ROLL CALL

Present:             Paul Ziehler, President
                            Michele Bria, Vice President
                            Ron Tays, Treasurer
                            Mike D’Amato, Trustee
                            Dan Devine, Trustee
                            Martin Schreiber, Trustee

Excused:             Mardee Gruen, Trustee

Staff:                   Jim Gingery, Director
                            Steve Heser, Library Systems Administrator
                            Judy Kaniasty, Business Manager/Personnel Assistant (Recorder)

Others:               Pat Laughlin, LDAC Chair and Hales Corners Public Library
                            Beth Carey, Shorewood Public Library
                            Bruce Gay, Milwaukee Public Library
                            Charles Graupner, Michael Best & Friedrich, LLP
                            John Heinen, City of Milwaukee Attorney’s Office
                            Dennis Jones, Milwaukee Resident
                            Paula Kiely, Milwaukee Public Library
                            Maria Meyers, Hales Corners Resident
                            Dick Nelson, North Shore Library
                            Eric Pearson, City of Milwaukee Department of Administration
                            Cathy Peterson, Whitefish Bay Public Library
                            TJ Richter, Milwaukee Resident
                            Barb Roark, Franklin Public Library
                            Rebecca Roepke, Cudahy Family Library

I.          CALL TO ORDER. President Ziehler called the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System
             Board of Trustees meeting to order at 9:01 a.m.

II.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES. Vice President Bria moved and Trustee Devine seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting
             held Monday, December 17, 2008 which are shown as Attachment A of the agenda packet. Unanimously approved.

III.        PUBLIC COMMENT. Exhibit 1 attached to these minutes are copies of communications sent to MCFLS regarding Milwaukee’s
             proposed elimination of certain media holds.

TJ Richter, a Milwaukee resident, discussed the media holds policy change, noting that he missed the October 15 Milwaukee meeting but has seen publicity after going into effect. There were no posting on websites prior notifying patrons of the October 15^th meeting or change in media holds policy. This is a very popular service and wonders how many people missed the opportunity to voice their opinions. The library belongs to everyone, not just the Mayor and Milwaukee’s Executive Librarian. Wished the change would have been addressed in an upfront manner. He has heard that a revote cannot occur but he feels that every patron should be notified via mail of this change by Milwaukee. A feedback form should be made readily available to the public. The selection of items not available is disputed since this impacts many. Feels it is discrimination. Mr. Richter would like this service kept in tact.

Barbara Roark, Franklin Public Library Director, commented that patrons are upset and told of an incident where a patron called Central to see if an item was there before they drove over and the staff member would not do that. All libraries have budget problems but libraries have to make sure they perform duties contained in the Member Agreement The other member libraries will be impacted significantly.

Pat Laughlin, Hales Corners Public Library Director, feels that it would be a good idea to talk about the media holds issue in a group setting as Milwaukee’s Board President suggests, however reminds the Board that only one member library had an issue with the topic. She also reminded the Board that Director Gingery provided options to be considered when this topic was first announced. She feels that the LDAC is a good place to talk about this topic and also would like the MCFLS Board to keep in mind that their Attorney has opined on the matter and they should listen to him.

IV.        LIBRARY DIRECTORS ADVISORY COUNCIL – REPORTS.

A.     Confirmation of the 2008 LDAC Chairperson. Treasurer Tays moved and Trustee D’Amato seconded a motion to confirm
         Pat Laughlin, Director of the Hales Corners Public Library as the 2008 LDAC Chairperson. Unanimously approved.

                      Jim Gingery thanked Barbara Roark, Franklin Director, for being the 2007 LDAC Chairperson. Jim also thanked Pat for agreeing to
                      be LDAC Chairperson for 2008.

B.     Reports of the December 6, 2007 and January 10, 2008 LDAC meetings. Barb Roark reviewed the December 6, 2007 LDAC
         meeting, summary of which is shown as Exhibit 2 attached to these minutes noting that the media holds topic discussion
         was the main focus of the meeting and also thanked that Board for supporting the ecommerce software purchase. Pat
         Laughlin reviewed the January 10, 2008 LDAC meeting, summary of which is shown as Exhibit 3 attached to these minutes.
         President Ziehler noted in the December LDAC report under Legislative Update that sharing of surveillance tapes with law
         enforcement agencies had passed and he wonders whether library directors are happy with this. Paula Kiely responded that
         they are pleased and she also noted that more language is being drafted to allow sharing of patron information in the
         future. Trustee D’Amato moved and Trustee Schreiber seconded a motion to accept the reports and place on file.
         Unanimously approved.

V.        BOARD OF TRUSTEES – COMMITTEE AND ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS REQUIRING ACTION.

            A.     Finance and Personnel Committee.

1. Financial Report – November, 2007. Treasurer Tays reported that the Finance & Personnel Committee recommends approval of the November, 2007 financial report, which is shown as Attachment B of the agenda packet. Treasurer Tays moved and Vice President Bria seconded a motion to approve as presented. Unanimously approved. Director Gingery noted that the December report will be presented at the next meeting, which will be held in three weeks.

2. Director’s Goals – 2008. Treasurer Tays reported that the Finance & Personnel Commttee recommends approval of the 2008 Director’s Goals, which are shown as Attachment C of the agenda packet. Director Gingery reviewed his new initiatives and mentioned that under developmental goals, Library 2.0 is a philosophy regarding modern technology where the community responds and collaborates. Ecommerce is a good example. The MCFLS website will be reworked and will attempt to incorporate the new technology. Treasurer Tays moved and Trustee Devine seconded a motion to approve the Director’s Goals for 2008 as presented. Unanimously approved.

B.         Board Committee Appointments (Effective Immediately). President Ziehler reviewed his Board Committee Appointments,
             which are shown as Attachment D of the agenda packet. Trustee Schreiber moved and Treasurer Tays seconded a
             motion to approve as presented. Unanimously approved.

VI.        ADMINISTRATIVE AND COMMITTEE INFORMATIONAL ITEMS.

A.        Director’s Report. Director Gingery referred to his report, which is shown as Attachment E of the agenda packet pointing out in particular that a press release was sent out regarding ecommerce and display pieces along with bookmarks were distributed to member libraries. Milwaukee Public Library subcontracted to produce the publicity materials; the service is running well. The first quarterly payments to the member libraries will be distributed in February. On the back side of the report is the 2008 Continuing Education Calendar which is the result of the contract with the Library Council of Southeast Wisconsin and in collaboration with the Waukesha County Federated Library System. Treasurer Tays moved and Trustee Devine seconded a motion to accept the Director’s Report as presented. Unanimously approved.

B.         Media Holds/Interloan Issue.

1. Resolution of the Whitefish Bay Public Library Board of Trustees Supporting the Preservation of Media Inter-Loans in the Milwaukee County Federated Library System (01/08/08). Attachment F of the agenda packet.
2. Email Correspondence from Mary Murphy, Director of the Wauwatosa Public Library, to the MCFLS Board, regarding "Transfer of Paged Items" Functionality. Attachment G of the agenda packet.
3. MCFLS Director E-Mail Response to the MCFLS Board regarding Director of Wauwatosa’s E-Mail regarding "Transfer of Paged Items" Functionality. Attachment H of the agenda packet
4. Letter from the President of the Milwaukee Public Library Board of Trustees to the President of the MCFLS Board of Trustees regarding the Media Holds/Interloan Issue (01/18/08). Attachment I of the agenda packet addendum.
5. City of Milwaukee, Office of the City Attorney’s Legal Opinion regarding Milwaukee Public Library’s Media Holds/Interloan Policy Change (01/14/08). Attachment J of the agenda packet addendum.
6. MCFLS Attorney Graupner’s Response to the City of Milwaukee, Office of the City Attorney’s Legal Opinion. Distributed at the meeting and shown as Exhibit 4 attached to these minutes.

Trustee Schreiber commented that reasonable people should be able to resolve this situation by looking at options. Treasurer Tays questioned what option/compromise is available if this is really a funding issue. The goal is to keep MCFLS together and serve patrons. President Ziehler noted that the Board cannot ignore the MCFLS Attorney’s opinion but he does not like a legal entanglement either which could be costly, time consuming and cause personal conflicts. President Ziehler questions if there is no flexibility with Milwaukee funding then what good would discussions be, but maybe discussions would be worth an attempt since he is not ready for a legal encounter yet. Paula Kiely noted that when Milwaukee did not get the requested item types, they simply discontinued filling holds. Milwaukee feels they have a good City opinion but also do not want to go the legal route. Director Gingery stated he recommended good options long ago which are less drastic than eliminating holds. Reducing the number of holds is worth discussing. Trustee Schreiber noted that the State of Wisconsin does not want to get involved in this matter and he would like to move forward and discuss options. President Ziehler questioned whether patrons are being notified and Director Gingery replied that there is a statement on CountyCat and a link to the Milwaukee FAQ. Trustee Schreiber questioned whether those actions by themselves would address Wauwatosa Director Mary Murphy’s concerns and Director Gingery replied that they would not. It is his understanding that no other member library directors have expressed a desire to have MCFLS provide the requested item types (which is Mary Murphy’s request) since that would cause other problems which would affect others negatively. Currently suburban libraries are receiving Milwaukee materials that are returned at suburban libraries if a hold exists which then goes out to a library patron.

Beth Carey commented that her staff are informing their patrons of what is happening. Utilizing the Transfer Paged Items and View Outstanding Holds functions have been useful. They are additional tasks to perform, but worth doing to serve patrons best. She recommends that MCFLS listen to its Attorney’s opinion. Discussing options now, even after the suburban libraries were blindsided by the MPL policy, is still worth considering since this could be beneficial. If MCFLS adds the item types, then the Member Agreement means nothing. Trustee D’Amato noted that if MCFLS grants the item types it does not mean all libraries have to use them; they can be taken away later. Dick Nelson commented that MCFLS should not assist with the item types, but to instead hold off and negotiate other options. Vice President Bria stated that since the Milwaukee budget cannot be recreated and since MCFLS does invest in technology for better customer service, that the nine item types should be developed and then take the time to talk about the matter.

Trustee Devine commented that all libraries are having budget problems and he asked Milwaukee to equate what the cost savings means. Paula Kiely responded that in addition to this cut, Milwaukee has also had to cut its materials budget by $105,000, which equates to 2-3 neighborhood library’s materials budgets, the entire media collection budget is $100,000; half of the database subscription budget is $100,000 and 20% of a neighborhood library operation. Barbara Roark commented that all libraries have seen the same budget constraints.

Director Gingery stated that he does his best to maintain system obligations for same service and interloan. A benefit of the MCFLS system is its ability to share resources, which saves individual libraries money. He feels it is counter-intuitive to create the item types since it would create an imbalance in interloan service among member libraries and thus places a burden on materials and costs for non-MPL libraries. Mr. Richter reiterated concerns he earlier stated during the Public Comment section of the meeting. Trustee D’Amato suggested that the member library directors be surveyed to see if they want MCFLS to develop the item types requested by Milwaukee Public Library.

Having arrived late in the meeting and missing the Public Comment section, Maria Meyers requested and was granted the opportunity to speak to the issue. She is a regular patron of the Hales Corners library and a part-time Milwaukee County employee who is married with two children and considers herself middle-class. Living expenses are up so she bikes a lot. She is a scout leader, voluntary educator and this has put her into an uncomfortable setting and begs all to find a solution. She cannot afford to buy own media items and she is patient and will wait to see library materials. Community options for things to do are declining all around and families are impacted the most. Trustee D’Amato noted that he does not want the MCFLS Board to take any blame since they did not make the decision to discontinue media holds. Vice President Bria noted that Milwaukee Mayor has made the offer to meet with suburban Mayors to discuss this topic. President Ziehler commented that he didn’t think the Mayors had the technical knowledge to resolve the problem.

President Ziehler agreed that a survey could be the first step and that the results could be reviewed at the February 18^th MCFLS Board meeting and then discussions could be held in the time between the February and March MCFLS Board meetings to discuss options. Trustee D’Amato moved and Vice President Bria seconded a motion that President Ziehler send a survey to all 15 member library directors asking the single question: Would you like MCFLS to implement the nine item types. A comment section will also be included on the survey. Unanimously approved.

President Ziehler thanked the Attorney’s for the attendance and while no questions were asked of them, he did ask whether either of them had any comment to make. MCFLS Attoarney Charles Graupner did comment that he could see a quick, low cost arbitration with a question posed to a retired judge.

President Ziehler commented that some dialogue at some point needs to be held on how far a member library can go without being in breach of the Member Agreement. A guidelines could be developed in the terminology. Treasurer Tays agrees with this idea. Ultimately the Member Library Agreement language needs to be changed. If language could be amended, then Member Library Agreement could be changed. Treasurer Tays added that the question of what percent of a member library’s collection should be interloaned. That amount needs to be quantified.

Trustee D’Amato questioned whether a response should be sent to the Milwaukee Public Library Board President. President Ziehler replied that he will send a letter indicating that a survey will be sent and the results discussed at the February 18^th MCFLS Board meeting. He will note that her idea of further discussing the media holds topic may be considered after that time.

President Ziehler thanked everyone that contributed to the discussion for their input.

VII.     NEXT MEETING DATES.

            A.         MCFLS Board of Trustees – February 18, 2008 beginning at 9:00 a.m.

            B.          Finance and Personnel – February 18, 2008 beginning at 8:30 a.m.

VIII.     ADJOURNMENT. With no further business to come before the Board, Trustee Schreiber moved and Trustee Devine seconded a motion
             to adjourn the meeting at 9:40 a.m. Unanimously approved.

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