CITY OF PEORIA, ARIZONA
LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
Main Library Conference Room 
November 13, 2006

A meeting of the Library Board of the City of Peoria, Arizona was convened in open and 
public session at the Peoria Public Main Library, 8463 West Monroe Street in Peoria at 
7:00 p.m. 

Members Present: Shirley Berow, Chairperson; Members, Ed Comtois, Rhona 
Cohensitt, Steve Poe, Barry Spiegel and Alicia Snarr.  

Members Absent:  Cheryl Compton

Member Emeritus: 0

Other Municipal Officials Present:  Deborah Tasnadi, Library Manager, David 
Hunenberg, Branch Librarian, DawnMarie Schmidt, Senior Youth Librarian, and Lynn 
Lindell, Administrative Assistant. 

Audience: 0

MINUTES: A motion was made by Barry Spiegel, seconded by Ed Comtois and upon 
vote, carried unanimously to approve the minutes of the September 18, 2006 meeting of 
the board.

OLD BUSINESS:

1.	 Branch Library Update
Deborah Tasnadi said that City staff has been meeting with the design/build team 
on Mondays.  She said that they hope to have a preliminary design ready to present 
to the City Manager later this week.  They are working toward a 22,000 square foot 
building.  Next month they hope to have a plan ready to present to the City Council 
and the Board. 

2.	Review progress of 2007 budget
Deborah said that the 2007 budget spending is on target.  The LSTA Grants and 
supplements have allowed for RFID tags to be placed on the youth and adult fiction 
collections at the Main Library and the self check machines will soon be ready to go 
online.


NEW BUSINESS:

1.	Update of LSTA Grants
       Grant projects are going well.  RFID tags have been attached to about ¾ of the 
Youth Collection already.  The “More than Training” project is almost complete.  The 
Lab has already undergone major transformation into a room that will be easily 
adaptable for various adult and children’s programs and classes.  Storage cabinets are 
in place and laptop computers are secured and ready for use for training classes.  
Tween Craft Classes have already been scheduled in the room, as well as Adult 
Computer classes.

2.   Review of 2008 Budget Process
Several supplemental requests for the 2008 budget are currently being prepared by 
Library staff.  Requests include:
*	Materials budget increase for Main Library $150,000. 
*	A supplemental request for outsourcing of all added materials except 
paperbacks, board books and media.
*	Six new exclusively adult computers, near the Reference collection, to help 
adults who now must share the main computer lab with customers of all ages.
*	Two new staff computers, one to be shared by seven Library Pages, and the 
other to be shared by five Library Assistants.
*	Reupholstery of furnishings in Main Library, many chairs are over 14 years old.
*	Replacement of the original sound system in the Library Willow Room.
*	Replacement of an Epson printer used to print overdue notices on a daily basis.
*	Upgrade one half time Librarian to full time at Sunrise Mountain Library.
*	Add on half time Library Clerk at Sunrise Mountain Library
*	Adding two donated “express checkout” machines to Sunrise Mountain Library.  
Cost would include installation and maintenance. 

All of the supplemental requests would be subject to department review, review by 
the City finance department and the City Manager.  Requests that move forward 
would then go to the City Council for final approval.

3.	 Distribute Strategic Goals for 2007 
       Deborah distributed copies of the Strategic Goals for 2007 to the board, along with  
      a status sheet to show how they are tracked each quarter.  
       

REPORT FROM THE LIBRARY MANAGER:

1.   Staffing update  
 Deborah Tasnadi reported that the Library is currently fully staffed.

2.  Library Statistics 
Deborah said that the Library statistics continue to show major increases in most areas. 
 She distributed reports for first quarter statistics, and also a report which demonstrates 
how statistics are to meet goals, objectives and performance measures. 

Recent reviews received from the Peoria Leadership Institute indicated that the Citizens 
participating in the session rated the Library Presentation as “excellent.”  Deborah said 
that she credits her staff for their help in preparing the PowerPoint presentation and also 
for the excellent job that they do.

The Peoria Library hosted a Horner Fellow participant from Japan.  Mr. Tatsuya Ito 
visited the branch library on November 7th and the Main Library on November 8th.  He is 
here through the efforts of AzLA and will spend two weeks learning about libraries in the 
United States.  He seemed to be very impressed with the services offered by the 
libraries, and noted that they are very different from libraries in Japan.

4.	What do I do?
Deborah introduced Senior Youth Services Librarian, DawnMarie Schmidt.  DawnMarie 
said that 6,300 children attended story times last fiscal year. 
?	In addition to the regular story times, her staff hosts “special groups” on 
Tuesdays which often include home schooled children, Head Start programs, 
and Peoria Tiny Tots. 
?	This year Librarian Linda Bereda started a “Tween Craft Program” (8-12 years) 
which is held once a month on the last Monday.  The program has been a huge 
success and includes both girls and boys for these fun craft making sessions.
?	Library Orientations are held for school groups throughout the school year.  A 
tour of the library is included along with help for special assignments.
?	Last summer 4,982 children participated in the Summer Reading Program.  
There were 3,510 children in summer recreation groups that visited the library.
?	Movies are also offered twice a week in the summer, and have been very well 
attended.
?	Besides the many programs, Youth Services staff orders Library materials.  
Statistics indicate that 44% of circulation is Youth materials.  About 48% of the 
total book budget is allocated to Youth Services.
?	Staff also plans and coordinates special programs, such as “The Bug Program” 
which attracted over 600 visitors last summer. Family Place workshops, the 
Monster Bash Storytimes, and the Ready, Set, Read program also keep staff 
busy.  Over 500 1st graders received new library cards last year through the 
“Ready, Set, Read” program.  The goal is to assure that every first grader in the 
city has a Library card.
?	This year Youth Staff has coordinated a project using grant money from the State 
to reconfigure a computer lab into a multi-purpose activity room.  It can now 
accommodate Computer classes for kids or adults with the laptop computers 
stowed away in the new secure storage cabinets.  Added furnishings provide a 
space for Craft Programs, or other activities as needed.  Program and class 
scheduling has already begun in this new, updated multi-purpose activity room 
through this grant entitled “More than Training.”


REPORT FROM SML BRANCH:

1.	READ Posters
David Hunenberg, Branch Librarian said that Mr. Rob Panzer has been working on 
some READ posters for the library.  He took photos of Deborah and David to create the 
posters for display at both libraries.  

 2.  Upcoming
*	The date has been selected for LibraryFest 2007.  It will be held at the Main 
Library on Saturday, March 17.  It will coincide with a weekend long city event, 
“Celebrate the Arts”.  The Friends of the Library will sponsor this event again this 
year. 
*	Beginning in January the new Children’s Librarian at SML, Monique Clapp will 
begin a new toddler program “Baby Steps.”  This will introduce the younger 
children to the “story time” routine.
*	Overdrive, Digital Books kicks off tomorrow.  Peoria Libraries joined this valley 
wide consortium to bring digital books, music, and CD’s to our customers.  
Sponsors of the program have provided 5 MP3 players to be given as prizes to 
help promote this new program.  More information appears on the Library web 
site.
*	The Teen Advisory Group (TAG) has adopted a Military Platoon serving in Iraq.  
They will be collecting various personal items to send to the soldiers through their 
deployment.

REPORT FROM THE BOARD:
 
1.	Comments on Statistics 
The Board members commented that although circulation statistics continue to climb 
(up 18%) they noted that items added to the collection are down by 25%.
They said they would like to show their support for increases to the library budget.


     The next meeting of the Board will be on January 8, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. at Sunrise 
Mountain Library. 









ADJOURNMENT:

There being no further business to come before the board, Steve Poe made a motion to 
adjourn the meeting. Rhona Cohensitt seconded the motion. The meeting was duly 
adjourned at 8:50 P.M.



______________________				_________________________
Shirley Berow, Chairperson			Lynn Lindell, Administrative Assistant