested that maybe instead of a 5-year appointment (which is term stated in the by-laws) to make it a shorter appointment of 2 or 3 years. Also discussed was staggering the seats of the Commissioners so that only one Commissioner's term is ending at one time making for an easy transition for incoming and outgoing Commissioners and for the Commission overall.

5. Director's Report

•  The Focus groups had an okay response in terms of numbers and excellent response in feedback.

Examples:

- Senior Citizens are interested in e-readers. Jan Denney from Elder Services is buying several with grant money and they will be provided at the Senior Center. In the future the Library could offer e-readers (Sony Readers) or could be trained on e-readers to assist patrons and the Senior Center (partner with) have the knowledge to train patrons on e-readers.

- Young mothers who are busy and work full-time jobs would like having pre-selected books that they could run in and pick up quickly.

- Russian community lost their bi-lingual librarian so they are coming less and less because of the language barrier it creates.

•  The new Library website is launching June 15th.

•  City Council budget hearing is June 10th, 5pm at City Hall. The department hearing went well. The Councilors are in support of the Library. It would be good if the Commissioners attended. Two of the City Councilors are holding office hours in two library branches so that they can see what is going on in the libraries. It was suggested that the Councilors take a bus tour of all the branches when the weather is nice.

•  The Urban League has found a temporary space. They could be out as early as July or as late as September. There have been meetings with Steve Jablonski to discuss furniture and the redesign of Mason Square. The roof will need to be replaced. The lead-time on the renovations is three months. There will be outside programming in the summer. The Urban League will be paying rent they owed to us after they move out.

•  September 26th is the tentative date for the dedication of the Emily Bader Children's Room (Emily's Place). Ceremony and dedication at 11 am. Will obtain the Mass Live comments from the funeral home to post at ceremony.

•  TD BankNorth donated $4,000 towards the Summer Reading Club.

•  The Forest Park Branch received an award from the Springfield Preservation Trust in honor of the recent renovations.

•  Basketball Hall of Fame sculptural memorial marking the birthplace of basketball August 8th. We would like to partner with the Basketball Hall of Fame and have Hall of Famer's read or participate in a library program.

•  The Friends of the Library are getting the bookstore going. There are new board members, including Don Courtemanche, who is taking point on the project. Other possible uses for the space would be fundraisers and events to benefit the Library and use the bookstore for outreach.

6. Other Business:

None.

7. Adjournment:

Mr. Cary adjourned the meeting at 6:39 p.m.