HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - LB - 1968.12.17 MINUTES OF THE MEETING
OF THE .
BURLINGAME PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD
December 17, 1968
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CALL TO ORDER:
A regular meeting of the Burlingame Public Library Board was held on the above given date.
The meeting was called to order at 6:45 P. M. by Vice-Chairman Amstrup.
ROLL CALL:
Trustees Present: Trustee Amstrup, Trustee Lynes, Trustee Hechinger. There was also in
attendance a Mrs. A. G. Baggiani of the League of Women Voters.
Trustees Absent: Trustee Cohendet (excused on account of illness) and Trustee De Martini.
MINUTES:
The minutes of the meeting of November 19, 196$ were approved and adopted.
BILLS:
Bills in the amount of $4,104.25 were ordered paid on a motion by Trustee Hechinger,
seconded by Trustee Lynes and carried unanimously.
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT:
The Librarian's report was read and ordered filed.
Chairman Amstrup, in general remarks, noted that the City Council at their last meeting had
discussed the fact that any city commissioner having two unexcused absences from a commission
meeting in a row should be excused from his duties. Trustee Hechinger indicated his
approval of such a regulation.
The Librarian informed the Board that white he was working at the Library on Sunday
morning, December 15 there was a terrific rainstorm, and around 10:45 water had come in on
12 sections of stacks and had wet 2,000 books. The Librarian called several members of the
staff who took all the books and set them up on the tables to dry. He also took temporary
measures to stop the flow of water and called the roofer. It was determined that the
probable explanation of this is when the street was repaved an outlet to the drains from
the roof was partially covered Therefore, the water had risen in the downspout and ponded
on the roof. The Librarian talked to the City Engineer about it, and they will put in
clean-outs. The loss of the books is not covered by insurance so far as back-up of gutters
is concerned. There is a special library policy developed by the A.L.A. which the Librarian
is going to investigate and see what we can get, and the cost in relation to our share
of the present policy. There might be further water damage here, such as water rising in
the basement and many thousands of books might be destroyed. The insurance adjuster for
our city policy came by, but there was nothing he could do. Since the Librarian was here
and had cooperative employees, many of the books were saved, and they are all dry now.
COMMUNICATIONS:
The Librarian told the Board that he had sent a very fine set of logging photographs of
logging operations during World War I in Oregon and Washington to the head of the Library
School at the University of Oregon, Mr. Leroy C. Merritt. These photographs were quite
unique in their way, but were of no use to us in this area. He read the Board a tetter
of appreciation from Mr. Merritt. He mentioned that Mr. Schmidt, Curator of Collections,
had written a letter of appreciation also.
OLD BUSINESS:
San Francisco Reference Project: - The Librarian stated that this was turned down by the
State Library Board, and passed out copies of a letter from the Board sent to Mr. ,Anderson
at the San Francisco Library. This letter brought out the need for individual proposals
from our section, and this will be tried at some later date.
Municipal Library Project: - It is the Librarian's opinion that the State Librarian actually
wanted both the cities and the county to cooperate in one system, although, as he mentioned,
the County Library has a system already and Permission to go ahead on it. He feels that
this is the first time there has been any objection to a system by a county librarian. He
said that the City Librarians, in conjunction with the County and City Managers, had
planned on having another meeting December 19, but upon thinking it over had decided that
they were not too well prepared and felt it would be best to have meetings among themselves
first in order to get their thoughts organized.
Trustee Lynes queried if we had any idea as to how much we are growing per year, and the
Librarian answered that the circulation is remaining constant; also, that there were two
reasons for this - 1. that people are not reading so much, and, 2, that our new books
are staying in the foyer from only two to six months, whereas they used to be there for
one year. By changing the desk arrangements, which he is doing, they will again be there for
a year. Trustee Hechinger expressed surprise that people are not reading so much when
there are so many more new titles, and the Librarian explained that our circulation is still
higher than any Peninsula Library except Palo alto's, and their per capita is considerably
higher than ours.
There was a short discussion on censorship.
San Mateo Library: The effect of the San Mateo Library's closing upon our circulation
was discussed, and it was decided that there had been very little effect, mainly because
San Mateo people can go to their branches.
NEW BUSINESS:
Library Assistant's Workshop: The Librarian reported on the Library Assistants' Workshop
which will be held in San Francisco for two days. This covers general information about
libraries, and we have two or three people who would benefit by it. The fee is $35.00,
and there is money left in our convention fund which will not be used this year. The
Librarian asked the Board's permission to send a couple of people to this workshop. Trustee
Lynes thought this was a good idea and would enable people to do a better job. The rest
of the Board agreed.
Holt Report: Chairman Amstrup asked when the Board would go into the Holt report, that
the Council wanted the Board's ideas before they discussed it. The Board decided to
consider it in detail at the next Board meeting in January, and it was agreed that the
meeting would start at 7:00 P. M. instead of 7:30 in order to have more time to spend
on this report.
Speed Reading: Chairman Amstrup reported that a speed reading project at Mills High
School with film is being put together by a Mr. Jim Tidwell, and asked if the Board would
be interested in seeing the film. The Board agreed that they would like to see the film,
although the idea was expressed that real reading consists in getting the thought from
reading not the speed.
ADJOURNMENT:
Trustee Lynes moved that the meeting be adjourned. Trustee Hechinger seconded the motion
and it passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:30 P. M.
Respectfully Submitted
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George Paul Lechich
Clerk of the Board